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Polyurathane coil spring spacers


yowzaeric
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Hey guys I contacted Rocky-Road outtfitters today...they have the spacers now and they are $19 each for a 9/16" spacer...my order will be processed Monday for OME HD front coils, OME medium duty rear coil, OME shocks and struts, and the RR spacers...will def post pics hopefully a week from now with the outcome...

 

:allclean: ...had to bathe i think i pee'd myself with excitement!!! sssh

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I'm surprised that no one has mentioned this here yet, but with simple strut spacers, there is risk of exceeding the maximum operating angle of the CV joint and blowing it up, when the suspension is fully extended.

 

The precise height of a strut spacer that does not exceed the max CV angle is unknown.

 

I would guess that a 1" spacer is probably nearing the limit of safe reliable operation. After the spacer is installed, test by raising the front wheels of the ground, engaging the manual hubs (if equipped), turning the steering wheel fully left or fully right, and rotating the tire by hand. Feel or listen for any binding in the inner and outer CV joints. Also evaluate how stretched the CV boots are.

I agree with you XPLORx4, thats why i'm starting with the 1/2". All I really want to do is level the truck without lowering the rear.....Truthfully i think the CV axles are already maxed witht the AC 2" lift springs...But we'll see!

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To whomever has installed a strut spacer on their pathfinder-

 

When installing strut spacers will I have to get longer studs/ bolts? I ordered the spacer from Rocky Road ( they call it a 9/16" trim packer ) and the guy I spoke with said that he or his coworker were certain that I will have to, but didn't offer it ( the bolts ) along with the spacers.

 

Thanks!

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it does take longer bolts. I used a hammer to beat the studs out of the strut mount and put in 2" bolts. I've had 1" teflon spacers in for about a year and not had any problems. I've got a couple of torn cv boots that i need to replace, but I figure at 150k miles its time to replace the cv joints anyway.

 

edit:

I did a search and found a write up i did on my spacers. The 1 pic i have is on my web server which is down right now. Hope to get it back up in the next week or so.

 

http://www.nissanpathfinders.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=2665&hl=lift

Edited by snosnk
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  • 2 weeks later...

Today I got my OME lift on...shocks struts OME also...that lift is very sweet. It was 3/4" on the money in front and 2" on the money in the back....however Rocky Road forgot to ship my trim spacers for the front (9/16") that would level out the front and back.

 

This R50 is now a truck...it rides awesome. I had my bud take it mildly off road in a cut corn field and romp it. He noticed that the fan was off the truck or should i say he noticed it was much more "spunky". He was in awe of the solid performance that the lift gave in the field. He owns a '94 S-10 Blazer with 3" of body and 3" of suspension lift with 32" BFG's

 

Results:

Cooper AST II (econo tire) ------------->"ok" off road

Nissan torq--------------------------------> surprising and in tune with 4WD

OME----------------------------------------> "kept me from beating everyone's head ----------------------------------------------- off the roof in rocky/muddy terrain"

UNI-Body----------------------------------> "no wonder Dean (XPLORX) beats so --------------------------------------------------- many other trucks" I did pimp the ----------------------------------------------------- videos on the purple lizard site!!!

 

not too shaby of a review from an ole' Chevy Boy!!! Now i can't wait to get larger shoes and the trim packers from rocky road.

 

One ugly issue...i broke a stud off the truck, so now i am forced to figure wether or not to pay out more $$$ to get my Warns, Cross drilled rotors, and steel brake lines (i own the lines and need flushing also) done all at once or just one piece it and keep some $$$ around!! That really sucked! Pics :allclean: after a bath tomorrow!

Edited by 98silverpathy
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Very sweet 98 :clap:

 

I've been working on shims to drop the front axle assembly and reduce the CV angle. They have proven to be pain to grind and keep the front drive shaft in plane. ( of course with a Milling center it would not have been all that hard.) I got the Alum coil spacers all set. They are 1.75 of an inch. It would have been easier to buy four or five sets of spacers from Rocky Road and sandwich them. I'm thinking of going with the A/C 2 inch coils over the OME. After reading so many for and against about A/C I'm hesitant but I'm hoping the parts are quick to come in. They are going to be ordered tomorrow! Now.. to post pics of all this stuff...

