I recently picked up a 1996 R50 petrol pathfinder for a daily driver, a bit of camping and to try my hand at a bit of the muddy stuff...
I know it's not the ideal off-roader but I needed a "do it all" and it seemed to be a pretty good compromise... big enough for camping trips etc but not too big for the inner city carparks, drives nice on the road but can handle a bit of the rough stuff, and of course it was in my price range.
A previous owner has put stiffer springs in the back so she sits a little higher in the rear (presumably for towing a boat?) - otherwise the ol' girl is standard. I've got a set of 1" strut and coil spacers to go in to give it a bit more lift (body lift not possible on this model), and I have a set of warn hubs currently in transit from America to improve the mileage (she's a lot thirstier than the little impreza I traded in! Currently getting about 7km/L).
I took the wagon for a quick blat on Murawai beach and she seemed to easily handle the jandal without letting the tires down.
I'm a complete newbie to the 4x4 world, most of my recreational motoring has been on road bikes, so looking forward to learning a lot from the forum and hopefully making some new friends on the trails. Speaking of which - it sounds like Woodhill is a good place to give the wagon a try out, so the GF and I thought we might head out to the jeep park on Saturday morning (25th Jan) - if anyone else is planning on heading out there or fancies a trip, it would be great to meet a friendly face and maybe get a few tips.
If anyone has installed manual hubs on a pathfinder, was it a big job? Being a bit of a novice in terms of mechanics, plus living in an apartment I don't have the man-garage I should, I may try to bribe someone on here with beer and pizza to help me put the hubs and spacers in...
Anyway, seems I've woffled on for a bit, so I'll try and add a pic of the pathy...
Cheers,
Mitchballs (Blake)
