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Hello all, Since lock down i decided to use my time to look for a new vehicle, I was mostly looking at trucks because i do want to do some towing in the future, but did enjoy my large suv coming from the QX4. The worst part about the QX4 was the power or lack of it, so i desperately wanted to avoid that again. Basically for towing and not under powering a chassis i needed a full size v8 (like a 5.7 Ram not a 4.7). After 2 months of searching i stumbled upon the holy grail - a fully loaded 2008 V8 Pathfinder that looks to be in near mint condition minus a little but of rust at the front bottom corner of the driver door. I got another 2 hour drive this weekend 1 way to go pick it up and she will be all mine! My plans for the vehicle are nothing crazy, I saw the ironman lifts on sale but currently out of stock and was deciding on if i really needed that. After driving this one the suspension still felt great so i decided i dont need a full conversion yet and if it fits the V8 I plan to do the 1.5" SFCreations body lift to improve asthetics and maybe a bit more clearance to fit a new bigger set of K02's. Besides tires and the small body lift i may in the future still do a suspension lift, but im considering if i can fit a hidden-type winch in the factory bumper and or throw on some new light bars. Will post some photos when i get it ?

@Slartibartfast Fantastic! That’s exactly the kind of explanation I was hoping to receive. I’m also particularly grateful for the warning on the GM diode as I’m likely to replace our original T4R battery with an AGM in the next year. I think I’ll look at taking occasional measurements on both trucks in the interim. I’ve been wanting to put a dash voltmeter in both anyhow. While I’ve got you, my Mom’s truck had the winch installed with a full bumper installation & I can’t seem to see any fuse between the winch & the battery. It’s thick gauge wire but it’s been bothering me as I was always taught to fuse everything (that said, my electrical knowledge is what I learned in a single high school & college physics course - plus practical home wiring, hence, I have much I don’t know). Curious on your thoughts on that?

Our outdoor adventure to Cherokee National Forest Tellico Plains, Tn. Went to Bald River Falls, Holy Flats Campground and fish Hatchery. It’s a 6 mile gravel drive that’s curvy and straight up. Put the old gal in 4 Hi. She never missed a beat. #onespiritbrain She finally got a little dirt on her Lol #R50obsessed Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think what these guys are are doing is dropping the voltage to the alternator's "sense" wire. That wire goes from the battery to the alt's regulator to tell it what the battery voltage is (which is how the alt knows how hard to work). If you can make the alt see a lower voltage than what's at the battery, it'll charge harder to compensate. That GM part number comes up as a diode (not a fuse), and the Arclight product looks like two diodes on a circuit board. Diodes have a forward voltage (typically 0.6-0.7v), so I think what they're doing here is adding those diodes in line with the sense wire, causing the regulator to think that the battery voltage is lower than it is. If this mod works the way I think it does, either the GM diode or the Arclight on its low-boost setting would give you a 0.6-0.7v increase at the battery, and the Arclight's high boost (which I assume puts the two diodes in series) would give you a 1.2-1.4v increase at the battery. Comparing the output voltage spec in the '03 R50 manual (14.1-14.7v) to the 4Runner output shown at the start of the first video (13.6-13.7), it looks like the 4Runner owners are doing this mod to achieve the charging voltage that yours already makes. Century's website suggests 14.6-14.8v, so your charging system is probably right about where it needs to be already. If it's towards the low end of spec, you could probably boost it using the same method (looks like the R50 has a conventional alt and the same 7.5a fuse on the sense wire), but if it's working now, it's probably not worth messing around and potentially boosting it too far. Worst case (high end of spec plus an Arclight at full chooch) would be pushing 16v. At least the Arclight has a fuse, though--as clever as the GM diode mod is, unless that diode happens to pop at around 7.5a, that circuit isn't properly fused anymore. As an aside, why do people making Youtube videos think they need a backing track while they're talking? And why does that one sound like an ice cream truck with something wrong with the cassette deck?

Sounds like it'll be a nice truck!

My plan with my rear seat floor rust holes is to take advantage of my body lift and some sheet steel. Planning to fab a box tray and then cutting out the floor where the rust is and welding in my box and then I will have some under seat storage. Until then, I just have some aluminum duct tape covering the holes.

I've only ever fitted a shutoff to prevent current draw when not in use & for security. Here in Aus we had a spate of guys unspooling people's winches, running the cable over the roof of the car to the rear bumper, engaging them and effectively crushing the roof in on someone's car while they slept.