Off roading

.jersey

.jersey

Active member
So I'm going off roading saturday in the pine barrens in new jersey with a bunch of friends who go a lot. I traded in my car a couple weeks ago and picked up a 2005 Nissan Sexterra Off Road with a six speed manual, skid plates, locking rear differential, and clutch cancel. It also has brand new Bridgestone Dueller A/T tires on it.

Since it is my first time off roading I was wondering if anybody on here who goes often has any advice on what to bring and what to do/not to do. Thanks guys, all advice is appreciated!
 
I assume youre going trailriding.

Bring:

First Aid Kit

Phone

Come-along

Heavy Tow strap or stretch strap (no chains!!)

Spare Tire

Gas

Jack

piece of wood to lay under jack

as far as equipment I think that about covers the basics

What not to do:

Hit rocks at speed.

Total and or roll your rig.

Mostly its just common sense, if you think youre going to get stuck, then you probably will.
 
trail riding/ some mud holes. Its supposed to rain alot here tomorrow so it'll be decently wet. The kid im going with are ridiculous with fixing cars and trucks so im not to worried if anything breaks.
 
You should detonate your front diff now to save yourself some time.
Just kidding... Sort of... But not really. I would keep it mellow if you've still got your stock front end. I'd hate to see you blow it out. Xterras are nice, but not really off roaders in my mind because they need work to be passable on anything but open trails. Just be easy on the gas while climbing if it's rough and take it easy you should be fine but look into front end mods if you're looking to get serious.
Oh, and bring the following off-roading necessities
hookersblowfireworksalcoholbow + arrowsfirearmsa pound of weed

Your fellow off roaders won't even care you don't have a hi-lift jack, tow straps or even decent mud tires.
 
Don't stop in water crossings, you could roll your new suv. And if you are not very good with a manual trans, learn or get owned by mother nature. If you stall in water, you could flood the engine, causing engine problems and if the water is deep you could roll it over if you stop.
 
Don't just go ripping through mud holes. You are more likely to get stuck that way then going slower. Take your time.
 
keep your thumbs out of the steering wheel spokes. if you have your hand wrapped around the wheel and you hit a rut or something the steering wheel can jerk and break your thumbs. just look where your wheels are going. wheel placement is key. if youre stuck make sure you try turn the steering wheel back and forth pretty common sense but sometimes you forget.
 
wrangler is too small dude. Im not exactly a small kid and i need my room. And anyways, every person and their mother has a wrangler by me. I need the space to be able to take it to college next year and to carry around shit. The wrangler has absolutely no room in it
 
this doesnt apply as much to trails as it does dirt road, but basically any time you want to drift or slide the back tires (which is rare on trails) you can just turn the wheel hard. you set it at 20 degrees initially and hit the throttle, and when you are shifting from first to second, when you stop accelerating to change gears, you begin to turn the wheel more. then the back tires lose traction easier and you go right around
 
first off, congrats on the sexterra, i have one of my own and love that thing to death.
as far as hard terrain goes it does really damn well, once you get into mud, however, at least don't plan on going uphill in it. one of the biggest things i cant believe nobody mentioned, is that if you're spinning a lot or having trouble gaining traction let some pressure out of the tires, you'd be amazed how much of a difference it makes.
other than that, be easy on the gas, and have a good time!
 
yeah, i understand the basics of airing down and such. Thanks man, I love this car so i deffinately wanna see what it can do
 
If I were you I would but a leveling kit and coil spacers on your xterra. You will get around 3 in. of lift and it only costs around $150 vs. $1000 for a suspension lift kit. You will have more clearence and you could slap some larger tires on it and it will be a beast.
 
I'm looking to put a leveling kit on eventually. If i put one on now though it would look bad with the tires on there so im thinking about doing it when i get new tires. I'm a little short on cash anyways and first thing im gonna do is finish the audio system that the previous owner started then probably a brush guard.
 
went offroading a bunch last few weeks for my first time, youll love it, main things i learned though is dont push your car to much, if you doubt you can do somthing then you prolly cant, and also dont be afraid to get out of your car to check out and see wats on the trail cause sometimes youll see rocks or holes that you couldnt see before

just go out and explore it will be fun
 
thats what im plannin on. im not gonna do anything retarded the first time and im gonna take it easy since its a new truck
 
For sure bring a shovel in case you do get stuck. Keep the rpms low so you don't spin your tires if you're close to getting stuck.
 
yeah i just packed the car since were leaving tomorrow morning. I got a shovel, axe (its crazy windy out right now), tow straps, garbage bags, flaslights, some tools, food. anything else?
 
Spare gas can if you got one, but I doubt you'll be wheeling that far. shitty shoes or mud boots for sure.

