[jgillaspy]

Isn't it amazing how so little can make such a big difference. . .

JG

 

[80884.digital]

I finally joined the club!
Mine is a 2014 Metallic Blue Pro-4X with a 6 Speed Manual.
I had been looking to replace my 2007 Frontier for about a year and finally found the right truck. You can read about the endlessly long purchase saga here.

Make: Nissan
Year: 2014
Model: Xterra
Trim: PRO-4X
Color: Metallic Blue B17

Mods:

• ✓ Remove hood deflector
• ✓ Manual Gearbox sticker (post #1)
• ✓ Pin stripe removal (post #2)
• ✓ Blind spot mirrors (post #7)
• ✓ Retrograde to 2008 rear "shorty" head rests (post #8)
• ✓ New floor mats (post #13)
• ✓ Vintage style shift knob (post #14)
• ✓ Mud flap removal (post #16)
• ✓ First Aid Kit upgrade (post #17)
• ✓ Left front tow hook (post #19)
• ✓ Engine cover and cargo carpet and shade (post #20)
• more to come....

View attachment 142837

View attachment 142838

Brought it home yesterday and today I removed the old pinstripes and hood deflector. I may also remove the window deflectors... I'm not sure.

I also put on a sticker on the rear window showing off the 6 speed... View attachment 142839

The truck is completely stock and has only 41,000 miles. A brand new clutch, flywheel, release bearing and dual mass flywheel were just installed. The brake rotors were also resurfaced. To me it seems like it drives like new.

The truck came with some fancy Pro-4X stickers on it... I think these are designed for the Frontier and must have been added by the dealer or original owner. I think they look pretty good but may be too flashy for me. I'll test drive them for a while.

The manual makes it much more fun to drive than my auto Frontier. It's great being able to choose your own gears!

Awesome, congrats bro! Almost identical to mine, other than the decals. (I swear I'll get some pics up soon) Thanks for the tips on the mirrors and headrests! Glad you held out for a 6MT too, you won't regret it.

 

[VintageX]

I'm surprised how much I enjoy driving it! Just ordered a roof rack and some fuel cans to put up there. Any adventures in yours?

 

[VintageX]

Tire Repair Kit
I picked up a WYNNsky Tire Repair Kit. Looked about the same as the ARB one to me. I have used various ones of these in the past and they can be very handy when you need them.
When I received it, I was shocked at the size of the box it came in. But one of the amazon reviews mentioned using a tactical pouch to repack it, and I found this one that was cheap and worked great. Being a soft pouch also means it will be easier to pack away in the corner of the truck.

 

[VintageX]

Roof Rack Cross Bars
I had a BUNCH of trouble removing the cross bars from the roof rack.

Apparently the previous owner or shop had over tightened them and stripped the buts in the plastic. Getting them off was documented in this other thread: Roof Rack Crossbar Nuts Spinning.

And then I found the clamps were cracked from over tightening. ARG!

I have had great experience repairing this kind of problem with J-B Weld Epoxy.
I cleaned the parts with simple green and a high pressure spray and then dried them thoroughly with compressed air and the hot sun for a while.
Then I carefully gooped them up with the epoxy, doing my best to get the epoxy into the cracks and adding some to provide a "patch" on the outside of the crack. I used a clamp to squeeze the crack shut and then let it dry for about 36 hours.

You can see how the clamp squeezed the epoxy through the crack to the inside.

We will see how this holds up! I'll also ask carmax if they will replace these under warranty.

NOTE: THE EPOXY FAILED! I took the crossbars off to check them and one end had cracked again. But... CarMax came through with free new replacements. I just bolted the new replacements on and threw out the old crossbars.

