2 cents worth commentary (in red) written by Gator
LEGAL DISCLAIMER. This person did a SAS on his Nissan. SAS means solid axle swap. He risked a new truck, a new wife, and several paychecks in order to make his daily driver go over Honda size rocks. In other words, if you do this, you are a moron like him! Don't sue him if you copy this and crash because of your sloppy steering, butch welding job, bald ass tires, and Lincoln welded gears. Remember that if you were too much of a cheap ass to do it right, why would you give your $ to some scumbag lawyer? The author is not responsible for you, your vehicle, your mistakes, your genes, or your ability to earn your own money through work like everyone else. The fact you are even reading this means there is something inherently wrong with you on some level, and that you need professional help, just like the jackass who wrote this. So read on! I'm with him. Don't blame others for your stupidity.
Welcome to Project Fronty, fellow Nissan enthusiasts!
Are you planning your own solid axle swap (SAS), or are you are just curious as to why someone would torch out the suspension of a new truck and start over? Or maybe both? If you have to ask yourself "why" someone would butcher the suspension of a Nissan under warranty, then you don't understand the nature of the avid 4wheeler. Worry not, because you can learn to see the light just as the tried and true hard core 4wheeler has. Read on!
I was 4wheeling in my daily driver, a 95 Jeep Wrangler on 33 inch tires. It had a Ford 9 inch rear with Detroit locker, stock front Dana 30 with the Warn hub conversion kit and lock-right locker. Fairly capable, it was getting a beating on 4x4 trips every weekend, and it hated life.
To fully understand the story, we have to start at the beginning. The year was 2001, and I spotted my 2000 Nissan Frontier 4x4 on a Nissan lot in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The truck was innocent enough at first, given that this was just a one owner unit that someone else traded in. It was a V6 SE model with all the options. It was also an automatic which was a surprise, but that's okay. I'd always had 5 speed Nissan pickups before, but I also enjoyed how my old ˜88 Pathy handled with the auto.
The poor little Wrangler started to see even more abuse, especially since the Frontier could now be used as a daily driver. Now fearless of breakage, I beat the Jeep like I had something else to drive if it were to break down. I did!
After the purchase, I quickly noticed that a stock Nissan 4x4 looks like a low rider 2wd (I kept expecting guys in Honda Civics to pull up next to me with their little fart pipes blazing, wanting me to race). I actually almost liked the puny stock 25570R15 tires, as they were smooth and quiet on the highway and I once got 20 mpg at 75 mph in 105 degree El Paso Texas weather with the AC blasting! I was impressed but hey, if I wanted a car, I'd have gone to the Honda dealer! No, this Nissan needed to be a real 4x4. In my mind it had the limited slip rear differential, so all it needed was a lift and some tires and I could rock crawl. Or so I thought...
The dark days began by blowing a paycheck on a crappy Nissan IFS lift. "What, no room for 33s? My jeep is ecstatic however, as it's looking forward now to getting a much deserved rest from 4wheeling. To reinforce this desire, the Jeep blows out two tires on thorny El Paso bushes in celebration.
The Fronty started out with room for some 31 inch tires and an "Automotive Customizers" three-inch suspension lift. I don't like this lift myself. The alignment was difficult to attain and maintain, and everyone knows it will wear the Nissan centerlink. It also restricts wheel travel because lift is attained by turning up the front suspension until the upper control arms are near their bump stops. This means you have ample vertical clearance under the front differential, but wheel travel is reduced and the ride turns very harsh. "Cranking" up the torsion bars causes this phenomenon, as it's the only way to attain the tire clearance you need. But the ride gets worse the higher you go.
With the AC lift on the Fronty had been wheeled maybe 6 times. It survived a fairly harsh 4wheeling trip to Colorado, only to bend a tie rod 2 weeks later and 10 miles from my driveway in El Paso. I busted 2 EOE units on a certain hill in KY, but I was 1100 miles from home.
So we were playing in the sand dunes and climbing hills. Suddenly the tie rod just bends in the shape of a horseshoe. I was able to get back to town because one of my Xterra buddies hadn't installed his Extreme Offroad Equipment (EOE) heavy duty tie rods. He sold them to me and helped me back to town (what a pal!). These are very beefy and an essential addition to any lifted IFS Nissan. (write that down).
