Video Transcript
You're watching Power Nation.
This is one way to raise the roof.
We've been having a ton of fun getting this Land Cruiser back here put together,
but some good friends of ours got a hold of us with an idea for a new project that we could not pass up.
Nissan came back to Power Nation for its 3rd Sima concept vehicle in a row,
something that's never been seen before.
And we're gonna do it using this 2025 Nissan Armada Pro 4X.
Welcome
to Dirt and Trails.
Like Brandon mentioned earlier,
this is our 3rd CEA show build in a row for Nissan,
which we're pretty proud of.
And every year they've come back,
they've wanted us to do something even wilder than last time.
This year, you will not believe what they want us to do to this thing.
Back in 2024 on Music City Trucks, we were tasked with taking a stock Pro 4X frontier and equipping it with the full MISmo lineup including a lift kit,
lighting,
racks,
and more.
After that,
we turned it into a practical party truck by installing 242 inch TVs with a sound bar,
a fully loaded deck drawer, and slide system topped with a custom mounted foldout grill,
a fridge behind the passenger seat next to an integrated power system to run it all,
and that's not even everything.
This
was Project Trailgator.
Last year Nissan came back with the same truck, and this time the goal was to build something even crazier that was capable of going beyond the ground and getting a little airborne
and waterborne.
We stripped the stock suspension and axles out from under the frontier and replaced it all with updated and upgraded parts from a Nissan Titan,
resulting. And enough lift and extra width to install 37 inch tires.
Then
we welded the cab shut and sliced it back open to install some custom tube doors.
After that,
we re-outfitted the bed set up and rack load out to cover a crew for any kayaking adventure.
This new version came to be known as rapid runner.
We're gonna take this stock Armada Pro 4X and turn it into an off-road animal capable of hauling our entire crew deep into the wilderness.
The newly introduced Armada Pro 4X is already a capable off-road SUV.
We're gonna make some modifications to make the most of that.
First,
we're shedding some weight up top by removing the entire roof,
rear glass,
and pillars,
opening the cabin to the outside world. Once it's all exposed,
everything behind the front.
Seats will be gutted and the rear hatch gets welded shut,
and we'll install inward facing troop carrier style seating to accommodate at least 3 passengers per side.
Then,
we tie it all together with a custom jungle patrol wrap.
With the body opened up,
we'll fabricate a full roll cage to protect the passengers and reinforce the frame
along with custom tube bumpers in the front and rear.
Once the fabrication is finished,
we'll add NISO accessories like portable power solutions.
Lighting
and more.
To make this machine perform how we want on the trail,
the factory suspension is getting replaced with a CJD racing kit, providing 16 inches of wheel travel front and rear.
This new suspension system will also give us the room we need to fit a set of massive Yokohama off-road tires mounted on some Nismo beadlock wheels.
After everything's buttoned up,
we'll have transformed a stock armada
into an open-air trail beast known as Jungle Patrol.
We've got some huge plans for this thing, but first, I wanna talk about the foundation that we're gonna be building on,
and one of my favorite blocks of that foundation
is up under here.
Hiding under this hood, we've got Nissan's 3.5 L twin turbo V6 that's putting out 425 horsepower and 516 pound feet of torque.
And if you ask me,
that is more than enough to have fun both on and off the road.
It's connected back to a nine-speed automatic transmission
and a full-time four-wheel drive transfer case that's selectable between high and low.
Plus,
it doesn't sound half bad either.
Coming up,
the boys begin ripping apart our brand new armada.
Oh
man,
there's so much room for activities up here.
Now that y'all know what the plan is,
we've obviously got a ton of work ahead of us, and that begins with getting this thing torn apart. So Brandon, you want to get started on that while I get some tools together?
Yeah,
sounds good. Perfect.
In case you're just now joining us,
this is Project Jungle Patrol.
Right now we're working on taking the roof off so that we can start designing a cage to keep our passengers safe when this thing hits the field as a safari-style adventure vehicle. All right, how's it going here so far?
It's going pretty good. It's about time we need some tools though.
Well,
that is perfect because I got some of our Flex stuff here that should help speed this up.
Now
we've been using these Flex tools here for a while now, and it's pretty safe to say that they've been making our life a lot easier and they've got a ton of different battery options.
The entire ecosystem uses the same stacked lithium 24 volt stuff,
so everything from their vacuum cleaners
to impact drivers,
lights,
all kinds of stuff,
they've got you covered.
You get that signed.
And their system even includes things like their stack pack mobile storage solutions
that come with accessories like speakers that you can use to keep having a good time while you and your buddies are getting to work.
Speaking of that,
we've got a lot to do,
so
let's fire this thing up
and get going.
You know, I think I can reach this with an impact.
These are actually pretty comfortable seats. I do like them,
see if we can flip it up like this.
Got her? Yeah,
cool.
You know, it's pretty impressive to me that
A bit driver, just a little impact driver like this,
is pulling out
seatbolts. No problem too.
Oh.
Stuck down there.
This should separate.
All right,
there it goes.
I don't think you pushed these seats up far enough, buddy.
That wasn't me.
I'm liable to get stuck in here.
What you fitting lead or you should be a little bit
somehow this is actually tighter than that.
There we go.
Things are happening.
I don't know if
they're good, bad, or ugly, but.
Things are indeed happening.
There.
Here we go.
A lot of stuff up here.
That side's clear of it.
Oh, there we go.
Watch yourselves. There we go.
Whoop,
you all right up there?
Jeez,
there's a lot of wire
there.
Dang, it would be
really nice if we could get this headliner out of the way.
Yeah,
it would.
It sure would.
It's OK.
I'm not waiting or anything,
see if I can move this curtain.
There we are.
One more wire.
Come on,
we believe in you.
Come on.
This is a PG show, sir.
Alright, let's see what we can do here.
Alright.
00,
slow,
sorry, my bad. I feed these up.
I got excited.
Oh, I don't blame you,
but
here, hold up.
See,
calm down,
Junior.
Oh yeah,
look at that.
Oh,
we didn't need that section anyways it's cool.
Oh, we're going already.
It's out.
I'm just kidding.
I, I think we should probably be inside to hold it up for sure. I have no idea how heavy it's gonna be,
so the key point here
is just don't drop this glass on our heads.
Well,
Help if I got the right size socket.
Yeah,
I say I've got a
full buddy
so.
All right,
hold on, let me get a better hold.
Well, I still have 2 more
holding on, so.
Oh,
all right.
I like to live dangerous.
Last one.
Whatever you do, don't drop it.
Alright, ready,
I think.
Oh wow.
Oh man.
Alright,
I'm almost, yep,
and out.
Hold on. I think we may need to go straight out the back.
Yeah,
alright, so let's just slide it a little, yeah,
and then I'll just inch it back about halfway and then probably reset.
Yeah,
oh, it's lighter than I thought it would be.
Yeah, now that we can get a decent hold on it with this much glass.
All right, all right,
we got it.
Um,
let's, uh, go around,
find somewhere safer than the,
than the pile for this.
That was a close one.
There you go,
that's how you remove a sunroof.
It's the only safe space allowed in this shop.
There's so much room for activities up here.
I feel like I'm in a limo in Vegas or something.
I feel like he's got his work cut out for him.
I recall him saying that he would cut the roof off,
but
that was also a month or so ago, so
that
that wasn't me. I guess it's time to do some cutting or something.
Well, I guess
next step is we gotta start punching some spot welds for you, right?
Yeah,
well, let's get some drills and
go to town.
Talking about it, man.
Up next,
the boys remove more parts to send to the trash heap.
Well,
we've got a majority of our interior pulled apart. I think my next step here is to get onto those doors,
get everything pulled apart so I get that glass out.
Brandon, what's up next for you?
I'm gonna start getting all these little trim pieces off like something like this and uh just start getting the roof exposed so we can see
where we start cutting, where we start drilling these spot welds out.
All right, well I mean that's one way to do it.
I mean, I, I hope it all comes off that easy.
Well,
there's only one way to find out.
There's a lot of stuff up here.
I'm gonna go grab something for us to put the hatch on, but we're ready to pull the hatch off
all right.
OK.
OK,
I got it.
There we go.
All right.
All right,
so we got all the trim up here removed, we got the hatch removed.
We're starting to get kind of a clear picture of what we got going on here.
First thing I'm gonna do is I'm gonna go in and center punch all these spot welds, so we get a nice purchase with the spot weld cutter bit.
We're gonna go in and just start cutting everything out and just kind of seeing what starts to come up and what wants to stay and
just kind of one of those situations where you just got to work through it and see what you got to get as you go.
So,
let's get to it.
All right,
looks like we should be good to go.
Cool.
Now that we know that this works to center everything,
I'm gonna go ahead and go through and drill out all these to get my nice center.
I'm gonna come back with a spot weld bit and just rip through everything.
In case you're just now joining us,
this is Project Jungle Patrol.
Right now we're working on taking the roof off so that we can start designing a cage to keep our passengers safe when this thing hits the field as a safari-style adventure vehicle.
It's pretty much all I can see from here, so we'll start with that.
See where it takes us.
I'm feeling some movement.
All right.
This whole section's like coming out.
I get to do it.
Maybe not.
So now we've got to get the actual glass out
and we've already got it pushed into place before we've got everything unhooked,
but if you look in here,
there's just a little tab right there,
just a little
pressure on there,
don't grab from the top.
There we go, that side's released
and you wanna make sure when you switch to do the other side that that first side doesn't fall back in, so just be mindful.
There we go.
I'll just rotate up and out.
All
right,
there we go.
Now that is both of our front windows out now we can move on to the back.
There we go.
I don't know how this comes out of here.
Well, this is a
very complicated window removal.
See if this gets us anywhere.
Yes, there is one more place that could be bolted.
Here let me hold this window for you it's not gonna
it's still not.
Yeah,
same thing over here.
Oh,
there we go.
Woo.
All right, I got it over here,
well.
I highly doubt that's the way it's supposed to be done,
but
didn't exactly come with instructions.
The door still shuts that's all that matters.
Oh,
all right, that is our last door glass.
And I think I'm just a.
Just a couple more spot welds away on this side.
That looks and sounds to me like we've got a roof ready to come off.
Now the real question,
where do you wanna go with it?
The garbage.
it.
It's all right, we don't need that.
I don't even know what it was.
It doesn't matter.
Coming up,
the boys cut the roof off.
This is one way to raise the roof.
Now that we've got most of the stuff removed from the back of this armada,
it's time to finish cutting the roof off.
We already have the middle roof skin removed and now we just got to work through the pillars.
Before we can do that,
I'm gonna cut up some tubing,
tack it in place to try and maintain the shape of the vehicle.
In case you're just now joining us,
this is Project Jungle Patrol.
Right now we're working on taking the roof off so that we can start designing a cage to keep our passengers safe when this thing hits the field as a safari-style adventure vehicle.
It can be nerve-wracking when you're about to cut into any vehicle,
but as long as you have planned well and taken all of the proper precautions, it will all work out in the end.
Send it
In our case,
we've measured, we're cut in high so that we still have lots of room to work with
and we can dial in everything later on.
Is that one loose?
Oh this B pillar.
This is not,
no, yeah, I think it's mainly that B pillar holding us up.
I think you got just, yeah, just a little bit that I can't see daylight through.
See if this will cut it.
I think this old girl's like
not wanting to cooperate anymore.
Answer.
All right.
Well, all this is gonna work, but we'll see.
I mean,
it should be fine,
probably,
right?
Oh
Oh my.
Did you put the brakes on?
I did not. OK,
good.
Well I mean that is
about as topless as a thing can get
can we even show this on TV? Do we need to censor that?
I don't know about that.
I think
next step is to start getting ready to put a cage in there so
you can get this outside and get going.
Sounds good.
This is one way to raise the roof.
Now that the roof is fully removed, I'm just gonna trim the rest of this window frame out of the way.
Everything is gone
now we have all the space needed to start to lay out the cage.
All right,
well, we've still got a little bit left to trim off to really get all this dialed in where we want it,
but we've made a lot of good progress today, and I think we've got a lot more room to work with than we initially expected,
so that seems like a pretty good start to me.
Oh, for sure. I mean, I'm really excited to get the seats in here, just start laying the cage out, just kind of see how everything's gonna look.
Yeah,
definitely that's a good next step, but
that's also very time consuming and that's something that we're just about out of for today.
So
tune in next time if you wanna see us start putting this thing back together.
Show Full Transcript
This is one way to raise the roof.
We've been having a ton of fun getting this Land Cruiser back here put together,
but some good friends of ours got a hold of us with an idea for a new project that we could not pass up.
Nissan came back to Power Nation for its 3rd Sima concept vehicle in a row,
something that's never been seen before.
And we're gonna do it using this 2025 Nissan Armada Pro 4X.
Welcome
to Dirt and Trails.
Like Brandon mentioned earlier,
this is our 3rd CEA show build in a row for Nissan,
which we're pretty proud of.
And every year they've come back,
they've wanted us to do something even wilder than last time.
This year, you will not believe what they want us to do to this thing.
Back in 2024 on Music City Trucks, we were tasked with taking a stock Pro 4X frontier and equipping it with the full MISmo lineup including a lift kit,
lighting,
racks,
and more.
After that,
we turned it into a practical party truck by installing 242 inch TVs with a sound bar,
a fully loaded deck drawer, and slide system topped with a custom mounted foldout grill,
a fridge behind the passenger seat next to an integrated power system to run it all,
and that's not even everything.
This
was Project Trailgator.
Last year Nissan came back with the same truck, and this time the goal was to build something even crazier that was capable of going beyond the ground and getting a little airborne
and waterborne.
We stripped the stock suspension and axles out from under the frontier and replaced it all with updated and upgraded parts from a Nissan Titan,
resulting. And enough lift and extra width to install 37 inch tires.
Then
we welded the cab shut and sliced it back open to install some custom tube doors.
After that,
we re-outfitted the bed set up and rack load out to cover a crew for any kayaking adventure.
This new version came to be known as rapid runner.
We're gonna take this stock Armada Pro 4X and turn it into an off-road animal capable of hauling our entire crew deep into the wilderness.
The newly introduced Armada Pro 4X is already a capable off-road SUV.
We're gonna make some modifications to make the most of that.
First,
we're shedding some weight up top by removing the entire roof,
rear glass,
and pillars,
opening the cabin to the outside world. Once it's all exposed,
everything behind the front.
Seats will be gutted and the rear hatch gets welded shut,
and we'll install inward facing troop carrier style seating to accommodate at least 3 passengers per side.
Then,
we tie it all together with a custom jungle patrol wrap.
With the body opened up,
we'll fabricate a full roll cage to protect the passengers and reinforce the frame
along with custom tube bumpers in the front and rear.
Once the fabrication is finished,
we'll add NISO accessories like portable power solutions.
Lighting
and more.
To make this machine perform how we want on the trail,
the factory suspension is getting replaced with a CJD racing kit, providing 16 inches of wheel travel front and rear.
This new suspension system will also give us the room we need to fit a set of massive Yokohama off-road tires mounted on some Nismo beadlock wheels.
After everything's buttoned up,
we'll have transformed a stock armada
into an open-air trail beast known as Jungle Patrol.
We've got some huge plans for this thing, but first, I wanna talk about the foundation that we're gonna be building on,
and one of my favorite blocks of that foundation
is up under here.
Hiding under this hood, we've got Nissan's 3.5 L twin turbo V6 that's putting out 425 horsepower and 516 pound feet of torque.
And if you ask me,
that is more than enough to have fun both on and off the road.
It's connected back to a nine-speed automatic transmission
and a full-time four-wheel drive transfer case that's selectable between high and low.
Plus,
it doesn't sound half bad either.
Coming up,
the boys begin ripping apart our brand new armada.
Oh
man,
there's so much room for activities up here.
Now that y'all know what the plan is,
we've obviously got a ton of work ahead of us, and that begins with getting this thing torn apart. So Brandon, you want to get started on that while I get some tools together?
Yeah,
sounds good. Perfect.
In case you're just now joining us,
this is Project Jungle Patrol.
Right now we're working on taking the roof off so that we can start designing a cage to keep our passengers safe when this thing hits the field as a safari-style adventure vehicle. All right, how's it going here so far?
It's going pretty good. It's about time we need some tools though.
Well,
that is perfect because I got some of our Flex stuff here that should help speed this up.
Now
we've been using these Flex tools here for a while now, and it's pretty safe to say that they've been making our life a lot easier and they've got a ton of different battery options.
