- Location
- Signal Mtn., TN
Long ago (July 2010) in a city far, far away (Memphis, TN) there lived a 2004 Xterra. This Xterra was owned by my bf's uncle Mike, who worked in the offices of the Smyrna, TN Nissan factory since the day it was born...er...built. He later was supposed to go to work for a Nissan dealership in Memphis and relocated there. The deal didn't go through and he ended up commuting from Memphis to Smyrna for around two years. Mike passed away in February of 2010 and his the Xterra was left to his wife who was now working at the Memphis dealership he was supposed to have been transferred to. She didn't want to put it up for sale, but didn't feel right driving it either. When she found out I love Xterras and was looking for one she offered it to me for $4000.00 with 132,000 miles on it. It had all the service records from Nissan including one I found a bit odd. At it's 100,000 mile service it shows they inspected the timing belt but didn't replace it. She was coming here for the week of the 4'th of July and said she'd bring it for me to look over. Needless to say I jumped on it. When I took delivery I found that she had also included an extended warranty for two years or 24,000 miles for me. It had over half worn street tires on it which lasted exactly two days before they were replaced with some 265/75-16 BF Goodrich KM2 mud tires.
I took a picture the day I got it but can't find it, but this one was taken the following weekend. It's just how I got it except for the tires.
I know the nose down rake is for handling and fuel economy, but I didn't like how low my front end looked with the smaller fender gap with the slightly larger tires. I looked up how easy it is to adjust the torsion bars to raise the front a bit so I went for it. I've modded every vehicle I've owned, but my plan was to keep this one just the way it was. I think most of us know how well that plan works out. I thought some Hella 500s would be a nice addition and wouldn't really be a mod. More of just an addition really.
I installed a Cobra 75WXST CB radio and a Wilson Little Wil antenna.
That kept me happy for a while, but the lights shook a lot mounted to the grill like that. I also didn't care much for the white covers the lights came with and my grill looked just awful. I ordered up some Hella light guards I thought would look better and made plans to put some washers on the back side of the grill so they wouldn't shake so bad. I figured that would be a good time to paint the grill as well and found some Duplicolor bumper paint that matched the other plastic close enough.
I was reading about how the rear sway bar isn't a very good design and can even damage the passenger side shock without going off road. I also learned that once it was off you can replace the factory shocks with ones for an Xterra with a lift to get better articulation, or flex out of the rear axle. Since I don't have a locker, keeping all four tires in contact with the ground is critical so I picked up some Rancho RS5000 shocks. Before the weekend came I read about removing the intake resonators and installing an air filter with better flow to improve the airflow to the engine. I got a K&N air filter and the necessary plugs for the intake mod. Saturday came along and in no time I had a pile of essentially unnecessary parts laying on the ground.
I hadn't seen exactly how much removing the rear sway bar and swapping in the extended shocks would help so I took some before and after pictures to document the difference. I documented the change by first driving up a dirt hill by my driveway in two wheel drive until the suspension flexed to the point of removing too much weight off of the tire and I couldn't go any more. After the mod I lined up on the same place and repeated the experiment. Here's the results.
Before:
And after:
Almost everyone was saying to remove the mud flaps or splash guards or whatever you want to call them but I resisted and left mine on. That is until one day when I was out playing on an easy trail. The driver side rear got hung on a branch and broke some of the clips holding the rear side plastic trim on. Off came the splash guards as soon as I got home.
That was all fine. I told myself I hadn't really made any mods, just some improvements it should have come with from the factory anyway. It still looked like any other Xterra and I was perfectly happy with it. I had been looking at some wheels I thought would be nice but I resisted the urge to lay out the money for them. Then this year when my birthday came along, Chris surprised me with the very Granite Alloy GA9 wheels I had been admiring.
The wheels looked great but being 16x8 with 4.78" of back spacing instead of the factory 16x7 with 5.5" they rubbed like crazy when turning. Not a problem though because the plastic where they were hitting is soft and easy to cut.
The problem now was that the wheels totally changed the look of the Xterra. I think it made it look more aggressive. So that's probably the point when the mod bugs stopped nibbling on me and took a serious and permanent bite. Now that it had some flat black wheels, the silver step bars didn't look very good so I figured a set of black Shrockworks sliders would look better while helping to protect the body. I ordered a set, but to get by until they arrived I painted the step bars black. Somehow after that the front door windows that had been fine for so long were now screaming to be tinted. D@#* mod bugs!
I was hoping the sliders would show up before the 2011 National Xterra Meet but that didn't happen. I went to the meet and had an incredible time.
Up until this time, I had no need for more lights. Then after seeing how good Xs look with roof lights on so many that were there I was really hoping to win one of the light bars that were given away there. I didn't. I thought it over for a week or two then ordered an Xoskel low profile light cage and four Hella 500FFs.
Many months later the slider finally showed up.
Of course, as these things always seem to happen, the sliders brought about the need for another mod. Since I was no longer worried about bending up the step bars or damaging the rocker panels I started taking more aggressive lines over rocks and more challenging trails. It quickly became obvious just how low the factory tow hook hangs and how easy it is to pop plastic clips out of the factory bumper cover when it barely rubs a rock or on the ground. The best solutions I could think of for that were either a suspension lift or a better bumper with recovery points and remove the tow hook. (both would be best of course) The lift I want isn't financially possible at the time, but James at RLC Welding & Fabrication was interested in building off road worthy bumpers for Xterras. He just needed one at his shop to get measurements. I called him and we worked out a schedule for me to drive to his shop in Louisville, KY. I was blown away by what he created.
