2010 Infiniti QX56 Soft-roader & Daily Driver

[dra2120]

The Background:

Early in 2019, my wife and I found out that we were going to have child number 2. This is something that we had been trying for and were very happy to find out…However, that brought to the front of my mind something I had wondered about since our first child, and that was how are we going to fit another car seat into our current cars.
Hers: (2011 Mitsubishi Outlander Sport SE)



His: (2012 Ford Focus Titanium)



We are also in the process of fixing up our house and have never been able to move building supplies with our current vehicles. Which meant renting a truck every time we needed to move anything bigger than hand tools. Neither of our vehicles are rated to tow either, so using a trailer was out. Fortunately, around that same time my mother was looking to replace her 2010 QX56 with a 2019 QX80. So we started talking with my family, and decided that we would buy her QX56 when she was done with it, and we would sell my Focus, since I bought it when I had a 99.7 mile daily commute, and now I have a 2.5 mile daily commute. The Infiniti would become my wife’s (as she will be the one usually moving the kids) and the Mitsubishi would become mine.

My Mother had always had the QX56 dealer maintained, and they were very good about keeping up on oil changes and doing any recommended work the dealer suggested. That said neither of my parents are very mechanically minded, and as such never really did anything proactively on the car, and so I have found quite a few issues with the truck that they didn’t know about, but none of them are critical to the reliability or longevity of the truck, and I’ll slowly start fixing things as we own it.

The Good:

• Body is in relatively good shape, and for a car that has spent its whole life outside in New England, the body is rust free, and the underside isn’t as rusty as I would have expected.
• There are only about 140K miles on it, and since the engine and trans are from the titan and armada, replacement units shouldn’t be hard to find if needed.
• My folks put a brand-new exhaust system on the truck right before we bought it.
• We got a great deal on the price, basically only having to pay $500.00 more than the last service.

The Bad:

• My folks had German shepherds, and so there is a fair bit of dog hair inside
• The air suspension isn’t functioning, the compressor turns on, but the shocks don’t inflate, so new lines, and shocks are coming.
• The “trim” lens in the driver’s side headlight has fallen out of place and dropped in front of the low beam, scattering light everywhere.
• The ICC system died a week after we bought it.
• The gas mileage…I know this is just part of ownership, but we drove from NH to IN and back to visit some family, and when you go from two vehicles who’s worst mileage is 25 MPG, to a vehicle that averages 15 MPG on the highway…I need headphones to drown out the screaming of my dying wallet.

The Plan:

I used to own an overlanding company, and so any 4x4 I own that Is where my mind goes. So, after fixing the air suspension, and headlight. I’m planning possibly a roof rack, some auxiliary lighting, more off road-oriented tires, and possibly more. But stay tuned because this is where the updates will be.

The Pictures:

Front Passenger side



Front Drivers Side



Driver Side



Back End



Interior



Engine Bay



Front Underside



Side underside

 

[leeleatherwood]

Since you previously owned an overlanding company, I am really excited to see what comes of this.

 

[dra2120]

Since you previously owned an overlanding company, I am really excited to see what comes of this.

Sadly this won't be to impressive of a build...I am not a man of great means, and most of my fun money is going into a different project car...I have a very rare Subaru (less than 240 in the country) that I am building to compete with Ferrari's, and Lambo's...This truck is going to be more of an upgrade it when the factory pieces wear out or break...With a 4 year old, and a new born most of our camping is going to be tent or pop-up, and so the truck will likely only ever see two-track at the worst...All that being said I've read through your thread and it does make me feel like the big Infiniti can be a decent overland rig, the hardest part is figuring out what will work with it...Mine is based off of the Titan, and so I think most Titan stuff will fit.

 

[dra2120]

I got something rather shocking in the mail!

 

[bushnut]

Sadly this won't be to impressive of a build...I am not a man of great means, and most of my fun money is going into a different project car...I have a very rare Subaru (less than 240 in the country) that I am building to compete with Ferrari's, and Lambo's...This truck is going to be more of an upgrade it when the factory pieces wear out or break...With a 4 year old, and a new born most of our camping is going to be tent or pop-up, and so the truck will likely only ever see two-track at the worst...All that being said I've read through your thread and it does make me feel like the big Infiniti can be a decent overland rig, the hardest part is figuring out what will work with it...Mine is based off of the Titan, and so I think most Titan stuff will fit.

Most North American overlanding is done within sight of a MacDonalds so you should be ok.

