My new vehicle: 2005 Nissan Frontier

[bigreen505]

I look forward to hearing more about the awning.

I'm running 285 MTR's on 7" rims and they fit ok. My issues with them are more about weight and lack of appropriate gearing on my truck than the size. They are a little fatter than I would like, but I really like the way they feel on dirt and rocks.

 

[mcm4090]

Mark, I know at one time were considering a snorkel. I found few pictures of a Safari snorkel on a Navara and thought you may like to see them.

Mike.

 

[articulate]

Mark, I know at one time were considering a snorkel. I found few pictures of a Safari snorkel on a Navara and thought you may like to see them.

Mike.

I saw you got one. Right?

Share away! It's one of those things, man, you know the money is better spent on something sensible, but like Jack Nicholson said in Bucket List, "Never waste a hard-on." A picture of a snorkel will do the trick. :drool:


***
Since I'm here, I wanted to share this much. No add-ons have been going onto the truck because, well you know, where are they gonna go? And trips. Trips are better than toys.

After a bunch of trips, I folded, went against better judgement and bought a roof rack basket. Actually, a Baja Rack Mule.

Here's the deal. We're packed to the brim. Even in the cab, and that's what tipped the scales for me when I waffled on the idea of getting a rack. Wil and Sierra said they had just a few in stock, Wendy said she really wanted 'em out of the garage, so what you gonna do but help out some neighbors?

Poor truck. For good measure, this picture is enhanced with the addition of Brooke looking good:

Packed beyond belief on the White Rim Trail with bikes, a kid trailer, and everything else.

Nevertheless, to get the clutter out of the cab, I've popped for a Baja Rack. Following good principles, I'm trying to stick with lightweight items up top. We use a pair of Storm Cases for our clothes, so I put those on top, as well as a small duffel we use for toting this massive assortment of blankets for Chloe. Sometimes a Kelty kid backpack:

Probably the best thing we've done to the truck so far is the home-brew awning. I call it The Back Porch. Brooke did all the sewing, I've installed grommets and snaps in key places. The configuration lets me have a perfectly enclosed privacy room, which is really nice to have. Most often, I have one side dropped so it creates a good patch of shade. But all sides have coverage, and I can attach extensions so the sides reach the ground, but this works for general shade use:

A few parts are still works in progress, such as the adjustable legs. Otherwise, it's rigid and rapid.

Off to look at more maps and plan more dreams .....

 

[FourByLand]

WOW, poor truck!

Mark, I love your photos and sense of adventure, just a pure lust for the road ahead!

Thanks for quoting Jack N. it really put things into perspective...

:costumed-smiley-007

 

[Jacket]

Did you mount the Bajarack to your roof, or onto the Yakima bars? If the latter, what's your impressions with the height of that setup? Do you need to be a 9' tall Yeti to get to your gear?

 

[articulate]

Did you mount the Bajarack to your roof, or onto the Yakima bars? If the latter, what's your impressions with the height of that setup? Do you need to be a 9' tall Yeti to get to your gear?

Mounted to the Yak cross bars. But the Bajarack is just a basket - it needs something like the yak bars or factory roof bars to attach. You can't (okay, shouldn't) just bolt her down to your roof's sheetmetal. :snorkel:

I might have a photo of the bajarack's attachment brackets that come with it. They're clever pieces of hardware.

 

[mcm4090]

I saw you got one. Right?

Share away! It's one of those things, man, you know the money is better spent on something sensible, but like Jack Nicholson said in Bucket List, "Never waste a hard-on." A picture of a snorkel will do the trick. :drool:

I got a snorkel just haven't had the time to install it.

I know what you. It was not on my immediate plans but it was on list and somewhat my wife decide to get me for x-mas.:coffeedrink:

 

[CoastalDefender]

Hey brother, it's been 8mo, anything added to it? Keep us updated! :victory:



A few questions-
Do those longer roof crossbars cause whistling at higher speeds? (I had to get the fairing to cut down my noise)

What did you end up doing with that spare tire winch/pully under the bed? (Can I buy it off you if you have it laying around?)

What are your impressions of the Baja Rack? Too big, too small, etc?

At this point, I can't imagine you're doing better than 13mpg hwy loaded. What's it actually dropped to?

Please tell me you have water not fuel in that scepter MWC. :Wow1:

Have you come up with a solid solution for the multi-carrier not swinging too far?

