zakzackzachary

Looking good! All the little repairs/replacements definitely add up. RockAuto has cheap hatch/glass struts if you need those too.

They're just some z-chain cables that I got for free from a coworker. They're maxed out at this 29" tire size so if/when I go with larger tires I'll probably just go for some real chain link chains. They make a huge difference! Since the mountains around here hold onto their snow for so long I'll probably keep at least a set in the trunk for a good portion of summer, you never know! I ordered cam and crank seals so we'll see! I'll be getting started in evenings this week with the big push being on my Friday off. Yeah it's the same way where I'm from. The snow in Juneau is very wet and difficult to drive in. Further up in Anchorage it might be more like CO/NM/UT where it's crisp and cold, more fluffy. Oh yeah and @RainGoat, after the TB change I'm going to be moving forward with a tire carrier build. I'm thinking something along the lines of this built in one, but if that falls through then it'll be a hitch mounted style. I don't know if I'm ready for a DIY bumper yet, but this wouldn't be too bad. OEM mounts are unicorn parts these days it seems.

Aimed for a trail up near 3000 ft, got stuck at around 500 ft this weekend. Ultimately the 4Runner turned us around, but I wasn't going to get much further. The cables I had helped a TON though. The snow was wet and about 18+ inches deep, that combined with the incline was just too much for me. At least with minimal recovery gear! Next weekend is timing belt, cam/crankshaft seals (maybe), water pump, and valve cover gasket day. Wish me luck.

No Pathfinder work this weekend, just a snowmageddon report. It's been coming down heavily all weekend, but that's made for some great explorin'! My Alaskan instincts kicked in and I spent the weekend driving around the Kitsap and eastern Olympic Peninsulas, just lookin' to get lost Put down about 300 miles in two days o_O Snow-driving video. More than a couple of these sightings... Silly dog tax-

I can definitely understand that, I'm thinking I like their utility a lot. Mine may go back on, but they have a smidge of corrosion on the bottom (not visible) that may have let in a bunch of dirt and rocks so the tube is full of debris! Ideally I'd cut the mounts off and DIY my own sliders/steps with tubing. I need a welding day with my shop buddy!

I'm currently sitting at the Nissan dealership, not gonna lie, I don't really like being at dealerships. I'm looking to see if I can get the seat belts warrantied, and while I'm here they're also gonna look at the two recalls. Apparently one has to do with a filler or dipstick tube? The other I think might be the strut tower. After their multi-point I'm sure they'll tell me about my rear seal oil leak, probably some bad sway/track bar bushings, who knows what else. Normally I'd turn down a scratch-tastic wash, but the Nissan is my trail rig so why not!

Threw in a new cabin HVAC fan, the old one worked fine, but clicked annoyingly. Nothing was broken, but something within the unit clicked when at even the slightest angle. Next up the good stuff. Had a long day out exploring the southern Olympics, out in the Wynoochee area if you're familiar. Just cruising some super easy forest roads, doin' a bit of snow hunting. I had my eye on some potential spots and after making it up into the snowline I found a fun path up to a lookout. Blazing fresh tracks in the snow and gaining some fresh pinstrips, the little turnout at the end provided some beautiful mountain views and fresh air. (if video isn't loaded yet, give it a bit, it gives me the URL before it's even finished uploading) Funny enough when we got home we had snow coming down pretty good! Ended up getting around 6" at our house which was a nice surprise. Here's a random neat picture from out at Point Defiance in Tacoma. And of course, totally fitting-

What method did you go for mounting low-profile? I'm just curious since there's a couple. I've used the conduit clamp method in the past, but it was a bit too low for me.

Installed new hatch struts, such a nice upgrade and now I get around +1.5" of height to help reduce forehead damage! Decided to do the mud flap trim and removed the side steps. If I regret it I'll get some Rally Armor blanks and throw 'em on, but for now I kinda like the look. Truck is a trail rig so a little dirt damage'll be okay. Side steps might end up going back on since they're handy, I just wanted to see what they'd look like. Looks like it'd be easy to fab up some DIY sliders one day. Got handy with some wire brushes and a pressure washer, then hit a bunch of the rear with some Rustoleum style paint. Didn't really have any rust tbh, but with the new LR Defender springs in the rear I was tired of looking at a dirty axle! I've got my mind on tires now as the ones on it are kinda old. Based on my research and OEM rim style I'm thinking of going with 260/70R16 (30.3x10.2R16) as that seems to have worked for user erathge. Sound good?

Awesome, yeah that's what I'm thinking, just a bit larger than the OEM 29's(??). I have some spare blank cheapo Rally Armor mud flaps I might see how they look, I'm thinking of doing something similar to Karmann and trim the OEM ones down a smidge. I'll be sure to do a through digging around on the forum for info. The current tires aren't fully worn down, but they're older from the previous owner so they're starting to crack. I'd like to get some new ones sometime this spring prior to longer summer trips.

Thanks! There isn't any hood glare, since the lights are mounted further back and kinda low, they do a great job flood lighting ahead and my favorite is the side lights! Super cool for dark trails. Next up I need to figure out new tires... I'd like to go slightly larger than stock, but don't need anything that requires trimming. Anyone have any size suggestions for my stock 16" rims?

