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New to the Family


PartTime4WD
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Just picked up an 04 SE. 32k original miles. In incredible condition. Spotless. Looking to do a lot to this. 2 inch spacer lift up front and LR springs in the rear. 245/75r16 tires on stock wheels. 1.5 inch wheel spacers. New stereo and speakers. CB radio install under radio. Custom low pro roof rack. Light bar in grill and on top. One in the rear also. Receiver hitch install. Headlight upgrade. Led pods next to factory fog lights.

 

Looking on the forum gives me a ton of ideas. Any tips or suggestions would we awesome. Thanks for letting me be part of the group. Used to own an 07 pathy that was awesome but this 04 just feels different. Tighter all around and more capable. Oh mine also came with the manual lever transfer case.Cant wait to get it on some dunes and trails.

 

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the 07 r51 is definitely a fantastic vehicle but i agree, the r50 is a much better feeling. 32K original miles is not bad and the body definitely holds to what it says. amazing find man and welcome to the forum! you will almost definitely get some fantastic ideas just scrolling through this forum for a half hour or so. As for lifts, if you did decide to get it off spacers there are some choices out there but not a lot sadly. but it all depends on what you want it to do and what works best for your needs. again welcome!

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I saw a set of supreme suspension spacers on ebay for $80 that looked good. I used supremes spacers on my r51. Gonna use their 1.5 inch on this pathy. And coming from my lifted 99 awd rav4 it's nice to be able to whip the ass end out again haha.

C4g3Fcb.jpg

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Having such a new R50 is awesome because you've got all the potential with none of the worries that all of the over 200K guys are having to think about. Gonna be an awesome build. Good luck man, I’ll make sure to keep checking back 

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Update. 

 

Gonna go with an AC lift up front and LR9447 springs in the rear. Upgrades and mods over the last week. 

 

Put 245/75r16 kuhmo at51s on. Installed rugged ridge manual hubs. Installed light bar and new speakers in the doors. Installed hella headlight bulbs and led yellow fogs and led reverse lights Waiting on my trim tools to swap the stereo and install amp and small 10inch subwoofer. 

 

Ordered a low profile roof rack and 1.5 inch wheel spacers. Although I have no rubbing with the current tires. 

 

Need to install my CB radio also. Planning on ordering a Lokka for the front. Can't wait to get this thing on some trails. Sh2bQ8H_d.jpg?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&f

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Note to anyone reading this. I installed these hubs from Ebay Well after about 3 days the passenger hub was starting to fail. It didn't want to stay unlocked and would occasionally catch and try to engage. I was on about a 200 mile drive so I got out and engaged them and problem solved. Still work locked just didn't want to stay unlocked. Ordered another set and will return these ones. Good thing the weather is bad here so I would have then locked anyways. 

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Sorry to hear about the hubs, I’ve only heard good things about them so far but I ended up going for the Warn hubs so no personal experience with the RRs

 

You’ll love the combination of AC front and 9447 rear, it'll be exactly the same as mine and I’ve had no issues with it yet. You might get a bit of “topping out” but that’s just a fact of life when you put lift springs on struts that cant be longer than stock length. Only happens a couple of times a week on mine and I haven’t heard of any reports of damage done by topping out, so it’s all good in my book. The manual hubs are a great call though, gonna save you from premature wear on the CVs

 

My only suggestion is to maybe get a front bumper soon, otherwise the ride might be a bit stiff. Mine is perfectly acceptable with the front brush guard because of the extra weight, but I’ve heard some people say it’s a little too rough without anything up front 

 

keep going man, this thing will be a monster off road If you end up going with a lokka

 

 

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So the hubs that I purchased were some unbranded ones off ebay but I've seen posts from Hawairish that they should be fine. Maybe just bad luck is all. I will be sure to inspect the next set well.

 

Thanks for the tip on the bumper. I will look into my options. Trying to avoid a rough ride is important since this is my daily.

 

And the Lokka is in the mail on its way to me right now haha.

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Super jealous right now, I’ve been bouncing around the idea of the Lokka for months now but every time I think I’ll pull the trigger, something else steals my attention and funds lol

 

I was about to order one this week but then I realized I really need new tires. The cheap mudders I’ve got are terrible on the highway, so now I’m working on getting those replaced instead.

 

Are you planning to take it to a shop for the lokka install or do it yourself? 

