The Little X That Could

[V1GiLaNtE]

I know it sounds weird, but engaging and disengaging your 4wd should be a monthly "maintenance" item. This ensures that everything is operating properly and well lubricated when you actually need it. This includes all components of your 4wd. Center diff locks (Yota bros), lockers, hubs, etc.

no, that makes sense.  being my wife's car and that we never properly use it enough on dirt, i just straight up forget about it.  i can at least say that i always remember to go slowly in 4WD for the first 1/4 mile or so to make sure the gears are somewhat lubricated after sitting for so long vs. just flying right up to 45mph or whatever.

current t-case fluid is some good Amsoil stuff, so i at least feel fairly confident that the internals should have some decent protection after being neglected.

Should be good to go then! Like I said, just start engaging that 4wd about once a month to keep all the components free!

[ScottyB]

well, the day of offroading i wanted to do on our Mother's Day camping trip didn't pan out.  wife felt sick on the last day and heavy rain was inbound so we bailed early.  i was bummed but we'll do it again soon.

camping at about 3600 ft., the rhodos were just starting to bloom.  absolutely beautiful up there.


the rest of the place didn't look too bad either


we did a small 1.5 mile excursion up a pretty rugged NFS trail to the High Shoals Falls hiking area.  that had us ford a small river but didn't require taking it out of 2WD, you can understand why below.  


the road looks deceivingly easy from that video though, recent rains had rutted the road extremely bad in certain areas and we were slamming the bumpstops the entire time with the 3 of us and a full YETI 75 cooler in the back.  this thing desperately needs a torsion bar crank up front and some extended shackles in the rear.  

the results were worth it though




but i think my wife had me beat this trip


otherwise no drama, just fill it and go.  it lugged all of us around mountain country without issue aside from struggling with its suspension travel.  passed 135,000 miles on the ride home.

so Pete just sent me info on a new expo route through appalachia called the Mid Atlantic Backcountry Discovery Route.  i have to do this, not only for the drive but all the awesome parkland and trout water that we'd have access too throughout the adventure.  i think just tackling the VA leg of the route would be an amazing way to spend 3-4 days just taking it slow and soaking it all in.

https://ridebdr.com/MABDR

https://vimeo.com/ondemand/mabdr

i would not want to tackle it without addressing the ride height and upping my prep game a bit with some basic recovery gear like a come-along, shovel, and possibly something like a set of max-trax.

[V1GiLaNtE]

so Pete just sent me info on a new expo route through appalachia called the Mid Atlantic Backcountry Discovery Route.  i have to do this, not only for the drive but all the awesome parkland and trout water that we'd have access too throughout the adventure.  i think just tackling the VA leg of the route would be an amazing way to spend 3-4 days just taking it slow and soaking it all in.

https://ridebdr.com/MABDR

https://vimeo.com/ondemand/mabdr

i would not want to tackle it without addressing the ride height and upping my prep game a bit with some basic recovery gear like a come-along, shovel, and possibly something like a set of max-trax.

Bravo! Beautiful pics! I noticed they have this route oriented towards 2wheels. Wonder how full size friendly it is.

[ScottyB]

Bravo! Beautiful pics! I noticed they have this route oriented towards 2wheels. Wonder how full size friendly it is.

thanks!  i was curious about that too.  it seems, from cursory glance, the route exclusively follows established forestry and unimproved roads and not singletrack.  i think part of BDR's mission with these trail experiences was to engage the local forestry and wildlife departments in partnership so they could retain more predictable access to their road networks, and as a result most of those roads are designed to be able to handle a ranger vehicle or trout stocking truck.  the other public roads appear to be used as access for homesteads, agriculture, or historic sites and so they're doubletrack trails as well.

here is the catalyst article Pete sent me.  they did the entire thing in a new Jeep Wrangler.

http://www.automobilemag.com/news/drivin...r-rubicon/

[.RJ]

so Pete just sent me info on a new expo route through appalachia called the Mid Atlantic Backcountry Discovery Route.  i have to do this, not only for the drive but all the awesome parkland and trout water that we'd have access too throughout the adventure.  i think just tackling the VA leg of the route would be an amazing way to spend 3-4 days just taking it slow and soaking it all in.

