The Nissan Path

Hey guys, I am trying to improve ride quality. Suspension feels too stiff, not overly, but still..

I use the truck for off road every weekend, but I will keep the ride height stock.


Do front 4600 shocks improve the ride? or just rear are necessary?

Any recommendations besides 4600 Bilstein shocks?

I want softer suspension, but not too much so I don't lose the nice stability the truck has on the highway...


Thanks!

Bilsteins will make it stiffer. If you're looking for highway stability, then only do the rears. The fronts are not too bad.

Not sure about wanting stability on the highway with the stock suspension. Wait until you hit a big enough rut in the road going 65-70 and you'll change your mind. Also not sure how many miles you have on your PF, but change the sway bar bushings. That improves the control without affecting the ride.

Thanks! I feel like with small road imperfections the truck feels unsettled.

And when off-roading I don't feel is soft enough.

thanks

Truck has 278k, previous owner changed suspension like 1 year ago

Bilsteins are fantastic on the road. They're not "stiffer" so much as they're as close to ideally damped as you can get at that price point, and close to the right frequency response I want out of more expensive shocks (fairly open high speed compression damping, closed low speed compression damping for cornering, braking, etc.). Those plus the Moog springs make my truck about as close to a sedan on the highway as it's going to get.

The stock KYB's on the other hand are the opposite, and feel like the cheap orifice based dampers they are. They are very stiff over bumps and not stiff enough for low speed inputs.

I've tried a couple other options and I'm sticking with Bilstein. FWIW, the next couple price points up (5100) are the same damper but include ride height adjustment (sometimes) and look a little nicer.

I put them on front and back and love them. To be fair i was on what I believe to be stock suspension with 120000 miles on it, so it wasnt riding smooth to begin with.

Had them for about a year, and I don't do much offroad but they seem to handle it well, and it feels great on the highway. Will be keeping them until i do a lift in a couple years.

Thanks guys! I did the Bilstein installation front and rear 1 week ago. It feels better for maybe a 10% more, but I can still feel every bump. Specially I feel it on the steering wheel.

So the springs you say will improve the ride even further?

Did you install them only in the front?

I am also changing my KO2 for yokohama geolandar g015 tomorrow.

I believe the KO2 its heavy, stiff and noisy. (it came with them when I bought it)

Cheers!

P.S I do 20% off road, the suspension feels okay for that, but not for bumps or road imperfections...truck jumps around! the patch work were I live in bad

Yes, the Moog rear springs, or at least the air springs, will help with that bump steer feel a lot. With my original set up, when I hit a bump on the highway, the rear bottomed out or was so harsh that it upset the front. It could be super sketchy at highway speeds in turns.

All things together, my truck rides pretty well. It's still a body on frame truck but it's as close to a sedan feel as I think it can get.

Just to be sure, maybe check your wheel bearings and tie rods? If you're feeling some bump steer or other feedback up front, that could be a cause. Also, really like the polyurethane steering rack bushings from PRG. Tightened up road feel.

the rear is okay, it's the front that sucks. I will take it to nissan so they can have a look, but I guess it's just the model that has bad suspension.

What about Moog in the front? Do you have a link of the part?


Thanks!

Check for worn bushings and control arms.

The R51 Pathfinder is actually known for being one of the best handling body on frame SUVs out there.

If its sketchy for you it means some things need to be fixed.

palmerwmd wrote: The R51 Pathfinder is actually known for being one of the best handling body on frame SUVs out there after you mod it.

Fixed that for you...

vegpower wrote:the rear is okay, it's the front that sucks. I will take it to nissan so they can have a look, but I guess it's just the model that has bad suspension.

What about Moog in the front? Do you have a link of the part?


Thanks!

Moog front springs are Moog 81280 on Amazon. Moog rear springs are Moog 81119.

The Delrin (not polyurethane, forgot) steering rack bushings are here:

https://www.prgproducts.com/product-pag ... k-bushings

hahah thanks everyone. I just got my front and rear (right side) sway bar links replaced and the clunk stopped, body roll is way less and ride much better
although probably because I installed yokohama geolandar g015 at and took the Ko2 out.

So I am getting close to the "stock modes" everybody who wants to improve ride is doing!

Thanks for those links! I am pretty satisfied for now with the ride, I will wait a few weeks and see. (although I'm sure I will replace them eventually, I just hope the truck won't wobble with the softer springs?)

I am focused on doing Uprev right now cause I just installed shorty headers.

Cheers!

The Moog springs are slightly stiffer than stock. Came out to about 0.5" of lift maybe (I did not want to lift my truck, just better ride). Does not bottom out at all anymore. I still have air springs but I run 0 psi in them, and just have them for load balancing.

Did you replace the sway bar bushings too? One note on that, there are polyurethane options for the front that are really good. New rubber ones will feel about the same, but for me get soft after a year or so.

No poly options for the back unfortunately.

Hey, I haven't changed the sway bar bushings. They look okay to me.
Does the rubber loses its properties? like it gets stiffer?

I prefer to mute the feedback from the road at this point )))

So rubber bushing would be the way to go in that case for what I gather.

I haven't been able to do serious off road yet to notice if the rear bottoms out

cheers!

You don't mention what year you have, but the first several years of the R51 had sway bar mount bushings with the split on the crossmember side of the bushing. What would happen is there was so much tension on the sway bar that it would push through the split and make metal to metal contact, creating a knocking noise. Nissan updated the bushing so that the slit started at the corner of the bushing, so that put solid rubber between the bar and the crossmember that would keep the bar from pushing though it. The bushings are cheap and just a couple of dollars each. If you purchased them through Nissan, you'd get the updated style. If you went aftermarket, you may get the original style, so you'd end up with the same problem, eventually. There was a TSB on the issue.