E.J.'s Dirty Nismo 2005 Frontier CC Build Thread/Journal

Co-opski

Expedition Leader
nice trip. The picture of you and your boy at the Trail Head is priceless. Love how you both are dressed the same, good taste. Actually I think I have the same shirt as you. Cool Sheldon Brown tattoo also.
 

HOOLIGAN

The 4x4 Podcast
Nice set up. My next build is going to the a Frontier so I'm bookmarking this for your set up. The only thing I would suggest is maybe a velcro strap around the LifeHammer. Hate to see a fender bender send that thing into someones face.
 

E.J.

Explorer
nice trip. The picture of you and your boy at the Trail Head is priceless. Love how you both are dressed the same, good taste. Actually I think I have the same shirt as you. Cool Sheldon Brown tattoo also.
LOL thanks. Internet hi five for recognizing SB, when I'm not adventuring I'm turning wrenches in a bike shop.
 

E.J.

Explorer
Took a little day trip to an off road park about an hours drive from the house...
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The truck did awesome, we planned on sticking to level 1-2 trails but ended up on some 3's but no dramas. I'm really glad I stumbled across this NISMO, rear locker is nice and I really appreciated the descent control on some of steep/loose/rocky bits. Definitely looking forward to a nicer suspension set up in the future though.
 

E.J.

Explorer
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Rigged up some inexpensive utilitrack hi lift mounts. Needed to have the jack lower than the utilitrack to clear the softopper frame. Used a couple of unistrut connector plates, 3/8 bolts, and some knobs from the big box hardware section. Might have to splurge on the hi lift branded locking knobs so I can leave it back there.
 

E.J.

Explorer
Well I thought I was gonna bump this thread to show off the sweet new OME suspension that should be showing up here tomorrow. But no, last night on a three hour drive home from a weekend in Little Rock my auto trans decided to crap the bed. We were on the highway passing a semi on an uphill, I hit the od off button and the dashboard dummy lights lit up and we heard the classic rumblestrip noise. The trans went into limp mode but we managed to make it to the next exit. I disconnected the battery and let everything cool down for about 20 minutes, fired it back up and only had the ses light on. Took it easy the rest of the way home (only about 30 minutes out), everything seemed normal until I got of our exit then the rumble strip noise started happening again.

Limped it to the dealer this morning and waited for the bad news. Got the call and they told me the trans overheated because of contaminated fluid. This sucks because I bypassed the radiator the day I brought the truck home. I'd be more suspicious of the dealership service guys if the truck wasn't acting exactly like every SMOD horror story I've read about. I imagine the PO got the SMOD, had the trans flushed, and passed the problem on to me. Maybe there was just a little crap in there that took a year to really wreak havoc. I did have it go in limp mode once before but it resolved itself immediately after turning the truck off and back on. Transmission problem denial on my part at the time.

Ugg. Blah blah blah, getting a rebuilt trans popped in and having them install the updated radiator while they are at it.

Yippie?
 
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xkid

Adventurer
They did a recall on the radiator finally,I believe. That would be nice if it was free. How many miles on it?
 

E.J.

Explorer
134k miles on it, way out of warranty unfortunately. On the bright side the repair quote was about a thousand less than I see a lot of folks on the forums said they've paid for this repair.
 

jhberria

Adventurer
Ouch, tough luck man.

Glass half-full: this happened somewhere you could limp home, and not on a remote trail in the middle of BFE.
 

wreckdiver1321

Overlander
Ah man, that really sucks. I'm sorry to hear this happened. I've lost a transmission in a previous rig before, and I know how bad it can be. Especially so with the Frontier, knowing how spendy the trannys are.

On the bright side, you'll now have a new trans that will last a long time!
 

E.J.

Explorer
Well dang that was expensive. New trans and updated radiator installed, they replaced a worn out u-joint out of the goodness of their heart. Good think I really like this truck because I'll be driving it for a looong time now.

Next up is to install the OME suspension that came in from Nisstec this week. HD coils up front, medium dakar leaf pack in back, and nitrocharger shocks/struts. Curious to see how much the stock stuff was sagging, I've been running 2" blocks but I'm pretty sure it's sagging more than an inch.
 

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