[travisthac]

Hey guys, I have an 06' xterra and I want to get a 3 inch SL for it but I have no idea where to begin. Id like any recommendations on brands, advice, etc..
Also I need to know how much a lift like this will cost me; being a college student, I dont exactly have money falling out of my pockets. So if you guys could put it in the most simplest way possible of exactly whats needed to lift an 06' and how much itll cost me. I also want to get some 32's or 33's all-terrain tires after I lift it, and maybe a 2'' BL if the SL isn't enough.
Just a reminder im pretty ignorant when it comes to the ins and outs of the Xterra mechanics, so keep it simple please.

Thanks in advance guys, although im extremely lost on what I need. I want to make a checklist of all the components ill need for a 3" suspension lift but I have no clue what I need. So any help there would be great, please dumb it down for me. My dad's something of a car expert working for advance discount auto parts for decades, but as for me, I don't know shit. I just know the difference between a BL and a SL is the the BL is basically just spacers in between something... SO a list of what i need for a SL and what the hell it all is would be IDEAL. *Please dont hate me for my ignorance

 

[Drake]

A good start would be to look at build threads in the member's xterras section. See what others have done, what you like best, and that will give you the best idea of where to look and what to buy.

I'm a 1st gen guy. I know little of the 2nd gens as far as product availability. Other members will chime in with their own recommendations.

Good luck and don't rush the process. The more research you do, the less chance you are going to regret what you do. I've seen many times, members/owners get overly excited about lifting, buy the first kit they can afford only to hate it, have trouble with it, or not get the results they were hoping for.

 

[Revu]

Lift excitement! :biggrin:

One of the issues you're going to run into is just how many options there are out there. But as Drake said, as long as you take your time and read up on things you'll have your X set up how you want it in no time.

As a starter I can give you a brief on the direction I went in to get pretty much 2.5" of lift on my Xterra.

Starting on the less expensive side I went with a basic 2" lift package from PRG Products which includes a spacer puck for the front suspension and shackles for the rear. The front spacers shift the mounting point of the front shocks down about an inch and the leverage on the control arm is what gives the second inch of lift. The longer shackles in the back are similar but actually provide extra wheel travel because of the greater pivot distance in the shackle.

Neither of those lasted long on my truck because the suspension parts were old and worn. The ride was made really harsh and kept bottoming out because the shocks were cheap Monroes and the springs had 150k miles on them. So I traded the front shocks out for adjustable Bilstein 5100 shocks which leveled themselves without a puck in the front, and an AAL in the back to keep the springs from bottoming out.

Those worked well for a while, but soon (after about 4 months) the wear on the front springs became apparent, the X was doing a lot of bouncing and bottoming out over regular parking lot speed bumps. So from there I decided I wanted the actual springs changed out and picked up an OME package that included front springs, rear leafs, shocks, greasable shackles, and AALs.

Those have worked really well so far for the last six months, still have the setup on my X, but I have plans to do a Titan Swap sometime in the near future and will eventually swap out to coilovers and Alcan Springs

Since the start of these lifts my X has sat about 2.2-2.6 inches taller than stock. And I've been able to run 285/70-R17 tires. I'm almost positive that tires of that size would fit fine on stock wheels or stock offset, but I also put on some aftermarket wheels with a -10 offset which moved the wheels out almost 2". That did require some minor cutting to get them to not scrape, but the cut isn't even noticeable to anyone who doesn't know it's there, and it could be done with a dremmel tool in about 2 minutes.

And that's it. Some good resources to compare and buy from would be:
PRG Products
4x4Parts
Nisstec Lifts
Rocky-Road

Good luck with your lift! :biggrin: