My 2001 Pathfinder (R50 ) mild/budget build

[Allof75]

Looks excellent, it really came together well. Can't wait to see how you like it out on the trail, I'm sure the stock trailer hitch was getting to be a hangup.

 

[stioc]

Thanks! Honestly the hitch never really gave me much trouble. I only dragged it a handful of times and primarily on a couple of really steep decents in Moab. If anything it did its best to protect the flimsy stock rear bumper. I think I have at least an additional 3" or so of ground clearance at the bumper now.

 

[richard310]

The bumper looks awesome! Now you got to go out and put it to the test

I've got to figure out the swingout lock as well. The tire smacks me in the rear end whenever I access the trunk. Might need to drill a hole into the pivot and double sheer to slide in a pin. Or incorporate a detent into the pivot.

 

[XPLORx4]

The bumper and carrier look great! Good work. You may as well go ahead and remove the spare tire winch and other bracketry for the spare, unless you devise some way of adapting it to raise and lower a water container! That would be cool. From memory, I would guess it weighs around 10 pounds.

 

[WMDunkin]

Looks great, nicely done

 

[wreckdiver1321]

Stioc, that rear bumper looks AMAZING!

Totally fits the look of the truck. I disagree with the bumper being too thin. I think it looks awesome just as it sits, and it certainly looks like it's done wonders for your departure angle. I really like your whole swingout design too. A good double shear bracket and a big ole latch. That's about how I'd build it. Plus the cost was just about right. What more could you ask for?

Now that your tire is up there, looks like you have room for maybe an onboard air or water tank.

Nice work man, I can definitely see some other Pathy owners really wanting one of these.

 

[chmura]

Bumper looks good! Can't wait to see it in person.

Now I have to find some solutions for my rear bumper.

 

[stioc]

Thanks guys you're too kind. I'm quite happy with it but anyone looking to follow suit will benefit with a few minor tweaks in the looks dept.

Using the tire hoist for the Rotopax is actually going to be dead simple since the Rotopax have a hole in the center. Worst case I may have to replace the hook at the end of the chain with a flat metal bar or something but I'm not sure about the inconvenience of getting the apparatus out to work the hoist up and down just to get to the gas can lol On the other hand if I built some sort of a storage container that might come in handy to store a few items. Another thought I had was a swing down prep-table mounted to the tire carrier. Oh and a telescoping light...it never stops does it lol

I can't wait to get out on the trail for a shakedown (literally) run.

 

[stioc]

A few minor updates. I've been using the original 64G ipad with MotionX quite successfully, however, due to the old iOS I haven't been able to update MotionX for a while though not a huge deal. What I didn't like though was the precious amount of room the mount took and it wasn't very solid either. I decided to switch to a Samsung Tab4 with RAM mounts directly attached to the dash. I love this setup, out of the way, compact but easy to view and adjust.

Also added a 15W solar panel on the roof box (provides approx 1amp of trickle charge, simple plug and play setup). Oh I'm not sure if I mentioned it before but I changed out all the interior lights to LED (blue), I like it much better at night than the green.

This past weekend did some maintenance for the upcoming trip to Ouray, CO:

1. Oil changed
2. Trans drain and fill, added LubeGuard
3. New serpentine belt
4. Litium grease on all the door hinges (hadn't done it until now)
5. Driveshaft/ujoint greased

 

[wreckdiver1321]

A few minor updates. I've been using the original 64G ipad with MotionX quite successfully, however, due to the old iOS I haven't been able to update MotionX for a while though not a huge deal. What I didn't like though was the precious amount of room the mount took and it wasn't very solid either. I decided to switch to a Samsung Tab4 with RAM mounts directly attached to the dash. I love this setup, out of the way, compact but easy to view and adjust.

Also added a 15W solar panel on the roof box (provides approx 1amp of trickle charge, simple plug and play setup). Oh I'm not sure if I mentioned it before but I changed out all the interior lights to LED (blue), I like it much better at night than the green.

This past weekend did some maintenance for the upcoming trip to Ouray, CO:

1. Oil changed
2. Trans drain and fill, added LubeGuard
3. New serpentine belt
4. Litium grease on all the door hinges (hadn't done it until now)
5. Driveshaft/ujoint greased

That looks great! I need to get my nav sorted. I'm starting to think my iPad is a bit too large.

Ouray sounds like it will be a great trip!

Oh, which solar panel did you go with? I've been looking into a solar setup and I haven't figured out which one to go with.

 

[stioc]

Here's the one I got, btw it's a 10W panel not 15W, my bad: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006FW3G2G

It won't recharge your batteries from dead but I figure like a trickle charger if the truck is sitting around at camp it'll get some replenishment. An ARB type of a fridge typically uses something around 2amps so you'd need a min of around a 30-40W panel under ideal conditions. In my case though I just didn't want to have to figure out where to mount a larger panel (the hood is the only option left for me lol), besides I've never really needed one even when camped at the same place for 2 days straight. The fridge also has a low-battery cut-off.

 

[wreckdiver1321]

Where's the one I got, btw it's a 10W panel not 15W, my bad: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006FW3G2G

It won't recharge your batteries from dead but I figure like a trickle charger if the truck is sitting around at camp it'll get some replenishment. An ARB type of a fridge typically uses something around 2amps so you'd need a min of around a 30-40W panel under ideal conditions. In my case though I just didn't want to have to figure out where to mount a larger panel (the hood is the only option left for me lol), besides I've never really needed one even when camped at the same place for 2 days straight. The fridge also has a low-battery cut-off.

That's exactly what I'd use it for, just to minimize the drain on the battery while in camp and the fridge is plugged in.

I've got my 51L Indel B now, and it's all wired up. Doing a stress test now.

 

[stioc]

Nice man! That's what I have too just the 40-ishL model and so far so good!

BTW I just wanted to say thanks for the tip on the Car Gauge Pro setup - I got it today and low and behold I was able to correct my high idle (after 2 years!) and advance the timing to +2degs! I'll probably set it back to 0 though so as to keep the cylinder temps down on long steep grades. Might even come in handy if I try the lower octane in Ouray vs. running 91 that I normally do.

 

[wreckdiver1321]

Nice man! That's what I have too just the 40-ishL model and so far so good!

BTW I just wanted to say thanks for the tip on the Car Gauge Pro setup - I got it today and low and behold I was able to correct my high idle (after 2 years!) and advance the timing to +2degs! I'll probably set it back to 0 though so as to keep the cylinder temps down on long steep grades. Might even come in handy if I try the lower octane in Ouray vs. running 91 that I normally do.

Thanks man! I'm really excited to get it out into the wild.

Hey awesome! Glad to see it all worked out for you. It's a cool little app. The UI is absolute garbage, but it can do some cool stuff. I really love that I can check and clear codes. I've got a recurring P1446 code that pops up every so often. Now I can pull out my phone and make it go away

 

[Allof75]

Very solid updates. I've been looking at a whole solar rig as well for an upcoming fridge. On an unrelated note, which grease did you use on the driveshaft? It's just a regular zerk fitting right?