Hi everyone. I just bought a 2006 Xterra S 6MT. So far i love the truck. Ive taken it out on the trail a few times and have been very impressed with what it can do. Im looking to make the x even more capable off road but I dont want to sacrifice too much on road performance as im sure thats wear the truck will be spending most of its time. Im new to the suv community so any recommendations for practical upgrades would be greatly appreciated

Thanks
Mike

Armor and tires are the first things I would do.

The order in which I would do it.

Remove the mud flaps
Remove the stock step rails
Remove the rear sway bar
Sliders
33" Tires (285/75R16 will fit with minor rubbing which can be fixed with a hair dryer)
Skid Plates
Lift
Front bumper

If you do not have a rear hitch, I would get one or get a new rear bumper with recovery points.

The only thing that will really suffer is a hit on the gas mileage.

the good thing is when you are not wheel'n, you can take the skids and sliders off, which is what I do. All that extra weight isn't need for daily driving.

Me personally would do tires first, but that is just my preference. If you wheel stock trails, you're not necessarily going to need skid or sliders. But tires will make a world of difference.

After I crushed a rocker panel the 2nd time I had the X out, I decded sliders are the first thing everyone should install.

I got a long pretty well with my stock tires, though tires do make a world of difference.

As for taking the skids and sliders off...hell no, I'd be spending way too much time taking them on and off.

But then again, my X sees dirt at least every other weekend, some times more.

Welcome to the Club! They are already flooding you with good ideas, and many more to come as well.

Let us know if we can do anything else to help...

Donald

Welcome to Club X Mike!

Let me know if you need anything.

Welcome even If I'm a noob newbie myself!!!!!

Welcome A Board!

:D

I second the advice to remove the mud flaps, step rails and rear sway bar.

The next phase depends on what kind of wheeling you do, and your street/dirt bias.

Tires for example that do well offroad tend to do poorly onroad, and, visa versa.

I run BFG AT ko's as a compromise, as they are about the most aggressive true AT's you can get, but they work on road too....but a dedicated mud tire will outperform it on mud, and a dedicated street tire will outperform it on road...but it can get close to either dedicated tire in its element, and is a decent compromise...especially as they tend to last 60-80 K miles even with off roading...way more miles than a typical off road tire.

:D

So - if you are traction or flotation limited....you need better/larger tires. If you want all out mud perforamnce, then dedicated MT's are your only path...if you are thinking a bit of off an a bit of on road...AT's work, and, the fatter, the better, period, on OR off road. Also getting them Taller is better off road, period.

:D



If you are in terrain that includes stumps/rocks...you need skid plates.

If you are in terrain you might need to hi-lift yourself, or, that undulates in elevation (Whoop de doo's, etc...) you need sliders.

If you need more ground clearance for your frame, you need either larger tires, or a suspension lift (SL)....or both.

You can't fit larger tires with just an SL, as they still stuff up to the same place as w/o the SL...so, to fit larger tires (Than 33's w/o massive trim), you need a BL.

The BL allows larger tires, and therefore, to lift the diff's as well as the frame, even though it by itself does nothing but make room for the tires and underhood stuff, water fording height, etc...

A PML and a BL are a great combination, as it gives the best of both worlds, and, the parts are part of future mods, so there's no waste....the front PML on your model is not so P as on the prior models...but the rear is as practical as ever.

The new X's benefit even more from a BL, as they have funny wheel wells....taller diameter is easier to fit than a fatter tire, but a blow dryer seems to fix the bulbous plastic well liners.

:D

Hope that helps a bit.

:D

TJ, you love to hear yourself type, don't you? ;)

Great advice as usual!!

Hey Mike! welcome! :biggrin:

Welcome to CX!

thank you everyone for your responses. Its nice to know that there are people out there willing to help. I ordered skidplates because i was under the truck yesterday and noticed some scrapes on the rear diff and transfer case. Like everyone said tires would have helped that but that involves a little more research and money. Ill keep everyone posted on how things turn out.

Who's skid plates?

:D

I like Shrocks best, followed by Black Panther.

Shrock's doing a bullet proof rear diff cover....you don't need a skid plate for the rear diff so much as a cover that won't peel off/take a shot.

:D

Is it common for people to shoot at the rear diff, necessitating a bulletproof cover? Or is this just a New Jersey issue?

I went with blank panther

Its a rock thing....the nex gen X's have that bass turd D44...the rest of us have a diff more like a ford 9"/drop out set up.

The D44's have a vulnerable diff cover.

In NJ of course, when a bunch of X's are attacked, say in Trenton for example...we circle the X's, and roll them onto their sides to provide cover while we return fire.

The D44 diffs can get bullet holes in them, the HB231's bounce the lead back at the perps.

:D

no i guess i didnt go with bp. Just checked my email and the parts are on backorder so i cancelled. How bad are the stock skid plates? are they sufficent for light to moderate offroading? I dont plan on doing any rock crawling just some trail riding.

The stock plates are crap. :(

Same on my Jeep Wrangler...stock plates are crap.

You could try Shrockworks, and see if they'll come any faster...

If you stick to stock trails, and you are not banging up the undercarriage, you can get away w/o plates (real plates).

A set of sliders go a long way on the new X's BTW....a lot of guys JUST got the sliders....and have been able to go ALOT of places w/o damage.

An interim measure.

:D

I ran a year with just the factory crap skids with out much problems. The thing is the factory skids aer almost as expensive as a real set of skids. No matter what, when it comes to the X you will most likely be waiting for parts. Most of the places that make stuff for us are small shops and can hardly keep up with demand. Jim at Shrock works his butt off to get products build and out to you but there is usually still at least a 3 week wait for for an item ships...many times even longer than that (a few months). Black Panther is the same way. Marcel makes a great product, but he is a small shop (even smaller than Shrock) and the demand is high. Since he doesn't make a lot of different products it seems he can get things made faster though.

A few weeks ago I installed a full set of Shrock skids.

Yeah, Shrocks are better than BP's, and BP's are better than Skid Row's..but even the Skid Row plates work well.

I have the Skid Row plates, as that's all there was a few years a go when I needed them.

They are a bit beat up...but, the parts that they protected, stayed protected.

:D

The parts that a shrock set WOULD have protected got beat up of course, and, I have had damage to non-shrocked parts...but I DO hit big rocks at speed...because if I slow down, it will burn out my clutch.

:D

Im a newbie myself, but Ive had my truck for a couple of years. In my opinon the tires are the best thing to upgrade first, I upgraded to Bridgestone A/T Revo Duelers. You can tell the difference on the road, and the trails. Good Luck w/ ur X!