Pics of dropped pitman/idler arm?

I thought that I read somewhere in a post that project X had a dropped pitman/idler arm. If so did anybody get any pics and how did they do this.

If I have just gone nutty and there was no such thing, just tell me to shut-up and I will be on my way! :p

Curious....how did it limit travel??? Are you reffering to the A-arms/Shocks?

[ 09-18-2001: Message edited by: an1malch1n ]

Yah, I follow you man. I'm not doubting you, just curious is all.
I'm just looking for something to copy for myself. If it is something that is "relatively" easy to do I wouldn't mind taking a stab at it, but if it is limiting travel, might not be worth the time.
Just looking to give my CL, and tie-rods a little slack.

So does anybody have any up close pics?

[ 09-19-2001: Message edited by: an1malch1n ]

My Project X bullshit detector went off (again), so I figured I would clear some things up.

Suspension travel on Project X was limited in the upward direction simply because the 33" tires were hitting the body work, the engine swap and steering components had nothing to do with it.

They limited upward travel by about one inch.

Dropping the pitman and idler arms did not cause any problems.

They dropped them by simply stacking 2 arms and welding them together, and removing material on the high end of the link side, and the low end of the frame side.

makes sense. could they back out of themselves into an inverted position? just wondering, not sure of the mechanics involved in turning the threads on these.

Matt

There's way too much "Nissan/Calmini/Project X was a piece of shit" going on all over XOC for my tastes, and most of it is lies, or false information, so I will have an attitude. Not because they advertise here, but because XOC is about information.

I don't care where the engine hangs, the front suspension is entirely outside the frame, and cannot interfere with anything.

This is the most confusing post I have ever seen...

What ?

ok, Normally they are in this setup:



just wondering if they could rotate 180 degrees and end up in this position, severely limiting their travel in one direction.


hope this diagram works. was wondering if the different types of torque involved in having the arms not straight across, would allow the arms to turn at the ends, allowing the thing to get into a weird angle. again, I have no clue if it's possible or even probable, I just saw it as a concern.

when in the inverse position, it would be at about a 10-15 degree steeper angle, therefore being worse than not having the drop pitman, as it's sort of a raise pitman... again, maybe I just don't understand how the mechanism works. I imagine it's simply 2 bolts welded together, allowing for a bolt to come out from different angles. but again... I could be misdiagnosing or something, I hadn't seen it up close. My question was, would there be enough force to turn the threads allowing the center link to rotate into a non beneficial angle.

Matt

[ 09-24-2001: Message edited by: matt peckham ]

[ 09-24-2001: Message edited by: matt peckham ]

Yeah I couldn't agree with you more, why would people rag on either rig. It's more than alot of sissies I see on this board will ever do!

BTW thanks for the info. Sounds like a simple solution that I never would have thought of.

I can't make any sense of your diagram. I don't see a pitman or idler arm in there anywhere...

I haven't been able to figure that out either.

I've been in contact with the companies that advertise on XOC, and they have expressed concern over the so called experts here (those with only a year or two of 4 wheeling experience, a dozen weekends of simple wrench turning, and zero knowledge of mechanical design), and we're stumped why they continue to bad mouth every new product or idea that comes to market.

I myself am getting very tired of people making comments (always negative) on products they have never seen, or used.

never mind. I'm thinking tie rods...

:rolleyes:

Just speculating here, but maybe because the "experts" seem to hide in the shadows of this message board, or only talk to you (Ian).

Everyone likes to be part of a winning team. If some of the vendors asked what the owners were looking for, and maybe shared in some of their experiences there might be more buy in.

I have said this before, but the whole "coming down from the mountain" attitude of some companies rubs people the wrong way. Becoming part of the Xterra discussion would be a great first step.

Those companies not having a visable presence on the Message Boards, and you defending any dissention just perpetuates the eletist attitude.

And before I get flamed, I just want to say I'm trying to explain the perspective of the so called "nay-sayers" in the hope that more open discussion will happen.

P.S. Two years experience offroading with the Xterra is as much as anyone has had with this vehicle. For Nissan to ignore the opinions of people who drive their truck every day is shortsided. To rely on the opinion of one person (with all due respect) is to ignore the needs of a wide variety of offroaders.

I thought you were thinking of cropcircles. Man you were hanging out in the woods of Canada a bit too long.

That may be the problem then. They do not want to post on XOC or other message boards.

They want their products to speak for themselves, through their customers.
It seems they never get a chance though, since every product released is shot down as crap simply based on a small picture on a web site be people who have little or no knowledge of manufacturing or automotive technologies.

This is a forum for owners to talk to owners, not as a marketing place (with the exception of the ads).

Do you (and anyone else reading this) think it would be better if representatives from the manufacturers posted here ?

[ 09-24-2001: Message edited by: xoc ]

If a manufacturer joined the board to interact with users about what we would like to see in products, yes I would welcome them. If they bitch and moan that I need to buy my parts from them because they have a low profit margin and can barely make rent, then no.

Constructive critisism can only help the final product which will help us, the consumers.

scoot

I agree completely with this statement.

I think it needs effort on both sides. Right now owners are bashing products that seem to be developed in a vacuum. Manufacturers are tired of owners crapping on products they are spending lots of time and money on. Barring the problems of companies wanting to keep development under wraps, I think it would benefit both groups to work together.

Have you noticed how owner developed mods evolve (especially in the early 2000 days)? Someone would mention they had a problem or are trying to improve a part of the Xterra. Lots of people would get in the discussion and help to brainstorm. Then someone would knock out a version and eveyone would want one.

Tapping into that discussion could only help manufacturers make better products. Owners feeling part of the process would likely become the products best advertisers.

Then we need to get the owners and manufacturers together in the forums, instead of by email and phone calls.

I'll see what they think.

That's too bad...

I also own a Miata and vendors regularly participate on miata.net and several of the mailing lits and forums.

It's called a community.

Hell, vendors even have open houses where you can get together and check out each others mods and generally have a good time. My favorite one was at Flyn' Miata in Grand Junction, CO - the open track days before the open house were a blast.

All kinds of owners were there, and several of them were like little rolling catalogs for Bill's stuff If you wanted to see what a particular part on someones car looked like, odds are at least one person had one... it was really cool...

I don't quite see an Xterra at the track, though At least you guys got a good location for GOX...

Eric

Pay attention Doc.
That post was 3 weeks old, and since then, we've added a manufacturer forum.