PhullD's Build Thread

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Shut up Baby, I know it!
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Those are sexy.
 

PhullD

First Fill-Up (of many)
Supporting Member
Location
Ottawa, Ontario
So it's -20C here right now (-4F) but it will warm up next Tuesday, hopefully I can install those shocks then.

Struck out on the lug nuts. Received 24pcs that were supposed to be 1.75" long but they were just the standard 1.4". Got refunded and got to keep the lug nuts, I'll call that a win. Currently waiting back on 1320 performance or something on their lug nuts. Gorilla racing forged lugs only come in packs of 20 or 50 or individual (at $6.85 a piece) and I've seen some reviews that they get rusty. So damn frustrating, just want 2" long lugs that don't rust and aren't the spike style.
 

PhullD

First Fill-Up (of many)
Supporting Member
Location
Ottawa, Ontario
Well got the shocks installed. Had to loosen the remote reservoirs and manipulate them a bit on the passenger's side. I did on the driver's side too, but it wasn't really an issue there. Had to re-tap the threads on the bottom mount bolt and nut for both sides, that was a PITA. I didn't put my shock mount skids back on yet, couldn't slide the shock in on the passenger's side (driveway had a slant). It's not a big deal though cause I wanted to sandblast and repaint them before remounting.


I have yet to test the shocks, but it eliminated a lot of the roll in the rear and a lot of the nose diving/bouncing from braking or accelerating when I drove the truck home from my Buddy's place.

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PhullD

First Fill-Up (of many)
Supporting Member
Location
Ottawa, Ontario
Oh and on the ride home, the dimmer circuit stopped working from the cluster to all the switchs/buttons (so the cluster is working, but there are no lights on the buttons). I think (and hope) it is just a shiatty wire-tap I used when tapping the dimmer circuit. It's all fused up too but still a PITA to look into when it is so cold outside.
 

PhullD

First Fill-Up (of many)
Supporting Member
Location
Ottawa, Ontario
Tested the shocks on a long trip today. Corners/stop/go are much better. The back is a bit stiffer now (it should be with the alcans). What I mean by that is the shocks actually dampen and when I hit a bump the shocks aren't bouncing around. Went over some train tracks I've gone over a few times, made me smile! I bet these will really shine offroad based on that limited test lol


Also found what looks like a decent set of lug nuts. 1320 Performance lug nuts, black hardened steel, closed ends, comes with a tuner key. They are like 79mm long compared to the measly 40mm or whatever the OEM ones are.
 

PhullD

First Fill-Up (of many)
Supporting Member
Location
Ottawa, Ontario
So winter is finally over here. I only have a licence plate light LED to replace. The LED's that Maxterra uses on his bumpers are these ones :https://www.amazon.com/10-15VDC-AMA...ords=license+plate+led&qid=1586139566&sr=8-28

I must have smacked it with a snow brush one day and the back broke off. It will be my second set I replace. I think I'm going to encase them in something this time around.


All other plans are on hold because of the Pandemic, mainly limit straps and a Titan brake booster/master install, and refinishing my shock skids before remounting them.


I also bought a 5x9 "offroad" trailer of sorts. I will be beefing up the rack to hold my RTT, and I'll move the solar to the top of the RTT or something. I'm not sure about the foxwing awning, but we'll see I guess. Has two bed boxes as storage above the fenders and one in the front, levelling jacks, two drawers as shown and dual AGM battery setup.

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PhullD

First Fill-Up (of many)
Supporting Member
Location
Ottawa, Ontario
Looks like you've been busy. Overall I think you will like the awning. The trailer looks like a decent setup.

It's not that I don't like the awning, it is more that I'm not sure if it will be compatible with my cross-bars for my RTT. The trailer is gonna need a re-doo of the rack for sure though, so maybe I can finagle it.
 

maillet282

If you bleeding, Imma fix you
Moderator
Location
Ontario Canada
I also bought a 5x9 "offroad" trailer of sorts. I will be beefing up the rack to hold my RTT, and I'll move the solar to the top of the RTT or something. I'm not sure about the foxwing awning, but we'll see I guess. Has two bed boxes as storage above the fenders and one in the front, levelling jacks, two drawers as shown and dual AGM battery setup.

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97yiQYY.png

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Nice trailer. Looks like the trip to Manitoba and back didn’t affect it too much.
 

