The Grackle

General_Tarfun

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Location
Atlanta, GA
Have you modded the lighting on your controller yet, or extended battery mod? Anyway, those are FUN little toys!!! Enjoy

Haha so the answer sadly is yes. I went nuts with the leds of course. The original car got destroyed on my last trip so I ended up just buying a kit car and had to assemble it this week. It’s a pretty badass crawler, I’ll have some pics soon haha.
 

General_Tarfun

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Location
Atlanta, GA
Here's the rebuilt version! Way better than before, I went with the Axial SCX10 II kit so it has front/rear locked diffs, all metal gearing and frame, and the best part was I got to keep my old body from my childhood RC car. The thing comes in like 300 pieces so I had to put everything together by hand including building the entire transmission, these are great for better understanding how actual trucks work.

It's a badass crawler, I've been shoving chairs and furniture around the house with it haha. My only complaint is it's really slow otherwise so I'm going to pull it back apart and install a two speed transmission gear set so I can upshift when needed. I really wish I could find an Xterra body for it but everywhere I've looked nobody has any, tons of jeeps but I'd rather have nothing than that haha.

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General_Tarfun

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Location
Atlanta, GA
Not too much going on with the X lately but almost on schedule my belt tensioner has started squealing again so I have on of those on order. My bottle jack ended up being ruined from the water last time I got stuck so I ordered a new one, this time I got a 10-ton "Amazon Basics" brand with slightly over a 17" reach for around 30 bucks. It seems to be well made so hopefully it's a semi-decent jack for emergencies.
 

General_Tarfun

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Location
Atlanta, GA
I decided to go through some spring maintenance and replace a few random things. I ended up replacing the oil fill cap, the gas cap, belt tensioner, the plastic heater core inlet, and switch the coolant to the newer long life blue stuff.
 

General_Tarfun

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Location
Atlanta, GA
I finally ordered a front/rear set of the Weathertech floor mats, $300 later and my puppy still managed to get car sick in the 1" between the door and the floormat haha. Also replaced the power steering reservoir cap, power mirror switch, pcv valve, and built some custom led panels to replace the rear overhead lighting in the rear set and cargo area.

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General_Tarfun

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Location
Atlanta, GA
Well it's starting to look like I'll be replacing one of the primary cats soon, even with the O2 spacer the code is coming back on nearly every long trip now. Not too surprising given I'm at 195k now on the originals. I'm probably going to go with Nissan cats just so I don't have to fight with the fitment issues the aftermarket cats all seem to have, time to start looking for a courtesy parts promo!
 

Prime

Shut up Baby, I know it!
Admin
Location
Denver Adjacent
Curious what you pay for them. NissanPartsDeal has them for $600ish each. And thanks to state law, I HAVE to go OE when the time comes.
 

General_Tarfun

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Location
Atlanta, GA
I think I might have blown out my passenger side cat. I need to look more into it but a couple days ago I started the truck up and heard a rattle that sounded exactly like a loose heat-shield but when I looked at those they were all still tight, the truck itself ran fine/smooth and the sound went away completely on it's own after the next drive which is pretty odd.

The secondaries have been gutted so any chunks likely went into the muffler but now the exhaust stinks like there's no cat and the code for that side comes on right after the code is cleared. Weird thing is the exhaust noise sounds the same as before but I definitely need to pull that secondary cat off and get a look at the primary.
 

General_Tarfun

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Location
Atlanta, GA
Curious what you pay for them. NissanPartsDeal has them for $600ish each. And thanks to state law, I HAVE to go OE when the time comes.


So I was looking at Courtesy Parts again yesterday and they're running a 'secret' discount code (NISMOgobbleZILLA) at the moment that they claim equates to employee pricing of 6% off. It only adds up to 35 bucks off but anything helps with how pricey the cats are.
 

XterraRising

Bumpers Installed
Location
Utah
They are ALO. Aftermarket. Can’t find a legit website, so they are some Chinesium overseas parts. Might be worth it for the price. Might be a scam, considering the person’s profile is only from 2019, and has relatively low activity. That and I can’t find an ALO website.

Caveat emptor.

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General_Tarfun

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Location
Atlanta, GA
Yeah the more I look at the pics those worse those welds look to me haha. I'm probably going to end up putting an OE cat in just to make the install easier, so far I've been leaving it in my cart on the CP website to get more comfortable paying that much for something I'll never see again.
 

