DMSKI's 2006 Xterra

[Dmski]

Snorkel doesn't look bad though man, the ingenuity is awesome. I like that it is more full bodied on the fender than my Airflow, it looks almost awkwardly small on the fender to me sometimes.

Thanks for the kind words! Its the covering that I need to continue to work on but all in all it does follow the lines somewhat. Its fully functional and I've driven through torrents of rain (PNW for the win) and it has been bone dry in the air box. MPG's are still being calculated but its not restrictive. It may be helping me on the freeway at speed but I don't have any definitive proof. I did it for the price ($100 ebay snorkel plus my time) and functionality since I've been sucking in a ridiculous amount of dust and with the ARB bumper and the front of the fender cut, it also lets in more water than I thought to the airbox. Now that's not a problem. Plus it was an interesting project with a lot of head aches and very few have anything like it. Like I said, its doable, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it to others.

P.S. nice rig of your own! That is a clean looking X!

 

[Loubaru]

How hard was it getting up to Gallagher lake? Thats something I've been wanting to do for a while but a little worried about my relatively small tires (265/75/16) and lack of skid plates (cheap factory ones).

 

[Dmski]

How hard was it getting up to Gallagher lake? Thats something I've been wanting to do for a while but a little worried about my relatively small tires (265/75/16) and lack of skid plates (cheap factory ones).

It is actually not that bad of a trail. One of our friends had a stock LX470 with running boards and made it no problem. If you are worried, you can always go with another vehicle but any of the difficult stuff can be bypassed and it never hurts to hop out and walk a section or have someone spot you. All in all it is one of our favorites because its fun rain or shine and is a great intro trail for others wanting to go offroad. Plus the destination is killer! We went recently and the top is snow covered so I wouldn't recommend going until next year.

 

[RockyZuk]

were you able to get the rockers painted fairly easily with the sliders? my rockers are a pitted with a ton of rock chips and I am looking to spray them with bed liner. I too have sliders and it looks like you got good coverage without having to remover the sliders. loving the build!

 

[Dmski]

were you able to get the rockers painted fairly easily with the sliders? my rockers are a pitted with a ton of rock chips and I am looking to spray them with bed liner. I too have sliders and it looks like you got good coverage without having to remover the sliders. loving the build!

Hey thanks for the kind words! I originally bedlined my sliders so I felt if I over sprayed on them I wouldn't care. I was able to hit nearly everything fairly well. If you really get under and look you may see some thinner spots but it is entirely covered. Might not be the correct way, but it was quick, easy and not time consuming and is easy to touch up if I need to. Definitely recommend the rustoleum bedline spray. Worked on my wheels, snorkel, sliders and sides and so far it has held up great! The sliders have been on there for 2 years or so and it looks like the day I put them on.

 

[Dmski]

Update! Christmas brought an ARB awning! Far too many cold wet nights spent huddled around the tailgate cooking. I was considering making my own out of a tarp that I wanted to roll up, but its far more work than I think is worth it. Stoked on the new add!

 

[07BlackSpecV]

Update! Christmas brought an ARB awning! Far too many cold wet nights spent huddled around the tailgate cooking. I was considering making my own out of a tarp that I wanted to roll up, but its far more work than I think is worth it. Stoked on the new add!

Sweet, look forward to hearing your thoughts as I am really wanting an awning.

 

[jhberria]

Update! Christmas brought an ARB awning! Far too many cold wet nights spent huddled around the tailgate cooking. I was considering making my own out of a tarp that I wanted to roll up, but its far more work than I think is worth it. Stoked on the new add!

Nice! What size did you go with? I recently picked up an ARB awning, myself.

 

[ozotron]

Mine saved me during my trip to Banff and Jasper last summer. I bought it right before I left and I was VERY glad! Have fun!

 

[Dmski]

Nice! What size did you go with? I recently picked up an ARB awning, myself.

Hey nice! Went with their cheapest option which is the 1250 I believe. It fits perfectly on the side of the X which is actually a plus. Smaller, yes, but certainly will help in the downpours. I can pop the rear hatch and now have the awning open on the drivers side and have excellent coverage.

Mine saved me during my trip to Banff and Jasper last summer. I bought it right before I left and I was VERY glad! Have fun!

