2001 R50 Pathfinder Build-up.

[Weekender41]

Check the Links for Shocks

Okay guys and it finally happened, all over the place Bilstein 5150's are no longer available or some places are charging 900+ bucks for one... ahaha what a joke. So I am getting the Equivalent 5165's. (Thanks to Xplorx4 for the info)

Did some painting to freshen up the look of the Pathy, I certainly like it. And I also am adding to the stickers haha. I do enjoy when companies send stickers (I get all cheesy like a little kid still).





And I started re-doing the lights in all LED units. So far the reverse lights and blinkers are done. blinker's are hyperflashing and I hear there is a LED flasher relay for the remedy there so looking into that and waiting for brake/running dual intensity tail lights to arrive. I would do the interior lights if I could find the correct sizes for them. Preferably on Amazon because I have 52 bucks of credit there. Hoping to hear back from NX4 industries about the spacers so I can order a pair and once the shocks come in ill be set to go. Drawer system got put on standby because I haven't been able to get much time off other than the day I spent painting.



There is another R50 same color as me in town!! Ill keep using their vehicle as comparison (they were okay with it )

 

[Allof75]

Duckhunter71, the roller fairleads for synthetic line's are actually better on the line. They have come along way since I was 16 and pulling a much too large truck with one. Just keep an eye on the rollers to make sure they are smooth. They are great because you can file down any impurities on the rollers with a file. I have both now at a shop close to me so once the bumper goes in. That way I can see which will float my boat better lol.

Center skid is on. I like how it's black. The photos show grey and I like matching and symmetry . Anyways Allof75 mentioned pieces to remove from the cross- bar. These are those.
View attachment 158912

Anyways the rear bolt I had to trim like Allof75. I took my dye set and cleaned the threads once it was cut off then took the bench grinder and added the angles at the end of the bolt and sent the dye through it again to clean it all up. I found FOURTREKS has rock slider washers that I am going to get so the chance of shearing all those off is practically slim. Once those get on Ill have to recut the bolts and clean them up again but I don't mind. Im trying to be thorough with this because the last thing I want is to shear a bolt off a 66 lbs plate and have that thing flapping. Haha anyways here is what the bolts look like now

View attachment 158914

And here is the whole set that I have. Its easy to see how simple the bolts would be to shear off under the pressure of a rock.

View attachment 158915

And I certainly hope the ARB front bumper allows me to keep my front skid. That Is my largest worry right now ... :/

Anyways I am still looking into the 7100 series or the 5165 series bilstein shocks. If anyone has experience with either (on any vehicle) please let me know.

Cheers everyone.

Ooh so my rambling/idiocy actually kinda helped someone? Awesome! :bike_rider: Were you able to stipulate anything about the puck's purpose? I remember thinking they must be balancers/vibration cancellors.

Also, where'd you score the LED reverse lights?

 

[Co-opski]

And I started re-doing the lights in all LED units. So far the reverse lights and blinkers are done. blinker's are hyperflashing and I hear there is a LED flasher relay for the remedy there so looking into that and waiting for brake/running dual intensity tail lights to arrive.

This should work for you only about $12. flasher

http://forums.nicoclub.com/led-issue-t563088.html

I like the painted grill BTW.

And my absolutely favorite picture from the whole trip!!!
View attachment 160209

This should be on the front page of ExPo very cool shot, lucky to be in WY.

 

[quaintbucket]

Beautiful picture of your drive! I've always been fond of the green scenery over the rocks and dust.

Nice job on your rig!

 

[Weekender41]

Ooh so my rambling/idiocy actually kinda helped someone? Awesome! :bike_rider: Were you able to stipulate anything about the puck's purpose? I remember thinking they must be balancers/vibration cancellors.

Also, where'd you score the LED reverse lights?

It helped a great deal! I would have been confused without it. I would assume for vibration purposes since the weight is not noticeable enough to balance the cross member I wouldn't think.

As for the LED lights. The running/brake lights were from superbrightled's, the turn signals were from auto illumination and the reverse were from amazon. The reverse are my favorite, the running/brake looks no different and the turn indicators are kind of dull in daylight but a brilliant yellow at night (it lights up the housing but doesn't project onto the road too much which I like for turn signals...the reverse lights on the other hand... :victory:

 

[Weekender41]

This should work for you only about $12. flasher

http://forums.nicoclub.com/led-issue-t563088.html

I like the painted grill BTW.