General_Tarfun

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Location
Atlanta, GA
Well I still haven't ordered a replacement cat yet but I did order some LED headlight bulbs from theretrofitsource here in Atlanta. I went with the 9007/9004: GTR Ultra Series 2.0 (Hi/Lo) series and they weren't cheap coming in at $280 shipped but if they suck there's a 30 day return period. I'll post a review once I get them installed.

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Prime

Shut up Baby, I know it!
Admin
Location
Denver Adjacent
Well I still haven't ordered a replacement cat yet but I did order some LED headlight bulbs from theretrofitsource here in Atlanta. I went with the 9007/9004: GTR Ultra Series 2.0 (Hi/Lo) series and they weren't cheap coming in at $280 shipped but if they suck there's a 30 day return period. I'll post a review once I get them installed.

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I'm very curious about this.
 

General_Tarfun

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Location
Atlanta, GA
did they ever get you in for whatever headlight measurements/testing they wanted to do before everything shut down?

I never heard from them again after that. I suspect they just ended up not adding more products for the X since they were talking about fogs at the time but all I see on their site is a single product. Everything else is just different bulbs.
 

General_Tarfun

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Location
Atlanta, GA
Well the lights arrived yesterday and I installed them without much of an issue. The bulb retaining collars don't fit as-is but are really easy to mod. The flat section on the inner collar needs to be removed so I just used a pocket knife to trim those off and then they were good to go.

I'll post some pics tonight but on my first drive last night with them I was surprisingly impressed. The light is clean, not blotchy at all, and the cutoff is somehow right where it's supposed to be and I didn't even need to adjust the headlights. Looking at it from the front there isn't excessive glare and the high beams function as normal. Overall I'm happy with them and the 6k color matches my front lightbar so with the HB on the lighting is one consistent color which really fills the road up evenly.

I've been really skeptical of LED bulbs in the headlights for a long time but I think these might have finally changed my mind. Only downside was the look on my girlfriends face when I accidentally mentioned how much they ended up costing me haha.
 

General_Tarfun

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Location
Atlanta, GA
I still haven't had time to get a pic yet but so far the new headlight bulbs have been awesome, the cutoff is so clean that I'm starting to think I might need to actually raise the aim on the headlights a little. I still have a hard time believing that LED headlights can actually function this well but I guess technology finally caught up which is great because the next step was going to be projector headlights which are crazy expensive and I don't really like the look of on the X.
 

SledheadX

Wheeling
Supporting Member
Location
Rochester, NY
For the beam cutoff, you didn’t modify the housing for reflectivity at all did you? Blackout not included. Sounds like you got what you paid for. I was also impressed with my Nineo bulbs beam pattern and position, but I do see reflectivity on signs above the cutoff line. No oncoming traffic flashers beaming me so I left mine unadjusted. But it is a wonderful “sight to see”.
 

General_Tarfun

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Location
Atlanta, GA
For the beam cutoff, you didn’t modify the housing for reflectivity at all did you? Blackout not included. Sounds like you got what you paid for. I was also impressed with my Nineo bulbs beam pattern and position, but I do see reflectivity on signs above the cutoff line. No oncoming traffic flashers beaming me so I left mine unadjusted. But it is a wonderful “sight to see”.


No mods, the housings themselves are completely stock minus the blackout paint. Assuming they hold up for a few years I feel happy with the purchase.
 

General_Tarfun

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Location
Atlanta, GA
The suspension was getting a little creaky so I went around yesterday and sprayed silicone on all the usual noisy sections. It's looking like my front sway bar bushings are almost due for replacement somehow, I swear I just replaced them not long ago but they're definitely starting to bulge out already.

I went around the exhaust and tapped the pipes with a mallot trying to see if I could hear a difference in the two primary cats. I'm not totally sure but I think the passenger one sounded slightly different which would make sense, I'm still getting the cat code right after I clear it every time so somethings up. Other than that I noticed a few of the grounding straps for the exhaust have been ripped off so I'll be replacing those.

I'm wondering if there's an easier way to do it vs unbolting the exhaust piping and keeping the factory clip that the bolt goes through. Maybe some kind of a clamp with a wire attached that I can run up to the frame?
 

