On my roadtrip back in 2013 my vehicle, a 2002 Nissan Xterra XE, was completely stock. I quickly found out its limitations when getting stuck in Squamish. The articulation and ground clearance was great but the tires and traction was terrible. Over the past two years I've made minor changes that will allow me to tackle some more technical terrain.
Wheels and Tires
First thing that went were the wheels and tires. My last tires were completely bald as after I turned my Xterra into my daily driver after I was hit by a drunk driver in January of 2014.I went with 32" General Grabber AT2. According to many reviews these once were one of the best all terrain tires you could get, but like the BFG AT KO, the claim is coming to an end with new silica blend tires coming out. This worked to my advantage as I got a pretty decent performing tire for 40% discounted from the retail price.
New Rims and Tires
I bought 16" allow rims to go with the tires. I like having my vehicle as stock looking as possible so these rims were an easy choice as they look similar something that could have been stock.
A Nissan Pathfinder with very similar looking rims
To fit the bigger tires I did what is known as a Poor Man's Lift. On vehicles like the xterra with torsion rods you can raise the height by simply turning the torsion rods. To match the height in the rear I got new leaf springs.
Locked Differential
The most useful thing you can install on your rig is installing traction aids. These devices are installed in your differentials. The options I considered were ARB's selectable rear air locker, Calmini's front LSD or Lokka's front aussie locker.
I chose the Lokka. It was the cheapest and easiest to install of the options. Not only that it has much better traction than a LSD. The big advantage over the ARB is that it allows differentiation without allowing slippage.
Surprisingly small box
An open differential allows the outside wheels of your car spin faster than the inside wheels, without a differential, you will experience wheel chatter or hop. The problem with open differentials is that if one wheel looses traction, all the power goes to that wheel. Traction devices such as differential lockers or LSD's are used to counter act the problems with having an open differential. A differential locker can lock the differential so that your car behaves as if there is none, but also unlocks so that your car behaves normally.
This has been the best modification to my vehicle so far. This differential is normally locked. The differential allows a wheel to spin faster than it is powered but only in the direction of the power, which allows differentiation around corners without ever loosing power.
My buddy Hiu Fung helped me get the heavy diff in and out of my car
I had automatic hubs and Lokka recommended manual hubs so I bought MileMarker hubs. They exploded on their first trail use. After some research I found that this was a common problem. That would be the last time I purchase from MileMarker.
Stay away from MileMarker hubs
Unfortunately after the failure I had no luck finding used stock hubs so I sprung for Warn manual hubs. Although they were expensive compared to the MileMarkers, compared to factory hubs they are a bargain.
Warn hubs and my DIY rock sliders
Rock Sliders
I tried my first welding project, rock sliders. Again my buddy Hiu Fung helped me out by lending me his welder for a couple of days. I coated them with a rubberised paint.
I wonder if epoxy bed liner would have been better.
I constructed these out of 1/4" square tubing, and 1/4" angle and flat bar for the arms. I meant to use 3/16" for the tubing. I didn't notice until I was cutting the metal that I was given the wrong tubing. With the 1/4" walls the sliders still each have 1/2 gallon capacity as air tanks.
I used the mounting points from the nerf bars
Winch
I bought this beast off Kijiji. I got a steal of a deal on it as the controls were not working. I replaced one of the solenoids and it is working perfectly. I bought a new seal from Warn and did a much needed oil change. I'm still trying to decide whether to put this on a hitch mount and make a hitch receiver in the front or to sell this for a smaller winch.
This thing is a beast!
Other Mods
I don't have pictures of these changes: AGM battery, rear hitch receiver, stubby antenna and relocating the rear differential breather
The AGM battery, absorbent glass matt, also known as a dry cell battery have a much longer lifespan and can be drained without degrading the cells when compared to the lead acid battery. When I say longer lifespan I do not mean the capacity of the battery, I mean the useful lifespan of the battery. A group 35 battery fits in the xterra with no problems. I went with the Exide Edge as the advantages to an Optimum battery didn't justify the price difference.
I purchased a Kurt hitch receiver off ebay and it came with 4 pin trailer wiring. On the 1gen Xterra the wiring is just a pig's tail, so no wiring modification is needed. The kit does not come with frame stiffeners, but a bit of leftover steel will do the job.
The stock antenna was getting abused as it's length meant that it was getting caught on every single tree, and when I was carrying a roof load it also got bent. I bought the stubby antenna of DX.com for 8 bucks.
I definitely recommend relocating the rear differential breather. It is easy and drastically increases the wade depth. I went to Gregg's distributors to get everything I needed. I bought a brass nipple fitting that threaded into the stock breather port and a length of tube. I ran tube to the rear left tail light and put a piece of fine sponge for a filter in the top of the tube. This allows me to go through water up to my hood line as the air intake is now the limit to my wade depth.
People have asked me why I have not made a snorkel for my truck. Most people think the primary function of a snorkel is to increase wade depth. In most cases like mine, getting water in the intake is not the only problem in water up to the hoodline, so a snorkel would not increase the wade depth. The snorkel at this point is mostly used to keep dust out of the intake, decreasing the likelihood of the filter getting clogged in sandy or dusty conditions. Considering the terrain I'm in I probably won't need one.
Future Considerations
Future considerations will include tire deflators, a front hitch receiver, 125amp alternator from a Nissan Quest, dual battery(and winch power to rear hitch), 2meter radio and 4.9 ratio gears (I currently have 4.6)
I seem to always end up among Toyotas
Can you see my Xterra behind the trees in the picture below?
