wreckdiver1321
Overlander
My front diff came with them. They appeared to be a pretty standard metric bolt. I'm not sure of the size, but they're not shouldered or anything, just a regular bolt. And yep, each axle needs 6.
"Lola" - WreckDiver1321's 2005 Frontier CC/SB Nismo Build and Adventure Thread
- Thread starter wreckdiver1321
- Start date
My front diff came with them. They appeared to be a pretty standard metric bolt. I'm not sure of the size, but they're not shouldered or anything, just a regular bolt. And yep, each axle needs 6.
wreckdiver1321
Overlander
So I recently got a few new things for Lola! Getting closer to the ever-elusive finish line.
First up is this super heavy duty chunk of awesomeness.
It's the ARB rear diff cover for the M226. It's ridiculously heavy duty and very well finished. The packaging is really well done, and as I've found on most ARB products, the look of the packaging makes you feel like you just bought an awesome toy from the world's coolest toy store.
I cannot overstate how beefy this thing is. It's probably 3/8" thick all around at least, and all of the holes for the heavy duty supplied bolts are recessed so as not to be sheared off or mashed up in the event of an impact. It also uses large drain and fill plugs. ARB also supplies a brake line bracket to replace the factory one. The red powder coating is crazy thick and well applied.
Inside the cover, you can see there's a dipstick without any markings on it so you can set a level mark for custom fluid levels.
To seal it up, I picked up a gasket from Mag-Hytec. It's supposed to be reusable and has nothing but good reviews.
I also got an awesome birthday present from my parents! I don't have to tell you guys what these are, you're already aware. All I can say is WOW! These are so well built and finished, and feel way more tough than they appear in pictures. Can't wait to get out and put them to use for the first time.
Now, there was a bit of a problem. I was thinking about making mounts to secure them to the roof, but that presented a couple of problems. First, the mounting holes on the Maxtrax are 36 inches apart, while my roof bars are like 39 inches apart. So I'd have to find a workaround for that. Next issue was worse. I have only a couple of inches between the roof bars and the garage door, so if I added even a mount, the truck wouldn't fit in the garage by a whisker. So I decided to go another direction instead of mounting them outside of the truck, and picked this up.
This is the Maxtrax bag from Blue Ridge Overland Gear. It's super heavy duty, has a carrying handle, it's waterproof, and is the perfect size to transport a set of Maxtrax.
Not only does it keep the Maxtrax together, but since it's made of a heavy material, it will contain the mud/snow/dirt/water in the bag if I end up using them. Also, since the vertical webbing is stitched like MOLLE loops, I could strap the bag to the roof if I wanted. Mostly, they will be riding in the back of the truck, next to my ARB roller floor, where it fits perfectly now that we'll be ditching the big cot. Another great advantage of the bag is how stealthy it makes the Maxtrax while they're loaded up.
And finally, a little change. My old Cobra 19 CB was giving me a lot of trouble, and to be honest, the location where I had it mounted wasn't my favorite. Plus I was kind of unhappy that I was missing a weather band. So I decided to make everything a bit cleaner and up my radio game at the same time. So I bought the highly lauded Cobra 75 WX ST as a replacement. Not only is it much more compact than a regular CB, but it's built a lot better than my old Cobra 19. It comes with a weather band, channel scan feature, allows you to monitor two frequencies at once, and has Cobra's Sound Tracker feature which is designed to help out with signal clarity.
The install was pretty straightforward. I had to route the CB cable and the power/ground wires from one side of the cab to the other, as I decided to mount the radio module under the driver's seat. Not wanting to bolt through the floor, I opted to mount the box to the side of the seat. I did some measuring and drilled a couple of holes in the seat base.
I used small Allen head black chrome bolts with Nyloc nuts to secure the box under the seat. I love black chrome bolts for inside the cab. I think they work really well for the Nismo interior, and they look less obvious than stainless or plated bolts.
Here's the other side of the seat base, under the seat. Yeah, the wiring looks a little messy but I secured the wiring to the seat itself, which can move back and forth, so I left a little slack. The seat base is secured to the truck. I don't move the seat personally, but my wife often drives the truck and being able to move the seat to access the inverter is always good. The other thing you might notice is the chunk of plastic tubing tied to the handset cable. This is because the seat brackets are fairly sharp on the underside, so I used the tubing as a cable shield.
I routed the handset cable out from under the seat, then between the seat and center console. I then mounted the hanger on the dash and it was done! There's a good amount of slack in the coiled cable, but not so much that the cable hangs down unnecessarily.
