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Brooke's Xterra Build

3K views 7 replies 5 participants last post by  Brooke Noble 
#1 · (Edited)
Xterra's Nickname: None yet, was thinking Juggernaut?

Make: Nissan
Year: 2006
Model: Xterra
Trim: OR 4WD
Color: Night Armor

MODS:


2006 Off-Road Xterra
I bought my Xterra in 2017 after a road trip to Washington. I was doing a lot of camping, but because I drove a Geo Metro I was confined to either hiking or camp grounds and all the camp grounds were either full or crowded, this annoyed me. While I was up there I kept noticing all these dirt roads and I thought, jeeze - if I just had 4WD I could get away from all this stuff. I came back, and started doing research. I wanted something that had a factory locker and initially I was looking at Toyota's but quickly found those were out of my price range. I always liked the Xterra, so I started looking at those and found they were much more affordable. I ended up picking mine up for $4700.00 with 190k miles on it.

Fresh off the lot:
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Scope of Build:
Ultimately the goal is touring or "overlanding" with the Xterra. To give you some ideas, I'd like to drive it up to Denali in Alaska from the lower 48 doing as much of the drive as possible off road. In the mean time I'd like to start completing some of the BDR's on the west side of the country. Some consideration is being paid to the look of the build, I want to maintain a "fleet" build look - so I'm trying to keep everything as close to matching OEM as possible and all my wires and connections in line with what a fleet vehicle would look like. I may add or remove things from this list.

To Do List:
Driveline/Suspension:

Radflo 700 Coilovers
PRG Upper Control Arms
Alcan Rear Leaf Springs
General Grabber ATX LT265 /75 R16 (will upgrade to 33's later)
ARB Front Locker

Armor:
ARB Deluxe Bumper
Maxxterra Rock Sliders
Maxxterra Rear Bumper w/ dual jerry can holder
Nissan underbody skids (may upgrade later)

Engine:
Safari Snorkel
Volant CAI
XPT Intake Manifold Spacers

Accessories:
Smittybilt X20 10k Synthetic Winch
ARB CKMA12 Air Compressor
KC Gravity LED G46 off-road lights
KC Halogen HiLiTES Daylighter (x2 spot x2 flood)
P&P Xterra Light Cage
Custom built telescoping work light
Custom built rear drawer system
ARB Fridge Freezer Series II 50 Quart
ARB 2000 Series Awning
Custom built drop in roof rack
Gobi rear ladder
BearTracker Scanner BCT15X
Yaesu FT-8800R

Mods:
Overhead console mod + switch panel
Compass/Temp mirror mod
Android head unit
Dual battery system
Front diff breather move
Rear diff breather mod

Repairs/Maintenance: (Stuff I've either fixed, need to fix, or will need to fix in the near future)
Replaced front catalytic converters
Replaced timing chain
Replaced oil pump
Replaced rear differential cover
Replaced O2 sensors
Need to replace rear diff spider gears
Need to replace engine galley gaskets (going with a full engine swap from a buddies Frontier with 80k miles on it)

Wish List:
Gull wing rear windows (I'd like to put a small TV screen on one side for briefings and movie watching)

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How it looks today:
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#2 ·
Install of PRG Advanced Lift Kit, ARB Deluxe Bumper, and Smittybilt 10k Winch

I really didn't take any pictures of this process as I used pictures from this forum to help me through the process, so this is going to be my feedback on the process. Let me start by saying this job also included replacing the tie rods, spinning the rotors, and replacing the brake pads as well as general cleaning/restoring. The entire process took 3 days in my buddies garage, I wouldn't say we were working super fast - but then again there were a lot of hiccups in the process.

I ordered the suspension from PRG on July 19th and received my order on August 19th. There was a holdup over at Radflo and it's in no way Greg's fault it took so long, in fact - Greg was awesome; he called me before I made my order and we went over all the things I plan on adding to we were sure I was getting the right sized springs for my build and he answered all the questions I have. Throughout he was in good contact and I would recommend ordering from him. I didn't get to install everything until my bumper and winch were in anyways. The install of the suspension was super easy, like, shockingly simple. The only place there was an issue around the suspension was when we did the front driver side there is a bolt that a lot of people cut out - my buddy decided we would just disassemble the steering assembly instead so we're "in spec" and this added about 10 minutes to the job. Otherwise, everything just popped right in.