 

[XterraTom]

First Aid Kit Upgrade!
View attachment 143148

I checked out the poor skinny first aid kit It was a shame how meager it is compared to the big bump in the rear hatch!
I went through it in detail and confirmed everything in there was good an intact.
And then I added the following items:

• Adventure Pocket Survival Kit
• Lighter & Fire Starter
• 6-foot cord
• Waterproof Matches
• Advil
• Tylenol
• Pepto tablets
• Benedryl tablets
• Bonine tablets
• Sting Kill Swab Vials
• Medical Shears - Scissors
• Swiss army knife
• Splinter Out Lancets
• Tweezers
• Comb
• Earplugs
• Quick Clot Gauze Pad
• Wound Seal Powder
• Vet Bond “superglue”
• Aluminum splint 4-¼” x 36”
• Nitrile Gloves
• Alcohol Wipes
• Bacitracin Ointment
• Aquafor Ointment
• Ace Bandage
• “Israeli” Sterile Compression Bandage
• J&J Bandaid Waterproof Adhesive tape
• 3M Nexcare Cloth Tape
• Bandaids
• Saline Wash Packs
• Spare Contact Lenses

I was happy that I was able to fit all of this into the bag in addition to the original kit.
Personally, I think this is a pretty solid kit now!

Great bug out bag if needed.

 

[XterraTom]

Cosmetics and accessories
First an engine cover.
Before:
View attachment 143251

Studs mounted:
View attachment 143252

Cover!
View attachment 143253

Cargo carpet and shade:
View attachment 143254

It is too cold and windy for me to go out and look under my hood. Is the engine cover standard equipment? If not, I want one.

 

[VintageX]

Great bug out bag if needed.

It is a bug out truck!

 

[VintageX]

It is too cold and windy for me to go out and look under my hood. Is the engine cover standard equipment? If not, I want one.

Apparently they stopped putting them on the Xterra sometime between 2008 and 2010?

 

[VintageX]

Scepter Fuel Cans for the roof rack!
I'm still working on installing the roof rack. But these came today! Whoot!

 

[VintageX]

Fun with recovery hooks.
I scored a nice left side tow hook from the Thorton Breakers in the UK. I figured after all that I'd better show them off and paint them a bright color.

I'll let these dry for a couple days before installing.

 

[VintageX]

Installed the hooks yesterday. Torque specs seems to be really high.
The manual says grade 9T, M12-1.25 Hex Flange bolt without lubricant: 130Nm or 96 ft-lb.
That's a lot of torque for me, so I did them to 70 ft-lb.

I think the bit of red peeking out is fun. -

 

[VintageX]

Mounted up my new Tyger Roof Basket and Danchel 6.5 x 8.2 ft awning.
This was more work than expected.
(Note the Tyger roof rack appears to be the same as the Apex or Rage Powersports ER-08208S)

I did note the quality of the Tyger Roof Basket seemed very nice. All the connections seem designed to be water tight so that rain cannot get inside of the tubes. And the hardware seemed solid to me.

First problem: the roof basket is about the same width as the Nissan Roof Rack, so the side rails of the basket hit the side rails of the Nissan rack. This means the mounts that attach to the crossbars were not tall enough. Many people would probably just "make this work" by bending the rack and maybe breaking some welds on it. That's not my style.

Also the awning mounts I wanted to use are vibration damping u-bolts that also need some clearance. So I ended up needing about an inch of extra height for the rack.

I solved this by buying some SMR Sheet, 70 Shore A. This is stiff rubber, almost like tire rubber. I bought a bunch of 1/2 inch sheets and made some shims. The stuff is carefully but fairly easily cut with a utility knife and drilled with a hand drill. Two layers made a full inch of shims. Of course I needed to find some long 100mm stainless button heads cap screws to reach hall the way through these shims.

And then I used these from McMaster-Carr for the awning.
Vibration-Damping U-BoltZinc-Plated Steel, 3/8"-16 Size, 2-3/8" ID,-50 Degree to 275 Degree F3176T36
with
ARB Awning Brackets
Of course, new holes had to be drilled in the Awning brackets. And the U bolts had to be cut about 8mm shorter for clearance to the roof.

Customizing the basket and Awning mounts made this a much bigger project than I expected. I had hoped to just bolt everything on there! Nope! It took me about a full Saturday to get it all done and mounted (besides planning it out and ordering parts).

But I think the result is great!

 

[11BlackPro4x]

Just got my X a month ago. In the shop for some repairs, but this will be a good resource to make it feel “new to me” as well!