 

[dra2120]

I got some more shocking things in the mail. There is some debate as to which Bilstein version to use. These are the B8 5100, and the other option is the B6 4600. I went back and forth on which version to buy. My biggest concern was the internals of both, and which would provide the best ride, and after a few emails with Bilstein as well as other research online, I was able to find out that the internals are the same, and so at stock ride height (the 5100s are able to provide a 0" - 2" lift) they will ride the same, the higher you lift it the stiffer the ride gets. So then the deciding factor to me was that the 5100s were zinc plated, and the 4600s are painted. So since the price was almost identical between the 5100s & 4600s on Amazon, I went with the Zinc plating hoping it will hold up to New England winters better than paint, and not rust as quickly.

 

[dra2120]

Well after ordering new rear air shocks, and buying all the pieces I needed to custom make my own air lines; I stumbled upon this thread: https://www.cluqx56-suspension-compressor-works-but-not-raising and after reading through that thread, I followed the same diagnostic procedures they did, because my compressor was doing the exact same thing as theirs, and came to the same conclusion that my exhaust valve was stuck open. So I ordered a new Dorman compressor. (I had wanted to go with the SunCore or with the Arnott, as the quality seemed higher with those units, but they were sold out everywhere.) My son and I put the new compressor in, and the back end woke up, and lifted. The system does squat back down after an hour or so though...So there is still a leak in the system, and that means that the new rear shocks and lines will still be going in, but it was like driving a completely different car. I had never driven the QX56 with the rear shocks working, and the ride, the NVH, the handling...everything was so much nicer...Also for anyone doing this job, the hardest part was getting the electrical connector apart, as the compressor side and vehicle side had basically dry-rotted themselves together. Being a former mechanic I never like to use tools on an electrical connector, it is too much force and will usually break the connector, but for this one I had to resort to tools. I put a small pair of pliers over the top of the connector to hold the release tab down, and then used a very very small (like eyeglass repair kit small) flat blade screw driver, which I worked around the edge of the connector slowly separating the two pieces...Also, the screws holding the bracket to the frame are 10mm...Mine were so rusted that I had to try about 15 different sockets before finding that the 10mm was actually the correct size.

 

[dra2120]

Well I brought the big beast in for its annual state money grab (inspection), and failed for a License plate bulb out, an outer tie rod, and "rusty" rear brakes...So I have ordered some Sylvania LED License plate lights, Moog Outer Tie rods, and StopTech - Truck series - rear pads & rotors...Installs to follow.

 

[dra2120]

So obviously in the last post, the truck failed its state inspection for a license plate light, tie rods, and rear brakes...The first thing I tackled was the license plate light. I ordered a set of Sylvania Zevo LED bulbs, and I also found this write up, because for some reason Nissan/Infiniti decided that the way every other car on planet was made was wrong, and so instead of being able to unscrew the bulb cover and pull it out from the outside of the truck, you need to take the back hatch apart, and work blindly over your head while removing permanently attached sound deadening...https://www.clubarmada.com/threads/d-y-i-license-plate-and-reverse-light-bulbs.14615/ ...The only thing I really did differently from the guide was instead of removing the latch bracket from the rear glass, I simply opened the rear glass, and then raised the rear hatch...The car won't automatically lift the tailgate when the rear window is open, but it does unlock, and I just lifted by hand...In my opinion this was a lot easier than trying to remove those nuts, and then re-align everything after the job was done...I also managed to get the polarity wrong on each bulb, so I had to remove both LED bulbs and flip them around...So be sure to double check the functionality of everything before putting it all back together... I also tried to convice the wife to let me replace the backup lights with some nice LED units while I was in there, but she is getting tired of putting money into the truck so that got put on hold for a while...on to the pics:

Broken:



Bulbs:



Halfway Done:



All Done:



At Night:



I do have to say that the bulbs are not as bright as I expected...They are plenty bright, and brighter than stock, but I bought into all the marketing hype, and thought they were going to be really bright, to where I was worried that they would be to bright...but they are actually about perfect for the license plate.

On another note, I brought the truck to a local repair shop to have them install the Bilstein front struts, and Moog Tie rods...While they were doing the struts they found that the factory springs had broken in half, and so we ordered up a set of Moog replacement springs, bushings, and tophats...so that was all installed over the last couple of days, and I'll go pick the truck up tonight after work.

