Reaver's 03 XE Build thread!

Prime

Shut up Baby, I know it!
Admin
Location
Denver Adjacent
Eh, I'm good with all cans. Big cans, little cans, round cans, flat cans, they're all cans. I just love me some cans.

:D
Two words.

Pancake cans.

th
 

reaver

Lockers Installed
Supporting Member
Location
Caldwell, ID
Just ordered a full set of LED's for the interior from superbrightleds.com for $26 shipped. Should be here next week, and will be getting to swapping those out ASAP when they arrive.
 

reaver

Lockers Installed
Supporting Member
Location
Caldwell, ID
I was doing some thinking about auxiliary electrical system today. I did some basic math, and after buying a quality deep cycle battery, isolator relay, wiring, fuse block, pure sine wave inverter, solar charge controller, etc, I'd be looking at $600 plus.

I don't have or need a fridge yet. What I decided to do was pick up a rockpals 500w power station. After some research, I learned that it can power an alpicool 50qt fridge for 30+ hours.

Later down the road when I start adding lights, etc, I'll upgrade my starter battery to a deep cycle. I think that will work best for my needs.
 

BCXterra

Bought an X
Have you thought about just super insulating a cooler? There are some great threads floating around online, and the results are both very impressive and very very cheap.
I saw one where the guy still had ice in it after +100hrs.
 

reaver

Lockers Installed
Supporting Member
Location
Caldwell, ID
Have you thought about just super insulating a cooler? There are some great threads floating around online, and the results are both very impressive and very very cheap.
I saw one where the guy still had ice in it after +100hrs.

I'm not in a hurry for a fridge. I've got a 50qt lifetime cooler, which should be good for 5 days before needing more ice. But it's definitely something I want to get down the road. I mainly picked up the rockpals to be able to run both my wife and I's cpap machines, and charge camera gear.
 

reaver

Lockers Installed
Supporting Member
Location
Caldwell, ID
Ok, so here's a list of things that I have purchased that I'm planning on installing in the next month:

AC Adjustable Lift Shackles
AC HD Tie Rod Adjusters
AC Idler Arm Brace
LED Interior Lights (including gauge cluster)
Rear Diff Breather Extension
Sliders from Holy Ghost
Hardcore Offroad Weld Together Rear Bumper Kit - Will have a DIY swing out tire carrier added to it.
Rockpals 500w Lithium Power Station

18 Metric Wrench set - because all the wrenches I have are SAE.

I'm going to save up for Engine/Transfercase/radiator skids. This will be my next purchase. After that.....Lokka
 

Jwelch

Bought an X
Location
Michigan
Sounds like you've got some big things planned! After this weekend I will have a 4.9 front diff with a lokka in it for sale. I am a bit of a ways from you though.
 

reaver

Lockers Installed
Supporting Member
Location
Caldwell, ID
Got the sliders I purchased from HolyGhost bolted on this morning! I had to go to the hardware store and purchase some longer bolts though, as the stock bolts didn't have enough thread on them to grab unless it was already tight against the frame.

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reaver

Lockers Installed
Supporting Member
Location
Caldwell, ID
I know, right!? Things are ROCK solid. HolyGhost built some serious equipment. Bolted right up, and they're predrilled if I ever decide to do a body lift.
 

BCXterra

Bought an X
I know, right!? Things are ROCK solid. HolyGhost built some serious equipment. Bolted right up, and they're predrilled if I ever decide to do a body lift.
I’ve had the trailgear sliders in my shop since late last year, now that I have a welder I am starting to think about mounting them up. But want to get a bit more practice running beads again first.
 

reaver

Lockers Installed
Supporting Member
Location
Caldwell, ID
I’ve had the trailgear sliders in my shop since late last year, now that I have a welder I am starting to think about mounting them up. But want to get a bit more practice running beads again first.
Yeah, once I get some skid plates, I'll feel pretty confident wheeling this thing I to places it probably has no business going.
 

BCXterra

Bought an X
I hear ya. Even though I have loads of clearance for most of the places and obstacles I have been lately, I still find myself trying to suck up my oil pan by sheer force of my mind!
 

reaver

Lockers Installed
Supporting Member
Location
Caldwell, ID
Ok, I've been doing some thinking about my aux electrical circuit.

Based on what I think I want to do, this is what I came up with:

Xterra-Electrical-Diagram-01.png


Since I plan on running a single battery + a 540Wh Lithium power pack, I figured this was a good option.

