JOSX2's '05 X-Titan - The VK-swapped Minion

[josx2]

July 13, 2016

Installed!

 

[josx2]

August 15, 2016

got some goodies for Minion this weekend!

hmm...where to start.....how's about my favorite mod for her as-of yet...

got a small little trailer to carry some things around

:rockin:

trailer base is a fully restored 1960's M416 military trailer with no rust. Fully functional adjustable height Lunette ring, parking brake, lights, etc.
- custom lid for dry secure storage. New weather stripping and 200lb gas shocks. Fully lockable as well.
- (2) brand new 2-gallon Rotopax water containers with mounts.
- HD Treds traction mats
- 5 lb propane tank and mount.
- New Front Runner Outfitters full roof rack with tent mounts
- CVT extended summit series Mt. Rainier roof top tent & annex

not pictured...a 72" CVT Summit-series awning too (same green color).

Sometime in the fall once it gets cooler, I'm gonna look into extending the tongue with replacement 2"x3" box tubing. Right now, my tire swing hits the trailer if it's swung open. Then, at some point, I'm gonna paint her yellow & black!

And taking it out w/ the kids this weekend for wheeling & camping. Soooo stoked about getting this!!


Then there's the maintenance stuff I took care of...

- replaced stock rad w/ a Koyo, took my X out of the bypass mod, AND added an auxiliary cooler for a little extra cooling cause of wheeling and towing

- Flushed the old coolant out w/ distilled water, then added a 50/50 mix
- did a poor mans' flush of the tranny fluid

Not maintenance, but added OME HD leafs to my OME packs being I've got a tire carrier now. Also bumped up the shackles by a 1/2" as well.

Bought extended rear brake lines in case the HD leafs & shackle adjustment made my brake lines too tight, but nope. Still using the cheap version of extended brake lines I'll hold onto them tho.....at some point, I'll prolly bump shackles up another 1/2" whenever I can find time to adjust the front coilovers to match.

One hot of a frickin' weekend for all this! but...it's done

 

[josx2]

October 6, 2016

So.....I may have gotten Minion some bigger shoes today....

(FYI - don't load a trailer with tires like this....it'll like to dance side-to-side at highway speeds :-/ )

BFG KO2 285/75/16
ProComp 7089 rims

I'll get a pic in the daytime tomorrow of all four tires on

 

[josx2]

October 6, 2016


Loving the wider stance!

the progression of Minion's shoes over the years.....
Stock --> Stealthed & General Grabbers (stock) --> KO2 285's on ProComp 7089s

 

[josx2]

October 6, 2016

& cause I'm sure i'll be asked (;-))...this is how I trimmed due to the new offset from the ProComps: I used an angle grinder (cutting disc) to cut to within about 1/8-1/4" of cut line, then used vice grips to bend back the rest of the 1/8-1/4" metal. Taped up that edge, and hit it w/ Rustoleum matte black paint. Also took a BFH & beat the living sh*t outta that inside pinch seam to bend it inwards. Then took heat gun to front fender & redid the corners to 'push' it forward about 1" Box knife to bottom edge of front fender to trim about 1/2" too

 

[josx2]

February 24, 2017

well...for about the next 1.5 months, Minion is a 2WD X. Selling the LOKKA'd front diff this weekend.....

...cause the first weekend of April, I'm picking up an ARB'd front diff!

**BOOM!**

 

[josx2]

March 9, 2017

started my switch rewiring/relocation project in preparation for the ARB compressor & front locker....

New switch panel

relocating the switch panel to the hole in the headliner I cut out. Google Sphere fail....the hole in the headliner is centered with the sunglasses holder.

Had to pull & cut the bracket that's above the headliner so the switches on both ends of the panel would fit up in there. Pulled the front of the headliner down in front of the windshield & was able to maneuver it out that way.

& kept myself busy at work today.....DONE!