This should be on the front page of ExPo very cool shot, lucky to be in WY.

Thank you! I have one on order but it was backordered so I had to cancel. You could not have said that at a better time! The grill was to match all the rest of the black.. the Plasti-dip holds up well but has a slight bumpy surface to it which I was not accounting for. It's only noticeable at close range so no worries. Wyoming gets looked down upon by a lot of my peers but for anyone who enjoys outdoors, it's hard to beat IMHO.

 

[Weekender41]

The Cheap Stuff

Okay so I found I had some credit with Amazon so I went to stretch It out with things I would have liked to have but would probably never spend my own money on and what I got was; 1 Wyoming ORV & Jeep Trail Guide, 1 Colorado ORV & Jeep Trail Guide, 1 Northern Colorado ORV & Jeep Trail Guide, A couple Seat Organizers to fit behind the driver seat and one to fit on my one rear seat. I emailed Nx4 Industries trying to set up an order for spacers but they still have not replied, sprayed the drawer housing with varnish (2 coats) and will now be finalizing the drawers themselves. Got my bug-out bag and Winch Accessories bad finished (the winch will not go on until bumper is done so it was kind of a waste right now). Got the EZ Tire Deflator, Anchortrax Kit (will post photos on how those will work) and ordered some bushings (both upper and lower) so I can finalize the suspension some day when NX4 replies.

As a note, I got the shocks from AJUSA... has anyone gone through them before? I haven't gotten an email but the money went through...


Anyways I feel like instead of saving for the bumper I am now just outfitting with the convenience items. Oh well

Cheers!

 

[Weekender41]

More Lame Bumper Setback

Ok so like many people who go to make a large purchase and have options, they bounce back and forth between ideas.. I am certainly no different. At first when I saw photos and went to a couple conventions I was set on ARB as the bumper for me.. then I saw Armorology and knew that would be better because of the customization. Found out the price and was back to ARB. I started to think to myself...would I really want to have a bumper I 'settled' on? After all this time looking into it what would another few weeks of work be? So I, once again, leaned to Armorology. Then just the other day it hit me... quite literally. I was walking into my woodshop (is in a garage storage area) and a vehicle backed out and bumped me a little before hard brakes. I, being a strong backed infantry soldier thought nothing of it and just waved and kept walking until out of my peripherals I noticed the taillights....R50ish so I turned and BAM! this sweet lifted, SAS'd R50 rocking sliders and beadlocks and all kinds of crazy $#!+ was just sparkling. I was checking it out and the guy steps out and says "hey keep your head up" in a not so nice manner and after my reply he drove off....While he did though I noticed he had an ARB front bumper. This thing was bigger than I thought and hung down like a turkey's gobble. I was just not into it. So that was the punchline for me to go through Armorology and get it. Where they can get different parts for the front of my vehicle and have the winch in quite a ways into the vehicle and make the Approach angle loads better. Not to mention be the only one out there with it!!

Now I am certainly not trying to dog ARB, the bumpers they make are top notch for what they are made for. You will be hard pressed to find better front protection except maybe Road Armor. It just is ... not me.

Anyways sorry for the story-time but yeah so I need to start saving soon to get that bumper by XMAS.

Cheers

 

[Weekender41]

Overnighter In Snowy Range (Pic HEAVY)

Good day everyone, so I took a short little two day trip to Snowy Range and Medicine Bow National Forest. This was the first 8+ hour off road trail trips the vehicle has gone through since most of the modifications. Through all of the trails there was only one that the Pathfinder couldn't handle as it was filled with a ridiculous amount of mud. Anyways this was also a the first time to take all of the gear with the drawers. The drawer top is the perfect fit for my Aussie Stove and my pack...Didn't plan on that but hey its all good.

I don't have one of the cool electric fridges but I do know where I would put one if that ever came around. The Coleman original does it's job well for the couple days

I headed up to the Snowy Range..which still had many trails closed due to 8 foot drifts covering them up but its hard not to love a mountain range.


