ASD Dad

I could easily carry 6 adult bikes on my rack but you have to remember the roof/rack is over 7 feet in the air. We use Gorilla aluminum 3 step folding steps. They are very light and fold flat so take up minimal space. My rack is a Topper Galvanized steel rack. It is fairly cheap (around $450 online) and is huge. It is 12 feet long for our low top vans and 10 feet for high roof vans. Holds 450 lbs as stock or you can buy extra feet and it will support 750 lbs. We use ours to mainly carry 3 kayaks. 2 of them are very wide, 3 person sit on fishing kayaks. The other is a kid kayak. I modified the rack a little adding extra wide rungs to more easily load the boats on the outside edges. If I had normal kayaks I could get them all on the main rack.

If you do it please post back and let us know how it went. I think there is at least one other that did it but they never said how and they dont post much. We were pretty frustrated that we could not turn them all on but got over it and we're now used to it.

Dealers name?? I live 2 hrs from ATL and we travel there a lot. I'd avoid the place if I knew who they were. This is what some of us who have been on the forum a while are getting frustrated with. Without a name the thread is useless be it good service or bad service. I am all for more members but I'd like to keep the forum useful if the topic requires more info. I'm still pretty happy with Nissan of Greer in Greer, SC. They are the Only NV dealer in the Upstate of SC so I dont have much choice to keep things local. They are not speedy but for warranty work they have been giving me loaners (cars/suv only, they dont have NVP's to loan out!).

I think the biggest issue with the forum hasnt changed since the start. People ask a question, we try and help and then they never post back. Some questions seem like click bait to get a response. Many seem like legit questions. What's the point of helping if we never know if the problem was solved. Sure, others can search in the future but they will also not know if the problem was ever solved by our suggestions.

I've run ethanol free a few times. I do get better mileage but it is not offset by the cost of the gas. Around here a lot of stations sell it but it is all priced the same as Premium gas so it is quite a bit more. I also run Premium when towing in the mountains, it helps guard against pinging and the motor pulling timing to stop it. I only run ethanol free in all my outdoor motors. Ethanol is terrible for all of those motors especially if it sits longer than a week.

NIce looking wheels and tires! Curious what all else you do to your van.

I'd like to see pics of the system! I worked for a large shop many years ago and we made several IASCA National winning systems. Back then 148db would be crazy impressive with a full wall of subs and massive amps. My old spl winning setup hit 144 with 6 - 12" and 4 - 10" backed by 2000W in a lot smaller vehicle than our NV's! Now 144 is laughable and can be hit with a single sub in the right setup. When I quit we were staring to get into the high 150's with our big rigs. 148 is amazing in our big vans and I'm guessing thats a musical SPL and not just burping it to get big numbers. My old system was fully musical at max SPL unlike pure beast rigs where it's just massive volumes of air being moved. I'd love to do a system in my van but priorities are elsewhere these days. I always stare at our huge doors and pockets and think about building that all out for an amazing front stage. I bet we could stuff a 8" mid in there easily. BTW - to those who don't know 148db is Very loud. Like permanent hearing loss loud if you cranked it all the time and getting borderline painful. .

Congrats on the new van! Post up photos when you get it, we dont see many Java on here. I actually wanted that color but had a loooong wait to order one. I also wasnt sure how hot it would get in the sun all day.

All car companies do. When was the last time you saw cheap parts or labor from a dealership?? Nav updates have always been expensive in my experience. I just use my phone as a backup. We have so much construction going on around here that GPS companies cant keep up. Google Maps barely keeps up and I see their camera cars all the time!

Curious - why did you remove the overload springs and then add back airbags? Ride comfort? Ride height/looks? Both?? Nice looking van. Where did you mount the subs? Nice to see another BDGT owner. I love mine and I really liked my Airaid intake until I towed with it. Noise was just too much with the motor sitting at higher RPM's when pulling our big camper. If I didnt tow so much it would have definitely stayed on the van.

Welcome to the forum! I think you're the first one on here with a 2017. Does it have the new motor and 7 speed? Cant wait to hear MPG figures out of the new combo. You cant compare to the earlier NV V8 models but it would be nice to hear about the new one. What was the sticker price if you dont mind telling?

Now we're getting somewhere but still missing info. You say when it shifts into OD it stops - so is it engine RPM dependent? If so - what range of RPM's do you notice it? If it is RPM dependent can you reproduce it while in Neutral? Just sit there and rev engine and hold at the worst RPM. It wont be driveshaft if it goes away once RPM's drop when it shifts into OD. It wont be rear end either. Your wheels are turning the same speed so your driveshaft and rear end are also turning the same speed. It wont be wheels/tires either if it is fine while moving. I am leaning towards a bad motor mount if it is RPM related. Could also be the transmission. I do not know if our motors have a harmonic balancer type device on them, if we do that could also be an issue. Hopefully if it happens all the time it will be easy to reproduce when you take it in to be looked at.

