PathyGig12

Now for the bad news. So far I’ve still had no luck fixing the vibration issue I’ve narrowed it down to the 4 wheel drive system or front drivetrain because it changes depending on a bunch of things so I know it can’t be bearings or tires. Sometimes it will be completely smooth at all speeds, but I can’t find any particular method of achieving this on purpose, it just seems to happen sometimes when I’ve been on the freeway for a while. With the hubs unlocked, sometimes it becomes smooth after 5 minutes above 80mph, but sometimes it doesn’t. With the hubs LOCKED sometimes it’s smooth in auto, and sometimes it’s smooth in 2wd but never both. There is always vibration in 4wd though, so maybe it’s a U-joint in the front drivetrain? Or something in the transfer case or diff maybe? Another weird thing is that I got incredibly good gas mileage on my way through the mountains with the hubs LOCKED rather than UNLOCKED, which makes no sense. For anyone who knows I-70, I didn’t even use 1/16th of a tank from Georgetown to denver doing 60-70 the whole way, which normally takes closer to 1/4 tank. Left me baffled. So yeah, my best guess is that my trucks 4WD system is flipping out for some reason with the manual hubs. At one point i had been driving on the highway for a few hours with the hubs unlocked and it started snowing so I got out and locked the hubs. Then I tried to flip it into 4H and the “4WD” light was flashing on the dash and I had lots of vibration and it seemed to be down on power, but when I shut the truck off and then turned it back on, I was able to use 4H with no issues at all and the power was back. Almost like it had reset something If anyone knows more about the mechanics and logic of the 4WD system, please let me know what might be happening here because the vibration has me worried that something is being worn down and will eventually fail

Roof basket just went on. I also relocated the LED pods to the back so that they would work better, and I’m debating moving the main light bar so that it’s mounted to the rack itself rather than leaving it in front of the rack on the OEM crossbar. I’ll probably get to it eventually but it’s not a priority. First I need to finish hiding the LED pod wires properly and find a cleaner solution for mounting the tools. I also ordered some generic eBay traction boards and a set of the 9449 springs because the extra weight in the back has basically negated my lift at this point. Hopefully the extra stiffness will help. Once I have the cash, I’ll spring for some bilsteins to compete the rear

You have to do it through a photo hosting site. I use Imgur Once it’s uploaded to imgur, you find the option for “copy link”, then on the forum there’s an option at the bottom of your post to insert other media from URL, post the link there and it should work

Cool, hopefully they work out well for you

You could get new MOOG stock replacement springs which will be less saggy than the worn out factory springs. But for serious towing you’ll have to go with heavier springs or airbags. I’m wondering if you could maybe use Land Rover 9449 springs with one or two coils cut. They are heavy duty springs so they would be perfect for the weight, and once they are cut they theoretically wouldn’t make the rear ride too high. Maybe something to look into. The website to get them would be LRdirect, last time I checked a set of 9449s were about 90 bucks shipped to your door, which is pretty solid when you have international shipping involved

The rake you get all depends on weight. I have no rake with that exact set up since I keep a bunch of stuff in the back plus a tire carrier. But completely empty I think I had an inch or so of rake, maybe a bit more. It looked very natural though

I run the ac springs in the front and the 9447s in the rear and had only a little bit of rake, but I always keep cargo in the back so it leveled it out. With a tire carrier I’m thinking of upgrading to 9449s because it actually sags a bit

I cant say I know anything about those kits, but I do know the process of installing springs on the r50 I don’t think there are any special tools you need besides the standard stuff like breaker bar, torque wrench, sockets, etc. If you compress the springs yourself just make sure you’ve got quality compressors. I had a local shop do mine just to be safe, but it’s possible. You will probably want to change out the strut bearings and mounts even if you don’t end up replacing the struts, since you’ll have them apart anyway. Always use OEM Nissan parts for these, everything else is garbage. I would highly recommend trying to do the job on a two post lift if theres any way you can get access to one because it makes everything SO much easier. The rear can then be done by using a tall telescopic jack stand under the diff to lower the axle evenly and pop in the new springs once you’ve disconnected the shocks and sway bar end links. Using the Land Rover springs it was super easy to get them seated and didn’t require much (if any) compression when doing it this way. If it can’t be done on a two-post, then just get the truck as high as possible on jack stands placed on the frame I would say the only tricky part about the front is wiggling the struts loose and working them out of position, and of course stuffing the new ones into the tight quarters, all at arms length. That and making sure that the orientation of everything is correct. I don’t have any on hand but there’s pictures floating around of the proper alignment of the strut components, it’s super important to get this right when reassembling after the new springs go on. I think the SF creations website has a good video of it

No idea how good their struts are, I’ve only used KYBs up front. But I do have some experience with Gabriel Ultra shocks in the rear and they’ve been solid so far.