Jeep is laughing and going "hahahaahaha"
Well after this episode, I'd had enough. With only 31 inch tires (and no ring and pinion swap yet) my gas mileage plummeted to 15 mpg hwy. My suspension had crashed, I was redoing wheel alignments and my Nissan just wasn't performing like that cool commercial with the Xterra blasting up the giant dunes. Now granted I could have pieced my truck back together and gotten by, but I'm into hard core 4wheeling mind you, and even though I have a rock crawling wanna be Wrangler (currently broke), I really felt that the Fronty should be able to spank this jeep on the trail. Well the SAS research began that day!!
It was a dark and stormy night...my wallet was preparing to take a big hit, and I was ready to throw away early retirement. My Wrangler was the only thing laughing, contemplating a life of luxury somewhere on a quiet beach in Mexico.
I searched the internet high and low, and wow! I actually found some people that had done a Nissan SAS! I started emailing them and got a couple responses. They were short and not too detailed (what, these guys act like people email them every day with stupid SAS questions? Oops, this was me Ha-ha). But I'd learned enough from them to know that I could handle the swap. I talked to my good buddy Luis at Max Tire (maxtire-4x4.com). This guy is a genius and has done solid axle swaps on full size rigs before. I was confident we could pull this off successfully. This is very important, if you are going to have it done, find someone capable and honest enough to tell you the truth even when you don't want to hear it.
Now here's the deal, I'd love to say that I did everything myself and it only cost some pizza for my buddies and about $220.01 out of my pocket. Well it don't work that way my brother! I once got an email from a guy that poked fun at me for spending so much, saying he was going to do his Nissan SAS for less than $900. At last count he was still into it at 4K and rising, and oh did I mention he was at it for months and it still wasn't done? Folks if you decide to do this, plan it out carefully, know exactly what you want, price the parts, and unless you're a gifted welder and fabricator, hire some/most/all of it out! If you don't then you'll be reworking and redoing things over and over at best, or you'll be taking your Nissan to the junkyard at worst. A poorly designed suspension can get you killed, really! This is not the time to be cheap. You are playing with lives, not only your own, but those around you. Also, look for as many SASd Nissans and see which ones a professional shop and those done by ˜do-it-yourselfers' did. Then look to see how many are daily driven as well and which ones are still being used a year or more after the swap. There's a saying: you get what you pay for.
There was a full moon that night. I thought I heard the jeep howling outside. Afraid that I might back out, it blew the entire clutch/pressure plate/throwout bearing into dozen pieces that Sunday. It was if to say "see!! Now you HAVE to build up the Nissan! Look at what a POS I am!"
And so the Fronty went to Max Tire. At the time I was working 60 hours a week, and frankly I didn't feel like wrenching on my only day off. I was ready to write a check. But my Nissan sat in the bay with the suspension torched off week after week and was left undone. The shop was busy with other projects and kept putting mine off. Finally I started working on it myself on weekends. It took a long time, but we finally finished it. Here's what we used and why: I did gather most of the parts myself to save money and to know I was getting what I wanted and not what someone else ordered.
Front suspension: The arms are made of chrome moly steel and locate the front axle on King Coil over Shocks. Chrome moly is expensive but we wanted the strongest steel out there. King Coil shocks were very pricey but damn it rides so nice! My arms are adjustable and made of DOM. I went with normal coils (TJ 6" lift) and external shocks. Pieces are cheaper, but more fabrication work is needed.
Rear suspension: stock springs with Jeep Wrangler leafs added, mild lift blocks, revolver shackles and Pro-comp shocks. Look, I don't wanna hear any more criticism about my lift blocks!! Maybe I like them! Maybe I love them! Maybe I was too strapped for cash to get some custom arched springs! Yeah that's it! I almost went with blocks for the same reason ($$) but the shop gave me a heck of a price, so I bit the bullet and am using 6" Waggoneer springs. The mounts had to be re-done, but I have no blocks.
