mjotrainbrain

Only option I know of that you can buy is Rocky Road, and they're pretty expensive. When I do mine I'm probably going to have them custom made (local shop will run about $200), however I do have concerns about strength, since if you don't tie it into the pinch seam like the RR ones do it seems that you could bend the floor on a hard slide. Perhaps somebody who has made/bought/abused some can chime in. -Matthew

What all do you guys do to prepare your rigs for water crossing/deep mud, other than the obvious diff breathers and snorkel? It's almost inevitable in the woods of Michigan that you'll end up in a mud hole deeper than the bottoms of the doors if not deeper, and I'd like to be ready. What all electronics are worth protecting? From what I understand there is some kind of computer under the driver's seat that's pretty important (I have a 2002), is there anything you can do to protect that? Wouldn't take too much of a puddle to be stuck in the middle of in order to trash that. Fuse boxes seem pretty high up, so I don't think there's much of anything else that concerns me as far as electronics, but I'm not sure where everything is. What do you do about water getting in? I've had it happen once when I was sitting stuck in a fairly deep hole, would new door seals help? Mine don't "leak" air on the highway, but I doubt they're as good as new. Once a good amount of water gets in, how do you like to dry it out? I used a hair dryer last time (the water only came in about two inches along edge), and even for the little bit I had to do it took forever to get it totally dry. Anything else to address? I'd really like to make my rig ready for the sloppy stuff so I don't have to worry so much anymore.

That's too bad! Your undercarriage is so clean, I don't think I'd be able to tell on mine! You've got a difficult decision to make.

Time for the third iteration of my exhaust tail section!

That's a lot of lift for that front end!! Is that lift you installed made up of two or three spacers stacked together? If so can just take one out.

At least you got it all done, and you have the confidence that you've got new parts in there now! Sucks to learn the hard way, but if you ever have to do it again you'll be an expert!

I honestly can't say that I have a particular length for you, hopefully somebody who has used those shocks perhaps would have a solid answer.

I like that, good to have a light. If I ever find a carrier I'm definitely doing this, there are enough people out there now with write-ups, little tricks like this, and good results to make me comfortable with doing it to mine.

Are you just going to be doing rear springs, no spacers? If that's the case, longer shocks aren't necessary. Longer shocks will give you more suspension flex (which is great for offroading!), however too much longer and you'll have to lengthen your brake hose and differential breather. I have OME MD rear coils with 2" spacers and STOCK shocks, and it is fine for my purposes, for now. It'll certainly operate fine, however there are offroad performance benefits to longer. If you're getting new shocks anyways I'd recommend going for longer.

What thickness material did you use? And aluminum or steel?

Yeah, I had 2.5" on mine, and it was fine, but at the limit. I had boots pop off a couple times which is annoying, but not necessarily a problem as long as you get if fixed before it begins to wear the CV from lack of grease.

Actually quite a few people have done that lift. With manual hubs it will definitely help, however you're right at the edge of what is possible. At full droop it's darn near binding. I'd say you're better off playing it safe and doing 2".

Not sure what needs to be trimmed on the bumper since I have a custom one, but on the fender I needed to cut a piece off of the bottom edge where the rocker panel is. If you get a chance to test fit tires that would be best, you can easily see what needs to be cut once you have them on.

If you don't want to do ANY trimming you're pretty much limited to 31's. If you're willing to trim a little bit to allow for turning you can do 32's.

CB install is very clean, I like it!

I don't have a particular answer for ya, but I agree, it is definitely concerning that it would get hot so quickly. I doubt it's cooled enough to keep that much heat down...imagine how hot it would get after running climate control for 30 minutes! But maybe Nissan's cooling for it is really clever, who knows. Hope ya figure this out, as I have some acute problems with my HVAC system as well.

It is worth mentioning if you are going to be a little while until you want to get a bumper, a forum member here, Hawairish, is developing a modular front bumper. And you're welcome, always trying to make the forum a helpful place!

Didn't even mean to end up in the hole, I was pulled over to be out of the way while I figured out where to go next and wasn't terribly successful with getting back to the road before it was too late. Luckily I was only on the edge, a couple of feet over and I would have been in deep enough to flood the interior! It wasn't a crazy suck, but I've only been stuck twice before, both at an offroad park where I knew I was in way over my head. I usually try to take it pretty easy due to having no armor and mostly wheeling on public land.

Wanted to see the video you mentioned! Always like seeing Pathfinder vids.

Good luck with that. MOVE makes bumpers as of recently, but I've never seen a pic of one mounted on a Pathy. ARB makes a front bumper, but it's pricey. I'd say do what myself and many others have done, go custom. If you can score a front Jeep XJ bumper cheap, you can also adapt that. As far as tire carriers, you can put an OEM one on, get something mounted to the hitch, or again, go custom.

It's actually about the same height since the Old Man Emu coils give about 1.5" of lift, I have it different front to rear so when I load it up for camping or towing a trailer it isn't sagging.

Old Man Emu HD front coils and MD rear, SFC spacers 2" rear and 1" front. Also have a steel tube bumper with winch up front, so there's a couple inches of rake.

What's your account?

I did the 2.5"/2" kit when I first did mine (my current setup is different), and I was happy with it. It seemed maybe a little much for the front end, as I had CV boots slip off on more than one occasion. Was probably because my old CV's had dry rubber that didn't want to bend, now that I have new CV's I have had zero issues. As far as shocks and struts, I've been running stock rear shocks for a long time. Don't get awesome flex, but it works. You can run it with just spacers for now, then add shocks later when you can afford it. Only replace your struts if you need to, none of the aftermarket options have any more travel than stock, they're just designed essentially to be a stock replacement, some better than others.

Lots of people have been using that lift kit for years, including me. I have had mine on for about 2 years, zero issues to far. It's a fantastic budget-friendly lift.