The ports in the center console are going to be the odd ones. The 12v ports in the console are powered all the time. I want to add the switched port so that I can leave my power pack plugged in. When the vehicle is on, it will automatically charge, but when it's off, it's not drawing any current.

I'm not sure what I want to put on the other two switches in the lower right yet, but overall, what do you think? I believe the stock alternator in the first gens is only 80A, hence the 80a fuse between the battery and the fuse block.

Did I do this correctly?
 

reaver

Lockers Installed
Supporting Member
Location
Caldwell, ID
Ok. Status update. Got the rear diff breather installed. I didn't get to the IAB this weekend. It was warmer than expected, and I had some extra yardwork to do, so I'll be getting to that on friday when we install the lift.

Bumper build should be done this weekend as well.

I've also managed to score a front Lokka for a good price of another member here. :D That should be shipped out tomorrow, and maybe I'll get it this week, but that's not going to go in for a while. I need to get some quotes to have that installed, since I don't have the tools or skills available to do it.

Coming towards the end of the initial build plans. The only items still on my initial build list that I have yet to aquire are skid plates, and tires.
 

reaver

Lockers Installed
Supporting Member
Location
Caldwell, ID
Well, I took yesterday off, and got a TON of work done on the X.

Idler Arm brace is in. AC adjustable shackles are in.

I couldn't seem to get the torsion bars to crank up any higher, which must mean that they either need reindexing, or replacement.

We did however, accomplish one big thing....

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Now, I know it sticks out a lot, but the way we built it, there will be two Jerry cans behind the tire, and I can still put a high lift or a table behind the swing out.

We'll probably do the Jerry can holders and put the wheel studs in next week.

I'll be painting it today, I just need to figure out what I'm going to paint it with.
 

HolyGhost

First Fill-Up (of many)
Sweet build! Does stick out a little far :) but who cares as long as it works for your application.

Not sure if you figured out the license plate lights out yet but I bought bolt lights of amazon for like 7$ and just spliced them into the harness for the stock plate lights. They have been going strong for over a year now. I mounted my plate below the swing arm it does hit on obstacles but I just bend it back.
 

reaver

Lockers Installed
Supporting Member
Location
Caldwell, ID
Sweet build! Does stick out a little far :) but who cares as long as it works for your application.

Not sure if you figured out the license plate lights out yet but I bought bolt lights of amazon for like 7$ and just spliced them into the harness for the stock plate lights. They have been going strong for over a year now. I mounted my plate below the swing arm it does hit on obstacles but I just bend it back.

It does stick out a ways, but once I get the jerries and tire on, I think it'll look good. It accounts for a slightly wider tire, plus jerries behind the tire.
 

Jwelch

Bought an X
Location
Michigan
Looking good! What did you use for a hinge on the swingout? I am looking at building one but I haven't decided on what sort of hinge to use yet.
 

HolyGhost

First Fill-Up (of many)
Thought I would throw my 2 cents out there. I like this style just due to the more compact style most prebuilts are made for jeeps where the swing stands off the top of the bumper but with the X that would interfere with the hatch. Reaver had a good solution for that style looks like he used flat plat to stand the bottom of the hinge off the bumper. I might be wrong though so he will have to tell us what he did.

I went out and built my own hinge using brass bushings and a 1" pin. I would suggest prebuilt mine ended up being more expensive than the ones online.

Link. I have only ordered one thing from this site and it took forever to show up. Just a heads up.

https://www.comp4x4.com/collections.../tire-carrier-hinge-kit-dual-shear-face-mount
 

reaver

Lockers Installed
Supporting Member
Location
Caldwell, ID
Thought I would throw my 2 cents out there. I like this style just due to the more compact style most prebuilts are made for jeeps where the swing stands off the top of the bumper but with the X that would interfere with the hatch. Reaver had a good solution for that style looks like he used flat plat to stand the bottom of the hinge off the bumper. I might be wrong though so he will have to tell us what he did.

I went out and built my own hinge using brass bushings and a 1" pin. I would suggest prebuilt mine ended up being more expensive than the ones online.

Link. I have only ordered one thing from this site and it took forever to show up. Just a heads up.

https://www.comp4x4.com/collections.../tire-carrier-hinge-kit-dual-shear-face-mount
You're absolutely right. There's a piece of angle welded to the bumper to support the swing out. There's also a piece of angle that holds the latch catch, so the latch pulls the swing out towards the bumper.

