My Lowered 02 Black Frontier

[Archangel1183]

Hey guys,

I've been meaning to take some pictures for over a month now but ran into a few problems after lowering my Fronty. The steering still feels a bit loose but it's drivable. In the month that I've owned it, I've spent more hours working on it than driving it. :p

It's an 02 4 Cyl 2WD Auto with 110K Miles. I lowered it with 3 Inch Blocks in the back and 2" Lowering Spindles up front. 18" Armada Wheels with 225/45/18 Falken Ziex Ze 912 Tires. Sir Michaels Roll Pan. Bak Liners Bed Rail Caps. OEM Fog lights and I also baked and painted the headlights.

http://img851.imageshack.us/img851/6344/dsc00391n.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/851/dsc00391n.jpg/)
http://img695.imageshack.us/img695/2642/img0143ez.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/695/img0143ez.jpg/)
http://img844.imageshack.us/img844/6071/dsc00390q.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/844/dsc00390q.jpg/)
[/URL][URL="http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/805/dsc00400y.jpg/"]http://img805.imageshack.us/img805/9599/dsc00400y.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/687/dsc00394ks.jpg/)

[Tenhook]

Clean. Looks great.

[ScottXGTR]

glad to see your research and hard work paid off with such a clean ride. keep it up man.

[jcjcsoccerkid]

clean truck!!

[Mhope]

looks good:thumb:

[RedAggie03]

Noice!

[Archangel1183]

Thanks guys.

[Frame Scraper]

:thumb:clean truck. ::cough..go lower::

[Archangel1183]

:thumb:clean truck. ::cough..go lower::

Lol. Yeah, I want to go about an inch lower front and back. Soon.. :)

Redrilling the rear hangers lowers it about 1" in the back, right? Will I need to notch the frame on a Frontier for that kind of drop?

[Bigman420]

Looks good man def gotta get it lower too easy to do with torsion bars:)

[TruckMods.com]

Very nice clean Sleek black!

[SkinnyG]

Redrilling the rear hangers lowers it about 1" in the back, right? Will I need to notch the frame on a Frontier for that kind of drop?

There's only one way to find out :D

[hessianben]

[QUOTE=Archangel1183;202836]Hey guys,


http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/6287/dsc00299tc.jpg

super clean truck man!

we're almost like twinzies !! :nana1:


http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb287/hessianben/IMG_1175.jpg

[NissanXEPilot]

Truck looks good. To go lower you'll need to notch the frame, as for the steering it's just one of those things. When you alter the suspension the geometry is thrown off. getting a alignment down will help, but in like my case (97 Hardbody) I not only need an alignment but the all my bushings replaced. Im eating up tires and at speeds under 40 MPH my steering is really loose, and 60 MPH my steering beigins pulling to the left.

[Archangel1183]

Sucks to hear that. I don't want to Notch the frame, I guess this is the lowest I'm going. I never read of anyone having steering problems after lowering their truck. I wish I would have known before I lowered it. :/

Do you think adjusting the steering box screw would help? Have you tried that?

Hessianben, I love your drop. Do you have your frame notched?

[Archangel1183]

Well, I adjusted the steering gear. The wheel feels tighter but the steering still feels off. Even when holding the steering wheel straight with both hands, the truck moves left and right very slowly. I have to work to keep it straight.

I googled steering wobble or wander and read that it was one of the symptoms of bad lower control arm bushings. I'm gonna take my truck to a suspension specialist this weekend to see if he can find the problem.

[Jake616]

:thumb: Looks sharp!

[tt660]

Truck looks great man.. May I ask, have you ever driven with lower profile tires on a truck before, and i'm not saying something may still be wrong ok, but sometimes on certain roads one of my trucks pull like you describe, it seems like the tires are following the groves in the road, kinda like bumpsteer...

[SkinnyG]

It's called "tramlining."

Wide, low profile, stiff sidewall tires do it a lot. Assuming the bushings, steering components and alignment are correct, you will just have to deal with it.

[hessianben]

you don't have to get a notch to go lower, but you will want stiffer/ flatter leafs after you redrill to keep you from banging frame. you can build your own.

as far as front steering geometry- if you run belltech drop spindles, you should have stock geometry still. you can lower another inch or two by torsion drop with the spindles without disturbing things very much. a good front end alignment should suffice.

if you're still getting slop or drift, start looking at steering linkage, tension rods ect...

[Archangel1183]

I've owned lowered cars before with 245/40 Tires up front and 265/40 tires in the rear but they never felt like this. I know something in the steering is definitely wrong. It's feels like I'm going over grooves or cracks on the floor. It's even worse when I actually do hit a groove on the highway.

