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2000 frontier beater

AK_F250

Red Rocket
Joined
May 19, 2020
Member Number
178
Messages
743
Loc
Alaska
Not a build thread so much as a questions thread. I picked up a 2000 3.3 frontier 4 door with 188k last week and know absolutely nothing about them other than they’re 1/2 the price of a 4 door Tacoma of that era. Seems to drive fine other than a little play in the steering and feels underpowered with shit gas mileage.

It needs shocks and some front end love for sure, what else do I need to keep an eye on or replace at that mileage? Timing belt was done at some point but the writing on the gates sticker is gone. It also looks like the drivers side plugs go through the upper intake manifold?

Anyway, I bought this thing on a whim at 9:30 pm on a weeknight with 70k in my pocket and a couple drinks down the hatch after selling a few rigs, enlighten me.

(Yes, the bumper needs to be straightened out or replaced)

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They're cool looking, I'd buy one just for that. V6/auto I assume with shit mpg?
 
#6 plug is a pain in the ass. Weak link is the steering if going to bigger tires. Iv got an xterra with over 300k miles on the original motor, from what iv seen they ether blow up at 120k live to 300k
 
I'm not planning on dumping too much money into this thing one way or another, the pic from the ad above makes it look much prettier than it is.
I see the steering is toyota style relay rod, am I better off just replacing all the linkage and steering box/idler arm? I'm a toyota guy so I'm used to idler problems, but the steering box usually isn't an issue. It drives ok but our roads are shitty with ruts so a bit of play in the steering translates to lane chages,

Also, if I stop at the store on the way to work I smell burnt oil on startup, but I don't see any leaks other than a slightly wet pass side valve cover. It doesn't leak anything onto the ground and doesn't seem to consume oil. Is there something specifically I should be looking at?
 
4x4parts makes a Idler arm brace, bandit4x4 has bronze Idler arm bushings, calmini used to make (I know it's hard to get parts from them, and they may not make it anymore) a HD steering kit. Total Chaos also made a HD heim rod end "kong" steering system that 4x4parts might have a few left of..but I think they're around $1400. I'd look for the calmini system, used on ebay or something if you plan on wheeling it. Otherwise, spare tierods, adjusters, and the 7/8", 19mm, 21mm combo wrenches to change them.
I have a lathe and a mill so if its just a bronze bushing fix I can make that no problem, I've done several yota idler arms with dual bearings and a grease fitting for the "rod end" and turned oilite bushings for the actual idler pivot . On those I did two sealed bearings on the idler side to keep the relay rod from twisting, is that a thing with the nissan setup?
 
Smaller from what I've seen. Haven't actually attempted an adult yet.
 
Outside the stuff listed I've seen a fair amount pop the hard brake line on the PS of the firewall where it goes down. IIRC it's wrapped in some kind heat reflective matting and rots inside. We don't see too many of those anymore, they mostly rotted away here.
 
Outside the stuff listed I've seen a fair amount pop the hard brake line on the PS of the firewall where it goes down. IIRC it's wrapped in some kind heat reflective matting and rots inside. We don't see too many of those anymore, they mostly rotted away here.
I've looked it over fairly well, and the lack of rust is really surprising. I will check that out though.
 
I have a '99 Frontier and an '02 Xterra, both solid axle swapped.
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The 3.3 is pretty anemic, but also very reliable. My X is a supercharged manual and the power difference is noticeable.


If you're not wheeling or lifting it, don't worry as much about the steering. Bent idler arms are a symptom of a worn out centerlink. The CL flexes too much and allows the idler to contact the frame. Under the right conditions, if you steer while that contact is happening, you'll pretzel the idler.


Not sure who's still making them, but there were several guys making custom centerlinks where they replaced the tie rod style ends with spherical bearings. TK1 was the original guy that made them 20 years ago. L&P (Lee and Phil) made them for a while but I think they went under. Pretty easy if you have a lathe and trust your welding skills.

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Wow, those are really nice! I'm very interested in SASing my xterra. Can you shed some light on how you did it, parts, if you used a kit, any other pertinent details?

I bought both of them already built (#boughtnotbuilt) - simply because I like letting someone else take the loss on the build!

The X is 100% the calmini kit - waggy axle with their radius arms, fox coilovers, right down to their $1000 driveshaft. The only welding involved is welding the mounts on the axle. Everything else is bolt-on. I haven't looked at the pricing lately, but last time I checked you were looking at a minimum of $10-12k and I don't think that included gears and lockers.

