What have you done for your X?

General_Tarfun

Sliders
Location
Atlanta, GA
Well just over 100k miles, I think I have something going on with my tie rods. When parked, I hear a clunk and feel play when steering left to right. I happen to have unused Moog Greasable TR ends from a member on TNX. So I think I'll throw those on, although I hear the Moog tie rods don't hold up well. Bad timing, I just had it inspected and aligned a month ago. :mad: Anything else I should replace up front while in there? Also ordered Raybestos Rotors and Pads for all four.


Those don't come greased so make sure to grease them after you install them. The Hitachi's are better but if that's what you already have I'd install them. That said at 100k miles the inners could also have some play in them, if you replace those I don't recommend ordering from RA for the inners. Myself and at least one other member kept getting sent Titan inners in the Xterra marked box when we ordered Xterra ITR's. If your boots are bad you should replace them but if not I'd keep them. They will need some hose clamps though to hold them on because when you cut off the OE metal tie wrap it's not reusable.
 

MMac

Test Drive
Those don't come greased so make sure to grease them after you install them. The Hitachi's are better but if that's what you already have I'd install them. That said at 100k miles the inners could also have some play in them, if you replace those I don't recommend ordering from RA for the inners. Myself and at least one other member kept getting sent Titan inners in the Xterra marked box when we ordered Xterra ITR's. If your boots are bad you should replace them but if not I'd keep them. They will need some hose clamps though to hold them on because when you cut off the OE metal tie wrap it's not reusable.

I gave the Outers a good shake last night to confirm, I was able to move it back and forth slightly to the point it would make a similar noise when steering. Just checked Courtesy, $120 each for OEM Inners, yikes! Where did you end up getting your Inners from?

Edit: Found these on Fleabay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Hitachi-Le...035424?hash=item44480492e0:g:u2sAAOSwzQFdmqAl
 
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General_Tarfun

Sliders
Location
Atlanta, GA
I gave the Outers a good shake last night to confirm, I was able to move it back and forth slightly to the point it would make a similar noise when steering. Just checked Courtesy, $120 each for OEM Inners, yikes! Where did you end up getting your Inners from?

Edit: Found these on Fleabay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Hitachi-Le...035424?hash=item44480492e0:g:u2sAAOSwzQFdmqAl

After the RA disaster I ended up buying them from Parts Souq, they have the OE Nissan inners for about $35 a piece. They're made by Hitach but these will come in Nissan parts boxes. Shipping was about $30 because the company is in Dubai but it was still cheaper than the dealer and they sent the right part the first time.

RA will eventually get their stock sorted out I think but as recently as 11/24 another member posted that he too got Titan ITR's that were in the box for the Xterra inners. Given that you'll need an alignment afterwards make sure you have the right parts before starting, check out my thread about it and I have pics next to a measuring tape that'll tell you how long they should be (the titan inners are a few inches longer than the xterra's.)

OE means Original Equipment and OEM kind of used to but I saw a company selling aftermarket parts under an 'OEM' brand with a logo and everything so just think of it as a moog, ac delco, etc.

Personally I'm skeptical of getting the inners from ebay because it's really easy to sell counterfeit parts in name brand boxes, especially those ITR's. Visually it's really hard to tell the difference with the inners, but I can say if it's Nissan or Hitachi the grease should be blue and they will come with grease already applied to the location where the rubber boot clamps down on it.
 
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Maxterra

Wheeling
Founding Member
Location
West Haven, UTAH
Glad we got it done, and the weather was favorable for your trip.
Did another gas can carrier bumper and sliders install after yours for Dino.
Busy day for sure!

Enjoy and we’ll look you up on our next trip down there

Dave
 

General_Tarfun

Sliders
Location
Atlanta, GA
Rotated the tires today and greased the UCA's. I've realized that I don't like high tread-wear tires because they last too long, these Toyos just won't die and I've been ready for a change for about 6 months now. The cheap side of me won't get rid of a good set of tires just because so I'll just have to live with them a bit longer haha.
 

TerryD

Total Tease
Supporting Member
Location
Covington, Va
Rotated the tires today and greased the UCA's. I've realized that I don't like high tread-wear tires because they last too long, these Toyos just won't die and I've been ready for a change for about 6 months now. The cheap side of me won't get rid of a good set of tires just because so I'll just have to live with them a bit longer haha.

Ever get your steering thing fixed or at least diagnosed? That'd freak me out...
 

General_Tarfun

Sliders
Location
Atlanta, GA
Ever get your steering thing fixed or at least diagnosed? That'd freak me out...
Not really.

I was able to go over everything on the front end and didn't notice any looseness or slop in any of the components. All of the bolts were tight, steering shaft bolts checked out okay, balljoints tight, wheel hubs tight, lugs ok, tire pressures ok.

The only thing that I have really been able to diagnose so far is that the front left driver side coil-over sits about a quarter of an inch lower than the passenger side. The coils I went with when I built them were Moog because they were about $35 at the time for the pair. I don't know if one is maybe weaker than the other allowing the front end to shift which way it's leaning under load? It didn't do the steering thing as much on the way back when I was driving unloaded so it could have been top heaviness maybe pushing the suspension down left and right, but I'm really not sure. Fortunately all the components related to steering seem to be in good shape.

I was able to figure out the noise I was hearing though, the passenger side tire started rubbing the fender liner in the rear. It was fine before I sound dampened them so the liner must have been pushed forward a little, I'm going to try the melt mod on that side again to get a little more clearance.