Now, just gotta get the compressor & mount it in the engine bay. Compressor on/off & Locker solenoid wires are already run there waiting for it ;-)

 

[josx2]

March 16, 2017

Got my ARB CKMA12 compressor in yesterday, & installed it last night When I did the switch panel, I had run the necessary wires to the engine by for it, so it was more/less plug-n-play. Just gotta zip-tie up the power leads that are running across the engine, and then slather silicone over the mounting holes so water doesn't leak into the fuse box.

now..just waiting to get my diff on Sunday!

 

[josx2]

March 26, 2017

officially ARB'd in the front diff too!! Not a bad upgrade for $400 outta pocket!!

 

[josx2]

May 3, 2017

Being my OME HD Dakars are flattening out already (getting about 1" lift when the HDs should provide 2-2.5"), Minion's getting an ass lift.....

In front of and behind the axle

 

[josx2]

May 5, 2017

Put the helper springs on on last night (both pass & driver side, one in front of axle, one behind axle). Got about 0.75" lift back from them once they settled. But, i also have about an 80ish-lb heavy-as-lead tow-drawer organizer in the rear, the 285 spare on the swing arm, & a stock size spare underneath (<-- that's temporary....playing parts train).

Also, installed a switch to disable ABS for while offroading

 

[josx2]

July 26, 2017

Swapped coilovers today View attachment 9652

out with the old Bil 5100's & 2" spacer.....
In with the...umm.....newer old?....TJM HD Coilovers with a 0.5" spacer

 

[josx2]

July 31, 2017

well....just dropped about $350 w/ RockAuto for new Rotors, pads, parking brake pads, & Master Cylinder. Brakes have been feeling soft w/ the trailer in tow, and I've floored the pedal a couple of times as well. & yes, brake fluid has been flushed recently...and I also replaced the M/C with another one from a donor X a couple months back (with the stock M/C, brake would slowly go to floor once stopped if i continued to push on it)

I went with:
- Raybestos EHT Element3 pads (EHT1094H & EHT1100H)
- Raybestos Long Life Adv. Tech Rotors (980370 & 980368)

Master Cylinder is Raybestos MC391098
parking brake pads are Raybestos 869PG

 

[josx2]

Aug 16, 2017

added a little sumthin'-sumthin' to Minion last night :headbang:

 

[josx2]

September 5, 2017

ended up getting a yellow top Optima over the weekend as I've gone thru 4 batteries since 2013. All Autozone Duralast too.

- 2013 - replaced stock battery as it was shot.
- 2014 - the 2013 battery was replaced under warranty as it went bad
- 2015 - the replacement 2014 battery went bad, so had to buy a new one
- 2017 - the 2015 battery went bad. Was still under the 3 yrs full warranty replacement. Upgraded to the yellow top this time around for about $100. Not a bad deal ;-)

So.....here's to hoping to have resolved my battery issues once and for all! :drink:

I'm thinking being the duralast gold is just a starter battery, running the LED light cage and rear light bar/pods off of it while the truck's off may have led to the 2015's demise over the course of the past year (i'm sure the corrosion that built up on the postive terminal over the past 6-8 months didnt help either).

Having a deep cycle/starter battery now should resolve that issue.

*fingers crossed*

 

[josx2]

Sept 10, 2017

I had put a descent scratch/gash into my rear passenger door due my X shifting on 3 jackstands when I was lifting the 4th corner up w/ the highlift. Lucky for me, got a buddy up in Va that's got a yellow X he's scrapping & has a ton of spare parts. So, I went up to over the weekend to pick up some spare doors, both front fenders e som misc. parts from him. Figured it doesn't hurt to have spare exterior parts that can/will prolly get damaged from wheeling ;-)

soooo......when I had my back turned to my trailer, something else had jumped into it. needless to say...it followed me home, so i kept it View attachment 9654

 

[josx2]

September 21, 2017

been busy as h3ll the past 2 days with the rack. Tues night, mounted the rack. Figured out that the mounting feet could be removed from the rack itself, so that definitely helped with things.

