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My build/adventure thread


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16 minutes ago, micahfelker said:

@mjotrainbrain convinced me to get back on here, so here’s some recent pics. I’ve got a friend in town who has a lifted forester (which actually has the same mirrors as the pathfinder). It’s pretty dope.

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I also got a new car a couple months ago, a 2002 Subaru Outback with a 5 speed manual, nicknamed the “swaggin wagon.” I’ve always liked this generation of outback, and I got a great deal on it. I absolutely love it, it’s super fun to drive, does amazing in the snow, gets great gas mileage, and actually can do the 80mph speed limit in Montana. I told myself I was gonna leave it stock but that didn’t last long. Here’s some pics.

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Love the trucks!  And what's all the sudden craze with these old Subaru Outbacks??  My neighbor and his wife treat their Outbacks like kids.  Gotta love them though.

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I drove a 2004 Outback for 6 months while living in Phoenix. While I had my truck there, I soon realized that the Outback could do about 80% of the Overlanding type trips I was doing.

 

Mine was a brand new rental so I really got the chance to test it. Decent AWD combined with 8-8.5” clearance meant it could do ALOT. I did grind the four corners down through the paint as its approach & departure angles are wanting. On the other hand, I could throw a bike in the back easy, I could comfortably sit with my back against the side of the open hatch, I could lay down flat with my head resting on the folded rear headrests & read & look out through the open hatch.

 

When that car was assigned to me at the airport, I dreaded it. Ultimately though, National had to call me six months later & require me to return it so that they could move it up to Salt Lake for the winter. That 6mo was when I learned to respect Subaru. That Outback was the little engine that could. An incredibly practical & usefull vehicle. Have fun with it Micah!

 

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22 hours ago, A.Sans said:

Love the trucks!  And what's all the sudden craze with these old Subaru Outbacks??  My neighbor and his wife treat their Outbacks like kids.  Gotta love them though.

 

Didn't know there was a craze for them! I've liked their design and wanted one for a couple years now. I've always been a huge fan of wagons too. Subarus are freakin dope, and this gen of outback is just as awesome as the wrx and such, only more practical with more room for gear and stuff. I love the fact that I can completely lay down in the back as I sleep in the back sorta often. It's even longer than the Pathfinder, so I can actually fit straight instead of diagonally. Like Kent was saying it does like 80% of what a 4wd rig can do. I didn't expect a whole lot out of the awd system but it's done nothing but blow me away so far. It handles curvy mountain roads like a beast and can get almost anywhere. Haven't got stuck yet lol. I guarantee it's already seen more "wheeling" just this winter than most "overlanders" will in their lifetime lol. These things totally live up to--and surpass their hype. 

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21 hours ago, RainGoat said:

I drove a 2004 Outback for 6 months while living in Phoenix. While I had my truck there, I soon realized that the Outback could do about 80% of the Overlanding type trips I was doing.

 

Mine was a brand new rental so I really got the chance to test it. Decent AWD combined with 8-8.5” clearance meant it could do ALOT. I did grind the four corners down through the paint as its approach & departure angles are wanting. On the other hand, I could throw a bike in the back easy, I could comfortably sit with my back against the side of the open hatch, I could lay down flat with my head resting on the folded rear headrests & read & look out through the open hatch.

 

When that car was assigned to me at the airport, I dreaded it. Ultimately though, National had to call me six months later & require me to return it so that they could move it up to Salt Lake for the winter. That 6mo was when I learned to respect Subaru. That Outback was the little engine that could. An incredibly practical & usefull vehicle. Have fun with it Micah!

 

 

Yeah man I've been nothing but impressed with it so far, as you've probably noticed haha, it's freaking rad. Thanks Kent!!

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1 hour ago, Mrelcocko said:

Love your rig bro and your story is priceless. Stories like this inspire people. It inspired me for sure Great job!

Mr Cox 96R50-97JR50
 

 

Not much of a story haha but appreciate it brother!

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Not much of a story haha but appreciate it brother!
I feel pretty stupid I meant that post to be somewhere else. Wasn't paying attention to where I was at. LOL. Nevertheless your Path kicks a$$. Great job and great pics!

Mr Cox 96R50-97JR50

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Yours brings back memories.  Picture%20002.jpg

 

 My 2002 R50 CAN do 80, 81 , 82, 83, even 85 mph with a roof top tent into a 15mph wind.  VQ is sooo nice as long as you don't have to mess with the lower alternator bolt.

 

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On 2/1/2019 at 6:44 AM, system_f said:

Yours brings back memories.  Picture%20002.jpg

 

 My 2002 R50 CAN do 80, 81 , 82, 83, even 85 mph with a roof top tent into a 15mph wind.  VQ is sooo nice as long as you don't have to mess with the lower alternator bolt.

 

 

Man that thing is rad!! Why'd you ever get rid of it? What was your setup on it?

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On 6/16/2017 at 5:13 PM, micahfelker said:

 

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I've always liked the look of the more aero crossbars.  What kind of roof rack bars do you have on in this pic?  Would they fit on an 02 LE you think?

 

After some research, this seems like it's the oem crossbars!  Will they fit a 2002?

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6 hours ago, cham said:

I've always liked the look of the more aero crossbars.  What kind of roof rack bars do you have on in this pic?  Would they fit on an 02 LE you think?

 

After some research, this seems like it's the oem crossbars!  Will they fit a 2002?

 

They're just the oem crossbars from the pre-facelift models. They'll fit no problem, and I'm sure you can find some at any local junk yard.