The entire ecosystem uses the same stacked lithium 24 volt stuff,
so everything from their vacuum cleaners
to impact drivers,
lights,
all kinds of stuff,
they've got you covered.
You get that signed.
And their system even includes things like their stack pack mobile storage solutions
that come with accessories like speakers that you can use to keep having a good time while you and your buddies are getting to work.
Speaking of that,
we've got a lot to do,
so
let's fire this thing up
and get going.
You know, I think I can reach this with an impact.
These are actually pretty comfortable seats. I do like them,
see if we can flip it up like this.
Got her? Yeah,
cool.
You know, it's pretty impressive to me that
A bit driver, just a little impact driver like this,
is pulling out
seatbolts. No problem too.
Oh.
Stuck down there.
This should separate.
All right,
there it goes.
I don't think you pushed these seats up far enough, buddy.
That wasn't me.
I'm liable to get stuck in here.
What you fitting lead or you should be a little bit
somehow this is actually tighter than that.
There we go.
Things are happening.
I don't know if
they're good, bad, or ugly, but.
Things are indeed happening.
There.
Here we go.
A lot of stuff up here.
That side's clear of it.
Oh, there we go.
Watch yourselves. There we go.
Whoop,
you all right up there?
Jeez,
there's a lot of wire
there.
Dang, it would be
really nice if we could get this headliner out of the way.
Yeah,
it would.
It sure would.
It's OK.
I'm not waiting or anything,
see if I can move this curtain.
There we are.
One more wire.
Come on,
we believe in you.
Come on.
This is a PG show, sir.
Alright, let's see what we can do here.
Alright.
00,
slow,
sorry, my bad. I feed these up.
I got excited.
Oh, I don't blame you,
but
here, hold up.
See,
calm down,
Junior.
Oh yeah,
look at that.
Oh,
we didn't need that section anyways it's cool.
Oh, we're going already.
It's out.
I'm just kidding.
I, I think we should probably be inside to hold it up for sure. I have no idea how heavy it's gonna be,
so the key point here
is just don't drop this glass on our heads.
Well,
Help if I got the right size socket.
Yeah,
I say I've got a
full buddy
so.
All right,
hold on, let me get a better hold.
Well, I still have 2 more
holding on, so.
Oh,
all right.
I like to live dangerous.
Last one.
Whatever you do, don't drop it.
Alright, ready,
I think.
Oh wow.
Oh man.
Alright,
I'm almost, yep,
and out.
Hold on. I think we may need to go straight out the back.
Yeah,
alright, so let's just slide it a little, yeah,
and then I'll just inch it back about halfway and then probably reset.
Yeah,
oh, it's lighter than I thought it would be.
Yeah, now that we can get a decent hold on it with this much glass.
All right, all right,
we got it.
Um,
let's, uh, go around,
find somewhere safer than the,
than the pile for this.
That was a close one.
There you go,
that's how you remove a sunroof.
It's the only safe space allowed in this shop.
There's so much room for activities up here.
I feel like I'm in a limo in Vegas or something.
I feel like he's got his work cut out for him.
I recall him saying that he would cut the roof off,
but
that was also a month or so ago, so
that
that wasn't me. I guess it's time to do some cutting or something.
Well, I guess
next step is we gotta start punching some spot welds for you, right?
Yeah,
well, let's get some drills and
go to town.
Talking about it, man.
Up next,
the boys remove more parts to send to the trash heap.
Well,
we've got a majority of our interior pulled apart. I think my next step here is to get onto those doors,
get everything pulled apart so I get that glass out.
Brandon, what's up next for you?
I'm gonna start getting all these little trim pieces off like something like this and uh just start getting the roof exposed so we can see
where we start cutting, where we start drilling these spot welds out.
All right, well I mean that's one way to do it.
I mean, I, I hope it all comes off that easy.
Well,
there's only one way to find out.
There's a lot of stuff up here.
I'm gonna go grab something for us to put the hatch on, but we're ready to pull the hatch off
all right.
OK.
OK,
I got it.
There we go.
All right.
All right,
so we got all the trim up here removed, we got the hatch removed.
We're starting to get kind of a clear picture of what we got going on here.
