hawairish

Either transmission, if the driveshaft isn't held stationary, it might spin before the opposite tire does; both might spin, too. Think of it in terms of path of least resistance. Hold the driveshaft stationary, though, and the opposite tire will spin. For the front, it's held stationary when in 4wd; for the rear, when in gear, park, or drive.

Presuming it's your front diff, the driveshaft is spinning instead of the tire when you're in 2wd. By putting it into 4wd, the driveshaft is held stationary, forcing the opposite wheel to spin. If it's the rear diff, same concept, but whether in P or 4wd, the rear driveshaft is stationary so the opposite tire will spin. Condition normal in both cases.

Yeah, I wasn’t about to pass it up. The pre-order was a frenzy...they sold out of the first batch at $795 within a minute or two. I luckily got in on that before it jumped to $895. Got an Everlast PowerPlasma 50s. Langmuir has tutorials for using Autodesk Fusion 360 for the CAD and CAM, and Mach3 as the g-code sender. I’m not a fan of either, but am still learning.

Langmuir Systems CrossFire. They conveniently popped up right around the time when I was having frustrations with local shops. They did a pre-order sale in March, paid $1K shipped with water tray. They'll start selling at retail price ($1495) later this year. The cutting area isn't huge (25" x 23") but I'm holding hope that they follow through on an expansion kit. It's a low frills unit, but was significantly cheaper than other available tables of similar cutting size. It's already come in handy for some brackets and gussets.

I scanned through about 10s of that video and was already exhausted. Way too much work; what he saved in parts, he spent in labor. Maybe I need to get into making relay panels.

Exactly, same boat here...though I did buy a plasma table, lol.

There aren't many mini-ATC (mATC) fuse blocks available. You have to look to the motorcycle industry to find more/better mATC options, but they can get expensive. Fortunately, carrying spare fuses for both sizes isn't too cumbersome. The little containers they come in can hold about 10 fuses and take up less space than a Zippo. It's the glass fuses I wouldn't bother carrying. Any wires coming from the battery are always hot, even with the key off. You'll find these hot leads going to each fuse panel, plus the ignition switch. Another lead will come from the ignition switch and back into the fuse panels for any ACC (accessory) devices. The leads are attached to power rails for distributing to relays or fuses. On that note, I wouldn't tamper with any OE leads, unless you're installing a distribution block directly to the battery and need to modify the OE terminal to fit (pretty common when installing a proper audio setup). It's trivial to add a new hot lead from the battery with ring terminal. So, let's talk options (noting this is generic for most electrical upgrades)... These are some fused distribution blocks. The first one uses mATC fuses...you can find it at Aerostitch, a motorcycle outfitter. The 2nd one is from Blue Sea, a marine outfitter. The 3rd is similar to the 1st, but uses ATC fuses. The 4th (Dorman 85668) also uses ATC, but is also modular allowing you to slide multiple blocks together, and even relay mounts (5th image). The 6th option, also from Blue Sea, connects directly to the battery terminals. There are numerous options like these from the car audio world, but many of them use glass fuses...which I avoid. I've used a few of those. The 4th one I had installed under the radio in my Frontier to provide power to several accessories (additional 12V socket, aftermarket alarm, door locks), and I've got a Blue Sea box hanging in the shadows for when I get around to installing a power inverter, 12V socket (always on), and possibly a water pump and water heater in the cargo area of the Pathfinder. One perk of the Blue Sea blocks is that they also have a distribution (consolidation point) for a ground, which may save you the trouble of finding/drilling other ground points. As far as relays go, they're pretty standard. You can get harnesses that provide some wiring leads (as shown), or you can use slide connectors. They also have relays with fuse slots. Because most relays have mounting tabs, you can mount them somewhere on the chassis very easily, or with a strip of steel or ABS, create a mount for holding multiple fuses. If using the fused relays, you can get a distribution block and some jumpers (3rd pic) to distribute power, or just splice together a low gauge wire with higher gauge wires. Normally, I'm not a fan of terminal blocks because I try to make sure all power leads (aside from those on the battery) are not exposed...it doesn't take much effort to short something when using a screwdriver or wrench around them. Plus, the plastic on those styles can get brittle, causing the separate terminals to loosen over time. Putting it all together, I usually put a relay on just about anything drawing more than 10A but it depends (stereo amplifiers have built-in relays). If it's just a single accessory in an isolated area, I keep it simple. One example is my air compressor: it's close enough to the battery to warrant a direct connection, and because of its proximity to the inner fender wall (which has a few M6-threaded holes), it was easy to find mounting and ground locations: If you plan to run multiple devices, making a custom panel makes connections very easy: You connect the main lead to the fuse block on the left, the switch leads on the terminal block in the bottom-middle, and the devices to the larger terminal block on the bottom-right. (By the way, this guy sells this board for $300!...probably has maybe $50 in parts. The use of different terminal jacket types drives me nuts, but at least it's a clean solution). These Bussman modular fuse/relay boxes are probably my favorite, but require a fair amount of effort to wire up: Long long story short...if you're just planning to install the light bar only, a single lead, fuse, and relay (like what's sold in the wiring kit), is sufficient. If you plan on adding any other lights, or anything under the hood, plan on supporting those with some distribution point. Since you'll need to run at least one wire into the cab for the switch, if you plan on installing any other accessories inside the cab, minimize the numbers of wires going through the firewall. This is may mean having the distribution block inside the cab, but in doing so, all of the wires for switches will all be accessible.

