Well, as it turns out, and to my surprise, I in fact have 4.6 gearing and not the 4.9 I thought I did. Should have checked my sticker instead of relying on what nissan said about which trucks got which gears way back then. But anyway...this ratio with 33s (33.4 actually) is annoying on the highway. With the cold air, headers, etc., I still lose steam on hills I used to fly over in fifth. I'm contemplating switching to 5.13s or 5.14s, but am holding back because of my potential impending front axle swap.
TKD, "ALL the information" is a boatload of information indeed, and there is no comprehensive guide. With regard to Xterras, there's people out there who know what they're doing, people who think they know what they're doing, people who are trying to figure out what they're doing (that's me) and idiots (occasionally also me). Best thing you can do is educate yourself. With regard to gearing and drivetrain, especially swapping, ronin wheelers and pirate have some pretty good info, but take what you read with a grain of salt and consider the source. The trick is to figure out when you're reading something from someone who knows what they're doing. You might also want to consult the google genie with some basic search terms related to diffs and gear ratios.
Now, if you could get all the info together into one place, organized and accurate, I can almost promise you a thread sticky...
:kewl: