XPLORx4

BTW, stock '98 XE wheels I think are 15x6.5 steel. They were intended to be used with 235/70R15 tires. It is unsafe to fit 11.5" wide tires on a wheel so narrow. There are lots of different techniques you can use to fit 32x11.50R15 tires on your Pathfinder. The one I suggested will accomplish that and make your rig look like it came like that from the factory.

You need the AC 2" lift, 15x8 wheels with 3.75 or 4" of backspacing, no fender flares or front mudflaps, and trimmed or heat-deformed front fender liners. The wheel backspacing and width is most important to make sure the tires will clear the strut. To keep your performance from suffering too greatly, you should also consider regearing to 4.636:1 (ring/pinion ratio that came stock on the 96-98 SE models)

What is the tire size posted in the door jamb? 235/70R15 or 265/70R15? If your wheels are chromed steel (not aluminum alloy) then they're 15x6.5" and too narrow to safely fit 31" tires. You should have at least 15x7 wheels. 15x8 or 16x8 wheels are better.

I really like the look of those Xterra wheels on your caR50! Nice flex shots. If you are looking for some more off-road capability, remove the rear sway bar. Drive for a while with it off and see how you like it. If you plan to continue driving on terrain that will challenge the suspension travel (and cause a rear tire to lift), consider getting an ARB air locker. A locked 2WD can be pretty capable if you drive wisely.

Karmann, oops, you're right. I did mean CNAM. I got the usernames mixed up. My bad!

Karmann, what are you using for underbody lights, how did you mount them, and how did you get electricity down there? I have long wanted to install LED strip lights along the inside of the pinch seam, but I have just never gotten around to it.

Nice work! It looks great.

Looks great. Don't drive too long with the wrong lug nuts. It would be a bummer if they loosened up and caused damage to your new wheels or even worse, caused a crash. By the way, it looks like you need an alignment. The original wheel/tire you removed is severly worn on the inside, indicating a toe-out alignment condition. Bad alignment will wear out those nice BFG MT's very quickly.

When you work on the hub assembly, the CV sometimes retracts into the spindle a few mm. I second the comment about trying to push the CV outward from behind the hub in order to give you clearance on the CV to attach the snap ring over the drive flange.

To check the diff fluid, remove the fill plug and stick your finger through the hole. The oil should be golden or golden-brown. Never remove the drain plug without first removing the fill plug. To refill the diff, you will need a Gear Oil pump like this one: http://www.amazon.com/Plews-55001-Lubrimatic-Standard-Bottles/dp/B000BQW5LK/ref=sr_1_1?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1421709341&sr=1-1&keywords=oil+pump+gear

I wonder why #1 and #2-6 are different part numbers...

Haha, it would be way more interesting to find out if someone did a solid axle swap on the rear of an R51. Now that would be fun to see.

If the transmission fluid is still bright cherry red and doesn't smell burned, you don't need to change it. If it's dark red, you should change it. You can drain and fill using about 4-5 quarts of ATF. Drain from the transmission pan, and refill through the dipstick tube. You will need to use a special funnel designed to refill auto transmissions to avoid making a big mess.

On the R50, the springs support the direct load placed above them, while the R51 springs have to support a load over a lever-arm (the Independent suspension). Imagine being able to sit directly on top of a spring that will compress 1 inch for every 50 pounds you put on it. (That would be 50 lbf/in.) If you weigh 200 pounds, it will compress 4 inches. Now, get a 8-foot-long 2x4 wood stud and attach one end of it to a hinge bolted to the floor. Place the spring 1 foot from the hinge under the 2x4, and hang yourself off the end of the piece of wood. Do you expect the spring to compress more than 4"? Yes, because your effective load on the spring will be 8 times greater due to the leverage you're putting on it using the 2x4, so if you wanted to compress the spring only 4" with 200 lbs placed at 8 feet out, you'd need a spring with a rate of 400 lbf/in R51 independent rear suspension needs springs with a much higher spring rate vs. the solid axle of the R50.

