2001 Frontier worth 6k?

[silviaS13milknhoney]

Ok guys im not in any way shape a newb to working on cars. I'm just a newb to owning nissan frontiers. So my cousin is trying to sell me this frontier below. Its a 2001 SE-V6 auto fully loaded with 89k on the ticker. Ithttp://forums.nicoclub.com/zeropost?cmd=newtopic&id=36s a 4x2 with a 3" body lift. My concern is that he has cranked the torsion bars up in the front and put blocks in the rear. The lift is 6 years old. I personally not driven the truck due to the fact that it needs a distributor. So my real questions are what are some of the major things that are common problems with this gen of frontiers (not stuff like balljoints, pcv, blah blah) Any advice would be awesome, thanks!

[Q451990]

Check out http://www.kbb.com - but my guess is that it's not a terrible deal, assuming all that's bad is the distributor...

Heath

[talon96]

How much towing and off roading has he done?

[silviaS13milknhoney]

He hasn't towed much over the years. This was the only vehicle his family had until last year. Does cranking the torsion bars up front cause them to prematurely wear out?

[JC87HB]

He hasn't towed much over the years. This was the only vehicle his family had until last year. Does cranking the torsion bars up front cause them to prematurely wear out?

From my understand Cranking the bars will only tighten your suspension up... depending on if the control arms were replaced to correct the Ball joint angles it would only cause wear on the Ball Joints unless the front is lifted only 1.5 or less..

[lino]

I think at 5k it would be ok.

[silviaS13milknhoney]

From my understand Cranking the bars will only tighten your suspension up... depending on if the control arms were replaced to correct the Ball joint angles it would only cause wear on the Ball Joints unless the front is lifted only 1.5 or less..

Yeah I know that he didn't replaced the control arms. I assume that this truck uses a macpherson system up front? Or is it the short-long arm system?

[Desert Rat]

cranking the bars doesn't tighten the suspension up...it just raises the working range. The reason you get a harsh ride from cranked Tbars is that you eliminate most of your down travel. That said, is it still using the stock upper A-arms? Being a 2wd, the problems shouldn't be quite so dramatic as they are with a 4x4, but if it's been that way for 6 years, my guess is the steering centerlink will be worn. That's about $150 for a new stock one and a little know how with a wrench and BFH to replace it.

Since your buddy has had the truck that long, find out if the transmission has ever had a fluid flush. 89k without one isn't good, and will likely affect the remaining life of the transmission. I also wouldn't pay that for a non-running truck. Have him put the new distributor in so you can check out the truck, drive it, etc. and look for bugs. If he's not willing to do that, look elsewhere. I assume you still want to be buddies with this guy after the sale, so make sure the truck is sound, or else that friendship is in jeopardy.

[silviaS13milknhoney]

^ Thanks a ton for the info. Yeah the deal is 6k with it fixed. I wouldn't buy a vehicle off jesus christ himself without test driving it. I do know that he has changed the transmission fluid at least 3 previous times( one time i helped him). I am a little bit concerned with the ball joints. After searching on here i have found that you must replace the whole LCA to replace the balljoints, correct me if i'm wrong. Nothing has been replaced suspension wise on this vehicle. I just don't know how these 3.3L's with the auto trannys hold up over time. thanks again

[Desert Rat]

Honestly, I wouldn't be real concerned with the lower balljoints after those miles, but the uppers may be an issue since the Tbars are cranked with stock arms.

There's lots of guys who do lifts on these and replace the stock upper A-arms, so finding a good gently used set is pretty easy. I have a set myself in fact.