Josh, the X is looking killer. I'll be interested to hear your thoughts on those coilovers long-term. I've heard good things about them so far, so I'm interested to see how they hold up over time.
Awesome little trip you took there! We're getting a bunch of snow over this way, so I haven't been able to do much solo exploring. Glad to see your locker helped extricate you from that potentially bad situation. I've had the exact same thing happen to me, where the trail gave way under me, and my locker rescued me in much the same fashion. They really are worth every penny. I'll be making sure to keep a locker in my future vehicles.
Sweet news on the bumper as well. That will look great on the back of your rig. That build time can't be beat either.
Keep exploring brother.
Thanks, Tom. I'm also leery of going to far into the hills solo, as both the Cascades and Olympics are getting pounded with snow this year. I can only imagine how much of the white stuff you Montana folk are getting.
I'll post my impressions of the coilovers once they see some more usage. Haven't been able to get any technical trail time in (and probably won't until the Spring, due to weather). Seems like the only key difference between these and the Radflos is the performance of the strut/shock (with Radflos obviously having the edge here), and the Radflos being rebuildable.
Hi, A couple questions if you don't mind as I'm looking at that exact lift. I have the ARB bumper on order, will be buying a winch, and also have a CVT Mt. Shasta on order.
Did Nisstec recommend the 600 pound springs for your application, or did you choose those? (I am uncertain of deciding between 600 and 650 pound springs)
Did the 1/2 PRG spacer come with the MK84 kit or did you order those separately from Nisstec? (I'm assuming you ordered directly from them)
What did you do in the back? (I currently have the Nisstec 2" AAL/spacer lift, and am assuming I could choose the rear shackle option instead of the AAL as I already have that.)
I love the look of that bumper, can't wait for mine to show up so I can get it installed. Have you put much thought into a winch yet?
Thanks again
Carlo.
Hi, Carlo.
I had originally planned on going with the 600 lb spring, and spoke with Nisstec about my needs and intent for the truck and this is what they recommended, as well. I can say that with the ARB bumper, they are still quite stiff when left at the factory preload setting. With the addition of a standard 8000lb winch, the springs would soften a bit. I had originally considered going with the 650 lb springs, but now I'm glad I didn't. That being said, another member on here (Trixter) is running the Nisstec coilovers w/650 lb springs and just skids and sliders on his X, with no complaints. Although I know he is adding a steel plate bumper and winch soon.
The spacers DID NOT come with the coilovers. I already had them, as I bought them from PRG over a year ago. You can actually get 1 inch top mount spacers from Nisstec, which I would highly recommended. This would allow you to dial down the preload on your coilovers, providing more available travel from the shocks while still retaining lift.
My rear is a bit of a Frankenstein setup. I have a Nisstec AAL and PRG adjustable shackles set to the bottome (one inch) hole. Recently, I also installed the Hellwig 550 adjustable helper springs. These are nice as they progressively manage the load and I can adjust them to accommodate different loads. If you've already got an AAL and don't want to commit to new aftermarket leaf packs, I would just get Nisstec or PRG adjustable shackles.
You'll like the ARB bumper. The look is a little more "traditional" than the alternatives, but I like it. It's also a bit lighter, which is nice. I haven't really put too much thought into a winch yet. It would be nice to have one, but honestly at this point I'm leaning towards throwing a few hundred bucks at a set of MaxTraxx. I've been stuck in the snow (or nearly stuck) twice in the past couple weeks.....situations where I could have quickly and easily recovered myself with a set of traction ladders like the MaxTraxx. They seem like versatile tools and worth the money when you actually need to use them.