I drove it yesterday, and didn't notice any rattles at all. We'll see what happens once I get the tire and jerries on it.
 

reaver

Lockers Installed
Supporting Member
Location
Caldwell, ID
Figured I'd post up pictures of the latch and swing support I was talking about.

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Also, the bumper is now painted. Two coats of primer and two coats of rustoleum bed liner spray. Turned out decent, I think. I mostly just want to keep it from rusting.

I didn't buy the rig to build a show car, after all.
 

reaver

Lockers Installed
Supporting Member
Location
Caldwell, ID
Took the family out to Oregon for a long weekend of camping and wheeling. This was the first time that I've camped out of the X, and I've gotta say, everything I've done so far has worked out great.

I do think I'm going to rework my platform a bit though, for some better organization. And possibly move my daughters car seat to the other side. I definitely need more 12v outlets. And better lights. We did a couple of night runs, and my forward lighting SUCKS.

I'm really glad I installed my rear differential breather extension though. There was some pretty deep mud and water, and that would have been sucked right in.

Here are some pictures from the trip!

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reaver

Lockers Installed
Supporting Member
Location
Caldwell, ID
Couple of quick updates...

Remember that wire I mentioned earlier? We figured out what it was....

Turns out at some point, there was an issue with the ABS system. That wire is a patch that's spliced into the abs harness, and runs all the way to the back.

We also figured out why I was getting an intermittent O2 sensor issue. Turns out the sheathing on the driver side sensor 1 is separated from the sensor causing issues. Looks like I'm ordering a new sensor tomorrow.
 

reaver

Lockers Installed
Supporting Member
Location
Caldwell, ID
Ordered all the stuff to build the aux electrical system. I have to install new tie rods and ball joints on the truck this weekend, and next weekend, a friend of mine is going to come and help build the electrical system in the X.
 

reaver

Lockers Installed
Supporting Member
Location
Caldwell, ID
Well, it looks like after my electrical system gets installed, the next mod will be a set of front and engine/trans skidplates from Shrock. I just sold my skid plates from the Colorado, so that will be the next thing I order. Question though....do these skid plates require any holes to be drilled in crossmembers? If so, I'll have to pay somebody to put them on, since I don't have the tools to drill through steel that thick. I was barely able to drill through the tire carrier to get my jerry can holder's mounted up.
 

reaver

Lockers Installed
Supporting Member
Location
Caldwell, ID
Spent all day yesterday with a buddy building my component for the electrical install.

Started with a $300 box of parts:

20200610-092023.jpg


We started with the relay box. This box will be dedicated to running lights, and will be wired with switches mounted where the cubby sits under my single din head unit. I'm only planning on four sets of lights right now, and have 6 relays.

20200613-114551.jpg

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Relay box done! I learned how to crimp connectors on the end of wires.

20200613-173235.jpg


Working on the loops for the switches here.

20200613-191236.jpg


We did something fairly unique with the switch wiring. The circuit that connects the switch to the relays is wired using cat5 ethernet cable. Because it's such a low voltage, this allows us to use what amounts to 20 gauge wire that's inside the cat5 cable, and make quick disconnects for my switches. We'll use a 2.5A fuse on this circuit, which will blow long before we have any issues with the wire.

20200613-191301.jpg
 

reaver

Lockers Installed
Supporting Member
Location
Caldwell, ID
Got back from a trip over the weekend. We did about 260 miles of off pavement driving over the course of 4 days. The group I was with had two youtubers the entire time, and met up with a third on Sunday. We crossed two rivers, went down a pretty treacherous off camber road, crossed a river, and went up a super rocky, 45* up hill road. I really could have used that locker going up the hill, but I made it without it, after adjusting my line.



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This is Casey from the Coyoteworks Youtube Channel.
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reaver

Lockers Installed
Supporting Member
Location
Caldwell, ID
So after this last trip, I'm wondering about rear traction devices (I've got a lokka for the front, just haven't had it put in yet). I'm wondering if an LSD axle out of an earlier model X would work well enough for my needs. My purpose of this rig isn't to rock crawl, but long distance remote camping (we're planning a 2500 mile trip for next year). Isn't the break away torque of the pre-02 lsd axles 180-ft lbs or something like that? Would that plus the front locker be sufficient for most uses? I'm trying to avoid spending 1800 or so on installing a rear ARB locker if I don't REALLY need it.

Plans for next year are full under armor, complete the 3" lift, shocks and tires. Maybe an upgraded LSD in the rear if it's as simple as an axle swap.
 
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