Hi guys, my name is Mike and I have a problem. I bought this truck, a 2014 Nissan Xterra Pro4x a few years ago and I haven't gotten it off the pavement other than a few dirt back roads . . . hardly counts.

Anyhow, I need help. Who's in to help a middle aged noob put some dirt on this poor neglected truck?

Here's my rig in all her stock glory.

Welcome Mike

Welcome Mike! See you on the trails!

Greetings young fella, I think we'd all like to help you get involved. Just what level of wheeling would you like to set up for? Right now you are set up nicely for driving around farms, fire trails and dirt roads. Get rid of the splash guards and your Pro-4X will be able to handle some fun green trails while smacking your OEM skids a few times. Your rear locker is nice in the mud, getting up leaf covered hills and getting over an obstacle or two. Add Sliders to protect your pinch welds and rocker panels and 33" AT or MT tires to hit fairly serious trails, like joining us on runs like Jeff & Scott's adventures - see under regional events. Then for a few more thousand $$$ the sky's the limit!

Scott

Welcome from West Hartford Mike!

Back-2-School run is on the 17th, come check it out.


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Ahoy, Mike, and welcome aboard!

Welcome to the site!


(Sent from Willoughby)

Haha, Not so young, but all is relative. This is my daily driver for the foreseeable future so I don't want to make it too painful to drive a few hours but I like the sound of eventually being able to hit the fairly serious trails.

I've done a lot of reading over the past week or two so I now know enough to be dangerous.

I will delete the splash guards, check.

Sliders, shrockworks a no brainier.

My Pro X4 is already lifted an extra inch over stock, I've been reading up on suspension lifts and body lifts but I really don't want to go more than an extra 2 inches for a total of 3. I noticed the suspension lifts that add 2 inches are not spec'ed for the Pro X4; is that because it already has a suspension lift? If so, can I replace the factory lift with a 2-3in suspension lift and be done with it? I want to avoid a body lift due to what's involved with moving the radiator and such and I really don't want to feel like I'm limiting my highway speed maneuvering to much.

As for wheels/tires; my stock 16's are aluminum. I noticed steel is the recommended flavor, can I keep my stock rims with a reasonable margin of risk or are steel rims the only real option? If I can keep my stock rims, can I get 33s on them? Believe me, I want the sick black steel rims but money is a consideration. As I understand it, my BFG AT's are fairly decent hoofs, can I still get passable performance from them till they ware out, they only have 16000 miles on them, hate to wast them.

CB's; what's a good set for $60?

Compressor; are there any recommended jump starter/compressor combos or are they all just mediocre?

Anyway, I prolly have a lot more questions but I guess that'll give us something to talk about when we meet.

Hi Mike,

I see by your blue name you really did decide to join the crew, Welcome Aboard. The young fella is because to me, 41 is a way distant memory. In fact if I had bought a new car when I was 41 and still had it, it would be just about ready for the antique plates.

You wrote "My Pro X4 is already lifted an extra inch over stock", what lift is installed or are you simply pointing out the standard Pro-4X is taller than the other configurations due to the larger tires and higher pressure Bils? Suspension lifts may not be listed specifically for Pro-4Xs because the rest of the suspension is identical to the other trims.

Wheels, a lot of us are running the stock aluminum 16" wheels with33" and even 35" tires. Being more of a skinny tire guy, I'm running 255-85-16s on mine which are just slightly narrower than the stock 265-75-16s. More popular are the 285-75-16 but most of those recommend a wider wheel than our stock 7" wheels. That said there are a whole bunch of guys (& gals) running them on stock rims. You may need a "melt mod" to clear the plastic trim the front splash guard mounts to. There is a good write up on the melt mod in thenewx.org site.

As far as lifts go I piecemealed mine together, upgrading the springs first (OME f&r) to deal with the added weight of the bumpers, winch, sliders and skids. Then added a top plate (2") & a SPC Upper Control Arm up front and a 2" shackle and shocks rear. As far as kits go I don't have a recommendation having never looked into kits. I have also removed my front sway bar and have been relatively happy with the way the Xterra handles.