I would skip the shocks and struts, unless you don't like the way your truck handles now because those suspension parts are worn out and need to be replaced anyway. You can just get away with replacing the springs. I would also postpone the skid plate unless your current splash guard is toast. Choose careful lines where you don't put big obstacles directly under your truck, instead putting your tires on them. Here's the order I would choose (provided existing suspension parts are not totally shot): -ome lift kit -good AT tires (with at least 31" diameter) -new rear trailing arms (but ONLY if you have the death wobble, otherwise this is lowest priority) -remove rear sway bar (it hardly makes any difference in handling) -bilstein shocks that are 2" longer than stock, but have similar compression. 255/70 valving works very well. -4x4 designs skid plates -kyb gr2 struts -new bump stops and strut bearings

Removal and replacement of a completed strut assembly is actually quite easy. You will need both front wheels in the air at the same time in order to avoid putting tension on the anti-sway bar. Also, consider this. I don't know how you plan to disassemble and assemble the strut, or if you'll be buying all new parts (new mount, new top plate, new bearing, new boot/bumpstop). If you plan to reuse any parts from your old struts, you will have to compress+uncompress springs twice per strut. The first time I tried installing new springs into the struts using a basic coil spring compressor tool, I did not own any air tools or an impact wrench. I had 1/2" drive ratchet, sockets, and a breaker bar, but using those tools, it was one of my worst experiences working on my suspension. It took me about 8 hours to do both sides. To be totally honest, if you don't have an impact wrench (whether electric or air), it is a major pain to compress/uncompress the springs, and I would probably advise having the work done by a shop. With air tools and a wall-mounted strut compressor, I am able to install new springs into old (or new) struts in under 2 hours, including removing/reinstalling the wheels.

Last month I helped a buddy install Fleury's 1" spacers above the struts on his QX4. With the wheels off the ground, the CVs bind but can still rotate. Under severe conditions off-road when the axles are flexed, the CVs could break. Under the same circumstances, using 2" spacers will prevent the CVs from rotating, and they will break apart. A couple of weeks ago, I installed 1/2" spacers above the strut along with my old 2" AC lift, which was sagging, and I have no issues with my CV axles. For me, this is critical since I drive over pretty rough terrain, and I don't run any sway-bars.

I think I understand what you've described. I was wondering about the strength of C-shaped MM's, whether the vertical faces of the mounts are parallel or not. The weight of the engine and its torque is being supported by only a single wall of .125" x 3" steel on each side. That might not be strong enough. Maybe .188" should be used anyway. In this pic, do you have the new MM's installed or the old ones? When the new MM's are installed, is the side with the long edge towards the front of the engine or the back?

I'm curious why you modified the motor mounts. What did the previous ones look like, and why do the new ones have an angle?

Rear driveshaft spins, but with T-case in N, the moving parts that pump fluid through the T-case aren't going to be spinning, but the rear output shaft will be. It's probably much safer to unbolt the rear driveshaft from the pinion yoke (4 14mm bolts) and secure it to the underbelly than to chance overheating the T-case output bearings.

Just a quick question: Do you remove the front diff to install the SFD (specifically the motor mount spacers)?

If you want to avoid having to have the key ON (using unnecessary battery power) and tranny in "R" ( which means your rig potentially could roll away), consider wiring the lights on a separately controllable circuit. I recently installed a Universal Remote Control Kit to operate the BlitzPro lights from a key fob. It was pretty easy to wire up and it works great.

Nice, super-clean OEM-looking install. Kudos to you. I love those Blitz-Pro 6" light bars. I've got 4 of them installed as my reverse lights. 2 in the bumper (in approx the same place as yours) and 2 on the roof. All 4 BlitzPro lights are on their own separate relay, so I can operate them independently of the stock reverse lamps. They are very bright, and work great as area lighting if you need to set up a campsite in the dark.

Check out oznium.com and superbrightleds.com. I replaced most my interior lights (dome lights, map lights, and the bulbs behind the instrument cluster and HVAC controls with LEDs from those two sources.

I would start with checking for power at the fuse block near the battery, then moving to the power socket relays near the air filter, then finally at the fuse panel behind the coin tray. Because BOTH outlets are out, it's more likely that you have a broken connection somewhere very far upstream than something bad at the socket itself. If it turns out that you can't figure out the problem, then you CAN hardwire the sockets to have constant-ON power by running a fused 10-gauge wire from the battery to the cabin and connect it to the power sockets. It's a bit of work though, requiring disassembling some of the lower dash, removing the driver's seat and the center console.