The Frontier evolved over time. I've known the guy that built it almost since it was new. Of course, I left the east cost for almost 10 years so I hadn't seen it in a long time. Before I bought it, the last time I saw in in person, it looked like this:
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It obviously changed a lot. He ran it in Ultimate Adventure several times. Beat the shit out of it but it took it all well. The current (and final) setup is what I think would be considered a triangulated 3-link with a panhard. It uses every available inch of space to fit all the links and driveshaft and it's honestly a miracle it all actually does fit in there. Front axle is a high pinion leaf spring 44 from a 70's ford.

Rear is rockcrusher 60 on 63"(?) chevy leafs - it's a modified Alcan pac with alcan orbit eyes


Both rigs have ARB's front and rear and both are geared with 5:13's. The X has the calmini 4:1 t-case gears and the Frontier has the Automotive customizer gear that are just a tad be higher than 4:1.





And cheaper and faster option is obviously leafs.

We built my friend's '01 at my shop in a long weekend. We started mid-day on a friday and had the old shit cut off by that night. Had it mocked up and tacked in place on saturday and did gears and brakes on sunday and drove it around the yard sunday night.

He went with slider boxes, which I had never seen before in person but now that I've seen it in action, I'm a believer.

He also used a Waggy axle - pretty much the standard for a nissan swap. He went with 5.4x gears. Arb in the rear and an ox in the front.

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Awesome, thanks for taking the time to reply! Sorry for mucking up your thread AK_F250 with sas stuff.

I'm fine with leaves, guess I'll do some research on slider boxes. Really like my X, just would prefer 35s and simplicity of a solid axle. The IFS has held up ok, but it's getting to the point I'll have to throw some bucks at it cos I beat it pretty good. Also, with how expensive rigs are these days I might as well build what I've already got. That last picture looks like Uwharrie, are you in the NC area? Thanks!
I'm in Reidsville - north of Greensboro. That particular X lives in Kernersville. We have an east cozst Nissan group (NOAS) that does 4-5 runs a year. We do Uwharrie every fall simply out of tradition. This year will be 22nd annual run. We'll be at Windrock at the end of the month - 24-27th.



If you can find a cheap waggy axle and waited for deals, I think you could do a leaf spring swap for around $2k. Especially if you stuck with 4.88 gears - find a factory 4.88 for the rear and only gear up the front. Really then you're just looking at leaf hangers or slider boxes, a front x-member (easy enough to make or buy), steering links, driveshaft and brake plumbing.

The 4.88's would leave you a little under geared, but it'd keep you rolling. Gears and lockers are pretty much the most expensive part of any swap.



Hell, I have a second gen x that's been sitting in my yard since that Uwharrie trip last october. He blew up both front and rear diffs right around the point this picture was taken. After tearing them down and seeing the carnage, we unanimously decided he needed 60's. He dropped off a pair of super duty 60's a month or two ago. We're just waiting for a few other parts to come in and a good weekend when we're all free to do another marathon swap.

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Dang that's not bad at all! Might could recoup some bucks selling my calmini HD steering kit too I guess. I'm near Raleigh, so pretty close to you. Do you do Fab work like this for dollar bucks? How do you think my front Shrockworks bumper would go with leaf spring swap, would it be in the way of the crossmember? I appreciate all the info!
Just a hobby shop and I'm hesitant to do anything suspension/steering related for money for obvious liability reasons. But I'm usually open to opening up the shop and having another weekend swap party.

You can probably sell that calmini steering to the OP of this thread! :laughing:

I need to find out when we're gong to knock out that second gen. Last I heard we were waiting for gears and one of the lockers. He's the next one to get done, most likely.


And one of these days I'm gong to roll my old hardbody on to the the lift and do a proper axle swap under it! But that's been in the works for 20 years so I'm not in a rush there!

I have a Shrock bumper on my x and it doesn't look like it'd interfere at all with a spring hanger cross member....other than may a tiny bit of trimming on the skid plate.
I don't have many pics during the actual build, but we ended up cutting up a Boney front hanger cross member to widen it and using a piece of 2x2 tube in the middle with a couple extra gussets to support it.

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If you want to beat on it, skip the D44 and go with a 99-04 D60. Heck even the D50 is way better than the D44.

Yes and no.

For a cheap swap to get off the IFS, a waggy 44 is always going to be the best option. It's the right width to match the rear and as long as you don't get crazy with tire size, you can keep cheap factory gears in the rear and only do the front. You can also stick with factory lug pattern so no immediate wheel upgrades.