PhullD

First Fill-Up (of many)
Supporting Member
Location
Ottawa, Ontario
So the licence plate LED's finally came in. Rather singular LED light, big rip off. The color sucks and there is no attention given to weatherproofing, and the wires are miniscule.

Anyone know what LED's @Maxterra uses on his bumpers? I am done taking chances with sub-par products advertised as good quality.
 

PhullD

First Fill-Up (of many)
Supporting Member
Location
Ottawa, Ontario
So my trailer is sitting about 1.5hrs from my place but my truck is down. I was a victim of the new shiatty Moog quality in the form of tie rods. Driver's side upper ball joint castle nut also loosened itself and the ball joint needs replacing. Hopefully the knuckle is fine. Parts are sitting in a warehouse and have been for a week now. It took 1 day to go from Florida to Montreal and they've been sitting there since last Tuesday. Meanwhile my rockauto order for the Hitachi tie rods arrived on Tuesday (ordered Friday afternoon). I don't get it?

Anyway fixed the rear licence plate lights and found this:

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And it was coming from here:

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I am beyond mad at the shiatty Nissan build quality I have experienced over and over. For you that don't know, I had my rear hatch re-sprayed from new, the rear keyhole on the hatch never worked (ever, was seized from factory), I had my front doors replaced due to a paint defect/rust issue, my rear locker switch clip was broken (from factory), my radio bezel had a screw loose and it moved around and fell out (if you look on my gas tank thread, see that little hole beside the 2nd tank gauge? That's my fix, ended up that the screw that I found back there was a different one, ended up being too long) and I could go on but this water issue put me over the edge. I have water slow leaking in at the passenger's side front as well. I know this because when I pull out the passenger side seatbelt the last bit of it is soaked on occasion. In the winter that's real nice not being able to use it as it is essentially frozen. I'm going to try siliconing all the rivnuts from hell and all the bases of every piece of the roof rack. Hopefully that solves it.
 

PhullD

First Fill-Up (of many)
Supporting Member
Location
Ottawa, Ontario
Siliconed the rivnuts on the roof and did around the rear washer nozzle. Hopefully that solves the water issue and I can relax about it.

Still no ball joints, been sitting in the local depot all week.
 

TheCrabby1

I Smell Fishy
Supporting Member
Location
Burtonsville, Md
Siliconed the rivnuts on the roof and did around the rear washer nozzle. Hopefully that solves the water issue and I can relax about it.

Still no ball joints, been sitting in the local depot all week.
When I got rid of the rack on top i put new stainless bolt's in the hole's with plenty of blue gasket/thread sealer and top coated with rustoluem 2n1 primer/paint until fully covered .
 

PhullD

First Fill-Up (of many)
Supporting Member
Location
Ottawa, Ontario
Quick update:


Picked up my trailer and have started on some modifications. Mainly swapping out the tail light connectors (some were starting to corrode) and swapping out the safety chains for some longer ones with hooks. Buying the steel for the roof rack this week. I have yet to do any more mods to the Xterra due to time constraints, but I'd like to get that front locker and the Titan brake booster done before the end of the year.


Went out labour day weekend and damaged a front fender and 3 fender flares. One of the rear ones was torn off and my antenna also snapped off. I have a lot of footage from that trail and every time I took damage (not including the antenna) it was the tires giving out or refusing to grip. I would be turning just fine and all of a sudden the truck would go straight even though the wheels are turned type of deal....for 9 hours. I will never buy AT tires ever again after going through that trail. Also ended up stuck in a mud hole because the bypass was too narrow (at least that's what I was told). Truck was in the hole for a while, passenger side took in some nasty water. The jeep on 37's that was supposed to pull me out lost power steering and then overheated mid-recovery. It was just one of those trails, took us 9 hours to finish, and at the end the FSR had a huge road deactivation a half mile before we got back to the main road. We had to navigate through the woods down a slope onto a river and back up the other side at like 10pm at night...it being 2020 and after that trail and road deactivation, I would not have been surprised if aliens came down or bigfoot invited us to his campfire. We were all basically laughing in disbelief.


