Home is where the camp is BUILD THREAD

[patsaricas222]

Well this build thread is a bit overdue but here she goes...

I bought my first pickup truck last January because my wife and I travel often from due to my work and the Jeep Wrangler was way too impractical for what we needed. So I took the plunge and bought a brand new Nissan Frontier SV V6 4x4. Over a year later and I couldn't be happier with my Frontier. Initially, my wife and I were fitting everything we own in just the Frontier and we were moving state to state about every 3-6 months. Now we've got a kid on the way and instead of the Frontier being our only vehicle, we've got a Subaru Outback as well. What that means for me is there is more room in the back for toys "i.e. Fridge, Aux batter, compressor, and more tools/recovery gear." Here is what she's got on her and what is soon to come.

Current Modifications:
100XL Leer Camper Shell
2" Old Man Emu Lift kit
285/75R16 BF Goodrich KM2's
Custom build drawer system by me
Weathertech floormats
Howling Moon Stargazer 1.6 Roof Top Tent with Annex

Future Modifications:
Dividers for Drawer system
Fridge and aux battery
Custom built roof rack over cab by BajaRack
Rear Bumper by Heftyfab
ARB on board air compressor
Soundproofing Dynamat
Backup Camera

If Money Permits:
Front Bumper by Shrockworks
Warn Winch
M205 Diff Swap/axle swap
F & R lockers ARB

 

[fishgeek]

Sweet! Nice looking rig!

Which Old Man Emu kit did you go with? I only know of 1.5 inch OME lifts, not 2inch.

 

[patsaricas222]

You know I went with whatever one was heavy, I'm bad and didn't measure exactly how much lift I achieved 1.5" or 2" To me it's like 6 of one half dozen of the other. What I really needed was something to support all that extra weight I'm carrying. With the drawer system, I've got cast iron kitchenware, grill grate, recovery equipment... plus I'm rocking the camper shell and a roof top tent on top of that. I'm sure with time the weight will get to be more and more too. Word to the wise though...with the bigger tires I'm probably gonna re-gear, and for the frontier's you can't re-gear the front from what I've read, so that means a titan front differential swap. Dunno, if I'm gonna have to change out suspension components yet, but something to consider when you beef up your rig.

 

[iron dingo]

I dig the drawer system. Can you show more?

 

[patsaricas222]

Soon, I've got just a bunch a stuff in there not particularly well organized yet. I'm away from my home base in Virginia until mid October. Building and installing the dividers and some electrics then, so more on the drawer system soon.

 

[Allof75]

What a clean truck! Looks great, well done.

 

[justbecause]

where will you put the fridge? if you put it ontop of your current drawer, the lid will not clear the cap will it? and would you be able to see inside of it while standing on the ground? (my wife is short, I dont know if she is going to like our fridge in the bed after I put the 3 pack AAL on)


Did the RTT murder your gas mileage? I had mine up top for a while and it went from 18 to 16.

 

[patsaricas222]

Yeah my mpg is 17 highway at 65mph. But I think the tires had more to do with the decrease in mpg than the rtt. I'm planning on putting a Baja rack on the cab portion with the fairing on the front to help with aerodynamics. Gonna go with a custom low mount and a piece of rubber at the correct angle at the front of the rack for better air movement over the rtt. The 63qt ARB will fit and I'm looking at a ms a or other brand drop down fridge slide to accompany it.

 

[wreckdiver1321]

That is one sexy machine.

 

[mortonm]

those 285s look really nice on there, not too wide at all

 

[patsaricas222]

Thanks for the compliments. A quick update. Moving back to Virginia next weekend and I will be installing some new gear on the Frontier when I get settled in. I just picked up a second hand bedslide for $200!! Gonna get installed on top of the drawer system in 2 weeks. Also got a new tablet that has internal GPS and a Ram mount. Pictures of install to come. Very excited.

 

[patsaricas222]

Ok so here they are. Just finished up with the bedslide install, and OMG was it worth it. So if bolted the bedslide to a piece of 1 x 1 steel bar, and then bolted that to the existing track system in the back. Very strong, gave it a full load test this past weekend and everything held up well. The drawer system is not fully complete but it is functional. I'm haven't yet installed the dividers which will both add rigidity and better keep things organized. The insides are primed and ready to receive paint when it get the time to add the dividers. I'm very glad that I'm going with white for the interior also it makes finding things much easier. The total cost for the bedslide and drawers so far cost $250 for the drawers and $220 for the bedslide. If it were to purchase the prefabricated package it wounder be somewhere in the $2500 and up price range. For the slides I'm using high density Teflon plastic and I've waxed the bottoms of the drawers. This was super cheap is working well and less things to go wrong. Plus for full length drawer hardware it would have added $500. The draws require a little bit of muscle to open and close but for $500 saved in don't mind. I'm carrying a lot of weigh in the drawer system as well. I've got cast iron cookware and recovery gear in them as well as other goodies. Along the sides where the wheel wells are in left openings for later modifications...battery, on board air, electrical gear... I'll post some pictures of the ram mount and tablet gps later this week.

 

[DragonX]

Great build! I love that drawer system with the bedslide! I have been thinking about doing something like this after i figure out what i want to do with my bed...