RainGoat

Only kind of, that’s why I want to elevate it about a half inch. Also, that would allow the hooks from cam or ratchet straps to fit over the lower bars-they currently don’t clear the rails & the upper bars are about 1.25-1.5” diameter-too wide for the hooks.? I’m working on solving this now for my truck. I think short spacers should be adequate but I want aluminum as mine has to sit out in the constant rain for the next 10 years. I do worry that this might increase wind noise however.

@02_Pathy Definitely talk a bit about the Cerakote at the end. It’s an involved process but I’m sure it will be news to many.

h) I wish I was getting 15 mpg. R) I’m guessing it’s the lift & tires plus AZ has high Hwy speeds & massive elevation changes. I had my basket mounted below my load bars for ease of using the bars & decreased wind resistance. I’ve noted that throwing a Plano box up there, or even a 5g Sceptre on its side, drops off an mpg or two depending on the trips average speed. While I love your bumper, it can’t be helping your wind resistance. I think plating would ultimately add back an mpg there as well. I live in 2 worlds now-my R50 has become a local only rig but I still have to consider my Mom’s T4R which is a long distance tourer-plus she can’t reasonably manage more than 3g at a time. As an interim solution, I put two 2.25g interlocking Rotopax laying flat, longitudinally, on her rack for her last trip. Those Rotopax are crazy expensive though. In the past, we used 3 3g lawnmower cans that travelled sealed in 5g type buckets inside until she got to UT & then filled them up, side by side, pointing backwards, across the back of her rack, while in the backcountry. When done, we’d use them up, let them evaporate out & reseal for long distance travel. I don’t recommend this & it’s why I bought her the Rotopax, but her old Jeep Grand Cherokee could get down into single digits mpg, especially if the rack was loaded. And we sometimes left pavement on 100-300mi trips from places as remote as Hanksville, UT. Of course, the fact that she can do two 8-15K trips a year plays into this heavily. One of the biggest reasons we went with the T4R over a GX470 was that the T4R was getting 18mpg, going uphill, at 83mph on our last trip, whereas the GX was more like 10-14mpg in normal conditions (I’ve heard 8-10mpg from Overlanders despite it being a small block V8). I hear people complaining about the T4R all the time, but I’ve been wondering if it’s a generational thing where people are used to 30mpg or more in their cars now, whereas I grew up with 20’s being awesome. Of course that was also when trucks were heavy with big block V8s to pull them around. Plus, I don’t think I’ve ever owned a car that got better than 26mpg. The fact my loaded Path could pull off 21mpg cross country used to blow me away. h) Aussies have had two extended fuel tank options that I'm aware of. One is the Long Ranger, which was a 95L (25gal) that installed where the undermount spare tire is. Not sure if ARB partnered with or acquired LR, but that's what ARB sells. The other was from Brown Davis, which was a 125L (33gal) tank replacement. R) Man, those are big tanks. h) After thinking about my own refueling in needs, I really like the idea of a small aux cell where the spare tire was. I might mock up some dimensions and request a quote from Boyd Welding (http://www.boydwelding.com/) who seem to have the process down, though I'd expect a custom job to be around $500-$600. R)[mention=37543]TowndawgR50[/mention] has been considering putting water in that spot. For you, I’d divvy it up between water & fuel. I can’t see how you’ll reasonably ever need 25-33g of extra fuel, however, water, especially in the Sonoran & Mojave, that’s a different story. 10g of fuel & 10-15g of water would be fantastic-plus it would lower your center of gravity & take some weight off the swingate. h) I saw a rather clever roof-rack setup that was comprised of a marine-grade under-seat fuel tank and an external fuel pump. R) I’ve seen that too. Just having the low profile marine tanks is good for mileage. They’re fairly inexpensive but transferring the gas out is a pain. Personally, I’ve wondered in tge past if a cheapo solution wouldn’t be to just put a cheap plastic marine tank underneath but it would take more ingenuity than I have to design a manual or electric pump to fill & drain it.

