Mr. Pickles Posted June 13, 2004 Share Posted June 13, 2004 The whole thing was straight forward, per 88Path's instructions. The only thing I'd add is that you probably want to make sure you have the proper height of jack and jack stands on hand. I found that not only did the floor jack I borrowed from my brother end up being way too short (fine for lifting the diff, though) but my Nissan jack couldn't even lift the tires off the ground! Mind you, I only have 31's on there. Good thing I found this out before I got a flat somewhere. So, I ended up using a couple of pieces of 3/4 inch mdf under the jack just to get it high enough and on the jack stands, which also had to use the mdf, and removed the rear tires. Also slid a piece under the back seats for "next time" on the side of the road. From there, it was straight forward. Remove the lower shock bolt (just loosened the top), remove the lower nut for the panhard rod and let it hang. A curious thing was, with all loosened and removed, I couldn't free the stock springs. So I went farther and removed all the guides for the E brake, basically anything that could be a problem, and lowered the rear end all the way to the ground, being carefull to keep an eye on brake lines, etc. The nice part is, once that was done (maybe an extra 5 min) the springs slid right out and the new ones right in with no problems at all. Anyway, time to breathe. Here are some pics. Time for beer. Here's the before shot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Pickles Posted June 13, 2004 Author Share Posted June 13, 2004 Sorry about the size of the first pic, I forgot to resize, then tried to stop before it uploaded. No dice. Oh well, you get the idea. Here is the underside with the new springs installed. I used Plasti-Dip spray on rubberized paint. Same stuff I used on the roof rack, and its pretty durable so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Pickles Posted June 13, 2004 Author Share Posted June 13, 2004 Here's an after shot on the rear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Pickles Posted June 13, 2004 Author Share Posted June 13, 2004 And here's the overall shot after I also re-cranked the Tbars cause they had sagged since they were originally installed. Overall, I got about 2 3/4 inches lift in the back. By the way, I had cut off just short of 1 coil to completely remove the portion of the spring that tapers down to 3" at the top. Its sitting just under an inch higher in the rear, but I expect that may sag a tad and I'm also looking at a bigger (heavier) sub box shortly. sly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88pathoffroad Posted June 14, 2004 Share Posted June 14, 2004 *steals your chrome mirrors, grille and front bumper again* mwuahahahaa Lookin good, you should use a steadier hand to take pics! Blurry, and still way too big. 640x480 is a good size for web pics...and yes, I recombined and fixed your last couple of posts. Oh, on the jacking up: the stock Nissan jack is meant to be used directly under the rear axle or directly under the lower control arm if you get a flat. Not under the body. It'll never reach the body height... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squam1 Posted June 14, 2004 Share Posted June 14, 2004 very nice very nice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Pickles Posted June 14, 2004 Author Share Posted June 14, 2004 Thanks. Someday I'll get the pics situation straightened out. Guess that's what happens when you're in a hurry. Had to get ready for a softball game. Now my next thoughts are heading toward a body lift perhaps... sly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
red-finder Posted June 14, 2004 Share Posted June 14, 2004 That looks sweet! Did you use ball joint spacers in the front, or what type of control arms did you use? I have got to do that to mine! :bow: How long did it take you from start to finish? Too many questions :X Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Pickles Posted June 14, 2004 Author Share Posted June 14, 2004 That looks sweet! Did you use ball joint spacers in the front, or what type of control arms did you use? I have got to do that to mine! :bow: How long did it take you from start to finish? Too many questions :X I haven't used any spacers or UCA's yet. Its only cranked back to the same height it was when I got my last alignment, as the bars where new and sagged from there, and all seems to be in order. I'm running with it now while the springs settle down and such to see what happens. I only have to drive a few miles a day now, so I'm going to keep an eye on it. I'm thinking I'll still probably go for the spacers and crank it just a tad more, but that's down the road just a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Pickles Posted June 14, 2004 Author Share Posted June 14, 2004 Oh, on the jacking up: the stock Nissan jack is meant to be used directly under the rear axle or directly under the lower control arm if you get a flat. Not under the body. It'll never reach the body height... That just sucks. :secret: I've never been particularly fond of jacking the suspension. Its just not very secure vs. going right to the frame, but I see the point. I guess it may be more stable lifting from a lower point too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