 

[dra2120]

Ok, the truck is in another shop today for the rear suspension, and so I'm going to answer the question that quite literally no-one has asked me...How do you make your own rear air shock lines...So here is the answer. First off, it took me quite awhile, and lots of research to find out what the correct size line is. Nissan/Infiniti didn't use a very standard size line for these air shocks. So if you are looking to do this job, the airlines are 3/16". Now the factory line is a slightly harder plastic inner line, with a rubber outer sleeve, to protect the line. However, it think it is because the inner lines are a harder plastic that they crack and start to loose pressure, especially as the air compressor get older, the rubber mounts between the compressor and mounting bracket wear out, and allow quite a bit of movement, which eventually cracks the lines, especially as the lines age and become brittle. So I'm hoping that the more flexible lines that I'm using will hold up better, and longer. So after a lot of looking I was able to find 3/16" D.O.T. air line:



I ordered 20', just to make sure if we goofed up one of the lines that there would be enough to do it over without having to wait for another order to ship. I also chose red line, just so that it would be easy to find under the car should I have to work on or repair the lines. So now we have what would be the inner line from the factory taken care off. Now if you are really on a budget, you can stop right here, and be good, the lines will transfer the air from the compressor to the shock...end of story...However, the factory puts the rubber outer sleeve on their lines because they don't want the vibration of driving to wear a hole in the air line, and so I wanted something to protect the air line as well. I went with this:



I wasn't sure what size to use, but I ended up going with 1/4" and it fit the 3/16" air line perfectly. So this just slides over the air line, and use some heat shrink to hold the ends together. I made a small (like 6" long) piece just to show what the final air line would look like. So with all the pieces put together it looks like this:



So there you have it, for half the price of the factory replacements, you can make your own air lines, with some extra to spare.

 

[leeleatherwood]

Ok, the truck is in another shop today for the rear suspension, and so I'm going to answer the question that quite literally no-one has asked me...How do you make your own rear air shock lines...So here is the answer. First off, it took me quite awhile, and lots of research to find out what the correct size line is. Nissan/Infiniti didn't use a very standard size line for these air shocks. So if you are looking to do this job, the airlines are 3/16". Now the factory line is a slightly harder plastic inner line, with a rubber outer sleeve, to protect the line. However, it think it is because the inner lines are a harder plastic that they crack and start to loose pressure, especially as the air compressor get older, the rubber mounts between the compressor and mounting bracket wear out, and allow quite a bit of movement, which eventually cracks the lines, especially as the lines age and become brittle. So I'm hoping that the more flexible lines that I'm using will hold up better, and longer. So after a lot of looking I was able to find 3/16" D.O.T. air line:

I ordered 20', just to make sure if we goofed up one of the lines that there would be enough to do it over without having to wait for another order to ship. I also chose red line, just so that it would be easy to find under the car should I have to work on or repair the lines. So now we have what would be the inner line from the factory taken care off. Now if you are really on a budget, you can stop right here, and be good, the lines will transfer the air from the compressor to the shock...end of story...However, the factory puts the rubber outer sleeve on their lines because they don't want the vibration of driving to wear a hole in the air line, and so I wanted something to protect the air line as well. I went with this:

I wasn't sure what size to use, but I ended up going with 1/4" and it fit the 3/16" air line perfectly. So this just slides over the air line, and use some heat shrink to hold the ends together. I made a small (like 6" long) piece just to show what the final air line would look like. So with all the pieces put together it looks like this:

So there you have it, for half the price of the factory replacements, you can make your own air lines, with some extra to spare.

Thank you, this is good info.

 

[dra2120]

So, I haven't done any work on the truck for the last few weeks, mainly because the whole reason we purchased it...a new baby...arrived. So my little daughter was born, and I've been at home helping my wife for a couple weeks...My Mother in Law came to help out for a week, and so that gave me chance to tackle one of the jobs I had been sitting on, and the final portion that the truck failed inspection for...The rear brakes. So a few weeks ago, I ordered Stoptechs stage 3 truck rear brake kit from buybrakes.com.



Now aside from the truck sliding off the jack a couple times while trying to jack it up..(my driveway is far from flat, and I was trying to lift the entire rear end at one time...I ended up just lifting each side individually.) This is a fairly straight forward job, take the old ones off, slap some brake grease on the slidey bits, and stick the new parts on. So on to the pics.

The kit as it came in the mail:



Old (on top) Vs. New (bottom):



On the Truck:



The whole job took about 3 hours, and that involved several trips into the house and shed to find the correct tools. (we are remodeling the house, and so I have tools in several places.) The only torque spec I could find for the brakes said to torque the slide pins to 24 ft-lbs. so that is what I went with, as that number seemed to make sense (I saw one place that said 117 ft-lbs, and that is way way to high for these bolts), and felt close to about the amount pressure I needed to use to remove them. So, all the issues that the truck failed inspection for have now been addressed...which is good, because I've been driving on a expired inspection sticker for over a month now.

 

[Munga Brown]

Congratulations on the birth of your daughter! Way to go on your truck, too.