It's got a mean Mad Max vibe going on! Nice work, can't wait to see it coated and mounted.

If you leave then the trolls win which is what they want. Regarding MPG - your right foot has a much higher factor on MPG than almost any other factor combined - period. One person getting extraordinary mileage means nothing more other than they are driving differently especially if they admit to doing such. My old friend works at a Toyota dealer and drove a Prius for several years. He and his coworkers who also had Prius (no clue what the plural of Prius is...) had little contests to see who could get the highest and also the worst MPG out of them. If they hyper-miled, didnt run the AC or heat much, kept windows up, etc. then they could hit some crazy numbers. I think my friend got in the 70's a few times. For the worst, they drove them like a sportscar, stomping on the gas at green lights, not coasting to stops, running AC and heat all the time so the engine wouldnt turn off at stops, etc. They still got in the high 30's. Point being - same exact cars. Same year, model, etc. 70mpg to 35mpg on a tank all dependent on their right foot and driving practices.

Nobody will know until it actually comes out and gets driven. Your best bet would be to go to the new Titan forums for the new model and see if you can dig up reviews by owners who had the original Titan. Your engine shifting to 3rd is not unusual in the least. You're towing a heavy box while driving a large box. The engine computer wants to keep things in the meat of the torque curve or even the peak if you're going up a steep grade. I am in 3rd all the time when towing our camper. My Tundra was the same and it had a 6 speed. You have to remember that more gears will keep the lower gears spaced better but they are normally just for MPG on the highway. On the Tundra both 5th and 6th were overdrive meaning 1st through 4th were the "power" gears. I only briefly looked over rations on the new 7 speed but I would bet that at bare min 6th and 7th are overdrive. Where you will see gains in towing is with the new motor. It has a wider and higher torque curve vs. our old tech motor. Nissan in their infinite wisdom has gimped the NV version vs. the Titan model so you wont get quite the same gains but they are gains. As for the Bully Dog - it will not help much with shift points or transmission hunting. It will remove your throttle restriction from a dead stop (which is huge when towing) and you can change how the throttle actually responds, engine timing, and to a point how hard the transmission shifts but that is it. You can make small gains in HP and TQ but nothing huge. All that being said I cant stand driving my NV without the BD tune programmed. It just feels kind of flat and dead to me without it now, the tune really wakes it up.

We need more info. You say it happens when it is in Drive. Does that mean when you are actually driving or sitting their idling? If it is while driving is it all speeds or only certain speeds? All sorts of stuff can cause vibration. Wheels tires like Andy George mentions is a great one. Bad motor mount if sitting still. Bad drive shaft or shaft joints while driving. Etc...

Well whatever you end up with - review it! I found very few reviews with NV owners so was looking at HD Truck owner reviews. 3/4 Ton and 1 Ton pickups. I had my choices down to Hankook and BFG K02 which are old school but a good tire. I am sure you know your priorities for a new tire now you just need to find it. There may not be that Goldilocks model and you'll have to decide what you want to compromise on. Do not forget, AT tires will have an impact on MPG unless it is a highway biased tread design. Bigger lugs equals more rolling resistance. May not be much but it will most likely be something! BTW - nice post count number, this last one you just made is #888!

They were the P rated since when I bought them I was only towing a small Pop Up camper. I was still well within their rated capacity even after getting a bigger camper, I just had to max them out at 44 psi (I think) to get rid of sidewall flex. The Michelin employee I talked to said the AT/2 tires was much better suited for heavier vehicles vs. the M/S 2. He only recommended those if you knew you would need snow traction but even then the siping that helps so much in the snow wears quickly. We absolutely loved the tires on our Highlander which is why I bought them for the Tundra. My first set were toast at 32K miles and my second set were visibly worn at 20K miles when I traded it in on the NVP.

Yes. I dont think Nissan offers a rear camera that is not in dash. It is the Nav system with backup camera. I dont know if it is the camera or the screen on the radio that has such terrible resolution. It's just bad. Works just fine to see if anyone or thing is behind you but that is about it.