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1 hour ago, cham said:

Are those middle 3 supports shown in the photo pretty much necessary then?  They’re the tiny ones more flush witth the roof.

 

As far as I know those just give you someplace to set items so you aren't scraping the roof itself; they certainly seem too flimsy to add any extra support worth noting.


I tried the pre-facelift crossbars on mine at one point because I liked the lower-profile look but I have to agree with @RainGoat, they are quite flimsy by comparison to the post-facelift crossbars, and really you're only getting the bars about 1.25" lower if I remember right, so if you have a basket and carry weight up there I certainly wouldn't recommend them.

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Awesome thread and pathfinder man! I've been eyeing pathy's and QX4's for the past couple months and finally found one that's been well taken care of with the exact specs I want. He wants a little more than I think is fair so I was shying away, but your thread is making me want to just go for it!

 

cheers

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I’ll take your word for it but just because what the heck I’m going to try it out.  My local junk yard has got somewhere close to 10 of the prefacelift pathfinders.  I’m also only having them there pretty much for aesthetics vs removing my current factory ones completely.  If i end up getting a rack i’ll be looking at that other thread around here somewhere where someone fabricated a rack flush with the roof rather tham sitting on crossbar supports.

Edited by cham
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Those non-elevated “bars” are just roof protectors. Not a bad idea & easily transferrable. I didn’t need them as I put a Yakima Basket case spanning my rails between my load bars. Also, as an FYI, Yakima bars adapters work easily for mounting a Hi-Lift on your bars (just be careful putting it up there-that nose will crack your windows in a split second)

 

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3 hours ago, cham said:

I’ll take your word for it but just because what the heck I’m going to try it out.  My local junk yard has got somewhere close to 10 of the prefacelift pathfinders.  I’m also only having them there pretty much for aesthetics vs removing my current factory ones completely.  If i end up getting a rack i’ll be looking at that other thread around here somewhere where someone fabricated a rack flush with the roof rather tham sitting on crossbar supports.

 

Honestly what everyone is saying is true, but only partly. It all depends on how you mount your rack. For a long time I had that dinky little Walmart roof rack (which is now on the Subaru), and I broke a total of 3 crossbars while that was one. That rack was great for carrying about 1 kayak, but I broke a crossbar when I tossed my spare into it a little to hard. I also broke a crossbar on my 1000+ mile trip to a bunch of national parks in Montana and in Alberta with 2 kayaks on it. The final time I broke one was by sitting in my kayak on top of it lol. The reason that it broke so easily and so often was because of where the narrow rack mounted on the bars. The crossbars are made of 3 pieces: a center section and 2 corners that attach to the roof. With all your weight on just the center section, it stresses the seam where the center meets the corners and snaps easily. With my new rack, it's wide enough that I was able to attach all for mounting point to the actual corners of the crossbars, which transfers the load right onto the roof. I've had 3 kayaks mounted on it with no problem and can stand on it and even jump on it without anything breaking.

 

Sooooo to wrap it up, those crossbars will give you no problems whatsoever as long as you distribute your load evenly on the corners instead of the center. Plus they're way better looking IMO. 

 

OH and side note: if you mount a roof rack on those edges instead of the center it will sit even lower. Way easier than mounting the rack right to the roof. I'll throw up a pic in a second here

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4 hours ago, jrayr90 said:

Awesome thread and pathfinder man! I've been eyeing pathy's and QX4's for the past couple months and finally found one that's been well taken care of with the exact specs I want. He wants a little more than I think is fair so I was shying away, but your thread is making me want to just go for it!

 

cheers

 

Heck yeah man! Just gotta send it and get one. Pretty much all of them in this area are super cheap and in good shape. Shouldn't be too hard to find a nice one! 

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Not disagreeing re ways to mitigate the older crossbars weaknesses, but the newer ones are magnitudes stronger. I’ve carried two 16’ sea kayaks on a 5 day, almost entirely off-road, adventure in rough Arizona. More impressively, I emergency stopped from about 35-40 mph with four 3/4” sub floor 4x8’ plywood panels plus about 8-10 treated 8-10’ 2x4”s. They flexed enough to contact & crack my sunroof deflector but no damage to the bars, rack or mounts. (Coincidentally, that happened on Woodinville-Duvall Rd-probably a 1/4 mile from Micah’s folks). If your going full roof, most of us are using conduit clamps & bolting the Rola V-Tech right into the rails.

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2 hours ago, RainGoat said:

Not disagreeing re ways to mitigate the older crossbars weaknesses, but the newer ones are magnitudes stronger. I’ve carried two 16’ sea kayaks on a 5 day, almost entirely off-road, adventure in rough Arizona. More impressively, I emergency stopped from about 35-40 mph with four 3/4” sub floor 4x8’ plywood panels plus about 8-10 treated 8-10’ 2x4”s. They flexed enough to contact & crack my sunroof deflector but no damage to the bars, rack or mounts. (Coincidentally, that happened on Woodinville-Duvall Rd-probably a 1/4 mile from Micah’s folks). If your going full roof, most of us are using conduit clamps & bolting the Rola V-Tech right into the rails.

 

I was gonna say I know that road! lol

 

Kent, when are you gonna come visit Montana?!

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1 hour ago, PathyDude17 said:

Has anyone retrofitted the late model OEM SE roof racks onto a pre-facelift? I feel like that’s the stoutest roof rack system

 

Yeah, Kyle has! (ferrariowner123). If you scroll back through this feed there should be pics of it

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