well...turned out that i had to elongate several holes in the mounting feet because they weren't even close to lining up with the holes in the roof. :scratch: yeah...can't figure that one out being it came off of a 2nd gen X too. anyways...about 30 mins of work and all was better.

then, like a ninja...under the cover of night...slid the rack up onto the roof

that all was the easy part. the royal PITA part...was getting all the holes to line up perfectly. Long story short...I ended up having to loosen the feet mounting bolts almost to the point where they were coming out, keep the bolts that mounted the rack to the feet loose...and then wiggle/jiggle the rack several times to get bolt holes to line up one-by-one. took about 2.5 hrs to get the d*mn thing bolted together.

when i saw it the next morning in daylight....i wasn't all that impressed honestly. it looked SMALL! :-(

from the side it didnt look too bad

but the front view wasn't impressive at all. I had some ideas floating in my head on how to mount my 4 LED lights, but nothing definitive.

And then...it dawned on me that with a slight retrofit to move it slightly forward, I could actually reuse my light cage So, to work I went all day yesterday. Decided to give the rack a fresh coat of matte black paint too.

 

[josx2]

September 21, 2017

e finished product...after about 12 hours of non-stop work....ugh (just have to wire up the lights)

before & after! MUCH better!!

added a little accent to it too :glasses2:

 

[josx2]

September 26, 2017

wheeled w/ bunch of 4Runners this past weekend at the Appalachian Rendezvous, and got jealous of their roll-down window. So, decided to start working on that mod right then & there...

I need to work on my finesse at removing the rear window to prep for the mod...

didn't have the tools or the roll-up/down motor on hand to make it functional, so I had to wrap her up to drive home

I've now realized i'm prolly above my head on this mod, so getting a new window put in tomorrow instead. I'll have to think it over in my brain a little longer on how to pull it off...

 

[josx2]

October 14, 2017

$50 and 40 mins later, rear window replaced 2 days later while at work

 

[josx2]

October 14, 2017

Well, was doing some repairs to the bumper today, and decided "WTH...let's give her a facelift". Can't swing a bumper yet, but I've been wanting the clearance for the front tires for a better approach angle.

So grabbed the heat gun and the box cutter and went at it. Took my time, outlined it with a pencil, and hacked away. Pic shows pass side done, compared to stock driver side. Got dark just after I finished the driverside, so I'll be grabbing pics of the finished job tomorrow

 

[josx2]

October 15, 2017

Pic of it all finished....I got it symetrical! LOL

Before and after....

 

[josx2]

Ocotober 30, 2017

So this past weekend's project....

went for an alignment about 1.5 weeks ago...learned my tie rods were loose. greeeaaat. So, put an order into Rock Auto that day & had all inner/outer tie rods at my door in about 3 days

Figured while I had it all apart for the tie rods, may as well and take care of my seized cam bolts.

loonnnggg @ss day....don't really care to repeat that work again! LOL

anyways...got it aligned & well within spec now Purchased my Firestone lifetime alignment ealier this year...and I'm pretty sure I've already used it enough to pay for itself about 2 times now!

 

[josx2]

January 2, 2018

this is about a half-month late ;-) So, as life would have it....just about exactly 2 months after I trimmed the bumper corners, I gots myself a Shrock bumper! For d@mn near cheap too! But, it's not without its flaws though, that I still need to fix.

A buddy of mine rolled his X, going downhill, onto the driverside the day before a group wheeling event the 1st weekend of December. Thankfully, he was ok...but insurance totaled the X. Judging by the bumper, it appears the back passenger end was coming up-&-over before the roll....causing majority of the X's weight to be put on the front driverside wing of the bumper.

