Nissan Frontier Forum banner

Nomad's Next Generation

302K views 807 replies 56 participants last post by  Nomad 13 
#1 · (Edited)
Username:
Nomad 13

Year:
2014

Make:
Nissan

Model:
Frontier CCSB 4x4

Trim:
Pro-4x Lux package

Color:
Graphite Blue

Mods:
Read on...

Interior:
LED map lights
Infinity Reference components in front
Punch amp
Cobra 29 LX cb

Exterior:
Paint matched grill bezel
Decals and tailgate lettering removed
Fenders hacked to fit 35s
7pin relocated to bumper and stock bracket shaved off of receiver
Sylvania Silver Star HL, LED BU, cargo and lic plate lights
4' Firestik Firefly

Drivetrain:
Calmini DB kit
ARB locked M205
Custom 3" steel DS
4:10 gears

Suspension/Measurements etc..:
Current set up;
Calmini DB kit
Titan swap
PRG Titan UCAs
Radflo 2.5 extended COs
Custom Deaver 6" leaf packs w/PRG adj shackles
28" Radflo 2.0 ext res Titan shocks

Stock hub to fender -
RF = 20"
LF = 20.25"
RR = 21.25"
LR = 21"
(I park my truck off center over a slight crest in the driveway, that likely makes up the .25" discrepancy)

Front with 5100s set at the top slot with stock coils -
RF = 22.25
LF = 22.5"

Added Shrock and winch and lost 1" of ride height with the stock coils

Front with 5100s and OME HD coils and shrock/winch combo
RF = 23
LF = 23
(they later settled out to 22.5" after some driving and playing in the rocks)

Front with Radflo 2.0 extended COs and 650lb coils
23"
23"
Still have 2" of droop at the wheels before they leave the ground
I'll likely go to 700 lb coils when I get around to the DB kit as I had to crank the 650 lb coils up pretty far to get the lift I want out of them with the bumper, winch and armor and I don't know if I'll get full compression out of them before I get coil bind. I'll update when I get a chance to pull the sway bar off and stuff the tires

Front with DB and 2.5 COs w/700lb coils
27.5"

Front after Titan swap
30"
Later adjusted to 28.5"

Rear with Deaver 2-leaf mini packs
RR = 23"
LR = 23"

Rear with Deaver 6" packs and shackles
27"

Front clearance from ground to LCA mount;
With 5100s on top notch (before bumper/winch) = 12"

With OME coils on bottom notch (with bumper/winch) = 13"

With Radflos = Stuck at 13" until I can get heavier springs installed

With DB kit = 12.75"
Guess I need to T-swap to get some bigger tires for more clearance : )

With Titan swap = 15.25"
Adjusted to 14.5"

Tires/Wheels:
315/75/16 Pro Comp MT2s - 68lbs ea
16x8.5 Level 8 Bully Pros - 22.4lbs ea

Armor:
Shrock front winch bumper
Shrock sliders
Shrock t-case and tank skids
Calmini eng/diff skid
BTF rear diff cover

Performance:
BDGT on 87 tune
Magnaflow 15580 SS cat back system - muffler changed out for Flowmaster 40 series
Airaid Quickfit CAI
WRP UD pulley
JBA SS shorty headers

Gear and Other:
Lots of gear and other stuff. I'll list that out in the coming weeks
Odyssey 34R-1500 AGM battery
Smittybilt X2O 8k winch
Factor 55 Loaded Pro Link (red)
Viair 400P (converted to 400C) OBA w/1 gal tank
30" LED light bar

In Progress: Rear bumper, DK LCAs, straps and hydro bumps, second Viair 400C and 2.5 gal tank for OBA upgrade
Still on the list: Major audio upgrade, Supercharger, Pro Rock 60 diffs and, and, and....

Here's the shiny, new blue tinker toy hot off the lot at Shingle Springs Nissan
 
See less See more
1
#2 · (Edited)
So the next Nomad is under construction and, as usual, there are big plans in the works.

First thing's first, had to get it out of the weeds!
So for a temporary minor altitude adjustment I stopped by PRG the day after I bought it up in Nor Cal to pick up a pair of Deaver mini pack AALs and some front 5100s.

