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A sad day for the Pathfinder


zonianbrat
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Yeah, you don't want to do that. That's a quick way to test the 4wd system, but used like that for any length of time, you'll break something. What you were feeling was the tcase binding up on itself, as the front and rear wheels spun at different speeds.

 

Simon,

That's somewhat true, but it's not going to hurt anything. If it does hurt something in the drivetrain you most likely would have broke that part on the next trail run anyway. The scrubbing/skipping felt is just the tires binding up on the pavement/concrete then releasing their pent-up energy by "spinning out" just a little. ALOT of the rock crawling I do (see some of my pics and videos) is on what's called decaying granite. Those huge granite rocks have millions of sharp pea gravel sized cleats all over them from the softer outer layers of the rock being eroded for a few million years and the harder parts of the granite staying out on the surface. Those rocks give you at the very least 1/3rd more traction than the average pavement or concrete road or parking lot. I turn on those rocks to full lock no less than 100 times everytime I'm out there and it makes the pathy do some serious skipping, but I've never had any problems. I put the Pathy in 4wl when I get there and leave it in 4wl the whole time.

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i'm guessing you haven't been much outside of TX, eh? ;):D

 

I've actually been to every state except Alaska and Hawaii(Several times) and most of Mexico and a pretty good bit of Canada. Trust me, 99% of the US population can get from point A to point B without ever getting the tires dirty. (To Survive) We're not talking about the number of people who go offroad for recreation.

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Somebody needs to send the "big wig" decision makers links to our posts. So that they can see that the pathfinder is not always just a mall-crawler (dam soccer moms). Not that it would do any good but I just am truly irritated about this. I agree my R50 is not the best off-roader by far. But It has gotten me places that I would not have dreamed it could. It has impressed some of my buddies in the passed. But the greatest thing about it all. The truck just keeps on keepin on. The reliability mixed with decent off-road capability definitely make these trucks all-around better than most IMHO. I believe if we had the aftermarket support that Heeps do. Nissan would be much higher up on the pedastal.

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Somebody needs to send the "big wig" decision makers links to our posts. So that they can see that the pathfinder is not always just a mall-crawler (dam soccer moms). Not that it would do any good but I just am truly irritated about this. I agree my R50 is not the best off-roader by far. But It has gotten me places that I would not have dreamed it could. It has impressed some of my buddies in the passed. But the greatest thing about it all. The truck just keeps on keepin on. The reliability mixed with decent off-road capability definitely make these trucks all-around better than most IMHO. I believe if we had the aftermarket support that Heeps do. Nissan would be much higher up on the pedastal.

 

 

Yeah, this thread combined with the other one "Pathfinder Crossover". Yikes.

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  • 1 year later...

Just because I haven't seen anyone do so, I'd like to stick up for my 1990...

 

My old '90 SE is the PERFECT example of a capable stock truck and badass project truck... she's saved my ass SO many times I can't even begin to count... I kid you not, she's alive and has her very own personality, which I wouldn't trade for the world and it's gold... I can't wait to make some minor mods and really wheel her.

 

And yes, I WOULD pit my near-stock '90 SE V6 versus that entire lineup you posted... and with a good driver (say, throw Pezzy in her) I'd bet money my truck would romp all over the competition, then come back and pull their asses out of the mudholes they couldn't manage. All because of a good driver, good tires, and great engineering.

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ok

1. stock 89 does more than i ever thought it would when i bought it. 31 tires and independent suspension and manual transmission.... i love it. it performs great on what i have available to wheel on down here.

 

2. never driven it offroad but learned to drive in a stock r50 and absolutely loved it to death, if my aunt will sell it to me im buying it. and wheeling in luxury... i've seem members rigs on here that look absolutely amazing with all kinds of mods. and wasn't there a guy here where some chick hit him and he's been doing a sas on it?

 

3. i happen to like the looks of the r51, don't know anything about the traction controll though. my parents are thinking about getting one even just because i have my 89 and have said things about the new one. it looks more like it should be competing against explorers and trail blazers not jeeps and such, the fact that nissan even put it up there is interesting.

 

4. we also have an 03 xterra. great vehicle, love the way it looks i don't know why you guys would have a problem with that. at that point i don't know if they offered lsd or lockers cause ours doesn't have it, the one time i convinced my dad to take itt out with local club, we needed to back up and take another line caue of only 2 wheels spinning but it went without a problem, surprised all the jeep owners there.

 

5. nissan does have offroad packages in the states... pro 4x and offroad. x, frontier and titans that come with skids lockers different shocks and tires...

 

6. im with everybody else here who wishes there was a us patrol.... i've gone to the dealer in town, and they don't even know what it is, i know more than the salesmen about all the trucks and some of the cars that nissan has available, its pretty freaking sad.

 

7. whats all this about land cruisers? cause guess what got one of them too! 78 fj40, not even 30 inch tires and no lsd's but it will go anywhere we point it....

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The argument is long on this one but hey I have to step in for the R50

 

I have owned several offroad purpose built vehicles and offroaded them starting from the FJ 40 – FJ60 the new FJ , 4 runner , G wagon

 

When I first bought Paty it was for my wife for her daily driving and now that I took over Paty and drove her first time over offroad she has become my daily driver and offroader .

 

To tell a few of what and where I have gone with my R50 and where my opinion about her is coming from :

 

- On road : I have driven paty for a 2250 km stretch drive non stop the engine was never switched off all the way from Qatar to Lebanon with a speed reaching 180 – 190 km in Saudi open roads and I was quite pleased with her performance , 26 hrs the engine is running we started from desert weather in Qatar and end up in the snowy weather in Lebanon

 

I also drive her on daily basis for my work and a lot f city driving , she handles like a sports car on the city roads .

