Outer Limits 4x4 Board

I know this has been discussed numerous times and this is not about the How To, but more about the How To Drive.
I have a LWB MQ and it normally sees bitumen and Autobahns here in Germany with the occassional trips to Africa. If I do a spring over, how will this rig behave on desert tracks ? Is it still driveable with higher speeds ? I usually do around 100 kph on these tracks and 120-140 on german Autobahns.
Will the MQ get tippy ? Wheels are 255/85-16 on 6x16 Toyota wheels with 3" backspacing, so the stance is a bit wider than stock.
Another option I thought about was taking out all the leaves but the first one and add a set of coils. So the leafs would only keep the axles in place and the coils would do the spring job. A friend of mine has additional coils in the rear of his camper cab MQ and additional coil overs upfront instead of the standard shocks and this combo rocks, even with the camper having 3.2 tons.

question is , "do you need to go SPOA ???"

for wat purpose do you want to go SPOA ,
..bigger tyres..
..articulation..

IMHA......at speeds , better to keep it lower !!!

moose wrote:question is , "do you need to go SPOA ???"

for wat purpose do you want to go SPOA ,
..bigger tyres..
..articulation..

IMHA......at speeds , better to keep it lower !!!

Moose has nailed it on the head !!!!

Yes they are more "tippy" and are alot more prone to movement onroad where windy conditions exist. I actually avoid driving mine in these sort of conditions !!!

Around town handling is also different with body roll being increased due to the higher centre of gravity.

If you are simply after more clearance for larger tyres then go for a 50mm body lift and start cutting the guards.

Kingy

Thanks guys !
That makes my decision against SPOA easier. I'll probably go with a BL and some custom made springs.

won't reverse shackle aid a lot in the handleing of the truck on road. Same with keeping the sway bar(s) but maybe making them quick disconnect? Also if going coils why not use a 3-link or 5-link and dump the leafs. Aren't the leafs just serving the purpose of keeping the axle in check? If so the ladder bars would seem much better if using a coil over type set up.

For load HD leafs work great, used some myself and they were nice for this purpose. Thicker leaves, more of them...it was stiff but rode very nicely on the pavement with sway bars out, hardly noticed they were not in it. Off-road it would flex but you had to stuff a tire so to speak to get much flexing. Springs were 3" lift Dobinsons in HD pack. Shocks rancho 5000's that could have been a bit longer. Point is it worked decent off-road and was great on road, lifted and running good size tires. Plus could load the piss out of the Patrol!

once i got my SOA it took about 2 weeks to get used to it then i started rallying it again. Is more tippy but not that much, only cause my springs are stiff has a brick. i pulled my swaybars off and put the shocks to soft and its still stiff
i need to do some spring work for sure, but i definatly wouldnt go driving mine on dirt roads at high speeds, there is just too much body roll for when u start to slide then get traction and grip, then over she goes...

screwy

i am considering spoa on mine for the purpose of getting evrything such as engine & body higher out of bog holes but i thought today about adding some coils in addition to the leafs? Anybody thought about this?

Big Red Toy wrote:i am considering spoa on mine for the purpose of getting evrything such as engine & body higher out of bog holes but i thought today about adding some coils in addition to the leafs? Anybody thought about this?

That's about what I want to do and a friend of mine already has. The combo leafs/coils works great. Dissing the leafs and go custom 4/5 link in anything but legal for street use here
I remeber some years ago, when I was down under in WA, I saw an add in a 4WD mag about a company who does the conversion to coils and only leaves the leafs for axle mounting.
BTW, I'd stay away from the Rancho RS5k's, we had a set of them dying in the desert on our last trip while our european made (!) trailmaster gas shocks weren't even warmed up. No more Ranchos for me anymore.

There was 3 MQ's together in one of the 4wd monthly issues a few months back. It had a white, black and blue one in a section, some blokes from VIC, was a few pages worth.

One of there rigs had "coil assissted" leaves. Apparentlt they improve ride confort and flex.
You are correct about legality. Ive asked the question about doing away with the leaves and running 4/5 lonk coil conversion, and you can get into lots of truoble with the RTA for it.
I have seen them registered in 40 series landcruisers before but i know its a sh1t fight to get them legal.

screwy

I always space the fact that it is not legal in your peoples countries. We can do just about anything here except import new Patrols!

So in that case the coil/leaf thing I suppose could be good but what I am picturing in my head...well let's just say it is home made and funky. I would like to see a picture of it....

My plan is now SOA on the MQ with flexy springs, new ones. Maybe drop shackles in a reversal set up, difinately the reverse shackle. Eventually quick disconnect sway bar. Also maybe wheel spacers or offset rims and to be legal wide flares. That is one law here, tires must be contained in flares but it is easy to get away not having it outside the city. Shock wise I am going with Tough Dog's on this truck. Was real happy though with my last set of 5000's and have 7 new ones on my Pinzgauer. I hear the TD's are the bomb though for shocks so looking forward to trying them.

BTW, what is the deal with Rancho's in Australia? Isn't their some local company down there that rebadges them and sells under a different name? I think it was 4-way...not sure??

RMP, toss the sway bars ! I had the exact same rig as your MQ on 35's and tossed the sway bars right in the beginning. I never had any problems. There's really no need for disconnects.
As for the Ranchos, they may have a life-time warranty on them but that buys you nothing in the middle of the Sahara when you're stranded with two blown shocks. Tough Dogs is what all of the Land Rover guys here use, they have a very good reputation. I personally prefer the european made Trailmaster Gas shocks, they have nothing to do with the trailmaster stuff you get in the US.

firstly, u wont need the swaybars

secondly, The company that makes Ranchos is TENECO in USA and they have 2 smaller companies in AUS which are Monroe and rancho. ALL rancho shocks are kept in monroe warehouses but u cant buy them thourgh monroe. Tenecco is the main company and distributer.

4 way does tough dogs.

screwy

Ok, I got some feedback/info from a well know guy who I won't mention his name. He does visit this forum and I trust he is well informed. This is about SOA on a MQ/MK.....Screwy and V8 please chime in and set this straight.

First I was advised to not use stock MQ C200/H233 diffs if doing this conversion. I was advised to use Toyo diffs. Reasons being spring perch issues in front with the one u-bolt side and the spring perch being cast into diff housing. Welding a perch near the diff housing on top being a bad idea due to strength probs. Other reasons were u-bolt size, bushing set up on leafs limiting flex and lack of parts for upgrades to diffs such as ratios and lockers.

Now I really don't want to basterize the truck with Toyo stuff. If it was to be basterdized in the diff area all I want to use is Volvo portals and can't afford them right now. Pretty sure my diffs are 4.6's and feel they can handle 34/35's. Also ARB lists lockers so no biggie there it would seem. Would the Toyo axle just be cheaper and have more available hence the recomendation?? I mean christ, if I am gonna swap out axle/diff I might as well go Dana and I want it Nissan....portals being the only exception.

Feedback aprociated.

RMP&O wrote:Ok, I got some feedback/info from a well know guy who I won't mention his name. He does visit this forum and I trust he is well informed. This is about SOA on a MQ/MK.....Screwy and V8 please chime in and set this straight.

First I was advised to not use stock MQ C200/H233 diffs if doing this conversion. I was advised to use Toyo diffs. Reasons being spring perch issues in front with the one u-bolt side and the spring perch being cast into diff housing. Welding a perch near the diff housing on top being a bad idea due to strength probs. Other reasons were u-bolt size, bushing set up on leafs limiting flex and lack of parts for upgrades to diffs such as ratios and lockers.

Now I really don't want to basterize the truck with Toyo stuff. If it was to be basterdized in the diff area all I want to use is Volvo portals and can't afford them right now. Pretty sure my diffs are 4.6's and feel they can handle 34/35's. Also ARB lists lockers so no biggie there it would seem. Would the Toyo axle just be cheaper and have more available hence the recomendation?? I mean christ, if I am gonna swap out axle/diff I might as well go Dana and I want it Nissan....portals being the only exception.

Feedback aprociated.

Alrighty, ill add my 2 cents in here, take from it wat u like as this is my opinion.

There is no problem in using the standard MQ diffs for this conversion. The rear is fine, and there are no dramas with it.
The front is a little bit trickier but not a major problem. The passenger side is fine and will present you no problems. The only problem you will run into is on the drivers side, where u have to make a slightly less deep perch to compensate for the raised section on the housing, then all u have to do is drill out the diff centre flange and file it smooth for the ubolt to pass through and problem solved. Of course to get caster correction u can rotate the knuckles but this isnt needed as u can get wedges that do the same job.