As long as you're not going crazy, staying with 35's or smaller and not doing stupid stuff, a 44 maybe with chromos will hold up fine. If I showed you some of the shit that Frontier's been through with only an occasional broken stub shaft you probably wouldn't believe it. But it's built well, the geometry is right and it's never had more than a 34-35" tire on it.

Going to a ton front, you're pretty much going to have to go to a ton rear, or use stupid wide spacers. Everything else is going to be more expensive too - gears, lockers, steering, shafts.


I agree, it's going to be better and stronger, but ne exactly necessary for every wheeling type.

Now the 2nd gen I posted above. He absolutely justifies going to tons. He managed to completely strip a front ring gear and grenade a rear detroit within 5 minutes of each other on the same obstacle.

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Just a hobby shop and I'm hesitant to do anything suspension/steering related for money for obvious liability reasons. But I'm usually open to opening up the shop and having another weekend swap party.

You can probably sell that calmini steering to the OP of this thread! :laughing:

I need to find out when we're gong to knock out that second gen. Last I heard we were waiting for gears and one of the lockers. He's the next one to get done, most likely.


And one of these days I'm gong to roll my old hardbody on to the the lift and do a proper axle swap under it! But that's been in the works for 20 years so I'm not in a rush there!

I have a Shrock bumper on my x and it doesn't look like it'd interfere at all with a spring hanger cross member....other than may a tiny bit of trimming on the skid plate.
I don't have many pics during the actual build, but we ended up cutting up a Boney front hanger cross member to widen it and using a piece of 2x2 tube in the middle with a couple extra gussets to support it.



Yes and no.

For a cheap swap to get off the IFS, a waggy 44 is always going to be the best option. It's the right width to match the rear and as long as you don't get crazy with tire size, you can keep cheap factory gears in the rear and only do the front. You can also stick with factory lug pattern so no immediate wheel upgrades.

As long as you're not going crazy, staying with 35's or smaller and not doing stupid stuff, a 44 maybe with chromos will hold up fine. If I showed you some of the shit that Frontier's been through with only an occasional broken stub shaft you probably wouldn't believe it. But it's built well, the geometry is right and it's never had more than a 34-35" tire on it.

Going to a ton front, you're pretty much going to have to go to a ton rear, or use stupid wide spacers. Everything else is going to be more expensive too - gears, lockers, steering, shafts.


I agree, it's going to be better and stronger, but ne exactly necessary for every wheeling type.

Now the 2nd gen I posted above. He absolutely justifies going to tons. He managed to completely strip a front ring gear and grenade a rear detroit within 5 minutes of each other on the same obstacle.

On the west side of the country, people are asking stupid money for any driver drop D44. Add that they're all 30+ years old and probably need a full rebuild, they aren't very affordable at all. Not sure what they are over there, but I wouldn't use one if it was free to me.

If I had $1 for every person who built up a D44 to save money, ended up spending more on high dollar shafts, and still breaking it, I'd have a lot of dollars :flipoff2:even the rcv's are weak and smaller than Toyota rcv's. I can't think of one person who I know that actually wheels who's had had good luck with a D44 front. That being said, for the average Joe, running 35s, I think you're right.

Which is why I said, if he want to beat on it. 1 ton rears are dirt cheap, usually $150 for something in runnable shape. 99-04 fronts should be pretty cheap and allow him to run leafs. You can run stock ford 17" wheels with a bunch of back spacing to keep the width very reasonable.

I also disagree on the cost of gears and lockers being more. If you shop around, gears and lockers are usually very close in price for common axles like D44s and D60s.

Maybe Colter needs his own thread for us to derail? :flipoff2:
 
On the west side of the country, people are asking stupid money for any driver drop D44. Add that they're all 30+ years old and probably need a full rebuild, they aren't very affordable at all. Not sure what they are over there, but I wouldn't use one if it was free to me.

If I had $1 for every person who built up a D44 to save money, ended up spending more on high dollar shafts, and still breaking it, I'd have a lot of dollars :flipoff2:even the rcv's are weak and smaller than Toyota rcv's. I can't think of one person who I know that actually wheels who's had had good luck with a D44 front. That being said, for the average Joe, running 35s, I think you're right.

