Mr. Pickles

I am seriously drooling in the general direction of your truck. Me likey! Pro-4X is the replacement of the Nismo off-road package, correct?

Sounds like fun. I ran into similar but milder fun with my idler arm. I just left pitman the hell alone at that point. Ditto on the ES swaybar bushing kit when I swapped them plus most of the front suspension. I also ended up doing the crowbar and pull method, but they eventually lined up and have been good for several years now. Ever the precision guy, I just have to imagine you cringing at some of the redneck ingenuity the rest of us come up with.

That looks about like the beast. BTW I found the easiest way to do it (I also did a single filter relo) was to mount up the hoses, adapters, etc. to the mounting filter plate thing, but leave them loose on the other end and tied/taped together, then thread on the mounting plate to the block and twist all the lines along as you go. Granted, I have a body lift so I could easily stick all the stuff out the wheel well. Then go back pull up and and tie in the lines where they go. The rough instructions I got were to the effect of put the plate on by itself way up there under the exhaust where you can't see, then reach up and hook up the lines with hose clamps and such one by one, then move on. F that for sure.

That wire was toast on mine too, and it wasn't clear where it hooked up. I wouldn't just ignore it though, as you can buy a good ground cable for $10 or less and reconnect that wire to a good ground. I've done this type of thing on both my Pathy and my wife's Acura, making a new ground from the block or frame to the battery terminal. A solid extra ground to the engine and body should not hurt, and can only help AFIK.

Nice, yeah 5112 sounds right for Rancho, but I heard the same schpeel from the local 4WD shop that they also make the Pro-Comps. Apparently while there are many brands of shocks, there are just several companies that *make* shocks and then rebadge them. I wouldn't worry much about popping out your springs. I've run mine for 5+ years and stretched them to the point the tire is below the body and frame, with no issues. I've also heard of guys adding in some simple tabs at the spring mounts bottom and top, just something to keep them in place.

Check the starter again, just in case, though I know its a pain. I've had one that tested fine one day, then I put it back in and nothing, took it back and it tested bad the next day. You can *tap* the starter casing too with a hammer or wrench, that may make it work/not work, but its a bandaid and won't work for long. After that, go to wiring if the battery is fine. My truck has 175K miles, and over the years I've had to replace the + battery cable (to vehicle and starter) and - as well due to age, big stereo, lots of lighting, all of the above. All told, its maybe $40 total and some time. I also had something go bad in the ignition circuit about 2 years ago. I'm not sure what, but even with the new cables, good starter, etc. it still wouldn't start. I traced the ignition circuit back to the firewall, then when that was fine, I tore the steering column apart and started at the ignition and went back. No go, everything tested fine that I locate. I ended up re-wiring directly from the ignition, bypassing the Interlock switch as well as the rest of the wiring and started fresh from the column and wired directly (fused!) to starter. Its not exactly ideal, but it's held up fine so far. Just a thought.

Ditto on Summit for the kit. I believe mine was Permacool brand. Slick gave me the part # that I can't seem to recall, but I mounts to our truck's filter location, and then the relo adapter takes a basic small block Ford V8 filter, meaning added oil capacity (an oil change now about 4+ quarts... which is a good thing) and you can find the filter anywhere for CHEAP. (other brand/make filter sizes are available of course) Mine is mounted right on the passenger side fender behind the battery. One of the best mods I've made on the rig for sure.

Just in case you're wondering, that/those Pathy's are not Mr. Jim's. Mine is the one on the left. This was taken few years ago at Evans Creek ORV area, WA near Mt. Rainier. A side note though, my first trail run in my rig was with Mr. Jim & co. See ya soon Jim!

This is what I have, not too great but you can trace the lines.

Holy cow, I got off topic. Just for your notes... my Pathy has PIAA 40 series (old, $40 on feeBay) driving lights with PIAA 55 watt bulbs which I haven't had to change since i bought them like 5 years ago, along with Sylvania Silverstar headlights (for now) in stock housings, but I added a relay and new wiring to bypass stock for the headlight circuit = BRIGHT light. As far as the lights go, "bright as hell" on your end doesn't necessarily = good on the road. Its the light's housing that focuses the light's output into a useable beam.