Tires, well by the second winter my BFG AT's were very slippery. I replaced them with Cooper AT3s at stock size then I started to get more serious about wheeling. AT tires leave a lot to be desired in New England's muddy trails. I ended up picking up a second set of rims and purchasing Cooper STMax MTs and they have handled the mud much better but road handling does suffer. I've been running the AT3s in the snow and switching back to the MTs for wheeling season April thru Nov.

Compressors, I don't know if there is a jumper / compressor combo that has the flow to be practical. Filling 4 big tires takes a while. Personally I've upgrades to a Viair 40P auto as a good balance between speed and cost.

CB's - not my specialty - I'm still running a hand held and magnetic antenna. I have a more permanent setup but still haven't installed it yet.

Look forward to discussing the finer points with you.

Scott

Scott,

Okay, So after doing a little more digging https://www.summitracing.com/parts/rls-69-4510/overview/make/nissan/model/frontier, the point is that my front end would end up 1 " higher and that's why they don't recommend the kit. I'm not sure why, yet. I watched a youtube tutorial and it seems easy enough to install a lever kit if I can find the right one.

I'm happy to hear that using the stock rims are still usable. I appreciate the advice on going to MTs, I only have a 4 mile commute but do 2 or three long rides per month for work, many of the MTs I just looked at claim a better road performance.

What's the purpose of removing the front sway bar?

Tell me more about upgrading the springs. If I'm going to add a suspension lift, I might as well add more robust springs too. That because I intend on getting a Shrock Front bumper at some point.


Anyway, I have been admiring your ride, hope I can get close to that. within a year or two.

Hello Mike,

Welcome I'm a noob myself and well I can say the folks here are just awesome! I have been working hard getting my 2012 pro4-x ready for the trails. Just installed my schrock armor which I'm super stoked for and now just need to order up my sliders and then let the games begin!

New Haven huh?, I work in New Haven at Yale, we should meet up?

Well again welcome!
Michael

Hey Michael, thanks.

Yeah, I think we should meet up. I'd like to see the difference between my stock armor and the Schrock. I work in Fair Haven. I'll PM you my cell.

Yeah that would great got your number I'll call you next week and will meet up. You'll be amazed at the difference from stock to Schrock .

My two cents - You should wheel your stock Xterra minus the side steps & mudflaps. That will give you a much better idea of what mods you really need & in what priority.

Almost all of us here use our daily drivers to wheel. And there are plenty of stock trails you'll have fun on, so theres really no need to modify the truck to be able to start wheeling.

Come up for the B2SR if you can or one do the other runs. We'll love to see you guys & your rigs.


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Mike, No offense, but forget Summit Racing for Xterras. Check out NissTecLifts & PRG Products. Either site offers excellent mods and support to help make your selections.

Tires, MTs have big independent lugs that are never going to ride/handle as well as ATs. Best handling come from slicks - see racing cars, at least until it starts to rain. Each step towards MTs (performance tires, touring tires all season & all terrain) is going to reduce handling for a given rubber compound.

Springs, most coil overs assemblies are available with different strength coil springs. My theory is that by increasing the spring strength compressed to the stock length lifted the front end back to a bit over stock height while eliminating nose dip when breaking while keeping the exact same travel as stock. Adding the top plate raised the X an additional 2" w/o reducing spring travel either way. Droop would have been reduced by the Upper Control Arm hitting the spring bucket but this was addressed by using an aftermarket UCA that provides more bucket clearance. Droop is now limited by the stock Bils shock. I was warned that switching to longer travel shocks with this set up could result in binding up the CV Joints.

Rear springs, to upgrade you can add leaves (add-a-leaf kits) which stiffen the existing spring packs. So for the same weight your X will sit higher and ride stiffer with much less likelihood of bottoming out over large bumps or when towing. Complete new spring packs are also available that provide standard or customized lifts. As noted on my build page, I went with a "standard" OME spring pack which with my heavier X gave me a bit of lift but most of the strength upgrade went into regaining the lost height and improved ride. When we installed the spacer up front, I went with an adjustable shackles rear to provide a matching rear lift. Since I'm still running the rear sway bar I added adapters that brought it back to the stock orientation instead of preloading it with the lift.

I've removed the front sway bar to gain about 2" of practical droop up front. Lots of good stuff written up on sway bars on TNX website.

Scott