Southern California Club Xterra

Southern California Club Xterra => SCCX Welcome Center => Topic started by: Myst3ry on January 19, 2017, 02:55:42 PM

Title: Noob From Santa Ana! (Any Xterra friendly Mechanics out there?)
Post by: Myst3ry on January 19, 2017, 02:55:42 PM
EHy all! I got my first 4x4/SUV/Xterra in early December, and have loved it so far! I've done a few changes, but nothing major yet, because... well i have never done more than change a tire on a car..

SO... other than introducing myself, is there any mechanics on this forum that wouldn't mind helping me out? Im not looking for free help, i will pay, I just don't want to go to any mechanic who doesn't know much about Xterras, and what to expect when you start a mod.

what i want done (can be all at one if need be to save money in the long run)

- PML
- 2" BL (with pucks)
- New Bilstein Shocks
- New Coilovers
- External/offroad Lights
- New tires

Since i have no experience, im learning as i go, and would hate to start a day long project/mod, and then run into an annoyance where i dont have the right tools/part, and can't continue that day. I don't have much time to work on it personally!

[EDIT]
I have a 2004 4x4 Xterra SE/XE
Title: Re: Noob From Santa Ana! (Any Xterra friendly Mechanics out there?)
Post by: JFanaselle on January 19, 2017, 03:48:55 PM
Welcome from Murrieta! I'm certainly not a mechanic, but I can promise you it's not that hard to work on your own vehicle. :) My suggestion would be to do some research on which parts you'd like (and/or ask any questions you want, we love answering questions!). You can then acquire the parts and ask for a hand installing. We have a few members in OC that love helping out when they're free, and we're always down for a mod-day as a group. Not sure what year your rig is, but there are plenty of 1st gen and 2nd gen owners here.

A basic PML will run you about $250 to $300 with quality components. However, if you're looking at new coilovers, that may change the way you want to lift the truck. It's much better to use longer coils to give you the lift because you'll get more suspension travel instead of just shifting everything down. By the time you purchase new/upgraded factory-length coilovers and the parts for a PML, you'll probably have spent as much or more money than you would have on extended coilovers anyway. The rear end is really easy to lift with an add-a-leaf or an adjustable height shackle (or a combination of both). I highly suggest working with Greg at PRG Products. He's been great to a lot of members in this group, and if you call him on the phone, he'll try to get a feel for your needs and recommend the right products for you. You can also take a look a the Nisstec website, they have a large selection of suspension parts as well.

Tires would be installed/balanced by the tire shop you purchase them from, so there's really nothing to do there except decide which tires you want. You'll get as many opinions as there are people on this forum, but the most common tires seem to be BF Goodrich KO2s and Goodyear Wrangler Duratracs. There are also some less expensive options - take a look at people's build threads and/or search the forum for "tires."

Title: Re: Noob From Santa Ana! (Any Xterra friendly Mechanics out there?)
Post by: Myst3ry on January 19, 2017, 04:17:07 PM
Welcome from Murrieta! I'm certainly........

wow, thanks for the very kind and very helpful welcome!! haha i will be asking around for sure! But thats essentially whaty i meant, just a hand with the install, i've done a lot of research, but i keep needing to do research on every step of the way since i don't know what alot of the terms mean, and do haha.

 and i completely forgot to add the details to my X. I have a 1.5 gen 2004 Xterra se/xe :) will update the OP with that...

- I'm curious how you got the PML to come out to $250-300? Isn't the only thing needed to buy are the rear shackles? and then adjusting the front torsion bar?

- The reason i was going for different coilovers would be to accomodate a future purchase of a front and rear bumper, skids, sliders, roof basket, and eventually a winch.

With what i plan to do, I would really just want/need a total 2" SL and 2" BL to accomodate 33"s
Title: Re: Noob From Santa Ana! (Any Xterra friendly Mechanics out there?)
Post by: Raymond Ballejos on January 19, 2017, 05:27:42 PM
Welcome from banning i also have a gen 1.5 mine is an 02 . And i am familure with these trucks so far ive done a 3 inch suspension lift , roof rack , rear bumper tire carrier, in the process of body lift and rock sliders. Id be happy to help or answer questions when time permits. Just so you know gen 1.5 does not have coils they have torsion bars and leaf springs and shocks in the rear. Body lift is cheap.and will.allow 33 inch tires without the suspension lift i would tackle that first if you want to upgrade tires soon.
Title: Re: Noob From Santa Ana! (Any Xterra friendly Mechanics out there?)
Post by: CAWoody on January 19, 2017, 06:44:07 PM
Welcome form Orange.  While I am no mechanic, my dad is tv repair man so I have all of the tools.  :D :D 
J.K.  I have helped many of the OC'ers with their mods and more than happy to lend a helping hand especially to a neighbor.

