Nissan Patrol 4x4 (Africa)

So a few things have happned in the past few weeks, not a lot but enough to justify an update. Firstly I bought some 33" from Tinus. For the moment 33" are awesome, a huge improvement offroad from the 31" road tires. 1st and 2nd gears are much more usable due to the increased rev range in them but 3rd gear onwards you start to feel the big tires. I had a diff hum, changed oils and it improved a bit but when I checked my old tires I had different sizes on the back which caused the diff to permanently work an one could immagine with a LSD that is not ideal. Since putting on the same size tires the hum has almost completely disappeared, so much so that anyone other than me who knows what noises to listen for at what times would not know of it. But unfortunately it has developed vibration from 100km/h onwards. I am still not sure if it is the tires or some other bush or component. Since the previous owner drove it so little for so long and suddenly it falls into my hands and has clocked a few km already maybe some rubbers or buses are tired, I am not looking forward to just keep replacing parts and hope the shake goes away.

I also have front body mounts that started "knorring" I thought it was engine mounts but found the culprit. Nissan wants R560 for one mount. Hopefully David can sort me out.

At Sandwane my right brake pipe popped off due to a bad crimp. I am so glad it happened on a 4x4 trail and thanks to the legendary Patrol handbrake it was controlled. Got my vice gips out, clamped the rubber pipe shut and cable tied it to the swivel hub and made it home. I removed my swaybars for that day so driving home with a vehicle pulling quite left when braking including a lot of body roll was very interesting
So I replaced all the rubber pipes on my brake system and lengthen some of them to prepare for a lift some time in the future.

Since I am replacing the front body mounts I will also be doing a 2" body lift. All the details I will share in a separate thread and link it here so if someone searched for a specific topic it can be found more easily rather than scrolling through a whole build thread.

Yesterday I made a few modifications just for comfort and ease of use.
The first being some struts for the rear barn doors. The GU's have a lockable strut on the open position but he older GQ's have no such function. On my previous GU installed a gas strut on the smaller door but the strut I had was very strong and surprised a few unwilling participants.
All I want is for the doors to stay open in wind or on an incline. Just remember to release them if engaged otherwise the will bend if you forget and force the doors (Dis maar wat ek hoor )
Parts required:
Acquired from Canopy center Silverton
1/ Stay-Folding Stay (115mm)
1/ Stay-Folding Stay (152mm)
8/ Self Tapping screws
10 minutes
If someone requires dimensions I will post it but I found just make sure both mounting points are more or less the same distance from the pivot point of the door.
I also bought some of the center console and dashboard switch blanks from them, Fits GU and GQ

I also installed some gas struts in the bonnet because I enjoyed them on the GU. Parts and Dimensions will be in a separate thread.
http://patrol4x4.co.za/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=7250

Daai lyk dik reg mooi gedoen

Jou lorrie lyk nou baie mooi al, ek hou van die skeniere jy ingesit, gee my ook blink plan nou daar dankie!

So after the river trip there was a few things I wanted to change and start preparing for December. Had a few incidents on the trip but luckily noting incapacitating: The back of the vehicle slid into a tree branch and broke only one of the rear widows, so first on the list is gullwings .
Had a problem with a tire puncture that turned into a delamination and exploded, Luckily while trying to repair so nobody got hurt (get a Tire pressure monitoring system ) So I "Libertated" some 35" tires from my Dad's Safari and because of the 2" suspension lift and 2" body lift made it work by removing some tupperware and spacing the front diff at the rear of the radius arms forward by 14mm. I also fitted the winch but stil have to do the wiring. I am very glad to have traveled with the Patrol guys because if I was alone I would have had to put my dodgy spare wheel on and would have driven home at 20km/h. Thanks Tinus, Dave and Oom Etienne for the help
I removed my rear doors to modify the hinges so that they can open 180 degrees in preparation for the drawer system. Hopefully I will be able to install the hinges within the next two weeks and hope it works but still have to figure out some kind of open lock so they don't swing around and damage any body work. Also, if you have a badly mounted second battery just remove it because it can cause some serious damage to the wheel well.

Netjies makker daai ga mooi werk

Mooi man!

Loving your progress.

Mooi man. Jy se jy het die 35" tyres van jou pa se Safari geleen. Twee vrae het hy die Safari gelig en indien so met hoeveel millimeter (body/suspension lift)? Het hy ander blad vere in gesit of shackles langer gemaak?

TIMKEN wrote:Mooi man. Jy se jy het die 35" tyres van jou pa se Safari geleen. Twee vrae het hy die Safari gelig en indien so met hoeveel millimeter (body/suspension lift)? Het hy ander blad vere in gesit of shackles langer gemaak?

Dankie, Hy het die oorspronklike vere vervang met jeep vere en die shackle mounting punte op die chassis verleng met 100mm. Ongelukkig mes hy die voorste venders chop.
Die arme Safari lyk nou bietjie sad met my 33" op en is bietjie verwaarloos, hy sal eendag weer aandag kry maar op die oomlik is daai lexus nie n mens se maat nie.

Netjies

Ja, daai 35's lyk net reg..