Second Generation Nissan Xterra Forums banner

six60six's Xterra #5 - The Overlander Build

17K views 38 replies 10 participants last post by  six60six 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Intro Comments: Hello there! My name is Brendt, friends call me "six" and this is my build thread for the 5th Xterra I've owned since pre-ordering one of the first 700 SE's to ship in October of 1999. I've had an X (or 2) in the driveway every since. I am an Executive Creative Director, designer and professional photographer currently living in Pittsburgh PA but I split my time between PGH, NYC and SLC for work. I've done almost 900,000 miles in the seat of my Xterras over the past 20 years and finally decided the 15' Pro 4X would be going into the "forever garage" with my other toys. I just started building it out a few months ago once it hit 50k miles and was paid off. I'm not a mechanic, but am very mechanically inclined and use it as a means to get my hands dirty and escape my day to day stress. I have done all the work up to this point myself, making good progress in my free time and weekends to get it to where it sits today. My goal is to have it finished by September 19' in order to make the trek out to Utah for a month of work and play.

Username: six60six

Make: Nissan
Year: 2015
Model: Xterra
Trim: Pro 4X
Color: Super Black

Purchase Date: July 2015

Factory Options:


• Leather Interior
• Rockford Fosgate Audio
• Fog Lights
• Auto-dim/compass mirror
• Reverse Camera
• Tow Package
• Rear cargo privacy cover
• Rear cargo organizer
• Side Molding
• Mud Flaps (Removed)
• Pro 4X Floor Mats

Legend:
Mark
| Means
| Done!
> | In-progress
$ | Want
X | Removed/Destroyed

MODS

Suspension/Steering:

FRONT:

Lift: 3"
Radflo 2.0 Coilovers with 700# Eibach springs set to 2" lift with Nisstec 1" top hat spacer
Trimmed coil buckets
PRG Upper Control Arms
Moog Lower Control Arms with greaseable ball joints
Moog Inner and Outer Tie Rods
Timbren Bump Stops
Moog Greasable Camber Bolts
Super Pro Sway Bar Bushings

REAR:
Lift: 3"
Radflo Emulsion Extended Shocks
Old Man Emu Dakar Leaf Packs
NissTec Adjustable Shackles Set to Middle
NissTec Shock Skids
NissTec U-bolt Flip Kit
Timbren Active Off-road Bump Stops
Super Pro Full Poly Bushing Kit
Off-Road Gorilla Rear Differential Breather Mod
3 Degree Steel Shims

Engine/Exhaust/Drivetrain:

m205 3.36 Front Differential
Nissan OEM V8 Pathfinder Front CV Half Shafts
$ Airflow Snorkel
$ aFe Mach Force XP Cat Back Exhaust

Brakes:

Raybestos Element 3 Brake Pads
Raybestos Specialty Brake Rotors
NissTec Stainless Steel Braided Lines - Front & Full Rear

Wheels:

Stock 2015 Pro 4X 2-Tone Charcoal Rims Including Spare
285/75R-16 BF Goodrich K02
Spidertrax 1.5" Wheel Spacers Front + Rear

Electrical:

Odyssey 34r-pc1500t Battery
Ultimate Battery Terminals with Top Post Adapters
10" 0 AWG Extended Battery Lead Wires (Battery to factory harness)
Morimoto 2 Stroke 2.0 LED Headlights
Morimoto XB LED Projector Fog Lights
Morimoto X-VF LED Amber Front Turn Signals
Morimoto XB LED Amber Marker Lights
Morimoto X-VF LED Red Rear Turn Signals
Morimoto X-VF LED Red Brake Lights
Morimoto XB LED Red Third Brake Lights
Morimoto Festoon XB LED Interior Lights
Diode Dynamics XP80 LED Off-Road Roof Lights
> Trigger 6 Shooter Bluetooth Wireless 6 Channel Relay
$ Morimoto XBT Bluetooth RGB Controller
$ Morimoto Profile Pixel RGB Rock Lights
$ FlexoPower 444 Lithium Power Pack
$ Goal Zero Boulder 100 Solar Panel

Fluids:

Mobil 1 Synthetic Every 5000 Miles
Nissan Genuine Matic-S (Transmission)
Amsoil ATF (Transfer Case)
Amsoil Severe Gear (Differentials)
Motul RBF 660 Synthetic DOT 4 Brake Fluid

Interior:

2lb DOT Fire Extinguisher under passenger seat with modded Bracketeer mount
WeatherTech Floor Liners - Front & Rear