We could set up another mod day if there are other in need of tools, space and some snappy repartee.
Title: Re: Noob From Santa Ana! (Any Xterra friendly Mechanics out there?)
Post by: Toro on January 20, 2017, 08:20:55 AM
Welcome from Pasadena. There are a lot of people willing to lend a hand around here. Once you have your final list with product in hand, post up and pick a date.
    Your almost guaranteed to have, at least, 2 or 3 wrenches show up......if not 10-15.
    I'd also recommend breaking your mods into manageable groups. A body lift can take several hours and coupling that with other mods makes for a very long day for volunteers.
Title: Re: Noob From Santa Ana! (Any Xterra friendly Mechanics out there?)
Post by: EJsarus on January 20, 2017, 08:31:29 AM
Welcome from Pasadena. There are a lot of people willing to lend a hand around here. Once you have your final list with product in hand, post up and pick a date.
    Your almost guaranteed to have, at least, 2 or 3 wrenches show up......if not 10-15.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk

that escalated quickly. lol
Im down with a helping hand. :)
Title: Re: Noob From Santa Ana! (Any Xterra friendly Mechanics out there?)
Post by: Ghost65 on January 20, 2017, 09:20:11 AM

    Your almost guaranteed to have, at least, 2 or 3 wrenches show up......if not 10-15 spectators who will stand around, eat your food, drink you beer, heckle, point, laugh and urinate in your planter when you're not looking.
   

"Mechanics, April 2016"
 [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]


FIFY.

Welcome from Escondido!!
Title: Re: Noob From Santa Ana! (Any Xterra friendly Mechanics out there?)
Post by: xxSVxx on January 20, 2017, 10:34:15 AM
OMG....what a great picture!!!!
Title: Re: Noob From Santa Ana! (Any Xterra friendly Mechanics out there?)
Post by: JFanaselle on January 20, 2017, 11:16:18 AM
That might be me in the background above Randy's shoulder, urinating in the planter  lol

Edit: upon closer inspection, I see a necklace. I think it's Celt. :D
Title: Re: Noob From Santa Ana! (Any Xterra friendly Mechanics out there?)
Post by: xxSVxx on January 20, 2017, 11:41:28 AM
Yeah, that's Celt and his croakies...the sunglasses necklace things

That was the day we discovered my radiator was about to fall off...good times!
Title: Re: Noob From Santa Ana! (Any Xterra friendly Mechanics out there?)
Post by: knightrider on January 20, 2017, 12:34:13 PM
A lot of volunteers to help out when the time comes, and a lot of good info from people.

What is your budget?

PML for a 1st gen is simply reindexing and adjusting the torsion bars up front, and an AAL or shackles in the back.  I would suggest replacing front and rear shocks at the time you do the PML, an AAL is a better option vs shackles but involves more work.  4x4parts.com is a good resource for parts for the 1st gen xterra. 

A body lift is necessary if you want to go with 33" tires so do that before you buy tires, again 4x4parts.com sells a complete body lift kit with bumper relocation brackets. 


Later if you want to add a front bumper and skid plates and such, you may want to upgrade your front torsion bars to the Sway a way bars that are 25% stiffer to help with the added weight.
Title: Re: Noob From Santa Ana! (Any Xterra friendly Mechanics out there?)
Post by: Celt on January 20, 2017, 12:39:28 PM
That might be me in the background above Randy's shoulder, urinating in the planter  lol

Edit: upon closer inspection, I see a necklace. I think it's Celt. :D

  No self respecting redneck would pee in the planter, it was the tire....
Title: Re: Noob From Santa Ana! (Any Xterra friendly Mechanics out there?)
Post by: RBduffer on January 20, 2017, 01:30:00 PM
That looks like Joe's hood to the right of Celt's melon.  That would put his stream right in Joe's grill >:D

Welcome, and yes, thread jacking IS a sport here.