As you can see in the pic below, it's pushed in about 2.5-3" compared to the passenger side. (& yeah...i didn't have the radiator skid on at the time of the pic). And this was after I was able to pull the wing out about an inch. Placed the X between two trees....secured the base of the bullbar to tree on passenger side. Then attached a come-a-long to the driverside tree and the wing of the bumper, and pulled it out as much as I could before fear of snapping the cable line took over ;-) Even at that, I still had to cut about 0.5" of the inner edge of the top of the bumper away to get it to just clear the headlight mount.

In the pic below, the top half shows how far I was able to mount it at the shop in order to drive home (it was about 10pm at that point). Bottom pic is after the come-a-long & angle grinder.

This side-by-side shows passenger side (TOP) vs. driver side (BOTTOM). The bolt of the headlight mount is what the red vertical line goes over. Passenger side has about 1" clearance between bolt & bumper.

I'm trying to see if I can use the jaws-of-life spreaders or hydraulic ram spreader at the FD I used to volunteer at to push the wing out the rest of the way. If not, I may purchase a porta-power from Harbor freight to do it....if I don't take it to the shop we were at & let the owner have at it ;-)

 

[josx2]

February 14, 2018

I hit up Windrock this past Friday & Saturday with a very well experienced local club, about 5-6 rigs attended. Friday was gorgeous...but Saturday.....oh man....Saturday was the day of carnage. The mountain ate us all up, spit us out, & left us to fend for ourselves to get home. Over a span of about 30-hours....about 4-6" of rain had come down. 12 hours out on the trail.....the last 6-7 hrs is when carnage & trailside repairs occurred.

Anyways....a winch more/less turned out to be absolutely critical due to how sh*tty the conditions were on the mountain, and I was the only one without a winch. So, while headed home on Sunday, I found this gem on Craigslist Just picked her up this afternoon!

If you're curious, the carnage included:
- me: oil pressure sensor & alternator went bad, popped a bead on front passenger tire, got a new dent in rear driver side door
- rig #2 (SAS'd 1st Gen on Dana 44s) - front passenger axle shaft snapped
- rig #3 (Nissan Hardbody on Dana 44's) - passenger side mirror and both passenger side windows busted, and broken front axle shaft
- rig #4 (Lifted 1st Gen) - popped beads on front passenger tire twice, more/less ripped the front bumper off while getting winched up a STEEP muddy/slick AF hill (only the 2 bottom bolts remained, which acted like a hinge for the bumper), mangled front fenders when bumper popped, couple of new dents to front passenger door, alternator, and the icing on his cake was liking his keys and his truck two minutes before we were leave this morning.
- rig #5 (full-size Titan) - wheeled Friday only - minor dent on front passenger door, good-sized Dent with some paint removal bottom fender well in front of rear tire

To give you an idea of the rainfall, this is normally a little puddle creek ya cross on a paved/gravel road. It was me & rig #2 at this point (#2 was videoing) as we had to split off from the other 3. We split off cause we weren't gonna get up a hill w/out severe damage, as that's when rig #4 had his bumper almost yanked off AND popped a bead at the same time getting winched up it. Anyways, ee had NO choice but to go thru this whitewater....this was about 1130pm, we had just gotten off the mountain that ate all of us alive. NO WAY we were going back into the mountain & hit the sh*tfest of trails to get out another way. We strapped my front bumper to his rear bumper with 2 tow straps linked together to give about 30' of strap - just enough for 1 rig to go thru it while the other remained on land. Land-based vehicle was the recovery vehicle in case the rig crossing started to get swept away.

 

[josx2]

February 15, 2018

Got it installed last night! Didn't even have to remove the bumper! Now just gotta wire it up I'm gonna look into either a cheap Harbor Freight wireless remote (which'll work with this), or run a momentary in/out switch & tap into the control box. If I need to plug in the wired remote, the grill is easily removed.