Exterior:

X Rear Passenger Door
WeatherTech Front Window Visors
> Painted Rear Bumper Corner Plastics - SEM Black Bumper Paint
> Painted Side Moldings - SEM Black Bumper Paint
> Painted Front Bucktooth Grill - Flat Black
Front Fender Trim and Melt Mod
$ ARB Awning 2000
$ Tepui HyBox Roof Top Tent
> Gobi Passenger Side Ladder
> Rotopax 2 Gallon Gasoline Pack x 2
> Rotopax 2 Gallon Water Pack x2

Armor:

Hardcore Off-Road Front Bumper w/ Pre-Runner Bar
Hardcore Off-Road Rear Bumper w/ Tire Carrier, Reinforced Hitch, Hi-Lift Mount, CB Mount
> Front Runner Slimline II Roof Rack
> White Knuckle Off-Road Sliders
> 4x4 Parts Aluminum Full Skid Plate Kit
ARB m226 Rear Differential Cover

Recovery/Comms:

Smittybilt X20 10,000lb Winch with Synthetic Line
Factor 55 1.5 Fairlead
Factor 55 Prolink
Motormic 3/4" 57,000lb D-Ring Shackles
Bubba Rope Gator Jaw 52,000lb Soft Shackles
> Maxtrax Recovery Boards
$ Midland MXT400 GMRS Radio

PHOTOS

The day after I bought the truck I drove it from Chicago to Moab. 4 Days later it made its first off-road trek, completing the 100 mile White Rim Trail in bone stock attire.


Fast forward 50k miles to May 2019. I managed to put a pretty good dinger in the rear passenger door on a rock while in Moab in April. Luckily X's are abundant in salvage yards and I found a complete door for $150. Swapped the harness, speakers and interior panels to get it back to sexy. This is where I decided to start the build, drained the rear diff and swapped the cover for the ARB, swapped the original Hankook 265's for BF Goodrich K02 285's.


Onto the suspension, which was tired after 50k miles. Sourced everything from PRG, Nisstec, OME and Radflo. All we're very helpful and quick to deliver. Longest wait was the shocks from Radflo which still only took 21 days from order to delivery.


Of course nothing ever goes totally smooth and the front LCA bolts were fully seized. 4 hours of cutting, grinding and swearing, they were finally out.


Since the truck started life in Chicago, went to Seattle and is now in Pittsburgh, it's seen it's share of crap weather which means rust is always a concern. While tearing things down I am also hitting all the frame welds with VHT Rust Convertor and then giving it a fresh coat of undercoating to help stop the cancer.


Latest work was rebuilding the brakes. Full tear down of the calipers, new seals, guide pins and hardware along with a fresh coat of paint. Swapped the Napa Premium Pads and Rotors (which never felt great) to Raybestos Element 3 pads and Specialty rotors. Replaced all the rubber lines with braided stainless and did a full fluid flush to Motul RBF 660 DOT 4. Much better...

Also figured out a mounting solution for a fire extinguisher under the passenger seat incase I blow myself up.


Picking up my bumpers from Cory @ Hardcore Offroad tomorrow on my way back from NYC to PGH which means this weekend will be a busy one getting them and the winch installed. ?

Front Runner rack will be delivered next week with the skids and sliders following close behind so updates will be happening quickly!

Also, a huge thank you to this community, its a great resource for those of us embarking on the X build journey!
 
See less See more
6
#5 · (Edited)
Got the bumper mounted (saving pics for completion) and the winch installed. Neither was easy. The bed liner finish on the hardcore bumper is so thick that it actually pushed the brackets beyond tolerance of going together. Ended up cutting the bed liner off where the tabs needed to come together and it was about as tight as possible without not fitting. Once everything was bolted up I just sealed everything with some Hurculiner spray and will probably do a few more coats over the next couple days.

The Smittybilt X20 mounted up fine on the winch bracket, but there is no way to attach the control box to either of the factory mounting points above the spindle or the motor so I had to get creative. Drilled some small holes through the bumper support and used 2" allen head bolts and spacers to mount the control box at an angle where you can just reach under the bumper to plug in or turn on the wireless remote. Also had to clock the clutch to the rear since the lever wouldn't clear the bumper when turned.





I ran all the wires and cut the battery leads down to length and then mounted them with the side post mounts of the Knu Konceptz battery terminals. These terminals are made for high power car audio systems but are great since they have an optional side post in addition to accepting 0 gauge, 4 gauge and 8 gauge which will help with future accessories. I used 0 gauge to run a short lead to the + harness and replaced the engine ground with a 0 gauge lead as well.

