J Everett's Blue Meanie

J Everett

Suspension Lift
Founding Member
Location
Houma, LA
I got tired of taking my Firestik down every time I needed to park in a garage or go through a carwash, so my FM Radio antenna is now my CB Antenna!

I just installed one of these:
41h2h9CZwjL.jpg


I only use CB for short range, line of sight, trail coms, and on the beach I can clearly transmit and receive up to about a 1/2 mile, with the stock antenna. I'm thinking of replacing the aerial with an AntennaX 24" CB style antenna. I haven't tuned it yet, as I didn't have my SWR meter with me when I installed it, and I wasn't able to take any pics because it was balls hot outside with no breeze and I just wanted to hurry up and finish it. It's pretty straight forward though; I doubt anyone would need a walk-through.

Not incoincidentally, my Fourtreks antenna mount and Firestik are for sale. PM me an offer if you might be interested.
 
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J Everett

Suspension Lift
Founding Member
Location
Houma, LA
Well, the bolts seized in the Fourtreks mount, so it has since found its way into my recycling bin.

On a related note, the new CB setup is more than adequate for what I want out of it. I have a little over a mile on reception range, and just under a mile transmitting.
 

J Everett

Suspension Lift
Founding Member
Location
Houma, LA
Got one of the AntennaX antennas and 4 new Wrangler Duratracs that I need to find time to get installed. Pics of both after tires get mounted.

Wish I was gonna see you guys at WENT, but four of my closest friends from high school and I are going camping in Arkansas next month and I can't get vacation for both events (nor could I really afford both trips.) I love you guys, but I haven't had all my buds from school together in one place in over 20 years. I WILL make it to one of these Xterra events, eventually, lol.
 
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RATTFINK

XN OG Admin.
Founding Member
Location
Conroe, TX
Look forward to the pix of the new shoes on ol Blue.

Have fun camping, brother.

Sent from a Galaxy S4
FAR, FAR AWAY!!
Instagram: BriarFiend_rattfink
 

J Everett

Suspension Lift
Founding Member
Location
Houma, LA
They certainly do. No mud flaps and aggressive tires change the visual intent.

So, I just ordered what is quite possibly the last available set of Yakima Vertical Mighty Mounts that fit the 2nd gen crossbars (I already have a set of the horizontals). I plan to use two as a Hi-Lift mount. Also ordered a Hi-Lift neoprene cover, new Viair compressor, new in-cab HVAC filters, and Weathertech floor liners. That's enough spending on the X for a while. Christmas is coming, after all. I will be looking to purchase the full OME lift after Christmas shock wears off, though.


Also, I think I want to sell my cargo area rack I bought from Boondox. There's pix of it in this thread somehwere, if anyone is interested. $150 + shipping.
 
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brett

Bought an X
Location
Little Rock, AR
You are correct sir, we have very similar tastes. I have always liked the more electric blue color that you have. We do have the same bumper, that silver vein powercoat has an interesting tendency to blend into the navy blue I have - probably the same for yours.

Nice truck!
 

J Everett

Suspension Lift
Founding Member
Location
Houma, LA
Some general housekeeping. Removed the rack from the cargo area, moved gear I want to carry all the time (tools, jumper cables, tire repair kit, etc.) to the under floor storage compartment, and all my off road gear (shackles, Hi-lift accessories, Bubba Rope, etc.) to a large tote that is now in storage. That eliminated 120lbs of gear that I was carrying around every day for no good reason. Also ditched the starting-to-look-dingy factory floor mats and installed my new Weathertech liners and changed my in-cabin air filters, because ew, the old ones are gross after 30k miles. Did a general vacuum and wipedown of the interior. Not going to bother with a wash; we have an 80% chance of rain all weekend. And lastly, I was missing two bolts for my factory radiator skid pan. They must have vibrated loose since my last oil change. So I replaced those with two new ones and a little blue Loctite on the threads. That had been bothering me for a couple of weeks; glad I finally found time to fix it.
 
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J Everett

Suspension Lift
Founding Member
Location
Houma, LA
I finally finished up my Android stereo installation. I've got a few pics of some of the unique things I had to do, but for the most part, a stereo installation is pretty straightforward and has been documented many time on this and other boards.

