First off.... some credit (blame?) where it's due.
I'd been interested in making the jump to a Nissan for a few years, but it was Co-opski's thread that gave me the courage to jump in on a high-mileage gen 1 frontier as my new rig.
(link: http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/43802-Co-opski’s-Last-Frontier-Build )
I picked up a 2000 Nissan Frontier crew cab off craigslist in February of this year, with 180,000 on the clock. The price was right, but within a month the issues started to rain down. Cap and rotor, replaced lots of mouse-chewed wiring, and some work on the air intake and filter housing. Replaced the exhaust from the flex coupler back after the last hanger gave way and swung the rusted off tailpipe into my spare, melted it down to the belting - but didn't set it on fire.... thankfully.
A couple of weeks later, I noticed a little vibration at speed... by the end of that day, it had progressed to get really bad, and was tied to acceleration... the prior owner had lifted it using blocks in the back, aluminum blocks.... They were rounded out, and had started to move enough that two of the eight u-bolt nuts had sheared off. Excellent. Oh, and the axel had enough give that the u-joints were shot and driveline warped. New shocks, blocks and the driveline to a shop for tuning.
So.... after all that (and issues with my auto hubs too).... I'm still with the truck.
I picked up a CVT Mt. Shasta RTT at the CVT Customer Appreciation Day back in June.... awesome deal on a former display model tent. If you're local and interested in a RTT, make the run to Bend. Bobby will BBQ you a burger even if you don't end up buying. Fabbed up a bed rack for the tent, and mounted my hi-lift in the bed. I pulled the stock plastic bedliner and... lots of rust. I ran fiberglass patches over the biggest holes, and then rolled the bed with herculiner. Turned out good, the key is prep and timing the removal of masking just right for clean lines.
My better half and I ran the truck over to Hart Mountain and back in March, right after I bought it... somehow none of the series of major issues to come showed up on that trip. We made a series of little trips over the summer (in between problems and repairs). We ran up to Washington for a trip along their central coast, a couple trips over to the Metolius for camping, and a long trip up the Oregon Coast from Yachats to Astoria over a long weekend.
I ran over to the Owhyee country to try and fill an antelope tag this last weekend. I drove some rough country there, and after a day and half had my brake light come on. Some prior owner had put a full sized 265 spare under the bed. Its a short bed truck, and there just isn't room under there for the tire, rear diff, and my brake line.... one of them had to give. The truck still felt good, so I finished out the trip and then made the run to Burns on front brakes only. Les Schwab in Burns had me back to fully functional in an hour or so, and only for $60. Good guys.
The truck rolled past 190K out in the sagebrush by the Owhyee Canyon. With all the initial crap, I was tempted to dump the truck on craigslist... but... for now... I'm still with it. Not much more on it to break at this point, right?
I'll do another update here in a few months... hopefully one more full of trip reports than repairs.
I'd been interested in making the jump to a Nissan for a few years, but it was Co-opski's thread that gave me the courage to jump in on a high-mileage gen 1 frontier as my new rig.
(link: http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/43802-Co-opski’s-Last-Frontier-Build )
I picked up a 2000 Nissan Frontier crew cab off craigslist in February of this year, with 180,000 on the clock. The price was right, but within a month the issues started to rain down. Cap and rotor, replaced lots of mouse-chewed wiring, and some work on the air intake and filter housing. Replaced the exhaust from the flex coupler back after the last hanger gave way and swung the rusted off tailpipe into my spare, melted it down to the belting - but didn't set it on fire.... thankfully.
A couple of weeks later, I noticed a little vibration at speed... by the end of that day, it had progressed to get really bad, and was tied to acceleration... the prior owner had lifted it using blocks in the back, aluminum blocks.... They were rounded out, and had started to move enough that two of the eight u-bolt nuts had sheared off. Excellent. Oh, and the axel had enough give that the u-joints were shot and driveline warped. New shocks, blocks and the driveline to a shop for tuning.
So.... after all that (and issues with my auto hubs too).... I'm still with the truck.
I picked up a CVT Mt. Shasta RTT at the CVT Customer Appreciation Day back in June.... awesome deal on a former display model tent. If you're local and interested in a RTT, make the run to Bend. Bobby will BBQ you a burger even if you don't end up buying. Fabbed up a bed rack for the tent, and mounted my hi-lift in the bed. I pulled the stock plastic bedliner and... lots of rust. I ran fiberglass patches over the biggest holes, and then rolled the bed with herculiner. Turned out good, the key is prep and timing the removal of masking just right for clean lines.
My better half and I ran the truck over to Hart Mountain and back in March, right after I bought it... somehow none of the series of major issues to come showed up on that trip. We made a series of little trips over the summer (in between problems and repairs). We ran up to Washington for a trip along their central coast, a couple trips over to the Metolius for camping, and a long trip up the Oregon Coast from Yachats to Astoria over a long weekend.
I ran over to the Owhyee country to try and fill an antelope tag this last weekend. I drove some rough country there, and after a day and half had my brake light come on. Some prior owner had put a full sized 265 spare under the bed. Its a short bed truck, and there just isn't room under there for the tire, rear diff, and my brake line.... one of them had to give. The truck still felt good, so I finished out the trip and then made the run to Burns on front brakes only. Les Schwab in Burns had me back to fully functional in an hour or so, and only for $60. Good guys.
The truck rolled past 190K out in the sagebrush by the Owhyee Canyon. With all the initial crap, I was tempted to dump the truck on craigslist... but... for now... I'm still with it. Not much more on it to break at this point, right?
I'll do another update here in a few months... hopefully one more full of trip reports than repairs.
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