Front axle: Jeep Waggy Dana 44, 6 lug pattern. Big, beefy and ugly!! But once the rust came off it looked pretty good!! Width is perfect as well. Rebuilt with new bearings, Jeep 5.38 ring/pinion, new hubs and ARB locker. I used the same axle, I sandblasted mine and then painted it, came out looking like it should have a ˜Dynatrac' tag on it. I went with 5.13 gears because at the time I was going to keep the H233 rear and match gears.
Rear axle: Isuzu Dana 44, six lug pattern. Precision 5.38 ring/pinion gears installed, plus ARB locker. For those of you who are wondering, this axle is a bit narrower than the front, and the housing isn't as big and beefy. But it does come with factory disk brakes. I'm still using the H233, but have been saving for a rear Dana 60.
* As a side note; you could easily retain the Nissan H233B rear axle because you can get a front Dana 44 six lug and gears to match. The advantage is the Nissan axle is big and beefy with heavy axle shafts and third member strength. The disadvantage is that aftermarket parts are a ripoff!! If I would have bought ring and pinion gears and the disk brake conversion, I would have been into this axle for two times what I paid for the Dana 44. It's not that I don't love the Nissan corporate axle, but parts are very high! Instead I sold it very cheap and still came out way ahead.
Brakes/Steering: master cylinder is stock. Power steering box is stock, and the stock pitman is drilled out slightly. I recently replaced my Ford Bronco/Jeep Tie rod/drag link steering system with high steer. It now uses flat top knuckles with high steer arms, very thick rod and heim joints. (check the legality of your state before you convert your steering away from tie rod ends. As for me, I don't care!) I went with hi-steer right off the bat. I used Avalanche/Spyder Customs arms. A lot of people razzed me about spending so much on these arms, but I later found that they were well worth it. The arms have 3 available holes to attach the draglink and or tie-rods. The shop had placed the draglink in the most forward position. This created huge turning circles, after moving the draglink to the closest to the axle position the steering was very touchy. So the middle position turned out to be the closest to stock feel.
Gears: I chose 5.38 because the Nissan factory ratio was 4.64 and we were trying to match the gears with the tire size. It worked out perfectly. When testing it I noted odometer is only 1 mile off for every 100 miles driven. Not bad! And the speedometer seems to be right on. I went with 5.13 gears but after reading this, I think I will follow Rondo's lead and switch to 5.38's when the 60 goes in.
Lockers: I went with the ARB lockers because this truck is driven in ice and snow a lot. A locker can kill you on the ice because it can cause the rear end to switch positions with the front end. This is bad!! An open diff helps you hold the road. This is good! Plus it's nice to unlock the front for turns and puts less stress on the front axle. I mounted the ARB compressor under the rail of the ARB bull bar bumper. (what!? Mount it under the hood where???) ARB lockers are pricey and not the cheapest way to go, but they are fully selectable and most convenient. My wallet has not allowed me to get a locker, but the Detroit electric is one I am considering.
* As a side note; I've been criticized for choosing ARB, as many say they aren't reliable. I've had zero problems with mine. The compressor kicks on for about 10 seconds, and I never hear it again. It's not noisy and works flawlessly. What can I say? The only ARB's I have heard fail were do to poor installation.
Wheels/Tires: I chose 35 inch Xterrains and liked them overall. They're awesome on the rocks, in the sand, and on the highway. They aren't too great in the snow and they are fair in the mud. I wore out a set in less than a year, and now run BFGs. But I still use Xterrains on the Wrangler. The wheels are Rock Krawler steel wheels. I didn't want anything fancy. I chose 15X10 for the front, and 15X12 for the rear. In the rear I wanted a slightly larger footprint to make up for the two inch narrower rear axle. Almost no-one notices the difference. I have popped beads at 8 psi in deep snow though so some bead locks may be in the future. I chose 35" Truxxs tires from Interco. I did however switch to 16" rim size. The good part about 16" rims is better cooling to the brakes and makes for easier cleaning of mud. Also 4.5 backspacing on a 15" wheel will rub on the steering knuckle. The bad part of 16" wheels is that most tires for that rim size have more ply's than there 15" twins. More ply's equal more weight at the wheel where it will be noticed the most. In my case a 15" Truxxs has 6 ply's, my 16" Truxxs has 10. I did go with aluminum to save a little bit of weight.