I've always wanted to wheel the pine barrens.
 
the sexterra has like a 21 gallon tank so i wont really need spare gas. From what i've heard wheeling the barrens is great. Its been raining all day and just stopped so it'll be nice and wet
 
lower your tire pressure if its muddy. go slow and dont think your suv is invincible. lower your insurance deductables for body damage. nothing like making a payment on somethin that is fucked up. if you want everything to wash off easy spray down ur wheel wells with wd-40
 
dont no much bout sexterras

but i was dope with one of these .. i always went out in rwd then if we ever got stuck just throw it in 4low locked and we got out no promblem

kawasaki-teryx-750-4x4-le-ruv-2008.jpg


basically all i did was buckle up and give her hell.. thing was bomb proof

find a feild in the trails and set up a gymkanan track to race ur friends in .. its aswome
 
already has skid plates covering the majority of the undercarriage. It comes standard with the offroad trim
 
water crossing are a stock vehicles WORST enemy. depending how deep they are, say 3/4 up your wheel or more, you can cause some serious damage to your diffs. not sure on the xterra or with it having the off road trim package, but i suggest checking out some forums for your vehicle and finding out where your diff breathers are. all it take is you diff (warm from off roading) to go under cool water and have cold dirty water enter the diff and they-re fucked. Other then that, take it slow, use your gears, dont be afraid to use low range if you need
 
with a manual and 4 low it is very easy to drive, but try not to feather the clutch, let it crawl. just watch the rpms if the rpms are dropping to low give it some gas, dont be afraid to stall, it happens all the time offroading. for me i have a rock crawling back ground sooo idk if you are doing any rocks or what. my crawl ratio is 100 to 1. very low. with a stock vehicle it will be more like 40 to 1 not bad. but harder with a manual transmission. my rant is over. offroading is fun.
 
If you go please be respectful, dont fucking litter and dont be complete assholes in the mud bogs.

All the kids that go "wheelin" are pissing off the greenies and they are putting booby traps in the woods to keep people out. Which sucks when your in a lifted truck, but it sucks even worse if you race dirt bike through the woods like me.

i'm all for everyone getting out and enjoying the woods, just try to be somewhat respectful if your in state land

you can enjoy driving your truck through some puddles, i'll be doing this:

 
get a "come-along". If you ever decide to wheel alone and even if you dont, it will become your best friend. You can pretty much pull yourself out of anything if you get stuck.

As much as driving goes, I dont know what to tell you. Everybody offroads differently whether it be trail riding or mudding or dune bashing. Here all we have is shitty mud roads and shitty washed out gravel roads. All i have is a 1998 4 banger 2wd S10 so i pin it and mob through everything.

Just dont hit anything solid or sharp, changing tires and CVs on the trail isnt very fun.
 
my friend was getting his tires aligned and the mechanic noticed that his entire front end is demolition so he cant go which means that we wont be going this week. the kid who leads doesnt want to go with a truck down since it would just be his dodge ram, a chevy silverado and me and the xterra probably wouldnt be able to pull them out of mud since we just got a couple inches of rain
 
Get this then:

chic41a.jpg


I go out alone now when i can because i know i can always get myself out with it. It shouldnt have any problem getting your truck or anyone elses out.
 
when i get some cash i deffinately will. Theres some other things that i would like to get before that
 
Gotta love noob off roaders....
I'm not going to tell you what you need because Inbred_Redneck has done a pretty good job. I'm going to give you a bunch of links to forums and web sites I'm on every week buying stuff or reading build threads....
Just like NS best offroad forum in the world, will help you if you need to ask some stuffhttp://pirate4x4.com/
some other stuff you should look athttp://www.arbusa.comhttp://www.warn.com/index.shtmlhttp://www.yukongear.com/ trust me if you want to build a serious rig ull need thathttp://www.trail-gear.com/http://www.4wheelparts.com
 
And go slow and don't rush, parts break when you go fast. A friend of mine drove his 4runner through a small stream thinking it was harmless, but there were some large rocks in it and he pretty much ripped his front axle out.
 
Glad to hear you went with the Xterra! Enjoy it! What color did you get?

With that said, there is a lot of bullshit in this thread. Start somewhere else, like here... www.thenewx.org.

If you have a hitch installed, get a receiver shackle so you have a recovery point in the rear, pretty much mandatory to have a recovery point in the front and rear. A kinetic strap rated much higher than the vehicle weight. Pulling a heavy truck from deep mud or snow will require a higher rated strap. Get a few extra shackles as well. Obviously, your Xterra came with a first aid kit, but make sure it is stocked with fresh gear and add your own essentials. I have a variety of handtools in the cargo space under the rear floor such as axes, shovel, wood saw. I carry an ARB recovery strap 3" x 30' at all times, and have used it many times both on the trails and on road. I keep more than at least 2 flashlights, and knives in the truck as well as 2 way radios with charger. The list could go on and on. Don't skimp on recovery gear, shitty quality parts are dangerous and so is the lack of knowledge on how to use it. Again, I recommend checking out some Xterra or off road specific forums for better information.