How has your rear-camera done in the elements thus far? Mine had it's weatherproof seal crack last winter when we had 10deg F temps for a few days. Now it's all condensate inside and useless.

How many miles have you put on it now?

Any major mechanical problems? Any small mechanical problems?

 

[articulate]

Hey brother, it's been 8mo, anything added to it? Keep us updated! :victory:

A few questions-

Hey bro! Sorry about the delay here. So, let's answer your questions.

• Yakima cross bars: Yes noisy, but added the fairing and t'was all good again. Also, I initially installed 66" bars. I've since cut them down to be just shy of the roof width. Had an incident on the trail with a Rhino in which the rack on the Rhino clipped the rear bar, bent it, and pulled the fasteners through the sheetmetal. Pretty easy fix, though.
• Tire winch I'm keeping, just in case. Sorry, you'd be my first choice for a foster home if that changes.
• The Baja Rack (mule) is certainly not too small, but I wouldn't call it too big either. It fits the roof perfectly. I'm not sure what else to say. I'm not crazy about the bungee net thing that it comes with, so I don't use it.
• MPG? I try not to look. What's the point? :smiley_drive:
• Yes, water in the tan Scepter.
• I really want to get the rear carrier to a fabricator to do some work on it. (who'd like to volunteer some metal work skills?!?!?!) In particular the gate stop, and the tire holder itself needs a little tweaking for my personal visual tastes. Surprisingly that bumper has really held up well despite the numerous craftsmanship flaws.
• Rear camera! I put in a little bullet style camera that is the absolute shiznit. And I put it in the center of the spare tire. Photo below. It's a far better camera with aluminum housing, nice o-rings sealing the seams, and the picture is much better than before.
• We're up to 84,000 miles with a few mechanical issues: I've gone through 5 evap canisters, all replaced under warranty. Admittedly, I've got a very trustworthy dealer not 2 miles from my driveway. I've also worn out both rear u-joints; my suspicion is the heavy weight on a poor rear suspension. I've had some other problems with the mods here and there, but that comes with the territory - not Nissan issues.

Check out the new snazzy camera:

You can see here that the 66" cross bars are just too long for comfort. They are not this long any more:

What'd I miss? Again, sorry for the hold up.

Cheers!

 

[silentsamurai]

Are you running 285's still, or are you back on 265's? I can't remember what you last switched to. I am runnin 285/75/r16's on the Nismo rims but man are they expensive. I've also got the 2-3" spacer lift, So if I go 265 I dont want ALOT of wheel gap to the point where it looks like im riding on blackies heh.

I guess i should ask, did you run 265's when you had your spacers on the suspension, if so. Was there alot of wheel gappage?

THanks for your (future) input :ylsmoke: Appreciated.

Adam



** UPDATE **

I just went ahead and scheduled myself for a set of 265/75/R16's. I think there is at most a 1" difference between the two depending on how crazy your tire tread is. So BFG online sell's them for $149 a tire. $662 installed. Compared to the $169+ for the 285's.


Love your truck btw. I'll be adding a rack myself pretty soon here. We'll be twins. Not much stuff out there for our trucks, so im sure there will be quite a few hundred black ones out there that look alike heh

Cheers.

 

[articulate]

Are you running 285's still, or are you back on 265's? ....

I guess i should ask, did you run 265's when you had your spacers on the suspension, if so. Was there alot of wheel gappage?

THanks for your (future) input :ylsmoke: Appreciated.

Adam

hi Adam.
Currently 285. Even with the 265s, I didn't mind the appearance. If I needed new tires today, I'd be perfectly happy with the 265/75 size.

 

[silentsamurai]

Very nice. Turns out. Southern CA is backordered on Revo's for 2 months. Time to do more homework.

Thanks for your input. Keep up the good work.

 

[articulate]

Hopefully it'll be helpful to some dudes or dudettes: I created a page about the installation of my back up camera on the Frontier at the Adventure Parents site. Check it out:
http://www.adventureparents.com/nis...ck-up-camera-installation-and-evaluation.html

The old camera set up used this corny license plate cam, which ultimately died:

 

[Viggen]

I know you said you try not to look but seriously, what kind of mpg are you pulling? Sweet build, by the way

 

[articulate]

I know you said you try not to look but seriously, what kind of mpg are you pulling?

On the highway, we've still managed 17-18 mpg in the best scenarios. In town it's 14 generally.

Cheers,
Mark