Considering a Frontier as overlanding platform, need some opinions

[srileo]

All,
am a long time lurker finally getting into 4x4 overlanding with a Truck + FWC/ATC popup camper. My background has been with motorcycles so far and i have central america and south america under my belt on a suzuki vStrom and DR650 respectively. I now want to take my wife on these long expeditions and have been considering a nissan frontier or a toyota tacoma. Here are some specific questions:

1. I would like a pickup truck that is sold around the world. The tacoma is US-only and I believe does not share any critical parts with the HiLux which is the most common truck i have found in S.America. The Frontier is sold and serviced extensively all over S.America and the world, and that gives me a huge degree of comfort. Our first cross-continent trip would be Australia or Europe though (where the frontier is also well known, however in diesel form. Am i right in choosing a truck very specifically based on parts availability? Also, i realize that frontiers the world over are sold with diesel engines, and getting the Frontier in the petrol engine probably puts me back in the same risk level as getting a petrol Tacoma?

2. While every truck has some failing or the other, it appears that the Frontier has the dreaded coolant leaking into transmission problem and the tacomas have the frame rust problem (atleast up to the 07 model years).... what is the easier problem to avoid? From a value perspective, the Tacoma seems to enjoy a much bigger following (and overlanding aftermarket) inspite of being more expensive, having a lighter frame and fewer options than a comparable Frontier. What are your perspectives on this?

3. The rig that i am considering would be a v6, crew cab, auto trans, 4x4, long bed. For the Frontier, this configuration actually results in a LOWER payload capacity to the tune of 1200 lbs. I will most likely have the camper mounted on the truck on a permanent basis and using it exclusively for trips. Prepared to invest in custom suspension for this. However, what mods will RAISE the payload rating? Tires?


Many more questions, but will wait on your opinions on the above first..

Thanks in advance,
Shridhar

 

[Christian P.]

The Frontier is indeed very popular and well known in many countries - I think it would be a great choice. I might however try to go with a manual transmission (if they are available).

 

[007]

What year frontier are you considering?

 

[srileo]

Definitely considering a second gen. Perhaps a 2007-2010. On wednesday i am going to check out an '07 LE crewcab longbed auto with 57k miles.

What year frontier are you considering?

 

[duckhunter71]

I love mine. Lots of power, decent room, and decent fuel economy. I don't think you can go wrong!

 

[srileo]

i see you have an '07. How did you deal with the coolant-radiator issue? Did you put in a new radiator or re-route the hose or hoping for the best with your warrantee?

Also, does the nissan extension of the radiator/trans warrantee to 80k miles apply second owners as well?

I love mine. Lots of power, decent room, and decent fuel economy. I don't think you can go wrong!

 

[RonapRhys]

Since the Xterra and Frontier share many components, I'm familiar enough with the tranny problems. It's colloquially referred to as the SMOD (strawberry milkshake of death). There's a relatively simple bypass that one can do that gets around that (just search on SMOD and you'll find the procedures). I believe the newer models may have addressed the problem, but I'm not 100% on that. Personally, I've got the 6spd in my Xterra and I happen to enjoy that. The engines in the 2005 and up vehicles have plenty of power and torque in 4LO to do most anything you'll ask of them. The only places it gets difficult for me is in rock-crawling situations when I'm perched and need to start moving again - however, some of that is simple inexperience and each trip out brings me more skill there.

If you're planning on hauling a trailer, the clutch will wear out a bit quicker. I'm at 100K miles, but I've seen folks have them wear out at 50 or 75K miles.

 

[skibum315]

With regards to the radiator/transmission issue, I wouldn't let that be a huge deterrent ... provided you can have it inspected (or inspect it yourself) to verify everything's copacetic with a specific unit, when you go to buy. At that point, I'd highly recommend bypassing the radiator portion of the transmission fluid loop and adding a secondary cooler ... yes the air/fluid cooling isn't as effective as the fluid/fluid cooling you get in the stock configuration; but reasonably priced secondary coolers are readily available in many sizes, and make it easy to add a trans temp gauge ... heck, you could even get one with an electric fan, if you were really worried about it. Or, hold out for a manual trans and don't worry about it at all ... I love my 6spd '08 Xterra; even in the rocks, I wouldn't trade it for an automatic.

As far as the rear suspension, I'd consider a set of custom springs ... companies like Alcan Spring and Deaver are both good names, PRG Products or Nisstec can help you piece together a full kit that's tailored to your specific needs; or you can work with the manufacturers directly. It's also possible that there's a local spring shop near you that might be able to make you a custom pack, at significant savings (shipping primarily) over the offerings from Alcan or Deaver. Perhaps pair that with a set of airbags, if you aren't too worried about rear axle articulation.

