Like I said, I know I committed SA sacrallige by going IFS. And I'll say this again- if I had bought a Jeep too, who would walk the trails, and spot, and depth check the rivers, and take the pics that make you brother (and sister) Jeepers look so good?

So I got a good gear haulin, camp worthy on and off-road vehicle. My very first actual ownership and not a hand-me-down, an '03 Xterra.

It took a long time to get with the program, find the one I wanted, and finally commit, but I found her, and she is glorious- well... will be glorious. By the way thanks to Steve and Rose for taking good care of her those first three years of her life and endowing her to me.

So without further delay, here is her first picture in her baby shoes, all shy and hunkered down to the ground like a good little SUV.



But there will be time to help her grow. Oh yes......
There will be time....*insert wannabe evil laugh* :twisted: :roll:

But now a silent moment for she who went before. The 1976 Louisiana Farm Truck that I learned to drive at the strapping young age of 9, bestowethed apon me by my grandfather and mi madre.



We do know she is in a good home,
Jeremy, please treat her well. :wink:
*sniff*

So if there's one central point I've learned through the Xterra world, it's that the aluminum side steps have to come off. This is the same thing across the Jeep culture too, and pretty much, very easy to figure out, especially after watching Chris's friend Harvey burn down his X's street tread everytime he got hung up on the worthless paper thin pontoons on the last Sunflower trip.

So anyway, those are off now, and you can literally hold one balanced on your finger, they're so light.

I also took off the "mudflaps," b/c I left the swamps of LA a long time ago, plus when I go bigger on the tires, I'll need the clearance. So here ya go, still as Steve's youngest calls it "a van thing" until the lift gets on:

K, I can't tell you how much I hate the stock "plus sign" wheels most X's come with.
I did however find the S/C wheels quite fetching. And while I couldn't find the right color, auto, 4x4, S/C in town when I was looking for an X to buy, I was able to arrange to buy the wheels off a guy I met on the XOC boards.
I paid a great fair price and he sent them right out. I was surprised when they got here that they even came with a little larger, more aggressive, good treaded BFG Rugged Trail T/A's.

So thanks my new friend Mirek for your help and for the 17" Charcoal S/C wheels! By the way Mirek's X is awesome! http://www.mituk.net/80-offroad/trips/2005_09_23_uwharrie/

when are you getting a bumper and stuff?

Well "guest," I have to figure out if I'm going with the body lift.
I got the Calmini 3" on now with my 20% stiffer Bilstein extended length shocks. Was extremely impressed with the shocks. Much better than stock and even w/o the sway bar in the rear, there was no roll taking the mountain highway curves at full speed.
Another reason for the stiffers, is so when I get my heavy bumpers, the height shouldn't change. Of course I had to paint the Bils, b/c they came puke yellow with cornflower blue boots that I cut off. After I scuffed them up. I painted them with my favorite thing in the world, bedliner. Of course, I had to tape over the logo so it would still stand out after painting, or else who would know what I was running?



Anyway, I'm itching to get my Shrockworks front bumper- single hoop like this one:




But to keep there from being a gap there is a 2in body lift version of it and the Shrock sliders I want. So take that into account, plus that I should be running 32's instead of 31's that came with my wheels, so I'm due for a tire purchase, and I could fit 33's on with the BL, there's a lot riding on my BL or no BL choice. I need to decide before I get all of that other stuff. I do like the height right now, it definantly shows when parked next to another SUV, but it may not be high enough to stand out by itself.

Anyway here it is now, with the 3in, and no precious metals yet.

Here's a 3" SL + a 2" BL

Fine, I'll go with the Body Lift. $150 bucks for a couple inches? Gotta do the steering upgrade first.

And it will have to be tire time as soon as the BL goes on or else it'll look funky.

*click* *click* Hello?

*click* *click* *click*


hmm I think skatch needs to get a CB radio before he gets the other stuff for his X

Ha, right now, I don't think my X on the trail would get reception with your... driveway!!! :lol: :lol:


CB is definitely on my list. But it's no where near the top. I want metal bumpers! I want to go back to intimidating people when I merge onto the freeway. I want to be able to actually stand on a bumper. If you seriously can't do that, how will it fair in a wreck. I want Honda's and low riders to go underneath me until the word SKROWKCORHS is imprinted on their dash.
And I want to pillage and plunder @$%& it. All the live long day.

K, I bought the Heavy Duty Steering kit- it's on back order.

And...I bought the 2in body lift. So we'll see what happens...


Tires are gonna cost a blamshot. Thinking about the Nitto Terra Grapplers.

Tired of the BFG standard tread that everyone has.
The MTR's that are on the Jeeps will be too aggressive for the X. Any other suggestions welcome.

Tire on roof or???

Now I just got to figure out the Metric tire size BS.

hmm do they make swinout tire carriers for an xterra?

id still throw some junk up on the roof, maybe a shovel, axe a bunch of lights?

Actually yes.
Calmini
Shrockworks
and Skid Row

maybe do the swingout that way you leave room for a cooler and other junk on the roof?

then maybe fab up some jerry can holders for the new tire carrier

I wouldn't have considered it before, but if I am lifted 5" running on 33's...

+ I really have no choice. It won't fit underneath any longer (only a aired down 32 will)
And I'm thinking the condo parking roof will pose a problem for the roof idea.

We'll see how the money flow go.

hey mikey time for a rear tire carrier eh? :lol: go ahead and design one like you did with Jared's and we'll make one up.

That'll be last step action but J's did turn out sweet.

The body lift is in, but I'm forcing myself not to do it 'till I revamp the steering whenever it comes in.

Hopefully that steering thing comes in soon for you! Can't wait for ya to get your lift on. I'll be there to help ya after my daily workouts! Yay for bigger tires and worse gas mileage. It's soooooo worth it!

K, I cancelled my steering kit order with Calmini since it has been about 2 months I heard a voice tell me it was on backorder.

I went with another company's product L&P Performance, so we'll see what the time frame is now.

bump :twisted: