Basically the same issue I had with the MK84s. After 20k miles, the lower spherical bearings were shot on both sides. They made terrible squeaking noises when dry, and felt unstable. The passenger side bearing I could move around in the lower strut mount by hand. Not exactly safe. For the terrain I travel and the amount of snow, dust, mud, and general grime my truck sees, OME assemblies are a better option for me. I suspect the same rings true for you.
"Lola" - WreckDiver1321's 2005 Frontier CC/SB Nismo Build and Adventure Thread
- Thread starter wreckdiver1321
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Basically the same issue I had with the MK84s. After 20k miles, the lower spherical bearings were shot on both sides. They made terrible squeaking noises when dry, and felt unstable. The passenger side bearing I could move around in the lower strut mount by hand. Not exactly safe. For the terrain I travel and the amount of snow, dust, mud, and general grime my truck sees, OME assemblies are a better option for me. I suspect the same rings true for you.
Dmski
Adventurer
Great tip on the zip ties! I'll give it a go. Honestly when I get everything ready for the titan swap I'll be doing a thorough cleaning of all the rear suspension stuff. Like you, I've heard bad things about the longevity of the Radflo parts, and that is why I'm going the titan tundra bilsteins for when I do the swap. Should be way cheaper and easier to replace when they do die.
justbecause
perpetually lost
:lurk:
wreckdiver1321
Overlander
Ha, I was just thinking about how badly I need to update this thread. I'm so sorry I've been gone so long guys. Lots of irons in the fire right now. I'll update ASAP.
wreckdiver1321
Overlander
Oh you better!!!!!!
Truck lucks good on the Jeep trail, can;t wait to see more of it.
steve
ASAP isn't soon enough. Feed the forum......feed the beast
Haha thanks for the encouragement guys.
Before we delve into all the truck stuff, I have an announcement to make that I neglected to make on the forums but did make on Instagram. So to some of you, this is old news. But for the rest of you....
The wreckdiver1321 family is now a trio!
Our little boy, Dirk Thomas, is expected on March 7th. So just a few weeks from now! We've been busy piecing together the essentials for hiking and overlanding with a little one in tow, and getting our home prepared. Meanwhile, we've been on a single vehicle for a while, so I've been hoping to get it done before too long. We can't wait to get out and explore with him. He's gonna be an adventurous little guy, and we're determined to include him on our overland and camping adventures. We're totally psyched for this new chapter of our lives.
Now, for the truck update. Unfortunately I don't have any pics to share with you guys at the moment, as they are all on my phone awaiting edit and upload. But I can give you an idea of where we're at.
We removed the engine without any real fuss, and were able to evaluate the situation. We cleaned up the engine bay a little bit, fixed some messy wiring, and some other little things. While waiting on engine parts, we stripped the new engine of anything necessary to pull the timing cover before focusing on the truck for a little bit. We then pulled the front suspension apart a bit and got ready to replace a few things. First we replaced the front wheel bearings. The OE driver's side one was pretty nasty and gritty, but not loose yet. That was a pretty straightforward affair.
Next, we focused on the other suspension bits. I replaced the mushy rubber steering rack bushings with polyurethane bushings I found on eBay for $50. They look like nice quality and are definitely better than what was there. I'm hoping this and my new wheel bearings tighten up the steering a bit. Next, we installed my sway bar again. I know some people will gasp at this and cry "but the travel!" I've decided to compromise on this a little bit. For on the road and on gravel, a sway bar is great because it keeps the body roll in check and adds a feeling of control. For off road, no sway bar is ideal because of the extra droop travel. I've decided on a compromise. I used PRG's poly sway bar bushings, which aren't as grabby as rubber, and greased the hell out of them. This should help the bar rotate in the bushing. I've also built my own longer end links out of bits I found at McMaster Carr. These longer links should allow for more droop travel than a stock setup, but will still keep the front end in check on the road. After the truck is up and running, I'm planning on disconnecting the sway bar, measuring the droop, then reconnecting it and measuring the droop again. This will give me an idea of the difference. I'm sure it will have an effect, but I'm not sure what that will be. If it annoys me I can always remove it again. But for an overland type truck, I think this is a good compromise. I'm hoping all of these upgrades will make a big difference in the on-road handling going forward. We'll see how much of a negative impact it makes on trail-worthiness.
Next we focused on the electrics. I cleaned up some of my messy wiring and re-routed a few things. Most importantly, I relocated my big ground cables for my accessories. In my original wiring, I had bypassed the smart charging system on the negative side by grounding directly to battery. I know this isn't the best way to do this, so I changed the wiring up. I first cut the winch ground a lot shorter, crimped a new lug on it, and grounded it to a bumper mount bolt. Then I moved my accessory fusebox ground. I measured the cable, cut it, and put a new terminal on it. If you look in the instruction manual, there's actually a recommended point to ground your accessories to that's outlined there. I moved my fusebox ground to there. Next was the bed. I don't think I mentioned it here, though I should have, but I had a bed mount crack through last year. It didn't rust out, it cracked off. The forward mount on the passenger side simply cracked off and left my bed flopping up and down. We removed the bed, welded a piece of thick plate in there, and reinstalled the bed. Somehow during this procedure, the bed became insulated from the frame. Anything I had grounded to the bed no longer worked. I discovered this several months later when preparing for a trip. Well to fix this, I made a thick ground cable that runs from the passenger side bumpstop mount and up to a bolt in the bed. Hopefully that should fix it. I am planning on grounding the engine to the frame via a thick cable after the engine is totally installed.
Since we were still waiting on the engine parts, I enacted my zip-tie fix on the rear leaf packs. I noticed the anti-squeak pads were completely dead on a couple of leafs, so with any luck this should solve the squeaks, at least temporarily. We also pulled the radiator to make the install easier.
With that done, we set our sights on the new engine. To make sure everything was up to snuff, we pulled all the spark plugs. Some of them looked like the engine was running a bit rich, but none of them were gunky. Running rich is fine, since that's controlled by the ECU. We also pulled the timing cover to check the timing chain guides, which were fine. We then glued the cover back on and swapped some things over from the older engine, including some new sensors. We then put everything back on the engine to prepare it for install. Since we wanted to make it quicker, we hung the alternator on the block before putting the engine in.
On Sunday, instead of watching the Super Bowl, we were dropping the engine in. It fought us an awful lot, but we managed to get it lined up and roughly in place before threading in the top two bellhousing bolts. As of right now, that's where we sit. The engine and tranny are giving us a lot of grief and aren't mating up nicely, but with some effort I'm sure it will go back together. Hopefully on Sunday we can have the engine completely bolted in and be partway through remounting the belt drive system. Once that happens, We can focus on the little stuff like hoses and electrical connections. From there it's a fairly easy run to finish up.
So there you go. All kinds of fun news!
justbecause
perpetually lost
CONGRATS!
we had no issue with a car seat until our daughter outgrew her infant seat. The first seat we bought was too wide to fit in the middle and ran the front seats almost all the way forward. We are rocking the maxicosi pria 70. The straps are as much of a pain in the *** as the reviews say, but it fits behind the seat with it almost all the way back. It would fit in the middle, but even the certified car seat installer couldnt get it to sit right with the shoulder belt so we have to use the LATCH system which is only on the driver and passenger side, not in the middle.
we had no issue with a car seat until our daughter outgrew her infant seat. The first seat we bought was too wide to fit in the middle and ran the front seats almost all the way forward. We are rocking the maxicosi pria 70. The straps are as much of a pain in the *** as the reviews say, but it fits behind the seat with it almost all the way back. It would fit in the middle, but even the certified car seat installer couldnt get it to sit right with the shoulder belt so we have to use the LATCH system which is only on the driver and passenger side, not in the middle.
wreckdiver1321
Overlander
Thanks!
We have an infant seat that fits perfectly in the middle. We'll see how it goes once we move up to a car seat, but I'm hoping it shouldn't be an issue. I'll do lots of measuring before buying anything haha.
wreckdiver1321
Overlander
Alright, time to play some catch-up. I'm not going to do super detailed trip reports, I just want to get up to speed. I've been neglecting the thread for a while, so I need to get everything back to the present. So here goes.
Spring 2017, we did a minor run in the Bighorn Canyon area and up the spine of the Pryor Mountains.
I've known about Sykes Ridge for years, but I was never able to find it. It turned out to be an awesome run. Not difficult by any stretch, but a fun little run.
Near the Wyoming side, the trail is very much a desert landscape. Red dirt and red rock, low scrub, and very few trees. It's an awesome place to drive through.
There are a few places where the trail get very rocky and somewhat steep, but totally doable for almost any truck. The variety of landscape you get here though is great. You crest a ridge before diving off down a wash that you climb back out of and into a sparse forest.
At one point, you approach the very edge of the ridge, which affords you a fantastic view of the valley and canyon below. It's even better in the dim light of evening.
The best part of the Pryor Mountains though, is the wild horses that roam here. These wild Mustangs are direct descendants of Hernan Cortez's horses that were brought over during his conquest of the Aztec people. The horses were left behind and utilized by the native people, who took them all over North America. The Pryor Mountain Mustangs were brought to the area by the Crow Indians. Spanish Mustangs are considered endangered these days, but the Pryor Mountain herd is thriving thanks to the land set aside for them here. They're magnificent to see in person.
Unfortunately, this trip turned into a nightmare. We were nearing the halfway point in the trail and still climbing, but it was the early season and we ran into a lot of snow. Deep snow. We were forced to turn back and run the whole trail back to Lovell, Wyoming and drive back home in the dark. Not one of my favorite trail days, but it was a spectacular adventure that showed me some of the best of the border region of Montana and Wyoming.
Then I did a minor mod and mounted my lights in the rear bumper. I still need to wire them, but they're in. It involved measuring from the plastic bits on the bumper and figuring out how to make each side match. Then I drilled some holes and used a jigsaw to cut the holes out in pieces.
Spring 2017, we did a minor run in the Bighorn Canyon area and up the spine of the Pryor Mountains.
I've known about Sykes Ridge for years, but I was never able to find it. It turned out to be an awesome run. Not difficult by any stretch, but a fun little run.
Near the Wyoming side, the trail is very much a desert landscape. Red dirt and red rock, low scrub, and very few trees. It's an awesome place to drive through.
There are a few places where the trail get very rocky and somewhat steep, but totally doable for almost any truck. The variety of landscape you get here though is great. You crest a ridge before diving off down a wash that you climb back out of and into a sparse forest.
At one point, you approach the very edge of the ridge, which affords you a fantastic view of the valley and canyon below. It's even better in the dim light of evening.
The best part of the Pryor Mountains though, is the wild horses that roam here. These wild Mustangs are direct descendants of Hernan Cortez's horses that were brought over during his conquest of the Aztec people. The horses were left behind and utilized by the native people, who took them all over North America. The Pryor Mountain Mustangs were brought to the area by the Crow Indians. Spanish Mustangs are considered endangered these days, but the Pryor Mountain herd is thriving thanks to the land set aside for them here. They're magnificent to see in person.
Unfortunately, this trip turned into a nightmare. We were nearing the halfway point in the trail and still climbing, but it was the early season and we ran into a lot of snow. Deep snow. We were forced to turn back and run the whole trail back to Lovell, Wyoming and drive back home in the dark. Not one of my favorite trail days, but it was a spectacular adventure that showed me some of the best of the border region of Montana and Wyoming.
Then I did a minor mod and mounted my lights in the rear bumper. I still need to wire them, but they're in. It involved measuring from the plastic bits on the bumper and figuring out how to make each side match. Then I drilled some holes and used a jigsaw to cut the holes out in pieces.
wreckdiver1321
Overlander
A week or so later, we went to the church camp in the mountains that my wife had worked at when we met. Every year in the beginning of the summer, the camp holds a volunteer work weekend where routine maintenance is performed to get the camp ready for the summer. It's a special place, and the last camp on the road before Independence trail up to Blue Lake. It's probably my favorite place in all of Montana, and I always love visiting. During this trip, I helped rebuild the guest bathhouse which was in dire need of an update.
Saw a moose on the way in!
I love the views here.
During our second night around the fire, we saw strange light in the sky. We stared at it for a bit, wondering what it was. When we finally came to our senses and realized what we were seeing, I ran back to our room and grabbed the camera to capture it.
My first full view of the Northern Lights. Awesome.
The next day was spent capturing the landscape a little and fixing a bathhouse.
Here is the aforementioned bathhouse.
We pulled up the old floors, stripped a lot of rot out, cleaned, painted, and installed new floors and toilet seals.
I took some time while I was here to wander the camp. It's a beautiful camp in a beautiful location. Many of the cabins are edging 100 years old, and are perfectly suited to the mountain locale.
There was a group from Minnesota clearing deadfall.
The main lodge is such a cool place. It's a beautiful building.
The view as the sun goes down there is pretty special too.
On the last day, we discovered that the guy that had come up to be the cook for the weekend had broken the CV shaft in his old Toyota on the way up the road. So we offered to tow him down to the asphalt and make his tow bill a lot smaller. Thanks to his tiny tow hooks on his car, I had to sacrifice a couple of ratchet strap hooks (which worked perfectly!) and pull him down the 50 ish miles. It went off without a hitch and we headed home.
Saw a moose on the way in!
I love the views here.
During our second night around the fire, we saw strange light in the sky. We stared at it for a bit, wondering what it was. When we finally came to our senses and realized what we were seeing, I ran back to our room and grabbed the camera to capture it.
My first full view of the Northern Lights. Awesome.
The next day was spent capturing the landscape a little and fixing a bathhouse.
Here is the aforementioned bathhouse.
We pulled up the old floors, stripped a lot of rot out, cleaned, painted, and installed new floors and toilet seals.
I took some time while I was here to wander the camp. It's a beautiful camp in a beautiful location. Many of the cabins are edging 100 years old, and are perfectly suited to the mountain locale.
There was a group from Minnesota clearing deadfall.
The main lodge is such a cool place. It's a beautiful building.
The view as the sun goes down there is pretty special too.
On the last day, we discovered that the guy that had come up to be the cook for the weekend had broken the CV shaft in his old Toyota on the way up the road. So we offered to tow him down to the asphalt and make his tow bill a lot smaller. Thanks to his tiny tow hooks on his car, I had to sacrifice a couple of ratchet strap hooks (which worked perfectly!) and pull him down the 50 ish miles. It went off without a hitch and we headed home.
wreckdiver1321
Overlander
During this trip, I kept hearing a clunk on my front suspension. It was bugging the heck out of me and I couldn't figure out what it was. So I did some research and discovered information about the wear pads on the lower control arms. I figured this could be the problem and ordered a set of PRG's delrin LCA spacers. I installed them and that made the clunk go away! Go figure. Up next was another trip up to the Pryors.
We were able to complete the traverse, this time going the opposite direction, and saw a lot of the same stuff. Even more wild horses this time.
At the top is this old cabin, which was built by a homesteader who was never able to scrape together the $8.50 for a homestead permit.
We signed the guestbook in the cabin and were on our way.
The lower parts of the trail are definitely my favorite.
I fell here as I was walking around to get a better angle. The rocks were very slippery and I fell... On my camera. Which survived just fine!
There's a section here with some awesome rock steps. Nothing difficult, but rougher stuff is always fun.
We finished up that trip by having dinner on the canyon rim near Lovell. Such a cool view.
And yes, that is a "mushroom" type head on my snorkel. I tried it out for a few weeks. Yes, it keeps water and stuff out and looks very utilitarian. However, it's large, incredibly noisy, and robs power. So I took it off in favor of my regular snorkel head.
We were able to complete the traverse, this time going the opposite direction, and saw a lot of the same stuff. Even more wild horses this time.
At the top is this old cabin, which was built by a homesteader who was never able to scrape together the $8.50 for a homestead permit.
We signed the guestbook in the cabin and were on our way.
The lower parts of the trail are definitely my favorite.
I fell here as I was walking around to get a better angle. The rocks were very slippery and I fell... On my camera. Which survived just fine!
There's a section here with some awesome rock steps. Nothing difficult, but rougher stuff is always fun.
We finished up that trip by having dinner on the canyon rim near Lovell. Such a cool view.
And yes, that is a "mushroom" type head on my snorkel. I tried it out for a few weeks. Yes, it keeps water and stuff out and looks very utilitarian. However, it's large, incredibly noisy, and robs power. So I took it off in favor of my regular snorkel head.
wreckdiver1321
Overlander
The next trip was our first actual camping trip of 2017. We decided on a lazy overnight down by Nye, Montana. The views here are awesome, and we were able to find a secluded campsite and test our new bedding setup. It was really rainy during the entire weekend, so we spent a lot of time in the tent reading. Not a bad way to spend our time, I think.
Our new setup consists of a compact and temperature stable air mattress versus a double cot and some sleeping pads. It's WAY more comfortable and takes up WAY less space. We also have a dog bed for Scout that he likes a lot.
We even went pretty lazy on our food arrangements.
During a break in the weather, we hiked up to a waterfall near the campsite.
This was early on in the pregnancy, and Beret was feeling great.
All in all, a nice, lazy, relaxing weekend.
Our new setup consists of a compact and temperature stable air mattress versus a double cot and some sleeping pads. It's WAY more comfortable and takes up WAY less space. We also have a dog bed for Scout that he likes a lot.
We even went pretty lazy on our food arrangements.
During a break in the weather, we hiked up to a waterfall near the campsite.
This was early on in the pregnancy, and Beret was feeling great.
All in all, a nice, lazy, relaxing weekend.
wreckdiver1321
Overlander
Then came our bigger trip of the summer. Over our first wedding anniversary, we decided to go see my parents up in Seeley Lake. While we were there, we opted to go do a hike in Glacier and spend some time with my folks. During our first full day, we went canoeing on Holland Lake.
I had myself a gin and tonic from the bar at the lodge.
It's a pretty serene place, and one of my favorites to visit.
The next day was our hike in Glacier, where we hiked from Going to the Sun Road up to Piegan Pass, which eventually goes down to the hotel at Swiftcurrent Lake. A total round trip of about 9.5 miles, it was filled with awesome scenery. The first part held a lot of huge beargrass.
The hike is strenuous and is steeply uphill the whole way. The trail gains 1850 feet in the 4.6 miles. Luckily, it's not a busy trail. Once you break through the treeline, you have to cross two snow fields.
We were wheezing a bit from the smoke from the immense fire in the park, but it hadn't gotten bad yet, and the views were still awesome.
Shortly afterwards, we reached the crest of Piegan Pass and admired the view while we munched a bit. So worth it. Such a beautiful place.
We soon decided to head back. Beret wasn't feeling very good due to the heat, so we thought getting her to the treeline would really help.
By the time we got to the bottom, she was doing better, but still not amazing. We got back to the truck and got food and water into her, which helped. Then we headed for our next stop of the evening, Polebridge.
I had myself a gin and tonic from the bar at the lodge.
It's a pretty serene place, and one of my favorites to visit.
The next day was our hike in Glacier, where we hiked from Going to the Sun Road up to Piegan Pass, which eventually goes down to the hotel at Swiftcurrent Lake. A total round trip of about 9.5 miles, it was filled with awesome scenery. The first part held a lot of huge beargrass.
The hike is strenuous and is steeply uphill the whole way. The trail gains 1850 feet in the 4.6 miles. Luckily, it's not a busy trail. Once you break through the treeline, you have to cross two snow fields.
We were wheezing a bit from the smoke from the immense fire in the park, but it hadn't gotten bad yet, and the views were still awesome.
Shortly afterwards, we reached the crest of Piegan Pass and admired the view while we munched a bit. So worth it. Such a beautiful place.
We soon decided to head back. Beret wasn't feeling very good due to the heat, so we thought getting her to the treeline would really help.
By the time we got to the bottom, she was doing better, but still not amazing. We got back to the truck and got food and water into her, which helped. Then we headed for our next stop of the evening, Polebridge.
Maverick1701
Adventurer
man your build is near perfect. I'm shopping for a new ride and am looking to build a similarly built 4x4 tourer using a Nissan frontier pro-4x w/manual transmission. I am LOVING the pics. thanks for the awesome build thread.