Brunnie's Build - Tonka

Intro Comments: Tonka is a daily driver so it has remained a mostly stock Xterra. I do take it off road mainly doing roads that are rated 4 and below, which Colorado has tons of for fun exploring. We’ve been over Tincup Pass, Tomichi Pass, Cumberland Pass (and to the top of the hill there), up many of the roads in the Buena Vista, Fairplay, Alma, Como area.

Username: Brunnie

Xterra Nickname: Tonka

Make: Nissan
Year: 2011
Model: Xterra
Trim: S
Color: Avalanche White

Factory Options:
Mud Flaps (removed)

Suspension/Steering:
Front:
Pro 4 suspension
Moog Sway Bar Links
Lift spacer

Rear:
Pro 4 Shocks
Re-arched Springs with an extra leaf added
Nisstec Adjustable Lift Shackles

Tires:
265/70R16 Firestone Destination AT

Interior Mods:
LED interior lighting
Upgraded the LED lighting in the Map Light
LED “junk tray” lighting
2 Additional power outlets
DeLorme InReach SE mount in rear area
Auto Dimming Mirror w/Temperature & Compass
Pathfnder Overhead Temperature and Compass display
2 Garmin Nuvis GPS mount
Hep Design Rear window Molle panel
Raingler Ceiling Cargo Net

Exterior Mods:
Aftermarket Fog Lights
Aftermarket LED floodlights
Rear Differential Breather mod (Nissan P/N 38323-C6010 or 3823-C601A barbed nipple for a C200 axle)
16" Bosch Rear Window Wiper (Bosch p/n R1617) and new spring (Ace Hardware spring #162)
Tow hook on Driver's side
Gas Hood Strut Kit
Pro-4 Skid plates
Quick Fist Rubber Clamps
Hi-Lift Jack Mounts

Misc Stuff:
Funtreks Colorado Backroads &4 WD Trails Books
Funtreks Moab Backroads & 4 WD Trails Book
Numerous Trails Illustrated Maps
All the NFS maps for Colorado
Boulder Tire Deflators
Viair 400P Portable Compressor
GearAmerica Recovery Tow Strap
motormic Shackle Receiver
Home Built Cooler Retainer, recently modified by adding a small shelf (see below)
Hi-Lift 48" jack
Uniden Pro520XL cb and 4' Firestick antenna
4 Tire Inflator/Deflator

 

Where's dem pichas!?

 

Flood Lights and GPSs

These are the floodlights up front, snagged them from the local Pnp for a whopping $8.


I have a Nuvi 2555 for street Nav:

It is mounted in the upper junk tray using a RAM Mount HOL-GA52U, 2 ball mounts and a 3 inch Double Socket Arm.

For trail Nav I have a Garmin Drive 60:

There is no RAM mount for it, so I used the RAM X mount, 2 ball mounts and another 3 inch Double Socket Arm.

 

Hi-Lift Jack & Mounts, Shovel Mounts

I also came across a deal on Craigslist for a Hi-Lift jack. So that meant I had to get mounts for it and here is how that turned out. The mounts are at an angle for 2 reasons. 1 - Easier to load and unload the jack while standing on the ground. 2 - They clear the garage door.



I also have a need to carry a shovel at times but being the frugal person I am I didn't want to spend a bunch of money for a way to hold it. A trip to a local 4wd store and I found Quik Fist Clamps. One original size and one mini size and the shovel rides ontop of the stock crossbars.

 

Cooler Holder

Prepping for Road Trips, and this fall's trip, I got to thinking about how to keep the cooler from sliding around. Last year I didn't have any problems, even going back to Crystal Mill by Marble, CO, however I still wanted something to keep things in place so I came up with this idea.

First I put in a tie point from a Pathfinder.



Then I measured how far out from the track it was to the small storage space on the right side, 13" in this case, and I cut two "legs" and attached them to a 24X12 inch board. The board fits into the track so that keeps it from moving. I covered the board with black material, used for headliners, that I got from a fabric store. I glued it in place, and touched up a bit with staples. Added a little shelf to the end that goes near the wheel well. The 5 lb. propane tank sits in the section between the legs and we put a gallon water jug on the shelf.


(Got a little sloppy with the spray glue. *ugh*)

So here it is in actual final configuration. I used a strap to go from the tie point around the cooler and to the seat latch.

 

Lights and Temperature Module

A couple of weeks ago was "install a mod I was testing on the bench" day. The LED lights I put in the Map Light just weren't bright enough for me so.... it is off to the bench and grab a spare map light fixture and start experimenting.

A while back I purchased this LED reel from Amazon for another project.
SUPERNIGHT LED Light Strip Cool White 7000K The project left me with a surplus of light strip so I got the bright idea for modding the map light.

The nice part about this led strip is that you can cut to length, at the marks, with 3 LEDs being the minimum. That length just fits inside the Map Light. A bit of cutting and modding the fixture itself, adding a piece of matte board cut to fit, some 30 ga wire for strip to strip connections, and finally 26 ga wire for power and ground to the posts in the fixture and it looks like this.


Now everyone knows about adding a Gentex Self Dimming Temperature/Compass mirror (and I did the same) but few know about the adaption of a Pathfinder Temperature Compass Module.

This took a bit of engineering as I had to come up with an oscillator circuit to simulate the input from the speedometer. I love the fact that the "ICE" warning will stay on when the temperature drops that low. The Mirror display doesn't keep the Ice warning up very long.

 

CB and Antenna

Everybody has their opinion on where to mount a CB inside the rig, I'm no different, so where you mount yours is a matter of taste for you. I bought a Uniden Pro520XL radio. It has the features I wanted, and an inexpensive price tag.
Then to make it "work" I bought a 4' Firestick antenna.

