2011 frontier

justbecause

perpetually lost
The truck has been doing Lowe's duty since buying a house last summer. We really thought we would be done working on it by now; but a quick paint job and new floors turned into several rooms taken down to studs. A relatively intensive overhaul/redesign of the kitchen. It was (is) generally enough work that at this point, I wish I had done a little more work on the front end trying to get a contractor to come in and give me some quotes/ideas.... I live in a college town that has been building non stop for years and finding someone reliable and trustworthy to do "little projects" has been a challenge.


All the gear has been removed from the truck, I can't remember the last time we went camping. Packing and unpacking the OZ rv5 has lost most of its appeal. I think I'm ready for a camper, and I am 90% sure I do not want another trailer, that means slide in truck camper. At that point I'm worried about GVWR, I can feel the added pressure in the truck with our current set up, especially when breaking. I know people do it, I'm just really questioning putting 1200ish lbs of camper and stuff in the bed. That leads to me to considering a vagabond drifter, I thought I had decided to get a overlndr, but the frontier has such bad visibility I dont think I want to lose any. The overlndr seems to have considerably smaller glass windows than the drifter.

I'm also wondering if its time to move into a 1/2 ton, and that makes me say to myself "if you're getting a new truck you might as well get a 3/4 ton" I have seen some ram 2500s for less than the f150s I've looked at. Then I say to myself if you're going to consider a ram look at the 1500 with offroad package so you can still get an e-locker and downhill, then I look at those and say to myself you can get a v6 for less than 30k, then I wonder if buying a v6 ram is enough of an upgrade to justify the change, then I start to think about rolling the frontier until the wheels fall off....

Now I'm here, I have rewritten the previous paragraph 6 or 7 times, and I'm wondering about drawing out a composite camper/shell for the frontier....

I just want a truck that can tow 12k lbs, has a 2k payload, gets 28mpg, and has enough room in the backseat to fit 2 car seats with the front seats comfortable rolled back. Its not like I'm asking for too much or anything.
 

justbecause

perpetually lost
Welcome. Initial thoughts on the koolaid?

3 of my 4 tires were still in acceptable shape even after clocking over 60k miles. I was going to give you an exact age/mileage but firestone is telling me I can no longer access my account online. That it is only through an app?

The new tires make my truck feel like I am driving on clouds, I thought the suspension just felt especially stiff because I have removed all the extra weight from the back except the new aluminum shell and I am running HD OME springs.

I still intend to get the all dogs offroad upper control arms when they are available because I have never replaced my ball joints and the truck has about 140k miles.
I am also beyond 50k miles on my bilstein 5100s so I intend to replace those soon-ish-

I have a CEL that I am currently trying to track down, I found a major vacuum leak and replaced the hose but that did not clear the code or seem to make any difference to the truck. My next step is the PCV valve then I get to start replacing sensors which isn't inexpensive. This truck has really spoiled me, with only a couple of minor exceptions it has been trouble free for almost 100k miles which is a first for me. I have had to constantly work and spend money on everything I have ever owned. This truck has really changed my life and I cannot imagine getting another "fixer upper". I think if this truck does ever bite the dust I'll get the last year model that my suspension and bumper will fit and move those parts over. A couple of years ago I was dead set on buying a Ford, now, I think I'm staying Frontier until the kids physically cannot fit in the back seat, which may never happen.

I intend to find a tight parking space and see if the narrow tires help with turning, which other people claim, I'll report back after I play some more.
 

justbecause

perpetually lost
wife and I agree the 235s make turning better. It still drivers like a frontier though.... even with 2 lanes I didnt have enough room to flip a U with the wheel hard locked. Fuel economy has really gone to piss, the computer read 8mpg and eventually climbed to just over 12. Hand calculated came out at 12.7mpg. My gauge reads totally empty and shows 0 miles but I am still only able to put 14 or 15 gallons in. I dont know if that means I have air in the tank and can't get the full 21 or if I have that much left in the tank when reading empty. Either way, 190 mile per tank rang is land cruiser territory which isnt really acceptable to me. I wanted to hop on the scales this weekend fully loaded but that didn't happen. If I find out I'm at or very near GVWR I'll be questioning how long I'll be able to keep this vehicle.
 

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