Good to hear! One of those things you don't realize how nice it is until you have it I feel like.

Sweet, look forward to hearing your thoughts as I am really wanting an awning.

I'll let you know how it performs in a "real test" when we do our next wheeling trip. For setup and driveway tests it works quite well.

 

[jhberria]

I also went with the 1250. It is narrow, but works for its intended purpose. It's much easier to handle than the standard 6ft awnings when I'm out by myself.

Also, I saw you asked about how I mounted it over on thenewX. I researched different options, but in the end I invested in a set of FourTreks awning mounts for the Xterra roof rack. At the time I bought the awning, I was working 14 hour days everyday and quite frankly had no interest in a DIY mounting solution. The FourTreks mounts are not cheap, but they are quality and made installation easy. I'll take some pictures in the daylight, if you want.

 

[stioc]

Haven't been on here in a while, great to see the X has come a long way. Do you have any pics of how the snorkel fits on the inside and how it connects to the intake?

Also look forward to reading your impressions of the awning, I've had mine for a couple of years and I've only deployed it may be twice so I was actually thinking of selling it.

 

[Dmski]

I also went with the 1250. It is narrow, but works for its intended purpose. It's much easier to handle than the standard 6ft awnings when I'm out by myself.

Also, I saw you asked about how I mounted it over on thenewX. I researched different options, but in the end I invested in a set of FourTreks awning mounts for the Xterra roof rack. At the time I bought the awning, I was working 14 hour days everyday and quite frankly had no interest in a DIY mounting solution. The FourTreks mounts are not cheap, but they are quality and made installation easy. I'll take some pictures in the daylight, if you want.

Agreed. Having set it up to test it I can say that the 6ft would be a bit of a handful. I like it for what it is. And for mounting I ended up just making some L brackets at the shop and punching out slotted holes on our iron worker. Exhaust clamps hold it to the bars. So far it is holding nicely! When I get a chance in the light I'll snap a photo of it.

Haven't been on here in a while, great to see the X has come a long way. Do you have any pics of how the snorkel fits on the inside and how it connects to the intake?

Also look forward to reading your impressions of the awning, I've had mine for a couple of years and I've only deployed it may be twice so I was actually thinking of selling it.

Thanks! It's a work in progress and that's what I like about it. I don't have any photos of the inside but it was a very tight squeeze. Holding up now after a few months of use so functionally it's excellent! And at a distance it even looks good haha! Up close though I need to iron out the details and make it look a little more fitted. All in time. Ski season has my weekends pretty much taken up.

in other news, I may be moving into Titan swap territory. I'll be working on installing my Lokka locker I picked up a while back and then do the swap with extended CV's. I'd love a m226 and m205 in the 3.36 flavor but the cost to move to that is just mind blowing. This gets me a step closer but it won't kill me. Swapping out and selling a few existing parts should fund half of the Titan swap, so I'll essentially be paying for the extended cv.

 

[Dmski]

Completed my 100k tuneup with new plugs and a few odds and ends. Also was able to pick up a locking latch of ebay and installed that to keep my recovery gear from getting stolen from the roof box.

 

[Dmski]

Haven't been on here in a bit... Thought I'd throw up another recent trip crossposted from thenewx.

We chose to explore Umtanum. Not difficult wheeling at all, but we were trying to find a few connections south and to get out and shoot and camp.

UmptanumBreak_2017-3 by nicklowe-hale, on Flickr

The mud out there was slicker than snot. But it also was a pain in the *** to clean off.
UmptanumBreak_2017-19 by nicklowe-hale, on Flickr

Some fun breakages. See anything wrong?
UmptanumBreak_2017-12 by nicklowe-hale, on Flickr

Yup, my buddies axle nut completely backed off. I was worried we had a serious bearing failure but we caught it right as it started making noise and were able to put the nut back on. Of course as with all trail fixes we didn't have the right tool to, and this was no exception. We needed a 54mm thin walled socket, but vice grips worked out in a pinch.
UmptanumBreak_2017-15 by nicklowe-hale, on Flickr

UmptanumBreak_2017-7 by nicklowe-hale, on Flickr


Photo cred goes to my friend Nick.