First of all, If you have a Rockford system and you want to include the factory amp, get the Metra 70-7551 harness. Amazon will tell you it doesn't fit your vehicle, but they don't know what they are talking about. (EDIT: I don't beleive this android unit outputs a preamp signal through the RCA Jacks. I got a ton of electrical noise until I ran the speaker wires to a speakerlever input to preamp converter) This will allow you to send preamp signals directly to the amp's inputs. And our vehicles do have an amp turn on signal lead, so connecting that wire from your stereo's harness to the same on the Metra harness will keep you from hearing the annoying thump so many report when they turn on/off an aftermarket stereo. No custom trigger relay circuit necessary. Here is a pic of my harness:

IMG_20141206_111840_zpscrb5pjmd.jpg


Second thing I did, since I didn't want to pull wires out of the glove box to add inputs is to buy one of these USB/audio unput adapters. I popped the factory RF auxiliary input plug out of the dash, disconnected it from the wire, then reconnected it behind the dash (so I don't lose it if I ever want to return everything to stock), as seen here:

IMG_20141206_102821_zps2bjo56ng.jpg


Then pop the new adapter in the hole, thread the lock nut onto the back, and connect the leads to the stereo and you end up with this:

IMG_20141207_150656_zpsmsoobtli.jpg


For the GPS antenna I decided not to run it outside to the roof. It works perfectly fine on the dash. So I popped out the little plastic rectangle between the defrost vents and notched it for the cable:

IMG_20141206_105840_zps6qohgbtq.jpg


The antenna itself is attached with 3M outdoor mounting tape. You can see it in the last picture of the stereo assembled in the dash.

One last thing that was out of the ordinary. All of the plugs on the RF head unit are near the top of the unit:

IMG_20141206_102018_zpsh6jn3a8v.jpg


This is so they can clear the structural bar that sits in the dash behind the radio. You should never consider altering, cutting, or otherwise clearancing this bar, as it is critical to side impact safety. Unfortunately, my stereo, and I'm sure lots of other aftermarket radios, output their wires right where this bar sits. Now, the power, ground, and illumination wires, etc. have enough space and flexibility that this isn't a problem. But the RCA plugs going to the amp stick out quite a bit. So I bought a bunch of right angle adapter plugs which I unfortunately did not get a picture of. But they look like this:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/71y3cT-CRbL._SL1500_.jpg

This allowed the stereo to just barely clear the bar in the back. After that it was just a matter of plugging it all in and buttoning everything back up. End result is this:

IMG_20141207_150606_zpsh1lfbi73.jpg


You can see the GPS antenna at the base of the windscreen, in the background behind my GoPro mount. And on the screen is an episode of Top Gear playing from a 32GB flash drive plugged into my USB port installed in the dash (lower right corner of the picture)

Pros:

Gained DVD playback, video/music playback via USB input and Bluetooth (The RF stereo has BT for phone only, no A2DP), GPS (I'm using Sygic due to offline map access) and access to pretty much any app you can think of in the Play store.
Capactive touch screen and 1.9GHz processor run JellyBean very smoothly and responsively.
Price: Try to get these features in something with a recognized name brand for $300.
Sound quality: The RF headunit is the weak link in that audio system. The amp and speaker sound fantastic with this stereo.

Cons:

Lost built-in satellite radio (no problem really; just use the SiriusXM app).
Built in Wi-fi is very weak. (If you use your phone or a portable hotspot in or near the vehicle this will not be a problem)
Dimmer when you turn on your lights does not dim screen enough. I occasionally find myself turning the brightness down at night only to have to turn it back up during the day.
Size of unit makes installation slightly problematic.

Another con, for me, is that my phone no longer works as a free wi-fi hotspot since Lollipop came out. So a lot of the features I planned to use, namely Pandora and SiriusXM apps, I am not using directly on the head unit unless I'm in the parking lot at home or at work (Also use Netflix on lunchbreak at work!). However, I can use them on the phone with audio over Bluetooth, so no extra cable to connect. The features I gained more than outweigh that little hiccup.

I plan to do a short video demo, but my camera is charging and I'll probably lose light before it is done.
 
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J Everett

Suspension Lift
Founding Member
Location
Houma, LA
It will connect to my home wi-fi if I park in certain spots. I live in an apartment, and there is another aprtment between mine and the parking lot.

I should have a video demo of the interface and such soon. I was going to do it at lunch today, but I forget my camera. Five AM on a Monday morning isn't the best thing for my memory, lol.
 

metzican

Suspension Lift
Location
Lafaytte, la
Nice clean install. I like how you handled the usb and aux plug. Did you keep your steering wheel controls? I got one of those stupid things to help with that. It worked for a while then it stopped. I have to say I don't miss it at all.
 

Timrich

Super Duper Moderator
Founding Member
Location
Central FL
Nice! I wouldn't mind picking one of those up. I have a single din pioneer now and it sounds much better than the stock RF head unit.
 