The ARB bumper... so we had already installed the suspension and were now unwrapping the bumper when we noticed some damage on it. Initially I only saw that there was some metal that had been exposed and scratched up during shipping - it's too late to return it at this point so we moved on. Taking apart the front of the X was pretty easy, took about 15 minutes. Then we had to mark out and cut the factory bumper, ARB gives you a sheet of paper with a template you cut out and tape on - they only give you ONE side though that you are supposed to flip to do the other side, I did not like this as this cut was already freaking me out. We got everything marked out, double, triple checked and then went to take a break before coming back and checking again - once we were satisfied we used a rotary tool to make the cut. Then I got these two mounting plates on the body. ARB specifies there should be a certain distance between them but we were easily an inch off from this no matter what adjustments we made, so we tried test fitting the bumper and it lined up. At this point we fitted the winch and put the bumper on. We ran into a couple issues here, one with my winch the fair lead had some of the bumper sticking up in a way where it would rub against the synthetic line so we had to cut away some of the bumper with a grinder. The 2nd issue was we had to mount the control box remotely because it would not fit down there - unfortunately there wasn't a mounting bracket included by Smittybuilt and the one ARB provided didn't line up in any way shape or form with the holes on the control box, long story short we ended up taking apart the control box and tack welding the ARB bracket to the metal backing of the control box. This is when I noticed there was more damage on the bumper, on the driver side there is a slight warping of the metal as if it had been compressed or something when it was being made, it's not a huge defect but we noticed it. We also noticed at this point that one of the tabs on the skid plate included by ARB had been bent, we had to use a vice and 2 blocks of wood to straighten it out. I emailed ARB about all these issues - we will see what they have to say about it.

At this point we had to wire all the electronics - I opted to wire the fog lights to the wiring from the factory fogs, and the other light they included I wired to the marker light so they are always on when the headlights are. The winch included instructions that were super dummy proof and there is nothing to discuss there.

We rotated the tires while we had the opportunity and put everything back together and let the X off the jack stands. I went to back up the truck and heard a loud THUD noise and couldn't turn my steering wheel... it turned out I installed the outer tie rods backwards, so we quickly put it back up on the jacks and flipped em around and all was good. We went for a test drive and everything was awesome - our home alignment worked out great, and driving around off road was hugely improved. 10/10 for this suspension and lift.

If in the future I feel this AAL is losing it's spring I'm planning on ordering a set of ALCANS like everyone else. We'll see when we get there. All in all I spent about 4700.00 on these upgrades this weekend and for now my truck budget is in replenishment mode.

If you are thinking about getting the ARB Bumper some thoughts:
  • Make a copy of the template they provide, or better yet, scan it, flip it in software, and then print so you have one for each side.
  • Verify it's condition before taking it home....
  • If you want to use a Smittybilt winch with it you will be doing some modifications to the bumper also, reaching the clutch lever isn't super comfortable but it is doable if you clock it all the way forwards.
  • As of right now there is a coupon at 4WD parts for 100.00 off this bumper here's the code: SD4WP10OFF
  • Don't put your tie rods on backwards
Finished product (dirty)
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#3 ·
Here are some pictures of the places I've taken my X since 2017 along with a map showing some of those places.

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First Trip (Sierras)

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Utah (first event)
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Exploring Roads Nearby
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Sierra Buttes


Getting Dirty AF
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Watching the weather to see if I can make it home
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Redwoods
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First time OR in snow:


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Attachments

#4 ·
It's really a bummer that ARB doesn't include better planning for their install guide. I mean, for what the bumper is worth and with how large ARB is, you'd think they'd be on top of making installation as easy as possible. We all know that most off-road and overland rigs aren't built up by mechanics. I still would love to grab a bumper for myself in the future, so thank you for the great tips!
 
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