TerryD's 2007 Xterra S "Pepper" *NOW WITH TITAN SWAP!*

TerryD

Total Tease
Supporting Member
Location
Covington, Va
Have you thought about looking at a marine supply store for wire's and breaker's . West Marine handle's a lot of stuff for electrical wiring ....
There's not anything in my area like that and I wanted to try to keep my parts matching so I don't have such a hodge-podge of parts. I'm all about standardization.
 

TheCrabby1

I Smell Fishy
Supporting Member
Location
Burtonsville, Md
There's not anything in my area like that and I wanted to try to keep my parts matching so I don't have such a hodge-podge of parts. I'm all about standardization.
Okay , I do have 34 black Lokman cable gland's [ though I think there all made in the same factory in China] If you need a couple. 3-16 mm.
 

TerryD

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Location
Covington, Va
Sorry to b a pain , thought you'd wanna see this !! NO TITLE THOUGH :cool:View attachment 13726

Looks like a good start but I won't be in the market till next year probably. Too much to get caught up on. I roughly tallied it up and it's looking like about $2k of work needs done to my pickup this summer. Plus I've still got to get THIS Xterra going again!

"I'm covered up, I got all I can do...." Tim Wilson
 

TerryD

Total Tease
Supporting Member
Location
Covington, Va
Getting started on the locker wiring and considering swapping the factory VDC switch for a Carling to match my locker switch. I can get a momentary from OTTRAW (or whatever) with the lettering I want and possibly do the ABS disable too with another switch. But I'm not sold on that mod yet...

20200421_182652.jpg

Also looking into radios since my CD player quit working and I'd like to have bluetooth and USB audio.
 

TerryD

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Location
Covington, Va
I'm liking this one:

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_113DPX794B/Kenwood-Excelon-DPX794BH.html

Volume knob, adjustable light color, USB and Bluetooth but still a simple, no frills radio. It also will RX the HD FM stuff which would be neat.

Gonna stew on it a little but I'm leaning this way. It's got all the features of the entry Kenwood with the touch screen except the camera inputs (which I don't have anyways) but it has the HD channels and a CD player.
 

TerryD

Total Tease
Supporting Member
Location
Covington, Va
Just ordered it. Hopefully it'll be here Friday and I can get it in. It's been YEARS since I put in an aftermarket radio.

It'll be nice to have something other than just FM, even though I'll probably still mainly listen to it. But there are days that local classic rock isn't cutting it!!!

Now to pick up a flash drive and dump my music onto it so it's ready to go! Might velcro it inside the upper glove box so I can pull it easy to add music to it.
 

Muadeeb

Nissan al Gaib
Admin
Location
Dallas
Haven't had a good chance to look at it, but that radio seems OK. Be prepared to be disappointed in hd; it takes 8 seconds to lock in, the could be time alignment issues with the main channel, and the Hd2, 3, etc are extremely niche and usually forgotten about.

If that radio has a usb cable that comes of the back, try to route it into the arm rest of the glove box. I don't know if your truck has a factory USB plug, but try to utilize it if you can. Don't leave your flash drive plugged into the front; it's the quickest way to destroy a drive and potentially the port on the radio.
 

TerryD

Total Tease
Supporting Member
Location
Covington, Va
Haven't had a good chance to look at it, but that radio seems OK. Be prepared to be disappointed in hd; it takes 8 seconds to lock in, the could be time alignment issues with the main channel, and the Hd2, 3, etc are extremely niche and usually forgotten about.

If that radio has a usb cable that comes of the back, try to route it into the arm rest of the glove box. I don't know if your truck has a factory USB plug, but try to utilize it if you can. Don't leave your flash drive plugged into the front; it's the quickest way to destroy a drive and potentially the port on the radio.

It has the cord on the back as well as the face. I was going to look into places to put it when it arrives. I don't have the factory port so I was going to look at putting the flash drive in the upper glove box, affixed to the top of it with velcro.

Thanks for the info on the HD. I've never had anything with it and don't know that there's much in my area anyways but the receiver is just slightly better than the next step down w/o HD so I'll still be ok with it I think.
 

meisanerd

Need Bigger Tires
Mine just has the USB port on the front, but I use one of those super-small usb drives, you are more likely to hit the dash than the drive on it, so I'm not that worried.

Hopefully they fixed a couple of the stupid things on that one that drive me nuts on mine. Mine will randomly corrupt files on the usb drive and sometimes takes like 5 minutes for it to figure out there is a drive in there, and there is no mute button except on the remote.
 

Muadeeb

Nissan al Gaib
Admin
Location
Dallas
It has the cord on the back as well as the face. I was going to look into places to put it when it arrives. I don't have the factory port so I was going to look at putting the flash drive in the upper glove box, affixed to the top of it with velcro.

Thanks for the info on the HD. I've never had anything with it and don't know that there's much in my area anyways but the receiver is just slightly better than the next step down w/o HD so I'll still be ok with it I think.

