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2007 Xterra:Terry's Bolt On Wheeler

This weekend I managed to get the steering rack bushings replaced on the X. That wound up being an interesting job! There's almost no way to get a wrench on the upper bolt on the passenger side. I had to put all my 1/2" extensions together, remove the rack mount from the frame and go down from above the engine to get it broke loose.

But it's done! It really improved the handling too!

I also scored a full set of Moog TREs for half price from the Xterra forum. I'm wanting to get them installed pretty soon. That's the last piece of the steering parts excluding the rack itself, which normally only fails by starting to leak. At this rate, most of my 200k service work I had planned will be done by 175k...
 
Well, I was WRONG! Looks like my rack is hashed. I thought the driver's side inner TRE was wasted but when I went to disassemble it yesterday, it was the driver's side of the rack that's worn out.


I just buttoned it back up and now I've got to research what to do from there. I don't think anyone makes an upgraded rack so I guess I'll just be trying to find a cheap one with decent reviews that I won't mind replacing every couple years as they wear out. This one has 170k on it and the last 30k have been at my mercy. I guess it's time.
 
So I finally got the call that my steering rack is out. I'm planning on going to get it Friday morning. It probably won't get put in until January unless the factory one starts leaking.

I'm going to start trying to find the 3.69 axles for this thing. That'll get me the OE rear locker to stick in and I might add a lunch box locker to the front just to mitigate the weak spider gears that blow up the entire front axle housing whey they go. I think those will really help and at that point I can wheel it and then decide to continue building this or sell off my Camaros and start on a CJ6/8. I'm still on the fence though.
 
That quote came out weird :thinking: lol
 
I considered that but I don't have any issues with them coming loose. I was more concerned about someone trying to take off with them. I use a rifle lock around the mount and through the handle holes in the sides of the board and that works ok. Maybe in the future I'll get my lathe running and find a small mill where I can make some more complex mounts that I can add actual locks to.
 
Finally got to use my winch. With all the rain we've been having here, my MIL got her E350 hung in the yard moving it around at Christmas so family could park at her house. I could have used a strap to pull it out, but I figured there was less chance of her running into me if I used the winch.

There was quite a bit of voltage drop, looks like I'll be trying to find a better battery now. I've heard good things about the Autocraft AGM from Advance. I don't have any money to spare at the moment for a battery I don't NEED, so I guess I'll be looking for the next big discount from them this spring to grab one.

I'm ready for the weather to change so I can start working on this thing again. I'll have a new radio to install in a few weeks hopefully and I still need to replace the steering rack. I'd also like to pull the sliders to clean around them and then weld them on. I realized that I'd rather have them welded on when I sheared that bolt head off in the fall going over that rock.
 
I ordered a Kenwood TM-D710G ham radio that was on sale for the Christmas season to replace my little Chinese quad band. I've been gathering parts to get it ready to install. The Ram pieces for the control unit showed up yesterday and my electrical parts should be here today or tomorrow.

I'm hoping the weather will break this weekend and I can get it mostly installed. I want to have it done before the Richmond Frostfest next month so I can play with APRS om the drive.
 
Oh this needs to be SAS'd badly
it can still be a nice DD afterwords and I'm sure it wont get out of hand as a wheeler :D
 
K85 Octane said:
Oh this needs to be SAS'd badly
it can still be a nice DD afterwords and I'm sure it wont get out of hand as a wheeler :D
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imiceman44 said:
My friend has a 2001 that we will be sas'ing
Click to expand...

1st gens are easier to SAS. The 2nd gen Xs use the wheel speed sensors for all ABS and speed signals. To maintain the cruise, speedometer and ABS systems you have to have 4 wheels worth of pulses. I'm just not in to going through all that with this thing right now. I know a guy with a 1st gen Frontier with the SAS kit from Rugged Rocks. That thing is SWEET! D60 outters on a custom built axle housing using the H233B Nissan center section like a 609 hybrid. He's running 37's. I would LOVE a 1st gen Frontier Crew Cab with that setup on some 35-37" tires but for now, I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing. The X is doing what I want. We travel in it and it's been great for getting out and going camping and exploring. Plus it's comfortable at 80mph on the interstate.
 
TerryD said:
The X is doing what I want. We travel in it and it's been great for getting out and going camping and exploring. Plus it's comfortable at 80mph on the interstate.
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This right here!!!

This is worth more to me than a super capable trail rig on 40's any more.
 
I got the worn out steering rack swapped out for the low mileage unit yesterday. That made a big difference in how it drives and no more leaks!

Also found a bad u-joint in the front drive shaft so I pulled it today. Gonna order joints tomorrow to get that fixed.
 
I put Spicer 5-1310x u-joints in the shaft the other day and reinstalled it. I'm missing one of the flange bolts. There was a grade 2 5/16 bolt in place of it when I pulled the shaft. Guess I'll have to go through Nissan as all the M10 bolts I've found have the wrong size head on them.
 
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