Looks good. Mind posting up some additional pictures of the engine bay and A-pillar? Any gotchas to the install?

I’d skip on a JY fuse block. It’ll probably have way more circuits than you’ll need, and getting them apart to undo circuits is like doing the job twice. There are numerous aftermarket options that allow you to start with a cleaner slate, and take up minimal space. I’ll post some ideas up in the morning.

Especially for bumpers, there's a lot of additional time and labor involved to make it worth it for you.

Most applications probably call for drilling. However, there are some high-strength adhesive foams and acrylic tapes that might suffice. 3M VHB is on that comes to mind, having used it for work in the past with success, though I don't know how well it holds up to the elements. Does the kit have mounting brackets for the pillar?

For brackets, I'm also looking into making a small metal brake or finger press brake for my floor press to make some bends. Hood hinge mounts are something on my list of things to make. Yeah, the spots vs flood vs clear vs color also boil down to usage...a "what do you need to see, and how soon?" assessment comes to mind. If you're speeding through desert trails at dusk, spots. Crawling, floods. Forested fire roads, maybe spots for straight-ahead, and floods for forest line/periphery. Some brands also support clip-on color lenses. The wiring is actually pretty simple. Although the wiring kits simplify the installation, they're not usually the path I take because they're too universal...you usually have to plan for the inline fuse to be accessible, a certain location to mount the relay, hiding excess cable length (or worse, insufficient cable length). But, the electrical connection itself is very simple. The best advice I can give with it comes to electrical connections is to consider ALL of the future (and even current) devices in the truck, then build a solution that makes connecting and adding circuits easier, safer, and cleaner. I personally can't stand rats nests of wiring, which is essentially what you get when you add something here, then something there, then something something something. Particularly in the case of adding external lighting, planning ahead is a must if you need to drill into any part of the vehicle. For a single light bar, you might be able to snake a cable along the windshield under the seal, but if you're adding multiple lights, drilling a hole in the roof might be the best/only approach...plan accordingly! Blue Sea makes some nice fused distribution blocks, great for relay and non-relay applications, but there are some simpler/cheaper fuse blocks out there. If you plan to add multiple LED lighting circuits, take a look at some multi-relay circuit boards meant for Arduino/RPi stuff (some support 12V/10A applications, . Nice, clean, and cheap (not that standalone relays aren't dirt cheap). Even if you only plan to add one lightbar, make your own relay distribution hub to support extra relays. Keep in mind that some low-wattage lights can be supported by relay-less circuits, so long as the switch supports the amperage (watts/voltage=amps), which can simplify circuits even further. Bottom line is that it's easier and better to run a single power lead from the battery to a distribution point, than it is to run a bunch of wire directly off the battery.

Dude, saw this project on FB; looks great! I'd consider kitting it out, over selling the plans. And to answer your question from FB, I put a 1/2" gap from bumper to fender on mine.

Excellent. Get ‘em while they’re hot!

Absolutely hit me up for stuff. While I do have a list of things I'd like to produce normally, I'll be up for anything custom anyone needs.

Fairly subjective, you might get a wide variety of answers in terms of making a selection. A lot boils down to budget and general usage. I'll never stomach spending the money for some brand name ones...they won't make or break my adventures. I really like the aesthetics of curved light bars that span the top of the windshield. There was one install pic somewhere on NPORA that looked great. But, they're impractical for my application: I rarely offroad at night, and in the situations where I have, I wouldn't be able to use them because I'd just be blinding the guy in front of me. A smaller light bar in a low position will serve my needs. If electrical isn't your thing, look for wiring kits...they'll usually include the switch, relay, loomed wiring, and crimped terminals. Some will include a water-tight harness, or otherwise be plug-and-play (particularly if the light and wiring are of the same brand). Harnesses that come with Carling switches (those rectangular ones) are a close fit to the rectangular knockouts on the dash, but some modification (by knife or file) might be needed, and you might have some close clearances if using the openings to the left of the steering wheel under the vent...the dash can interfere with the paddle switch operation (at least on the later models they can). The round switches install well with a Forstner bit, which leave a better cut than standard or paddle bits in my opinion. I usually drill the hole right into the knockout piece, knowing that I can replace it easily if my setup changes...if taking this route, put some disconnects on the switch wiring to simplify installation/removal. As for mounting...this is probably the trickiest part since it's all custom. If the light bar brackets are included (some aren't) using your roof rack rails might be pretty trivial...some slot or square nuts in the channel (probably have the OE ones already in there and unused...I think they take an M6x1?), matching bolts, and some pieces of plate steel or aluminum cut to size/shape would give you some offset mounting options, since the end of the rail is still several inches from the windshield line. If you're willing to drill into the roof and have access to a rivet nut setter, that's another option, as is self-tapping screws into the A-pillar (though probably not the approach I'd take...just be sure to seal any holes with silicone and rubber gaskets to prevent water ingress). If you want some custom brackets made, I could cut something out on the plasma table, perhaps even get some bends in it. We'd need to talk about some dimensions, of course.