To date no one has had any problems with The front diff breaking, and iff u weld it correctly then u will have no problems with breakages. If u weld poorly then u may weeken it, but ppl say u can weld truck chassis cause they are high tensile steel and will break next to the weld becuase of weakness, but there are specialised guys who do it and its safe as houses.

Something else to keep in mind is the fact that a commen problem in MQ's is the front u bolts snapping. The spring over has to be an improvent on this cause no one with SOA has broken a u-bolt since converting. Hell i broke 3 when i was spring under, and non so far SOA

There is a way to do everything correctly.

With regards to the ubolts, all are flipped except in the front drivers side u have to use 1 rear u-bolt and 1 front passenger side u bolt. ( correct me if im wrong on this one Kingy ). If im wrong i know its similar to this setup.
With regards to lockers and gears, U can get 4.8's for MQ's if u hunt for em, and lockers are available for the front and rear, though the front is hard to find they are still available if u look.

i run 4.625 to 1 diffs in my rig and it drives 38's easilty enough and will still crawl with the V8. The diesel wasnt happy though....
with 4.8's i will have no dramas, not to mention the 5 speed which is lower geared again so that will help out.
running standard MQ stuff is alot cheaper then trying to make toyota stuff fit not to mention if ya fit it u will start breaking down Kiddin

Jokes

Its hardly worth the effort when it can all be worked out with MQ gear.
Theres away around every problem that does not involve throwing thousands of dollars at it

My 2 cents.

If ya want any pics just let me know.

screwy

ok Screwy...this is basically what I got from Kingy's conversion. Drilled the housing, perch slightly shorter. Seems the way to go and is what I think I will do. Like you say rear is no prob and I agree. Caster seems best adjusted via the knuckles rather than wedges. Yet, I have lot's of options with drivelines and kinda am thinking of buffing them up and going with some high agles with Spicer u-joints. I think it is fairly clear by your's and v8's SOA conversion that no Toyo *junk* is needed. I also won't basterize my Patrol unless it is for portals.

My next few questions are.....If going SOA could you not use any leaf that is the correct width and length?? meaning, no need for MQ/MK specific leaves. If so I am thinking of using domestic leaf springs in the conversion. Since I want a shackle reversal and drop shackles on top of the SOA all my perches will be either custom made or used from some other truck. This leaves me thinking it is no prob using springs from say a K-5 Blazer as long as the are the right length. This way I can get new springs for much less than Aussie leaves and I can get 2,3,4,5,6 inches of lift in the springs. All Aussie springs I have found are 3" or less for lift. I realize I will get 4+" of lift from the SOA but may want a touch more and with domestic springs I have ton's of options. I can also have some leaves removed for max flex. Lastly, I was thinking I can move the front and rear diffs out a touch if using custom built springs/perches. Stock drivelines won't work then but no worries as like I say I can get good domestic ones in all sizes and lengths. What could be probs if any with moving the diffs out a touch?? I plan to hack the fenders and lower body anyways for my custom sliders so no real prob with the body when moving the diffs.

BTW, I found out yesterday I have a LSD in the rear. Still not exactly sure on my rear diff but I think it is a C200. reason is it doesn't look like the H233B's pictured in the manuals. The 3rd member is not removable same as a C200, it just has a cover plate and the tubes are pressed into the diff housing. Yet, this is confusing because the manuals show no C200 in the rear, only H233B and H260. I also either have 4.3's or 4.6's because both were supplied to MQ's in Europe. Guess the only way to find out is to pull the cover and count. And ARB lists a locker for all Nissan diffs from 1980 onward so I see no probs getting a locker for my front.

Sorry to hijack your topic Bart, but is is about SOA and I got's questions on it.....

If your MQ was imported from Europe you have a good chance to have the C200 rear. As far as I know the Diesels came stock with the H233, but the first years of Petrols had the C200. Sometimes you see people swap whole rear ends from the Petrol because they're a dirt chep replacement for a worn out H233. LSD's are stock in all european Patrols.
No prob with highjacking the thread. My Q's have been answered already.

