Nissan Patrol 4x4 (Africa)

How many of the accesories could you transfer?

Peter Connan wrote: ↑13 Apr 2020 15:50 How many of the accesories could you transfer?

Probably only the roof rack and awning (1.9m hannibal roof rack) - although I would need to get gutter mounts for it.
The Dobinsons 2" coils and Bilstein shocks that are less than 6 months old will not be transferable. Neither will the custom front steel bumper and rock sliders (which are less than a year old).
And I highly doubt that I would find the right buyer for my Pajero before someone snatches up this shorty (given the seller is willing to accept a reasonable offer that is).

Anybody actually know why they are selling this patrol? Maybe they would be interested in a trade as I am yet to contact the seller.

Firslty, i have a concern with the reason why you want to swop.

Independent suspension should be much better on corrugations than live axles. I have never driven a Pajero shorty, nor a Patrol shorty on corrugations, but the ratio of sprung mass to unsprung mass should make the Pejero much better at this.

Secondly, your assertion that lockers don't work. Gelandewagens and 70-series cruisers prove that they do work. They are a bit less.stable, but if a car weighs 1.5 tons and it lifts a wheel, half that weight doesn't magically dissapear. It all gets trasderred to the opposing wheels.

I suspect that you would lose less money by adding a front locker than by selling and buying. Also, if your car really struggles on corrugations, your spring and damper rates are likely the issue.

Not saying the Patrol is bad, far from it, but horses for courses...

Brandjie wrote: ↑13 Apr 2020 14:10 With that said though, I have encountered some off road terrain where the Pajero has left me lacking (IFS and IRS just do not flex well - does not matter if you have a rear diff lock or bigger tires... If you do not have at least one wheel with traction, you cannot go anywhere... and you encounter that situation quite often with IFS and IRS). Also, the design of the Pajero means when I travel on gravel and corrugated roads, I actually have to drive faster to get the suspension to start working, otherwise you just rattle to bits (monocoque chassis design). This means although I have full control of the car, I feel it is an unsafe way of travelling and exploring. I prefer the old-school way of life in the slow lane (grew up travelling in the back seat of a 110).

Your problems are SWB related not Pajero related in my opinion. The Pajero (LWB) is a VERY capable and comfortable offroader. Moving to another SWB is not going to help you

Brandjie wrote: ↑13 Apr 2020 18:59

Peter Connan wrote: ↑13 Apr 2020 15:50 How many of the accesories could you transfer?

Anybody actually know why they are selling this patrol? Maybe they would be interested in a trade as I am yet to contact the seller.

Hallo Brand en baie welkom. I did not ask but you can email him via Gumtree as I did - he replied promptly. Agree with Spike and Peter. Had a mate with a Pajero LWB on a trip with us to Moz and I drove it for a short stretch - awesome on the dirt roads. I would only buy the SWB to play around with and not for overlanding trips.

These are all fair points!
Thank you all for the great info and the kind welcome John!
I really hope that one day I can have a dedicated overlander - and it will probably be a LWB patrol.

This following paragraph will be the last bit about my situation because I do not want to turn this into a "my Pajero SWB pros and cons thread"!
My Pajero would probably be better on dirt roads given the IFS, yes. Also the SWB has an effect (100 inches in the SWB Paj, 94 in this Patrol). However, I have driven on lots Sandveld gravel roads (most of my work is around there) with a variety of vehicles, and where I can travel 40-60kmph comfortably on the corrugations in a DC hilux, Colt, and a defender 90 (e.g. the CD does not jump and stop), I have to increase my speed to 80-100kmph to feel that same comfort in my Pajero (but I admit, I have more control in it than in the other vehicles - but that can be due to me knowing my vehicle best). It just feels dangerous having to drive that fast to get a comfortable ride... Something I have heard a lot of the gen 3 and 4 Pajero owners saying (i.e. when it changed to a Monocoque as opposed to ladder frame chassis around 2001). I guess Dakar engineering underpinnings would do that to a production vehicle. But I think the idea is spot on - it would probably be cheaper for me to just install a select-able front locker (Eaton, ARB, or I might actually try TRE) for the really rough stuff and see if I cannot do something about my somewhat harder than normal suspension (e.g. actually get around to installing the heavy stuff I planned when I installed the suspension in the first place).

But getting back to the topic on hand: This red little gem of a patrol:
I understand it has the 2.8 which is not much loved in Ozzy because of how heavy their kitted patrols are for such a small motor.
But how do you guys think it would do in this van that weighs considerably less?
I understand it is quite rev happy for a diesel, so I reckon whoever gets this little van is getting something fun and special!

Hi Brand,

My father-in-law has an old SWB Pajero 2.8turbo diesel. Theyve joined us on a Botswana tour once, and didnt seem to have any issues at all, ok, we did have to carry the majority of the supplies etc, as they didnt have enough space, but anyway.
He fiddles with tyre pressures constantly. As soon as he gets to a gravel road hes out and reducing pressures, he says it makes a massive difference in comfort on the corrugations.

I also think they would be great with a diff-lock, he tried joining us on one or two trails, but, as soon as he got to the axle twisters he was going no where, so he's given up on trails now.

graham1 wrote: ↑14 Apr 2020 16:30 Hi Brand,

My father-in-law has an old SWB Pajero 2.8turbo diesel. Theyve joined us on a Botswana tour once, and didnt seem to have any issues at all, ok, we did have to carry the majority of the supplies etc, as they didnt have enough space, but anyway.
He fiddles with tyre pressures constantly. As soon as he gets to a gravel road hes out and reducing pressures, he says it makes a massive difference in comfort on the corrugations.

I also think they would be great with a diff-lock, he tried joining us on one or two trails, but, as soon as he got to the axle twisters he was going no where, so he's given up on trails now.

Hello Graham!
Yes the 2.8td came in the gen 2 Pajero, which is a ladder frame chassis with a body on top of it. The body/chassis mounts act as an extra bit of 'absorption' as opposed to the gen 3/4 monocoque where you are actually sitting in the chassis and can feel a lot more being sent through the cabin.

But what do you think looks better - your father-in-laws gen 2 SWB paj or this one? I just love the look of the GU in SWB - looks like a mini, roadworthy tank.

I would love to know what a SWB GU actually weighs, but I suspect the 2.8 should have "enough" power.

What concerns me more is the level of local support, but not being an expert on Nissan's other products (I am unashamedly a Patrol fan rather than a Nissan fan, although they do have a couple of other vehicles I like), I don't know if it was used in any other products sold by Nissan SA. I do remember that Frank had serious issues getting his ailing 2.8 sorted, but that was in Nam, not in SA. Maybe Tinus or Reenen can weigh in on the availability of 2.8 spares?

By the way, Frank should be able to give you a pretty good idea of how well it goes, having had that motor in a LWB GQ wagon. Maybe send him a PM?

I did have the opportunity to test-drive a GQ shorty with a TB42, and since at the time my daily drive was a LWB with basically the same motor, it gave me a good opportunity to compare. The SWB felt a lot more lively, so I guess the weight reduction is fairly substantial.

And yes, I would love a shorty. But this guy is asking too much, and from what I hear he isn't really prepared to budge?

Brandjie wrote: ↑14 Apr 2020 17:05

But what do you think looks better - your father-in-laws gen 2 SWB paj or this one? I just love the look of the GU in SWB - looks like a mini, roadworthy tank.

I’ll be honest - I don’t like the look of a swb gu patrol, there’s just something out of proportion on it for me.
HOWEVER, I think a gq swb is just the coolest looking thing ever! I would do unspeakable things to have one of those!