He also has done a really nice rack attachment (his is my template) & an innovative installation of LED reverse lights in the rear bumper reflector slots. It’s a VERY nice looking truck! I’ve been on him to do some write ups as those last two projects were really nice. Nice rig control at Tahuya as well. FINALLY on NPORA!

Same here. I put that hitch on 16 years ago but I virtually never throw anything away (my wife loves this about me...). I wonder where that thing is?

Ha Ha! Yeah, they can go sometime before replacement. My last one was pre-inspection too. Clearly I’ve outed myself as che...I mean frugal. (My best friend says I’m “value oriented”)

There’s a reason I’m only doing a bumper that’s a collaboration between@hawairish &@TownDawgR50.

For what it’s worth Dan, you are bringing alot of original thought & good questions to the forum. You’re definitely pushing me & making me learn & think about things!

Wow, that’s 25 gallons. Nice find. I can definitely see needing that in Australia. I know there’s a company that makes water bladders that go between the interior trim & exterior sheet metal in the cargo area of Patrols. I’ve always wondered if there was a version for the R50-I just doubted it as there’s so little aftermarket specific for us (Figured if there was one that fit a 3rdGen T4R it might work for us)

Most people just carry either a Jerry can or even “lawnmower” plastic cans on their roof. To be honest, I’ve never found I’ve needed one (though I’ve had them just in case on occasion) & I’ve spent a handful of days off-road in Big Bend NP, White Rim in Canyonlands NP & down the West coast of Vancouver Island. I’ve traversed almost all the CO passes & been very remote throughout the West. Just make sure to top off before you start your backcountry travel. I doubt I ever get below 15mpg & usually more like 20mpg highway though I usually calculate need using 17 or 18. Compared to all the V8s I’ve been with, I’m usually the mileage champion. Only those with 4 bangers seem to do better. Once your wheel no longer fits under the rear, it frees that space up, however, I think I’d put onboard water there before gas (though I suppose splitting the space up is a reasonable compromise).

I had another paragraph but stupid Tapatalk has failed to save it twice, I’m out! Ah, don’t use the less than symbol....

Mostly its been progressive failure: 2017@104K Driver/Front 2016@98K Pass/Rear 2012@71K Pass/Rear 2011@62K Driver/Rear Only the Passenger Rear has been replaced twice, the other 3 are just the originals finally going out. A buddy of mine who works at Nissan’s R&D in AZ told me part of the problem is that the O2 sensors need to wait to turn on a bit after the engine is started. This allows any moisture to be evaporated before they turn on & thereby decreases failure rates. He said there was a TSB that fixed it but my local dealer wanted me to pay $125 to flash it. I bought 3 O2 sensors on a liquidation sale for less than $45. Given it only takes me about 15” to change them out this seemed the economical choice. One has lasted 7yrs/44K & one only 4yrs/27K. The Passenger Front OEM still going strong at 16yrs/106K. Now that I’ve committed myself to this truck for another decade I’ll probably look for something better on the next replacement (unless I get a screaming deal again).

I’m assuming that’s the “Swingate Not Latched” idiot light. I like “Burger on Bumper” though & intend to call it that from now on.

BTW Josh, I saw on IG that your truck is new to you as of March. Search Power Valve Failure. It's a repair you should do right away. http://www.nissanpathfinders.net/forum/topic/17104-threadlocker-on-power-valve-screws-pics/?do=embed

Write the above down, you'll definitely be doing it again. I've done this 3 or 4 times on my '02. Once you've done one, I've found it only takes about 15 minutes (if your truck is not rust bound). Trace the line from the sensor to the plug in up top. Switch the plugs to your new sensor. Zip tie the new line to the old. Drop the sensor down from above. Remove the old sensor & replace with the new (I just used standard tools). Zip tie the lines below. Go back & cut off the old sensor & plug.

It's so true! Rust patina is actually a desert look. It's so arid there it will last forever. I remember leaving the tent fly at home for 10 day trips because there was no chance of rain. And,anything that does get wet, is bone dry in about an hour.