 
#8 ·
Spent the weekend splitting my time between watching vintage cars go fast through a city park at the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix and installing all the new gear on the truck. I didn't make as much progress as I would have liked but here's the rear Hardcore Offroad bumper with tire carrier mounted up. Everything bolted up fine, no weird fitment issues and it seems super sturdy with the 33" spare mounted up.

I still need to wire in the LED bolt bulbs I got for the license plate holder, but that should be pretty straight forward with a new wire run to the harness.



 
#11 ·
Very cool truck! I'll keep an eye out for you on the road and trail.


@Dyno992 is another local Pittsburgh X - we get out periodically. Check out his thread that he usually lights up before we head out somewhere. LINK

@six60six wait were you just recently in Cranberry Township? I swear I passed a nearly identical X a few weeks back while I was in mine. We both waved at each other, going opposite directions on Freedom road.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#17 ·
Also figured out a mounting solution for a fire extinguisher under the passenger seat incase I blow myself up.
I'd be interested to see a little more about this and if you have a link to those pieces you used. The GF bought me one of those Bracketeers after I mentioned it without checking to see if it fit, and totally forgot about figuring it out.
 
#18 ·
All I did was remove the 2 end brackets from the Bracketeer so you're just left with the center straight section that attaches to the extinguisher. That section fits perfectly between the rails under the passenger seat where there is a 3/8" round bar that is welded and fixed to the seat frame. I just used (2) 3/8" adel clamps (you can find them at any hardware store) and put them around the round bar and bolted them to the Bracketeer.

I'll snap a few more pics for reference.
 
#22 ·
Unexpectedly got the ceiling Raingler that I ordered so I got that mounted up. Didn't realize there was so much wasted space just up against the ceiling.



Also pulled off the rear plastics, cleaned them with 409, soap & water and SEM Plastic Prep before spraying them with SEM Adhesion Promoter and satin black SEM Bumper Coating. Total of 8 coats and they are curing for the next 48 hours, but they should look good on the black truck. I did the actual step plate in Hurculiner for durability.

 
#23 ·
Quick update. Got the newly painted corners mounted up and they look great. I have a new set of door trim I need to paint up this weekend and swap out to match, but with the satin black grille it'll all tie together.

Also, I got the stock roof rack off...wait for it...without spinning a single rivnut ::happy dance::
All because my new Front Runner full replacement showed up on my doorstep. The Front Runner was a super easy install, and is a very nicely made "kit" rack.

I am still figuring out how I want to set up the front air dam and lights, but I am thinking of going with 6 6" round led's to somewhat keep the look of the stock roof lights and utilize the stock wiring for 2 spots and then running a 2nd circuit for 4 for floods but not sure yet...



 
#24 ·
Started the electrical work while I wait for my new lights. Got the Trigger Six Shooter bluetooth relay installed which is a pretty slick bit of kit. Allows you to not run wires for your switches into the cabin since everything is bluetooth controlled, which also means you can use the phone app to turn the lights on/off, dim, strobe or whatever you want. A big plus is that it monitors the battery and automatically shuts down if it drops below a preset voltage.

Mounted it to the top of the fuse box under the hood, sealed up the holes I drilled in the cover with silicone and grommets and ran the remote lead to the reverse lights circuit in the fuse box with a fuse tap so that it's ACC controlled when the key is on.

122680
 
#25 ·
More updates to come as I've been busy, but I finally managed to get the roof lighting wiring figured out and installed.

My goal was to keep the "essence" of the stock P4X roof lights, since I do have a soft spot for the retro look of the round lights as opposed to a big ass Millennium Falcon light bar up there. Between that and wanting to keep the stock functionality of the existing switch / high beam function in the cab, I had to get creative.

I decided I wanted to run (6) 100w round LEDs, each putting out around 7000 lumens and drawing 9 amps. So to run 6 lights, I needed to split the power into (2) 40amp circuits.

I did this by installing a Bussmann 100amp circuit breaker under the hood coming from the battery via 0 gauge wire. From there, I ran the wire around the back of the engine, through the existing firewall grommet and under the driver side of the dash. By pulling the A-Pillar trim, I was able to get enough room in the headliner to run a fish tape down the existing roof grommet (with some slight trimming) and fish the 0 gauge up to the roof.