That's where it stands for now. I've got some four inch driving lights ordered to fit the new bumper and a Gobi ladder on the way. I don't have any trouble reaching the roof but Chris is 5'4" and wanted it to help when we have camping equipment on the rack. I have a 240SX that a friend is buying so as soon as he comes up with the money I'll order the suspension lift. That's all I have planed for now but I won't kid myself by saying then it will be done.
I took a picture the day I got it but can't find it, but this one was taken the following weekend. It's just how I got it except for the tires.
I know the nose down rake is for handling and fuel economy, but I didn't like how low my front end looked with the smaller fender gap with the slightly larger tires. I looked up how easy it is to adjust the torsion bars to raise the front a bit so I went for it. I've modded every vehicle I've owned, but my plan was to keep this one just the way it was. I think most of us know how well that plan works out. I thought some Hella 500s would be a nice addition and wouldn't really be a mod. More of just an addition really.
I installed a Cobra 75WXST CB radio and a Wilson Little Wil antenna.
That kept me happy for a while, but the lights shook a lot mounted to the grill like that. I also didn't care much for the white covers the lights came with and my grill looked just awful. I ordered up some Hella light guards I thought would look better and made plans to put some washers on the back side of the grill so they wouldn't shake so bad. I figured that would be a good time to paint the grill as well and found some Duplicolor bumper paint that matched the other plastic close enough.
I was reading about how the rear sway bar isn't a very good design and can even damage the passenger side shock without going off road. I also learned that once it was off you can replace the factory shocks with ones for an Xterra with a lift to get better articulation, or flex out of the rear axle. Since I don't have a locker, keeping all four tires in contact with the ground is critical so I picked up some Rancho RS5000 shocks. Before the weekend came I read about removing the intake resonators and installing an air filter with better flow to improve the airflow to the engine. I got a K&N air filter and the necessary plugs for the intake mod. Saturday came along and in no time I had a pile of essentially unnecessary parts laying on the ground.
I hadn't seen exactly how much removing the rear sway bar and swapping in the extended shocks would help so I took some before and after pictures to document the difference. I documented the change by first driving up a dirt hill by my driveway in two wheel drive until the suspension flexed to the point of removing too much weight off of the tire and I couldn't go any more. After the mod I lined up on the same place and repeated the experiment. Here's the results.
Before:
And after:
Almost everyone was saying to remove the mud flaps or splash guards or whatever you want to call them but I resisted and left mine on. That is until one day when I was out playing on an easy trail. The driver side rear got hung on a branch and broke some of the clips holding the rear side plastic trim on. Off came the splash guards as soon as I got home.
That was all fine. I told myself I hadn't really made any mods, just some improvements it should have come with from the factory anyway. It still looked like any other Xterra and I was perfectly happy with it. I had been looking at some wheels I thought would be nice but I resisted the urge to lay out the money for them. Then this year when my birthday came along, Chris surprised me with the very Granite Alloy GA9 wheels I had been admiring.
The wheels looked great but being 16x8 with 4.78" of back spacing instead of the factory 16x7 with 5.5" they rubbed like crazy when turning. Not a problem though because the plastic where they were hitting is soft and easy to cut.
The problem now was that the wheels totally changed the look of the Xterra. I think it made it look more aggressive. So that's probably the point when the mod bugs stopped nibbling on me and took a serious and permanent bite. Now that it had some flat black wheels, the silver step bars didn't look very good so I figured a set of black Shrockworks sliders would look better while helping to protect the body. I ordered a set, but to get by until they arrived I painted the step bars black. Somehow after that the front door windows that had been fine for so long were now screaming to be tinted. D@#* mod bugs!
I was hoping the sliders would show up before the 2011 National Xterra Meet but that didn't happen. I went to the meet and had an incredible time.
Up until this time, I had no need for more lights. Then after seeing how good Xs look with roof lights on so many that were there I was really hoping to win one of the light bars that were given away there. I didn't. I thought it over for a week or two then ordered an Xoskel low profile light cage and four Hella 500FFs.
Many months later the slider finally showed up.
Of course, as these things always seem to happen, the sliders brought about the need for another mod. Since I was no longer worried about bending up the step bars or damaging the rocker panels I started taking more aggressive lines over rocks and more challenging trails. It quickly became obvious just how low the factory tow hook hangs and how easy it is to pop plastic clips out of the factory bumper cover when it barely rubs a rock or on the ground. The best solutions I could think of for that were either a suspension lift or a better bumper with recovery points and remove the tow hook. (both would be best of course) The lift I want isn't financially possible at the time, but James at RLC Welding & Fabrication was interested in building off road worthy bumpers for Xterras. He just needed one at his shop to get measurements. I called him and we worked out a schedule for me to drive to his shop in Louisville, KY. I was blown away by what he created.
That's where it stands for now. I've got some four inch driving lights ordered to fit the new bumper and a Gobi ladder on the way. I don't have any trouble reaching the roof but Chris is 5'4" and wanted it to help when we have camping equipment on the rack. I have a 240SX that a friend is buying so as soon as he comes up with the money I'll order the suspension lift. That's all I have planed for now but I won't kid myself by saying then it will be done.
Last edited:
Everything you have do is classy
