bushnut

when in vegas the house always wins.

talk about stress... ya I'm trying to prepare myself for the worst. but It's my truck damit! Its the first vehicle I've owned in 7 years. Its paid for and it has never let me down. 30,000 km in two years it has never failed to start nor gone where I've pointed it. The reality is that with the over inflated used car prices up here no matter how much they might give me for it, I won't be able to afford a new(er) vehicle for sometime. If possible I'd like to be able to strip the upgrades I've done and yes I would buy another Pathfinder. Its just the right size. though I might look at a newer one. the next on the list would be an Xterra only because it's a similar and a body on frame design. a WD would be fantastic but they have all turned to dust up here. there is a RHD Terrano for sale here for 2000 but it'll probably be gone when I have money to look at it. the short list would be 1.another R50 ('01-04) so I could transfer my suspension upgrades and be less rusty and a bigger engine. 2. Similar years Xterra 3.Isuzu Trouper 2nd gen 4. Mitsubishi Montero sport. 5. 4runner. If I could find a Patrol at a reasonable price that would be the bomb. Its an outside chance.

I've got an appointment for the dealership to look at it next Wednesday morning.

Ah! Life in the Northern Woods. ya shoulda spit that 'skeeter out and used him for fish bait.

You've gone to far me lad. 2" spacers + OME springs is just to much for the poor CVs to handle. you can do one or the other not both. To do both you'll need Krypton Fab's Sub Frame Drop kit which drops your front diff a few inches thereby getting your CVs to the correct angle. for the now I'd take out the spacer kit and just run the OME springs. or see if steve will trade you 2" spacers for 1" ones.

Thanks for the support guys. talked to the dealer today (why do I always feel dirty when I say that?) they told me to contact Nissan Canada to find out if I'm eligible for the recall. Looks like I'll be spending some quality time on the phone tomorrow. as far as suspension upgrades, or whatever I can't see how that affects a rust issue. though I do know that big corporations don't make money by doing things for free. I'll keep you folks posted..

I bought mine from Cruiserparts.net. I'd never buy anything from them again. It took 5 weeks to get my parts and they tried to get me to pay three times. I paid the first bill, then they emailed me and said that the shipping and duty charges were more than quoted so they asked for more money....not a huge amount but I paid it in good faith. then the day my springs arrived I received another email asking for more money yet...I told them to get stuffed. The reason it took 5 weeks because they didn't have the parts in stock they had to get them from camel4x4.

the dreaded strut tower rust fail! I'm gonna contact the local dealer on Monday and see where I go from here. from what I've read in the recall advisory it should be fixable but I'm gonna prepare my self for the worst. I plan on going in with all the documentation (printed service/recall bulletins) I can find on what is fixable so they don't try and pull a fast one on me. What a sad state of affairs that I can't trust my local dealer to give me a straight answer, I've read so many horror stories about this problem and how badly people have been treated that I'm downright nervous to go and have this fixed. not only that but used car prices are so inflated here that compared to what they might offer me I probably won't be able to buy another vehicle for some time. and I'll never get credit for the upgrades I've put into it, nor will I be able to take them out should it be considered irreparable. wish me luck. bushnut (aka jon)

What brand of strut? outside chance that it might be faulty. does speed influence the vibration? just to be on the safe side, check to see if a wheel weight wasn't accidentally knocked off. is everything tight and torqued properly? I've F'ed that up once or twice. I'd put it on the "wall of shame" but I don't have pictures. go back and check bushings as well. any play in the sway bar end links? did you have an alignment after the struts were installed? thats all I can think to check for now. good luck.

Ironman 4x4 America, Inc. 2700 E 9th St. Ste. 400 Newberg, OR 97132 Phone: + 1 (971) 270-0078 info@ironman4x4america.com

do you notice it while driving?

more than likely the rest of the truck would rust away before the shocks stopped working....GD NISSAN>

what your have my friend are electro magnetic adjustable shock absorbers. small metal particles in the shock fluid when under an electric/magnetic field "thicken" the fluid thereby making the shock "stiffer" giving you a more sporty ride. no electric charge in comfort mode thereby giving you a softer ride. In theory. did it work when new? I don't know. maybe someone who had one way back then could tell us.

fair enough, towing is a legitimate reason to own a larger vehicle. I wasn't trying to be a jerk. Its just that I see so many mall crawlers driving around with only one occupant never being used for their intended purpose not even seeing a gravel road. I talked to an ProX4 Xterra (with dura tracks no less) owner the other day asking how he liked it off road and he admitted to have never even used the 4x4. he bought it because he liked the look and it was a good deal. Maybe I was a little jealous of him. Sometimes I hate forums, as good conversations require non verbal queues, tone of voice and gestures as well as no time lag to be understood clearly.

agreed! some people should never have made it through puberty but thats life. it's not dangerous enough. glade you've fixed it proper. I've found that most people live by the saying "never time to do it right but always time to do it twice".

why would you want a 2wd SUV? buy a station wagon or a mini van instead. The Xterra is a great truck, reliable as all hell if looked after but, It's to small to be practical and to hard on gas to be affordable. the only reason to own an SUV is the part time 4x4 function. If you don't need it don't bother. sorry to sound like an A hole, not my intention. just figured there might be better options available.

not to sound like a jerk, but is there gas in it?

after going through all the same questions as you, are the reason I settled on the IronMan springs was that they seamed like the best bang for my buck. a year in and I'm not disappointed. I don't tow very often but I have loaded the sh*& out of the truck. 4 adults, 1 90lbs dog, a 16 foot canoe and camping gear for 3 days and the Pathy doesn't sag, handling doesn't feel any different than when empty. Highway driving is smooooth, and gravel wash board is tolerable. in more rocky off road trails the added clearance and smoother articulation of the suspension keeps things moving forward. my only advice is that while you have it all apart, replace your bushings as well if they haven't been already. considering the age of your truck they are probably due. I'm currently chasing down some bushing issues now.

very nice.

HI Pete, Not sure about the VG30 but my VG33 leaks a little coolant from the throttle body. there is a temperature switch there for the cold start that pushes the throttle open until the engine warms up. Mine weeps so slowly that I haven't bothered with it.

why go off road if you are worried about the paint? scratches and dents mean you use the vehicle for what it's meant for. Off street cred? otherwise you've got a mall crawler. be proud of those dings. if you are worried about corrosion then by all means buff them out with some wax. but don't expect your truck to look perfect if you use it for what it was made for.

I can corner like I'm on rails! LOL! and now that I have 1.25 spacers it's even better except when I drive over 90kph in a straight line...then it shakes me all to hell. sometimes Up Grades aren't.

"swirl control valve"? wtf? no bucking just seems like its working to hard. RPMs are in line with acceleration but I have to give it more right pedal than I used to. and it sounds awful. the tone changes at around 40ish and thats when it starts to lag.

MAF is fine, cleaned as well as new filter and cleaned throttle body cleaned as well. It idles fine 800rpm. does have a O2 sensor code though, bank 2 sensor 2. planning on replacing that as soon as the weather is warm enough to crawl under. That code has been running since I bought it the year before last. take off is Ok, 0kph-35kph. between 40kph and 60kph it feels like its struggling and once I hit 70/80 kph it sounds just fine. 100kph tac is at around 2200 rpm. so I figure it has something to do with the back pressure in the exhaust system. though I'm probably wrong, I'm not an automotive mechanic.

what kind of idiot doesn't fix a front brake but instead stops it from working all together? He just decreased his braking efficiency by 50%. must have had a death wish. glade you've got is sorted out though. persistence is the key.