Update: Ok tried the melt mod again but I'm out of space to melt somehow. I need maybe a 1/4" more so I might have to look at metal trimming.
 
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meisanerd

Need Bigger Tires
Installed the new LED headlights, a massive improvement over stock. And the same cutoff pattern, so I shouldn't be blinding other drivers.

Also did 1/2 of an upgrade to camber/caster bolts so I can fix my alignment. Front bolts came out fine, rears are stuck in there something fierce, so left it with my mechanic friend, we are going to try to spray the life out of them with anti-seize, or possibly just drill them out. Ran out of time last night, though...
 

SledheadX

Wheeling
Supporting Member
Location
Rochester, NY
Installed the new LED headlights, a massive improvement over stock. And the same cutoff pattern, so I shouldn't be blinding other drivers.

Also did 1/2 of an upgrade to camber/caster bolts so I can fix my alignment. Front bolts came out fine, rears are stuck in there something fierce, so left it with my mechanic friend, we are going to try to spray the life out of them with anti-seize, or possibly just drill them out. Ran out of time last night, though...
Diablo sawzall blade my friend. Once you go red, nothing left to be said.
 

meisanerd

Need Bigger Tires
Diablo sawzall blade my friend. Once you go red, nothing left to be said.

Yah, my buddy had to get home, so we just ran out of time. Going to liberally soak it in anti-seize before the next attempt, and if it doesn't come out when asked, power tools will be liberally used to "encourage" it to let go. It was still drivable, and the alignment was pretty much in spec without having to adjust the back bolts.
 

TerryD

Total Tease
Supporting Member
Location
Covington, Va
Yah, my buddy had to get home, so we just ran out of time. Going to liberally soak it in anti-seize before the next attempt, and if it doesn't come out when asked, power tools will be liberally used to "encourage" it to let go. It was still drivable, and the alignment was pretty much in spec without having to adjust the back bolts.

Soak it in WD40 or Kroil. Use the antiseize on the bolt when you put it back so you can get it apart in the future.
 

crazikyle

Bought an X
Location
Roswell
Today was a good day. Got my light rack powder coated and my Daylighters mounted up for the last time. Now I need a warm, dry day to finally wire them up.
light rack closeup.jpg
light rack small.jpg
Speaking of which, does anyone have any experience putting lights on the roof? I'm trying to figure out the best way to do it and just looking for some tips/guidance on how to get the wires to the roof. Right now I'm either going to run them up underneath the weather striping on the side of the windshield or run them into the cabin and punch a hole in the roof under the air deflector.

Also got my add a leafs in today and have all the parts I'll need for my suspension lift. Now I'm just waiting on shrockworks to deliver my bumpers/skids/sliders before I throw it all together.
suspension.jpg
 

Muadeeb

Nissan al Gaib
Admin
Location
Dallas
does anyone have any experience putting lights on the roof? I'm trying to figure out the best way to do it and just looking for some tips/guidance on how to get the wires to the roof. Right now I'm either going to run them up underneath the weather striping on the side of the windshield or run them into the cabin and punch a hole in the roof under the air deflector.
Depends on how you define "best" For me, I ran the wire from the engine bay, through a grommet, up the passenger A pillar, then drilled a hole under the foot of the roof rack. Wire then ran through the plastic foot, into the tube, and I drilled a hole in the tube to pop it out in the basket area. I then used a waterproof connector at the basket so I could disconnect the lights and remove them if needed. I don't have the truck anymore, and I can't remember where I exactly penetrated the room (stop it), but I never had a leaking problem.

Penetration here is not visible, but wire is in there.
Shoe.jpg



Rack%20Penn.jpg
 

crazikyle

Bought an X
Location
Roswell
Depends on how you define "best" For me, I ran the wire from the engine bay, through a grommet, up the passenger A pillar, then drilled a hole under the foot of the roof rack. Wire then ran through the plastic foot, into the tube, and I drilled a hole in the tube to pop it out in the basket area. I then used a waterproof connector at the basket so I could disconnect the lights and remove them if needed. I don't have the truck anymore, and I can't remember where I exactly penetrated the room (stop it), but I never had a leaking problem.

Penetration here is not visible, but wire is in there.
That does look good, I'll keep that in mind. The biggest problem I think I'm going to face is how many wires I need to run. The daylighters have 4 fat wires and fatter connectors, so if I do drill a hole it's going to have to be a pretty sizeable one, which I want to avoid if possible. However, if I run the wires on the outside, I'm worried I won't have enough length. I did a test fitting and it barely reached. I'll have to see when I get everything torn apart what the best way is.
 

Muadeeb

Nissan al Gaib
Admin
Location
Dallas
I also ran it as a custom harness because I'm comfortable with that. If you're using the stock harnesses, then running them along the seal is your best bet.
 

Xterrorista

Charcoal Briquette
Supporting Member
Location
Denton, TX
Check out Prime's 2gen build. He's got a clean wire job thru the roof, sealed off and has runs for extras to the rear, etc for add ons..
 

kryter

First Fill-Up (of many)
Location
Aurora Colorado
used a 5/8 carbide holesaw from the access under the dome lights to below the air dam installed a nylon strain relief connector and a SJ cord w 8 conductors ..14 months no leaks take a look at a police cruiser roof looks like swiss cheese
 
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