Now that the wire pull was done, I built a custom power box to mount under the Front Runner rack and house the distribution blocks, relays and Blue Sea fuse blocks. I intentionally only ran (3) out of the (6) circuits on each fuse block so that I have some overhead in the future if I decide to reconfigure.

The tricky (not that hard with a multimeter) part was getting the relays to trigger off of the existing P4X roof light switch since it is a momentary switch that also reads the magnetic cover sensors on the stock lights in order to function. After deconstructing the stock roof light harness, I saw that it was 6 wires. (2) for the magnetic switches, (2) for the + and (2) for the - of the (2) stock lights. The magnetic switch plugs also share the - wire with light # 2 on the factory harness.

Using a Nissan 6 pin connector from wiringspecialties.com


I was able to wire the Blue and Yellow + wires on the harness to the relay switch terminals and the Pink and Green - wires to the common ground distribution block.

122913


Now by splitting the lights into (2) banks of (3) lights on separate 40 amp circuits I am still able to control them all by turning on the high beams and hitting the stock "OR Lights" button.?

122914


I am waiting on the new Trigger Bluetooth 40 amp relays which are on backorder, so I'll be swapping those out when they arrive and integrating the roof lights into the wireless control set up as well.
 
#27 ·
They're just 5 inch round "PrimeLux" brand from Amazon. They use 16 x 5watt Cree emitters each so they're not total junk for the money (Rated at 7200 lumens each light). I mounted them with 6 of the Front Runner spotlight mounts off the front of the rack so when the Tepui Hybox RTT goes on this weekend, the front of the tent will overhang the lights but can still rest on the edges of the rack. Thats why I went with the 5 inch instead of the 7 inch model.

As for output, 6 of them is damn bright. Combined with the Rigid 20" light bar I put on the bumper they should be plenty (around 60,000 lumens total) I also looked into the more "premium" lights like the KC's Gravity Pro 6, which only puts out 13,500 lumens total and possibly going crazy with 6 Baja Designs XL-R Pro's but those are only around 4,800 lumens each and cost more for a pair than I paid for 6 of these. I figure if 1 or 2 fail even while I am out, I'll still have plenty of light to get home and they're cheap to replace.

I haven't had a chance to take them out and try them where it's really dark yet or to play with the aim but will report back.
 
#28 ·
Got my Tepui Hybox RTT on Friday and spend the weekend getting creative on how to get it onto the truck. A couple hours and some 2x4's later and I had a gantry crane to assist in the heavy lifting. Since the Hybox is 165lbs I didn't want to mess with having to have 2 people put it up and take it down multiple times to get everything spaced out properly.

I ended up using the Front Runner quick release RTT mounts, since they sit higher and don't require any tools to attach the tent. There is less than 1/2" of room for working between to rack and the RTT so it seemed like the only practical solution.

Today I am actually pulling the tent back off and adding (2) 3 ft sections of steel U-channel to reinforce the tent floor between the mounts since it seems to flex a bit under weight. Front runner sells a similar kit for $150, but for $30 I can do the same thing with parts from Home Depot.

122984



122985



122986
 
#29 ·
I think I may have an LED addiction...

Started messing around with doing the "Raptor" mod to the grill. I used 3 flush mount, 6mm LED bolts from Oznium.


I drilled 3 holes in the "filled in" areas on the top of bucktooth grill, wired the LEDs together and patched them into the driver side marker light harness.

122989


From there I went overboard and decided to add rock lights under the truck. I bought a cheap Bluetooth connected set of 8 RGB LED lights from Amazon, cut them apart in order to make all the wiring to length and soldered it all back together. There is a light in each wheel well, which is more for show than go, and 4 lights along the frame between the wheels pointing to the ground. After seeing the initial light output last night and seeing where the shadows are, I am going to add 4 more RGBW LEDS in a straight line down the middle of the truck to fill in the gaps and to get a true "pure" white light when needed, but for now it's starting to look ridiculous. ?

122990
 
#30 ·
Not necessarily a build specific update, but something that may help others.

Ever since I installed my suspension including the OME Dakar leafs, the rear end of the truck has creaked, squeaked and chirped anytime the truck rocked or flexed, but not so much when driving or hitting pot holes. The fact that it was only happening when the truck rocked, meant that every time I would get in, out, back out of a parking spot, etc, it sounded like an old beater and not a freshly built rig which honestly irritated me but I was willing to live with it since I have poly bushings, new leafs, etc.