BTW, if you need something from Germany of Europe let me know. Be it a little part or a whole rig, I can get it for you and help you with shipping etc. from here.

RMP&O wrote: My next few questions are.....If going SOA could you not use any leaf that is the correct width and length?? meaning, no need for MQ/MK specific leaves. If so I am thinking of using domestic leaf springs in the conversion. Since I want a shackle reversal and drop shackles on top of the SOA all my perches will be either custom made or used from some other truck. This leaves me thinking it is no prob using springs from say a K-5 Blazer as long as the are the right length. This way I can get new springs for much less than Aussie leaves and I can get 2,3,4,5,6 inches of lift in the springs. All Aussie springs I have found are 3" or less for lift. I realize I will get 4+" of lift from the SOA but may want a touch more and with domestic springs I have ton's of options. I can also have some leaves removed for max flex. Lastly, I was thinking I can move the front and rear diffs out a touch if using custom built springs/perches. Stock drivelines won't work then but no worries as like I say I can get good domestic ones in all sizes and lengths. What could be probs if any with moving the diffs out a touch?? I plan to hack the fenders and lower body anyways for my custom sliders so no real prob with the body when moving the diffs. .....

i think u r on the right track with regards to the toyo gear. Not needed at all.

The other thing is i think u will find that an SOA will give u more like 7 inches of lift firstly.
Get under ur rig, and measure the thickness of the spring pack, then measure from the bottom of the spring pack to the top of the diff housing.
Add the thickness of your springpack to this and then another inch for the new perch. This will be approx the height gain.

With regards to the leaves, u will have no dramas running different leaves as long as they are the correct length. they will sag more because a patrol is probably heavier than the new leaves intended use but apart from that no dramas.

The hickup u will have though will be in width. U MAY have a problem on the front drivers side again, as i know there isnt that much room in there to dill your hole in the diff flange for the standard leaves. If u go too wide then u may run into trouble:
1. with the side where the centre is on the drivers side. Dont want to drill throught the centre housing.....
2. the other side sinks back down again on the diff housing. The thicker section of the housing from memory is not much wider than the leaves so if u go wider u will have to mod the perches to be 2 different heights on the same perch. under the perch one side will be shallow for the raised section and the other amount will be hiegher to compensate for the drop down to standard diff housing thickness.

if that makes sence

measure her up and see if u face this problem........

screwy

RMP&O wrote:If going SOA could you not use any leaf that is the correct width and length?? meaning, no need for MQ/MK specific leaves. If so I am thinking of using domestic leaf springs in the conversion. Since I want a shackle reversal and drop shackles on top of the SOA all my perches will be either custom made or used from some other truck. This leaves me thinking it is no prob using springs from say a K-5 Blazer as long as the are the right length. This way I can get new springs for much less than Aussie leaves and I can get 2,3,4,5,6 inches of lift in the springs. All Aussie springs I have found are 3" or less for lift. I realize I will get 4+" of lift from the SOA but may want a touch more and with domestic springs I have ton's of options. I can also have some leaves removed for max flex. Lastly, I was thinking I can move the front and rear diffs out a touch if using custom built springs/perches. Stock drivelines won't work then but no worries as like I say I can get good domestic ones in all sizes and lengths. What could be probs if any with moving the diffs out a touch?? I plan to hack the fenders and lower body anyways for my custom sliders so no real prob with the body when moving the diffs.

Heaps of choices in regards to leaves, length, curve, tensile, etc so a spring pak that is specifically designed isnt a problem.... time playing with the correct combination is however a nightmare.
4"+ ????? try double that !! Ive had upwards of 10" on SOA which may seem extream but its was a good place to start with the spring pak softening and flexability issues. As I have sugested to Jeff on several occasions, its always easier to start whit a heavy spring pak and then remove leaves as required to achive that combination that we are all looking for ( I bet he still hasnt altered his as yet !! )

Jeff wrote:i think u r on the right track with regards to the toyo gear. Not needed at all.

Definately not required ...... AT ALL ! The front diff is a problem and takes time and CARE to get spoton, be patitent and it will work just aswell as it did in std form.

RMP&O wrote:Sorry to hijack your topic Bart, but is is about SOA and I got's questions on it.....

