88pathoffroad

I got a pair of KYB GR-2 nitrogen charged shocks off the rear of a Chevy 2500 4x4 pickup yesterday. Today they're on my Pathfinder's back end along with two 3/4" custom spring spacers. One top, one bottom. Perfect fit, coils are happy to stay put as they are. I can safely say that I have an inch more lift in the rear today than I did yesterday. Up until now, I've been running Rancho RS5116 shocks in the rear, which are about 1" longer than stock 5118's. These are even longer than that, the equivalent of a Rancho 5112. Here's a pic of the KYB versus the Rancho 5116. I figured out which shock would fit by looking through the Rancho online catalog and shock specifications PDF files at http://www.gorancho.com . To use the Chevy shocks, I had to swap the bushings from my old Ranchos onto the new KYB's, which was kind of a PITA, but nothing me and the trusty bench vise couldn't handle. I also installed a set of AC's 1" balljoint spacers on the front end that I bought from a friend a while ago for $20. I also re-cranked the driver's side torsion bar, cause it was sagging a bit. Man, did that throw my alignment off! Holy crap. I need to get this aligned before I can drive it. You're gonna see some NICE back-end flex now...in a couple of weeks, I'm heading back out to Brown's Camp for some camping and weekend wheeling! I also managed to score a complete entire steering system off the same Pathfinder. The inner tie rods are kinda wobbly, but hey, if I break one on the trail I know these will fit exactly. I even rebuilt the idler arm and made sure it was ready to go, just in case. Now, if I could only find some decent CV axles to rebuild and take with me...

Correction: Bird catcher. *nodnodnod*

Yeah, it's either 4.375 or 4.625 on gear ratios. The autos get 4.6's, the manuals get 4.3's.

o.O How bad would it be on the tire carrier if it were leaking? Duh. Same for impact. It's actually more exposed to being hit on the tire carrier than on the roof. If you're using a leaky gas can, you deserve whatever leaks onto your paint. Heh.

Whatever's cheapest, and yes. Use gear oil with LSD additive in the rear diff. You can use the same thing in front, won't hurt anything.

$2.20 for 87 octane here. Most I've seen is $2.40 for 87. CRAZY.

Yup. The suspension stays the same, but the overall height increases, which changes the way it handles a little. New shocks would be a great idea if you still have old stock ones on it. I swapped shocks on mine when I did the 3" BL and I'll never regret it. And on the larger tires note...you're going to have to trim the front fenders to get 32's to fit without rubbing with a 3" BL. My 33's rubbed (not too much, but enough to piss me off) with 6" of lift until I severely trimmed the front fenders. I suggest cranking up your torsion bars a bit to level out the front end as well. That'll stiffen the front end up a skosh and make the tires less prone to rubbing.

I also used to have two Rally fog lights mounted on either side of the towhitch for back-up lights. They were wired to a in-dash switch and relay, worked pretty good for deterring tailgaters at night.

Denis: It IS locked on there. There's a good pic of it, even. http://npora.ipbhost.com/index.php?act=Att...pe=post&id=9222

The "5 HP Increase" is a complete estimate. The amount of power you get out of installing one of those depends greatly on the overall condition of the engine in the first place. If you put a cone filter on a 90 HP 4-cylinder with old spark plugs and a dirty carburetor, don't expect 5 HP!