I work in radio, so have a little insight to how the HD stuff is going. I have 5 FM stations, all running HD. The sports station HD2 is just a simulcast of our AM (not a bad use tbh). Two of our HD channels have programmers who actually care about them; one we're simulcasting to another market and the other is a pet project of one of our production guys. Both of them have relatively amazing streaming audiences. The rest are pretty meh. Two are straight satellite feeds, one's an attempt to program an urban station by a white guy, one is a do whop format (main station's playlist from 20 years ago), one's a b-side/#2's station, another is a Spanish dance, and the last is a Jazz format that was forced off the air by flawed ratings methodology.

Doesn't look like your radio supports it, but one of the coolest features I think is the displaying of album art. Yes, this picture is sent from the radio station, not downloaded from the internet by the radio. 2020-04-22 11.57.39.jpg
 

TerryD

Total Tease
Supporting Member
Location
Covington, Va
I work in radio, so have a little insight to how the HD stuff is going. I have 5 FM stations, all running HD. The sports station HD2 is just a simulcast of our AM (not a bad use tbh). Two of our HD channels have programmers who actually care about them; one we're simulcasting to another market and the other is a pet project of one of our production guys. Both of them have relatively amazing streaming audiences. The rest are pretty meh. Two are straight satellite feeds, one's an attempt to program an urban station by a white guy, one is a do whop format (main station's playlist from 20 years ago), one's a b-side/#2's station, another is a Spanish dance, and the last is a Jazz format that was forced off the air by flawed ratings methodology.

Doesn't look like your radio supports it, but one of the coolest features I think is the displaying of album art. Yes, this picture is sent from the radio station, not downloaded from the internet by the radio. View attachment 13762
That's cool. I guess my wife's car does that? I haven't really paid that much attention to it. Her's has the nice full touch screen OE radio.

I'm more interested in being able to stream Pandora when all I can pickup is country or pop stations.
 

Prime

Shut up Baby, I know it!
Admin
Location
Denver Adjacent
Getting started on the locker wiring and considering swapping the factory VDC switch for a Carling to match my locker switch. I can get a momentary from OTTRAW (or whatever) with the lettering I want and possibly do the ABS disable too with another switch. But I'm not sold on that mod yet...

View attachment 13759

Also looking into radios since my CD player quit working and I'd like to have bluetooth and USB audio.
I made a post about swapping to Carling switches. It's in my locker bypass post.
 

TerryD

Total Tease
Supporting Member
Location
Covington, Va
Fawk it, I just ordered the switch. Gonna go prep the wiring so it's just plug and play.

Damnit... nickle and dime crap....
 

TerryD

Total Tease
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Location
Covington, Va
Wiring is pretty well ready in the cabin. Trying to decide where to route the locker and indication wires.

I found this write up with diagrams for the Carling switch swap.

https://www.xterranation.org/index.php?threads/how-to-swap-stock-switches-to-otrattw-switches.5311/

I moved the VDC switch next to the 4wd selector and added pig tails for the illumination to add 2 more switches later on. Just gonna tape up the unused leads.

20200422_184509.jpg

The "REAR LOCKER" lettering will glow amber with the dash lights and the locker emblem will light up green once the locker is engaged.

The VDC switch will just glow amber with the dash illumination.
 

TerryD

Total Tease
Supporting Member
Location
Covington, Va
Axle shaft and radio are both in! Took it for a test drive before lunch and everything seems to be good now!

Man that gearing makes such a difference.

The new radio is really nice too! I'm still working on getting it set up. I've got some reading to do on the audio setup. Coming from just OE radios for the last 10 years there's some new settings to figure out.

I've got to mount the hands free mic and figure out where to run the rear USB input cable to. Right now both drop out from under the dash and are laying in the tray in front of the shifter.

My VDC OFF switch has shipped and all I have to do for it is connect the wires and push it into the dash when it arrives.

I'm going to drive it to work for the next week, retorque the u-bolts, and wire up the locker at that point. Probably check fluid levels then. In a couple 100 miles I'll change both diffs out to Amsoil. I'm running cheap dino goo right now just to clean the dirt out of them.
 

TerryD

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Supporting Member
Location
Covington, Va
Nice ! New radio , SSB/Ham/CB bottom right ? What is the keyboard looking thing by the 4wd switch ??
Thanks! I'm really liking it myself!

That's my dual band Ham radio. Its FM only, no SSB. The keypad is the mic for it. I can send alpha-numeric messages to others using the APRS system over the air waves with that radio.
 