It all comes out in the wash eventually ....there are points that every person thinking of doing a SOA should consider before the starting date. Things not mentioned by one person may result in a misunderstanding or worse still a complete misinterpretation and as a result a substandard SOA. ......... ask ask ask , and if your still not sure ASK AGAIN !

Kingy

sorry forgot this bit ......

RMP&O wrote:I was thinking I can move the front and rear diffs out a touch if using custom built springs/perches. Stock drivelines won't work then but no worries as like I say I can get good domestic ones in all sizes and lengths. What could be probs if any with moving the diffs out a touch??

make the spring perch longer and drill additional holes, you can gain up to 1 & 1/2" per diff doing this. I drilled Jeffs perches so he can do this for the 38.5 TSLs he wanted to run. Its not a huge gain but its a start and saves body cutting slightly. With my diffs pumped out the 38.5 TSLs just rub on the fibreglass flares and have wrecked a couple of them so far but clearance on the actuall body is measured in pooftenths......its that close !!! ....angle grinder will be getting a workout later this year ( maybe !! )

Kingy

ok I measured...seems I will get 5" to 5 1/2" of lift wth the current 3 leaf spring pack. That is a lot and more than I expected. My rear leaves seem ok and after the interior was stripped the rear sprung up a lot. The fronts are flat as can be though, SD33 weighs a lot and they are stock so just plain old worn out. So I will need new front leafs and might as well put in new rears at the same time. Going to price some new leaves from Oz and check on some domestic ones, just need to measure them up for US possiblities.

I got shop picked out to do the work and they build lot's of serious off-roaders and do lot's of diff work so they should be able to handle the front diff issues. I can handle it all except the welding, want a pro to do this part of it.

I can't think of any more questions on the SOA at the moment but there will surely be some more as I move forward. Much thanks to Kingy and Screwy....you guys made something fairly complex easy for me to understand. The pics on this forum also help ton's. Cheers!

Bart: may take you up on your offer. Definately stuff I need for this project. I think I found engine parts in Oz for good prices from a very good place. Have them located in the USA but they are big bucks. Stuff I am after or will be after is body rubber, window seals and some weather stripping. Could use a stock air filter housing as mine has holes in it but may want a turbo one. Not sure ATM if there is a difference in the two. Might need some 24v stuff as I want to take it back to 24v glow plugs and so forth. Also want to put in a MK grill and square MK headlights. No worries if the headlights not 24v as I have converters in place already. I do need a inside rear view mirror badly and some outside mirrors. Yet, I think the outside ones are different in Europe than in Oz and I like the Oz ones a lot. May just go with some TLC ones or something though. I still need to check with my S.American suppliers on this stuff but will definately keep your offer in my bag of tricks. Thanks!

Lastly Bart....what is confusing about the rear diff is that in the manuals it lists all diffs for all regions of the world. Oz got only 4.6's in a diesel but Europe got both 4.3's and 4.6's. I have no idea why this is....? Next, it only shows the H233B and H260 in the rear and does not list any C200 for the rear. yet, ARB does show a C200 rear in their catalog. Also the books show only a LSD in a H233B and H260 but then again it don't show no rear C200. My diff sure doesn't look like no H233B or H260 though. So any reason why they put an LSD in all European Patrols?? Seems kinda like a rare option in most other countries. And since my Patrol is ex-German any idea where it was built?? Spain?? Anything else that would make my European Patrol different than Aussie ones??

And to anyone else...how hard is it to get the Iceland diff ratios?? Would you only have to change out the ring & pinion to fit the 5.(?)'s??

mine is also from europe-1981 mq lwb- what gears should it have and is it a 260 or 233 and how do i tell the differance between the two?i have what appears to be the 2.8 L gas engine

All Patrols of this area were made in Japan. Production in Spain started somewhen in 88/89 with the conversion to the 260 model line (which min is) and the GQ. The 260 MK differs in a lot of things from yours. The engine is either the RD28 non-turbo, RD28T, RB30S, A4 2.8 Diesel and the TD27 out of the Terrano. The SD33 was not offered after 87 due to emission restrictions. The LSD thingy has something to do with the handbrake being drum-type on the rear driveshaft, if you park one wheel on ice the handbrake is worthless without LSD and the european DOT requested at least LSD. The early Zook's even had a full 100% locker you had to engage together with the handbrake.
The C200 for sure came in the L28 powered MQ/MK, mine had one front and rear.

sledheadak wrote:mine is also from europe-1981 mq lwb- what gears should it have and is it a 260 or 233 and how do i tell the differance between the two?i have what appears to be the 2.8 L gas engine

The LWB should have the H233 and together with the 4-speed tranny it should have the divorced t-case.

