SBRChris Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 (edited) Hello everyone, I'm looking for some advice regarding lifting my 1996 R50 Pathy. I have been scouring the forums, and internet in general, looking for a good option to lift the ole girl. Currently it is on stock suspension (obviously) with 31 inch tires and steelies. I'm looking to do a 2" lift/leveling out of the front end. So from what I have been reading it will be 2.5" front/2" rear. Here's my question... are the spacers offered by 4x4 Design a safe and legitimate alternative to say, the AC 2" or Old Man Emu 2" lift? Obviously the price, as well as the work involved, is attractive on the spacers. However, if it is in my best interest to spend a little extra money to get a better quality lift then I will do that. Picture because all threads should have them! Edited October 20, 2015 by SBRChris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
01Pathmaker Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 Welcome! Clean looking ride there. To best answer your question a bit more info is needed. The spacers from 4x4design.com are very good, easy to install and, as you noted, quite affordable. The drawback some have found, is with the taller (2" or 2.5") front spacers, they may cause your cv's to bind at full droop. It has been noted that with 2" springs this doesn't seem to be much of an issue. Another thing to consider would be the condition of your current springs, if they're soft or saggy, you'd be better served replacing them anyway. I'm currently running his 1.5" spacers front and rear (with my sagging stock springs) with no issues, but since I'm looking for some more height, better cargo handling and I use mine on trails as frequently as possible, I'm going to be swapping the front out with 2" AC springs and in the back I'll be combining OME medium duty springs with the 1.5" spacers, which should level things out nicely. So basically, if your Pathfinder is more of a street queen then you shouldn't have an issue with the spacer lift, but if you're looking for off-pavement adventures, you'd probably be happier with a spring lift in the front. Don't get me wrong, Steve (4x4design.com) is a great guy, offers great products, stands behind everything he makes and is a great asset to our niche community. I've dealt with him several times and have nothing but good things to say, so if you want to keep it smaller scale and budget, I'd certainly recommend either 1" or 1.5" spacers (you'd also save the expense of having to buy longer rear shocks). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SBRChris Posted October 20, 2015 Author Share Posted October 20, 2015 Thank you for the input! It is my daily driver right now as it gets better mileage than my truck so it's mainly on paved roads. However on the weekend I'll go out shooting and camping, so it does go off road a little bit. I haven't tackled any trails where the front wheel would be off the ground yet. I seriously doubt the springs have been changed out in its life. I may go a little extra with the lift and spring for the kits. I was looking at doing the Warn manual locking hubs as well. What else should be needed with say the AC 2" lift that isn't included? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
01Pathmaker Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Warns are a great investment, but you could save some extra cash by going with either Milemarker or Rugged Ridge, they typically hold up just fine unless you're into frequent hard core rock crawling. As far as what you'll need with the lift, depends on which route you take. If you go with one of the "kits" from AC, I'd recommend the KYB struts and Bilstien shocks which is a little more expensive but well worth the money. In addition I'd get new strut mounts and bearings, as well as a pair of camber bolts. You can piece your own kit together quite a bit cheaper than what AC gets by just getting the springs from them, and everything else from other sources (AC is not shy on there shipping prices either). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mechanicalbaron Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Warns are a great investment, but you could save some extra cash by going with either Milemarker or Rugged Ridge, they typically hold up just fine unless you're into frequent hard core rock crawling. As far as what you'll need with the lift, depends on which route you take. If you go with one of the "kits" from AC, I'd recommend the KYB struts and Bilstien shocks which is a little more expensive but well worth the money. In addition I'd get new strut mounts and bearings, as well as a pair of camber bolts. You can piece your own kit together quite a bit cheaper than what AC gets by just getting the springs from them, and everything else from other sources (AC is not shy on there shipping prices either). I'll say it, AC straight up bends you over on their shipping! They should include Vasaline or KY jelly with your order! When I was going to order 4 shocks for mine it was $70. For shipping. I ended up searching part numbers ( On NPORA) and ordered all, cost $1.00 more per shock and with Amazon prime had free 3 day shipping. When I purchased my idler arm brace they charged $15.00 shipping and it took over 3 weeks to get the part. Booooo on AC! Lol, feel much better now Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
01Pathmaker Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 (edited) Glad you got that off your chest. $70 to ship 4 shocks?! That's ubsurd! I only ordered from them once (4 MD springs for the 01) and that had to be close to 10yrs ago, I remember the shipping was a bit high, but damn, that'd be a deal breaker for sure. Maybe I'll get lucky and find somebody selling a set of 2" front springs... Edited October 21, 2015 by 01Pathmaker 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mechanicalbaron Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Yeah feeling much better Lol, I literally almost had a stroke when I saw the shipping. And was a little leary after ordering the idler arm brace. But realistically AC seems to be one of the few places to get upgrades for the older pathy's. Guessing you can't put a price on love...? Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SBRChris Posted October 21, 2015 Author Share Posted October 21, 2015 Warns are a great investment, but you could save some extra cash by going with either Milemarker or Rugged Ridge, they typically hold up just fine unless you're into frequent hard core rock crawling. As far as what you'll need with the lift, depends on which route you take. If you go with one of the "kits" from AC, I'd recommend the KYB struts and Bilstien shocks which is a little more expensive but well worth the money. In addition I'd get new strut mounts and bearings, as well as a pair of camber bolts. You can piece your own kit together quite a bit cheaper than what AC gets by just getting the springs from them, and everything else from other sources (AC is not shy on there shipping prices either). Thank you for the heads up on the other two hubs as well as the upgrades! I'll say it, AC straight up bends you over on their shipping! They should include Vasaline or KY jelly with your order! When I was going to order 4 shocks for mine it was $70. For shipping. I ended up searching part numbers ( On NPORA) and ordered all, cost $1.00 more per shock and with Amazon prime had free 3 day shipping. When I purchased my idler arm brace they charged $15.00 shipping and it took over 3 weeks to get the part. Booooo on AC! Lol, feel much better now Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk I would definitely want to source those elsewhere then! You wouldn't happen to have those part numbers handy, would you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mechanicalbaron Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Mine is a WD21, won't work on yours. Check the garage section. Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SBRChris Posted October 21, 2015 Author Share Posted October 21, 2015 Mine is a WD21, won't work on yours. Check the garage section. Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk Thanks for the quick response! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
01Pathmaker Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 I'll try to dig up the part # for the struts and I'm currently trying to hunt down the correct part # for the rear shocks, so I'll post that up also as soon as I come across it. I have the # for the 99.5-04 rear shocks, but 96-99 is different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SBRChris Posted October 21, 2015 Author Share Posted October 21, 2015 Awesome, I really appreciate it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
01Pathmaker Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 Best deal I've found for front struts was from kyboutlet.com shipping was fast, prices were great, use discount code for cheap shipping. They have a great part finder on the site, but here are the p/n's for the struts 335015 and 335016. As for the rear Bilstien shocks for a 2" lift, I must have had a brain fart as the part number is the same 96-04 on these (according to AC), so here it is 24-185509. A quick Google search of that part # and you'll find the best price. Strut mounts and bearings, many suggest oem nissan, some have used aftermarket and had problems, others have not. When I last did them on my 01 I used oem parts and haven't had any issues or noise, on my 96 I used the no name ones that came as a package deal with Sensen struts from eBay, no issues or noise, ride fine, cheap and supposedly covered by a lifetime warranty. For the camber bolts you can go through your favorite online or local parts dealer, they're only a few bucks each, you'll need 2, 1 for each side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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