I can't seem to find pics, but my 3" or so suspension lift is similar to Bonez, and then I later added a 3" body lift too. Ditto to the comments on cranking the torsion bars. If you want to go pre-running, I'd suggest aftermarket t-bars for the extra strength. The body lift would probably add too much top-heavy weight, though I'm sure you know that. You may run into tire rub though with just the suspension lift, so you might look into some aftermarket bump stops. As far as T-bars, I went to with Sway-Away if you're interested, and there are others. I've run them flat out a couple times on logging roads along with Rancho 5000 shocks, upwards of 90mph, and have jumped several times fooling around, and all is good. You can get the same lift though by re-indexing the T-bars, as has been discussed, though I can't comment on performance or longevity.

Nice duct tape. I would recommend on further exam, just cutting in like this, and removing the stock stuff and installing grade8 or such regardless to match the block lift kits. Those rear mounts were a beast to align anyways, and we ended up cutting in anyways to torch and oil the captive nuts. As long as those rear mounts are securely bolted, they're fine and so is the body. My 2 cents

Call me conservative, but key words here: top half; is in the process of having a Super Charger; guy can't finish; not too sure; it's had a performance shop do* some* of the blueprinting and work, but still needs to be completed. There is a reason why this person walked away, economy or work either way. Sounds sketchy and/or expensive to me without a full breakdown of what has/has not/should be done.

If you are on country roads and such, have you considered buying a decent X brand fog/driving light housing (PIAA, KC, Hella, etc.), and then installing an aftermarket HID kit? I found a decent pretty much plug-n-play kit on eBay for around $55 that I put on the wife's car (in the stock Acura headlights). We've run them for 6 months and probably 8+K miles now I've tested by driving in front of the car in traffic, as well as oncoming on the highway, and its not bad at all. They are AWESOME in bad weather and such, and they light up the road incredibly without blinding other drivers (results would probably depend on the car/light housing used). I stuck with the 6000K version IIRK, its pretty much just bright white with a hint of blue, but the result was great! I'll be doing the same for the Pathy's trail lights shortly. Just a thought. By the way, my original point I didn't get to ( ) was that HID uses a tiny amount of power through the ballast in comparison to trditional lighting. Something like 35watts vs. the tons in aftermarket lighting. Here's the stock vs. mod

Not in the mag, I saw previous posts here. I need to replace the rear link bushings, and for the price I'm thinking I might replace the whole things maybe, we'll see.

Nice, I saw your post earlier. I may actually be in the market, depends on my funding after tires and stuff coming up. I've got crap bushings in the rear links and a Lock Right and a heavy skinny pedal. You think these would hold up?

Oh, this brings back memories. I also did mine alone, and took a slow long weekend with online help from 88' and others. I had some minor issues, mostly a frozen mount bolt That slip steering shaft is sketchy feeling, but its been on mine stretched out and wheeled for probably 5 years now. I put it half in a vice per 88, clamped down some vice grips on the shaft below, and beat the living !@#$%&* out of it for some extension. Nice job on the blocks and jacks, I was chilling in a parking lot with a 2 1/2 floor jack, the stock bottle, some jack stands, and the HOA president breathing down my neck. Ditto on the fuel filler and the in-line extension, that took some elbow grease. All in all, the whole thing is ok though. BTW, if you're still screwing with your lower radiator hose, I took mine and flipped it, trimmed just a little, and its fine to this day.

I'm not sure on UK wiring vs US, but if you only need to wire them so they are only active when your sidelights (parking/running lights ?) or headlights are on, and if you can't locate a decent source to tap otherwise in the wire harness, you should be able to locate a parking light (this would be a side marker light that comes on before the headlights) near the light source and tap that circuit to activate a relay for your new light install. The relay needs very little power to trigger it on and power the circuit. I would avoid the headlight circuit, though.

Its just the right side pic in my sig, and truck stats, but it made me smile. thanks

F'ya sir. Kickin strong, just been laying low lately. New front steering (CL, tie rod ends, etc.) last winter, new ball joints, CV's, etc. around the corner, and 32's or 33's coming soon enough. Must. Wheel.

Holy cow, I'm rusty, meant to post to General. LOL Gracias, seniorita!

You can't access it online on their site yet (May only so far), but my rig is in the June '09 Readers Ride sections!

Rear locker, for performance and availablity. I bet if you get one, you'll forget about the front all together.

Yikes. Good to hear you're ok. I vote chop it, cage it, maybe get handy with some plexiglass for a shield and over your head, cut up the fenders..., and make a trail killer out of the truck.