Then the trails started. They ranged in difficulty but most were relatively simple with good tire placement.






I set up camp for the night and ended it with some good reading haha!

 

[Weekender41]

Overnight In Snowy cont.



All in all it was really fun. Everything went smooth and I am very happy with the purchases I have made.

One thing I have to say for those who own the Rola Roof Baskets...The flat strap cargo net they sell was fantastic!! nothing moved, it held tight and did not fray. I haven't used it much but I am very pleased after initial testing


Some small beaver ponds


And my two favorite photos of the trip

 

[stioc]

Very cool! The truck looks great. Typically I'm not a fan of blacked out wheels but they actually look pretty good on your's.

As for the net, I guess it's ok for large bulky items but the voids are so big that smaller or thinner things could easily slip through them in an emergency braking etc. I have one but after using it once I don't want to use it again, not to mention the hooks getting caught in the net itself, mine are going in the garbage. A roof top canvas bag works 10x better, keeps the dirt and water out of your stuff and secures to the rack nicely, and even looks nicer - all for $50

 

[Weekender41]

Very cool! The truck looks great. Typically I'm not a fan of blacked out wheels but they actually look pretty good on your's.

As for the net, I guess it's ok for large bulky items but the voids are so big that smaller or thinner things could easily slip through them in an emergency braking etc. A roof top canvas bag works 10x better, keeps the dirt and water out of your stuff and secures to the rack nicely, and even looks nicer - all for $50

Thank you, the wheels were mainly painted because we had a lot of wheel paint and engine enamel sitting around so I bought a little more and finished them. Hopefully I will be getting newer alloy rims since two dirt bikes I had just sold. As for the cargo net, I can see where you are coming from most definitely. I never put small items up there so that's not too big of a deal and the hooks getting caught, I suppose I have good luck but I will unhook on side and flip it over and it will do the trick. HAHA now taking it out of storage to use is a nightmare! Well since I live in Wyoming...rain is kind of a bad joke so the canvas bag doesn't strike me there but the dust free point is very intriguing....I may have to check into that. Do they cause wind noise? No dust would just be....absolutely superb

 

[Weekender41]

Okay so I ordered shocks from shockwarehouse, month and a half later never heard back from them and no money was taken out of account, got tired of waiting and sent email to cancel the order. Went and ordered shocks from AJUSA and heard back and got shipping info 2 days later. Just earlier today I received the information about the original shocks from shockwarehouse with a shipping/tracking info and how much they would charge. WTH!?! so now since gas and new shocks have depleted my paycheck from a week and a half ago...this could lead to some financial conundrums! So I emailed them again and explained this all to them and so HOPEFULLY I will not be receiving those originals and wont be charged. This could get exciting!

haha anyways while out on the trail I spotted about 5000000 jeeps and lots of side-x-sides. The hiking trailheads saw lots of Subaru outbacks. No Toyotas (not a single taco), no Nissans (not even the over popular Xterra). So I was indeed having fun showing how capable this Pathy can be with some tender skinny pedal and lots of careful steering. NISSAN FOR THE WIN!

 

[Weekender41]

So I was rummaging around a downstairs storage closet and came across this ancient looking black case but with the raised ridges and style I knew it was a pelican case!! I was thrilled so I opened it and found this old video recorded that had completely stopped working and I just never got around to throwing it out. Well now I am the proud new owner of a pelican case, and its black! So I will be looking for where to buy box foam for it after I decide what it will hold.


Sorry for the shaky cell phone pic but you guys get the idea

 

[Weekender41]

Getting Close

After a couple months of gathering parts slowly I am now 2 spacers away from being done with the lift parts. I have to thank everyone who has helped me get this far. Without the knowledge from you all I couldn't have done it and felt this confident. I am very new to the vehicle travel side of expedition. Many a times I have gone hiking and backpacking but only driven to trailheads with the old pickup. This website has given me a whole renewed love for the outdoors. Being able to go there and carry more gear is incredibly exciting. Thanks again all!

I hope to soon have those NX4 Spacers and a little more height. And the black anchortrax are for the drawers to secure the gear back there but anyways here is where I am now.