First thing I'm gonna do is I'm gonna go in and center punch all these spot welds, so we get a nice purchase with the spot weld cutter bit.
We're gonna go in and just start cutting everything out and just kind of seeing what starts to come up and what wants to stay and
just kind of one of those situations where you just got to work through it and see what you got to get as you go.
So,
let's get to it.
All right,
looks like we should be good to go.
Cool.
Now that we know that this works to center everything,
I'm gonna go ahead and go through and drill out all these to get my nice center.
I'm gonna come back with a spot weld bit and just rip through everything.
In case you're just now joining us,
this is Project Jungle Patrol.
Right now we're working on taking the roof off so that we can start designing a cage to keep our passengers safe when this thing hits the field as a safari-style adventure vehicle.
It's pretty much all I can see from here, so we'll start with that.
See where it takes us.
I'm feeling some movement.
All right.
This whole section's like coming out.
I get to do it.
Maybe not.
So now we've got to get the actual glass out
and we've already got it pushed into place before we've got everything unhooked,
but if you look in here,
there's just a little tab right there,
just a little
pressure on there,
don't grab from the top.
There we go, that side's released
and you wanna make sure when you switch to do the other side that that first side doesn't fall back in, so just be mindful.
There we go.
I'll just rotate up and out.
All
right,
there we go.
Now that is both of our front windows out now we can move on to the back.
There we go.
I don't know how this comes out of here.
Well, this is a
very complicated window removal.
See if this gets us anywhere.
Yes, there is one more place that could be bolted.
Here let me hold this window for you it's not gonna
it's still not.
Yeah,
same thing over here.
Oh,
there we go.
Woo.
All right, I got it over here,
well.
I highly doubt that's the way it's supposed to be done,
but
didn't exactly come with instructions.
The door still shuts that's all that matters.
Oh,
all right, that is our last door glass.
And I think I'm just a.
Just a couple more spot welds away on this side.
That looks and sounds to me like we've got a roof ready to come off.
Now the real question,
where do you wanna go with it?
The garbage.
it.
It's all right, we don't need that.
I don't even know what it was.
It doesn't matter.
Coming up,
the boys cut the roof off.
This is one way to raise the roof.
Now that we've got most of the stuff removed from the back of this armada,
it's time to finish cutting the roof off.
We already have the middle roof skin removed and now we just got to work through the pillars.
Before we can do that,
I'm gonna cut up some tubing,
tack it in place to try and maintain the shape of the vehicle.
In case you're just now joining us,
this is Project Jungle Patrol.
Right now we're working on taking the roof off so that we can start designing a cage to keep our passengers safe when this thing hits the field as a safari-style adventure vehicle.
It can be nerve-wracking when you're about to cut into any vehicle,
but as long as you have planned well and taken all of the proper precautions, it will all work out in the end.
Send it
In our case,
we've measured, we're cut in high so that we still have lots of room to work with
and we can dial in everything later on.
Is that one loose?
Oh this B pillar.
This is not,
no, yeah, I think it's mainly that B pillar holding us up.
I think you got just, yeah, just a little bit that I can't see daylight through.
See if this will cut it.
I think this old girl's like
not wanting to cooperate anymore.
Answer.
All right.
Well, all this is gonna work, but we'll see.
I mean,
it should be fine,
probably,
right?
Oh
Oh my.
Did you put the brakes on?
I did not. OK,
good.
Well I mean that is
about as topless as a thing can get
can we even show this on TV? Do we need to censor that?
I don't know about that.
I think
next step is to start getting ready to put a cage in there so
you can get this outside and get going.
Sounds good.
This is one way to raise the roof.
Now that the roof is fully removed, I'm just gonna trim the rest of this window frame out of the way.
Everything is gone
now we have all the space needed to start to lay out the cage.
All right,
well, we've still got a little bit left to trim off to really get all this dialed in where we want it,
but we've made a lot of good progress today, and I think we've got a lot more room to work with than we initially expected,
so that seems like a pretty good start to me.
Oh, for sure. I mean, I'm really excited to get the seats in here, just start laying the cage out, just kind of see how everything's gonna look.
Yeah,
definitely that's a good next step, but
that's also very time consuming and that's something that we're just about out of for today.
So
tune in next time if you wanna see us start putting this thing back together.