Have a mod day planned for this weekend but had some time this week so decided I'd get the front done at least.
Before:

After:

Looking better already : )

Took a total of about an hour and 35 minutes. I guess I've done it enough times now that I probably really could do it with my eyes closed. Don't know if that's cool or just really sad but here's a quick play by play;

First is to jack the front end up off of the ground and put the truck on jack stands. NEVER be dumb enough to think a jack will be good enough to hold it up while you work underneath it! The jack's job is to lift, NOT TO HOLD WEIGHT!
Once properly supported you can pull the wheels off. If you don't have a compressor and an impact gun it definitely helps to loosen the lug nuts about a 1/4 turn before you jack the front end up. Otherwise you'll have to have someone hit the brake pedal or jam a prybar between the seat cushion and the brake pedal to break them loose.
Then you pull these 3 nuts off of the top of the strut mount plate.

Once those are off you can pull the lower strut mount bolt out. Caution, this puppy is retarded tight from the factory so you'll need a big ^ss breaker bar to knock it loose.
It looks like this

And, yes, I forgot to take this pic before I pulled the stockers off so you're looking at the shiny new re-assembled 5100s in this pic.
You can also see the sway bar link nut you'll have to pull off to make your job much easier. If you pull the sway bar link off of both sides and rotate it down you can pull the strut out without having to pull anything else off ; )
It'll look like this once you've got it out

Then comes the fun part. If you don't have the correct tools DO NOT attempt this at home. You very well may injure yourself for life by trying to save yourself a couple bucks. Either buy the spring compressor tool and use it properly or just take the strut assembly down to the local alignment shop with the new 5100s and have them swap the coils out.
The tool looks like this

You compress the spring until it's loose on the strut and then pull the mounting plate nut off of the top of the strut rod. Here's another one of those times when it pays to have a compressor cause if you don't it can be close to impossible to get the nut off since the shaft just wants to turn.
I didn't take any pix of the 5100s before I put them together but if you haven't seen them there are 5 slots on the lower body of the shock and a big c-clip (which is the same c-clip that's used on the stock bils btw). The first slot will leave you at stock height assuming you are using the stock coils. The second slot is 1/2" of lift, the 3rd is 1" of lift and so on. I topped mine out and ended up with just over 2". Once you get them fully assembled you just reverse the removal procedure to put them back on the truck and it'll look like this

Keep in mind that you WILL need to align the wheels at this point as the camber will be way off and you will promptly destroy your tires. I have some experience with this as I used to be a tech so I did the old basic driveway alignment after installing my adjuster bolts in place of the stock non adjustable LCA mounting bolts since I already had a set sitting around.

Stock measurements on the front from hub center to fender were 20".
Measurement after the install was 22.5" but it settled about 1/4" after I drove it around a bit and set the alignment so I ended up with 2 1/4" of lift.
I'll post up pix and results on the rear after I get it done this weekend. And I'll try to be a little more diligent about taking pix while I'm doing it so I can post a detailed step by step write up on the procedure.
 
#3 · (Edited)
Coming this weekend:
Sliders
T-case skid
Rear AALs and extended length shocks
Interior LED conversion
Hitch receiver (still waiting on the back ordered 7-pin harness)

And if I still have time I'll get the BTF diff cover installed and the rear diff breather mod done.
Might also get my Airaid Quickfit system from Amazon tomorrow so if that shows up I'll slap that on too

Next week the Shrock is off to the powder coaters for a re-blast and the rad skid will go along for the ride as well.
 
#4 · (Edited)
Well, mod day turned into a swim lesson but stuck it out with a big assist from Rabs and my patio umbrella and managed to knock quite a few items off the list.
Got the AALs on and I'll have a detailed play by play to post shortly for anyone interested in that.

Got the sliders on
Got the hitch mounted. Took a grinder and cut off the 7-pin mounting tab then smoothed and painted it. I'll drill the bumper for it as soon as the backordered harness shows up from Nissan. I'll post pix of it here when it's finished
Took the rear Pro-4 decals off but didn't get around to taking the lettering off of the tailgate
Installed an Airaid quickfit intake, though I'm not done tinkering with that. Sounds better : )

Still gotta get the LEDs installed and didn't get around to putting the t-case skid on but those are pretty quick and easy. Got the heavy work done and pretty stoked about that.
New Magnaflow system should be here tues or wed next week and that'll likely go on next weekend.
Hope to have the BDGT loaded with the new '14 tune by then as well and that'll take care of performance mods for a while. Gonna give it a couple months at least until I swap out the balancer for the WRP pulley. I'll probably do some headers down the road and that's about it.
 