Gonna look into pricing for getting the fairlead powdercoated yellow ;-)

 

[josx2]

April 26, 2018

Big upgrade in store for Minion! Order for new Alcan's have been placed! 1100lbs add'l capacity with 3" lift (hoping it'll settle to 2.5"). Bill told me about 3 weeks to make 'em....so maybe in a month they'll be at my door! *fingers crossed* (but not holding breath)

Never thought in a million years I'd be needing leafpacks spec'd to +1100lbs! LOL But nope...each time I looked over my excel sheet of numbers (mmm hmmmm! LOL), that's what made sense.....

and cause I know someone'll dissect this, and ask about it...
- Photo gear is currently in my m416 camping trailer for temp. storage, so I used that as my "loaded up" trailer when I weighed for the tongue weight. It's usually inside my X when I head off for photo sessions about twice a month. But....no wife or kids with me, so that sorta balances the weight out between gear & family.
- Tongue weight isn't really factored in cause trailer gets hauled maybe once a month during the summer if/when we have time to escape for camping.

 

[josx2]

April 13, 2018

Picked up a new toy to carry with me - SafeJack's Hi-Lift Stabilizer do-hickey :cheers: and OMG....I don't know WHY I didn't get this years ago! My driveway has a very slight incline at the bottom of it....have had a couple sketchy moments w/ the hi-lift. But now...with the SafeJack stabilizer....talk about feeling a h3ll of alot more confident and safe knowing that hi-lift won't topple over on me! If you carry a hi-lift & don't have this in your rig...you SHOULD! Came into play this past weekend too....more on that below.

 

[josx2]

May 9, 2018

Last week, went for an alignment at Firestone. The tech that always works on my truck let me know that my engine mounts are going bad....he felt it when he spun it around the shop to get it on the lift. Soooo.....picked up PRG mounts from PerformanceLifts.com. I'm glad they're a PRG reseller....cause they are QUICK to process & ship orders. AND get back to emails in a very timely manner!

 

[josx2]

May 9, 2018

So Minion's now reaching DEEEEPPP into my pockets now LOL First, it was the Alcans I ordered the other week. Then....this past weekend happened.

Went wheeling this past weekend for the first time this year - Sat evening & Sunday. Well....I achieved the Trifecta of Carnage within a 24 hour period :-\

Saturday's carnage: Sheared the driverside half-shaft.

My new SafeJack stabilizer was PRICELESS for this repair! Perfect timing in getting it. Had to make it to the top of a mountain where it was relatively flat so I could pull the half-shaft. Still was on a slight incline tho, but better than where it happened. Had a rear wheel chocked, and weight shifted back onto it, but I felt safe as all h3ll working on this w/ the hi-lift in the SafeJack

Performed the fun surgery of removing the stub from within the diff....

Only had SAE drill bits, and a metric tap set...so hole ended up being just a little too big after being tapped. Put some JB Weld SteelStick on the bolt, and put it into the hole. Let it sit for about an hour, and out it popped with a little encouragement from a pry bar! Ain't she nasty looking??!! LOL

 

[josx2]

May 9, 2018

Sunday's Carnage - 2-in-1....Dead X
Wheeled Sunday in 2WD/Locked 2WD. Was going great until she started to sputter, no power when pedal pressed, vibrated when idleing....and oil light flashed on just before I turned the engine off. well...that was the last time the engine ran.

She'd crank and crank and crank...but nothing. 'Carnage" #2 - Pulled a P0340 code - Camshaft Position Sensor. Greeeaaat. So, got pulled back to the main gathering area of URE, and called AAA for a 1.5hr ride home (luckily, I had 100miles free towing!)