Hey man, if you want to go this route you're going to have to accept that modifications will have to be made and that it will be a different vehicle afterwards. It all depends on what you can accept and handle. Here's a writeup I made on installing one on a two-door Pathy. Installation should be very similar to a four-door. http://www.damagedreality.com/tmaster.html Installing your own body lift isn't all that hard, and more than a few people on this board have done their own already. If you have your own hand tools and a place to do it, you should be set. It doesn't require a lot of complicated procedures, just a lot of careful steps and unbolting things, then bolting them back together. If you ask a shop to do it for you, they will generally answer like the shop you've already been to, ie, "It's too hard...we've never done one before and don't know exactly what needs to be done...we're inexperienced and can't give you a straight answer...we've "heard" other people have had problems with one...we'll have to empty your wallet if you want it done..." So, you've got a good start by coming here and asking questions. First off, search the board here and read everything you can find on the subject. Go to the AC BBS and read posts there about it. There's been enough discussion of this subject already to warrant searching for the info rather than rehashing it all over again. On a 95, installing a body lift will require the transfer case shifter (and the manual tranny shifter, if so equipped) to be modified to that it will clear the floorpan. This usually involves removing the shifter, heating it and bending it forwards. If you have an automatic transmission, there's no problem. The auto is shifted via cable and it has more than enough slack in the cable to allow for 3" of body lift. EVEN IF the kit says "manual transmission only". The only thing that needs to be done to the steering is to slide the stock steering shaft out an additional 2-3". That's it on that part. No additional modification needed. The radiator should probably be dropped down to match the fan on the engine, but some people have left it alone and it has worked fine for them. If you left the radiator alone and bought an electric fan instead of using the stock plastic engine-driven fan, you'd get a little bit more HP from the engine and it would probably cool better afterwards. An electric fan generally costs about $80-$125 and is very easy to install yourself. Otherwise, the radiator should be dropped down with a bracket kit, or the fan shroud will need to be trimmed so that the fan will clear it. Anything else?

You know, I never did like those heavy-arse unwieldy Jerrycans. I'd rather just have a lightweight plastic 5-gallon container and either stow it inside or on the roof.

http://www.Nissan-techinfo.com/Nissan/ You can download a full factory manual from this website, I do believe. You hafta pay for a short-term subscription for it, but save the info after downloading it, and you're golden.

Exactly. That's what I usually do. Lock the hubs and roll around wherever, when you need the 4WD, pull the lever.

Besides that, I replaced almost everything on my front end and it wasn't anywhere NEAR $1000. $32 x 4 for MOOG tie rods ($128) $20 x 2 for MOOG adjuster sleeves ($40) $115 for a MOOG centerlink $68 for MOOG idler arm Total: $351. How much does your mechanic charge to pop tie rods off and replace steering parts, anyway? O.o

Well, taller springs is the whole point, isn't it? Are you worried that they'll be too tall? You do know that you'll have to cut the pigtail off or heat it up and bend it out, right? That'll reduce the overall length by a bit. Maybe the springs you guys have on hand there are just a better replacement than stock units, I dunno.

I seriously hope you didn't spend $1000 on stock replacement parts when you can get an upgraded steering system for less...

Mike, what were those extra Grade 8 bolts for, anyway?

Not a bit. The auto OD setup lowers the RPM's a lot when I'm on the freeway. The only way I can get it to run at 3000+ RPM's at 70 MPH is by leaving Power mode on. *shrug*

I'm not opposed to censoring swear words like the S word or the F word and so on, but milder ones like "darn"? Ah well. Whatever works.

Yep, that's how they all sit. So do Chevys, Fords, and Dodges if you notice. That's so the rear will sit level with a load in it, if needed.

Probably pretty close. If I remember correctly, the Z24 was rated at about 130 HP and the V6 was rated at 145 or so for the 87-89 models.

Thorley and Pacesetter are about your only options when it comes to headers. The Pacesetters are junk, made in Mexico, and the Thorleys are expensive, made in the USA. You'll have to have the crossover pipe that connects the two headers together underneath modified to fit your Pathy cause that auto tranny gets in the way, but that's about it.

Those springs in that picture look more like the Aerostar springs I tried out. Variable rate (hence the shorter spacing between the top coils), and 4" overall inside diameter. Are you guys sure you have the right part number? The springs should be for the front of a a 4WD, V8, Jeep Grand Cherokee from 1993-1997. The top of the spring should have a 3" inside diameter pigtail curl on it as opposed to the rest of the coil, which should be 4" inside diameter. The rear springs are actually shorter than the front, so I don't think that's the problem, either. Maybe aftermarket manufacturer JGC springs are made a little longer than stock for some reason or something, I dunno.

A little too much, probably nothing. Two quarts or more too much, and it'd start burning oil cause it'd be spinning off the crank underneath the pistons and your rings would pull more up with them up into the combustion chamber from the bottom of the motor.