Opinions, please, Nissan 4.2 litre Safari-Patrol

Anyone with towing experience with one of these, would one of these handle a trailer weighing 2.5 tonnes !.i`m guessing the Patrol (SWB) would tare around 2.2 tonnes, so gross combination weight would be around5 tonnes.

Haven't heard any thing bad about them. A lot of builders etc use them.

I've used one for over 12 years, to tow a 2.5 tonne boat/trailer.
The one I have is a SWB n/a 5 spd, base "AD" model Safari.5 spd are a bit hard to find.There are some issues with the ATs in these which you should google, one issue (O/D lockout) is a simple fix, but towing 2.5 tonnes you would want to be sure that all is okay.
I presume you want diesel - the petrol ones are okay, but really suck juice.Towing the boat on trips, I get about 17l/100km - not bad.Around town it sucks diesel, but open road not towing, about 10l/100km.
10 litres of oil per change @ 5,000km, I do both filters each time, as the n/a have inexpensive filters ($12 each).The turbos have two different filters, one of them costs quite a bit more.
Set tappets every 20,000km - an easy job, but dirty.Give all the grease nipples on steering, drive shaft etc a squirt at the same time, or once a year.
Factory turbo is good if you can get it, but there is quite a price premium.Only 15kw power increase, but more torque.Either n/a or turbo will do the job, with 5 spd I find there's a big gap between 2nd and 3rd, and a little more grunt from a turbo would make a difference towing up hills.
IIRC the Safari and Patrol are essentially the same, NZ new Patrol will be 12v, Safari 24v, I think some (perhaps not all) early Patrols have rear drums, Safaris have disks all round.Options on models may include lsd/diff locks/sway bar release - none of which will matter for towing.
The SWB rust out around the rear sliding windows, usually fixed by getting rid of the windows, repairing the rust, and fitting plain glass.Also look for rust on the front cross-member under the radiator and in the front guard area (as well as the entire rear if it's been used for boat launching).
The engines have been known to do 1.5 million km without having the head off.But it's prudent to get a leak-down compression test, as they will cost dearly to fix.Injector pumps are usually a Bosch VE, but some have inline pumps.A full recond of my VE pump, including main drive shaft replacement cost about $700 (excl labour to remove and refit - I did that myself).Full injector recond was about $60 each.A few other things I've had to deal with haven't cost much, but you sometimes need heavy tools to work on them.Transfer case rear seal was an issue, as they will leak oil into the transmission brake drum without dropping much oil on the driveway and this is potentially dangerous (The glue dissolved on the linings, linings slid off the shoes, and I was lucky this didn't happen on a boat launching ramp).I've replaced front axle seals, and rebuilt a rear brake caliper, repaired the fan blower resistor, repaired the oil pressure sender, replaced a PS pressure hose, replaced panhard rod bushes, and have recently replaced the front steering drag bar (worn ball joints).All up, apart from usual maintenance items, it's cost me close to bugger-all per year in repairs - but YMMV.
So, these early GQ models are getting on in years, despite being very well made and generally reliable, niggles will happen, regular car mechanics often won't have the gear to deal with them, and like any old vehicle, if you can't DIY, then it will cost to keep them on the road.

mm12345 wrote:
I've used one for over 12 years, to tow a 2.5 tonne boat/trailer.
The one I have is a SWB n/a 5 spd, base "AD" model Safari.5 spd are a bit hard to find.There are some issues with the ATs in these which you should google, one issue (O/D lockout) is a simple fix, but towing 2.5 tonnes you would want to be sure that all is okay.
I presume you want diesel - the petrol ones are okay, but really suck juice.Towing the boat on trips, I get about 17l/100km - not bad.Around town it sucks diesel, but open road not towing, about 10l/100km.
10 litres of oil per change @ 5,000km, I do both filters each time, as the n/a have inexpensive filters ($12 each).The turbos have two different filters, one of them costs quite a bit more.
Set tappets every 20,000km - an easy job, but dirty.Give all the grease nipples on steering, drive shaft etc a squirt at the same time, or once a year.
Factory turbo is good if you can get it, but there is quite a price premium.Only 15kw power increase, but more torque.Either n/a or turbo will do the job, with 5 spd I find there's a big gap between 2nd and 3rd, and a little more grunt from a turbo would make a difference towing up hills.
IIRC the Safari and Patrol are essentially the same, NZ new Patrol will be 12v, Safari 24v, I think some (perhaps not all) early Patrols have rear drums, Safaris have disks all round.Options on models may include lsd/diff locks/sway bar release - none of which will matter for towing.
The SWB rust out around the rear sliding windows, usually fixed by getting rid of the windows, repairing the rust, and fitting plain glass.Also look for rust on the front cross-member under the radiator and in the front guard area (as well as the entire rear if it's been used for boat launching).
The engines have been known to do 1.5 million km without having the head off.But it's prudent to get a leak-down compression test, as they will cost dearly to fix.Injector pumps are usually a Bosch VE, but some have inline pumps.A full recond of my VE pump, including main drive shaft replacement cost about $700 (excl labour to remove and refit - I did that myself).Full injector recond was about $60 each.A few other things I've had to deal with haven't cost much, but you sometimes need heavy tools to work on them.Transfer case rear seal was an issue, as they will leak oil into the transmission brake drum without dropping much oil on the driveway and this is potentially dangerous (The glue dissolved on the linings, linings slid off the shoes, and I was lucky this didn't happen on a boat launching ramp).I've replaced front axle seals, and rebuilt a rear brake caliper, repaired the fan blower resistor, repaired the oil pressure sender, replaced a PS pressure hose, replaced panhard rod bushes, and have recently replaced the front steering drag bar (worn ball joints).All up, apart from usual maintenance items, it's cost me close to bugger-all per year in repairs - but YMMV.
So, these early GQ models are getting on in years, despite being very well made and generally reliable, niggles will happen, regular car mechanics often won't have the gear to deal with them, and like any old vehicle, if you can't DIY, then it will cost to keep them on the road.[/quote

Thanks a lot for that description ,mm, very informative, just what i wanted.
Cheers

I have one of these diesel version and tow my race car trailer around.
It's an auto and I fitted an after market trans cooler.
Temp was heaps better after doing that cost under a hundy to do it myself.
It is abit gutless on the hills but I'm never in a hurry to get anywhere.

suposedly good. rust is a big issue on roof is where nissan rust out , also age is taking its toll on these 20+ year old vehicles now

There is a known electrical issue with them. Turn the key and only some lights on the dash, not the usual compliment, and it won't start.
My neighbour had one that did this and I had to deal with the exact same problem on another Patrol. Took me a few hours to find the problem, but once I had it was easy enough to sort. No indication of what causes the fault, and it's impossible to get to it as it seems to be right down deep inside the loom that goes from the driver's foot-well through to the engine compartment.
Other than that, they seem to go pretty well and I've not heard anyone say anything bad about them.

Studio, what was the problem in case it happens to anyone else. Had one for 11 years and never had a problem. Bit slow, but good economy when cruising.