Mild Upgrade Questions

[trump]

It's possible that I might have a couple friends drive my 06 Xterra on a future trip through some remote area. Me and my wife would be in the Tacoma which would be able to handle any support work that might be needed during the trip; however, I would like to add some basic upgrades to fix a couple shortcomings that I've noticed with the Xterra.

1. Recovery points - I want solid, frame mounted, recovery points that I can use a shackle on. I'm not interested in loading it up with aftermarket bumpers, armor, or a winch. I've seen a couple pictures of RockyMtx rear recovery points, but haven't been able to find a location to buy them. They seem to be exactly what I have in mind. Something very similar on the front would be great too. Does anybody have some info on them?

2. Suspension - The weak rear springs have annoyed me for as long as I've owned it, but it's finally time to correct this. I don't really want to lift it at all, but this seem like the only way to get stronger springs without going custom ($$$). The new(er) ARB/OME springs seem like the way to go with their mild 1" lift. Are there other cheap options I've missed for this?

I want to minimize the cost on all of these. It's a daily driver for my wife and is in no way going to replace my truck. What say you, resident experts?

 

[bushnut]

If you have a 2" trailer hitch receiver you can get a hitch mounted recovery point. I have one on my Pathfinder R50 and it works great. cost about $25.00

As for the weak rear springs you can always get another leaf put in to the pack. it helped with extra gear and fixed the saggy rear end on a jeep cherokee I had. it cost me about $300.00 parts and labor.

 

[trump]

If you have a 2" trailer hitch receiver you can get a hitch mounted recovery point. I have one on my Pathfinder R50 and it works great. cost about $25.00

As for the weak rear springs you can always get another leaf put in to the pack. it helped with extra gear and fixed the saggy rear end on a jeep cherokee I had. it cost me about $300.00 parts and labor.

Good suggestion. I might even have one of those around here somewhere, although I'd still prefer to have something a little more permanent. I'll have to look around for it just in case.

I don't feel like keeping the current leaf pack would be worthwhile at this point. I doubt an AAL would be much more than a band-aid.

 

[trump]

Looks like RockyMtnX is a member of www.thexterra.org and not a business. Is anyone here a member of that forum? Not sure I want to join another forum just to ask for a quote. He makes a very cool stealth winch mount with recovery points as well.

 

[duckhunter71]

I'm a member of TNX. If you'd like for me to PM him with your info to contact you I'd be happy to. Just PM me your info and I'll do it this evening!

I also wanted to add that the weak rear springs of my Xterra was the reason I didn't keep it for very long. I wasn't in a position to mod at the time, so I sent it on its way. Stellar vehicle, otherwise, though! I went with a Frontier this go around and love it.

 

[trump]

I'm a member of TNX. If you'd like for me to PM him with your info to contact you I'd be happy to. Just PM me your info and I'll do it this evening!

I also wanted to add that the weak rear springs of my Xterra was the reason I didn't keep it for very long. I wasn't in a position to mod at the time, so I sent it on its way. Stellar vehicle, otherwise, though! I went with a Frontier this go around and love it.

Cool, I'll send you a PM this evening.

The other thing I found interesting about the Xterra is the lack of headlight adjustment (unless I've overlooked it.) I would think that would be an important adjustment with saggy/weak rear springs. I get flashed when I tow my boat at night and it's well within the tow capacity of the X (maybe 150 lbs of tongue weight.)

Overall, I've been very happy with it. It's been nearly trouble-free since buying it in 2008.

 

[RonapRhys]

Two points for you:
1 - with the hitch, the normal receiver pin works just fine as a recover point. What I've consistently done is put the eye of my recovery strap into the receiver and then put the pin through that. Since these pins are set to hold many thousands of pounds for towing (up to the max for a CIII hitch), they're plenty strong enough for that. The problem I ran into with having something stick out of the hitch is that it reduced my departure angle.
2 - Both Deaver and Alcan make replacement leaf packs. I'm a fan of the Alcans as you can tell them all of your specs and they'll set you up with exactly what you need. About $600 plus shipping for this option.


I also had the headlight issue. As noted above, my fix was to upgrade the suspension. I've not seen any headlight adjustments, but if you want I've got a copy of the FSM and could go looking. Just let me know.

 

[Jgrider16]

Check out nisstec out of Denver. They have several options including OME leafs for <$400.

 

[RedXterra]

The New X has a lot of really good info.

http://www.thenewx.org/forum/?

Another option is airbags in the rear. One of the guys in my local Xterra club was having similar issue when towing his tent trailer, so he installed airbags. He absolutely loves them.

I'm not sure if this is the exact kit he used, but it looks almost the same.

http://www.suspensionconnection.com/cgi-bin/suscon/59562-xterra-air-springs.html

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

 

[trump]

Another option is airbags in the rear.

Interesting... hadn't thought about airbags. That might be a very good solution for my application.