Tommyboy's Build Thread

Well I’ve had my X for over a year and have come to a point that I think I have made enough mods to warrant a build thread.

Back story, because every story has a beginning.
We were going between a Xterra and a Pathfinder but the X just seemed more up our alley. I wanted White, 4wd and grey seats. We spent about 2 months looking for the right Xterra and dealing with some really crappy car dealers. I was searching all over middle TN with no luck. Then one day I opened up the search an extra one hundred miles and found a Off Road in Kentucky for a great price. Long story short… I had to drive to Louisville to get her and it was totally worth it.

I’ll start with the obligatory first day shots!

First Fill up and the REAL sticker shock. (I learned not to look at the gas pump.)





Second day we drove it down to the river west of Nashville.







Looks like Ephram likes the new ride too.



We went wheeling three times before we even got the drive out tags off. This is the first trip to Wooly’s Off Road Park.

Got to meet Dave, Luke and a few other guys for a little off road christening.





Then My wife and I meet Ryan and Wes at Land Between the Lakes for a little water crossing.



And the second trip to Wooly’s, and the last time I had the stock step rails on. As you can see why in the pics below.

At this point you are thinking, where are the mods this is a build thread!!! My truck still had the original tires with about 50,000 miles on them and was not really suited for off roading. So I went to discount tires and grabbed some Wranglers. Also I did the melt mod, sorry no pictures of the melt mod because it was to easy and went by to fast.









Well after a few months I got a CB for my birthday and did an install. Install write up. I had to hide the holes for mounting the antenna and I couldn’t bring myself to drill or cut my dash so I stashed it in the center console.





And the new tires REALLY paid off on my first trip to Coal Creek.



I started having problems transporting the parental units around in the back seat. Every time we went over a bump the rear was bottoming out. So after doing some research I found that a AAL lift would save my sweet rear from harsh bumps. AND make my truck look SO COOL! 2" PRG Spacer/AAL Lift write up.





My FAN CLUB.









As she grew up I knew I needed protection, and I started out to build my own sliders to incorporate my own style and I thought I could save money, I was very wrong. After steel, a new welder and cutting and grinding disks I have the most expensive sliders in the world. But I love how they turned out and don't regret that I made them.











During the slider build I got a B&M Light Bar and some 6” lights. I got the lights for a steel but they were chrome, and I’m not into the bling bling. So I had to paint them black.









Finally The First Ever seXTERRA meet, at Coal Creek. It happened that my wife got to try out the sliders first and that was okay because I got to see them work.









I'm sure there will be more later.
Thanks for reading.

FIRST EVER BUILD VIDEO



[video=youtube;bU44FnQrnCI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bU44FnQrnCI[/video]



And on now Vimeo!!!!


[video=vimeo;31338879]http://vimeo.com/31338879[/video]






This Video is the rock crawl (with out interruption) from Coal Creek fall 2010, Truck was stock except for the recent addition of 33" tires. (Everything is in real time.)


[video=youtube;0GxBVxYd3kA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GxBVxYd3kA[/video]

myspace.

Three!!!!

Hey Tommyboy.. can I get those gas prices back?

I know right! I get the X and the rising gas curse, I still win!!! "Winning"

So Tom have you had the Mother in law use the sliders as a step yet?

Wow the photos, soo many! Nice work sir. Looks like you have quite the build. Nice looking sliders. And yes if we can get back to $2/gal id be stoked and not wanting a little race car to speed around town in, but such is life

Tom I think you need to grow the stash back...

drbandkgb said:

So Tom have you had the Mother in law use the sliders as a step yet?

Click to expand...

Yep and seem to work well.

Man I need some sliders like those. I like your build man. You're missing something very important though.

^^^^^ "like"^^^^^^

This totally looks like you're licking your tire!

^^^^^ Looks can be deceiving... but in this case... you are correct sir!



Also Update!!!!!

Scroll up for the first ever BUILD VIDEO!!!

Haha, I'm going to have to lick my new tires to christen them!

Haha, I like the little machine gun shot in the end

Jezz don't give away the ending!!!

Wow!! Good vid and great idea man!

RATTFINK said:

Wow!! Good vid and great idea man!

Click to expand...

Thank you kind sir. sometimes I have my moments.

tommyboy said:

Jezz don't give away the ending!!!

Click to expand...

Sorry....SPOILERS ABOVE!

Very nice dude. How hard was the AAL?

It was pretty easy, the whole day took about 8 hours. We did Ryan's lift at my house too. We ran into a big problem with his front lower control arm bolts being frozen in the bushings. but other than that it was pretty easy.

The key is to start hitting all of the bolts with PB Blaster 3 weeks before the wrenches start turning.

Nice, I am thinking about doing the same to mine. Does it change the ride on the highway any?

It will stiffin' the ride just a little, and you can take off your rear sway bar. I can still take exit ramps at the same speed. The ABS will kick on the "SLIP" light if you are going into a turn to fast.

yeah, i have had that happen a few times already. sometimes I forget I am driving an suv so taking exit ramps at 70mph... Not recommended. A few close calls.

Tom that video rocked sir.. Your really stepping up XN!

REP!

me likey the build video! gives me an idea!

Thank you kind sir.

Looking good Tom! I really like the 1st pic, too bad gas prices still are not same as in the pic!

Thank you for noticing, that is totally what I was going for.

I really like this build. What's next on the list? We all know the list never ends.

I'm not sure, but thinking about saving up for real skids, front or rear bumper with tire carrier.

Awesome vid Tom! You did a great job putting that together...

Thanks Tim!

Sweet build thread. Yeah, that trip to Coal Creek was awesome and the sliders did their job alright!

Macland said:

This totally looks like you're licking your tire!

Click to expand...

At least it's not his window....



The rig looks great. If you don't mind me asking, how much did the sliders cost. I'm thinking about building a set myself too. I have access to a welder already so that won't be a factor.

I think the steal was around $190 and I had some left over because of design change. I plan on making them to sell in a few months. But making them yourself is a great learning experience.

How did you mount them? Weld on or bolt on?

Make me a set Tom...