2000 Frontier (Supercharged) Build and Adventures - Babe the Blue Ox

[paulforeman]

PSR Coilover Conversion

I ordered a D22 Coilover Conversion from Australia. I ordered from DrivenOffroad and the parts showed up in like 6 days. Pretty good service from Aiden at DrivenOffroad.

The kit was great. Came with like 15 pages of instructions and every little thing that was required for install.

It was a bit of slog, but the most difficult part was probably the dreaded lower control arm rear bushing (yes, mine was as bad as everyone else's).

Total parts list:

• OEM 54419-VK80A - Rear Lower Control Arm Bolts - Z1 Offroad
• OEM 54560-8B400 - Rear Lower Control Arm Bushings - Z1 Offroad
• MOOG RK620556/RK620556 - Lower Control Arms - RockAuto
• PSR Coil Conversion kit - DrivenOffroad
• PSR Upper Control Arms - DrivenOffroad
• SPC 87515 - Upper Control Arm Cam Bolts (rebranded/sold by Mevotech) - RockAuto.
• FEBEST 54050-50W0A - Lower Control Arm Bump Stops - Amazon
• MEVOTECH DX330 & DX331 - CV Axle Reboot Kit - RockAuto

Total Price....................................................................... (who cares)

I'll just dump some photos of the process.

A beautiful sight ^^ after the classic lower control arm fire fight. My bolts were seized, etc.

Cut off the factory shock tabs and welded in these reinforcements.
Old bump stops were toast, so I ordered new ones.

New bucket fully welded in. Used paint stripper and wire wheel to get the paint off before welding.

REBOOT on the CV axle - The old boots were the original boots from 24 years ago. 1 was ripped so I did them all.

Took it out for a spin and after a few miles of basic maneuvers, I got enough confidence to jump some curbs and hit some washboard roads. It didn't completely fold up yet... so I guess it's on.

Cheers.

 

[paulforeman]

FULL SKIDS (SKID ROW)

I got my used Skid Row skid plates installed this week. They came off of "The Grey Truck" (another 1st Gen Frontier) that I bought in the Fall.

*I should have washed all the dirt and gravel off before starting... a lesson I seem to never learn.

This front engine plate uses U-bolts around the differential cross member.

The rest of the plates bolt through pinch welds on the frame in other places, requiring me to drill thru-holes for bolts to go through. That was really annoying to lay on the ground and get hot metal shavings falling all over me. So, I tried something else....

It's only dumb if it doesn't work, right? And this worked really well. I could reach over and pull the trigger while SLOWLY lifting the jack using my foot. Did all the holes this way and it worked out great.

I guess I'm done being careful while driving through rocks now.
Nah, I'll still be as careful as I need to be. It'll just be less.

Cheers, and Merry Christmas!

 

[paulforeman]

Moab Trip, 2025

Moab Trip 2024, Moab Trip 2022, Moab Trip 2021, "Moab" Trip 2020
^ Previous trip links.

Each year, we try to do about 50% new activities/routes & 50% repeat stuff we know we like.
If you look back at the other trips we've done, you'd see a lot of familiar places.

I'm going to primarily just photo-dump so you can be inspired to get outside.

Trip Highlights

• Perfect weathers (highs in the 80's) and had almost no wind.
• Isolated and quiet campsites
• Drove over a bunch of dirt and rocks
• My brother wrecked his GX470 rear differential and we had a fun time finding one and replacing it. More below.
• The Frontier did great, including the new Timbren Bump Stops (rear) and PSR Coil Conversion Kit (Front).
• Other rigs:
  
  • 2003 V8 Lexus GX470
  • 2004 V8 Toyota 4Runner
  • 2006 V6 Toyota 4Runner
  • 2023 Toyota Tacoma (bone stock, other than bashed in skid plates from last year)
• Trails we Ran:
  
  • Dome Plateau (New)
  • Owl Draw (New)
  • Onion Creek to Hideout Canyon to La Sal Mountain Loop (our regular exit route).

Photo dump, loosely in order.

^^THIS IS WHERE THING GOT INTERESTING^^

My brother in his Lexus hit the choppy part at the top of this sand hill in 4LO, 2nd gear, full throttle (V8 Power, something the Frontier will never know). HIt vehicle bounced, came down, and sheared a hand-full of teeth off of his rear differential. We limped it all the way off of Owl Draw, pulled the rear driveshaft, locked the center diff, then limped it into town the next day (50 miles total).

We eventually found a full 4Runner axle for sale in Payson, basically all the way to Salt Lake.

• Jumped in the Frontier and left Moab (6:00pm)
• Arrived in Payson and got the axle (9:30pm)
• Stopped for In-n-Out, then hit the road (9:45pm)
• Arrived back at Hotel in Moab (1:00am)

Next morning...

• Gutted the axle in the hotel parking Lot (6:30am)
• Ate breakfast, already sweaty and greasy (7:30am)
• Limped the Lexus over to O'Reilly parking lot (8:30am)
• Got diff swapped and car buttoned up (10:00am)
• Cleaned up the parking lot and trash away (10:30am)

Cleaned up and met the girls at the coffee shop (11:00am)
(We're still patting ourselves on the back for fixing our own problems like big boys).

After lunch, we went back out on the trail. We ran Onion Creek, Hideout Canyon, Polar Mesa, to Gateway-Castleton Route. Camped near CO/UT boarder.

My wife didn't grow up around guns, but I'm trying to get her more comfortable around them. Brought a metal gong target and sighted in this little .22 caliber pellet gun. She enjoyed it. We'll have to move up to real .22 caliber next and see how she likes it.

Overall a very memorable trip.

Cheers.