Edit: great photo John.  I look like a badass there.  No wonder Steve C is a-scared of me.
Title: Re: Noob From Santa Ana! (Any Xterra friendly Mechanics out there?)
Post by: GreenGoon on January 20, 2017, 03:47:32 PM
If you want to save money and time in the long run, don't do the PML and body lift, then change your suspension. Slow down, do a little more research to figure out what you want your rig to do and do things right the first time.

As was said before, there are plenty of people here to lend a hand with knowledge or wrenches. It's great that you've asked for help and advice.

Welcome to the group and hopefully we see you on the trails.
Title: Re: Noob From Santa Ana! (Any Xterra friendly Mechanics out there?)
Post by: Myst3ry on January 23, 2017, 01:58:29 PM
alright, great info from everyone here!

So the first thing i want to do is a 2" BL to fit 33's (i understand i would need to trim a little on the front?)...

Without money being too much of an issue (ive been saving for a while for the reason of getting a lot of the mods out of the way quickly), what else do you recommend i just get out of the way now?

i was ok with a 1.5" - 2" SL that I would get from a PML, I would just like the clearance, and 2" is the max lift before you need to swap out a bunch of other things to accommodate ... so instead of a PML, it would be better to...

- new 2" Lift torsion bar for front
- Add a leaf in rear
- new shocks in rear


Im not going to be doing anything extreme. Not planning to rock climb, or racing through rough terrains.
Title: Re: Noob From Santa Ana! (Any Xterra friendly Mechanics out there?)
Post by: Myst3ry on January 23, 2017, 02:50:03 PM
also... is there anything on this site that you would recommend getting? I can get a greta price on a lot of these (wholesale price) and may be worth checking out...

http://www.4wheelparts.com/

only thing, is that its Jeep-heavy, but a few parts there fit my 04 Xterra
Title: Re: Noob From Santa Ana! (Any Xterra friendly Mechanics out there?)
Post by: Ghost65 on February 03, 2017, 01:00:30 PM
also... is there anything on this site that you would recommend getting?

Spend a little time exploring the deserts/mountains with your rig...nothing too crazy, green trails, forestry service roads.  Pack a lunch, and just enjoy getting outside in your rig...a list of to-do's and to-want's will develop pretty quickly.

Do some research on recovery equipment, because the odds are, getting off road will eventually lead to getting stuck.  A simple shovel and airing down can solve that first stuck...but then what to air back up with?  Ah-ha...your first item on your to-want list is chosen for you...a reliable and portable battery connect-able air compressor.  IME (in my experience) it kinda goes like that...as well as showing up for a meet n greet, or even better, getting some face time with others at an SCCX planned trail run.

Also, spend a little time here (and there, thenewx.org, IH8MUD.com, and other off road sites) and search folks Display/Build threads to see what tried and true items work on rigs like yours, or for trails you want to tackle.

Finally...don't expect everyone to instantly give up all the information on the how to/where to on how to mod up you Xterra...spend some time doing the research and reading to contribute relevant questions and answers to any forum is a recipe for success. 

This shows other forum folks that you're not the average DIFM (do it for me) newbie who wants to post and run.

Good luck man...and feel free to PM any of the higher post count folks on this site with any questions you may have.  :)
Title: Re: Noob From Santa Ana! (Any Xterra friendly Mechanics out there?)
Post by: knightrider on February 03, 2017, 03:46:43 PM
also... is there anything on this site that you would recommend getting? I can get a greta price on a lot of these (wholesale price) and may be worth checking out...

http://www.4wheelparts.com/

only thing, is that its Jeep-heavy, but a few parts there fit my 04 Xterra

The 4wheelparts guys are great but honestly not much there to offer an xterra, even less probably for a 1st gen.  Like John said, having a wish list is great but don't be scared to go out exploring easy trails stock, it will help you to figure out what you actually need.  If your not confident going out alone(probably shouldn't if you've never been offroad) then start up a thread to get some interest started in a run, you don't have to know where you want to wheel, just give a date and see what ideas people throw out, you will get to see some other rigs, and get a little experience.  If you want to read up on a mostly first gen xterra forum, clubxterra.org is a great resource that has alot of 1st gen xterra info.
Title: Re: Noob From Santa Ana! (Any Xterra friendly Mechanics out there?)
Post by: CAWoody on February 03, 2017, 06:15:14 PM
I'm not far from you.  IF you want to hit Santiago Peak or Trabuco Creek one weekend, just let me know.  Trabuco Creek is fun right now with all of the rain.  Little hill climbs, mud pits, river crossing, rock crawling, tec.