TheCrabby1

I Smell Fishy
Supporting Member
Location
Burtonsville, Md
I know where to go ask question's when it's time to decide on a CB for Odo ;) Is your radio antennae the stock one ? Or did you switch up for shorter/stronger offroad type and if so how'd it affect signal strength ?? as normal"""Thank You"""
 

TerryD

Total Tease
Supporting Member
Location
Covington, Va
I know where to go ask question's when it's time to decide on a CB for Odo ;) Is your radio antennae the stock one ? Or did you switch up for shorter/stronger offroad type and if so how'd it affect signal strength ?? as normal"""Thank You"""

The stereo antenna? I'm just running the stock one. It works fine. It's taken a couple hits but its still in good shape. I doubt I ever change it.

As for comms, you need to see what the locals around you use. I don't use CB at all. It's all Ham or GMRS. I haven't had a CB in a vehicle since I sold my K5 3 years ago.
 

TheCrabby1

I Smell Fishy
Supporting Member
Location
Burtonsville, Md
The stereo antenna? I'm just running the stock one. It works fine. It's taken a couple hits but its still in good shape. I doubt I ever change it.

As for comms, you need to see what the locals around you use. I don't use CB at all. It's all Ham or GMRS. I haven't had a CB in a vehicle since I sold my K5 3 years ago.
I figure when the suspension is done I'd like to go to a few X-type event's [ whenever we clear ourselves of Corona and get back to Yeungling] I know some require a communication type radio or maybe that's just Moab.
 

TerryD

Total Tease
Supporting Member
Location
Covington, Va
Got the VDC switch in this evening, added my second circuit breaker under the hood and got the power run into the cabin. I've got to get some terminals for the power feed wire and get it terminated.

The VDC switch looks good but I'm not sure about the illumination yet. Have to check that in the morning.

20200427_170453.jpg
 

TerryD

Total Tease
Supporting Member
Location
Covington, Va
I had hoped to get my wiring terminated and power in the cabin but my crimpers wouldn't handle the 8ga connectors.

Instead I wound up routing the microphone from my new stereo up above the headliner to the front dome light.

20200428_165838.jpg

I checked it out and it worked really well in this location.

I also pulled the upper glove box and cut a hole to run my rear USB input through. The plan is to velcro a USB flash drive inside that glove box somewhere so it's hidden but easily accessible.

20200428_181104.jpg

And finally a full shot of the new head unit installed.

20200428_181258.jpg
 

Prime

Shut up Baby, I know it!
Admin
Location
Denver Adjacent
I had hoped to get my wiring terminated and power in the cabin but my crimpers wouldn't handle the 8ga connectors.

Instead I wound up routing the microphone from my new stereo up above the headliner to the front dome light.

View attachment 13887

I checked it out and it worked really well in this location.

I also pulled the upper glove box and cut a hole to run my rear USB input through. The plan is to velcro a USB flash drive inside that glove box somewhere so it's hidden but easily accessible.

View attachment 13888

And finally a full shot of the new head unit installed.

View attachment 13889
Man I'm glad I changed out my center stack. I've forgotten how ugly the 2.0 stack is.

How's the radio?
 

TerryD

Total Tease
Supporting Member
Location
Covington, Va
Man I'm glad I changed out my center stack. I've forgotten how ugly the 2.0 stack is.

How's the radio?
So far I really like it. Still learning how to use a lot of the features. So much of what a stereo is capable of is wasted on me the days. After playing with the audio settings for two days I wound up just resetting it to factory and just using the preset EQ with level 1 bass boost and not worrying about it.

The phone interface is really clunky but from some reading that appears to be more an issue with my aging S7 than the radio or its Android software. Still more learning to do there. Itll work ok just taking and making calls via the phone rather than the radio since I don't have the steering wheel controls anyways.

The HD radio does ok here. We have a few localish stations that the HD really works on. The receiver is really nice too, it picks up two stations none of our other vehicles ever did. I've got to load some music on a flash drive and test that out yet though. Been trying to focus on the finishing touches and locker wiring.
 

TerryD

Total Tease
Supporting Member
Location
Covington, Va
Got the locker wired up today. Wound up running the wiring through the console and out the parking brake boot back to the axle. I wasn't able to test it because I still haven't made the connection to the battery yet. I'm still waiting on the proper size lugs.

I also retorqued the u-bolts and checked everything over. It all looks good so far.

We're supposed to go on a ride Sunday to prerun a trail for a ride later this month. Should be a good time!
 

TerryD

Total Tease
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Location
Covington, Va
The mounts are Ram X-Grips. Small phone for radio, large phone for tablet. (7" LG).

The radio is a Kenwood TM-D710Ga and I can either run APRS through the radios internal functionality or use the tablet with a USB-serial cable and let APRSDroid running on the tablet run it through the radio's built in TNC. The tablet function is neat because it will display received packets on a map on APRSDroid OSM version.

Future plans are to get a Bluetooth serial port so I can charge my tablet while using it and try to get BCN or BCN XE functioning properly so it will display the packets on there and allow me to run offline navigation and track logging.
 
Last edited:

TerryD

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Location
Covington, Va
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