One of my pet peeves as a Mechanic is "extra" wiring and plumbing, there's nothing worse than going dash diving and finding a rats nest of jimmy wiring half the time it goes nowhere and is tied around what you actually want to get at with about fifty cable ties and half a mile of insulation tape.

Tugboat wrote:New bike carrying wagon. Just on a week old here and already filthy

Nice, I like the Nissans. We recently got a 2016 Pathfinder in the run out sale to replace our 2013 Qashqai+2.

How do you find the height of the roof for getting bikes on?

We changed from a Qashqai+2 to the Pathfinder and the extra 100mm roof is a bastard for getting bikes on! I think the X-Trail is similar to the Pathfinder in height.

I just switched from a 2015 Qashqai and there's quite a significant size difference. Height wise the X-Trail is right at the limit of what is comfortable getting bikes onto the roof (think it's 12 or 13cm higher, something like that) and I'm 6-foot. I've been thinking about adding a third rack in the middle and it's going to be really hard to use without running boards. There is a little step inside the back doors but the front strap of the rack will probably have to be loosened/tightened via the sunroof!

Drives a shitload nicer than the Qashqai (as I suspect the Pathfinder does too) though. Much smoother power delivery.

We went with the Pathfinder for size more than anything else (and it only had month of warranty to run). The Qashqai +2 wasn't wide enough and the 7 seater x-trail was only in the ST spec and still wasn't wide enough.

You can tell the Pathfinder is North American though, power and weight but no driving sophistication. Was nice on a road trip with fully load bikes on roof and tow bar and still being able to blow off most cars.

Was strange though, the Qashqai we had was a 2013 UK build but end of the 2011 gen, the Pathfinder is a 2016 NA build which is a 2013 gen but lacks stuff on other Nissans from earlier like bluetooth audio streaming. That was a niggle.

Also carries "normal" bikes

amb236 wrote:

Also carries "normal" bikes

Cool Datsun, but I think your springs are broken. LD28?

13daza wrote:One of my pet peeves as a Mechanic is "extra" wiring and plumbing, there's nothing worse than going dash diving and finding a rats nest of jimmy wiring half the time it goes nowhere and is tied around what you actually want to get at with about fifty cable ties and half a mile of insulation tape.

Same, but I know why they do it. The time and effort to integrate accessories and repairs into a main harness is more than anyone wants to spend.

I think I've spent $500 on wire, connectors, crimping tools etc recently (i.e. not including tools, wires, connectors, relays etc I already had). I'm not counting the hours.

Dougal wrote:
Cool Datsun, but I think your springs are broken. LD28?

Its more to do with the amount of stuff we had crammed in the back (and then add 4 people in the car....)

Its an RD28 (which isn't a good thing), basically an RB block with a single cam head. Have a turbo RD28 in the shed which will find its way in eventually (from a late 90s patrol).

Think I've got the wiring additions sorted. It was doing my head in trying to wire up 5 relays and fuses with 17 different in and out wires and no diagram.

amb236 wrote:

Dougal wrote:
Cool Datsun, but I think your springs are broken. LD28?

Its more to do with the amount of stuff we had crammed in the back (and then add 4 people in the car....)

Its an RD28 (which isn't a good thing), basically an RB block with a single cam head. Have a turbo RD28 in the shed which will find its way in eventually (from a late 90s patrol).

Find a TD04-4 (used on Mitsubishi 4D56 and 2.5TD BMW) for that RD28. It'll spool early and give you a great torque boost. Should give better fuel economy too. It'll be a big improvement over the stock RD28 turbo.

The cruiser on the way up the Molesworth to some camping & cycling in the St James last month:



Custom heavy duty swing away bike rack/tyre carrier works good.



Cheers
Clint

Nice truck!

Nice location!

I miss sth is high country...

Yeah makes me want to take off in my truck with the tent and bike. Or gun. Or both.

Oh wait it's in the garage on axle stands at the moment

My new set of wheels

2009 mazdaspeed axela /3

I've just bought a 2011 RAV4 5 door. Luckily* I can fit a bike in the "boot" (my seats are usually down), but eventually I'll need to sort a towbar/hitch. Are those hitch-mounted racks like https://www.yakima.co.nz/products/activ ... tch/holdup the go? I have a 27.5+ SC Tallboy if it makes a difference, and the boot opens sideways like a door.

I dont really want a roof mount. While I lose boot accessibility, I'd rather not write my bike off by driving under a tree/arch/garage.

*not really, it was a primary specification