mjotrainbrain

Took it to my favorite body shop today. It's where I got my fender painted this spring and my rocker panel and door repaired 2 winters ago when my dad crashed it into a snowbank. They told me it would be about $400-$500 to fix quarter panel rust under the fender flare (might do this), told me they can't do repairs on the strut tower for liability reasons (although my rust in there is minimal, just 1 small crack about two inches long on each side) but they recommended a place that might be willing to do the work (I might just have a buddy weld some steel in there and call it good, and I'm scared to go see what the Nissan or Infiniti dealers will say/do about it), and they quoted me about $300 on an undercoating which sounded fair until they told me they don't do any kind of rust proofing, at which point they guy I was talking to was very honest and suggested going elsewhere or doing it myself. Not as productive as I'd hoped but at least I don't have as many worries/questions about my rust situation anymore. Edit: Also, why isn't this thread pinned? Seems like it should be

Thank you very much! The suspension goes much easier if you have somebody helping.

Hopefully that solves it, let us now when you have the new part installed and you try the hill again!

It definitely feels much more stable, especially with the wider stance from my wheels. Obviously still have to slow down a lot around corners, but you can't feel it leaning as much if you take it too fast. I haven't replaced my rear shocks yet so the rear end feels a little light.

First of all, thank you! I think if you had 1" spacers front and rear it would be a lot more level but would still have some rake. I'm considering doing that, but I'll wait until all the heavy stuff in the rear is finished to decide. I am using camber bolts. You'll still need them because it will still be higher than stock; camber can occur due to spacers or coils, it's only negated by a full subframe drop.

Currently I have a Curt roof rack with extension attached to my factory cross bars using the included u-bolts and brackets. Although it doesn't seem to move around with my spare tire up there, I want to make sure it's very secure, as I intend to add limb risers, which will obviously need to be very tight. Previously I had it mounted with 4 bolts directly to the roof rails which although secure, was maybe a little bit too secure, as I found out the next time I took it offroading (although it was extreme wheeling, so maybe it wouldn't happen again if I wheeled more reasonably?) when 3 of the 4 bolts sheared off. I've had the suggestion to use conduit hangers, however I think that would allow just as much movement as the stock mounting arrangement. Previously I had wanted to alter the mounting because the roofrack's high position bothered me, but now I've gotten used to it and am just looking for a stronger solution. Opinions?

So, any updates on this? I'm seriously considering it due to the occasionally overgrown nature of Michigan trails. I'd hate to damage a windshield. I'm thinking of running it from my roofrack to either the fender or my bumper. Problem with the bumper is that it doesn't stick up high enough and a bracket would look funny, but with the fender I could potentially damage it pushing a larger branch.

Thanks for catching that! I didn't find out they were bogus until a month after I posted them here and couldn't find the thread at the time to leave a comment...

They looks meaty!

How could you?!? Just kidding, I'm not a fan either. I always miss stuff I want to see (not to mention other issues not to be discussed here, lol). Much prefer the forum, but truthfully it is way easier to post images to Facebook plus the community is way more active on there.

OK, I'll look there!

I would, but I have a trailer hitch that I regularly need. I can tell it would be helpful though, because my rear bumper is really scuffed, even up the sides from slipping off rocks a couple times. Hope to resolve this issue with a metal one someday that I can just smash into stuff, lol. BTW... Just sayin'!

Woo!!!

That's what I thought, best prize ever! Hopefully getting it dirty soon, but I'll see. Might be renting a Jeep (going to Silver Lake dunes, don't want to wreck my new wheel bearings quite yet). I'm a big fan of the KYB/OME combo so far, amazing ride quality, can't wait to see how they do offroad. I'm most interested to see how they do at speed on a corrugated dirt road though. Rear shocks are currently stock...yeah. I need to change that.

Thanks man! I agree, the winch finishes it off really well. Only other exterior mod I'm going to be doing any time soon might be lights, so I have to decide if I want them on the bumper or roofrack. Can't wait to see yours with the rack and bumper! Will you be building around your winch, or starting from scratch?

Oh yeah, and I've been beginning to plan/take measurements for a set of drawers on the floor of the trunk (eventual goal is to go overlanding once a couple of my friends get going on their rigs), so if anybody has pics of their setup I'd love to see it! Also, for anybody who's interested, my current suspension setup is: Front: OME HD coils and 1" spacer from sfcreation. Rear: OME MD coils and 2" spacer from sfcreation. Current rake is just under 2 inches; a little more than I like, but it's fine considering how often I use it to haul stuff around.