The location really is ideal. It's accessible but out of the way and allows me to clearly hear the speaker in the handset. It also looks super clean and totally fits with the aesthetic I'm going for.
It also never interferes with my leg while driving, which is exactly what I was hoping.
Overall, I couldn't be more pleased. The internal speaker is very clear and a lot louder than I was expecting. The controls are well laid out, and although the handset itself is very large, it's not unwieldy. I'm very happy with it. Once it was installed, I took it out to a nearby field and hooked up my SWR meter to tune the antenna. To my surprise, it was already in tune. I was reading a 1.7 SWR on channels 1 and 40, with an SWR of 1.1 on my favorite channels near the middle of the frequency band. Now I need to test it out with one of my friends who has a CB.
First up is this super heavy duty chunk of awesomeness.
It's the ARB rear diff cover for the M226. It's ridiculously heavy duty and very well finished. The packaging is really well done, and as I've found on most ARB products, the look of the packaging makes you feel like you just bought an awesome toy from the world's coolest toy store.
I cannot overstate how beefy this thing is. It's probably 3/8" thick all around at least, and all of the holes for the heavy duty supplied bolts are recessed so as not to be sheared off or mashed up in the event of an impact. It also uses large drain and fill plugs. ARB also supplies a brake line bracket to replace the factory one. The red powder coating is crazy thick and well applied.
Inside the cover, you can see there's a dipstick without any markings on it so you can set a level mark for custom fluid levels.
To seal it up, I picked up a gasket from Mag-Hytec. It's supposed to be reusable and has nothing but good reviews.
I also got an awesome birthday present from my parents! I don't have to tell you guys what these are, you're already aware. All I can say is WOW! These are so well built and finished, and feel way more tough than they appear in pictures. Can't wait to get out and put them to use for the first time.
Now, there was a bit of a problem. I was thinking about making mounts to secure them to the roof, but that presented a couple of problems. First, the mounting holes on the Maxtrax are 36 inches apart, while my roof bars are like 39 inches apart. So I'd have to find a workaround for that. Next issue was worse. I have only a couple of inches between the roof bars and the garage door, so if I added even a mount, the truck wouldn't fit in the garage by a whisker. So I decided to go another direction instead of mounting them outside of the truck, and picked this up.
This is the Maxtrax bag from Blue Ridge Overland Gear. It's super heavy duty, has a carrying handle, it's waterproof, and is the perfect size to transport a set of Maxtrax.
Not only does it keep the Maxtrax together, but since it's made of a heavy material, it will contain the mud/snow/dirt/water in the bag if I end up using them. Also, since the vertical webbing is stitched like MOLLE loops, I could strap the bag to the roof if I wanted. Mostly, they will be riding in the back of the truck, next to my ARB roller floor, where it fits perfectly now that we'll be ditching the big cot. Another great advantage of the bag is how stealthy it makes the Maxtrax while they're loaded up.
And finally, a little change. My old Cobra 19 CB was giving me a lot of trouble, and to be honest, the location where I had it mounted wasn't my favorite. Plus I was kind of unhappy that I was missing a weather band. So I decided to make everything a bit cleaner and up my radio game at the same time. So I bought the highly lauded Cobra 75 WX ST as a replacement. Not only is it much more compact than a regular CB, but it's built a lot better than my old Cobra 19. It comes with a weather band, channel scan feature, allows you to monitor two frequencies at once, and has Cobra's Sound Tracker feature which is designed to help out with signal clarity.
The install was pretty straightforward. I had to route the CB cable and the power/ground wires from one side of the cab to the other, as I decided to mount the radio module under the driver's seat. Not wanting to bolt through the floor, I opted to mount the box to the side of the seat. I did some measuring and drilled a couple of holes in the seat base.
I used small Allen head black chrome bolts with Nyloc nuts to secure the box under the seat. I love black chrome bolts for inside the cab. I think they work really well for the Nismo interior, and they look less obvious than stainless or plated bolts.
Here's the other side of the seat base, under the seat. Yeah, the wiring looks a little messy but I secured the wiring to the seat itself, which can move back and forth, so I left a little slack. The seat base is secured to the truck. I don't move the seat personally, but my wife often drives the truck and being able to move the seat to access the inverter is always good. The other thing you might notice is the chunk of plastic tubing tied to the handset cable. This is because the seat brackets are fairly sharp on the underside, so I used the tubing as a cable shield.