[jcjcsoccerkid]

before i notched my frontier, in the back i had the middle leaf removed, 3" blocks, no bumpstops, redrilled hangers, on 205/40/17s...it was bumpy but it was low :D so you don't HAVE to have a notch, but it sure makes the ride more comfortable

[mike16241]

Looks nice running same set up as me

[Bigman420]

:DI used to run factory springs modified to a mono leaf and four inch blocks no bump stops.... yes def bumpy ride but that's what its about... but I had sum air shocks also they only way to go..hell I could haul a couch or whatever back there and just put 100psi in the shocks and drive...:o.......... also check underneath on top of rearend for clearance issues I had couple lines I bent over and ur load leveling brake valve that has that spring attached to it I removed spring and set the adjust ment to just below factory height and that's where it stays......in soon future I plan on removing that whole set up and put proportioning valve in

[tt660]

It's called "tramlining."

Wide, low profile, stiff sidewall tires do it a lot. Assuming the bushings, steering components and alignment are correct, you will just have to deal with it. Thanks skinnyg, never really new it had a name.

I've owned lowered cars before with 245/40 Tires up front and 265/40 tires in the rear but they never felt like this. I know something in the steering is definitely wrong. It's feels like I'm going over grooves or cracks on the floor. It's even worse when I actually do hit a groove on the highway.
That's cool man, was just throwing something out there for you to see.

[Archangel1183]

Quick update, I finally had my Sir Michaels Roll Pan Painted. I also had them repaint the front bumper as it had a lot of rock chips. I'll try to take some pictures tomorrow before I leave out of state for a week.

The guy at the body shop installed the roll pan lower than normal and made a small hole so I can "Insert the spare tire rod". I don't like the gap size between the tail gate and roll pan. Is it possible to remove the spare tire with the rod from under the truck?

[02 silver]

your truck looks just like I would like mine to look. nice job. any mods to the motor?

[Archangel1183]

Thanks, 02 Silver. The motor's completely stock. I thought about adding a performance air intake but I don't want to lower my mpg.

I took some pics of the truck and brought my camera with me out of state, but I forgot my data cable to get the pics to the laptop. :o

[Archangel1183]

I finally took new pics with the roll pan installed and the Bed Rail Caps. You can see them in the first post.

[02 silver]

What spindles did you use up front? read somewhere you have to give up abs? also does truck ride ok? any bump stop slamming?also what shocks. sorry for all the questions but after I get my motor back in the truck I want to lower it a little and get some titan wheels.

[Archangel1183]

What spindles did you use up front? read somewhere you have to give up abs? also does truck ride ok? any bump stop slamming?also what shocks. sorry for all the questions but after I get my motor back in the truck I want to lower it a little and get some titan wheels.

No problem. I was in the same boat at one point. I used Belltech Spindles. Not sure about ABS but I didn't see any sensors at all on my spindles. My ABS Light also doesn't stay on.

I took off the bump stops but I plan on installing some low profile bumps stops in the near future. I do hit metal to metal if I go a bit too quick over street bumps. Otherwise, no problems.

I'm on stock shocks for now but plan on installing Belltech Nitro Drop 2 Shocks also in the near future.

[02 silver]

thanks alot. dont want to go too low and sacrifice ride quality.and, I dont want to bag it. I have enough big projects already. just want a cool, functional, daily driver.

[02GreenFronty]

clean-ass truck man! love the slick black look

[Andreas Miko]

in for the read

[SHOspazz92]

KILLER Truck. I just ordered Drop Shocks for all 4 corners, Drop spindles and instead of blocks, I decided to go with the Drop leaf springs. Can't wait to get everything installed, with a sway-bar eventually. I autocross a lot, so every now and then I plan to take the frontier out and see how it stacks up against the guys running X-Runner Toyota's. Keep up the good work!

-Sam

[kyrumo]

Nice to see another Black Fronty in here, looks good

[mike16241]

Nice to see another Black Fronty in here, looks good

blah reds better lol

[JoeCool]

^ hater ^



LOL, Just kidding.

And that is a bad ass looking Frontier. BOTH OF THEM. But I am more into the black. It is my favorite color on a vehicle after all!

[Bodhi]

Sweet Truck Bro! :thumb:

[98frontie]

dude that is a nice looking truck!!!!

[Vegeta_SS4]

Very Clean !!!!

[Motorhead]

i dig it man really clean. any plans for it?

[MikeSki]

clean ride!!

[Archangel1183]

Thanks guys. I'm actually plan on keeping it at this height. I'd like to go a bit lower but I don't want to notch the frame.

[44jonny]

i know this is late but awesome truck man i wanted mine to go this low as well... loving the roll pan as well

[Archangel1183]

i know this is late but awesome truck man i wanted mine to go this low as well... loving the roll pan as well

Thanks Man.