Which is why I said, if he want to beat on it. 1 ton rears are dirt cheap, usually $150 for something in runnable shape. 99-04 fronts should be pretty cheap and allow him to run leafs. You can run stock ford 17" wheels with a bunch of back spacing to keep the width very reasonable.

I also disagree on the cost of gears and lockers being more. If you shop around, gears and lockers are usually very close in price for common axles like D44s and D60s.

Maybe Colter needs his own thread for us to derail? :flipoff2:
I pay $2-300 for waggy 44's here. I have a couple ford HP 44 (non cast) on my rack that I think I have maybe $200 apiece in.

Soooper doody stuff is starting to fetch stupid money here.
 
I pay $2-300 for waggy 44's here. I have a couple ford HP 44 (non cast) on my rack that I think I have maybe $200 apiece in.

Soooper doody stuff is starting to fetch stupid money here.
This came up a while back. I could probably justify a trip back east to pickup 10-12 Driver drop D44s or kick pin D60s at those prices.

Even the 99-04 stuff? Even a D50 wouldn't be horrible if you could get it for super cheap. Shave it to D44 clearance and rock out. At least you're 30 spline hub to hub and 1480 joints instead of 19 some stubs and micro u joints. No weaker than guys running stock D60 stubs.
 
This came up a while back. I could probably justify a trip back east to pickup 10-12 Driver drop D44s or kick pin D60s at those prices.

Even the 99-04 stuff? Even a D50 wouldn't be horrible if you could get it for super cheap. Shave it to D44 clearance and rock out. At least you're 30 spline hub to hub and 1480 joints instead of 19 some stubs and micro u joints. No weaker than guys running stock D60 stubs.
I've said the same thing about going up north and hauling back a trailer full of SD 60's. Seem like the closer you get to new england, the closer the the prices get to the $2-250 range.


I've been tempted to buy a couple dozen and just throw them in my barn and let the appreciate.
 
This came up a while back. I could probably justify a trip back east to pickup 10-12 Driver drop D44s or kick pin D60s at those prices.

Even the 99-04 stuff? Even a D50 wouldn't be horrible if you could get it for super cheap. Shave it to D44 clearance and rock out. At least you're 30 spline hub to hub and 1480 joints instead of 19 some stubs and micro u joints. No weaker than guys running stock D60 stubs.
don't you have a mid-travel IFS kit to be working on?:flipoff2:
 
I've said the same thing about going up north and hauling back a trailer full of SD 60's. Seem like the closer you get to new england, the closer the the prices get to the $2-250 range.


I've been tempted to buy a couple dozen and just throw them in my barn and let the appreciate.
Ford's still making them. They won't appreciate faster than the currency devalues. :flipoff2:
 
I have a '99 Frontier and an '02 Xterra, both solid axle swapped.
1644244994848.png

1644245025930.png



The 3.3 is pretty anemic, but also very reliable. My X is a supercharged manual and the power difference is noticeable.


If you're not wheeling or lifting it, don't worry as much about the steering. Bent idler arms are a symptom of a worn out centerlink. The CL flexes too much and allows the idler to contact the frame. Under the right conditions, if you steer while that contact is happening, you'll pretzel the idler.


Not sure who's still making them, but there were several guys making custom centerlinks where they replaced the tie rod style ends with spherical bearings. TK1 was the original guy that made them 20 years ago. L&P (Lee and Phil) made them for a while but I think they went under. Pretty easy if you have a lathe and trust your welding skills.

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You bought Mike's pile? LOL
 
You bought Mike's pile? LOL

Yeah, like 3 years ago. I paid less than it would cost to build one of the axles. It would have been stupid not to buy it. :laughing:


It had some issues from being neglected for so long, but I've got it pretty well worked over and back in shape now.

The damn thing just works.
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I like letting other people do the work and take the loss on trucks! Same way I ended up with the 56,000 mile sas'd '02 xterra.
 

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I started driving this thing more, and it's getting 5mpg. It seems to run fine, but somethings obviously not right. Where do I start, any common issues?
 
I started driving this thing more, and it's getting 5mpg. It seems to run fine, but somethings obviously not right. Where do I start, any common issues?
Hole is the gas tank? :laughing:
 
Is the CEL on?


I'd probably start with tune up items - plugs, air filter. Maybe O2 sensors.


That 3.3 gets shit mileage....but not that bad. :laughing:
 
No cel and it seems to run just fine, just shit mileage

I'd do plugs, wires, clean the MAF sensor to start with.


My solid axle xterra on 35's gets better mileage than that! :flipoff2:
 
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