mjotrainbrain

For such a poor situation I guess it couldn't have worked out better, your legal fees were a lot less than it sounds like it would have cost to sort out that Pathfinder. Now that you're still in the market, looking specifically for a Pathfinder or open to anything? Perhaps you'll be swayed now that you know such a great resource about Pathfinders exist! ??

I remember seeing this discussed before but I don't remember what it was; I do remember it was a non-issue though, just a normal thing (EVAP depressurizing or something like that?). Maybe I'm wrong, but that's what I seem to remember.

Yeah, it's tapered. @Mr_Reverse's suggestion with hitting the knuckle next to the joint is the best way to get it apart without damage. When I did mine they were trashed so I didn't care about them and that method wasn't going easily enough, so I rented a set of pickle forks from my local Advance Auto (get your money back when you return the tools) and got em out pretty easy. In my opinion the hardest part was getting the ball joint past the rim on the back of the knuckle; it barely fits. Also, if you got new ball joints with grease fittings, take note of where they're pointing; I ended up going with non-greasables because the Moog's I bought initially had the fittings pointing straight at the CV, making them unserviceable.

Moved to "The Garage" to keep R50 FAQ section reserved for FAQ's and pinned stuff.

I'm going to echo @hawairish's concerns by suggesting that you are gentle on the first couple uses to see how it goes. Looks like some good progress overall, rig is totally coming along!

Yeah, they'll hold it solid. Bigger issue is how you load it and the strain on the transmission, it's not really a vehicle intended to tow at max capacity through hilly terrain for long periods of time. I used my hitch for snatch recoveries off-road a number of times and it never bent a bit or even tried to come off.

Moved to the regular R50 section instead of FAQ's since it isn't really established as an FAQ yet.

Seems like it's past time to update your signature! How are you enjoying the new rig? Scratch it up yet?

Bayshore Blue is a fairly similar color available on R50's. I do like the idea of Cavalry Blue though! In general you rarely see blue rigs around here.

Looks great! Love the newer style carrier.

Yes, you have to host photos externally.

I'll leave it simply at the fact that @02_Pathy and @PathyDude17 have got the idea right about spacer vs spring lifts and their effect on suspension. Spacer lifts work, but you're more likely to break a CV off-road, and almost guaranteed with a taller spacer lift. As far as the SFD issue, I think you guys just had a miscommunication; it seems that from the beginning you both expressed how they work correctly, just maybe not entirely clearly. I've been meaning to make a diagram demonstrating the different kinds of lifts. Now that I have a week off between semesters I suppose it's high time. Don't want to get anybody riled up, just want to help people modify their rigs in the way which will suit their intended use best! -tacking on because Micah replied while I was typing, to say his explanation is pretty dang good about spacer vs spring.

Suuuuuuure ? Glad to hear it's still going well!

I had several XJ waves that got more confused as they went past. Always fun breaking the neck of a guy driving a big Jeep haha. On the original topic of this thread, it's always cool spotting R50's in published things. Fun to keep an eye out when watching movies.

Lots of time involved, but looks fantastic, good job!

Sometimes it would take a while after accelerating to highway speeds to decide to hit overdrive, but idk how much gears would help that.

I'd agree with this. My 3.5L QX4 with the 4.363 gears had smaller (but heavy load E) 32's but it didn't seem to struggle at all. It seemed to cruise at higher speeds just fine, but I don't remember exactly since I learned to be happy at 70. If a set of nice gears had fallen in my lap I guess I'd have put em in, but I wouldn't necessarily go out of my way for it.

Not sure what would be involved in a 4wd conversion (biggest issue would be electronics in my opinion), but if you choose to do so you may want to look into if it's possible to do a Titan swap (popular with 2nd gen Xterra's) to get things beefed up and upgraded at the same time. As far as suspension, I'd recommend going with a small spacer lift from sfcreations.com or getting an Old Man Emu kit. 4x4parts.com may have more options too. Since you're only 2wd with limited suspension travel, I'd highly recommend a CB or other radio for communication with your buddies on the trail (since you NEVER want to go alone), solid tow points front and rear, and then look into other things. Good offroad tires will make a massive difference too. Don't think there's a rear bumper or fender guard options commercially available, but if you like tube it shouldn't be terribly expensive to get a local 4x4 fabrication shop to knock them out for you. There may be others, but I think ARB is the only choice for a front bumper, so you may want to consider tube for that too, and sticking a winch on it. How much into wheeling do you intend to get? If you think this is something you'll really like and will want to take it to the next level without doing big fabrications, I'm sorry to say this but I'd suggest looking for at least a 4x4 R51, if not something with a solid axle out back. You'd be surprised where you can go with a smart line and good tires though. Welcome to NPORA!

One of several great lift-info-packed threads:

There is actually a lot of information about this topic here on the forum, just gotta poke around a bit. The long and short of it is, you're not gonna get more lift than that without an SFD, and even that is kind of pushing it depending on how you set it up; if you do that much lift with spacers expect CV damage if you actually go offroading. Since these vehicles are unibody, body lift is not an option. The "Land Rover Lift Springs" thread in this subforum is a great resource for information about an excellent lift option combos.

Could it be leaky manifolds?

Yeah, that got discuss here briefly a couple months back. Personally it reminds me of the XJ bumper look, which I like, but of course better executed. I really like how their bumpers looks on 4Runners, I'd be torn between that and what @hawairish is coming up with if I was doing it again.

Sounds properly sporty, nice!

Mine did thus a few times. Can't remember if I ever found a solution, I think it would it would just work eventually.

Looks pretty good, nice little (and cheap!) project.