There's good info on www.thenewx.org (yes, an Xterra site ... but as I'm sure you know, the 2nd gen X and Frontier are essentially the same vehicle with different bodies), with regards to the SMOD (Strawberry Milkshake of Death - the radiator/transmission issue) as it's affectionately known. A user by the name of jeff_redx has compiled copious data logs (should come up if you search his name - look for threads along the lines of 'cooling system performance', or similar) of the trans fluid temperature at several points in the system, under many condition cases ... I believe both with and without the radiator bypassed. Further, there are several aftermarket radiator options; from OEM equivalent all the way up to a high-zoot Griffin offering ... if you want to just swap the rad and keep the stock configuration. Also a bunch of info on TNX about this path. A while back, I put together a sticky with links to several threads that detail the SMOD ... this was when it was starting to become clear that it was going to be a larger issue; but since I did that, there's been more and more info coming out ... and that sticky could probably use an update (so don't take it as the be-all-end-all source of info, merely a starting point).

HTH!

EDIT - Hah, Ron got a post in there while I was putting mine together ... as far as the clutch, yes, there are folks who have the stock ones wear out early (<50k mi or so); but I'm inclined to believe that they've seen some good abuse/slipping to do that. I'm at ~75k on mine, and I haven't been particularly careful with it, and it'll still pull like normal in 2nd (or 3rd ... shhhh, don't tell anyone), if I forget to grab 1st at a light. I think the OEM clutch is just fine, if you know how to drive stick ... but then again, I don't tow with mine either. So YMMV.

 

[RonapRhys]

Snaked!

But let's be honest, you gave better info than I did, so he should probably look at yours.

 

[duckhunter71]

i see you have an '07. How did you deal with the coolant-radiator issue? Did you put in a new radiator or re-route the hose or hoping for the best with your warrantee?

Also, does the nissan extension of the radiator/trans warrantee to 80k miles apply second owners as well?

I haven't done anything to mine, yet. Even though it is a 2007, it only has 27k miles on it. I'll probably look at doing that this summer. I would think the warranty would transfer just like any other factory warranty. I believe mine expired a few months before I bought it last fall, however.

 

[srileo]

Skibum
thanks for the great advise.

1. Suspension: i believe either Alcan or deaver are in California, so i will contact them. Nisstec sounds like a great start as well. I'll probably start with airbags for a brief while and then go to custom springs just to see the difference for myself. The popup camper will probably be around 1000 lb with water etc.
2. SMOD: excellent reference to the reference list there. Love it. I think i will start with examining the radiator cap for myself and go from there. I definitely will have the car inspected by a nissan technician to get his opinion on the SMOD, the timing belt tensioners, rear axles, and U-joint issues that seem to be the common problems. I wish i could send the oil and radiator fluid in to a lab for examination, but that might not work out timing wise. I'll try to price out the secondary cooler and see if i can do it at the same time as the bypass.
3. Good info the xterra website. It seems a more organized and disciplined site compared to clubfrontier.org site is unnecessarily junked up with ads and peoples' signature photos.
4. auto vs manual: cant negotiate that one. the wife definitely commands that decision.

With regards to the radiator/transmission issue, I wouldn't let that be a huge deterrent ... provided you can have it inspected (or inspect it yourself) to verify everything's copacetic with a specific unit, when you go to buy. At that point, I'd highly recommend bypassing the radiator portion of the transmission fluid loop and adding a secondary cooler ... yes the air/fluid cooling isn't as effective as the fluid/fluid cooling you get in the stock configuration; but reasonably priced secondary coolers are readily available in many sizes, and make it easy to add a trans temp gauge ... heck, you could even get one with an electric fan, if you were really worried about it. Or, hold out for a manual trans and don't worry about it at all ... I love my 6spd '08 Xterra; even in the rocks, I wouldn't trade it for an automatic.

As far as the rear suspension, I'd consider a set of custom springs ... companies like Alcan Spring and Deaver are both good names, PRG Products or Nisstec can help you piece together a full kit that's tailored to your specific needs; or you can work with the manufacturers directly. It's also possible that there's a local spring shop near you that might be able to make you a custom pack, at significant savings (shipping primarily) over the offerings from Alcan or Deaver. Perhaps pair that with a set of airbags, if you aren't too worried about rear axle articulation.