Drivelines: front is a CV style long travel unit with a heavy duty shaft. I also have a custom non CV as a spare but have never needed it. Rear is a 1 piece unit which eliminated the factory carrier bearing. I never had any issues with mine but I heard they sometimes failed and I didn't want to deal with that. I did have to notch the front cross member to clear the driveshaft. We used box steel and built a box square for the driveline to ride inside of. It works perfectly. Frame strength isn't compromised and if the driveline ever breaks it won't hit the road. I am in need of a CV. I also should have had the pumpkin rotated to relieve a little of the angle. Hindsight is always 20/20.
Transfer Case: stock. The automatic works for rock crawling, in spite of the sorry 2:1 t-case low range ratio. This is because the torque converter compounds the low range, and I can crawl rock ledges many people can't. Guys with 5 speed transmissions may need the low range t-case gears, but I'm not yet convinced guys with the autos do. Yes if your every weekend is spent at Moab, but remember that you lose stock low range forever once you change the gears.
Skidplates: custom, I made them out of a single sheet of aluminum. I used a hole saw to cut the holes in the front, and I used cardboard as a pattern to cut it out for the underside. It's worked great, is very light, is cheap and it covers everything forward of the gas tank, including that expensive auto tranny.
Front: an ARB Bull bar bumper has a Warn winch and dual shackles. A couple of very cheap (and non-working) Wal-Mart Offroad lights give it that "I hunt rabbits at night with a shotgun look" up front.
Rear tire carrier: It's ugly. It's heavy. Don't make fun of me! If you had a 35inch tire rolling around the back of your truck, how would you carry any cargo back there? I made this out of ¼ wall steel with a swing away so the tail gate drops. Dual military shackles are bolted in back. The tire itself is adjustable vertically so I can lift the tire a few inches to improve departure angles and tow a trailer. This bumper does what it's made to do, just never ever lift it alone! (people, please don't use ¼ wall box steel for YOUR bumper, unless you are rear ended often in traffic. This thing weighs a ton and cost me 1 mpg when I put it on!!!)
Stereo is factory stock and factory sucks. If you want a stereo write-up, go to some low-rider webpage!
Finally at the end:
And now the bottom line, the one thing that everyone asks me. Does it really drive normal, and how much did this cost?
Well it drives fine, thank you! It tracks straight and true. Like a factory vehicle? Well 35 inch tires by definition don't ride perfectly, but the truck has no handling problems either and is my daily driver.
As for cost, I'd say I'm into this swap at least 6K and that includes labor, parts, wheels, tires, axles, everything. It could have been much more if I didn't have friends at a 4x4 shop and if I hadn't worked on it myself so much. There is no such thing as one price for every SAS. It depends totally on what you want. I went the expensive route by picking ARB lockers, King coil shocks, etc. If you want to do it cheaper, go with leaf springs, used tires and wheels, a spool or cheap locker, and try to do much of the work yourself. It can be done for much less. I'm at 6 grand myself, but I don't have the rear and all I did was drop it off. My price does include wheels and tires, and the money that was made from selling my old stuff. But my piece of mind is worth every penny.
Damage to date and lessons learned:
Blew out a Warn hub: note to self, these are made of pot metal, do not buy. Wasted the dual steering stabilizer: no big surprise since it hung down below the axle like a pregnant cat. Broke a heim joint on the sand dunes: since the axle is located with two heims each side, I still drove it home at 55 mph with no problems. Two dents on the bed, same place, both sides (same tree): yes I try to keep it dent free but stuff happens. Very bent up step rails: (the wifey couldn't get in and out of the truck and we compromised on these instead of rock sliders. No hate mail please!). Broken winch line: (don't get high centered on a Volkswagen sized rock next time). No damage yet, it's kind of hard to break stuff with a mall cruiser. I have however driven it on a 1000 mile trip and have reached speeds I will not detail without breakage. I am very happy with the reliability.
