Crazy Geologist

Battlefield Vietnam and BF 1942 should come with a warning from the surgeon general about addiction.

Yeah a pretty similar thing went down in my parking lot last year. I go out to my car to go to work one morning and there is a lowered honda blocking in me, and my neighibor has a Toyota tacoma with 33"s on it. So I start looking around, trying to find the owner of this vehicle, to no avail. I found some of his friends, who claimed that he had parked and gone surfing (we lived right on the seacliff) well, around that time mark came out to leave for a court appearance only to find that he too had been blocked in, though not as bad as me. Mark did not miss a beat though...hopped in, fired it up, into gear, rear wheel up and over the hood and front drivers side fender. came awful close to tipping, but mark just dumped the clutch, and was off. I called in late to work so that I could ride my bike in, and was fortunate enough to witness this guy return to his car after his surf session. He threw the most impressive temper tantrum I have ever witnessed a grown man throw. pathetic. inconsiderate @$$hole. And he still regularly parks there, complete with a BFG MT pattern slightly dented into his fender. I wonder if he even realizes how he could have prevented the whole incident.

So no one lost an eye in my story, but a dent in my door reminds me of this story regularly... So there is a set of natural hotsprings ~1.5 hours of 4-wheeling from Santa Barbara. And behind these hotsprings there are some cool Mt. Biking trails that go way back into the mountains. So I get a wild hair a couple years ago, and I decide I want to go do a night ride out there, so my buddy ken (who has an almost good bike- just dependable enough to get him into trouble) wants to come with me. So we throw the bikes on the roof and go, just a bit after dark. Well, after over an hour of bumpy wheelin, we are about 10 minutes from the hotsprings, and really ready to get started. The last section of the trail to the springs is this wide, flat, smooth fireroad that goes along the riverbottoms. This section is fast. I was going 55 (and kept it there since I was in 4hi) and all was well. Cruzin, making good time, then ken says "aren't you going a little fast?" na, we're almost there... and as soon as I said it wooophmp! snap! thunk! scrape! What the...??? Well, there is ONE tree with a bushy branch along this stretch of fire road, and it has three thin (less than 3/4" thick) branches that reached down, grabbed ken's bike handlebars and ripped his suspension fork in half. Luckily when the bike fell off the roof rack with the rear wheel still attached, the pedal hit the door frame, not the window. So at the time I was managing a bike shop so I think: no worries, I have a couple extra forks lying around...get it fixed up cheap...well, his fork is no longer made, and I had to special order one that would actually fit into his frame. darn. Break a $30 POS suspension fork, and have to shell out $200 to make his bike roll again. Most cyclists have a story about driving their roof-mounted bikes into a garage or drive-thru at 5mph... not for the crazy geologist...55mph through an oak tree...a "learning moment." you can't buy an education like that one. hehe who is up next???

You have a car not a canoe. Remember this each time you drive into water. If you don't want water in the cabin (drowning the ecu under the passenger seat) then the best way to avoid it is to not drive in water of questionable depth. Damage from water gets soooo expensive soooo fast. Keep a pair of sandals in your rig, and walk the crossing (both wheel tracks) to make sure of the depth. It is suprising how quickly a bow wave can wash up over your hood and ruin your day.

yeah ditch the boots... and I don't think that the 5000's even came with instructions. I bought mine at a local Kragen, and there were no instructions with mine either.

Ah, ROLFMAO...makes sense. I am now a more edjukaatd web-surfer Thanks!

You should definitely come to a complete stop before trying to shift into 4-Low.

So, being a grad student myself, I understand the "unique financial needs" of a college student who seeks outdoor adventure, so I must ask this: how many years of school do you have left? If you have more than 2 years remaining, you may want to look into a different vehicle. I know that it is a pathy, and they do have long service lives, but at 185k miles, things start going wrong. An ideal pathy for a student is one with fewer miles and fewer bells and whistles (ie power windows, doors, etc) because all the extras do is cost more initially, and then break around 185k miles (or earlier). Then you are stuck spending a small fortune making it so that you can roll your drivers side window up when it snows. And that sucks when you are scraping for groceries and laundry quarters (and beer too, hehe). Two mechanical thoughts: One: My rig had the Nissan factory adjustable shocks, and they were beyond toast at 150,000 miles. If that is what is still in your prospective ride, talk them down another $200 for shock replacement. They are blown and you just don't know the difference. Two: Careful with the tranny. Even if the PO was always a gentle driver (very rare, if it is even claimed) and took care of all the prescribed maintenence, after 185,000 miles the tranny may be still short for this earth. If the tranny dies soon after purchase, you have just about doubled the cost of your vehicle. Keep that in mind. I'll be done with school, and out in N. AZ this winter, throwin' down some turns too...