 

[srileo]

RonapRhys,
i am really pretty gentle with my driving - even got a ticket for driving too slow!! and definitely will not be doing anything more than fire roads as far as 4x4 is concerned, so not too worried about power. Clutch..well i will be hauling about 1500 lbs of camper and ourselves, if that causes wear and tear, so be it. the wife definitely wants the auto trans, so cant win that battle.

Since the Xterra and Frontier share many components, I'm familiar enough with the tranny problems. It's colloquially referred to as the SMOD (strawberry milkshake of death). There's a relatively simple bypass that one can do that gets around that (just search on SMOD and you'll find the procedures). I believe the newer models may have addressed the problem, but I'm not 100% on that. Personally, I've got the 6spd in my Xterra and I happen to enjoy that. The engines in the 2005 and up vehicles have plenty of power and torque in 4LO to do most anything you'll ask of them. The only places it gets difficult for me is in rock-crawling situations when I'm perched and need to start moving again - however, some of that is simple inexperience and each trip out brings me more skill there.

If you're planning on hauling a trailer, the clutch will wear out a bit quicker. I'm at 100K miles, but I've seen folks have them wear out at 50 or 75K miles.

 

[skibum315]

Deaver is in Southern California, Santa Ana, to be precise ... and Alcan is here in CO, in Grand Junction.

Just noticed you're in the Bay Area, if you're looking to chat with someone face-to-face, ChrisHaynesUSA on The New X (and here, as well, I believe) has a well set-up Xterra and offroad camping trailer ... and I know he loves to talk about both. I'm sure at the very least he'd trade PMs. Also, PRG products is just up the hill in Newcastle ... I know Greg (they're pretty much a one-man shop) has a reputation of being hard to get hold of, sometimes, but he's pretty much the Nissan suspension guru. It might be worth trying to work with him, especially since you could go there directly.

 

[mike r]

worth reading

Nissan North America has reached a class action lawsuit settlement that will resolve claims the company produced vehicles with defective radiators and concealed this defect from consumers. If approved, the proposed Nissan radiator settlement will pay the repair costs for potentially tens of thousands of Nissan Pathfinder, Xterra and Frontier vehicles.

Nissan Pathfinder owner William Szymczak filed the Nissan radiator class action lawsuit in 2010, alleging the vehicles leaked coolant into the transmissions, causing damage and making the vehicles unreasonably dangerous. Szymczak accused Nissan of failing to issue a recall and failing to offer to repair the alleged defect for free or to reimburse Nissan owners for repair costs, despite the company’s knowledge of the radiator defect.

Under the proposed Nissan radiator class action settlement, Nissan will fully reimburse all current and former owners or lessees of a 2005-2010 Nissan Pathfinder, Xterra or Frontier vehicle that paid to fix the radiator or other damages caused by the defect within eight years or 80,000 miles.

Nissan also agreed to pay for future repairs caused by the radiator defect and partially reimburse prior repair costs up to a maximum of 10 years or 100,000 miles. Owners who had the repairs done before nine years or 90,000 miles can receive relief after paying a $2,500 deductible, while reimbursement for repairs done between then and 10 years or 10,000 miles can come after a $3,000 co-payment. This is still a significant savings for Class Members because repair costs caused by the radiator defect can cost $5,000 or more, according to the motion for preliminary approval of the Nissan settlement.

“The use of deductibles effectively caps any class member's out-of-pocket expense for repairs and relieves the class members of the burden of shopping for the least costly repair,” the motion said. “While the acceptance of the deductibles covers some but not all of the cost of a repair, such a compromise is reasonable since the strength of any class member's claim is reduced the more trouble-free miles the vehicle has been driven prior to the defect manifesting.”
The Nissan Radiator Defect Class Action Lawsuit Settlement case is In re: Nissan Radiator/Transmission Cooler Litigation, Case No. 10-cv-07493, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

 

[srileo]

Excellent news! when did this settlement happen? So it looks like second owners up to 80k miles are clearly covered. Thanks for this.

Nissan North America has reached a class action lawsuit settlement that will resolve claims the company produced vehicles with defective radiators and concealed this defect from consumers. If approved, the proposed Nissan radiator settlement will pay the repair costs for potentially tens of thousands of Nissan Pathfinder, Xterra and Frontier vehicles.

The Nissan Radiator Defect Class Action Lawsuit Settlement case is In re: Nissan Radiator/Transmission Cooler Litigation, Case No. 10-cv-07493, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.