 

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I know the feeling haha. Only reason I'm doing all this now is the 3k I got for selling my last vehicle so I'm trying to buy everything I want before it's gone lol.

 

I'm going to do the lokka install myself. Find a dry Saturday sometime soon hopefully. I'll create a thread with pics and possibly a video documenting it. It will be the first time ever doing anything with a dif so should be a learning experience.

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That’s awesome man, good luck with the install. I would definitely love to see a video of how you do it because it’s always been pretty daunting to me

 

Hopefully you won’t run into any stuck bolts or anything because stuff like that just kills the fun. Does the truck seem pretty rusty underneath or nah? I’ve been fortunate because mine has somehow stayed mostly rust free and all of my bolts have been pretty easy to take out, only a few have needed to be chopped so far.
 

The scariest moment recently was when I snapped one of the 6 small CV bolts. Freaked me out, but luckily because of the way it’s made with the back side accessible, I was able to drill it out and just use a nut and bolt instead of needing to retap it. Working on old trucks is always hit or miss, you never know what might turn a 2 hour job into a 6 hour job

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Mine is spotless luckily. An 04 with 33k on it. Hoping everything goes smooth because of the condition.

 

I feel ya on quick jobs taking forever. The last vehicle I had had 150k on it and it was an Ohio car so everything took 3x as long.

 

What tires are you planning on running?

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I’m going with the Falken Wildpeak AT3W in 235/85 R16 

 

Only ever heard good things about the Wildpeaks, plus they are cheaper than KO2s and duratracs so it was a no brainer. I also like that they are rated for extreme snow because Colorado can have some pretty nasty blizzards. I ordered the first two and I’ll place the order for the other 3 once I free up some more money. Then I’ll go ahead and have them mounted and probably hold on to the set of mudders I have just in case I ever need them. 

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I almost bought those myself. I put Kuhmo Road Venture AT51s on mine. Yours would be about an inch taller than my 245/75r16. I'll probably end up messaging you about a year from now to see how they handle if I want to make a switch. Its snowing in Indiana right now and they seem ok. Not as good as the Cooper Discoverer M+S i had on my last vehicle but it could also be that that was front wheel drive and the pathy is rear wheel.

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I have Firestone Destination MTs on my Pathfinder. Been very happy with them. Bit more expensive but they are worth it. The first gen that I put on in 08 were quieter and had better road manners than the BFG AT's they replaced. Finally replaced my rear tires with the new gen version and they are even better. They are unbelievable in the snow, where MT's struggle and very good on pavement and dirt. When I finally get the front sorted out again, I will be replacing those 12 year old tires with the new and improved ones like on the rear. 

Been pretty happy with how well they have held up with a few week long Moab trips, lots of pavement and the mix of clay, rock, sand that the mountains have here. Also with the lockright in the rear and a front end that is way out of alignment more than it is in. 

Great tires, that most people that try them love them. 

 

 

 

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Hub update. Got my replacement ones in and it appears the bearing on the hub failed. Swapped it out and greased it up with some better grease than what it came with and the noise is gone and locks and unlocks fine. The noise was like hitting the rumble strips and more of a growl and went away when i locked them because that bearing stopped moving when the hub was engaged.

 

Now as soon as my Lokka comes in I'm ready to go.

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Big weekend for me. Got the light bar mounted on the rack. No glare at all with how far back it is. Not a bit of light hits the hood. Ran the wiring down the rain stripping. Just pulled the rubber back on the a pillar and tucked it in there. Also got the amp and CB hooked up. Had to modify the Firestik mount a bit to get it to sit right with the cable I had. All wires go through an existing hole in the firewall where the wiring comes in. Just pushed the gasket towards the engine and cut a small line in it for my wires to pass through then pulled it back in. Also got my receiver installed and mounted my bumper light bar inside the first hole in the bumper. Previously I had it mounted to the front license plate bracket but this is much sturdier. Not sure about the best way to post pictures so here is the direct link for better quality.

 

https://imgur.com/a/3M8Z1OR

 

https://imgur.com/a/xTqLtX2

 

ypqUeLN.jpg

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I see you’ve got a d-ring in your driver side tow hook: just so you’re aware, there’s a moderate consensus that you shouldn’t recover a vehicle or be recovered using those front tow hooks, they’re really not designed with that scenario in mind. They seem to be totally ok for simple towing, but if a vehicle is really stuck or hung up, they’ve been known to fail:

 

Edited by PathyDude17
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