mjotrainbrain

Yeah...I'd love to go real big, especially considering most of the Jeeps I wheel with have 35's, so I'm thinking I'll probably go with the SFD. My concern is, if I don't do AC right away as well (which I don't want to; 6" is a little too much for now), then the diff will be pretty low, and that does concern me... I might end up having to apply the 'go big or go home' theory here, do you think 33's would look too little on a 6" lift? I think CDN_S4 had that setup at one point, I'll have to check.

Good news! (In James May's voice) Unfortunately it's not the Dacia Sandero, but this is better; I finally have a date when my truck will be going in for the front winch bumper to be fabbed; Feb. 27 - Mar. 3. Right now I'm 99% sure I'm going to go with a tube design to save weight, but may add panels onto it to give it a cleaner look, I'm not decided yet. I'm also planning on running generic trailer lights for turn signals and will save the fog light wiring as a clean and easy wiring job for some LED pods later. I think the suspension will do OK with just the weight of my bumper (based upon highly scientific tests where I had people stand on the crash bar and said 'yeah, that's not too bad' ), but I'm confident I will need to do something when I add a winch. I don't want to go really huge with a lift but I want more than 2 inches, so I'm torn between two options: 1) AC coils and 1 inch spacers: CV's will operate within 'safe' operating range technically (not binding), but will probably wear out fairly quickly, even with manual hubs just from offroad use. Should give a total of 3 inches of lift and the suspension will handle the load well. 2) 4" SFD: Suspension will still droop a little, but I figure even if it sags an inch that will be 3 inches of lift in the front, which will go well with my 3.5 inches in the back. Ideally I'd like to do AC coils and an SFD, but this is my DD and it gets bad enough gas mileage as it is, lol. What do you guys suggest? I know neither idea is ideal...I also would prefer to do a 4" SFD as opposed to 2" or something combined with coils, as I like the fact that Steve has a skidplate available for the 4 inch, and measurements for steering extension parts are readily available.

I don't know enough about this issue in order to be able to help you at all, but for posting pictures you have to use a 3rd party website to convert the images into a URL. I use PhotoBucket; it can be slow and has lots of ads, but if I am patient it never fails to get the job done. Good luck!

Are those ProComp Series 97 wheels? And to be clear, they do fit those tires without rubbing the strut?

Wow, that is super clean!!!

This just occurred to me...I've heard of people with post-facelift R50's having issues fitting a 15" wheel over the calipers. You must not have had this issue (or at least it was only to a smaller extent), so what wheels do you have?

135K miles on my 02 QX4

Don't forget in the door sills!

Are there any? I tried to find out in the regional section, but I feel like nobody looks down there, lol.

I definitely see where you're coming from, and I'm sure Xterra discussion that fits in with WD21 stuff would be welcomed. It's the possibility of a slippery slope kind of an issue though, as then others may want an entire Xterra section added and then Frontier and then, and then, and then... you know what I mean? And in terms of the QX4, it is literally just a Pathfinder with some subtle cosmetic changes, whereas the Xterra has similarities, however plentiful they may be with a WD21 but is simply a different vehicle. And I agree, not trying to start an argument, just putting this out there since you asked. We're all Nissan guys here after all!

Interesting. I've always been torn on the looks, I can't decide if I like or not. But in terms of cost, the guy I'm going to have do my work for me quoted $800 for a plate bumper. I figured it would at least be worth looking into how much he (or somebody else since modification requires less of a creative eye than fabrication) would charge for the necessary modifications. But thank you, your points will be taken into consideration.

I'll be interested in seeing what you do with a 4Runner bumper, but hopefully I'll have done my bumper by then. Knocking chunks off is fun and all, but it really starts to lose the fun-factor when you're kneeling in a muddy river in your driveway hosing off the chassis.

Or any XJ bumper for that matter? Specifically what I want to know has to do with the fact that I've seen a fair number of people put XJ bumpers on their trucks on here, but how satisfied have you been long term? Would you do anything differently if you had the chance to do it all again? The Rough Country XJ bumper seems like such a convenient way to get the job done and everybody who's done it seems initially happy, but are there regrets later on down the road? I'm seriously considering this as my next big upgrade, but I want to make sure I won't think I've wasted my money later on down the road trail. Also, please post links to any threads containing information pertaining to this topic please. I think I've found enough useful ones for what I need, but more information is never a bad thing! http://www.nissanpathfinders.net/forum/topic/36674-xj-cherokee-bumper-mod/ http://www.nissanpathfinders.net/forum/topic/41245-arb-or-off-road-bumpers/?hl=%2Brough+%2Bcountry&do=findComment&comment=769373

Well, because it's mostly a Pathfinder only forum.