End of January update! I've got my drawers about 90% complete. I decided to experiment with a heavy duty drawer style using skateboard bearings and 1" square bar. Would be great for a long truck bed to hold serious weight. In the future I'll save up more pennies for actual drawer slides when I do v2.0- Next up I tackled the lighting. I decided to not lower my basket and instead mount the lighting kind of low. It works great so far! Fronts, sides (both together), and rear are independent with three rocker switches. Links: switches, fog lights, waterproof 6-pin disconnect, zip-tie anchors, wiring kit, wire loom And I've had a chance to get out and do some camp spot scouting in the Olympics... And today I replaced the rear hatch glass struts (RockAuto)... So what's next- Finish cleaning up undercarriage Install new hatch struts Install new cabin blower fan (current one CLICKS annoyingly)

If you go the DIY route I've had good experience with theretrofitsource.

I need to finish up a few things, but I do have some updates. Both good and ugly- Nearing completion: Rear storage drawers for the hatch, just need to clean it up and fix my latching system. Pretty much everything other than the handles were DIY. Roof basket fog lighting, all 7" "bars", four facing front, one on each side, and two facing rear. Wiring is 80% complete, just need to clean it up a bit and wire in the switches. The ugly: After the installation of my new front struts I forgot to re-tighten down the top nut once the vehicle weight had re-loaded the springs (holds the plunger in the hat). This allowed the strut plunger to push up and down inside the hat freely about 1". After finally looking into the clunk, it has mooshed up the threads pretty good and now I can't get the nut down or off. I'm going to cut the nut off and then run a M12x1.25 die down the threads to see if I can clean it up enough that it looks safe. If that fails I can look into dieing down to a smaller M, but the strut steel looks pretty hard. In order for the die to fit fully down the top hat without disassembling the strut we're going to get creative with the die handle tool and go custom. Maybe even shave down the die itself a smidge. Luckily my buddy has a lathe and workshop. Chalking it up to one of those things. Probably top 2 worst mistakes I've ever made. Worst case scenario I have to get new struts and rebuild, I'll update my thread later with pics and updates on all my projects.

Looks like it's in great condition and should take your future mods well! Welcome ?

Also I'm thinking of doing a little forest road scout trip out from Union, WA to the Wynoochee Lake area sometime in Jan/Feb if anyone's interested in teaming up.

Add one more to the successful Land Rover Defender spring install, here's my numbers: Rear: Spring - Land Rover NRC9446 from LRDirect for $77.27 shipped to WA Shock - KYB OEM replacement P/N 343379 from RockAuto Front: Strut - KYB OEM replacement P/N 335031 and 335030 from RockAuto Strut mount/bearing/boot - KYB OEM replacement P/N SM5329 from RockAuto Spring - ARB 2928 Old Man Emu Coil Spring P/N 2928 from Amazon Sagging suspension: RR: 31.25" (FSM spec: 33.31") RL: 30.5" FR: 32" (FSM spec: 32.09") FL: 31.25" Rake: -0.75" (FSM spec: 1.22") New suspension: RR: 34.875" RL: 34.5" FR: 33.25" FL: 33.25" Rake: 1.44" Note: I had a shop assemble the front struts with the OME HD springs due to the increased compression required and subsequent sketchiness factor.

I've been slacking in the update department! Two weeks ago I successfully installed the front/rear suspension lift, honestly ran into just about no problems. I'm really lucky in that this vehicle has just about no corrosion so everything came apart easy. Thanks to everyone on the forum for providing a ton of info to allow me to prepare ahead of time! Front comparison with KYB struts (P/N 335031/0), KYB mount/bearing/boot replacement (P/N SM5329), and OME HD springs (P/N 2928). Rear comparison with KYB OEM size shock (P/N 343379) and Land Rover Defender springs (P/N NRC9446). Step 1 was build a little mini-workbench with scrap wood from the 'ol Depot. New goodies piled up ready to go on: Old front suspension (no pics of new assembled, just imagine much cleaner :P): While I was in there I threw in new CV axles, SUPER easy on this vehicle. Old OEMs were torn so I may rebuild them as back-ups. Camber bolts, I don't know if they needed them for the alignment, but figured might as well install 'em. New rear shocks. Had to get crafty with jack stands and jack to install the rear springs. Ended up disengaging the sway bar links, differential breather tube, and the trackbar from the knuckle side. This pic specifically is showing the set-up required to get tension off the trackbar bushing so I could get the sucker back on! At some point I took a break and threw some new #74 LEDs into the gauges and #196 into the license plate lights. Took maybe 15 min. Sorry I don't have any level side pics. I might take them later. I did get to test the suspension a bit out getting stuck on some forest roads near Leavenworth, WA though. 4x chains and 4Lo got me pretty far before my lack of recovery gear or back-up vehicles turned me around. So what's next after New Years? -trunk drawers to maximize organization -low pro basket mount -360 degree fog lighting to basket -new tires (currently 29" A/T, maybe 31" A/T?) And a smidge further down the line: -custom rear tire carrier off of trailer hitch Let me know what you think!

You ended up buying pipe and flattening it yourself?

Tire carrier looks great! I'm thinking of eventually doing something similar where you just cut holes in the bumper to gain access to the frame. I first saw it done on a 4Runner somewhere and it looked clean.

Alright, that's what I thought! Hopefully this other shop can do it. Maybe the first shop just didn't try? We'll see.

@RainGoat @TowndawgR50 I'm having a shop break apart and rebuild my front struts and they're saying the OME 2928 are too long and they couldn't squeeze them into the strut, but I thought they'd work with the strut. Does that sound right for an '00 R50? All my research said they'd be fine... Here are the specific OME coils I got: Amazon

@RainGoat @TowndawgR50 Tahuya is on my to-do list to just go goof around on a quiet day since it's about 30 miles from me. I've seen some vids of Foresters doing it so it looks like there's some easier options and bypasses which would be fun