Welcome to the forum A suspension lift is going to be your only option, seeing as the R50 pathfinder does not have a traditional frame, making a body lift impossible. It’s a unibody, so it’s all together and nothing can be lifted off of anything You’re also maxed out at 2” when it comes to lift in the front because anything more will be breaking your CV axles (unless you do a subframe drop, but that’s a whole different beast). Also, most people agree that it’s best to use longer springs as the basis for the lift rather than spacers that sit on top of the coils because the longer springs do not cause the CVs to bind since the suspension travel is still limited by the strut length, meaning that the truck will sit higher naturally but the wheels will never flex/drop lower than the stock amount, so the CVs are never beyond their operational angles. They will however still mess up the CV boots over time because they sit at a more extreme angle than they otherwise would, so it’s recommended that you also install manual hubs so that they aren’t constantly spinning while you drive. This will make it so that the boot wear only occurs when your 4WD is engaged. Anyway, you best bet for the front if you are looking at doing the full 2” of lift is to go with the AC 2” front lift coils, and pair them with any 2”-3” lift coils in the rear, whether they are the matching AC ones or Land Rover defender coils. You can also go with Old Man Emu front coils in either the Heavy Duty our Medium Duty flavors, but as far as I know they both give slightly less lift than the AC coils, with the HDs being the higher riding of the two because of the higher spring rate. These are the front AC lift coils and the OME coils are easy to find with a search https://www.4x4parts.com/i-18981165-pathfinder-front-lift-coils.html The forum has a TON of info to go through regarding both the front and rear options, I would recommend doing some searching so that you aren’t waiting for responses, as the forum can be a bit quiet sometimes

Been doing the same thing to pass the time. Garage is small but still usable. I’m out of town right now but when I get back the roof basket is going on and I’ll be working on getting all of the fluids changed

Excellent info here, I had no idea there were slight differences How does this affect fitment of the bilsteins? Could it possibly be the reason that his bushing went?

Never messed around with the bilsteins, but I haven’t heard of anything like that happening to anyone who used them. I run the 9447 Land Rover springs and personally use Gabriel Ultras for shocks. Haven’t had any problems since installing the last year, and the flex is still plenty good enough for me even though they are only 24.5 inches extended (I think). I’m sure the ride is not quite as nice as the bilsteins though

Yeah yours should be much stronger and more usable, no doubt.

Excellent job on the rack, looks very low profile and capable I’ve been considering doing a custom one myself, but don’t have time to take on another project right now. I just went with an eBay basket and I’m hoping it works well for me when it gets here Im looking forward to seeing what you end up doing for lights

Finally found an open trail and a place to camp. It’s called “Matchless”, and the camping area is called “Gordon gulch” if anyone is interested. Entirely passable despite some snow and deep ruts, but we didn’t drive the whole loop, just went until we found a good site Shes definitely not the cleanest rig, I’m sure a lot of people might even say shes ugly. Couldn’t care less. Everything was built with a purpose and not much time was spent on polishing. I didn’t bother with making the rear bumper look pretty, just like I didn’t bother making the tubing in the front look like a factory option. The rear can be used for towing, and holding up the tire carrier, and the front can deflect branches on the trail, and offer recovery points that otherwise weren’t available. That’s all I need them to do. Im very happy with both the looks and functionality at this point. Shes not an Instagram overlander, shes here to take me to cool places and allow me to do cool @!*%. At 280,000 miles, she’s already done her fair share, but unlike some other brands she is still capable of much more. I enjoy sharing things on this site and participating in the community because we all love wheeling our pathfinders and this place has the best info in the world when it comes to this platform. Next up is the front Lokka and roof basket. The basket is already on the way, I just need to wait till things settle down with the whole pandemic thing before I go dropping cash on the lokka

Came out pretty great. Needs a few little things like caps for the open ends, maybe some extra support in the center. I used 3/8ths bar stock for the center uprights so it should be strong enough. I also did the tubing on the outside of the bumper so that it would have more surface area in contact to make it stronger and so that it would protect the fog lights as well. And I made sure to go wide enough on the corners to keep the original turn signals visible from the front but not too wide that it sticks out excessively. The headlight sections more or less follow the angles of the bumper

Tubing just arrived, so I’ll see what I can do with it tonight. A few days ago I spent some time playing around with random scrap steel to get a decent format and work out the necessary dimensions, and I’ve left it on until now so I could have a map for when the finalized piece goes on. After that’s done I’ll start working out a plan for a new roof basket. I also ordered a smittybilt air compressor so I’ll be able to have onboard air. Not sure yet if I want to hardwire it and give it a permanent spot on the rig. I tried to hit the Balanced Rock Road today to get to a camping spot, but we ran into a closed gate on the way there. Im guessing it was due to the recent snow, even though it was less than 6 inches deep. Oh well, we ended up just stopping and hiking a random trail with our new furry friend. We’ll save the wheeling and camping for later in the spring

Does anyone know if there are any trails near denver that are open and passable right now? I’m trying to do some winter camping this weekend and I’d like to wheel a bit on the way there. Snow that’s a bit deep isn’t an issue, but super deep stuff and icy rock are what I’m worried about.

Right on dude, looks great. I don’t even think the rake is that bad

Bumper is on. Loving it so far, massive upgrade over the brush guard. Just waiting till Monday to add the tubing over the grill and headlights. The steel shop is closed over the weekend. Then I also need to find a good mounting point for the fogs Took her on a trip to the mountains today