Good luck. I'll update if it changes but even if it does they're cheap enough vs others that can possibly be noisy that I won't care! I had Michelin LT M/S2 tires on my Tundra. Fastest wearing tire ever other than my old race tires. I actually got a set replaced under warranty when they were at the wear bars at 32k miles! They were like Blizzak snow tires on dry pavement. I swear you could see them wear week to week. We had those tires on my wife's old Highlander and she got an easy 70k miles and they still had tread. I talked to a friend who works at Michelin (they're based minutes from me) and he rolled his eyes when I told him about my woes. Told me they were never meant for HD use other than possibly snow or maybe slick mud. Towing just sped things up for me. He blamed Michelin marketing and said they're a wonderful passenger or crossover tire, and they are. Anyway, take reviews with a grain of salt and try and find sites that list the vehicle used. A guy using MS2 on a Honda Fit may rave about them and get 100k miles. Guy with them on a F350 may hate them and get a year out of them. Honestly there are probably very few "bad" choices these days other than uber cheap off brands. EDIT: Rad - hope I didnt come off sounding like a jerk above. I was typing that right after I found out USPS had lost a $5000 package I shipped out! Thankfully they located it after I called repeatedly. My point is, when you read reviews - even from somebody like CR - you dont know the circumstances. At least CR will have an aligned, inflated, rotated tire to test. Did the people reviewing? You dont know. It's one thing to have a lot of people rating a tire bad. (BFG Rugged Trails are one of those - the old OEM on Tundras, just a bad tire) If it's a small percentage then you need to weigh if the risk is worth it. Almost all AT tires will get louder as they wear due to the reason you stated. The softer mud/snow/dirt compound is gone and the hard wear compound is left. Tire noise is more related to tread block design and spacing than compound though. Even at a discount over other brands buying 4 or 5 Hankooks still isnt cheap. Just cheaper than some of the others! I got my best deal buying through my commercial dealer. They had the buy 3 get one 1 free promo going and they beat the OTD price of the local tire dealers even buying 5.

breeze - the OEM resolution is horrible on the Nissan NV. It is better on other Nissans (I had a new Altima and Rogue as service loaners recently) but the NV is bad. It is just grainy and makes it hard at times to hook up a trailer. There is also really bad flare issues if the sun is behind you or any super bright light source. Just washes out the screen. I think many aftermarket options would have to better than what we have on our vans. Even though I have the factory system I am thinking of changing it out for a better one just to make hooking up our camper and utility trailer faster.

I am about 90% sure the spare was a black steel wheel. I know it definitely didnt have the chrome hubcap on it like my factory wheels. Spares can last longer mainly due to being out of the sun. Direct sunlight oxidizes the rubber and can lead to dry rot and cracking. That is why RV companies tell you to cover your tires in while the RV is just sitting in storage if outside. I've always done the spare to match just so that it does match completely. I dont want a different sized tire on my spare, depending on how far off the size is it can lead to all sorts of computer issues with the vehicle when you try and drive! These are really close to stock rolling diameter but I still want them all to match. BTW - I dont have clay roads in my neighborhood! Paved asphalt roads just like most roads. My camper used to be parked on a small parking pad and I had to drive over part of my lawn to get it. When it's dry the clay is like concrete and I didnt even put grooves in the lawn. Once wet forget about it. It's soft, squishy and slippery as wet ice. I got stuck once when my NV sank a few inches and just spun tires helplessly. Tow hooks worked great! Second time I got stuck was at a campground, also on wet clay and pulling my camper out. That is when I knew I would be changing tires soon. I've been in clay again since changing and the tires really grab and throw the clay out. Still lots of slipping but I managed to get moving. They've been more than adequate on gravel roads, even climbing moderate grades on gravel. They even did OK on soft sand but I wouldnt try a beach with them unless I had 4WD!

rad - we had a fantastic weekend outside with nice warm temps so I had my windows down and radio off to listen for any tire humming or abnormal noise. Nothing at all. Definitely do not hum like a big mud tire but I didnt hear anything out of the ordinary whatsoever. I do rotate my tires and keep them properly inflated at all times. I know lots of tires will get noisier as the tread blocks wear down but my tread blocks are still huge! That is with several 1000+ mile tows on them as well.

Nice work! Any idea how many hours you have into it so far?

I have over 10K miles on my tires now. They are not noisy at all that I can tell. They are also no longer squirmy, or I am just used to the extra tread block squirm. For the first 500+ miles they felt very greasy and I honestly hated them. Once they broke in they have been fine ever since. I have been in wet clay, sand and loose gravel and they have done very well for all three. In small gravel they can grab rocks but they all do. I would by them again and I am happy I went with them over the BFG's. They were quite a bit cheaper and I think are just as nice. We've had good luck with Hankook tires in the family which is why I tried them, well that and mostly good reviews online.