Now where to mount the antenna is a different subject. I had seen where some had put the mount behind the tail light housing, but that also involved a bunch of filing to make a notch plus it had the potential of breaking the housing.
So I opted to put the mount above the housing. That did involve a bit of pounding with a 2 lb sledge on an anvil to get the bracket "reshaped" a bit so it didn't hit the body.



To get into the garage, I used a quick disconnect on the antenna. It all works just fine.

 

Nice daily build! I've got the S without fogs and am considering buying a kit off Amazon and maybe getting a higher lumen yellow/amber bulb so I can see better in the actual snow and fog. Did you have wiring to the lights before you installed the aftermarket housings? I'm assuming you having an S trim, you were without fogs as well..?

Thanks,
Lucas

 

Thanks. I got the fog lights from Amazon, and used the wiring that came with the kit. That was way less expensive than trying to find the correct light stalk with fog lights switch.

 

Put in the part number for the Bosch 16" rear wiper blade.

 

After seeing the Deflator/Inflator that PhullD had, I just had to build one. Sure makes deflating/inflating a lot easier.

Parts List:
3/8-in Barb Tee - Qty 2
3/8-in Barb x MIP adapter Fitting - Qty 4
1/4 to 5/8-in Screw Hose clamps - Qty 10
Steel NPT 1/4-in Industrial - Qty 1
3/8-in (ID) 50' PVC Air Hose - Qty 1
1/4-in NPT Mini Ball valve - Qty 1
Joe's Racing 32307 (0 to 60 PSI) Tire Pressure Gauge - Qty 1
Harzole 1 Pake AC-205F Lock on air chuck - Qty 4
1/4" NPT Female / FPT X 4 Way Cross Intersection Brass Fitting
Teflon Tape - Qty 1 roll

Total cost came to about $110.

 

That's awesome! I just might have to build one myself.

 

Hmm.. That's pretty..cool, I think. I just got the OGorilla set that screw onto the stem but haven't done a test run yet. Do you use this here thingama'jiger to air back up too? I'm going to have to go track down PhullD's build..

 

When we met up in Moab, I had a set of deflators and he brought out his setup. He was down to 18 lbs before I had 2 of mine down to 20.
Later in the day, when we were back on hard road in Arches NP, he had his tires back up to pressure before I could get 3 of mine back up to 37 lbs.

As the week wore on my GF and I developed a system for deflation that didn't use the deflators I had. They were just too slow. Inflation went quicker as she took care of the stem caps while I did the inflation and pressure measurements. Now with this setup I know that while all 4 tires are airing up I can be doing some other minor chores.

What parts I couldn't get at Lowes I got from Amazon.

 

Yeah, that's a pretty sweet setup.. Bout 60-70$ more than this set I've got but shoot, I bet I spend 45 mins running around trying to get 40# all around and always end up settling at 35ish just to move on. I went with a jump pack that had OBA instead of getting a dedicated pump. Now I wish I hadn't bought that big thing and went with better quality, smaller units.
We'll have to get together and hit some trails sometime, there's a million miles of trail I haven't seen yet in these parts~

 

That's pretty damn cool.

 

Haha nice! My only regret is not getting the ARB twin compressor, but I can fill all 4 of my 315/75R16's from 13-15psi to 35psi in 7min here. With the higher elevation in CO and UT it took a bit longer.

 

Installed a pair of Nisstec Adjustable Shackles.

Now I slope nose down for a bit until I can install spacers up front. So for a while I'll get better gas mileage 'cause I'm always runnin' downhill.

 

I like what you've done with your X so far! How are you liking the ride quality with the shackle/spacer lift and the 4600's? I myself don't do anything crazy off-road, eventually I would like to lift the X 1-2 inches for more clearance/aesthetics.

 

Ride quality overall hasn't changed much. It is stiff, sometimes stiffer, but that also depends on tire pressure and road conditions.
The general impression I get is that I can tell I sit a bit higher, but that is it. I know I sit a bit higher than a friend's stock '14 Pro4.

I haven't been out on any backroads yet but there's plenty of time for that.

 

That shackle is set on the lowest setting. With the spacer added you might want to put it on the middle setting to preserve the rake.

The OEM leaf packs are notoriously weak, if you find it a bit bouncy or soft when loaded up, Hellwig 550 helper springs are a good solution until the OEM leafs wear out. I got another two years out of my springs with the helpers. Also I see you took the rear sway bar off, did you notice it when you took it off?

 

For normal daily driving I haven't noticed any difference. I need to get it out on a trail and see what it does. I did some measuring before adding the shackle and then after the shackle and spacer and the rake is almost the same.

 

What spacer are you running up front? and are you still running stock UCA's? With the AAL and Shackles on the lowest setting, how much lift did you get out of it in the back? Sorry for all of the questions lol.

 

The spacer is about 1/2 inch thick (I think). I didn't measure it. PhullD had it and sent it to me. Right now I still have stock UCAs, but I am going to install a set of SPCs that I have sitting on the shelf when the weather gets warmer.

When I had the springs rebuilt, and the shop added an extra leaf, I gained about an inch of lift in the back. Now the lift is almost 2 inches. The spacer in the front raised that by about an inch.

Last night my GF's 2013 Xterra was sitting next to mine and it was very easy to see that I was about 2 inches taller than hers. Our vehicles have the same tires, so no difference there, just the suspension changes to mine.

 

Thanks for the info. Notice any driveline vibrations with 2 inch lift in the back? I have my eye on this kit from Nisstec: http://nissteclifts.com/2-Spacer-AAL-Kit-With-UCAs-05-Xterra_p_479.html I noticed it comes with the axle shims. One last question LOL, did you install Cam bolts?

 

Haven't needed cam bolts yet... (knock on wood)... but they are on the shelf when and if I need them. I haven't noticed any driveline vibration at all.