mjotrainbrain

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've always kind of wondered about this too, but it isn't as if I'm not guilty of ignoring ToTM either. That being said, as soon as January pops up I intend to go get some good pictures and see if I get lucky.

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?

Lucky me, I got the Traxxas VXL-3S brushless system for Christmas! And man, is my Slash fast now! So far I've destroyed one driveshaft and when I hit a lightpole I destroyed a lot of a back corner...lol. Time for more upgrades, but man is this thing a beast! I almost can't get traction it's so powerful.

Holy smokes, what a sweet deal!

Installed a CB radio, back the blue window sticker, .44 valve stem covers, and threw some new tools in my trunk tool box. Thanks Santa!

Thank you, that's exactly what caused my confusion, thank you for clearing that up! That is excellent news, hopefully I can order the Mile Marker hubs soon then.

Lady Gaga

Short update... The other day I lost control around a corner (luckily going slowly) and tapped a tree. There's some damage on the passenger's side front end but I have most of the parts I need sitting in the basement from the junkyard except for a headlight and a bumper cover. I'll post pics once I get a chance to install it all. I'm just going to leave the bumper damaged for now, as hopefully it will motivate me to upgrade it and as for the headlight, wow they're expensive!!! So yeah, that's staying damaged until I find one in a junkyard (it still operates, don't worry). The fender is also gold, but that will have to do until I can have it painted and pinstriped in the spring. Anyway, this kind of ruined my timeline for getting some 32's and new wheels, so my new goal is to have that done by the time I go on spring break. Also, I'm having a real hard time finding anything that lays to rest the issue with manual hubs on R50's with Auto 4wd. The switch on mine has the options 2wd, Auto, 4Hi, and 4Lo. It sounds like I may not be able to use manual hubs due to the front half of the drivetrain needing to be engaged to do something involving a pump and the transfer case? I don't use 'auto' mode ever, so the concern of accidentally using it with the hubs unlocked doesn't apply to me, but I am concerned about this pump issue. If it's not 100% sure to be safe for me to use manual hubs on my Q I won't , but I would like to, as my winter mileage has set in at a nice 12mpg.

I'm personally a big fan of the Axial trucks, as they are realistic and have good run times.

Like, surface scratches? I doubt they're all that bad if powercoating hides it...however I can understand your preference to hide them, as some customers may not be very understanding. As far as I'm concerned, it's a skidplate; scratches will happen anyway! If you could offer an option to have no powdercoating, I'd probably take that over powerdercoated. The only one that I would prefer powdercoated is the front, as it is fairly easily visible and black just looks better than silver.

Wow, good score! Will you be lucky enough to get it in time for Christmas?