AlbatrossCafe's FleXterra ~ T-Swap, 35s, 4.10s, Fully Locked

Prime

Shut up Baby, I know it!
Admin
Location
Denver Adjacent
I knew I was just about there. You cut through the metal sleeve or do you press it out (or both)? I was worried about cutting into the LCA.



Thanks! This is my family's vacation cabin. Now that we are all working remote I can hang out up here during the week so I feel super lucky. Here's the view if go straight through the house and look through the other side!

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That's ufcking gorgeous! I'm immensely jealous.
 

AlbatrossCafe

First Fill-Up (of many)
Location
Western WA
Raised the shackles up another hole. They are now on the highest hole. Looks like this 4" lift +500lb Alcans settled pretty far. When I first installed them, shackles were on lowest hole and I had nearly 2" of rake. I think it measured out to about 4.25" of lift. Now the shackles are on highest hole (1" longer) and I sit nearly level. Of course, it is kind of hard to tell with cut fenders but it still feels like they settled at least 1.5".

Is this a characteristic of all leaf springs? I only got these a few years/about 25k miles ago, so I'm kinda surprised TBH.

Honestly I can't tell a difference lol but here are the 2 pics with shackle at middle hole and then at top hole:

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AND now for the truck right after leaf spring install. I want this rake back!

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AlbatrossCafe

First Fill-Up (of many)
Location
Western WA
That's looking really good. I love the paint job on the wheels/caps.

Thanks! haha. These OEM wheels are definitely my best work out of my 3 painted sets. I think you missed those since I came from the other site.


Winter tires - basic plasti-dip S trim 5-spokes:

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My old 33" MTs - PRO-4x with the a two-tone (literally took me 20 hours to paint & tape):

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AlbatrossCafe

First Fill-Up (of many)
Location
Western WA
Had previously duct-taped my air dam down after the 4 rivnuts holding it in were spinning. It worked great for about a month until rain chipped away at it and it randomly started flapping on the highway which nearly ran me off the road I was so scared. With tape residue on there, nothing stuck. So I had to suck it up and bolt the air dam down again.

The 4 original holes had ground off drill bits. They were already sealed so... wasn't gonna mess with that. I drilled 3 new holes and used a new rivnut tool instead! I used gorilla glue around each rivnut to help make sure it doesn't spin and help with waterproofing. So far, it seems to have worked great.

It looks messy when you are up there but for 97% of people who only look at my X from the ground level you would never know.

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Luckily, all the work is hidden!

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AlbatrossCafe

First Fill-Up (of many)
Location
Western WA
Looks like my passenger diff flange might be leaking. Just had those seals replaced when I regeared about 25k miles ago. Any idea why they might be messed up again so soon?



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AlbatrossCafe

First Fill-Up (of many)
Location
Western WA
I ripped my first tire yesterday! Didn't even do anything memorable. Literally was the first 5 min in the ORV park and was just rolling through the "staging" area. Must have gotten unlucky on a root. It's a bout a 4" tear on the inside of the sidewall. Hooray!



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TerryD

Total Tease
Supporting Member
Location
Covington, Va
I ripped my first tire yesterday! Didn't even do anything memorable. Literally was the first 5 min in the ORV park and was just rolling through the "staging" area. Must have gotten unlucky on a root. It's a bout a 4" tear on the inside of the sidewall. Hooray!



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That really sucks man!
 

Seti

Test Drive
Perfect ratio for automatic IMO. I drive 4.10's on 33's in the winter (winter tires) and the gearing is a little too tall for highway driving. That's about equivalent to 4.56 and 35's. I am close to 3k at 70mph with that. I will say the little bit of off-road I do with 4.10's and 33's is great with that super low-range but if you never tried both you would never know the difference.

I've never been hurting for power with the 4.10s and off-road is perfectly fine. Also, my MPG is better than my 3.36 with 33's ;)

On winter tires:

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Dude! Nice effin Xterra! I really like it! The progress pics are sweet thanks for taking the time to do those. Also idk why but this is like the sexiest picture of the X!!! Lol I love taking snow pics with my X. I kinda get a tanky vibe here as if you modded your rig to have those bolt on tank treads. I've seen an X with those and it was the coolest thing ever man.
 

AlbatrossCafe

First Fill-Up (of many)
Location
Western WA
Dude! Nice effin Xterra! I really like it! The progress pics are sweet thanks for taking the time to do those. Also idk why but this is like the sexiest picture of the X!!! Lol I love taking snow pics with my X. I kinda get a tanky vibe here as if you modded your rig to have those bolt on tank treads. I've seen an X with those and it was the coolest thing ever man.

Thanks buddy! I totally see what you mean. This is one my favorite X snow pics because I like how all the powder got caught up in the tread of the tires:

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AlbatrossCafe

First Fill-Up (of many)
Location
Western WA
Well, I need lug nuts (arriving Wednesday) but here is new tire/wheel set preview! Black Rhino Duggers with 315/70/R17 Dick Cepek Trail Country EXP's.

This tire really isn't too different from what I had. Same parent company, similar class, same compounds.. they pretty much compete with each other directly. I think I like the tread on the Dick Cepek better but the sidewall design on Mickey Thompson better. The MT sidewall seemed to offer a bit better protection.



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This is what the tire shop left for me to take home lol. Good thing it all fit in my parents' F150! I left my truck on jackstands cus I didn't trust the shop to put them on without marring the wheels.


