PathyGig12

Not sure why he would say your truck is too light weight for the KO2s? I ran KO2s for a few years and they were perfect in every way. Great off-road, and on the highway. Didn’t find them harsh or noisy at all That said, I currently run 235/85/R16 Wildpeak AT3Ws and I like them even better than the KO2s. They’re both fantastic though, can’t go wrong either way

Nice progress! Ive been considering the bilsteins forever but never figured out whether my 01 would be able to fit them and how much I would have to modify. I’m very intrigued by your solution and I wonder whether mine could be tackled in the same way Oh and it’s worth mentioning for next time because I noticed you undid the panhard from the left side, I’ve had much better luck undoing the panhard from the right side rather than the left because when you go to bolt it back up, you can hammer the end back onto the tapered stud rather than needing to line up the bolt holes perfectly like you would for the left.

Just a heads up in case no one mentioned this to you yet. The new strut mounts and bearings should be Nissan OEM parts, as the kyb versions have been notorious for failing prematurely. The OEM ones are the only safe bet. It sucks that they are so much more expensive though.

Gotcha, that makes sense. Mines an 01 with the 16” wheels, didn’t know they switched to 17s after that year

Ummm, are you sure about that? The Warn hubs fit perfectly through the center bore on my factory LE 6 spoke wheels

I’ve had good experience with KO2s in just about every environment from snow to rocks, but I’m currently running the Wildpeak AT3Ws and I like them even more. In regards to size, you can usually go taller but not much wider unless you add wheel spacers or change wheels. My wildpeaks are 32”s but very narrow. they’re 235/85 R16, and they fit great with the AC lift up front. Sure they don't look quite as mean as a wider tire might, but there’s a great case to be made for the benefits of narrow tires so I’m sticking to them for now

Woohoo, thanks for the video man I still have very little understanding of what you’re doing because I don’t know much differential internals, so I’ll still need a helper when the time comes, but I’ll be glad to have your tutorial on hand for reference

Whoops, should have clarified a bit on the red HiLift..... I was referencing the sky high mall crawler wranglers with “salt life” stickers that have never even seen a fire road and always seem to have the bright red one mounted at least a foot off of the hood so that it’s literally blocking their windshield. We get lots of those guys here, I used to see tons parked at my school Anyway, I thought about posting a bit of a description of how I mounted it, but honestly it’s just not that interesting. I just measured equal distance from the side of the sprayer nozzles and drilled holes to bolt through to the other side. Then I filled the bolt holes with gasket sealant before dropping the bolts in so that it wouldn’t collect water. If I could do it over again I would probably have put a rubber spacer between the hood top and mounts so that the vibration doesn’t wiggle it around and damage the paint. Otherwise it works great and has been solid since it went on. I’ve taken it down a couple times to lift up the rear and it’s actually pretty easy to take off and put back on. I’ll definitely check out big bend NP next time winter sets in, thanks for the tip. And I’d love to do the full alpine loop here in CO, but we’ll see what I can reasonably put together this summer. My dad will likely come along for some of the trails so we can wheel our pathfinders together. He’s got an old WD that’s still kicking despite no major parts replacement.

Either way it’s bad news and I sure as heck don’t want to be the test case, but I think it would probably grind and overheat because of the clutch plates trying to engage the stationary front, but once engaged fully, it might not do any further damage because I think the CVs should just spin inside the hubs if any power was send to the front? But I’m pretty sure the issue is that you’d spend a lot of time in the overheating grinding stage because the AUTO mode is not a constant lock to the front, and so you’d get intermittent attempts to engage it depending on how the sensors interpreted the perceived lack of rotation in the front shaft and front wheels, and lots of attempted engagement means lots of time for the clutch plates to be grinding while mating to the stationary shaft Thats my take anyway, could be totally wrong

Will do I’m looking to hit Imogene and yankee boy basin for starters, then probably several others in that area between July and October

I think it’s closed right now for the pandemic, otherwise I’d love to check it out.