General_Tarfun

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Location
Atlanta, GA
I finally had an engine issue after all these years. Yesterday I was driving up to the mountains for an overnight camping trip to try out my new portable generator and maybe 30 minutes from the campsite I was at a redlight, light turned green and I hit the gas and it stalled out.

Thankfully I was able to hit the hazards before the car behind me rear ended me but it took maybe a minute to get it started again. Once I got it started up the engine wasn't running great, felt low on power and didn't want to run. If I weren't hours from home I would have turned back but I decided to push on, once I got there and parked I scanned the codes and got a P0335 Crankshaft Position Sensor A Circuit code from it.

I would have sworn that I had a trail spare in the truck but apparently that was a plan I never followed through on so I was forced to drive it back home last night, thankfully without issue but for now the truck is parked. Just to be safe I went ahead and ordered both camshaft position sensors from Nissan as well, the last thing I need is for that to happen again.

The other annoying thing was as soon as we got there I started using my electric chainsaw the freaking things started smoking and then bunch of sparks shot out of the motor so I guess that's dead too now. It was a rough day for electronics!

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XterraRising

Bumpers Installed
Location
Utah
Oh lovely. Probably a crank pos sensor that went tits up. Seems every time I diagnose an engine with similar symptoms, it’s either a crank pos sensor or cam.

Wish they made sensors as robust as engines.
 

westslope

Wheeling
I always carry a portable bow saw into the bush. It works well and quickly cuts up fire wood. I carry it in case a tree falls across the road -- a constant risk if using decommissioned or lightly used logging roads. It is lighter, less expensive and far less dangerous than a chainsaw, whether gasoline or electric powered.

Once upon a time, I swung a chainsaw for a living on and off for a few years. I would have probably kept at it if not for the 'white fingers' -- traumatic vasopastic disease -- I would experience 3 weeks into the job despite using vibration-isolated handles. That meant that in order to open and close my hands upon awakening in the morning I would have hold them under hot water for a couple of minutes.

During that brief experience, I was on hand for a number of nasty chainsaw accidents. Over the years, I have met a number of former west coast fallers. All of them were maimed.

I used a borrowed chainsaw the other day to help clean up a neighbour's yard. The neighbour has been fighting cancer. Steel-toed work boots, ballistic nylon pads to cover the thighs and knees, gloves, glasses, hearing protection.

Chainsaws are up there with ladders and older models of tractors for hurting people. Be careful folks.

While I am on this..... axes in the wrong hands can be dangerous too. Axes can be useful but much less useful than a bow saw. Your unsuspecting neighbours might be impressed with your injuries from using an axe while wearing flip flops or open sandals or from trying to use an axe as a saw but the old hands will shake their heads.

As an example, here is a Agawa Canyon Boreal 21 Saw:
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General_Tarfun

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Location
Atlanta, GA
Hmm, maybe I’ll buy one to throw in the Xterra tool kit… just in case.

If I could go back in time I would definitely do that. You'd think by now I would know that when something goes out it's always where you least expect it to happen. If I would have had a spare I could have installed it at the campsite within 30 minutes or so and had a much less stressful drive home!
 

General_Tarfun

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Location
Atlanta, GA
So ya burnt the chainsaw??? :eek: ;)

Basically haha. No idea what happened with it but I'm trying to warranty it now, it's a Greenworks 12" that I got for my birthday last year. Used it maybe 10-15 times before this happened, I can say it was great while it lasted. I used to bow saw everything but eventually wanted to do something on backwoods trips besides saw wood for the fire. At least it had some mercy and let me cut enough wood for the night before burning up on me haha.
 

XterraRising

Bumpers Installed
Location
Utah
If I could go back in time I would definitely do that. You'd think by now I would know that when something goes out it's always where you least expect it to happen. If I would have had a spare I could have installed it at the campsite within 30 minutes or so and had a much less stressful drive home!

Well, I wouldn’t feel too bad. It took me being stranded 4-5 times to finally keep a ballast resister in the glovebox of my old Plymouth Trailduster.
 

General_Tarfun

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Location
Atlanta, GA
Well, I wouldn’t feel too bad. It took me being stranded 4-5 times to finally keep a ballast resister in the glovebox of my old Plymouth Trailduster.

Haha, ok that makes me me feel a little better. I wish these sensors were a little cheaper, I ended up buying all 3 from PartSouq for $181 shipped but they still haven't shipped yet.
 
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