When I pulled the carpets there was this sponge like foam completely soaked from the mud water, it was a bit of a downer and took a whole day to clean. It's been drying since. The mud hole also ruined my belt and what I'm guessing is an idler pulley because after I replaced the belt it still chirps on startup and at low rpm between gears. Oh ya, guess I should mention after the mud hole my truck screamed like a banshee for the remaining 3-4 hours on trail lol! Anyway the chirp now after belt replacement is impossible to diagnose alone and a bitch to do so with a friend since it only does it on occasion. Might be a dealer job at this point, it's getting cold and I don't have the energy or time to do it right now. Quote to fix the fender + flares is approx. $800 CAD cause the front fender paint will likely flake when being bent back into shape.


Custom licence plates came in "OFFROADX" but the DMV lines are so long, you have to take a day off work and line up 2 hours before opening to get in by the end of the day....not happening right now for me (again no time).


Some photos:


Good one of the front dent. It actually pushed the fender over the light (which I had to bend back) and the seams on the door and hood are off now. Oh ya that flare is cracked too.
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This is me stuck in the mud hole, and after being winched back to get me out of the water while I wait for the recovery.
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Next few are of the deactivation. As always happens the photos do not do it justice.
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PhullD

First Fill-Up (of many)
Supporting Member
Location
Ottawa, Ontario
If it’s the idler pulley that’s a quick/cheap jog to do. I think I did mine in under 30 minutes.

Ya that's true, but I am not the type to start pulling parts until I know which one it is. I did examine them all when the belt was off, they all spun nicely and had no play. I'm thinking in a few weeks when it gets really cold it will start squealing and will be easy to see which one it is.
 

General_Tarfun

Sliders
Location
Atlanta, GA
Ya that's true, but I am not the type to start pulling parts until I know which one it is. I did examine them all when the belt was off, they all spun nicely and had no play. I'm thinking in a few weeks when it gets really cold it will start squealing and will be easy to see which one it is.

Yeah to be honest when I replaced mine it was worn but wasn't the problem. You not getting any noise from any of the pulleys with the belt disconnected makes me wonder if it's possibly the belt, I remember a TSB about realigning something to get the belt better positioned that I never did but there's also an updated version of the belt you could try at some point.
 

PhullD

First Fill-Up (of many)
Supporting Member
Location
Ottawa, Ontario
Yeah to be honest when I replaced mine it was worn but wasn't the problem. You not getting any noise from any of the pulleys with the belt disconnected makes me wonder if it's possibly the belt, I remember a TSB about realigning something to get the belt better positioned that I never did but there's also an updated version of the belt you could try at some point.

The belt is a brand new Continental belt, tensioner is nice and tight. I checked the belt underside again and it has no marks on it like when it was slipping. I really think it is one of the idler pulleys. A friend will help me this weekend narrow it down.
 

TerryD

Total Tease
Supporting Member
Location
Covington, Va
Be sure to check the A/C compressor clutch pulley. See if it goes away or lessens when you turn the A/C on. Thats usually a good indicator since the front compressor bearing is carrying a good portion of the load when the clutch is engaged.
 

General_Tarfun

Sliders
Location
Atlanta, GA
The belt is a brand new Continental belt, tensioner is nice and tight. I checked the belt underside again and it has no marks on it like when it was slipping. I really think it is one of the idler pulleys. A friend will help me this weekend narrow it down.

I have the same belt, at least that narrows it down a bit. I'm sure you guys will be able to find whatever it is with two people working on it.
 

PhullD

First Fill-Up (of many)
Supporting Member
Location
Ottawa, Ontario
Today I got a call from my wife about someone hitting me in the parking lot yet again. No video this time as the truck has been sitting and I didn't want the camera on all the time. It was sitting until it dries out (almost ready to put back together).

What the passenger side looks like right now:

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and the subject of the call:

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This is the third time (I am aware of) that someone has backed into me. The first I posted before in the dashcam thread, it was a hit and run and I caught them on camera and the cops basically did nothing. The second I had just a slight abrasion on the bumper but the guy left his info. This guy was another hit and run and he left what looks like his entire taillight assembly lol!

This is how I was parked, I don't see what the issue is:
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TerryD

Total Tease
Supporting Member
Location
Covington, Va
Most people just can't back up. They don't know where the corners of their vehicles are or pay any attention to where their vehicle is in the road.
 

PhullD

First Fill-Up (of many)
Supporting Member
Location
Ottawa, Ontario
Truck been mostly parked for the winter, lost my parking spot at the condo. I don't move into my new house until June so it's parked at my dad's place. Once I have that garage to work in I'll update this some more. Still have the belt squeal, haven't had time to look into it further this winter. I will when the snow is gone.
 
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