Offroad-Events wrote:

sledheadak wrote:mine is also from europe-1981 mq lwb- what gears should it have and is it a 260 or 233 and how do i tell the differance between the two?i have what appears to be the 2.8 L gas engine

The LWB should have the H233 and together with the 4-speed tranny it should have the divorced t-case.

eggzakerly

RMP&O wrote:ok I measured...seems I will get 5" to 5 1/2" of lift wth the current 3 leaf spring pack. That is a lot and more than I expected. My rear leaves seem ok and after the interior was stripped the rear sprung up a lot. The fronts are flat as can be though, SD33 weighs a lot and they are stock so just plain old worn out. So I will need new front leafs and might as well put in new rears at the same time. Going to price some new leaves from Oz and check on some domestic ones, just need to measure them up for US possiblities.

I got shop picked out to do the work and they build lot's of serious off-roaders and do lot's of diff work so they should be able to handle the front diff issues. I can handle it all except the welding, want a pro to do this part of it.

I can't think of any more questions on the SOA at the moment but there will surely be some more as I move forward. Much thanks to Kingy and Screwy....you guys made something fairly complex easy for me to understand. The pics on this forum also help ton's. Cheers!

Bart: may take you up on your offer. Definately stuff I need for this project. I think I found engine parts in Oz for good prices from a very good place. Have them located in the USA but they are big bucks. Stuff I am after or will be after is body rubber, window seals and some weather stripping. Could use a stock air filter housing as mine has holes in it but may want a turbo one. Not sure ATM if there is a difference in the two. Might need some 24v stuff as I want to take it back to 24v glow plugs and so forth. Also want to put in a MK grill and square MK headlights. No worries if the headlights not 24v as I have converters in place already. I do need a inside rear view mirror badly and some outside mirrors. Yet, I think the outside ones are different in Europe than in Oz and I like the Oz ones a lot. May just go with some TLC ones or something though. I still need to check with my S.American suppliers on this stuff but will definately keep your offer in my bag of tricks. Thanks!

Lastly Bart....what is confusing about the rear diff is that in the manuals it lists all diffs for all regions of the world. Oz got only 4.6's in a diesel but Europe got both 4.3's and 4.6's. I have no idea why this is....? Next, it only shows the H233B and H260 in the rear and does not list any C200 for the rear. yet, ARB does show a C200 rear in their catalog. Also the books show only a LSD in a H233B and H260 but then again it don't show no rear C200. My diff sure doesn't look like no H233B or H260 though. So any reason why they put an LSD in all European Patrols?? Seems kinda like a rare option in most other countries. And since my Patrol is ex-German any idea where it was built?? Spain?? Anything else that would make my European Patrol different than Aussie ones??

And to anyone else...how hard is it to get the Iceland diff ratios?? Would you only have to change out the ring & pinion to fit the 5.(?)'s??

NO WORRIES!!!

One last thing. My rear always used to sit slightly higher than my front. When i removed the deisel motor, my front end would have lifted about 3 inches!!!!
when i put the V8 in it did not come down half that, cause my front end sits higher than the rear now

ur right about the springs, havnt done em yet, but its on the peice of paper stuck to the inside of my passenger window telling me to do it along with a whole bunch of other crap!!!!

screwy

With regards to the ubolts, all are flipped except in the front drivers side u have to use 1 rear u-bolt and 1 front passenger side u bolt. ( correct me if im wrong on this one Kingy ).

dont suppose u remember which u bolts to use?

the ones i have are too long-not enough thread.
thought they were from the rear and had a spare passenger side one
still too long

Nissan got smarter as the MQ range went on........ They started to 'cut corners' by not threading as much as they had done previously on the early models.

The first MQ's had problems in the suspension department and Nissan was frantically playing around with differing spring paks ( often the reason you'll see one MQ with 3 leaves in the front and the one parked next to it with 6 !!! ), because of this they had ubolts that had heaps of thread on em.........