J Everett

Suspension Lift
Founding Member
Location
Houma, LA
Video will be available as soon as Youtube finishes processing it. I apologize for the quality. I thought I had shot at 720p 60FPS but it certainly doesn't look like it.

[video=youtube_share;14-LbgzKISM]http://youtu.be/14-LbgzKISM[/video]
 

Prime

Shut up Baby, I know it!
Admin
Location
Denver Adjacent
That's pretty beast for $300. I dig it. Does it have full RCA preouts on the back? How comprehensive is the EQ? Are the hard buttons color change capable?
 

J Everett

Suspension Lift
Founding Member
Location
Houma, LA
Full RCA outs on rear: FL/FR, RL/RR, Aux in L/R, Video out, and back up camera in. EQ leaves a bit to be desired, only has generic bass/mid/treble sliders. Hard buttons are color customizable, and I have a pretty decent match to the factory orange.

I got hit today with a $21.45 invoice from FedEx for import tariff/customs fees. I'm honestly not complaining. $300 shipped, and then a little over $20 for customs is still totally worth it. Just want you guys to be aware that that can happen.
 
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J Everett

Suspension Lift
Founding Member
Location
Houma, LA
Well a couple of months ago I tried greasing the rubber bumpstops. That worked for about two weeks. Then the damn squeak returned.

New solution: Loosened the bolts on the latch mechanism and moved it down about 2mm and retightened. Also turned the rubber bumpers about 1/4 turn counter-clockwise to back them out a bit. The hood used to visibly bounce up and down a couple of millimeters on bumpy roads. Now it's rock steady and dead quiet. I love free mods!
 

J Everett

Suspension Lift
Founding Member
Location
Houma, LA
Upgraded the stereo from Jelly Bean to KitKat!
IMG_20150823_094619_zps2rxqrric.jpg


Got the laptop involved to download root and upgrade images and an Airport Express to extend my wifi network (the built in wifi in the streo is really weak):
IMG_20150823_094641_zpszm3q8rbr.jpg


Old interface looked like this (forgot to take before pic, but this unit is using the same Android image):
$_12.JPG


Now looks like this:
IMG_20150823_130804_zpsma4ebnyj.jpg
 

J Everett

Suspension Lift
Founding Member
Location
Houma, LA
Holy crap you guys! I almost forgot to share this with you!

I've had my 2nd Xterra for 5 years now. I've always been disappointed in the factory off road roof lights, but I really liked the factory look. Also, I've never been night wheeling on anything more than a beach, and I don't need a 40" LED light bar up there, so that leads me back to keeping the factory look. I tried Silverstar bulbs for a definite improvement, but I still wanted more. I had bought some RIGID Duallies waaay back when, with the intent of creating a custom bracket to make them fit, but the pods in the air dam just wouldn't allow it.

2016: Enter the Rugged Ridge 15209! It's actually a little smaller than a perfect fit, but it has as many raw lumens as a Dually and is much smaller. And also cheaper! So I made it work.

After acquiring a pair of lights, and mocking everything up to see what else I would need, I also bought these adapter harnesses and this kitchen cutting board (bear with me).

I cut each of the harnesses in half and spliced the end that looks like a 9005 bulb socket to the plugs that plug into the lights. This creates a jumper harness between the truck and the lights without cutting into either the truck harness or the light leads. I apologize for not having any pics, but it's pretty self explanatory.

Next, the reason for the cutting board: I needed a 1/2" thick spacer. HDPE is a stout material that is easy to work with. It also turns out the HPDE cutting boards are waaaay cheaper than just buying raw material. Plus it comes in blue! So I took the entire light brackets apart and made a pattern using poster board that I then transferred to the cutting board. You can see the rough shape here:




I mocked everything up and found where I needed to drill for the mounting bolt, then drilled and countersunk the bolt head, as seen above.

Then it was merely a case of attaching the lights, lining everything up and then attaching the cutting board adapter blocks to the factory light brackets. I did that last bit by drilling two holes into the light bracket and adapter block and attaching it with self tapping screws. I don't have a pic of this, but I need to make a small aiming adjustment, so if anyone needs that pic, just ask.


Reassemble the whole thigamajig and plug everything in, zip tie wires out of the way and bolt back to the roof. Voila! LED pods in the factory off road roof light location!




Mega huge shoutout to Jay (Prime) for sending me a new rubber trim piece for the bottom of the air dam! Mine was shot!
 

J Everett

Suspension Lift
Founding Member
Location
Houma, LA
For those wondering, like I was for the last 5 minutes, in the pics above, the weird mirage looking windshield wiper above the roof rack is because my rear hatch was open when I took the pics. LOL
 
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