 

- Off road : I have driven her over sand dunes , rocks , mud and snow and I was always keeping up yet sometimes leading the way for X terras , LC 100 , Wranglers , 4 runners , H3 , Nativa , Frontier , Patrol , Fortuner …. u name it

 

I have put my R50 into every kind of terrain on offroad and travelled across borders as well as city driving and one word I can say I am delighted with her performance .

 

When comparing price vs quality Paty stands out .

 

Mods : I have my 2”lift and I can tell the difference already , and all what I need now is an ARB locker to make up for the open diffs in the mountain areas when needed .

 

I consider my R50 and all purpose vehicle .

 

When I am on road I will still enjoy the way Paty handles the road like a sports car .

 

When offroad I am glad to know I will be driving among other rigs whom have to compensate their ride comfort and performance on the road to gain a bit of advantage over my Paty in offroad .

 

The driver has a big impact and so does the vehicle , one will complete the other .

 

We have a lot of examples on this board to prove how reliable and capable the R50 is , just have to browse a bit

 

 

 

 

 

 

R 50 vs other Nissans ( Patrol / X terra / R51 ) , with no offense to any other product , they are still great cars

 

- R50 vs Patrol : I have enough space inside my cab not to use a patrol and my consumption is less , my ride is more comfortable and I have much less weight to carry , my wheel base is better for offroad

 

- R50 vs X terra : I prefer my coil springs to the leaf springs , I prefer my manual auxiliary gear shift to the X electrical gear shift ( in more than one case the 4wd gets disconnected mainly when on sand dunes ) , my 3.5 l engine provides me with enough power that I need for my on road and offroad driving , I trust the reliability of Japanese product more than the American one

 

- R50 vs R51 : wont ever trade my solid axle with independent suspension , I have much better approach and departure angles , I trust the reliability of Japanese product more than the American one , I can less for loads of electronics , my 3.5 l engine provides me with enough power that I need for my on road and offroad driving , I am more light weighted and I don’t need to have 7 seats , I don’t look like wana be an armada

 

 

I spoke my mind towards the R50 , sorry for the long write up but I have a lot to tell about my R50

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i'm new to the 4x4 stage

 

i just bought my 2001 r50 but from looking back it seems NISSAN did not intend any of there rigs to be chopped up and modded to the level these are at, SO in saying that

why are the older ones better? because back in the days they had limited mods too until they became mainstream items that people added custom items to.

The r50 has less mods than a old pathfinder hence the years, once people can buy a 2000+ pathfinder for dirt cheap just watch, 4inch lift 35+ tyres will become a catalogue mainstream

4x4 item. I would say 50% of r50 owners still think of an r50 model as a tourer/family adventure 4x4, As was the old model when it first hit the streets. basically if it's out there people will modify it,

older age middle age new age, i got my r50 for 11 thousand AUS , when it was new closer to 45 thousand aus. My guess is that once the older 80's pathfinders get beaten up and modded so much they become

a money pit/phase out, people will find away, that's if they still want to be pathfinder owners.

 

Someone i know worked for Nissan and said, the new pathfinder just saved Nissan from a world of pain, because of the record sales, i will cop 1 dud model in the chain if they come back stronger for it, FINGERS CROSSED. :)

 

Very interesting topic :)

 

Cheers REENMAN

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On a side note back in 1987 the Pathfinder (two door) won the 4x4 of the year. It did it again in 1990 (four door) it is time to bring that honor back.

 

Hit the nail right on the head. wd21/2doorP...

 

But im shure wich ever model anyone has on here, they have bought that certain car for some reason or another. I know with my stock height and tyres has'nt stoped me getting where i want to go, and by the looks of things has'nt stoped others aswell. There are some amazing rigs on this forum and i always get a sence of belonging here. From stock mall crawlers to monster. Money will get you there, but as shown it will not get you everywhere. 4 wheel driving has come along way in the last 20 years, but lets face it. Every 4wd on the market wasnt designed to be driven the way half of us do. Otherwise they would be selling them with 4 to 5 inch lift, bad ass mud tyre's, and all the other goodies. I find half the fun is building the pathy/terryqx4 to youre own specs. We may swear, yell and kick our cars at times, butwe are always driving them the next day. Yeh i would love a pootrol aswell. but im happy with my pathy, even with 3 kids climbing in and out of it. Has the room i need, and cheap to fix. It is a shame that the pathy hasnt gotten 4wd of the year since then. Im not shure in Australia either, but maybe oneday they will be on top again.

 

Im shure all the R50 owners love there cars aswell.

 

just remember one thing. KEEP THE SHINEY SIDE UP. IF NOT TAKE A PIC FOR US ALL TO SEE.....LOL

 

 

Just my :02:

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Yeah, they shifted the Pathfinder from a rugged little truck based SUV to a Subaru-esk car like station wagon. Though they "tried" to keep a more rugged SUV on the market with the Xterras, they still aren't engineered as well for that role as they could be. You Aussies are lucky, you can go get a Patrol which blows away even an older (WD-21) Pathfinder. I saw an article that we are supposed to get the Patrol this next model year, but the newer ones, again, "ain't like tey used to be".

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Yeah the R51 Pathfinders just can't keep up.

 

I went wheeling once where we had an example of each stage of the Pathfinder (my 2 door 88, two four door WD21's, one R50 and one R51). Out of all of us the R51 had the most trouble of the day. Had a very hard time keeping up with us even on moderate trails. Got to the point where we had to park it and have the R51 driver ride shotgun in the R50. To be fair he had the worst tires out of all of us (BFG Rugged Trails), and DID manage to keep up on the moderate trails, as long as we guided him up the easiest lines. Overall though they are a bit too big, and too low to the ground.

 

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