Pictures are now required!
 
oh god, dont go on pirate with this shit

go and read but dont go making threads and asking stupid questions.

basically all you need to know, air down, go slow, dont stop in water, tread lightly and use common sense when it comes to obstacles.

your nissan isnt really a great wheelin rig but you'll be ok
 
its the greyish color. It came with a towball so for now I'll be using that for a rear recovery point and it works because i've already been pulled out of 2 feet of snowy/slushy/frozen material. I do have a tow strap also that is rated to break at 17 thousand pounds. Since i was supposed to leave early this morning but the trip got canceled i already have it packed with shovels, axes, first aid kits, and stuff like that.

And about the pictures: i dont have any as of now but its nothing flashy just yet, just a grey xterra off road
 
Congratulations on getting both in my opinion the best color, Night Armor, and also the hardest combination Xterra to find, Night Armor/Off Road/6 Speed Manual! When I was car shopping, I was unable to find a used Night Armor Off Road with 6 speed, so I ended up ordering a 2011 Pro 4X, which is just a rebadged Off Road.

One other piece of personal advice, I absolutely HATE the traction control on the Xterras and anytime I intend on driving off road, or sliding around I will have it off at all times.
 
I feel like i've talked to you about the xterra a couple months back haha maybe im wrong.

I actually found this car by complete accident. I went into a dealership nearby to look at a truck that was there and saw this sitting there. It didnt have any stickers on it so i thought it was sold. I actually called them up the next day and they said they had a deal on it already but it fell through like 2 hours before. I wasn't planning on getting a manual (but i learned stick when i was 16 so it wasnt a problem). I got a pretty good deal on it too imo.

I dont have any complaints on it yet, such a solid truck. Im looking to put a 2 inch leveling kit on it that i found online for a pretty good deal.

http://www.topguncustomz.com/Store/Gen2ProdDisplay.php?iview=172587736
 
Yeah, that was me.

That is some awesome luck you have then! I found one used one but the dealer would not budge, so I never pursued it. How many miles did the truck have when you picked it up?

I have never heard of that particular leveling kit, but I know a lot of the Xterra enthusiasts go with the PRG kits.

www.prgproducts.com/shop/product/prg_xterra_front_lift_spacers_and_mini_kits/

I have yet to add anything to my Xterra, other than new tires and recovery gear. I swapped out the stock BF Goodrich Rugged Trails with 500 miles on them for the Goodyear Duratracs, which have more than proven their worth in the snow, mud, and on trails. Since you have some new Dueler A/T's, you are set on tires for the time being. I would still pick up a shackle receiver, I picked up one from a local 4WD Parts shop for about $30. Using your hitch ball, can be done, but it also runs the risk of the strap coming loose and possibly causing damage. Which leads me to one safety point about straps, don't use a strap that has hooks on the ends. I am not sure what you are using already, but no metal hooks! They can become a deadly projectile if they come loose under tension.

I hope you enjoy your Xterra! I love mine, it has already proved itself to be far more capable than I imagined. Yeah, it's not a straight rock crawler as others have already voice their opinions about, but it does hold its own and is more capable than most stock SUV's/Trucks. I have yet to use my rear diff locker, and have already towed my fair share of SUV's/Trucks out and up trails. Plus, Nissan's 4.0 liter V6 is a fucking beast of an engine, very easy to get the back wheels loose when you want to slide around.

 
Treat it like skiing a new area. Take your time. Scout out your lines. Don't be afraid to get out and take a look at where you want to go. Probe the mudholes first to check depth.

All your gear that you have listed, pack in Rubbermaid bins, and secure down. You really don't need a shackle flying at the back of your head because you hit a pothole. Pack more gear than you think you need. Four straps is always better than three. Shackles are your friend as well.

Take cash. Off-road recovery services aren't cheap, and they don't take debit.

Know where you are going, and be prepared to drive out of the bush in the dark.

Leave the booze at home.
 
I got it with about 58K on it and it looks brand new. I'll have my friend check out that leveling kit, he's pretty good when it comes to this stuff.

The straps that i have are loop ended without a metal hook at the end of it and break at about 17,000 pounds. When we had to use the hitch ball one time we just tied a knot and it worked great.

The engine on this thing is great, especially from what i used to drive. My previous car was a 2008 base model civic so this is a huge difference in the amount of power available. So far i absolutely love this thing, thanks for the information before i bought it!
 
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