New...to me 2000 Xterra

[pgjetta08]

Hello there, just got rid of my 08 vw jetta s and opted for the 4x4 mainly because I got a great deal and Minnesota winters suck!

Here is the old ride:



I bought a 2000 Xterra XE 3.3L 5-Speed 4x4 with 148k miles about 3 weeks ago. My boss was the second owner (10 years) and the truck spent half of its life in California (San Diego). That being said it is relatively clean, there was a pretty bad rust spot by the rear nozzle washer sprayer. Took care of that within the first 24 hours of owning it with a fiberglass patch, bondo, and rattle can color matched paint. The plastic trim (bumpers, etc) were also super faded and old looking. Removed all of the plastic and truck bed liner coated them all. I did not take any before pictures but did take some during - attached below, couldn't get them to rotate.

Then I got rid of the running boards:


Then came minor things like bulbs, 30% tint on the front windows.
I got a set of cragar soft 8 15x8" wheels with 31x10.5x15 BFG all-terrains that bolted on the stock suspension with some trimming of the plastic fenders.

So...the same day I got the wheels on a friend of mine and I decided we should go test them out. Things were going great until I got a little over confident and buried it up the frame in some nasty swampy crap!


After 3.5 hours and attempting to pull it out with an explorer sport with the 4.0L and an excursion with a V10, I finally had to call out a coworker of mine's father who owns a tow company. His F350 powerstroke crawled through the woods and yanked me out with some beefy ass chains. All in all I'm very impressed with the beating this thing took.

After Swamp:


Cleaned up...Kinda:


Just installed some fog lights because one was rotten out but don't have any pictures yet.

Still some minor issues to work out:
-Throwing a EVAP circuit malfunction code, traced an open wire and replaced, still getting light (thinking either the purge solenoid or pcm is at fault)

Future Mods:
-Stock radio is on its way out...ordering soon
-Have already recieved rear lift shackles, but now I'm contemplating if I should do a PML or not. Tires fit on stock suspension...open to opinions
-Would like to install some sort of auxiliary lighting but haven't decided on what yet

[Revu]

Welcome to the club!

Wow nice, looks like you've got things going really well!

Doing a PML won't help fit bigger tires at all, it'll just up the clearance when straddling obstacles, a good idea imo if you're going to be taking it off the beaten path.

If you're looking for a good way to mount some lighting, be sure and check out Xoskel, they've got neat light bars that are Xterra specific. Another cool one that sponsors a lot of Xterra events is B & M Lightbars that has one that hides behind the air dam on the roof instead of in front of it.

The evap system can be a pain when it goes out, but it looks like you've got things under control.

Have lots of fun with your new toy and we'll see you around!

[dezurtrat]

Welcome to CX!

[scott-bc]

I like your truck, looks like mine, its grey. You can sure call your truck "the swamp thing"! Looks good muddy.

[yellowbug]

Welcome to the club. Pml would help with clearance

[intender]

good looking truck. And I understand the overconfident thing. when I was still young and dumb I took my dads 2 wheel drive ford ranger out for a spin with some friends to hit up our favorite fishing hole. Usually we walked in on foot or took my 4 wheeler, but this time we wanted to take our 14' john boat. I managed really well until it came time to cross a creek. the water was normally about 3 inches deep and rocky on the bottom and the 4 wheeler would barely get wet going through it. but apparently some big trucks had been through recently and dug some ruts in the creek that I didnt even look for. we were pretty instantly sitting on the frame. after 3 hours of digging we gave up and make the 3 mile hike back to my buddies house for a tractor to pull it out. Fun times!!