[NovaBeJota]

Username: NovaBeJota
Year: 2008
Make: Nissan
Model: Frontier
Trim: SE
Color: white
Mods:

Interior: new Kenwood head unit. WeatherTech floor mats, Britax car seat

Exterior: CarryBoy Sport Lid tonneau cover

Drivetrain:

Suspension & Tires: Old Man Emu full HD kit. Hankook Dynapro AT-M 265/75/R16

Armor: Shrockworks front & rear bumpers

Performance: Gibson cat back exhaust

Gear and Other:

In Progress: TBA

 

[NovaBeJota]

Gibson cat-back

A new exhaust came out of necessity. My stock muffler rusted out and fell off while I was driving.

I jumped on the sticky, told my tale of woe, & got some good advice.

 

[NovaBeJota]

Tonneau cover

I didn't install it; in fact, when I bought by Frontier, I thought the struts to support it were worn out since they didn't support the weight of the cover. Imagine my surprise when the folks at the dealership showed me that it was in fact a powered tonneau cover that had the ability to lift at both the cab side and tailgate.

I did have to diagnose some gremlins after a winter snowstorm last year. With the help of some of y'all, I got it functional again. I would like to replace the gas struts so that it supports its own weight when I just need to put a few things in the back (i.e. groceries).

 

[AndysLog]

Exhaust rusted off 08, holy ****.

 

[NovaBeJota]

Exhaust rusted off 08, holy ****.

It was a shock to hear while going 35. Thank goodness the pipe hooked on my rear axle instead of tumbling into traffic.

 

[NovaBeJota]

New head unit

Terrible local radio pushed me over the edge: I needed some more bells and whistles than those that came on my stock receiver. I did some research and wound up on Crutchfield's website. (I think that's the newer version of what I got.) I found a double-DIN Kenwood that was Bluetooth compatible.

Am I glad that I did! Their customer service was top-notch. Between making sure that I had more than enough to properly install the unit myself, they also had great technicians available for support when I figured out that I had too many parts.

The toughest part for me was wiring up the harness adapters. Were I to do it again, I'd solder them. The crimp connectors are easy to use, but one of my speaker wires just didn't want to stay connected. That led to a whole other issue that a sticky in the forums helped me solve this afternoon.

Several months later, everything's still working. As I've said for years, I'm much better at working on things that shouldn't move (walls, sheds, roofs, etc.) than things that should (engines, doors, bikes, etc.). It looks nearly stock, which is the best part. My only gripe is that the screen is nearly impossible to read in daylight, especially with sunglasses on. A small price to pay for never hearing a radio DJ again.

 

[NovaBeJota]

Stock tires before

With dry rot between the treads, tires came first. I just wasn't going to pass the state safety inspection; well, I did last year with a nearly rusted out exhaust. (The muffler flange rusted completely through one week later.)

New pics coming in the edit whenever this rain stops. The new Hankook Dynapro AT-M 265/75R16s really fill those wheel wells!

 

[NovaBeJota]

OME HD install

There are plenty of resources that I hunted down for my OME install. The Nisstec instructions are meant for pros, not a noob like me. Their use of words like "sway bar", "pinion yoke", and "bolt" left me doing a lot of Google Image searches.

Sigh.

I'll add more links to the threads that I found most helpful along the way. Thanks to those of you who commented on my thread with help along the way.Suspension & Bumper Upgrades Flowchart - Nissan Frontier Forum If you need technical information about the install, I'm not the guy to ask. We were successful because of stubborn determination. Without an internet to help us with the problems, there's no way I would've even attempted this install. It was way beyond my skillset. I learned a lot, but I'm not sure I'll attempt this again. May my Fronty live to 300,000 miles!

Start to finish, it took us 10 or 11 hours. Perhaps I was feeling a bit too optimistic with so many posts saying it took 5 hours; I’m guessing y’all have done this a time or 30. This was my first attempt with a friend that had lifted his Tacoma. This was wildly ambitious, and when I take it in for the alignment tomorrow, I’m going to ask them to double check things in the front end (and install the camber bolts. I didn’t trust myself to open that can of worms.).

The Struggles

• JACK STANDS: The more, the merrier. Beg, borrow, & steal from everyone you know that owns a few. We had two; some taller ones would have made life easier and added a little more peace of mind.
  
  FLOOR JACK: I suppose that you could do this job without a floor jack, but that’s a terrible idea. Take it one step further and use one that has a long enough handle to help with leverage (our Frontys are heavy) and prevent what we had to do (crawl under the truck at times to jack up the rear differential).
  
