bushnut

good luck with that. Don't discount the R50, just prioritize your needs. Do you want a DD that is actually quite good off road in a stock configuration and even better with a few inexpensive mods? or do you want to build the meanest rock crawling, mud skipping, double jump flying, truck the world has ever seen? If you want loads of aftermarket do dads and "support" buy a jeep. If you want an outrageously over priced used 4x4 buy a Toyota. If you want an affordable dependable, easily serviceable, comfortable, and sometimes strangely engineered quality 4x4 by all means find a Nissan Pathfinder!

nonsense! You can do lots with a stock Pathy! Good tyres and careful driving is always way more important than "lift". as far as off road performance vs ride quality I'd have to recommend the Iron Man springs with NX4 or 4x4 designs strut spacers. The other solution is to spend a few hours with some cold beers "improving" your road. take out the high spots fill in the low ones. you can do plenty with a long pry bar, pick and a shovel. unfortunately it may be hot sweaty work. but way cheeper than a new truck.

absolutely, when you start your car it is running in an open loop. (large amounts of fuel and air) just to bring the engine up to temp. also the added drag of the trany and the cold fluid will cause the engine to rev up to compensate. I generally don't shift into drive or reverse until the revs start dropping I just let the car idle for 90 seconds or so. not sure if that is necessary but it makes me feel better.

no problems here. I run a MAC

is it auto or manual? was there any problems before? was it a gradual thing? does reverse work?

as a guy who works in a bike shop, I sell stuff like this everyday. Yakima, Thule, Sport Rack , they are all mostly the same quality. If you have the factory cross bars then expect a little over a hundred dollars per rack. if not then you'll have to factor in a roof rack as well. I'm a firm believer in you get what you pay for. I would recommend any rack that you don't have to remove the front wheel. You would be surprised how many people put their bike on the roof lean the front wheel against the car and then drive off, either running over the wheel or leaving it behind.

installed some cheep ass yellow fog lights. I'll have to do the aiming tonight.

The kind of oil you use is NOT going to reduce your oil consumption. Your engine is burning it. fix the root cause of that and it will end the consumption problem. It may be PCV valve , piston rings, some sort of gasket or seal leaking somewhere. an engine is not supposed to burn oil. it burns a mixture of gas and air. My truck has 218000 kms on it and doesn't burn or leak a drop of oil. will that last? probably not. all machines wear out and need maintenance. letting it burn or leak oil will lead to other problems down the road. I'd say fix the issue and continue to enjoy your truck for years to come.

deluxe package from where? and NO! different front end.

yea it's a 5 link...industry anomaly. yet works like a charm.

not sure of the model I have but the driver side always misses the bottom half. its as if they don't have consistent pressure along the full length of the wiper.

Anybody got a favourite brands? I've got to find an upgrade for my Bosch ones.

sounds like you've got it. there are no left and right but there is front and back. the front ones have a taper (the top of the coil is smaller than the bottom) it only fits the strut one way.

16mpg is about average...or in metric I get about 400km/tank city and 500 hwy. Less Right Foot means better fuel economy. I didn't buy a 4x4 because it has outstanding fuel consumption. If that was my goal I would have bought a VW turbo diesel, or god help me a prius. This type of vehicle, while reliable,practical,comfortable, affordable, really makes a lousy single occupant city daily driver. It is a vehicle designed to be used where four wheel drive is necessary to access the terrain. Lets face it most of us spend most of our time pounding pavement with our trucks. Truthfully a "soft roader" would have been a better purchase for most of us if 4x4 is an option we only need for safety a few times a year. The thing is this truck does every thing I ask of it reasonably well. If crapy fuel consumption is the cost, I'm gonna take my lumps and ride my bike to work more often. so ends my rant.

sure thing brother. we don't have a smert Phone so PM me your phone # and we can call or txt you when we get to Halifax.

I bought 3 spray cans from my local Piston Ring shop...I was able to do all for wheel, front/rear bumpers and grill and had half a can left to do most of my DIY roof rack. Its good stuff and has handled trail abuse well. any scratches I just smoothed the edges out with acetone and re-sprayed. Its probably Toxic as hell, but its cheep and easy to use. It does pick up dust quickly and always looks kinda dull unless you wash it often.

found this on YOUTube. not sure if it's been posted already. did a search but came up dry. Just thought it might be helpful.

thanks for the tip. but it'll have to wait until after the trip

I like it, very Road Warrior style. you said the rear brake line just blew out? that has me concerned for mine. If you don't mind me asking could you give me a ball park figure on how much it cost for parts? and maybe some part #s? thanks

thanks guys, maybe even some out of focus, shaky video

Try Rugged Rocks off road, or 4x4parts.com

Thanks guys. Unlike most Canadians I actually like driving through North Ontario. I just have to listen to Harvest Moon while I do it. We'd love to meet up with you guys, either on the way east or on the way back. Stopping for a couple of beers and meeting new people is what a road trip is all about. Pm me your Phone #s as that is the most direct way to get hold of you. (the interweb availability may be spotty, No Smert Phone.) Timing belt, alt belt and fan, water pump were all done 11 months ago! just need Oil change and alignment before we head out.

Ya! I'm really looking forward to the trip. I think the colours of the trees will be in full change when we are on our way. that road around the lakes is awesome. none of that interstate 4 lane bull crap. just 2 lane black top running through hill country, with no civilization anywhere near you. only 1 road east or west. makes me giddy just thinking about it. It'll be all luxurious being in an auto car, seeing as I've hitch hiked that stretch a few times in my life. It's a very lonely road.

I had to replace the passenger side front fender, it had a lot of cancer. I bought a used one. It was grey. I asked a local body shop how much to spray it black. they wanted $300.00 dollars. I was like it's a 13 year old bush/ camping truck, it has no value. I did it my self for 12.00 in spray paint. does it match? NO. do I care? NO. Its a bush truck/ road tripper. It does not have any resale/collector value. Does it look better than with the cancer? Yes. I firmly believe in the concept of... I bought it I will make it run as long as I can. this is not a beauty show. unless you pay unreasonable amounts of money for a used vehicle it really isn't worth anything. so I might as well keep it going for as long reasonably possible. the more mods/fixes I can do myself the better off I am.

Thanks guys, it might take a while but I'm planning a little travel log, with text and pics just so you can see the beauty of the east coast.