“Curious” being the nicest way of saying you’re not a fan? ? When it comes to the hood mounted high lift, I’m pretty sure you’re right that I’m the only R50 that has it, and I’ve been shocked at how long it’s taken anyone to bring it up. Does it look a BIT poser-ish? Sure. But I took steps to reduce the douche level by mounting it super low profile to the hood and not buying a flaming red one like you see on a lot of jeeps. It doesn’t block the view out of the windshield or block the fluid sprayers, and gives me another option for emergency recovery, which is always good to have when you don’t have a proper winch. The main reason I mounted it on the hood as opposed to the roof or tire carrier was for the weight balance. My rear is loaded down with tools, water, camping gear and spare parts most of the time, so bringing the 40lbs of jack further towards the front wheels helps even things out a bit. Of course it matters less with the 9449s now, but still a good idea When it comes to the hubs, the whole point of using the unlocked position is to save CV boots from tearing over a short time because of the increased angle. The mileage benefits are minimal like you said, but keeping the boots intact is a pretty good reason to use them. Ive also found that it’s not too difficult to plan out when you need to lock them to use AUTO mode and 4WD. If there is any sort of bad whether or I’m getting off of a paved road, then I lock them and put the truck in AUTO. I leave them unlocked when I’m doing 70 on dry highways for hundreds of miles because there’s no need to wear out the boots when I won’t need AUTO mode. The running boards were a pretty easy call for me, I did like the extra bit of protection they offered, but I never find myself doing any serious rock crawling and I don’t even use them to stand on. If I’m going for the roof rack I just stand on the rear tire, so honestly I just saw them as dead weight and something to detract from the overall height. I haven’t really felt that it makes anything look “unfinished” either I do however agree with you about the charcoal metallic trim going well with the red shackles! ? In all seriousness, I appreciate the detailed breakdown and constructive criticism, it’s a whole lot better than a vague “like”. The whole reason I’m on this site is to get new ideas and hear new opinions about modding R50s, so its great having passionate people to engage with. Lord knows there are very few of us out there. I think I’ve seen maybe two lifted R50s in the past 5 years? Anyway, the main thing I want to do now is figure out this vibration issue in the front shaft and make sure the truck is ready for the summer wheeling season. I’m planning on making trips to Yankee boy basin, Imogene, and a handful of other trails in July but before then the truck needs another oil change and the rear diff oil should be swapped as well, it’s been 4 years since that was done last. I also want to change the fuel filter and open up the intake to clean the throttle body, MAF, and IAC valve. I have this uneasy feeling that I’m on borrowed time with the kind mileage that this truck has. I’m kind of shocked that the OEM injectors, fuel pump, and O2 sensors haven’t started causing issues, so I’ve been looking around for spares to just about everything that is likely to fail soon. My dad found an old junkyard pick-apart LE in Vegas and grabbed the alternator and fuel pump for me since the guy was selling everything for less than 15 bucks a piece. I’m also keeping an eye on eBay for sensors that might come in handy.

Wow I feel a bit embarrassed now for spreading bad info. Oops! I was told by many people that it was the front shaft that ran the oil pump in the Tcase, but if it’s the rear then I’m very happy! Means I don’t have to worry at all about running the hubs unlocked. Can we sticky that info somewhere so it’s not just buried in an obscure older thread? I do have a bit of an issue with the conclusion in that thread. Someone said that you have no more AUTO mode, it’s either locked for 4WD or unlocked for 2WD.... But that’s not really true. When the hubs are locked you should be able to use AUTO mode as well right? Because the front shaft is spinning already and the clutch plates can engage whenever necessary if slippage is detected. Obviously you can’t use this mode when the hubs are unlocked, but locked should be fine because everything acts the same as it was from the factory

I’m very much looking forward to seeing any sort of footage you end up putting together. I’ve been too scared to pull the trigger on buying it until I know for sure that I can install the damn thing lol

You’re right, the primary pump is run by the front shaft movement, but I don’t know how it works inside the Tcase when you’re in 2WD mode. Do you think it still needs fluid circulation even if it’s just making a direct connection to the rear and no transferring going on? Good point about the secondary pump because it’s supposed to fill in the gaps when you’re in reverse or going slowly. But I don’t know if that’s kicking in when the hubs are unlocked or not. It would make sense that it could kick in if the front shaft WASNT moving at all (it would detect a slow speed and engage the secondary pump), but if it still has some intermittent movement in the front shaft then I’m not sure it would kick in. Either way, I don’t know if it would be tripping the 4WD light based on heat. I think it has more to do with the confused readings from the wheel speed and slippage detection sensors. I think over a certain speed the system just gives up and admits that it can’t reconcile the rear wheels doing 80 while the front shaft is supposedly not moving at all. If it was a heat problem I’d probably not have made it very far if the case was overheating for the thousands of miles on my recent road trips

Very interesting that you’ve never gotten the 4WD light. Have you tried driving above 75mph for 5 minutes straight? Usually this is when it happens for me. I’ll be going through Utah with their nice 80mph speed limits and blasting down the highway for a while and it’ll pop up on the dash. I think you’re right about the front shaft still spinning in 2wd with the hubs unlocked. I’ve suspected it for a while, that maybe there is still some friction in the hubs so that it doesn’t completely cut the CVs from the wheels, but still need to confirm by putting a camera under there. As for the gas pedal grinding, nope that’s not it. It vibrates even with my foot lifted in the air. I’m almost certain that my front shaft u joints are to blame in one way or another. Either there’s play in them or they weren’t properly fitted to correct run out (I’ve been told this is a bit tricky for this truck). Either way, if the front shaft is still spinning, that would explain why the vibration happens even with the hubs unlocked Anyway, I’ll shut up now because I dont want to steal this thread. My only reason for bringing it up was to make the OP aware of the weirdness that can happen with the AUTO Tcase

