richard310's 04 Xterra
- Thread starter richard310
- Start date
richard310
pew pew
Thanks Co-opski!
So I just finished changing rotors and pads out and only was able to get to the fronts. I started at noon today missing a whole chunk of football games and then just cleaned up and parked the X outside. A 9hour brake change. This was the longest brake change I have ever done and the most labor intensive since I've done sedan brakes only thus far. The only snafu I ran into was the driverside axle wouldn't push out any further and the snap ring was not able to seat properly in the groove. I only needed about 1mm more. Fckin stupid piece of crap. I wiggled, I raised the hub assembly, I reinstalled everything at least 3-4 times but no avail. So I just popped everything where it should be, swapped rotors and pads, reassembled and rebolted down everything and called it a night. 4wd hubs suck. I miss my 2wd cars where the rotor is on the FRONT of the hub... not behind it.
I missed the Pats/Broncos game for this...
richard310
pew pew
Hahah having the right tools and a lift helps... and maybe a friend and a couple brewskies. I sure don't miss the aches and pains.
richard310
pew pew
So last minute, I went to Joshua Tree NP this weekend with my girlfriend, left Friday night and stayed til Sunday afternoon. I took Berdoo Canyon in at 11:30pm -ish which was quite fun, a cautious entrance and drive through BLM. No worries, I had protection and plenty of it. An interesting experience for a first timer especially at night. Had trouble navigating around Berdoo in the park to find the main paved road. Ended up doing the loop twice and driving through a mud pit. Finally found the road after backtracking and heading back up. Couldn't find an open campsite after checking out Jumbo Rocks, Belle, and White Tank. So we slept uncomfortably in the X right outside the entrance to Jumbo Rocks at about 3am since Belle and White Tank were full except Jumbo Rocks. Once the sun rose, we headed into Jumbo and drove around again to find open campsites. And low and behold we find #58/#57. We traded spots with the former campers at 57 and setup then crashed.
The following morning/afternoon, we cooked, ate then decided to drive Berdoo again to see what we missed. The loop had a little muddy section with water still in it that we went through the previous night. So we went through it again this time during the day. Quite fun and getting the Xterra muddy. Drove around and checked out some "jumbo rocks" and climbed a few. Headed back to relax then on Sunday we packed up and drove the main road to Cottonwood Visitor Center. We were going to check out the Old Dale Mines but decided against it considering I only had less than half a tank left and no spare gas cans. We then checked out the visitor center then headed onto Pinkham Canyon back to the 10. Took us about 3 hours to get to the entrance. The little roadblock on the riverbed near the exit was interesting. Thought we had to turn around but found a way around and found the entrance to Pinkham and headed home. Traffic was great lol but we had shabu shabu in Rowland Heights after a little detour.
And finally the pics:
Daytime after finding our campsite:
Breakfast as always whenever we headout.
After going through the mudpit...
A beautiful sunset:
On the way out and a final pic of the site:
Pinkham Canyon Trail:
At the otherside of the trailhead:
The following morning/afternoon, we cooked, ate then decided to drive Berdoo again to see what we missed. The loop had a little muddy section with water still in it that we went through the previous night. So we went through it again this time during the day. Quite fun and getting the Xterra muddy. Drove around and checked out some "jumbo rocks" and climbed a few. Headed back to relax then on Sunday we packed up and drove the main road to Cottonwood Visitor Center. We were going to check out the Old Dale Mines but decided against it considering I only had less than half a tank left and no spare gas cans. We then checked out the visitor center then headed onto Pinkham Canyon back to the 10. Took us about 3 hours to get to the entrance. The little roadblock on the riverbed near the exit was interesting. Thought we had to turn around but found a way around and found the entrance to Pinkham and headed home. Traffic was great lol but we had shabu shabu in Rowland Heights after a little detour.
And finally the pics:
Daytime after finding our campsite:
Breakfast as always whenever we headout.
After going through the mudpit...
A beautiful sunset:
On the way out and a final pic of the site:
Pinkham Canyon Trail:
At the otherside of the trailhead:
Co-opski
Expedition Leader
I have to get to JT one of these days, stunning land scape.
Sorry the brake job went like it did. You know the 2nd and 3rd time you do it, it will be a snap. Speaking of snap rings I use a large flat head screw driver to pry at the ring and get it to sit, in the grove, and if that does not work put it together like you did and engage 4wd it pushes the shaft out and may seat its self. Manual hubs do make it like half a minute faster.
Sorry the brake job went like it did. You know the 2nd and 3rd time you do it, it will be a snap. Speaking of snap rings I use a large flat head screw driver to pry at the ring and get it to sit, in the grove, and if that does not work put it together like you did and engage 4wd it pushes the shaft out and may seat its self. Manual hubs do make it like half a minute faster.
richard310
pew pew
Heheh thanks, it may not stay stock for too long...
We might head back too to check out Old Dale and a few other trails in the near future. Unfortunately the gf prefers the green and areas with running water.
It was my first time to JTNP and it was quite fun. Definitely try to make it out there.
Hahah it really did become quicker once I hopped on the passenger side. It went so quick it felt like I missed something when I reassembled the unit. I may consider a manual hub. Are they worth the difference?
mortonm
Expedition Leader
The real advantage is when you are stuck in mud/snow
the auto locking hubs disengage/reengage every time you go back and forward if you are rocking, which means your rear tires are spinning while your fronts are trying to figure out what is going on.
the auto hubs are expensive to replace at the dealer, a lot more (multiple hundreds) than a set of premium warns
richard310
pew pew
Cool, good to know. I'll look into that.
Btw, anyone have anything on Xoskel? I ordered a lopro light cage from John about 2 weeks ago and still havent gotten a delivery date... must be busy considering the timing of the holidays.
richard310
pew pew
Thanks Jonny! Slowly is the best way! Gives you time to think about prioritizing mods and what's needed vs wanted vs unnecessary.
wreckdiver1321
Overlander
Xoskel is a good company. When I ordered my light bar from him, I had to wait about two and a half weeks for it. He makes it all to order, and with the holidays he's probably busy.
richard310
pew pew
I've heard the same from the other Xterra boards. I'm being patient and not hounding him with emails as I know what that's like. I'll give it a week or so and see if he's made any progress then. So far 3 weeks since the order date but I'm in no rush. As long as it gets to my front door, I'm a happy man. Plus it gives me time to figure out what kind of aux lighting to throw in there. The guy's gotta be swamped this time of year...
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