#6 · (Edited)
I would have expected nothing less from ya bud!

Yup, this one will eventually be bigger and better than the last one. I called Calmini today and apparently they are back ordered at least 6 weeks on their kit so I was pretty bummed to say the least to hear that. Still haven't decided if I want to get their combo kit with their custom anodized black "Calmini" logo'd SAW bodies. Of course they had to powder coat the damn springs blue but I can remedy that easily enough. The kit itself would have to go to the powder coaters as well since it'll have to be blacked out.
I'd almost rather pay the extra money to get the SAWs from Greg and get them tuned to go with his UCAs and have them red to begin with but we'll see.
I might go full ballistic after that and t-swap it too but that'll be down the road a bit for sure.
But in any case I'll have to get it bracket lifted before I can put the custom rear springs that I had built for the old rig on it cause they're 6" lift springs. So those will sit in the garage until then.
Most of the rest of the take offs from the old truck are getting bolted on this saturday with the help of some local CF pals so it'll start to feel a little more like real truck. I'm pretty stoked on that :thumbup:

Oh yeah, you asked about the bumper...
That's gotta get re-coated first and I'll have to get an upper fascia cover and have it painted (not to mention get another damn winch to put in it). The 5100s are pretty much at the limit of available valving once you add that much weight to the front end. I had them on the old truck but once I put the winch on the stock springs were too soft to support the weight and pretty much just blew through the travel over anything resembling bumpy terrain. I put the AC coils on them and it at least held the weight up better but the added spring rate just made the shocks blow through the valving that much quicker. Hopefully I'll either have the DB kit and extended 2.5 COs by then or I'll just bite the bullet and pick up a set of stock length COs to put on it until I get around to lifting it and I'll just sell them to another member or something.
 
This post has been deleted
#7 ·
Thought about doing just that. Though I'd probably get a couple sets of springs and just change them out if I put the bumper on before I lift it again. Probably a set of 600s and a set of 650s or something like that. I'll get some advise from Greg on that.
I just looked at my old measurements and I dropped about 1/4" in the front when I added the bumper and no winch with 5100s and stock coils at 4th notch.
I gained 1.5" when I put the AC coils on at the bottom notch and I think they were 600-650 lb coils maybe?
 
This post has been deleted
#8 · (Edited)
Looking GOOD! I say get the SAWs from Greg, that way if there is EVER an issue he will repair them for you. He and Ian have helped me out a few times and are the best option, IMHO.

Have a great time on mod day!
Kinda how I'm leaning as well.
You've got skids but no bumper and 650 lb coils on yours right? Is the front end a little stiff still with those? What do you think of them?

Should be a good time. I usually have a good time modding my trucks. Not as much fun as I have enjoying those mods later but not bad none the less : )
Looks like we should have a pretty good group of guys coming by too so that's cool.

Nice, can't wait to see the finished machine!
Thanks!
I'd love to see one of these damn things get finished too some day haha! Problem is that they never seem to be finished.....
It's all about the journey though anyway : )
 
This post has been deleted
#9 ·
Thanks, baby steps so far but it'll happen eventually
 
This post has been deleted
#10 ·
Thanks!
2.0s right? Might hit you up on that after the holiday. Looking for something to hold me over until I can get around to DB lifting it again.
 
This post has been deleted
#13 ·
Yeah, pretty stoked. Been having fun driving my little sports car around for a bit but time to get it way farther away from the ground too
 
This post has been deleted
#14 · (Edited)
Unfortunately patience is NOT one of my virtues! I'm just having trouble waiting around with this tiny little lift on it for another 6-8 weeks while Calmini figures out how to make more lift kits. And no, you can't get them to break up the kits, I've asked many times. The problem is that the COs for the stock geometry and the ones for the DB lift geometry are WAY different in length so I'd have to just sell the smaller stock length ones and buy the extended versions. Everything else is the same so the UCAs and other parts will work the same with the DB kit as they would with stock geometry. Once it's big enough to run my custom springs I'll either sell or just keep the AAL equipped stock spring packs for spares. I just like the handling way better with the AAL packs than having blocks or shackles alone
 
#16 ·
#17 ·
Bolted up the new Magnaflow system. Took about 35 minutes





Sounds like a real truck now. Jumps off the line a bit harder and definitely pulls harder through the gears : )
Can't wait to get the BD tune installed!
 