No need for hope, they're confirmed to fit: http://www.nissanpathfinders.net/forum/topic/33354-manual-locking-hubs-with-stock-03-04-wheels/?do=findComment&comment=737467 Note that they also have a smaller diameter than the Warns, and I believe also the Mile Markers. Those two won't fit the 16" and 17" wheels with the flush-mount center caps because of the inner lip on the wheel for supporting the cap, which reduces the center bore at that point to about 84.5mm (wheel center bore is 100mm). You could grind the lip, but would lose the ability to use center caps on the wheels. The older wheels had a larger center cap/cup that didn't reduce the center bore of the wheels (but would have needed removal or modification to expose the hub dial), which is probably why you don't see the hubs having late-model applications.

Alright! I got the AC installed the other weekend, and it is GREAT! Fired up the plasma cutter to do some by-hand cuts last week, and tonight I cut my very first pieces on the plasma table! Nothing special, just some mounting tabs for a bracket to hold up a massive ventilation fan that @TowndawgR50 hooked me up with. Getting the rest of the ventilation pieces tomorrow, and will hopefully weld up the fan bracket and get things installed over the weekend. I think that's the last item on my list to complete the garage-to-workshop conversion...well, could use a TV in here, maybe move my mini-fridge from the other garage, some more lighting....anyway, details. Over the weekend, I also got around to converting all my original parts and some V2 modifications into the CAD/CAM application I was hoping to use for both my CNC router and plasma table. The application (Autodesk Fusion 360) is very frustrating, to say the least. Some issues are surely learning curve induced, and it might get me where I need to be in time, but I'm going to explore some other options first. Notably, it allowed me to cut my parts tonight, so at least I know we're heading in the right direction.

Agreed. Save up, do it all at the same time.

It’s not in the VIN. On the door jamb sticker or the plate on the passenger firewall, it should say “Axle Code”, look for he HG4X there.

I answered a few of your questions regarding SFD, gears, and LSD in another reply from you before seeing this post. Bumpers options are nonexistent, except a rather expensive ARB...probably wouldn't do much good for mudding. I'm working on producing some bumper brackets for those considering a custom route; I've built up a winch bumper on mine with the first prototype. Welcome aboard!

6" is doable, but you'll need a 4" SFD and 2" lift springs up front (OME HD/MD) and likely one of the LR springs and 2" spacers for the rear. The gear ratio is on the door jamb sticker or the VIN plate under the hood. Look for HG43 (4.363) or HG46 (4.636) in the corner of the tag. If you've got an LSD, there should be an orange "LSD oil" sticker on the diff hump on the back of the axle.

Sometimes I can stand it, but for this particular project, I’ve basically been in my garage almost daily for the past couple weeks, sweating it out. But, it would be another layer of hell cutting parts with the garage door closed without AC.

Well, looks like we're fast approaching September... The bad news is that early/mid August goal didn't happen. The good news, though, is that the conversion of garage to shop is progressing well. I added several new circuits the other week, finished installing an air compressor and lines (I #@$%^& hate pneumatics) this week, and finally put the plasma table through its first cycle (no cutting, though) the other night. The heat in the garage has became too unbearable, so I dropped some coin for a mini-split AC, which I'll be installing this weekend. Then, lastly (ugh, I hope), I'll put in a fume extraction/ventilation system. I can't explain the anxiety I've had from having to drill so many holes into the outside of my stucco house. The grand finale will be a 6" one...still building up courage for that one. Bottom line is that I'm getting there! I hit up the steel shop the other week to grab various plate scraps for some initial cuts once things are ready. I've not looked into any actual material costs yet, though, so will still need to come up with pricing numbers for those interested. As before, stay tuned. This is gonna happen.

If looking at wheels studs, I posted some Dorman numbers here: link I'm a fan of stock wheels, too, which is why I went with spacers on longer studs. I've been using the front and rear studs from that post for several years on 1/4" and 1/2" spacers. No issues, though I did also put it in some nylon spacers on the studs to center the wheels spacers better.