Leave it dirty for a bit, might as well enjoy the nods from other 4x4 guys on the road and the looks of astonishment from little kids, that's half the fun! Now that you've got your drivetrain sorted out, have you got any bumper plans?

Warn (or Mile Marker) hubs allow you to manually disengage the front portion of the drivetrain when using 2wd. This reduces wear on components (namely the CV axles, especially when lifted) and improves gas mileage. For the cost, they pay for themselves before you know it. That being said, I haven't bothered getting a set for myself yet.

In terms of stiffer, I believe that is the stiffest direct fit you can find. However, there are other options you can play around with. When going to a 4" lift people use springs from a particular Jeep (WJ maybe?) so maybe you could do something with that. For a couple weeks I had Old Man Emu rear heavy duty coils for an R51 Pathfinder cut 4 inches on the back of mine. It gave at least 6 inches of lift and rode like @!*%, but with 300lbs of sand in the trunk it squatted less than an inch. So depending on what you want to do, options exist, they just may require a little fab to make it work. Edit: Maybe Old Man Emu rear coils for an R51 in a medium strength is stronger than the 4x4parts coils? Might be worth looking into. You'd have to cut them down of course and would run the risk of them being too stiff, but again it all depends on how hard you plan to work this truck vs. how it has to do daily driving with no load.

I don't think anyone would, we're all crazy and we all love Pathys!

I paid $8000 for my 2002 QX4 and I know that was too much. Mine was stock, but also relatively low miles (125k) and excellent condition. At that price, it would be cheaper to get a $5-6000 one (would still be able to find a good one in that price range), fix it up, and mod it. OME suspension and tires and stuff sound good and all, but that can't be much more than 3K. Also, the fact that it's modified and has been in an accident would make me cautious about hidden issues. Used 4x4s that have been used offroad may look appealing, but you'll be better off in the long run getting a stock one that was well maintained.

Parking here is fun, whether there's a foot of snow or muddy grass! As long as I keep to these tracks I'm allowed this space.

I agree with Citron, having the color made is probably your best bet. Last winter when I had my rocker panel repaired a local body shop was able to match the Infiniti Obsidian Black perfectly and it looks really good, worth the extra cost for sure. Even if it's going to get pinstriped, at least it will be the right shade of damaged paint!

Can't believe I forgot this, but I got a CB too! It's a Uniden with a Firestik antenna. For now it's plugged into the cigarette lighter; I'll hardwire it when it isn't negative-cold degrees out. (Don't mind the spray bottle, it may or may not have been my windshield washer tool for a while (quick washes at stop lights got interesting looks)) I'm also pretty happy with how the back-window sticker collection is going (more off-roady ones on other half of window, not in pic). Just added a thin blue line sticker last weekend.

Thanks! That's what I thought, but I figured it was worth asking before inadvertently doing something stupid! A full snorkel would be great, but since this is such a clean truck I'd like to keep the snorkel nice and clean as well (as in no PVC; the look works on some rigs, but I don't think it would work on mine), but I'll ask the fab guy when I go in for the bumper what options he can offer. Michigan trails have three things; snow, mud, and sand. So yeah, snorkel sure would be good. And I agree, it looked so sad! Normally the rectangular headlights on the QX4 look nice and aggressive, so it devastated me every time I looked at it, lol

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year! Michigan has strange weather, so for one day over the holiday week it was about 50oF! I took advantage of this weather to do the necessary bodywork to my QX4. I also met with a guy who runs a local 4x4 fabrication shop and got a quote for a front winch bumper. Looks like it will be about $500 for tube and $7-800 for plate. While there I took a look at some of the projects he was working on, and I feel very comfortable with his workmanship. Being a poor kid, I'm going to be doing the tube bumper once I have the cash, hopefully by February. Anyways, this is what the damage looked like before I had the chance to fix anything. The picture doesn't show it very well, but the fender was too bent to reasonably restore, headlight is damaged (but still operates, and is still on the vehicle), bumper was cracked, crash bar bent, and windshield washer reservoir shattered. This is what it looked like at the halfway point in the operation, when it was more disassembled than I have ever seen it! Kind of scary, but cool as well. And this is the finished product. Not as good looking as it was a month ago obviously, but I'm sure that by the time I have everything complete here it will be better than ever. It is currently complete with fog lights zip-tied to the crash bar! I hadn't planned on doing this, but it turns out the turn signals are integrated into the fogs, so that's something else to take into consideration for the winch bumper. On the passenger's side we obviously have the windshield washer reservoir, but what's the tubey thing on the driver's side? I though I had read on here at one point that it was part of the air intake system, but my dad thinks it is something do with the engine (can't remember what he said exactly). In either case, is it something I can relocate/remove, or will I need to plan on some kind of protective plating around it?