Can't wait to see it with the suspension done! Let me know if you need any help!
Cully's 06 Family adventure build
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I thought I'd post up a build thread for my new to me 2006 CrewCab short bed Auto SE 4x4 that I picked up in September 2017 with just under 140K. I needed to size up from my 91 Yota SR5 5spd since we just had a kid and I can't fathom not taking him on some great offroad adventures in the expansive wilderness that is our backyard (Colorado Springs).
Here's my intro post for a bit of a backstory on my acquisition of my truck from my first post on the new member introductions
http://www.clubfrontier.org/forums/f7/new-guy-colorado-springs-330457/
when I first started looking for a CC truck I was looking at all the brands, but at least here in Colorado CC Tacomas hold their value like crazy, frontiers, not as much, but I still view them as great 4x4s, when I bought my first truck I was actually this close to picking up a hardbody instead. Initially I was looking for a long bed manual but those seem pretty hard to come by especially for 05+. so when this 06 Auto SB popped up in town I jumped on it, it has 139K and is entirely stock and sitting on some loud, nearly new Goodyear wrangler authority's that I think I'll put up with unless they really annoy the wife. while disappointed about giving up the manual trans, the 4.0 has some kick to it, i'm excited not to be the slow guy on the highway passes around here. While it's not the most exciting thing for the first mod: I installed a car seat so that I can start using the truck for it's intended purpose of hauling our little guy around in the mountains.
January 2018 update
on a trip through the mountains, about 2 hours away from home and 1.5 hours away from my destination. We parked, ate brunch, got back into the truck and it wouldn’t go into reverse and neutral went forward. {you can read more on page 2} I ended up having it towed back to a trusted transmission shop in Colorado Springs. After checking it out the shop said there was definitely coolant in the transmission. I thought I caught it with the bypass before it leaked but apparently not. This is such a common issue that the shop had 3 re5r05a rebuilt transmissions on the self ready to bolt in. This is not the transmission solution I was hoping for but oh well, now i'll be confident that the transmission will good for years, hopefully the truck will keep rolling without any other major issues.
Username: Cully Radvillas
Year: 2006
Make: Nissan
Model: Frontier
Trim: SE Crew Cab 4x4
Color: Super Black
Interior:
Car Seat - maxi cosi pria 70 (gotta keep the little guy safe)
Exterior:
Air Dam and mud flaps removed
Plasti-dipped topper
Drivetrain:
Stock, avoided SMOD with the radiator bypass and an additional trans cooler
Suspension & Tires:
**Inprogress**
Suspension - ICON 2.5 front coilovers & Bilstein 5100 rear shocks (leaf springs with AALs not installed yet)
Tires - brand new 265/75/16 BFG KO2 mounted on black level 8 guardian wheels
Armor:
**on order** p&p engineering level 2 sliders
Performance:
Gear and Other:
Nothing yet
In Progress:
Suspension - ICON 2.5 front coilovers & Bilstein 5100 rear shocks
We'll see what shape the ICON's come to me in, as I work in the bicycle suspension industry I've always wanted rebuild-able/tuneable suspension on a car. If they're as I assume they are I'll plan on holding off on a rebuild until I can afford UCAs and extended shafts for these shocks.
photo as I purchased it
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Current State
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Here's my intro post for a bit of a backstory on my acquisition of my truck from my first post on the new member introductions
http://www.clubfrontier.org/forums/f7/new-guy-colorado-springs-330457/
when I first started looking for a CC truck I was looking at all the brands, but at least here in Colorado CC Tacomas hold their value like crazy, frontiers, not as much, but I still view them as great 4x4s, when I bought my first truck I was actually this close to picking up a hardbody instead. Initially I was looking for a long bed manual but those seem pretty hard to come by especially for 05+. so when this 06 Auto SB popped up in town I jumped on it, it has 139K and is entirely stock and sitting on some loud, nearly new Goodyear wrangler authority's that I think I'll put up with unless they really annoy the wife. while disappointed about giving up the manual trans, the 4.0 has some kick to it, i'm excited not to be the slow guy on the highway passes around here. While it's not the most exciting thing for the first mod: I installed a car seat so that I can start using the truck for it's intended purpose of hauling our little guy around in the mountains.
