Nissan Patrol 4x4 (Africa)

Guys we are a bit off topic but let me carry on.....
The point I was trying to make is that the diff models do diff jobs better
We all love our patrollies all are great some are better with rocks some are better on sand manual versus auto

Diff stokes for diff okes
I love my GU 4.8 will not change it for anything !!!!

en ek dink nog steeds die Cheetahs gaan nie die super15 wen nie want hul het geen Patrols in hul span nie net toyotas ,yip Tinus ek stem before me is agentagentag me will drive a GU 4.8, dit is een AWESOME LORRIE

Shalom

Kagiso II wrote:sien jy .. oompie het alweer jou bas[ie] gered :-))

Presies hoe het oom dit nou reg gekry?

Izak, as said above, it is very important to determine what you want to do before you decide how/what you buy.

As far as I am concerned, the Patrol you have has probably no equal in the world when it comes to long-distance overland travel.
The long wheelbase that made it difficult for you to exit the mudhole makes it the most comfortable and stable dirt-road traveller there is, while ensuring lots of interior space. The turbo-diesel engine that sometimes lacks bottom-end compared to (for example) the 4.8 gives you incredible fuel range. The solid axles that make it a bit "bumpier" than the (for example) the Pathfinder (or heaven forbid the Landy Disco 3/4), gives you robustness that neither of the above vehicles will ever be able to equal.

However, your Patrol will never be able to compete with a short-wheelbase Jeep Rubicon on mud tires on a rocky or muddy trail. No matter how much money you throw at it.

What I am trying to say is, there are horses for courses.

Having said all that, the modifications advocated above will improve your car for trail use. A lot. They will also make it worse for your day-to-day commute, but probably not by as much.

100% agreed with Peter.... everything has its pros and cons

After nearly pulling the house down and moving the tree some cm's North the bar is more or less in the original place. The "s" links changed into “chicane” bends and I think are now serviceable again.

Cedric I wondered if we take them off and put them in a vise we should be able to straighten them to at least 95% straight and thus save myself close to R2000. (New price is R 987 each from Nissan).

Izak, the link in the foto is about to break. If you look carefully in the photo, you will see at the inside of the bend there is a crack busy forming.

Even if the crack was not there, the link would be too weak in the current bent scenario. It is only strong enough if it is perfectly straight.

The only way to save that link now would be to remove it, straighten it completely in a vice, grind or file out the crack and then weld it up untill it is bigger than it was before. However, by doing such you will destroy the balljoint at the bottom of the link. So to save that, you would have to do the welding while the ball joint is in a bucket of water, which makes the welding more difficult as jou then have to weld on a vertical surface.

Take the whole lot off, and drive your car for two weeks to see if you really need it. If you then feel you need it, repare properly or (better) replace with a home-made one by buying sealed ball joints from Bearing Man and threaded bar from a bolt supplier (make sure you get High Tensile).

Moet hom asseblief nie ry soos wat hy nou is nie.

Izak, I agree with Peter there. Like that I wouldn't take the chance to drive around. Reason I say this, is that if you are going around a bend the Patrol will lean a certain amount, which is putting a certain amount of strain/pressure on that link. Should that link suddenly give way, it may give you a fright, due to you not expecting the front suddenly dipping that little extra. If something goes wrong with your reaction ....... we like you here with us...... not in hospital.
BUT,
If you are driving around without the sway bar and links in from the beginning of your next drive in the Patrol, you will quickly get the feel of how turning feels and will be probably very comfortable driving around, with out any surprise dip.

Just thinking out the box a bit ..... but like Peter said regarding repairing the link. If one straightened the shaft and reinforced the shaft on say 3 sides of the circumference by welding a piece of steel strip from near the end of one ball joint to the other, I think it could work too. Again keeping the ball joint cool is the issue with this type of repair. What if one rested the ball joint on an ice block with someone holding another ice block on the opposite side of the ball joint while the other person welded shortish bursts. This way allowing the heat from the welding to be dampened by the now melting ice. Repeat process till finished.

Peter, where can one get small tie rod ends like that from? Will bearing man stock these. the internal threaded rod will be fun to find too..... ha ha

The Patrol's front end is very stiff even without a sway bar. My GQ runs without it and still overpowers the rear suspension. I'd agree, take the sway bar out completely and see how she performs, will definitely help offroad. This is about the only flaw in a Patrol's suspension, the stiff front end. Also a very good reason NOT to put aftermarket bushes in the radius arms, stick with original rubber from Nissan.

On topic of this thread. There are 2 approaches to obstacles, regardless of what they are. The Class A approach or the class B approach. Anybody who has been to a 4x4 event has seen that the Class A guys drive through obstacles with great care in highly technical vehicles with everything that opens and shuts. They have lockers, fiddle breaks, adjustable suspensions, crawler gears and everything money can buy. The class B okes have great skill but because they cannot modify to even close what the Class A guys do they need the corners of the car to be really hard so they can drive with a fair amount of aggression.

With your GU you need to decide if you want to drive a bit more aggressively and hence get a rear bumper to harden up the corners and some sliders to boot. Or do you want to start with suspension lifts, tires and lockers. And try and navigate your way through obstacles in style. I started my GQ project with suspension and eventually ended up with serious travel on each end and a vehicle that fairly much can go just about anywhere. Somewhere along the line though I realized that the next step would be to make peace with the fact that I will at some stage damage the vehicle as the obstacles were getting more and more serious. So you end up hardening the bits anyway.

The more capable the vehicle the deeper the sh!t you can get yourself into. Ever tried to recover a fully locked up LC or Patrol that has big suspension and 35" tires? Lots and lots of hard work.

I'd change the tires first, then suspension. Try and keep the springs as soft as possible. Especially the front, it needs all the flex it can get. if you want ot keep the swaybars in front buy a set of disconnects. Is probably cheaper to replace that bent stub with a set of aftermarket disconnects anyway.