#18 · (Edited)
I don't have much experience with youtube so here's an attempt to post a sound clip of the MF system. This is just a stationary sound clip in the driveway. I recorded it with my iphone from about 3' in front of the tail pipe so if it's a little raspy that's why. If this works I'll try to post something of it driving down the street at full tilt.
Magnaflow 15580 sound clip '14 Frontier Pro-4 - YouTube
 
#19 ·
I like it. Nice stainless, good fit and finish, easy install, good throaty rumble at idle and noticeable performance gains. Drones a bit at certain rpms but doesn't bother me at all, I kinda like it actually. Sounds awesome at high rpms!
 
#21 · (Edited)
I've thought about it believe me. Just kicks up too much dirt here in the So Cal silt beds. Much like the ash and dust on the islands I imagine. Had dumps on my prerunner but it was just a stupid fast gutted beater.
I may yet try it some day as it does make things snug around that 3.5" tailpipe once the big springs and shackles go on. If I did I'd probably swap the muffler out for a flowmaster 40 though : )

OH, and Jegs is offering free FedEx to Hawaii..
That's awesome! I built the aforementioned prerunner mostly with Jeg's and Summit parts and the motor in my boat too
 
This post has been deleted
#22 · (Edited)
Insurance check finally showed up so time to give Santa a work out :woot:



Oh I always enjoy modding whether it's my trucks, bikes, motos, boat whatever : )
I'm kinda like Tim the Tool Man Taylor that way haha!
 
#24 ·
Thanks! Good to know on the Toyos. Heard nothing but good things about them so far so pretty stoked on them.
If you can live with the light throttle drone from 2k -2400 I'd get the Magnaflow 15580 kit every time. Sounds freakin awesome. I need to get a sound clip of it going by a stationary mic at high RPMs. That would make up your mind for ya I guarantee
 
#25 ·
Put my name on the order (read "waiting") list at Calmini. Still expect to have to wait 6 weeks or more.
Also ordered the upper half bumper cover for the shrock install.
Bumper, brackets and skids should be back from powder coater's early next week.
 
#26 ·
Upper bumper half showed up on the porch today. Time to pull the grill and take them to the body shop for paint. Should have the bumper back from coating by then and I can get the winch off the floor in the garage and into it's new home :woot:
 
#27 ·
Taking the truck to get its new shoes tomorrow.
4 Toyo Open Country MTs 1180 out the door :woot:
Looks like I'll be doing a fender well mod this weekend.
Bumper and skids should be back from coating tomorrow too but doubt I'll find the time to get that installed until mid Jan. Guess it's time to plan another mod day. Hopefully Mother Nature will be a little kinder this time :laugh:
 
#28 ·
Thanks but honestly I wish I had the time to make it happen faster haha! Tough being in a "little" truck after having such a monster for a couple years. No worries though, it'll happen soon enough. Once I get the bumper and winch in it'll pick up speed in a hurry. Just waiting on Calmini to get off their ^sses and get some more kits in stock.

Got the upper cover off of ebay actually. Seems to be pretty decent quality and ran me about 125 with shipping. Showed up in 2 days. Sending off to the paint shop tomorrow with the grill
 
This post has been deleted
#29 · (Edited)
So I pulled the trigger on the Toyos today. What a difference a set of tires makes! Whole different truck. Can't believe how quiet the Toyo MTs are either. Can't wait to get them out in the fun stuff and see how they do. Time for some minor trimming. They rub a bit as expected, they are one of the taller 285s.




Thanks Jeff. Enjoying the new build : )
Bummed I missed that run again for sure but you know how it goes with family obligations and all. I'm gonna get out there real soon just to get some dirt under the tires. I'll prob go up for the next Leonid shower or something. I'll post up when I have a free night and hopefully a few of us can get out for a ride and a couple cold ones.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top