That's so Sonoran of you!

It does seem like you could rotate those tracks on the bottom of the RTT. You could also consider pulling the factory rack entirely & mounting to the rail below-though that might take some finagling.

Well, first off, remember it was a Jeep('05 Jeep Grand Cherokee Overlander). While a VERY capable off-road vehicle & a comfortable tourer, it was nearly impossible to service & broke all the time-until it dropped it's #4 valve seat, ruined the engine & turned a $13,000 value vehicle into a big piece of metal that we ultimately had to pay to have towed off to a junkyard (it was in Kansas City & there's just no market for off-roaders or we would have given it away to someone interested in replacing the engine). From the get go, the lights would flicker when on & stay persistently lit. No similar problem in the Path or my wife's MDX with the same lights. I did the replacement on one of my Mom's visits to Seattle hoping to make it brighter for her to see inside. As she left, she got just on the other side of the Cascades before, at night, almost all of her dash & center console went out, including intermittent radio - though HVAC still worked. A guy in a campground in Eastern WA helped her check all fuses (no simple feat as just replacing a fuse on that truck was one of the most difficult maintenance operations I've done-requiring breaking your back, not being able to see, cutting your wrists, cracking the fuses & often not getting them out even with all that). Ultimately, the cause was never identified (despite my trying to track it down in my brief KC visits) & she drove it like that for another 1-1.5yrs. I never could figure out what it did but then that Jeep never made sense & it was obvious the lights weren't working quite right from the beginning. I pulled them from my other vehicles as I did't want to chance it - though I think it was an American car thing as the Japanese vehicles seemed to manage it fine. Needless to say, I was VERY unenthusiastic about repairing the Jeep when the engine blew, especially as my Mom is in her 70s & goes remote & solo in the West almost 2 months a year. I convinced them to let me go in with them on getting a 4Runner which I expect will replace my Path in 8-12 years.

I’ve LED’d 6 cars over the past 3-4 years. In the end, the cheap ones are unreliable & burn out in 1-2yrs. They can also cause odd electrical issues-persistent light, flickering & did some irreparable damage to my Mom’s JGC. Diode Dynamics are fantastic but cost the most (they are warrantied 3yrs but mine have lasted longer than that). They make a little light that fits the glove box & ash tray.(Diode Dynamics 194 HP5 (92 lumens)) Also have vanity light replacements (28mm SMF2 (too bright) & SMF1) DDM Tuning-good & reliable. Really like my map light & considering their Sabre Headlight LEDs for my high beam once my JDM headlight units are in. BTW, I’ve gone with red as well but military friends tell me the military now uses alot of green instead of red at night because you can still read maps (DDM Tuning BA9S-5 X 5050 SMD, Red LEDs 1w(60lm)2 Year Warranty. Beam Angle: 360 Degrees, Polarity Sensitive iJDM Toy & JDM Astar have also held up well I’ve heard good things about Xtreme LED as well & I’ve used a couple Sylvannia & Phillips LEDs which I’m sure are fine but probably cost more than they’re worth. For the dome lights you can use adapters & SMD Panels. I tried a set that are RGB changed with a remote but the “white” is really too blue for me.

Sign me up! Looks great! (Funny story, when I first moved to Arizona I wondered why so many people had Free Tibet flags)

You sure know how to make a guy jealous...

Well, the rain has started-that won’t stop until July. In some sunbreaks I still want to do a thorough clean & waxing of the roof before mounting the rack. I’m also working on about 1cm “towers” between the rails & the conduit clamp (to be fair, TownDawgR50 is really working on it for me). Pathy_02 put his on with conduit clamps to the rails about a year ago & it looks great. For my purposes I need just a little more clearance. I move slow so it may take a few weeks-months.

Seems like a reasonable caution. TownDawgR50 told me putting a cooler on was no biggie so I’d consider doing that with a filter.

Okay, good to know. I somehow ended up on a couple GTR forums. Incredible amount of detail & experience there but then they’re running Supercars so I’m not so sure that info translates to an R50