what on earth does rolmao mean? :confused:

Ok here is the scoop- I have a stock height pathy, and I put the 5000's (the long ones, 5116? in anticipation of a lift soon.), on about 5000 miles and 2 wheeling trips ago. I have noticed the "whooshing" sound that 88 has written of, but I have not experienced any bottoming yet. If the Bilsteins are listed only for eye-eye, they they definitely will not work for the front...go take a peek over the top of the front tires at the upper shock mount on your rig, and it will be clear why you must have a stem-type bracket. On a final note, I am very pleased with the 5000s. The ride improvement over my blown stock adjustable shocks was worth the price of the shocks and more.

This computer sucks. I'll post the photos from another machine. -thnkboutit-

87 mudfinder has got it about right...I am 6 weeks from completing my MS and the housing here in Santa Barbara/ Isla Vista is highway robbery... long term, stringent, disagreeable leases and $1000 for a 1 bed apt is pretty typical fare. So what is one to do when you are stuck in SB with no place to call home? Go join the gaggle of surfers and climbers living in V-dub busses on the bluff, wake up next to the ocean each morning, and the enjoy th "pleasures" of a student ghetto. Bonus points cuz there is a shower at my Univ. office. That said, here are some pictures of the "home" in it's early stages, before being strapped to the floor (it bounces a little off road) and before the deck was padded (at this point there was a climbers crashpad instead)

Precise1- if you pull out the pins and remove the seat bottoms, you will gain more than 3-4 inches of clearance...it will be more like 9 inches.

Instead of removing the back seats altogether, I built a padded wooden platform at the same height as the rear speakers that extends above the rear seats to the back of the front seat, so it is . This allows for cargo room underneath (full length drawers under construction), and I (6'1") can stretch out comfortably... it puts you pretty close to the ceiling though.

I don't mean to come across as the official forum vagrant, but how many of you have lived in (or slept in) your Pathfinder?

Clarification- $1500 for installation complete rebuilt manual tranny. sorry

So I just took my rig in for a Tune-Up and the mechanic told me that one of the (many) noises that my pathy makes is due to the transmission going bad (worn throttle bearing???) Has anyone had this done recently, and how much does it typically cost? The guy gave me a rough quote of $1500 to install a rebuilt one.

Since I found myself in the "Rip on Jeeps" post I'll add my 2 cents: My buddy Ronjon has a 99 JGC. It is the model with all the bells and whistles, including computer controlled everything. Well, the computer must've caught some sort of virus, because it is pretty confused...the digital speedometer doesn't know how fast the vehicle is going, the dome lights flicker when they like, the doors lock and unlock on uneven pavement, the info screen says it is 49000 miles to the next service...but at least the seat heaters work (like we need them in So-Cal) hehe. It is like K.I.T.T.'s (knight rider) brain damaged kid brother.

So I was thinking about painting my wheels and caps black, and I figure the wheels will be no problem, but the caps seem like they would lose paint each time you go off road (due to chipping from debris) any one know if they make special paints for plastic?

I agree with pickles...come join us out in Southern California before you make that conversion...it rained something like 3 inches in Santa Barbara last winter...with weather like that you don't need to worry about it leaking. I can only imagine what would happen if you woke up one frosty morning with 18" of fresh, wet snow on top of the thing...or would that be in it??

so do you have to remove the nerf bars to install sliders? Or can you mount both? I like having the step, it helps putting bikes on the roof rack, etc.

There are plenty of trails here if you make it out of the plains and to So-Cal. We have mountains too!

That is rad matterhorn...the simple fact that you can jack the vehicle from them adds an enormous range of recovery possiblibites. Is there an easy way to modify the factory bars so that they can handle that kind of load?

Those ARB winch bumpers are cool...but expensive. Grad school is expensive too. It'll just have to wait. and wait. and wait.

Hey you dropped in on my wave! So 88: is that a car or a kayak ??? Hehehe...