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The Mickey Thompsons were always a little short compared to other 35s, as is evident here.


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These rash rings were kind of a PITA. 20 bolts in each one times 5 tires = lot of effort. I would not want to do this without power tools!


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Done! I'm hoping these wheels don't end up like my last set. Gonna keep these and repaint them for my winter tires. They should stay a lot nicer there.


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AlbatrossCafe

First Fill-Up (of many)
Location
Western WA
Those are some good looking wheels! Is the spacing similar to OE?

Offset is +10mm (stock is 30mm, I believe). I had to grind the front calipers a bit to make them fit. I didn't want anymore width TBH but most wheels seem to be 0 offset or more. Out of the ones I like enough (very small list) these had the most positive offset.

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AlbatrossCafe

First Fill-Up (of many)
Location
Western WA
Alright. Here's the final reveal. This is prob gonna be the last time you guys see these wheels clean upload_2020-7-22_23-16-56.gif



Initial impressions on wheels: I picked them cus they were still +10mm offset. It adds about 0.8" width per side. I wish these came in 20mm offset. I don't like the extra width. Other than that, they look amazing. This will be my first set of wheels without any added orange.... might have to remedy that somehow (lug nuts maybe?)



Initial impressions on tires: The tires are amazing so far. They are 7lb lighter per tire than last set. Wheels weigh the same. I notice the lightness when accelerating. They are also load range D vs E, and for sure softer on the road bumps. As far as road noise, they are quieter than the mickey thompsons (even when the MT's were new). I'm hoping they don't get much louder as they wear. And best of all, they still look plenty aggressive to me. Excited to try them off road this weekend.



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AlbatrossCafe

First Fill-Up (of many)
Location
Western WA
Yay! Looking good man. Glad you like them. Total PITA, but, something's are worth the extra time/headache. Those lugs work good for you?

Barely. I think you really need the lugs that are basically a giant allen/torx head or whatever to make it as easy as possible. What did you end up using and did they work?

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TerryD

Total Tease
Supporting Member
Location
Covington, Va
Alright. Here's the final reveal. This is prob gonna be the last time you guys see these wheels clean View attachment 14921



Initial impressions on wheels: I picked them cus they were still +10mm offset. It adds about 0.8" width per side. I wish these came in 20mm offset. I don't like the extra width. Other than that, they look amazing. This will be my first set of wheels without any added orange.... might have to remedy that somehow (lug nuts maybe?)



Initial impressions on tires: The tires are amazing so far. They are 7lb lighter per tire than last set. Wheels weigh the same. I notice the lightness when accelerating. They are also load range D vs E, and for sure softer on the road bumps. As far as road noise, they are quieter than the mickey thompsons (even when the MT's were new). I'm hoping they don't get much louder as they wear. And best of all, they still look plenty aggressive to me. Excited to try them off road this weekend.



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Those are sharp! Looks good man!
 

AlbatrossCafe

First Fill-Up (of many)
Location
Western WA
Got into a really annoying predicament yesterday. Was on a trail that was REALLY narrow. It was open to cars/trucks but really should have specified "only 2-door old-school vehicles". Well I learned this after it was far too late. One of those spots where you can't back up and you can't go forward.

It was way off camber, with a big slippery root on the HIGH side that further wanted to slide you to the low side. And of course on the low side was a tree. I respositioned myself about 15 times but eventually I just had to basically say "eff it" and grin & bear the damage while going forward.

Luckily, all the damage was on my door. Unluckily - this was supposed to be my clean side. It could have been much worse!

Bonus: First off-road test of tires and they performed admirably. Check out that flex in the last pic!


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TheCrabby1

I Smell Fishy
Supporting Member
Location
Burtonsville, Md
Hate to see any damage , nice to see the tire deform and the bead lock's doing their job ! I wonder if anyone make's their slider's so they are even with with the outside tire line ?? I ask this cause it look's like if ur' slider's stuck out another inch or two maybe it would have held off the tree ?
 

AlbatrossCafe

First Fill-Up (of many)
Location
Western WA
Hate to see any damage , nice to see the tire deform and the bead lock's doing their job ! I wonder if anyone make's their slider's so they are even with with the outside tire line ?? I ask this cause it look's like if ur' slider's stuck out another inch or two maybe it would have held off the tree ?

Haha that's funny you say that, cus these aren't actually beadlocks. That ring is replaceable and more of a guard against rock rash. Which may make it even more impressive?

I know some sliders stick out ridiculously far but then it's a debate of protection vs. clearance. With Titan swap, your tires are already out past the fender a pretty good amount. The tires themselves do a good job protecting the body and pushing it away from stuff. This was just a bad combo of tight trail, not being able to make a wide turn, and lean
 

AlbatrossCafe

First Fill-Up (of many)
Location
Western WA
Replaced my passenger side valve cover today. I wanted to both but ended up working on this one for about 5 hours. It was daunting at first but in the end really not that bad. ChrisFix has a great video that steps you right through it. I bet I could do it again in about 2-3 hours. This was to fix oil getting into my #6 spark plug, as well as small oil drip (about 1 drop every couple days).

Ran it for 10 min after the RTV dried today. Seems to not leak....? Let's hope!

One recommendation - I wish I would have washed my engine compartment first. Was stressful trying to work around the dust!


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