I'm in.

[PDenbigh]

I'm in too. I'll squeeze the F150 through, or bring a chainsaw if I can't :-). Looks like a fantastic looong weekend. Serious.

Scott - it's awesome to see the Xterra still seeking adventure! Looks like a great trip too.

[ScottyB]

I'm in too.  I'll squeeze the F150 through, or bring a chainsaw if I can't :-).  Looks like a fantastic looong weekend.  Serious.

Scott - it's awesome to see the Xterra still seeking adventure!  Looks like a great trip too.

yeah we gotta plan this out.  legit super excited to do this route. your FX4 would be ideal with the way you've tweaked it, and it needs some "trail pinstriping" anyway right?

and thanks!  its been a good little SUV.  coming up on being 15 years old now and a remarkable amount of stuff on it is still original or untouched.  its not worth a thing so we're in the "who cares, just send it" stage which is fun.

[Evan]

So a car based unibody "awd" crossover could totally make that route right?

Why are you laughing? The car seats in the backseat will give me more traction.

[ScottyB]

So a car based unibody "awd" crossover could totally make that route right?  

Why are you laughing?  The car seats in the backseat will give me more traction.

if the intake is at least waist height, i'm gonna say you're fine 

[ScottyB]

not much to report other than some maintenance i've put off for probably too long.

rotated the Firestone Destination A/T's which are wearing great, considering they see pavement 99.5% of the time.

dumped the old transfer case and rear end fluid and replaced with more of the same:  Amsoil synth ATF and 80W90 gear oil, which i like to run so i can forget about it for a long time when used in this hot-as-balls area of the US.

(the synchromesh and plugs are going into the Si, some day, probably)

the old rear axle fluid looked good after an 80,000 mile service life, very little slag on the drain plug magnet.  the t-case fluid looked brand new, as i would expect, but i'm sure it had some decent moisture in it at this point after a similar service interval.  

next up, i'm going to run a proper vent tube for the rear axle and i need to finally deal with the remaining shredded lower balljoint on the driver's side front control arm.  that will make me feel confident enough in the reliability to hopefully get into some group rides with a local overlanding club that i've started to talk to.  its a decent vehicle for most dirt roads and unimproved trails, but if we want to hang with those guys, inevitably we're going to need to start investing in some recovery equipment + tow points, and minor armoring for the steering components.  beyond that, i want to do as little as possible to upset its utility as a commuter vehicle.  i'm genuinely excited to get this thing dirty though.

[ScottyB]

off to another camping adventure this weekend.  one of our goals is to hit a 4 mile out-and-back trail in search of some high altitude wild trout.  we should be up against at least 4 river crossings as we weave across the same water.  probably doable in 2WD on a good day but after the hurricane rains we'll likely do it in 4HI.  definitely excited. here's a portion:



in preparation for more trips like this, i'm working on making a higher rear axle vent tube than stock.  the front diff has an extension from the factory but Nissan decided the rear diff didn't need it?  the current axle vent is just a little pipe on top of the axle tube, so our safe fording depth is really only like 14 inches or so.  if we're moving through creeks there is very little chance for water intrusion but if we ever got stuck in a deep hole and had to sit for a while i have no doubt we'd get water seeping into the axle.

here's how it will look:


ordered up OEM part 38323-C601A which is a breather fitting extension from a Titan.  should screw directly in and the extended bung will allow me to just pop a 1/2" rubber or vinyl line on with a screw collar and extend the line up into the chassis.  most guys seem to like running the vent tube up through the chassis rail to behind the rear tail light.  that puts fording depth at waist deep, which if that happens means we have some other serious issues to address anyway.

intended termination point:


naturally the new breather will arrive the afternoon after we leave, but i think we'll be fine for this trip.  will report back with some pictures of big fish and big splashes.