Yesterday (monday), ended up trying THREE different cam position sensors...and no luck with either. Started checking fuses...found the fuel pump 15A fuse was popped. Put in a new one with a sigh of relief....and no start. Disconnected fuel line, and no fuel was going thru it when key was in "on" position. Long story short, turns out the fuel pump sh*t to bed also. "Carnage" #3. Sooooo....dropped the tank. Fuuuunnnnn..........

pulled the pump, hooked it directly to the battery to confirm it was dead....and ordered a new one at my local Autozone. Amazon had the same exact one they had in their system, and my autozone guys price matched! Autozone wanted $300 for it....Amazon was $137! Waiting til tomorrow when hopefully it'll come in....otherwise it'll be in Thursday (had placed the order about 10 mins before the 'tomorrow delivery' cut-off)

 

[josx2]

May 9, 2018

As much as all this sucks...it's kinda a blessing in disguise. I'm doing the Red Clay Rally at the end of the month (June 1-3), and will be traveling thru VERY REMOTE coal mining areas of Kentucky & West Viriginia. If I hadn't gone wheeling this past weekend....I don't think I would've had a chance to get out before the RCR. yeah....that would've sucked big time! LOL So, glad it all happened now. Get it all fixed & good to go for the rally.

In light of the axle shearing, I decided at that moment that this'll never happen again. I'm now upgrading my front diff to an m205 :rockin:: :rockin: I've got one in my driveway I pulled from a local yard the other month with plans to sell...but, I'll be keeping it now. I ordered 3.36 R&P gears (to match my rear diff) along with an ARB locker for it from Rugged Rocks. Got a local friend w/ v8 Pathy half-shafts that he's letting me get for a steal. And anothe buddy of mine said he'll do the work of regearing & putting the locker in for no charge....so that's a HUGE savings!

Although that hole in my pocket is burning my leg BIG time, figured do it right once....buy once, cry once.

 

[josx2]

May 11, 2018

she's finally alive :rockin::headbang: New fuel pump in & she's running just fine

And I said "screw-this-tank-dropping-cr*p to access the fuel pump". Being I had the tank dropped already, I cut a quick access hole if I ever need to get to it again in the future....

 

[josx2]

June 9, 2018

well the OMEs lasted just 2 years 3 months...almost to the day too LOL they worked well, but I severely overloaded them as time went by, and eventually flattened out and provided about only 0.5" of lift. Been running my PRG shackles at 2" to maintain 2.5" lift.

So, pulled them and installed the Alcans the other night :rockin: These were pec'd to 3" lift (with hopes it'll settle to 2.5") and +1100 lbs over stock. BEEFY!

OME's laying on top of the Alcans....I'd say they lost a little of their 2" lift LOL

Check out that arch!! Back to stock shackles now too. I'm wanting to Titan Swap next year, so I'll put the PRG's back on at that point to gain another 1.5-2" lift to match the lift that the front'll end up getting.

So far, they ride VERY well! Not stiff at all....and most importantly not sagging! I got them loaded up with weight from my Gobi-style roof rack, skids, sliders, rear bumper/Tire carrier, and my heavy-as-lead cargo drawers (loaded up with tools and some spare parts, which'll be in there all the time), along with all my photo gear for this weekend. Took it all on a 4-hour drive to the session location too.

 

[josx2]

Sept 5, 2018

Got new shoes for The Minion yesterday! Cooper Discover STT Pro's

So far, initial impressions...great tire! Quiet on the highway, and mild humming between 30-50mph. Now just find time & make it out to my local stomping grounds, uwharrie, to test them out in the slick NC red clay after a good hard rain! I'll tell ya...my KO2s SUCKED in the mud.

 

[josx2]

March 10, 2019

Build update....

Minion's v8 swapping!

 

[josx2]

May 31, 2019

well...went ahead & replaced the plastic V6 cover that goes over the intake manifold.

I heard this gives +5hp, so figured why not :dontknow:

 

[josx2]

June 5, 2018

Minion's VK swap is DONE!!

Just got the last tune file from Joe for UpRev...he said everything looks good and I'm good to go!

:headbang:

no more mods for a long time! LOL need to let the piggy bank regain some of itself

 

[scoyoc]

Holly $hit! Did you spend all night migrating from TNX? The new build page looks great. Subscribed.

 

[Prime]

That's awesome!