Methfinder

After being depressed over the $1000 price tag for one ARB locker, I decided to do a little research so that I might discover a relatively cheap traction aid device. I can't seem to find any type of locker that's cheap, and my pathy doesn't have traction control. LSD seems highly controversial. It works, but you can't turn it off. It turns out, a surprisingly little known trick in the wheeling world is simply tapping the brakes to briefly give power and traction to that wheel spinning in the mud, ice, sand, or snow. This kinda works. It works much better when you can apply your braking power to just one wheel, more effectively diverting the power where it's needed. I figured a cutting brake would work for this, and it's no where near as expensive or complicated as installing ARB lockers. I'm not saying it's a replacement, but it seems to be the cheapest fix to my traction dilema. It would aslo be cool to turn on a dime like a skid steer. I'm not the first to think of this though, not by a long shot. Tractors have been using this idea for years. Jeep finally caught on, and is now using something similiar as a cheap alternative for the Patriot. they use an electronic braking system that works automatically. Check out the video: I've seen and read enough evidence to convince me it works. Pretty soon I'll be doing another short build thread letting everyone know how it goes. I'm eager to do a little testing of my own. My guess is that using a manual traction aid device, like cutting brakes, will take some getting used to, possibly even some skill if I want to stay moving while driving up something. anyhow, let me know what you all think.

So, still working out the long-term problems my modification has caused. The sub-frame drop fixed the C/V axle boots from tearing, and I no longer needed the limit straps. After about 3k miles, I ran into some diffaculties with a power steering hose I didn't see when I was lengthening everything for the drop. Seems the sub-frame drop also lowered the power steering line on the back of the power steering resevoir (the one that is half rubber hose, half hard plumbed, and runs down to the steering components with a banjo fitting). After losing my power steering, accompanied by the smell of burnt rubber and power steering fluid, I realized that the hose was touching the exhaust manifold. It slowly burnt through the heat wrap and made the line burst. I ended up cutting off the crimp where the rubber line connects to the hard line and re-securing it with a hose clamp. I also "carefully" re-routed the metal plumbing away from the exaust so that it was positioned between the manifold and the steering. I replaced the heat wrap with zip ties since it still sits fairly close to the exhuast by a few inches. If I'm not mistaken, this is a return line, so I shouldn't have to worry about high pressure blowing past my hose clamp. So far I haven't had any problems. All in all, it was a very cheap fix. ($10 for new length of rubber hose and new power steering fluid) though, it wasn't easy to reach, and I was fixing this while laying in snow. To get the hose off, you have to diconnect it from the resevoir, and remove 3 bolts, and the banjo fitting. one of the bolts is very hard to reach, but can be accessed if you remove the tire.

If you compare them to coil overs they're expensive. But, compared to other high end competition shocks, they're not too bad. They are designed for guys running in the King of Hammers with their $70,000 rigs. Everything is relative. I'm sure a weekend warrior version of the ORI is in the works. My pathfinder build is mostly for the sake of gaining experience with the unibody design and IFS in general. I wasn't trying to stick to a budget. May my frivolous $$ spending lead to something everybody can afford.

Mine handles good on the street. I just drove across country in it. Depending on how I play with the pressures in the top and bottom, I can tune these to ride as stiff, loose, high, or low as I want. two 10" struts run at $1290. Mine are custom with 12" piston shafts and a trimmed lower mount so that they would fit in my special spindle mounts. You would have to talk to the owner of the company (Mark) and specify that you are modding a Pathfinder. the sub-frame spacers, front brake lines, and steering linkage were $475 from KRfab. I made the skid plate with metal I already had. I already had the coils for the rear. They were from a 4" Jeep TJ lift kit. I think others have made f250 coils work for the rear. I figure you could make a lot of stiffer coils work so long as you are handy with a vice and a heating torch the extended power steering hose was $90. You would have to find a place that does automotive hydraulics that could extend the hose. My video camera doesn't have sound, but I could do a walk around. It might help clarify some of the pictures.

I forgot to mention that, before installing the sub-frame drop and everything that went with it, I upgraded the struts from ORI's ST to the STX. They work great! I would take the time to write an extremely detailed write-up on the entire project, but that would be extremely long (especially the sub-frame and timing belt part). So, if you have any questions, I would be glad to answer.

After finishing all that, I figured I would make my own heavy duty skid pan out of 1/4 inch thick steel, thick tubing, and cross braces for additional strength. The original one just wasn't going to work.

You can see where I had to re-mount the ABS sensor. I simply unbolted the bracket holding the wire in place, and moved it down a couple of inches. I was able to re-mount it with some self tapping screws.

I had a place in Georgia called Wizard Automotive fab me up a new power steering hose. I noticed that the sub frame drop put my original hose on a bind. They used my original hardware (metal pipes and banjo fittings), but with a 4" longer hose. They charged me $90 for the new hose and labor.

This is sitting close to ride height. My new c/v axles should last much longer now!

A bunch of new stuff here. Transmission cooler lines, extended differential breather, Drive pulley (I broke the original one while replacing my timing belt), extended power steering hose, steering linkage. For the power steering sensor, I cut the wire in half and soldered in 2- 4" wires. I covered my soldering job with shrink tube. I believe it to be a much better fix than butt connectors. I covered that with electrical tape to insulate the wires a little better.

I don't think they will work after cutting them in half with the hacksaw.

Yes, I've been there. You should try snowboarding, it's not as hard on the knees as skiing. At least after you learn to stay up. Are there heavy restrictions on land use in Chile? I live in Georgia (South east U.S.), and I have to drive 3 hours and pay mucho $ to go wheeling anywhere here. From what I saw in your pictures, Chile has awsome places to ride. How far south were you?

That's good to hear. Between the timing belt and this sub-frame drop, I've got a bit of work to do. By the way, your pathy es bakan!! It's good to see Chile getting into this sport. For a guy that loves 4x4's and snowboarding, Southern Chile is heaven.

Krfab's 4" sub-frame drop arrived today. I purchased a fairly stripped down version for my custom project. Now that I've re-learned how to post pictures, more are on the way. This time, I'll use a real camera. Sorry for the cell phone pictures I've posted so far.

yea, i just bought one. It should be here thursday. I ran a 3" lift for a year without it. It eventually tore the cv boots, but they were dry rotted anyway.

I took my front sway-bar off. I think my rear sway-bar is keeping my brake lines from tearing, so I'll leave it alone. Did you extend your brake lines in the back?

I've had mine in the dunes over in St. Anthony, but I stayed close to the lake. For those of you not familiar with St. Anthony, yes, there is a lake in the middle of the dunes. Even then, I was paranoid of getting stuck in the dry, soft sand. If you're driving in the sand, keep a close watch on those CV axles. If they tear, like mine did, you'll have a big problem. I steered clear of sand last year because both of my boots are all torn up. Replacing axles may not be so bad, but I hate to think what might happen if you manage to get sand in the transmission.