  LEVEL GROUND: Wow, is this an important need! My parking lot was ill-suited to this task. While it is mostly level, it sloped enough down from the passenger side to the driver's that it gave us some unnecessary issues.
  
  RUST PENETRANT: My friend that helped out told me to hit every bolt that we were going to take out with some rust penetrant the night before and the morning of the install. Problem: my new tires were in the way. I was lazy and only hit the ones that I could easily get to. You can probably guess that wasn’t good enough. We managed the whole job without breaking or stripping or needing to cut off a bolt (well, except for the extra-long one hidden in the bump stop on top of the leaf springs). Thanks to Blue Devil for the extra encouragement (http://www.clubfrontier.org/forums/f26/suspension-bumper-upgrades-flowchart-239657-post3070578/#post3070626) to get the top bolts on the front shocks with some extra love. They came out just fine, except for that one time that we thought we'd trapped the box wrench.
  
  PIPE: I’ve always had a 3’ length of pipe to help break my lugs because my tire irons are sometimes too short. Boy, did that pipe come in handy when we were trying to break the lower bolts on the rear struts! Tip: if it seems like you’re getting nowhere, get a longer lever and adjust the height of the axle up or down to take some pressure off the bolt itself.
  
  NAILSET: The mighty nailset prevented using the bolt to align the center holes with the AAL. I’m sure there’s a better tool better suited for the job, perhaps something without bevels and knurled grip to catch on stuff. We sent one to the great tool Valhalla, and I owe my buddy a replacement.
  
  COTTER PINS: I hate them. We removed and replaced the same one on the front end twice trying to disconnect the tie bars. Unnecessary. Luckily, it didn’t break.
  
  BRACKETS AND CONNECTIONS: Moving lines and brackets out of the way was the key. Nomad13’s pic in this thread really helped me with the rear brake brackets: http://www.clubfrontier.org/forums/f26/how-aal-install-pix-114481/#post1554705. Mine were so rusted they seemed welded together. Rust penetrant and a bigger hammer helped free them.
  

 

[NovaBeJota]

Pics, or it didn't happen

I know, I know. Rules are rules.

Before, with stock tires. Looking wimpy.

Before, with new tires: Hankook Dynapro AT-M 265/75/R16
Wheel wells look pretty stuffed.

After, lift installed. A little taller, stiffer ride. A bit more like a truck should look.

There are some during pictures that I'll caption after my son goes down for his nap.

 

[NovaBeJota]

Don't touch this nut. Cotter pins are the worst, and there was no need to remove it, or the nut that it was securing. The bracket at the top of the frame, however, that can move. It gave me the clearance to get the coilovers into position with some manipulation of the steering and the control arms.

Shiny.

Front passenger side, bolted in. That bright yellow is completely hidden behind the wheels. It was starting to grow on me...

Wheel back on. More breathing room between the tires and the fenders. When these ones wear out, I might think about new UCAs, rims and bigger tires, but that will depend on how much I actually play in the dirt in the next few years.

No pics of the rear AAL install. It was dark, and my phone died before we finished up. There was also a lot of cussing and hammering and clanging. We left the overload spring in and had no trouble getting the new U-bolts through the axle plate. We didn't need to ream out the mounting holes; thank goodness! That might've sent me over the edge.

Looks like a bit more space between the rear wheels and the fenders, but it doesn't seem to be worse than factory rake. I wonder what it'll look like when my Shrockworks bumpers finally show up.

 

[Racksaw]

This was an awesome write-up to expose some truths about how difficult certain things can be. If this was something you would not consider doing again you should have done the UCAs at the same time because all of the parts up front were out at one point and access would have been as good as it gets.
The difference in experience is not always obvious when explaining certain things but don't get discouraged. Learning the hard way isn't learning the wrong way. I'm sure that you can get the UCAs replaced based on what you went through with the lift. I've also seen plenty of people willing to lend a hand (location limiting of course).

Your truck is looking great.

 

[NovaBeJota]

This was an awesome write-up to expose some truths about how difficult certain things can be. If this was something you would not consider doing again you should have done the UCAs at the same time because all of the parts up front were out at one point and access would have been as good as it gets.

The difference in experience is not always obvious when explaining certain things but don't get discouraged. Learning the hard way isn't learning the wrong way. I'm sure that you can get the UCAs replaced based on what you went through with the lift. I've also seen plenty of people willing to lend a hand (location limiting of course).