January 2018 update
on a trip through the mountains, about 2 hours away from home and 1.5 hours away from my destination. We parked, ate brunch, got back into the truck and it wouldn’t go into reverse and neutral went forward. {you can read more on page 2} I ended up having it towed back to a trusted transmission shop in Colorado Springs. After checking it out the shop said there was definitely coolant in the transmission. I thought I caught it with the bypass before it leaked but apparently not. This is such a common issue that the shop had 3 re5r05a rebuilt transmissions on the self ready to bolt in. This is not the transmission solution I was hoping for but oh well, now i'll be confident that the transmission will good for years, hopefully the truck will keep rolling without any other major issues.
Username: Cully Radvillas
Year: 2006
Make: Nissan
Model: Frontier
Trim: SE Crew Cab 4x4
Color: Super Black
Mods
Interior:
Car Seat - maxi cosi pria 70 (gotta keep the little guy safe)
Exterior:
Air Dam and mud flaps removed
Plasti-dipped topper
Drivetrain:
Stock, avoided SMOD with the radiator bypass and an additional trans cooler
Suspension & Tires:
**Inprogress**
Suspension - ICON 2.5 front coilovers & Bilstein 5100 rear shocks (leaf springs with AALs not installed yet)
Tires - brand new 265/75/16 BFG KO2 mounted on black level 8 guardian wheels
Armor:
**on order** p&p engineering level 2 sliders
Performance:
Gear and Other:
Nothing yet
In Progress:
Suspension - ICON 2.5 front coilovers & Bilstein 5100 rear shocks
We'll see what shape the ICON's come to me in, as I work in the bicycle suspension industry I've always wanted rebuild-able/tuneable suspension on a car. If they're as I assume they are I'll plan on holding off on a rebuild until I can afford UCAs and extended shafts for these shocks.
photo as I purchased it
Current State
1 - 18 of 18 Posts
Thanks guys yeah sorry Chris that I didn’t get in touch with you when I was in Denver it was a quick stop and run. Good news is I got the shocks now I’ve gots find time to install.
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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Thanks guys yeah sorry Chris that I didn’t get in touch with you when I was in Denver it was a quick stop and run. Good news is I got the shocks now I’ve gots find time to install.
![]()
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
265/75 K02 on Bully Pro.. only reason they may look "narrow" is due to the thick rash guard bolted to rim...otherwise they fit just fine and according to BFG they are made to fit this width.
Attachments
I finely got around to getting the wheels and tires installed last night. These are 265/75r16 E rated BFG KO2s on level 8 guardians. I’m so glad I did swap out the tires, it drives like a whole different truck, quiet, more support through corners and dips, and no vibration at speed anymore.
I haven't done any trimming or melting yet, and haven't had any rubbing from the 265/75 on the 8.5 rims, the couple times that I've driven it so far. I'm also not a huge fan of the fake carbon center caps that came with the wheels so I've left them off for now. Does anyone know if there are flat center caps that I could plug in or if there's any issues driving without centercaps.
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I haven't done any trimming or melting yet, and haven't had any rubbing from the 265/75 on the 8.5 rims, the couple times that I've driven it so far. I'm also not a huge fan of the fake carbon center caps that came with the wheels so I've left them off for now. Does anyone know if there are flat center caps that I could plug in or if there's any issues driving without centercaps.
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2
I usually run the bike rack on the car and that’s what I was driving when I got rear ended over (super minor) Xmas break, but it was enough that the hitch mounted bike rack needed to be replaced. So since I wasn’t paying I replaced it with the rack I wanted all along, the 1up USA hitch mounted rack. Super solid all US made aluminum bike rack that holds the bike by the tires which means no contact with the frame or fork. It’s also super flexible you can get run it as a single bike up to 3 bike with add ons plus it works on 1 1/4 or 2 inch hitch with the use of an included adapter. It’ll live most of its life on the car but it’ll be nice to use on the truck as well.
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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
2
So I decided it was finely time to stop putting it off, suck it up and install my new (to me) suspension.
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There was a bit of learning involved but once the sway bar was disconnected from the end links everything went fairly smoothly. So far I’ve only tackled the right side, the left side should go quicker tomorrow. The old struts pulled out without disconnecting anything else, that wasn’t quite the case when installing the new shocks. I had the choice of knuckle or tie rod end. Tie rod ends seemed like the easier choice and I didn’t even need to completely remove the nut in order to get the coil over in.
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Tomorrow should be pretty quick for getting the drivers side installed and while I’m at it I’m probably going to pull the sway bar to, then onto the rear end
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There was a bit of learning involved but once the sway bar was disconnected from the end links everything went fairly smoothly. So far I’ve only tackled the right side, the left side should go quicker tomorrow. The old struts pulled out without disconnecting anything else, that wasn’t quite the case when installing the new shocks. I had the choice of knuckle or tie rod end. Tie rod ends seemed like the easier choice and I didn’t even need to completely remove the nut in order to get the coil over in.
Tomorrow should be pretty quick for getting the drivers side installed and while I’m at it I’m probably going to pull the sway bar to, then onto the rear end
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Not quite finished but got the coil overs installed and got the truck aligned.
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I installed the bilstein shocks in back then tried to rush through installing the leaf springs messing up my shackle threads in the process and not even getting the new springs installed. Luckily we’ve got a full machine shop at work so a 12x1.25 die and tap was easy to find. Just chased those threads this morning and I’m good to go
It’s supposed to snow this weekend and we have a trip planned to western Colorado, so the truck needs to be in good working order to get the family through the snowy mountains.
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I installed the bilstein shocks in back then tried to rush through installing the leaf springs messing up my shackle threads in the process and not even getting the new springs installed. Luckily we’ve got a full machine shop at work so a 12x1.25 die and tap was easy to find. Just chased those threads this morning and I’m good to go
It’s supposed to snow this weekend and we have a trip planned to western Colorado, so the truck needs to be in good working order to get the family through the snowy mountains.
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So this trip didn’t go quite as planned 
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It turns out I didn’t exactly avoid SMOD
We got to Frisco, about 2 hours away from home and 1.5 hours away from my destination. We parked, ate brunch, got back into the truck and it wouldn’t go into reverse and neutral went forward. It broke down at 11:30 and a rental car places in town closed at noon. Luckily it broke down in civilization, that's all I can say. we had a tow truck there in about 20 min and thanks to the Enterprise rental car guy staying 20min late we were able to get the rental and continue on with our trip. The trip back from Glenwood Springs to Colorado Springs was a bit harry, coming back through a snow storm in the rental mini van with all season tires, but we made it.
I ended up joining AAA so that I could have it towed back to a trusted transmission shop in town. I got the truck to the shop yesterday and they said there was definitely coolant in the transmission. I thought I caught it with the bypass before it leaked but apparently not. This is such a common issue that the shop had 3 re5r05a rebuilt transmissions on the self ready to bolt in. should be ready before the weekend, that's way quicker than I expected but not the transmission solution I was hoping for. Oh well now the truck will be set for years hopefully without any other major issues.
It turns out I didn’t exactly avoid SMOD
We got to Frisco, about 2 hours away from home and 1.5 hours away from my destination. We parked, ate brunch, got back into the truck and it wouldn’t go into reverse and neutral went forward. It broke down at 11:30 and a rental car places in town closed at noon. Luckily it broke down in civilization, that's all I can say. we had a tow truck there in about 20 min and thanks to the Enterprise rental car guy staying 20min late we were able to get the rental and continue on with our trip. The trip back from Glenwood Springs to Colorado Springs was a bit harry, coming back through a snow storm in the rental mini van with all season tires, but we made it.
I ended up joining AAA so that I could have it towed back to a trusted transmission shop in town. I got the truck to the shop yesterday and they said there was definitely coolant in the transmission. I thought I caught it with the bypass before it leaked but apparently not. This is such a common issue that the shop had 3 re5r05a rebuilt transmissions on the self ready to bolt in. should be ready before the weekend, that's way quicker than I expected but not the transmission solution I was hoping for. Oh well now the truck will be set for years hopefully without any other major issues.
I got some used icon 2.5s off the for sale section, yeah I think I saw that they stopped offering them right around the time I picked them up a few months back. So far so good on the ride, I obviously
don’t have too much time on them yet, I think the preloaded is nearly maxed out on mine so I think they’re sitting somewhere between 2.5 and 3” of lift up front Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
1 - 18 of 18 Posts
