matt2000

I second what 180sx says....stay away from the Rancho struts. They are crap with a capital C. I burned through 3 of them on the passenger side and 1 on the driver's side, rancho kept replacing them under warranty. At that time, I had the AC 2" coils on the front and rear of my Pathy. My assumption is that the Rancho struts just can not cope with the constant top-out stresses that the AC coils cause (although AC will swear to their dying breath that their coils are well within the shock's limits). I know other members on this forum have had better luck with the GR2s withstanding that abuse. I finally got fed up with putting new struts on every 2 months and switched to the GR2s. At the same time, I switched to the OME HD coils up front. Even though the GR2s can handle supposedly the AC coils, I didn't want to take any chances (plus I just hated the sound of the struts topping out). Nothing worse than riding around with your buddy bragging about your new lift then trying to explain that god awful bang every time you hit a slight pot-hole or go over a speed bump. I left the AC coils out back. No problems since and that was about 5000 miles ago. The strut top-out issue went away completely. Unfortunately the OME coils in front didn't provide as much lift as the ACs in the back, so I had to add the 1" strut spacers sold at NX4 industries to level it out. The OME HD's ride nice in my opinion. I definitely don't feel like they are too stiff and I've still got my stock bumper on. Based on my trials and tribulations, I would highly suggest the OME coils over the AC coils, at least in the front. And again.......stay away from the Ranchos, for the Pathfinders the GR2s are a much better product.

I'm not sure if I understand correctly. Did you abandon both the OME coils and the OME sturts or just the struts. You mentioned AC coils but you also said you've got strut spacers. Based on what I've read on here, sounds like most guys use the strut spacers with the OME coils in order to get the 2" lift where as the AC coils provide that much lift without any strut spacers. Just want to make sure I'm on the same page.

Cool. Thanks for the pic. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. My setup looks exactly the same so I don't think that is the issue. From what I am hearing from eveybody else, sounds like the struts themselves just aren't worth a crap. What really sucks is that the KYB's are quite a bit cheaper than the Ranchos. I sure wish I'd have gone that route in the first place. I still think I might go the OME coil route for the front (with KYB's) and add strut spacers. That way maybe I can get away from the top-out issue. Even if that isn't what's blowing the struts I still hate hearing that bang every time I hit a speed bump or pot hole. Thanks for the help.

Truthfully, when I removed the stock coils I did not pay as much attention to the orientation of the upper and lower seats as I should have. The top seat has an arrow stamped into it right above a small factory notch but the bottom seat doesn't appear to have any alignment marks (neither the stock strut or the rancho). My Haynes manual says the arrow on the top seat should point away from the strut to spindle attachment. I recently got a hold of a factory Nissan manual which says the same thing. I interpreted that to mean the arrow should point towards the motor. This would be 180 degrees away from the strut to spindle connection. When I put the assembly together this appears to be right. The upper seat has a definite offset built into it. It seems like if I oriented the upper seat any differently that offset would cause the strut to not sit at the proper angle. Does your pathy have a notch on the upper spring seat and if so is it oriented towards the motor (180 degrees away from the strut to spindle connection)? With regard to the strut that immediate pops back up, what you say is exactly what AC has told me. Their stance is that its not defective. I admit I could be wrong but the reason I disagree has to do with how it acts now compared with how it acted out of the box (and compared with the old stock struts). When I depressed the center shaft on the Rancho struts when new, they rebounded back to fully extension at a slow measured rate as if there was slight hydraulic or gas pressure resisting the upward motion. The stock struts with 95,000 miles still react this way. Basically when new, the struts resist movement in either direct. By hand you can't depress them quickly or extend them quickly. Now the used strut seems to depress more easily with less resistance and it definite extends with absolutely no resistance. It actually extends as if it has a spring shooting it upward. As I said I could be wrong though. All advice is highly appreciated. As I said I could be wrong. All advice is highly appreciated. Is the notch

Hello all, I've got the AC 2" lift with rancho rsx struts and rs9000s in the rear. I also bought the camber kit and had it professionally aligned. In the four months since I've had it, 3 struts have failed. Twice the passenger side has blown its seal and lost all pressure. The driver's side hasn't blown the seal but it provides no resistance on the upstroke. It basically acts like a pogo stick, depress the shaft into the strut body and it pops back up instantaneously as soon as you let go. No smooth, measured return to full extension like it did out of the box (like the stock one still does after 95,000 miles) but an immediate pop-up. I've read several posts that talk about the struts topping-out with this lift kit. Mine does that too and I think that is what is causing them to go bad. I think the coils I received are either too long or too stiff and they are causing the strut to reach full extension too violently. Basically, I believe the struts are acting as limit straps. I've talked to AC several times. They maintain that they've sold 1000's of these kits and no one has had these issues. I can't think of what else would be causing this. Is the 03 pathfinder different than earlier R50's somehow? Any advice or information would be greatly appreciated. I don't know what to do at this point. I am seriously considering abandoning the AC coils and going with OME coils instead. I figure maybe less lift will eliminate the problem.