I routed the handset cable out from under the seat, then between the seat and center console. I then mounted the hanger on the dash and it was done! There's a good amount of slack in the coiled cable, but not so much that the cable hangs down unnecessarily.
The location really is ideal. It's accessible but out of the way and allows me to clearly hear the speaker in the handset. It also looks super clean and totally fits with the aesthetic I'm going for.
It also never interferes with my leg while driving, which is exactly what I was hoping.
Overall, I couldn't be more pleased. The internal speaker is very clear and a lot louder than I was expecting. The controls are well laid out, and although the handset itself is very large, it's not unwieldy. I'm very happy with it. Once it was installed, I took it out to a nearby field and hooked up my SWR meter to tune the antenna. To my surprise, it was already in tune. I was reading a 1.7 SWR on channels 1 and 40, with an SWR of 1.1 on my favorite channels near the middle of the frequency band. Now I need to test it out with one of my friends who has a CB.
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bigskypylot
Explorer
Got the same cover with MagHytec gasket. I had a Blue Torch Fabworks, it leaked. Glad I got rid of it
Trikebubble
Adventurer
Look at that ARB cover. I have one coming with my new gear set and E locker. That thing looks boombastic.
Sent from the Mountains
Sent from the Mountains
Blackdawg
Dr. Frankenstein
There isn't...ever.
wreckdiver1321
Overlander
Thanks man! Haha there really isn't one. My buddy who builds race cars has a saying: "it's finished when you sell it."
Yeah it looks to be a really stout cover. Can't wait to get it bolted up.
Oh yeah. It's super beef. I think it'd take a tank shell to put a dent in the damn thing.
Haha that's why I said "elusive."
Thanks man!
I'm not sure what you mean, but it has the ability to do both of those things. It won't do them simultaneously, but I can watch two channels, or scan through all 40. As for the power, I reused all the original wiring from my old CB, though I had to reroute the wiring a bit. It's hooked to an add-a-fuse in the internal fuse box, grounded to a nearby screw, then routed behind the dash, under the center console, and under the driver's seat.
07BlackSpecV
Adventurer
Man, you beat me to it with the Maxtrax and BROG bag. Looks awesome, might be putting my order in for them this weekend. The truck is looking awesome man and I'm jealous of the ARB diff cover, I have to get a 226 first before I can get one.
wreckdiver1321
Overlander
I can't tell you how stoked I am to actually get out and try them. There were several situations this winter where I really could have used them. This is my third BROG product, and as usual the quality is outstanding.
Hey thanks man! She's come an awful long way. Not a lot of big projects left to do now. Thanks, the ARB cover is pretty slick. I cannot overstate how tough and we'll built it is. Fairly sure it would take a tank shell to put a dent in the damn thing.
Planning on swapping from the C200k?
07BlackSpecV
Adventurer
Ya, my vision for next year is a 226 and 205 with 4.10's...maybe air lockers and that will pretty much be the only thing I get done on the truck in 2018.
wreckdiver1321
Overlander
Hey Tom...
you have next week off??doing a very last minute trip down to UT again..you wanna come?
Ahh man I really wish I could. I've got school to go to. If it would have been this week I would have 100% been able to. I'm just finishing up my spring break. Damn, that would have been fun.
Where ya going?
Sounds like a good setup. You should be pretty unstoppable with that.
Blackdawg
Dr. Frankenstein
Damn..Im either a week early or week late haha
Going to Moab, meeting Ben, running TOTW as he never has. Then a bit of Golden spike. Headed back to the Maze to stay at Cleopatra chair, High spur and hiking Horseshoe canyon, then to Millard. After that, headed into Arches to the delicate arch and there are two basic trails in there to check out too.
Short and sweet, easy driving, lots of hiking hopefully. Should be fun.
Trikebubble
Adventurer
Talk to Steve at Rugged Rocks to help realize your vision. I blew my rear E-Locker and while I decided to stick with replacing it with another E-Locker, I did purchase it from him, along with a set of 3.73 gears for my M226 in the rear and my newly acquired M205 that is going in the front. The budget would not allow for dual ARB air lockers at this time....though who know what the future may hold. I spent a couple weeks trying to decide between the 3.37 and the 4.10 gears and at the end of the day I looked at where the majority of our adventures have taken us, how well the Xterra has dealt with offroading so far, and where (and how far) we plan to travel in the future and went with the 3.73's. Steve was amazing to deal with, I talked to him on the phone a number of times and he never once tried to sell me on anything I did not require. His experience with the Nissan platform is unmatched and his attention to customer service is fantastic.