Nope, its not supposed to damage anything. That’s the way you’re supposed to use them. When the hubs are unlocked you can ONLY use 2WD. If you need to switch to AUTO or 4Hi then you have to get out and lock the hubs first. Now notice I say “not supposed to”..... What I said about the 4WD warning light is true in 2WD with the hubs unlocked. You’ll be on the highway for a while and it will come on randomly and then be gone after you shut off the truck and start it back up again. There isn’t any damage as far as I can tell, but the light reflects the fact that the computer is confused. The problem is that I’m not really sure what happens when the computer is confused, its very possible that it could still be attempting to send power to the front intermittently even though it’s not supposed to in 2WD mode. If it is, then that may or may not be damaging for the TCase. Anyway my main point about the manual hubs was that you are going to have to keep in mind the possibility of strange transfer case behavior. I’d love to hear from others who have the AUTO case and see if they have had any long term issues show up with the manual hubs The good news is that I haven’t yet heard of a case of someone breaking their truck directly as a result of using the manual hubs, so overall I would still recommend them to save yourself some money on CV boots and gas. Just know that it’ll be a slightly uneasy peace of mind

Took a quick trip up to some public land to burn some ammo and get the tires off the pavement for a bit. Beautiful day

Yeah the Wildpeaks are just shy of 32”, but I haven’t had any issues with rubbing so far. Before I changed the front bumper, I was getting a bit of rubbing at full lock, so I had to trim the plastic corner directly in front of the tire maybe an inch, but nothing crazy. It also helps that these are super narrow tires

I suggest leaving the spacers out entirely, but if you do feel the need to use them then definitely wait until later after the coils have settled. With manual hubs you can get around the CV binding issue for the most part, but they won’t save you off-road when the hubs are locked. Me personally, I want to know that my CVs won’t break when off-road under non-extreme conditions, so I went with the AC coils up front One thing to mention about rear coil installation, forget about spring compressors. I have done it twice, both in a tiny garage and on a two post lift, and never *NEEDED* to use the compressors. It’s an extremely easy job. The first spring I did, I used them to help, but once I figured out how to drop the axle far enough I never needed them again. You just need to do 5 things in order: 1. jack up the frame where the front of the rear lower control arm is bolted 2. disconnect the shock at the lower mount 3. disconnect the sway bar end link (the bottom end of it) 4. The whole time you should have a second jack or the OEM scissor jack under the axle supporting it, and then lower it as far as necessary 5. Once its low enough, push UP on the coil (hard, it might be a bit rusted into place), then pull it out sideways, and reverse the process for installation. For the right side the process is identical, but you also have to undo the right side bolt for the panhard rod as the last step to get enough droop. Only thing to watch out for is the brake lines. They will be slightly tensioned at the necessary droop for 9449s but not to the point of damage. Still worth it to be careful though, as I have no way of knowing the condition/length of your specific brake lines For the front, just make sure that all notches and marks are oriented correctly in the struts, and that you use OEM parts for the bearings and mounts Edit: Almost forgot to mention! You have the AUTO Tcase like I do, so be aware that it will hate the addition of manual hubs. Mine has been giving me some trouble since I installed the hubs, the computer is confused about the lack of “correct” sensor data coming from the front and you’ll probably see a 4WD warning light after a long stretch of highway, and maybe other weird stuff. You will also have to consider the fact that with the hubs unlocked, your TCase won’t be pumping fluid around because the pump operates by way of the spinning front shaft under normal locked conditions, so it’s best to lock them a few minutes before switching to 4wd so that it has time to circulate the fluid.

Nope, I was planning to eventually list them on eBay or something. If you want them, shoot me a private message and we can figure something out

Wow just came across this old pic. Came a long way from 2015!

Just installed the 9449s, very happy. With the 9447s my rear end was about an inch and a half lower than the front, but now it sits perfectly level at 21” from hub to fender both in the front and rear

Umm no. AC coils are definitely not the same as OME HD, it’s a different brand entirely. People using the ACs have gotten noticeably higher lifts in the front vs the OME and they have been producing them for a long time. Someone correct me if I’m wrong but I believe they were the original way of lifting the R50, before any other options existed They are expensive, I’ll give you that. I paid $180 for the front two coils. But that’s what happens when you sell the only guaranteed 2” spring lift for the front. If others made similar options, you’d see the prices come down. Unfortunately the dozens of us who lift these rigs don’t make for a very large market