[D_Eclipse9916]

You gotta let me know if you are anywhere in the near area to Charlotte (Asheville etc). Would love to take Jess' car out.
Supposed to be pretty capable and I would like to try it out.

[ScottyB]

You gotta let me know if you are anywhere in the near area to Charlotte (Asheville etc).  Would love to take Jess' car out.  
Supposed to be pretty capable and I would like to try it out.

absolutely.  we'll probably get up into NC next year, especially once we finish the teardrop camper.  for now we go about as far as our son can handle a car ride when he's excited, which keeps us in the north GA area.

i'm eyeing up a couple really fun rides in the pisgah area, and if our Xterra can handle them your LR would kick ass

[Jake]

You gotta let me know if you are anywhere in the near area to Charlotte (Asheville etc).  Would love to take Jess' car out.  
Supposed to be pretty capable and I would like to try it out.

I believe the LR4 is like my RR was - can go through water about 28" deep if you are crawling through it. Mine kicked ass off-road as long as you didn't try to use all 500 horsepower at once.

[ScottyB]

another little camping excursion in the books.  of course my breather extension comes the afternoon after we left, missing us by about 4 hours but whatever we didn't need it.

we explored Cashes Valley Road in north GA which is one of those bizarre backwood trails that is technically a road, but its little more than a cart path with some rough doubletrack leading off to a cabin here and there.  if you drove by it, you'd have almost no inclination to think it was any more than a driveway.  no cell reception, and poorly marked roads so we had to bust out the atlas for a couple turns.  starts off asphalt, then compacted gravel, then roughly graded earth.  4 miles up and back but we only attempted about half due to low sun and my obsession with chasing trout.

this was essentially a rough forestry road.  not a real challenge at all, and with enough clearance a subaru or CUV could pull it off.  still fun but i'm itching to do some real overland travel.  still bottoming out all the time in the back with a full cooler and some luggage, i really need to put a mild 1-2" lift on this thing.

2nd of 4 water fords.  it was about up to the running boards.


stopping for a snack and i threw some waders on to fish some deeper sections


i let my son "drive" (steer) us back across one of the fords.  he was pretty pleased with himself.


some nerdery on the way home, parked next to another xterra in an extremely rare color - mineral blue

[Jake]

That photo of your son steering across is priceless. Good on ya for letting him do that, I still remember my grandpa doing the same with his Club Car golf cart in their Arizona neighborhood. I was probably 6 at the time?

[ScottyB]

That photo of your son steering across is priceless. Good on ya for letting him do that, I still remember my grandpa doing the same with his Club Car golf cart in their Arizona neighborhood. I was probably 6 at the time?

thanks, it was one of those things i thought he'd enjoy like most kids would, but it was almost his favorite thing of the entire 3 day trip.  all 15 seconds of driving!  now he's begging me to put him behind the wheel every time i just move the cars around the driveway.

he's 5...we all have those "first time i drove" stories usually around that same age.  mine was a big john deere when i was about 7.  fingers crossed that it's started the same lifelong obsession with cars that i've had.

[WRXtranceformed]

fingers crossed that it's started the same lifelong obsession with cars that i've had.

For better or for worse 

[ScottyB]

fingers crossed that it's started the same lifelong obsession with cars that i've had.

For better or for worse 

LOL

he gets the advantage of me telling him what NOT to do after hearing about all my descents into madness

[Apoc]

he's 5...we all have those "first time i drove" stories usually around that same age.  mine was a big john deere when i was about 7.  fingers crossed that it's started the same lifelong obsession with cars that i've had.

Yesterday, my kid said "I ride back race car," which roughly translates to "I want to ride in the back of a race car." Since then, I've been asking myself how old should he be before riding in the 911 (in which a car seat will NOT fit). At least now I know age 5 will be the latest.