Once again, it's been a long time since I last updated this thread. I'll try to keep on top of it better in the future (I hope). On with the update: There's been two major changes since the last update; a winch has been added to the bumper and lots of new front-end stuff has been added. The winch was won in a raffle at the 2nd Annual West Michigan Jeep and 4x4 Fest. If you can, come out next year, it was an amazing event supporting a great cause (veterans)! The winch is a 9500# Rough Country model with steel cable. I would have preferred a Warn with synthetic cable, but I can't complain when it only cost a few tickets! My front suspension was already suffering pretty bad, and this extra weight pretty much put it out of its misery. I promptly threw away three weeks worth of pay (the joys of having no expenses other than my truck coupled with a low-paying fast food job , I'll enjoy it while I can) to buy KYB struts (and associated components), OME HD coils, wheel bearings, and a pair of new CV axles. No update is complete without pictures, so here ya go! Pile of parts: All disassembled (more than I've ever seen it before)! Funny how my dad and I have gotten so used to (and quick at) tearing the front end of this thing apart. Hopefully this is the last time for a while though! This was the first job we did with a new tool, a cordless impact. Why didn't we buy one of these things years ago?!? ADVICE If you don't have an impact, go buy one!! Honestly a lifesaver, especially when it's 90 degrees and you'd rather not be laying in the dirt fighting bolts. All back together! And the one we've all been waiting for, the finished product! Can't wait to go get it all dirty. Over the last few days I've noticed a huge improvement in ride quality. This probably goes without saying, but ARB/OME really knows their stuff! So what's next for the rig? I'm not really sure yet. There's a couple of smaller things I'd like to solve like figure out my evap leak (going to start by replacing the gas cap) and bleed the coolant in the hopes that it will solve my heat issue. After that I'd like to finally get around to putting some skidplates and rock sliders on this thing. On another note, while I had the front end apart I noticed two small holes (one on each side) through the wheel well into the engine bay. It did not looks like the hazardous strut tower rust issue, just a result of 15 years in Michigan. Is it possible to buy replacement wells? Even if it is it's probably far outside my price range to have the work done so I'll probably be forced to ignore it, but I'd feel a lot better if I at least looked into it a bit. Thanks for reading, more stuff coming soon! (Like pics from a recent trail ride with another NPORA member.)

Haven't heard of anybody doing that. I don't even thing Johann has, and he's got a 12" lift.

Sounds like your mom rolls in some cool rides! Pics of the Lexus when it's ready? I haven't yet relocated my washer fluid resi, so if you have that link handy I'd love to look at it. I'm not a fan of those cone-shaped air intakes, as I figure they'll just suck in water that's splashed up, and they are often expensive too. An alternative to the expensive R50 snorkel's is adapting one from another Nissan (I think the Navara?) to fit. Quite a few people have done it with great success, and since they're so much cheaper it's what I'm going to do when I get around to it. As I've been driving on the new front coils the last few days, I'm liking them more and more. Kind of obvious, but OME really knows what they're doing!!! That's too bad about they bumper, I guess you'll just have to keep looking or take the cost one way or the other. Good luck.

I'm thinking more in terms of off-road recovery, in which case I'd prefer a hitch that's as solid as possible. A class 3 or 4 hitch is probably more than adequate (hence why I'm not rushing out to find an OEM one), but it would be nice not have stronger.

Huh, didn't know OEM was rated so high! Good to know. Too late since I already have a Reese hitch, but hopefully helpful to someone else.

Wow, looks much better! It certainly looked sad in that first pic. Glad to see you were able to give it a new lease on life Now that it's repaired, what's next?

You're probably thinking of the XJ Bumpers people have made fit. They work mostly because the frames (unibody, whatever) are the same width on the R50 and the XJ, meaning that all that has to be done to mount an XJ bumper is bracket modification, made especially easy on bumpers like that made by Rough Country which feature removable brackets. However, you have to keep in mind issues like the XJ bumper being about 2" too narrow and leaving a lot of delicate stuff down low exposed. A word of warning from personal experience, if you replace the factory bumper you will need to relocate your air intake if you don't want to suck in water. The intake is behind the wheel well liner of the driver's side and will be exposed with the bumper removed. Seeing as it seems you're trying to do a fairly complete build, I'd suggest you go for a snorkel. Personally, I completely avoided the complications of adapting an XJ bumper and just had one custom-made. Unless you have access to an XJ bumper for very cheap, you won't be saving much money versus custom. And by the way, you'll certainly want the heavy duty coils with a bumper and a winch on the front. (Kind of outdated picture, but hopefully it can serve as some degree of inspiration.)

You know, it would probably be helpful if I actually answered your questions. Questions: Will this give me a minimum 2" lift? About that, yeah. Do I need to use 1.5" spacers to compensate for expected sag of the OME Springs as compared to AC Springs? (I know Stioc used AC with 1" all the way around but changed out his OME for AC due to sag)? Depends, are you trying to replicate somebody else's setup? If not, I wouldn't worry about that extra half inch, especially if you're only wanting to use 1" spacer in the rear. (You will want some amount of rake so it rides level when loaded up with gear, towing a trailer, etc.) Open to commentary on all of above. Despite all the reading I have done, I can't really tell if I have the best choice for struts & shocks. It seems the OME's will keep the Path feeling as crisp as it did when it was new for highway & town driving but there seem to be alot of Bilstein advocates and even Ranchos? I'm planning to get the Bilsteins. They're really not that expensive for a high-quality brand. (Not bashing Rancho's folks.) I know that's a whole lot & maybe this isn't the right thread but I've been reading a ton and just didn't know for sure where to start. Welcome, and it looks like you've found a great place to learn a lot and have your questions answered! Hopefully I was helpful, if not I'm sure others will chip in!

I have a similar setup. I have a custom tube winch bumper on the front (I'm a fan of the ARB bumper, but it was out of my price range). I have the OME HD coils in the front and MD in the rear, as well as a 1" spacer in the front and 2x 1" spacer in the rear. This gives me a little more rake than I'd like (close to 2"), but I'm fine with it. In your case, only having one set of spacers in the rear should yield a very nice amount of rake. I've found the rear OME coils to be great for taking moderately large amounts of weight and have been using them for 8 months or so now. I just put my HD coils in the front on today with KYB struts. As 01Pathmaker said, KYB struts are physically identical to OEM. The backspacing issue comes when you want to run tires larger than 31", but that applies to any brand of strut. I currently have stock rear shocks but plan to get Bilstein. Overall it sounds like you have a good plan and can't wait to see how it turns out! (By the way, don't forget camber bolts.)