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Nissan Pathfinder Atlas Trasfercase Install PT.1

Over the last year or so i’ve been working with Advance Adapters to get an Atlas adapter made for the early Nissan trucks starting in ’86, and now it’s a reality. After taking apart and putting my truck back together about a dozen times over the last few months, i have it all down to a definate set of instructions so you can get an atlas installed in your truck correctly the first time and with the least amount of frustration and be on your way to building a capable Nissan rockcrawler. Over the next week or so i’ll be writing different parts of this installation process here in the blog and by next week you should have all the definate details on how to do this install on your 88 – 95 Nissan Pathfinder & 86 – 97 Hardbody. And although it hasn’t been tested, this adapter should also fit the 1st Generation Xterras and Frontiers. Keep in mind the atlas may not fit in your truck with the torsion bar cross member in place so I recomend this t-case for solid axle swapped trucks only.

Pull your truck into the garage and get your tools ready, tomorrow we’l start building a Nissan crawler.

 

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Nissan ’05 Xterra M226 ARB Air Locker Install Article

The original posting of this article is here on 4WD&SU Magazines website:
http://www.4wdandsportutility.com/tech/0810_4wdweb_2005_nissan_xterra_air_locker/index.html

Horsepower is nothing without traction, which is why many Nissan Titan, Frontier and Xterra owners have been waiting for a new locker option. The M226 is a variant of the Dana 44 and buying your truck from Nissan fitted with the e-locker has been the only way to get a manually activated locker. If you have been in search of a locker for your Titan, Xterra or Frontier, you may be in luck. The Xterras and Frontiers with the Off-Road package came with an e-locked M226 rear end. Those with a manual transmission also have the M226 rear end, but it’s has nothing but an open carrier. The ring gear was also transferred from the stock carrier to the ARB air locker.

A few weeks ago I got a call from ARB’s marketing department letting me know about their new M226 air locker, one of which was flown in early from Australia and they wanted to know if Rugged Rocks Off Road would be willing to help them out with the first M226 Locker install in North America and let them know how it goes making note of anything special that had to be done. Of course I jumped on this opportunity right away. Being that I didn’t have an Xterra myself to do this install on, I extended this opportunity and called Jesse Feng, an owner of an ’05 Xterra S 4×4. I met Jesse through the Rugged Rocks forum, he had been wheeling with a few of the other guys on the forum and judging by the pictures he had posted of his rig on the trail along with the body damage, a bashed in muffler, scuffed up sliders, dented rear bumper, scraped up rear diff, bent trailer hitch and scarred up leaf shackles; I decided that lack of traction was the only thing holding this guy back on the trail and could really benefit from the new ARB M226 Air Locker. Continue reading “Nissan ’05 Xterra M226 ARB Air Locker Install Article”

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The Joint that Fits – The 2-3/8″ wide Johnny Joint

Currie Johnny Joint in Nissan Axle BracketEver since the solid axle pathfinder got it’s front 3-link solid axle swap, an easy to install rear 5-link (4-link with panhard) long arm rear suspension system has been on my mind. I knew I wanted to use Currie Johnny Joints for the links but there has always been a dilema, the factory link mounts are 2-3/8″ wide and the standard Johnny Joint is 2-5/8″ wide. This immediately meant all new link mounts would have to be made, or the cutting and legthening of an old beat up rear link would have to be done keeping the old rubber bushings while throwing the Johnny Joint Idea out the window, untill now.

Continue reading “The Joint that Fits – The 2-3/8″ wide Johnny Joint”