While stumbling around on a Tacoma forum, I saw a lot of people who had the same issue using this:


So I ordered 4 cans and proceeded to cover the entire undercarriage of the truck including inside and outside the frame, suspension connection points, rocker panels and especially coated the Dakar leafs extra heavy. Rocked the truck back and forth a few times and guess what, it still squeaked.

Defeated, I figured at minimum I provided some corrosion resistance for the upcoming winter and left it at that. Now that the truck has sat for 2 days while I have been busy, I went out this morning, rocked the truck a few times and this time it was squeak, squeak, silence... Pretty sure it just needed to penetrate into the nooks and crannies a bit so I took the truck out for a drive and it sounds like the day it came from the factory. No squeaks, chirps or creaks from anywhere.

From everyone else's feedback, they've had similar results and it seems to last about a year in between applications which is ok with me since I would reapply it after the winter anyway. Might be worth a try if your truck sounds like mine did. (y)
 
#32 ·
Got around to getting the OBA wired up. Didn't have a lot of space up front and really didn't feel like running another power line to the rear of the truck so I went with the ARB CKMA12 single piston compressor which fits nicely in front of the air box and over the re-mounted PIAA "Superior Bass" horns.

I needed to make a custom mounting plate to attach to the truck, but some plate steel took care of that.

123037


Once it was wired up, I plumbed it with the pressure switch and an 18" braided line that I ran down into the bumper. After drilling a 1/2" hole in the bumper, I mounted the ARB quick connect so now I can just plug the airline in and go.

123039
 

Attachments

#33 ·
Got the rear chase lights installed and wired up. Running lines to the roof is a giant PITA but I think I'm done with wiring up top.

Build is full speed ahead preparing for a 800 mile test trip over the Labor Day weekend and then I have 2 weeks to get everything finished before heading from PA to CO from where I'll be wheeling from CO -> UT -> AZ over a 2.5 week period to give the truck a proper testing. :)


 
#34 ·
So I'm 95% done with this build over the summer in preparations to spend a few weeks in the backcountry of Utah's Canyonlands at the end of September / early October and decided to take it on a 800 mile run from PA to MI for a weekend of camping. Overall I am happy with the setup. The Tepui Hybox RTT is a treat and super easy to set up and take down all while my comfy bed remains made inside. The Goal Zero 400 Lithium paired with the Goal Zero Boulder 100 Briefcase solar panel stayed 100% charged for 3 days all while keeping the fridge at a constant 36 degrees. I have a few more things to do over the next 2 weeks before I leave, but it's almost there.

The downside was about 150 miles into the drive home yesterday the Diff Lock and VDC Off lights started flickering on the dash for no reason while in 2WD and doing about 65 on the turnpike. I pulled off, shut the truck down, checked for leaks, smoke, loose wires to the diff and found nothing. When I restarted the truck and turned out of the parking spot, the Diff Lock light went off, but the ABS, VDC Off and Slip lights all came on solid and stayed that way the rest of the drive home.

It's already scheduled to go to the stealership tomorrow for diagnostics, but I am guessing it's either a failed ABS/Speed sensor on one of the rear wheels or worse, the Diff Lock switch inside the rear diff failed, which is a much bigger headache since the entire diff needs to come apart to replace it...

Anyways, it's full speed ahead still and I'll be building out the rear drawer slide outs, adding the RotoPax mounts and snorkel this week as long as it's not at the stealership all week.

123094
 
#35 ·
Awesome rig!! I just picked up an 11' P4X 6 speed and i'm cruising the forums looking for inspiration!

Let us know what pans out with the dash lights. I occasionally get my "VDC off" and "SLIP" lights on the dash, but they don't seem to actually affect anything and they always turn off when shut it down.
 
#36 ·
Thanks!

The lights went off once the truck sat for a few hours I still took the truck was in the dealership yesterday for diagnostics. It ended up being the rear diff locker switch in the m226 diff. They ran the Consult 3 diagnostics scanner that picked up the codes, of which there was 116 errors thrown by the switch and once the ECM gets too many errors from the switch it'll disable the ABS and VDC.

The part is on order today and they'll be tearing down the diff tomorrow to replace it. Total estimate was $350, $105 for the part and 1.5 hours of labor.
 
#38 ·
Yeah, I am not complaining. I don't have to tear down the diff myself and it's cheaper than some other estimates I've seen around here for the same repair that were in the $700 range.

At this point I am just committed to "get r' done" in the next week so I can hit the road. Although with almost 700 miles of off road planned for my trip, I need the truck to be right :)
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top