But wait



it gets worse

There were also differances in the SWB and LWB and ute versions of the MQ / MK...... nothing was 'standard' in that early stage of developement !
Example:
I had a set of rear ubolts from a LWB 82 model here a while back, when I compared em to the set I had in the shed from the same model ( only 2 months earlier according to the date of manafacture), one had 40mm of thread whilst the other set had 90mm of thread



Nissan also used other companies to make various small parts that they then used in their assembly process, some of these suppliers would make parts to the bare minimum required ( why thread 75mm of thread when 35 will do ? ) it saved the supplier time and wear and tear on their machinery.... adding further savings / profit for them.




But...........

Once they had a 'formula' that worked they re-set the threading to cater only for now 'standard pak'. ( which is probably what your ubolts are off of ).

Unfortunately your only choice is either to wander around a few wreckers yards doing the comparision thing or cutting additional thread to your existing ones...... either way its just time related.... which as always ....

costs

Kingy

hmm indeed

i guess ill be at the wreckers for the next week.
or ill be testing the efs refund policy

more than 3yrs later and my MQ is still not SoA. Money pretty much has kept it from happening for me, had debt and other things in life that had to be dealt with. Plus I didn't want to SoA my truck with a C200 rear diff. Well my H233 should be here any day and then it is SoA time!

If you having u-bolt probs why not just go get some made up to your exact specs? It is not that big of a deal, sure it may cost more than junkyard u-bolts but wtf you get new u-bolts. And how much could they cost, $50!?

Here is a short run down of what we will be doing to mine in the SoA conversion....

-custom made leaves, made by a spring shop here in the USA. They will be made to our specs in terms of # of leaves, load, flexablity and length. Front springs I plan to have made a fair bit longer than stock. We all know longer springs flex better and that is why. Center hole in the springs will be off-set as much as we can get away with. I am looking to push the diffs out at least 1" at both ends, 2" would stoke me! I am also looking to get rid of that huge rear spring overhang in the rear. I just don't like dragging it over stuff, especially on decents.

-Orbit eye bushes will be used made by the same company. Way more lateral flex using these and I mean way more! To use these though will require custom hangers on the frame rails. No big deal the spring shop supplies those too. These should also make bushes last longer as well as springs last longer due to much less laterial twisting of the springs.

-reverse shackle in the front. couple reasons for this....mostly I want a hard mount in front to reduce overhang and to get rid of a moving part taking hits. With a hard mount in front there is less hanging down which means less chance to take a hit on the end of the leaf/hanger. Next reason is I hope to get rid of any probs with death wobble. From everything I have learned about the death wobble a lot of it comes from the front leaf hangers/shackles. A little play in there and it can cause the wobble. Sure there are other things that contribute to the wobble but the suspensions definately is a big part of it.

-high steer arm on the top of the knuckle. Had this custom made by Yuri 4x4 in Oz. He did a damn fine job and should have solved the prob with cap bolts coming loose. Steering I will be using custom made rods that are very strong. Drag link will go to the top of the high steer arm while tie rod goes on the bottom. I will also be using high quality hemi-joints instead of tie rod ends.

-all hangers will be replaced like I say. So the rear leaves won't be hung from the hole through the frame rail like stock. While I am sure stock is strong as could be I just don't like it and will be changing it to a more conventional type.

-shock hoops in front so I can get some really long travel shocks under her. Rear shocks will be configured to form an /\ type set up. I am sure shock mounts all around will be changed on the diffs.

-ladder bars front and rear to stop axle wrap. these will be custom made and I am hoping it is all I need to stop the axle wrap. I was thinking of doing custom quick disconnect sway bars but don't really see the need because this truck doesn't do much pavement travel.

-knuckles cut and rotated to correct steering. Shouldn't be a big deal but I feel it is required to do a SoA right.

That is about it for me....I have dumped the drop shackle idea in favor of the orbit bushes. It should flex a shiat ton with the orbit bushes and I have heard to many lame things about drop shackles.

If you want to check out the spring company I am using here is a link, in paticular check out their orbit eye bushes! Believe it or not I can get all this gear from them for under $1000 which for me is cheaper than a lift kit out of Aus.

http://www.alcanspring.com/index.htm

more tahn 3 yrs later and I switched from leaves to coils, changing the MQ against a GQ