statikuz Posted June 14, 2004 Share Posted June 14, 2004 The stock jack is used under the rear axle, for jacking up the rear, and under a frame-jack-point in the front, located under the driver/passenger door and slightly forward. Here's a picture, sorry about the weird angle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RatioCynic Posted June 14, 2004 Share Posted June 14, 2004 Nice Job! Can't wait myself as Im giving some thought about this as well. Its my next project IF and when I EVER get my ball joint order in the mail! and get it installed before something snaps in the front end. Couple of questions for you [or anyone in the know]... Whats the reason for cutting off nearly a full coil on the small diameter end? Is it so that it'll fit between the seats? Why cut off the small end? As I understand it, the JGC coils are variable rate coils. Any reason why I couldn't/wouldn't want to take advantage of that feature of the coil and cut off one coil height on the large end? I probably loose some lift compared to what I can get if the small end was cut off since the soft end is the smaller end of the coil and it'll compress more with the weight of the Pathy on it. Appreciate any insight on this. RC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Pickles Posted June 14, 2004 Author Share Posted June 14, 2004 Nice Job! Can't wait myself as Im giving some thought about this as well. Its my next project IF and when I EVER get my ball joint order in the mail! and get it installed before something snaps in the front end. Couple of questions for you [or anyone in the know]... Whats the reason for cutting off nearly a full coil on the small diameter end? Is it so that it'll fit between the seats? Why cut off the small end? As I understand it, the JGC coils are variable rate coils. Any reason why I couldn't/wouldn't want to take advantage of that feature of the coil and cut off one coil height on the large end? I probably loose some lift compared to what I can get if the small end was cut off since the soft end is the smaller end of the coil and it'll compress more with the weight of the Pathy on it. Appreciate any insight on this. RC I don't think they're variable rate, at least by looking at them. Ones that I have seen before that were involved bigger coils at one end, and closer together ones at the other end. The Jeep ones were pretty much uniform all the way, with the exception of the last coil that reduces from 4" to 3". Others have used a torch and pipe to bend this coil out to 4". I didn't have the torch set-up and was working on the deck of my townhome (no garage!) so I just cut it off like others. I don't think that 1 portion of coil makes a huge difference to the overall lift. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Mule Posted June 15, 2004 Share Posted June 15, 2004 Quick Post Hijack! How do you reduce the resolution of a digital photo? (Other than reducing it on the camera when taking the photo.) Do you need special software that doesn't come with Windows XP? I got complaints about it on an earlier post, and tried to figure it out. After 20-30 minutes of unsuccessfully trying to figure it out, I decided those with complaints need to get cable internet. This ain't the 1990's. But if someone can tell me how to do it, I'll go low-res. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88pathoffroad Posted June 15, 2004 Share Posted June 15, 2004 The 3" pigtail coil doesn't fit the spring perch. It needs to be 4" diameter to fit properly. The easiest way to make the spring fit is to cut off the coil that doesn't fit. The best way to maximize use and ride height is to heat up the top pigtail coil and re-shape it into a 4" diameter. That's what I did on mine and for Mikesmaximase's springs. JGC coils are not variable rate. They are one diameter/spring rate all the way across the board, which happens to be about 50-100 lbs higher than stock Pathfinder springs, I think. They end up being about 2-3" taller than stock Pathy coils and 50-100 lbs higher on spring rate. On resizing pics, there are quite a few photoediting programs out there...I use ACDSee, which comes bundled with a great editor/pic viewer. Cracks are my friend for the serial numbers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Pickles Posted June 15, 2004 Author Share Posted June 15, 2004 BTW, on my first day of driving around town, I have to say the Jeep springs rock over the Pathy's. The ride is a tad firmer, but not harsh, less lean in corners (I'm sure that has a lot to do with a fresh Tbar crank as well), but in general it rides nice and smooth. A+ to the guys doing the research! As for the pics, if you're ghetto like me, you could open the pic, shrink down the overall size, and save it as a jpeg in Paint. I just did this on another post and got a pic down from 1.37MB to 6.46KB. 88, aren't you proud? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88pathoffroad Posted June 15, 2004 Share Posted June 15, 2004 lol My boy! *bearhug* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Pickles Posted June 15, 2004 Author Share Posted June 15, 2004 lol My boy! *bearhug* *sniffle, sniffle* :sniff: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeepRescueService14 Posted June 15, 2004 Share Posted June 15, 2004 ohh.... how cuuute!!! bonding through bandwidth! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RatioCynic Posted June 15, 2004 Share Posted June 15, 2004 Thanks for clarifying that the JGC coils are not variable rate. I must have gotten some bad info. Has anyone looked at installing variable rate coils on a Pathy? I would think they offer a softer ride with no/light load. RC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88pathoffroad Posted June 15, 2004 Share Posted June 15, 2004 Stock Pathy coil, stock JGC coil, and a stock Aerostar coil. The Aerostar coil is variable rate, notice the tightly spaced coils on top. Here's what happened to the Aerostar coils on my Pathy. The top three or four coils collapsed together from the weight of the Pathy. Needs a higher spring rate, wouldn't you say? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Posted June 15, 2004 Share Posted June 15, 2004 I have varialble rate coils on the back of my 95, and they're pretty good. The ride is better than with the stock coils, and when loaded, there's almost no difference in rear ride height, and I had a big problem with that when I had stock coils in there. In my opinion, if you're not going to lift, get these coils....they're Moog Cargo Coils (made by TRW if I'm not mistaken) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RatioCynic Posted June 17, 2004 Share Posted June 17, 2004 Thanks Simon. I'll look into them. 88, the photos clearly explains the difference and answers my questions. Thx. RC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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