 

[VintageX]

SumoSprings!
I intend to carry a dirt bike on a MotoTote hitch carrier. So I decided the rear end should have a bit of extra support.
I should say that I was happy with how the stock Pro4X rode. Some complain about the rear bottoming excessively, but I found it to be fine. That said, I have never had a heavy load in the truck yet.
Here is the stock bump stop with rusted bolts holding it in place.

And here is one of the SumoSprings before installation.

No bolts were included. I determined the stock bolts were M10-1.25 x 30mm long. So I bought some replacement bolts with flange heads and matching flange head nuts in case the stock ones were too badly rusted. (They were!)
I soaked the nuts on the truck 4 times with Liquid Wrench over 48 hours before the job. I used a long hose to reach the nuts through the wheel so I could easily spray them. You can see them through the wheel with a flashlight.
But... the bolts broke anyway!
Luckily, as others reported, the nuts are easily knocked off with a chisel and a big hammer. See the 4 small welds per bolt in this picture.

Here are the new SumoSprings installed:

You can see that with the truck empty, the SumoSprings just touch the axle clamps for the leaf springs. Is does not appear that the EMPTY truck has been raised up at all... maybe 1/4 inch. Maybe nothing.

Ride with just me in the truck IS stiffer. Definitely not as soft... more like a truck than a soccer mom SUV. I think it will be fine to drive around... we will see if my wife notices and complains about it being bumpier ;-)
I suspect it will ride more like my PRO-4X Frontier... a bit bumpy and truck-like when empty, but nice an plush when loaded.
I'll load my bike in the carrier and see how it works sometime soon!

 

[VintageX]

MotoTote Carrier with SumoSprings
I put the MotoTote Sport hitch carrier on the truck and loaded my bike to test it out.
This was a BIG deal. I sold my Frontier pickup with the expectation that this would work well.

The MotoTote is one of the best reviewed carriers and is rated for 600 pounds. My KTM 350 is about 270 pounds and the carrier itself is about 60 pounds for a total of about 330 pounds. That's well within the hitch rating and leaves room to carry the rest of my gear in the truck.

I had never used a hitch carrier before; it is delicate loading the bike because you want to be very careful not to let the bike swing into the Xterra's rear hatch. I think it could easily break the rear window. The biggest danger is accidentally letting a strap loose and having the bike fall on the truck.
I tried some high end Mac ratchet tie downs, but I really didn't like those. Some guys swear by ratchet tie downs but I hate them. To be sure the tire down is secure you need at least two full wraps around the pin, and that is a lot of cranking (about 8 full cranks not just clicks, 8 full cranks). It can be hard to get that with short straps. So I use high quality cam tie downs instead.

And here is the SumoSpring with the bike loaded.

The rear end sank 3/4 inch with the load, not bad at all! That actually makes the truck about level, assuming measuring from the ground to the center of the wheel well arches is a good place to check.

And the truck drove great with the load on there. You can see the bike swing a bit over bumps and stuff, but it seems pretty solid.
I think this is going to work great!

 

[Mar10]

If you don’t have one already, an “anti-rattle” really tightens the hitch mount up.

Example:

Amazon.com: Anti-Rattle Stabilizer Hitch Tightener for 1.25 inch and 2 inch Hitches 1.25“ 2” Corrosion Resistant Heavy Lock Down Tow Clamp… : Automotive

Buy Anti-Rattle Stabilizer Hitch Tightener for 1.25 inch and 2 inch Hitches 1.25“ 2” Corrosion Resistant Heavy Lock Down Tow Clamp…: Hitch Mounts - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

 

[VintageX]

If you don’t have one already, an “anti-rattle” really tightens the hitch mount up.

Those are OK, but the MotoTote has a "Zero Wobble hitch mount" built in.

Frankly, its a much more solid design than the add on type "tighteners".

 

[VintageX]

Just broke a 3/8" extension tightening my wheel lug nuts to 98 ft-lbs (133Nm).

Closer inspection showed it to be a "no-name" extension. I probably should get some 1/2" drive tools.

 

[VintageX]

More stickers!