Nissan Patrol 4x4 (Africa)

Hi Members
I have a stock standard 2001 4.5 GRX Patrol. I am thinking of raising the beast by approx 4 inches and add 285/75 tyres – should get total about 5 inches I recon. A mate of mine has the Iron Man 4 inch kit and it looks impressive.
I tow a really heavy boat to Ponta and back a few times a year and I feel that I need to add some support and height, especially at the back end.

I believe there should be a wealth of knowledge and experience out there onthese matters as I see many Patrols around that have similar mods. Can anyone therefore provide me with do’s, dont’s, pitfalls, advice etc. Some of te things I am concerned about is the change of the angle of the propshaft, there are additional stresses due this, and the fact that I tow heavy may exacerbate this. Are the 75 tyres good for the beast? How are the caster issues sorted? What are best shocks to use. I am also weary of inflatable inserts if used on the open road as it is sure to change the damping dynamics of the suspension (someone I know got into serious oscillation and nearly flipped his cruiser while he had his inflated. I recon they are OK at low speed ie on the sandy dirt roads to Ponta.

So guys, any comments welcome – and lets see what comes of this.

Pic attached.

Hi Chris,

Here goes my advice - for what it is worth!!

I think the 4" lift is an overkill and to many other things that you will have to change will also come into play.

I will go for the "standard" OME 2" suspension but put the heavy duty shock at the back. With that I will put the Firestone Airspring system - this does not replace the coils but is airbags that go inside the coils - it is only to help level the car out once you have loaded it. It is a tremendous advantage - I also tow a boat (although not as big as yours!!) as well as quads on a trailor and a off road trailor when we go overlanding. It is amazing how much those airsprings assist you in levelling out your vehcile again!!! And not only that - the road holding and stability even under normal driving conditions is amazing!!!

I have the 2" ome suspension and airsprings - and I really can't complain. See pic's attached.

The tyres (285/75/16) will not give you problems - not even on casters I think. I went up to 305/70/16 tyres now - and only now I had to have my caster corrections done. I however had the 265/75/16 (I assume this is what you have on now) on before - but you are merely going to go from (if it is 265/75/16) a 198.75 wall size and 803.9 diameter to 213.75 wall size and 833.9 diameter size (with a 285/75/16). I don't think with those kinds of figures you will have to do casters at all.

Here are some pics for reference for you:

This is my car with the 265/75/16 tyres and the OME 2" suspension lift on it - also still fairly new about 4months old. So what I am saying is that the suspension has settled in already. No airsprings yet.





Here is a photo of the airsprings in the coils:



Here is photos of the car with 265/75/16 tyres with the airsprings pumped at only 0.4 bar!!! Remember the airsprings is only at the rear. The car does actually raise as well with the airsprings pumped - I have taken measurements already but can't remember now from the top of my head what it came to but it is quite significant. The ride is also a lot more stable and firmer. You can pump the airsprings up to 2.4 bar!!! Believe me then he rides as hard as an oxwagon







Here is my car with the 305/70/16 on, airsprings also only at 0.4 bar!!!









Looks nice hey!!!

Hope this helps to make your decsicion making process a little bit easier!!

Regards

Hi PJ
Great response, thanks for the effort. Sounds like good advice.
Your beast looks great and the height looks good enough to me. I like what you say about the stability with the air springs pumped. I currently have no problems with stability but was wary about using these - but as you say one can start off with a low pressure to see how it does. What I do like is that it would give me a good solid suspension with no bottoming out on that very slow and bumpy sand road to Ponta. Something to think about!!

Lets see what other responses we get.

Thanks again

Chris

I agree with Pieter. If you are only going to run the equivellent of 33" tires then the 2" is sufficient. I have the 3" lift and am running 35's with no problems.

Chris,

If you want to I will take measurements for you of the distance from the rim to the wheel arch at low pressures and high pressures (all the way up to 2.4 bar).

I have driven my car heavily loaded with the off road trailor hooked with the airsprings at 1,5 bar - and honestly I have had no problems. I have found the ride to be too hard at even 2 bar heavily loaded. And the ride is like said very very stable - especially in cornering situations. I have gone a bit fancier and installed a system so that I can pump my airbags from inside the vehicle as well - and I can control the airbags either individually or in conjunction with each other. Here's the system inside the car - it works off the compressor for the ARB front locker which is also used for pumping the wheels. My compressor is situated on the left hand side under the front bumper!! You obviously don't have to go that extreme - but it is bloody nice not having to get out of your car everytime you want or need to inflate or deflate the airbags!!



The toggle switch is what control the airbags individually - or if it is in the middle both. The black switch on the right is what inflates (up) or deflates (down) the airbags. I had the system installed at L.A. Sports - they quote me the best price.

Regards