Jon Nelson

I'm not familiar with the Titan enough to comment on it's parts. However in 2014 I was told by at least five sources that the NV rear diff is its own animal made by American Axle and not a Nissan manufactured part. I also know that probably twice that many sources said there was no locker available for it. A locker is the first thing I'd add if one was available. As far as OEM... The parts used for the 4x4 conversion are OEM but the manufacture did not make the parts for Nissan. It's a bolt hole for bolt hole swap with parts from a different brand of vehicle.

I own an Advanced 4x4 conversion. Nothing that I can figure out on the NV is shared with the Titan except the engine and transmission. Rear axle is definitely different & the front conversion has no Titan parts. Crawling under both will show the conversion is a completely different animal. There's about a 10% change I might be driving through TN this fall. PM me your contact info and I'll try to meet up IF my trip back east happens.

I've been driving an Advanced NV3500 conversion since Mar'14

Peter - I have no idea about the front bumper installation. My was installed at Aluminess and took 3+ hours. LOTS of Nissan parts were in a pile after they were done! I'll have to check my oil cooler lines. I bet they are dangling now. I can tell you there are no holes or provision for the plastic engine guard with the Aluminess bumper. You'll have to fashion a front support OR a totally new engine guard after installing the Aluminess bumper. I've "sort" of secured mine but I'll have a proper guard/skid plate made in the future. Also, the Nissan plastic engine guard has to be removed each time an oil change is done in order to access the oil filter. Poor design on Nissan's part!

Tatunka - "I assumed it was a 2wd-4HI-N-4LO straight line engagement," Thant's the straight line arrangement our Advanced conversion has

We regularly hang out with Sportsmobile "type" Ford van owners - with a variety of engines, gas & diesel - with 4x4 conversions of different types, Quigley, Quadvan, UJoint, and AgileOffroad. Do I think the NV with 4x4 is as capable? NO. Mainly because I am concerned about the less robust nature of the non-one-ton IFS front end that is placed into the NV front end upon 4x4 conversion. There's a LOT less metal in the front end of our 4x4 NV 4x4 than a 4x4 Ford. The front diff is maybe half the size. And the spindles and everything else. BUT, I'm 6'7" tall. There is no way I want to crawl into a Ford to put groceries into the refrigerator much less spend a week stooped over. inside So we went the NV route. We can't go as far in our NV as they can in the Fords. Sometimes we'll have to take an alternate route. The NV is not a rock crawler or a deep sand machine. But it's going to get us much further afield than a Sprinter. And I bet it gets us further afield than a Sprinter 4x4 as well. I wasn't willing to wait or give up the $ necessary to see if a 2015 4x4 Sprinter was up to the task. Peter, no one else has your trailer and GVW needs or your driving style. There is only one way to tell if a 4x4NV is going to work for you. Go out and borrow or buy one. We couldn't do the first so we did the second.

Peter I'm not experienced enough to the traction control behavior to comment yet (and I have not driven the van in any wintery road conditions yet. I will say traction control on the Sprinter never went fully off so that may be the case on the Nissan as well. Looks like it will be a long time before I'm driving the Nissan in snow (since I live in SoCA) Whether something is worth $12k is a very individual question. And, it's not just the initial $12k. It's additional fuel $ for every mile due to lower mpg, higher $ repairs down the road, more tires (cause you will tear them up because you "can"), Nissan dealerships reluctant to work on the van, etc. I will say this about my trip this past weekend. I aired down the tires, put the van in 4Hi, left the transmission in D, and drove all through an area of fairly deep and loose sand which I got stuck in previously in our Sprinter van. I gained back some of my $ from the 4x4 conversion though pure pleasure and bliss traveling to a rally where two years ago I could just listen to the chatter on the ham radio as I had to turn back and go home since I couldn't through the sand in the Sprinter. I sold the Sprinter and we're going through all the pains of getting an RV conversion finished on the Nissan because I don't want to experience life via chatter on the radio. I want to BE there!

Bates & Peter_Fazio - look up to post #20 in this thread to see my experiences with 4Lo and limp mode I've only turned off traction control once in deep sand after the van tried to slow me down.... (I wanted to keep up speed to get thru the sand and I was probably only going 15-20 max)

TPS does give the on dash warning when lowered to sand pressure.

2son - I had the TPMS reprogrammed to reflect the much higher psi of our new tires - and the interior is progressing

Chattanooga - since you are from my favorite part of the USA, here's a quick pict off my phone. I don't seem to have a tire close-up in my photos folder.

I gave up worrying about wheel size, stud thread length with aluminum wheels, etc. I powder coated the OEM steel wheels black and moved on. Doesn't have the same cool factor but I moved on.

