Leaderboard

The idea is that because the tire carrier is two pieces, I'm going to introduce a 3rd piece that bolts in between. A crude sketch, of course, but the yellow lines represent 1" square tube that will space the tire mount (not shown in pic) off the carrier frame, and the green line can be another other tube (thinking 2" x 1" tube) that has whatever provisions I need for mounting things; i.e., hinges for a tray between carrier and liftgate, mounts for accessories beside (or potentially above) the tire. It'll give me easier mounting options without having to deal with the irregularities of the carrier frame, let alone have to make any further modifications to the carrier itself. The position would move the tire mount up, too (pic taken upside down), so that the stock holes on the mount line up with the new holes I drilled, and I just pass a 2" bolt and hardware through all of them: Ah, the genuine HF 10K tow hooks. They were integrated from the beginning, actually, with the mounting holes for them being incorporated into the bumper brackets (3/8"). I got one of them for maybe $2 because it was missing a bolt, and felt obligated to make use of a pair.

Finally got the rest of the lift In! KYB struts, ac springs, Nrc9447, bilstein 29" shocks. Sent from my SM-A520W using Tapatalk

After getting the rear bumper finally ready for finishing, I decided that I was going to put some enamel colors onto the AZ flag and Nissan logos, and then bed lined around things. The enamel process was a bigger PITA than I had planned on (I hate painting), but I think the results turned out well*. (*=great considering my hatred of painting, despite not being pleased with the bedliner color.) I used tintable bed liner from Custom Shop on Amazon. The color is supposed to be Battleship Dark Gray, but I'd argue it is neither dark nor gray. I've complained to a few buddies that I don't like the color, but it does offer some degree of contrast that I was looking for. I still need to spray the sliders, and that will be a couple weeks out given my schedule, but I'll find out if that completes the "look". If I don't like it (and chances are that I won't), I'll probably pull everything back off for some spray paint (ugh) and get it closer to the dark gray I was hoping for. The bedliner product itself I'm pleased with; nice texture, hard, smooth, but provides grip without feeling rough. The Custom Shop stuff is the same as the U-Pol Raptor product. It was a mess spraying on the side of my house...I spent a day building a rack to hang all gear from, plus a few hours converting my HF easy-up canopy into a spray booth. Mostly successful, but I hated every minute of it. The front bumper got sprayed, too, and I finally got around to mounting the IPFs graciously donated to the cause by @Jax99. I have yet to wire them up, though...trying to find a decent switch for the left-hand panels, as the Carling rockers interfere with the dash a little. I thought I'd have some luck with a Toyota-sized aftermarket switch, but will go a different route.

I took a rough road, my exhaust broke immediately. I’ll have to pull the exhaust out and weld it up. The whole thing looks pretty terrible.. Also I’m not sure exactly when it happened but my wind visor broke off and is now gone. As you can see it needed to be replaced anyhow..

Its always better to have 2 of everything