mjotrainbrain

Ooh, looking forward to seeing this come together! You mentioned needing to do new bumpers as well, do you have anything in mind for those?

Man, really sorry to hear this is what's happening with it. I wish I was even sorta local, but Michigan is a looooooong drive away with a trailer! Hopefully somebody out there can give it another chance at life.

Throwback pic, to May 2018. If anybody has a dirt cheap WD21 around Michigan I can turn into a trail rig I'm your sucker, I miss having stuff to post on this forum!

Another vote for "it looks good", especially the grill.

I'm assuming due to his complaint of sag, that the reason for installing a lift is to be able to take advantage of stiffer springs in the rear. I agree with your comments though. @PeteMcG003, if indeed your goal is to get better load carrying capacity in the rear, I would suggest helper air bags. There's a few threads on here about them. If you do want to go lifted in addition to increasing the load carrying capacity, I would also suggest echo the comment to avoid spacers; lift springs will save you a lot of trouble (CV wear, torn CV boots, having to redo it later, etc.), and they really aren't that hugely much more; probably a difference of ~$100. I'm a student too, so I know the struggle. A 1" spacer would be pretty safe if you feel that route is most appropriate to you. Another option would be to just get the rear LR springs and leave the front stock. They'll cheaply increase your load carrying capacity and begin moving you towards lifting the vehicle. The ride height difference will likely be something you can live with. A bit of rake on a SUV isn't uncommon anyways; a 4th gen 4Runner has ~2" of rake from the factory. If you frequently haul stuff in the back the weight will help keep the rake minimized anyways. Plus, you'll avoid having to deal with camber bolts and funky alignments.

Where's your sense of adventure!

I will add a note that some NPORA members have complained of their AC system being lacking in hot climates (like the US southwest), but I doubt you'd be having that issue this time of year in Pennsylvania.

Sounds like you have the auto climate control on your vehicle? 65 is a pretty standard lowest setting for vehicles with auto climate control from my experience, and it *should* be plenty cold if operating properly. Ensure the AC button is on when testing this (there is a button that lights up if I remember correctly). If AC is supposedly on and its still not very cold your AC system may need servicing.

Welcome to NPORA! Sounds like you found a really nice Pathfinder to work with. At that mileage I doubt the timing belt has ever been done, and by mileage it is due. By time it is very overdue, so I highly recommend changing it as a priority (do a whole timing kit that will include water pump, tensioner, etc. as well). Regarding tires, there are a lot of excellent all terrain options. I see on your profile you live in New York, so I bet snow and ice traction is very important to you. Because of that I would limit your choices to: BF Goodrich KO2 Falken Wildpeak AT3W Goodyear Wrangler Duratrac The Falken tires will likely be the cheapest and will perform on par with the other two options, but exactly which tire you go with is up to you. I would research each, there are lots of articles online comparing those 3 tires as they are all very popular choices. Beyond timing belt and tires, I would inspect the vehicle very thoroughly and address anything mechanical that isn't in 100% condition. At only 94k miles, assuming the vehicle is not rusty especially on the undercarriage, you should have many many years left to enjoy it if cared for properly.

Welcome to the forum! The R52 Pathfinder (model years 2013-current) doesn't get a lot of attention on this forum, so I'm not certain if you'll be able to get exactly the help you are looking for. I know some company's offer lift kits for that platform, such as Dobinsons, so I would start with a Google search and just see what you can learn. You'll want to stay relatively mild with whatever mods you do and what kind of conditions you put the car through, namely for CVT concerns as @Slartibartfast brought up. Maybe this particular thread can give you a starting point: https://www.pathfindertalk.com/threads/r52-lift-kit.23154/ Does you rear suspension seem to be sagging at all when towing the trailer and all loaded up? If so, helper air bags are a good option and can be very reliable if bought from a reputable company and installed well. Otherwise, sourcing springs with a higher spring rate than factory is a good option, such as from a company like Dobinsons. I will also echo Slart here as well though and suggest starting with seeing what you can do to simply raise the hitch ball. It's the least cool option, but definitely the most sensible.

As disappointing as their current 4x4 offerings are, I think Americans in general are sleeping on the Armada. Yeah it's massive for some trails, but from understanding it's just a rebadged and de-optioned Y62 Patrol. If it fits, they'll go anywhere, surprisingly capable for IFS/IRS. Overseas you can get them factory with a rear locker (maybe front too? idk), you'd think Nissan would offer a nicely optioned offroad version for the American market. They wouldn't sell a lot, but it would help their image some.

Seeing that in the thumbnail is literally the only reason I'm going to watch that video

That's a fantastic way for this story to continue!! Congrats on getting your old rig back. Mine has been scrapped so no hope of that for me... What are your plans with the other Pathy now? I vote for keep it and keep buying more - call it a collection so it sounds fancy.

If you don't notice much difference in road manners with it off, I'd say maybe try again with more load (passengers and maybe a trailer?) and then some off-road testing then make a final decision on if you went to repair or leave it off. When working on any car older than 10 here in salty Michigan USA I fully expect to cut, torch, or drill out at least 1 bolt for every job. Now I'm pretty fanatical about keeping corrosion away from anything that hasn't been ruined yet. Had to cut the front lower control arms off my 2003 4Runner, and my dad's 5 year old Tacoma isn't much better off.

Sweet wheeling action! @hawairish's rig is seriously capable, super cool seeing it in action.

Those lights would likely work well and the way you want to wire them is legit, but I echo R50JR's concerns; it's probably technically illegal and may cause you trouble using them on the road. Some states even require them to be covered when on the road, but ones that small in the bumper would fly under the radar with regards to that. If you want brighter fogs you should be able to find LED bulbs that fit in the stock housings, but a picky cop could probably get you on that, although it would be very unlikely and pretty much isn't a risk in my opinion. Unlike just dropping an LED in a headlight housing, you shouldn't have any serious negative side effects from using an LED bulb in a fog light. You may be able to find something like this from a place light superbrightleds.

What's the story on that 4Runner? Abandoned? Looks like it was pretty nice. I also thought it was your Pathy at first!

Moved to R50 section.

Another consideration, is there enough clearance between the tire and inner wheel well with the suspension flexed? Since the coil will be in that gap on a coilover instead of below it like stock you may simply not be able to fit it.

It's probably a fine idea, but I can see it getting very expensive very quick for very little advantage over a traditional spring and shock setup in general. Setup right with custom links and all the rest a rear end with coilovers would of course perform awesome, but I'd much sooner put that effort and expense into the front end or other mods; rear reliability and performance can be made really good with simpler mods. @PathyDude17's setup and @TowndawgR50's shocks and links in particular spring to mind. I'd much sooner emulate one of those setups before making coilovers fit.

Did you ever figure out if that's factory paint? I really dig the color.

Most people use an aftermarket one designed for the Pathfinder, such as this: https://www.weathertech.com/nissan/1996/pathfinder/stone-and-bug-deflector/ It may be hard to find them in your country, but I would suggest looking at companies like Weather Tech, or there are lots of non-name-brand options on eBay, Amazon, and auto parts stores. Another option is to find one at a junkyard, but most of those are likely cracked, faded, or brittle from age.

That red Defender in the last pic is sweet! Your rig is coming along really nicely too, do you have other skidplate protection under the vehicle too?

He hasn't been online in 8 years, I doubt you'll get a response. Whether it necessarily solved his exact problem or not, if your strut rod bushings are toast I'd solve that issue anyways.