Tatunka As far as limp mode here is my latest evolving description / instructions: 1) Limp mode is a reality in 4Low. If someone says they don't have an issue then they haven’t driven the truck. I can make it happen on a surface street. 2) I have only had it go into limp mode in 4Low and with the trans shifter in Manual 1 3) 4Low and manual 1 is like an old time granny gear. It’s SLOOOW. Need to go faster? Shift to Manual 2. But sometimes I go down steep hills or up hills that I want to be in Manual 1. Or crawl around rocks and I want the slow granny gear. As soon as you go into 4Low and Manual 1 be prepared for limp mode. 4) For me, as far as I can tell (and I’ve probably been in limp mode about 50 times) here’s when it goes into limp mode: Whenever I get impatient. Going down a hill and I accelerate to over rev in 4Low Manual 1, and then let off the gas, the revs seems to catch up with the sensors and limp mode engages. Going up a hill in 4Low Manual 1 and I over rev and then let off the gas, limp mode. I don’t think it necessarily the over rev but it’s when the deceleration happens. 5) When it goes into limp mode you loose power. In the middle of a mud pit? You’ll loose all power. Going through a snow bank and gun it and then let off the gas? You'll loose power. How to get power back…. shift the transmission gear shift lever to neutral and back to D. You’ll have power. The engine light will come on but you’ll have power. Now, as soon as you shift to neutral from manual 1 and then back to drive you will now be in Manual 4 but you’ll have power. When I go through tricky spots where loss of power might really be an issue I keep my right hand available to shift to neutral and back to drive. (Again, I’m talking about the Nissan transmission shifter and NOT talking about the 4x4 shifter on the floor. You can leave that in 4Low.) 6) It’s a nuisance. But I’d much rather have 4Low than not have it. 4Low is the second reason we went with Advance over Quigley. And since it only seems to happen in Manual 1, I use Manual 1 less often. But I do find that 4low Manual 1 is very useful for crawling around rocks. Just don’t hit the gas or at least don’t pump the gas. 7) I use 4Low Manual 2 much more. In fact lately I often keep it in Manual 3 or Manual 4 when in 4low and just let the transmission shift around where it wants to be. 8) After you shift to neutral and back to drive again and are out of the tight spot reach over to the ScanGuage and clear the codes. I do the clear all the time as I’m moving. No need to stop or shift the transmission into a special place in order to clear. Note: the scan gauge doesn’t help the vehicle stay out of limp mode it only permits you to reset the code. There. I hope that helps.

Tatunka - The axle you mention is not the info I dug up before we purchased our '13 NV. But on this Sunday am I can't find it in my past emails and bookmarks. When parked next to a Titan the rear axles look much different. But, I'm not sure if the comparison truck was an XD model. Also, Advanced has NOT come up with a work around for the 4Low speed sensor problem. Unless you think dealing with it is a work around. We have an early '14 Advanced conversion on a '13 Nissan NV3500. I can make it go into limp mode all day in 4Low. I am now also able to drive differently and rarely get caught in limp mode. But it does require driving diligence not to go into limp mode. Quigley puts a bracket underneath to keep the driver from shifting into 4Low. Advanced just hopes you never encounter the problem. After nearly a year of owning an Advanced conversion I would much rather have 4Low and work around the issue. Not ideal, but I've been places 4Hi would have never got me. I'd much rather have 4Low and learn to work around it.

Knowing the hours and pain Aluminess went through to make our bumpers right I'm not sure a cobbled together solution would work. Plus, what size winch are you going to mount? Our is a 9,900 GVW van that will weight at least 7k, 8k, maybe 8,500 when the interior buildout is done. Using the industry 1.5 minimum winch sizing that's at least a 15k winch. We chose the Warn 16.5Ti. And that big brick would not fit in a bumper any smaller.

Try Budget and Enterprise - vehicle availability vary greatly by area - but both seems to be NV "friendly" out west

"2wd at best"???? Even with a transfer case and a front axle system? An NV is hardly a "2wd" after 4x4 conversion. More limited than a locker equipped vehicle, yes. But still 4wd. I wonder what the % is of locker equipped 4x4's out of total 4x4 vehicles.

And... I think the GVW range starts from the $ fees for different vehicles...

We move around our ez pass between vehicles - I have noticed that our 4x4 NV3500 doesn't "beep" as accurately (meaning missed beeps) when crossing the sensor area as our Sprinter or Suburban do/did... no worries, they figure it our from the license plate camera recognition and charge us just the same

Any diesel sold '07 and after in USA & Canada has to have Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel. Period. Until you vote in new folks in Washington. Every Outside Van is a custom unit. It might be similar to a previous unit but when you order an OV part of the $ is your very unique build. Van Speciaties used to be their primary sub contractor but OV has built a new facility and does more of their own work. Don't be scared by the VS/OV workflow. OV had a full time staff person overseeing VS work 40hrs a week! OV is a class above and it costs $$$ to get there. We're undecided who will do our new interior. If a $ windfall hits my house soon I'm driving to OV ASAP!

Sure Wollip - we've had two Sprinter based RV's. The second was a fabulous Outside Van that we purchased used. But my needs changed in that I also needed a dual purpose van that will have more room for work gear during the week. And have the GVW capability to safely carry that gear. In the 3 years we had the OV we've also met a lot of "overlanders" (many with Ford 4x4 vans) and I'm tired of them posting pictures on Facebook parked at the end of a fire road where they are spending the weekend watching both sunrises and sunsets from the same spot. We also wanted to venture further into Baja Mexico without Ultra Low Sulfur diesel fuel worries. I'm 6'7" so a Ford with a poptop that's down is like a crawl space to me. The high top Nissan is 2" less interior height than our Outside Van was. Something I could live with. But the Nissan interior has 6' less front to back space than the 170" Sprinter so the bed had to go on the roof! Advanced Four Wheel Drive in Salt Lake did the 4x4 conversion. Colorado Camper Van did the pop top bed addition. I've done a quicky temporary home built interior to start using it NOW! Well pick a real interior upfitter to do the interior soon. Two weeks of Colorado back roads plus one week in 4x4 off road in the eastern sierras and so far I'm verry pleased with the Nissan, the 4x4 conversion, and the pop top.

GuyKemp - Here's a shot from Coyote Flat above Bishop CA last week