hey, i own a 03 xterra 2wd (the 2wd was not my choice, i bought the car off my sister). anyway, i want to lift it a bit so it rides a little higher. nothing dramatic, just enough for me to notice i suppose. what would i need to buy/do in order to make this happen? thanks!!

Do a PML (Poor Man's Lift)

This is either put shackles or Add-A-Leafs in the back and crank the torsion bars up in the front to level it out. It will give you just under 2" of lift.

Rear Shackles are about $60 from Calmini and AAL's are about $150 from Calmini. Cranking the torsion bars cost nothing. You will however need a front end alignment.

is that completely safe for my car? for some reason, something called a Poor Man's Lift doesn't sound all that car-friendly. haha.

i did the pml to mine, its nothing major

There are thousands and thousands of people who have done PML's. Not just on Xterrsa, but on Ford, Chevy, Toyota, etc. Basically any truck that use torsion bars can do it. Now there are down sides.

Torsion bars can only take som much stress, so don't try to get much more than 1.75" of lift out of the front.

If you wheel and wheel hard there is a chance you could break a tosion bar. For street driving the chances are unlikely.

Rear shackles will flatten out your leaf pack over time. If you wheel, this will speed up the flattening some, if you tow or haul a lot of weight, this will speed up the flattening even quicker. If the X is just a street vehicle and you do tow or haul weight, get the AAL kit, not the shackles.

Othere than that, you are good. Just remember, get an alignment or you will eat front tires.

why do you suggest the AAL above the Shackles if its more of a street vehicle? Hey, I'm cheap and I saw that the shackles were $50, opposed to the AALs which were near $200

There really isn't much problem running shakles, but again.

Rear shackles will flatten out your leaf pack over time. If you wheel, this will speed up the flattening some, if you tow or haul a lot of weight, this will speed up the flattening even quicker. If the X is just a street vehicle and you do tow or haul weight, get the AAL kit, not the shackles.

Hmm..if its a street vehical, the shackles WON't flatten the leaves with time, a he won't be reverse arching them...and the '03's should be OK anyway, as even at full compression, they don't go past flat anyway.

I have around 75K on my shackles w/o any sag at all, and I DO off road...a lot.

:D

How long does it take to put in an add a leaf kit. I think I will be able to sneak a PML past my parents

Well an add a leaf is more work than just schackles but shackles are more noticable.

The thing is with an AAL, since it is a lot of work, you are going to be doing a lot just to get 1.5" and it is going to be more expensive in the long run and way more work and a therefore harder to find time to sneak past the parents.

I do not condone sneaking past the parents anyway (;) yes I do!)
Shackles are the easiest way to PML your rig

P.S.-thank you for using the search feature!

How long for shackles?? They are cheaper :)

you can get the shackles from ac for around 60 i think... and it wont even take 30 mim to put them on.....