Your truck is looking great.

With all that it took to get the new suspension in, I'm guessing that new UCAs would be a lot less work, provided I don't need to remove the coilovers to do it. It wasn't until I was elbow deep in the wheel wells that I finally understood what coil bucket contact meant. I've read it so many times in the forums trying to wrap my head around this mod. Now it makes sense, especially since I induced it to get those new shocks and coils in!

Aside from the difference in experience, just owning the tools really makes a difference. I was lucky enough to have a friend with a better ratchet and wrench set than mine (birthday wish list from my wife?). My handy skills tend towards woodworking and home repair, and I own most of the tools needed for that. A floor jack? I don't have a garage; it's not practical to own one, although I might be able to leave it at my father-in-law's house. This mod would've been prohibitively expensive if I'd needed to sink a couple hundred into buying the tools to do it.

Thanks. I think we have the some model and year. Different color though. I'll have to get some trail riding photos to make it look like my truck works/plays hard instead of just going on beer runs!

 

[NovaBeJota]

Shrockworks front bumper woes

Yet again, I took on a project that should have been relatively simple and was beaten down by rusty bolts and humidity.

I had to search the forums quite a bit to find out the best information for doing this mod. First step, removing the grill. ToddG's write up here was quite helpful. I'd gotten the buttons loose, then the clips, but I couldn't see the little retaining clips holding the four corners in.

Next step, getting the sway bar mounts loose. They were really rusty, as usual. Rust penetrant, 3 feet of pipe, and a new socket set later, I got them loose enough to slide the radiator skid up between the bushings and the frame.

Pictured: scrap wood, the shipping pallet cut into thirds. Not pictured: stripped screw head from oil filter cover. It wasn't quite threading right, and I tried to force it with more power. Bad idea.


Since I didn't have a high-lift jack to help like BigDog did here, I tried it solo with my stack of wood, but I still needed a neighbor for about 10 minutes to line up the holes. Well worth the beer it cost me!

Once everything was tightened up, I stood back to take it all in. Quite a difference from stock. It looks mean. I still need to trim a bit of the fender liner, and get some fogs for the holes.

Probably settled my OME suspension a bit in the front; time will tell. It certainly softened up the ride. Hoping to get the rear on some day this week after work.

 

[NovaBeJota]

Rear bumper

Hoping to get the rear on some day this week after work.

The toughest part of the rear bumper install was getting the six bolts loose. Daily doses of rust penetrant (again) finally gave me enough to get them off today. Honestly, I was just trying them to see if they'd finally budge. With a busy weekend ahead of me, I knew I wouldn't have much time.

I knew going into it that I'd likely have to reuse some bolts (Thanks, @bhowdy & @G_Loc)

It went so smoothly that I expect a fight to wire the license plates lights later this week. I'm also avoiding wiring up the reverse lights for now. I'm not sure if I have the wiring yet.

(Will update with a picture when it's not dark outside)

 

[NovaBeJota]

A more useful tool box

I've had a molded plastic Contico SUV toolbox since my first truck, a '97 Ranger with step sides that made nearly all toolboxes too big. It doesn't carry much, and it's a weird shape.

With my Frontier, I have a more useful bed, and with the Utilitrack, a lot of flexibility in how I mount it. There didn't seem to be much consensus from y'all on what a good trail toolbox looks like, other than something that would be too big for my daily driver. Certainly nothing that would fit with the fiberglass tonneau cover that came with my truck.

The reviews for this toolbox were underwhelming, but the price was right for something I knew wouldn't get too abused. It arrived a day earlier than I expected, leading to battles with my son to stay out of it. The reviews were pretty accurate: thin gauge steel, holes in the bottom, uneven paint. At least mine arrived undented.

I had all the other hardware that I wanted, namely spring nuts and eye bolts.

Scrap 2x4 would serve as the mounting base for the box. I could explain this all, but I'm sure that you'll figure it out from the pics.

Before mounting the box, I test fit the 2x4s. Turning the spring nuts will require a screwdriver, but they also do a great job securing the box to the Utilitrack rails.

To mount, I silicone caulked some rubber washers inside the box around the existing holes and attached it with some stainless screws.

It doesn't slide past the screws in the track, but it's easy enough to lift it out of the track if I need to move it around. Shrug. The eye bolts will double as cleats when I need to tote lumber home from the hardware store.

There it is. A toolbox not made by Nissan for our truck that costs way less than theirs.