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Very sweet 98 :clap:

 

I've been working on shims to drop the front axle assembly and reduce the CV angle. They have proven to be pain to grind and keep the front drive shaft in plane. ( of course with a Milling center it would not have been all that hard.) I got the Alum coil spacers all set. They are 1.75 of an inch. It would have been easier to buy four or five sets of spacers from Rocky Road and sandwich them. I'm thinking of going with the A/C 2 inch coils over the OME. After reading so many for and against about A/C I'm hesitant but I'm hoping the parts are quick to come in. They are going to be ordered tomorrow! Now.. to post pics of all this stuff...

You're droping the front crossmember that supports the control arms???? I was looking under the Pathy the other day and wondered if that could be done!

 

How are you doing it? I was thinking of welding or bolting a 2x3 thick wall u-channel to the frame, then mounting the original crossmember to that.....More thought, measuring, and drawing is definitely in order.

 

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures, man I love pictures....

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[You're droping the front crossmember that supports the control arms???? I was looking under the Pathy the other day and wondered if that could be done!

 

How are you doing it? I was thinking of welding or bolting a 2x3 thick wall u-channel to the frame, then mounting the original crossmember to that.....More thought, measuring, and drawing is definitely in order.]

 

Yes, I'm essentially adding wedges to put under the support structure of the front cross member. I started with 1 inch bar stock and am slowly adjusting it to tweak the driveshaft angles. So far I've ruined about 6 feet of stock. My plan was to angle the crossmember and drop it at the same time by no more than an inch. I'm not sure how much extra you have on your front crossmember bolts but I have about 1 and 1/2 inches of thread beyond the nut. I was hoping to just get enough of a drop to have about 4inches of front lift. any higher and I might as well do some frame reinforcement and do a coilover shock and solid axle swap.(the other semi-unrealistic direction I have been thinking of) I think L&P was doing what you are thinking of on their lift kit. I have to imagine it's not too difficult to drop the cross member weld up a substructure. The problem will be durabilty with the large tires. As this is the first pathy I've had, I'm not sure how strong the front drivetrain is. -- No offense anyone! -- I know they run forever but with big tires, I'm thinking there might be a reliability issue sooner rather than later.

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The only real issues in the front driveline occur when the CVs are at an extreme angle and stressed heavily. They tend to fail catastrophically. Ask Keith (system-f) about his CV issues on AZ Run 4, I think he blew 2.

 

Other than CVs, the front R200 diff is a VERY stout diff for an IFS setup (it's actually slightly larger (read: stronger) than a Dana35 which is the common REAR axle on many Jeeps). Nissan knew what they were doing building these trucks, don't ever doubt that! :clap:

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I think keeping the drop to an inch or two and 33's or smaller tires should be fine. Like YOWZAERIC said the drive shaft length/angle is key....i'm not too worried about the CV joints since dropping the crossmember and inch or so is no different than adding the AC or OME 2" springs up front along with some 1" strut spacers

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Actually, the whole idea behind a Diff-Drop type lift is to keep the CV angles as close to 0 as possible. So, in effect, a diff-drop lift will not affect the CV angles at all.

 

Again to use system-f as an example, before he installed his drop lift, he popped 2 CVs at the Arizona Run. Then at last years event, after installing the drop lift, he didn't break a single one, and he was running much harder terrain.

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Vengeful hit the nail on the head. I got the idea to try to make a drop in order to keep the cv angles at a minimum and keeping driveline vibration down by not creating a bizarre draftshaft angle. When I get this all sorted out correctly I'll add some pictures. I'm thinking I want to add 35's to the truck But 'm not sure I'll have the room to make it happen without lots of cutting nd while i don't doubt these trucks are durable, IFS front ends are only so strong.

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OK.....I know that this isn't a Pathy....BUT...

 

To settle your IFS doubts...here's a pic of an IFS Tacoma on 37" ProComp Xterrains.

 

97_3.JPG

 

And, to keep the Pathy theme alive...here's a relatively dark picture of a WD21 with 35s.

 

426738-winch.jpg

 

It can be done, it has been done, and with great success.

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