I had to remove the upper shock mounts and get them re-welded. The King shocks would bind in them, limiting my wheel travel. Learn as you go! Glad they are bolt in. My buddy has a SAS Toyota and he had his shock mounts welded. Don't do this, unless you think you'll never have to remove them! Good advice, leave as much as you can to bolt-on. You never know when you may want/need to change something. Adjustability is priceless.
If you use Heim joints, get the best quality money can buy, and inspect them often. The one I broke had a stress fracture in it which had rusted it from the inside out. This is a whole different subject. Pay now or pay more later, it's up to you.
I started with a non CV front driveline. Big mistake. My truck had a lot of vibration in 4wd over 40 mph on the highway. Now I didn't cut and re-weld the knuckles for optimum castor/camber and driveline angles. But a CV driveline helps. If I could do it over I'd have chosen a high pinion Ford Dana 44 for the Nissan. I now have a Ford high pinion axle in my Wrangler with the long side cut down to accept stock Jeep Waggy axle shafts and its awesome. And I would have installed a CV driveline from the beginning. But hey, I was learning, and hopefully I just saved you a step in your SAS! I now have a HP 44 from a ford that will take the place of the current Waggy 44 for this very reason.
I kept the stock t-case, transmission and engine. I did no engine upgrades of any kind. Not even a K&N air filter. No it is not underpowered. It's no rocket either, but mind you I can easily accelerate and pass in traffic and it pulls hills just fine. I don't make the claim that the Nissan V6 is the best (I personally like the Chevy 4.3) but I still wouldn't swap the VG out either.
Now called Super Nissan by my friends, Fronty has been 4 wheeled in Texas, New Mexico, Montana, Colorado, Oregon and Utah. There have been no breakdowns and all on its first wheel alignment.
Instead of retirement, the Wrangler became the weekend (I don't care if I flip) rock crawler. The fenders are now cut to make room for 35s and I just finished a roll cage. Jeeps aren't as reliable as Nissans, and over time it has destroyed several tires, broken a leaf spring, wasted two clutches, and puked several gallons of various oils. Oh yeah, when it had the Dana 30 front the wheel decided to fall off one day, and this was on a side street. (don't use the Dana 30 for your own SAS my friends, please!)
And friends, note that I had both vehicles in Moab at one time or another and I took them both on the exact same trails. Now the jeep had 33 inch tires, but it also has 4:1 t-case gears and front Dana 44. And the Nissan went places the Jeep could not go!! Maybe it's a wheel base thing, or maybe Nissan's rule J
And oh how the little Wrangler cried late into the night....
If you are hungry for more, go to Maxtire-4x4.com and Pathfinderoffroad.com!
If you're not sick of reading this boring drivel, here's a semi Interesting side note.
As if to declare a new year's resolution, The Wrangler is performing off road with the dignity finesse of a three legged cat. On my last deep snow trip in Utah with my UXOC friends, I expected the locked front and rear Wrangler to outperform the five Nissan Xterras and two Toyota 4runners, among others. I figured the 9000LB Ramsey winch would get quite a workout (it did). Instead of pulling everyone else out, my Wrangler succeeded in getting stuck six times, which is about five times more than most everyone else. The winch was used repeatedly to pull only myself out, with the exception of one Xterra buried in deep ruts (dug by me).
In an effort to add insult to injury, it was on the way back that I followed three Xterras around a steep sloping tight curve on a small wooded trail. They made the turn flawlessly. Of course my Wrangler, with its small wheelbase and low center of gravity, managed to run headlong into a tree. This Jeep, not wanting a tug by another Xterra, decided to hammer the gas forward and reverse in repeated attempts to salvage its dignity. The result was an unstuck Jeep, and a flattened passenger side fender.
On the way home, I should have not cursed that Jeep so loud, as the frame rail which holds the soft top to the windshield felt the sudden urge to unseat itself, nearly ripping the top off on the freeway at 65mph. My wife wasn't too happy about holding the top in place in zero weather.
You know sometimes she just shakes her head at me and says," there is something seriously wrong with you"!
