Cruecible's Build Thread - OnyXterra

Cruecible

Titan Swapped / SAS'd
Location
Albuquerque, NM
-=-=- I sold it in June, 2017. It was an excellent chariot and an awesome opportunity to get back into off-roading and explore the area around me and the people that make up an excellent community. While I will miss her, it was time to move on and get back into something lower and faster. I will stick around and check in from time to time, and I will be here for the XN Fastasy Football League if there is still interest. Thank you to everyone who helped me out along the way with my build, and all the information that I acquired from this site was invaluable. -=-=-

After a year of owning my Xterra and finally accumulating a few mods over that time, I feel I can start my build thread. It's been a labor of love to this point, and I know it's only going to get better. I tend to explain things quite a bit, so some of my postings may be long-winded. While I don't have pictures of everything I've done, I have taken what I could and will document everything from here on out.

Most recent pic from 5/30/2015:
UPMxg47.jpg


Username: Cruecible
Year: 2004
Make: Nissan
Model: Xterra
Trim: SE Supercharged - w/ Rugged Leather option
Color: Super Black

Mods So Far:


Exterior:

-Stubby radio antenna
-BL adjusted rear bumper
-Removed mudflaps
-Stickers for HP
-Removed plastic thing in front, removed the bar under it to sand, paint, and re-install
-Removed factory tow hook to sand, paint, and re-install
-Removed factory tow hitch
-Rear passenger fender CB antenna mount
-P&P rear recovery points with shackles
-4' Firestik

Tires and Suspension/Steering:

-33x10.5x15" BFG KO's
-Graphite Nissan Frontier Desert Runner wheels - 15"x7"
-2" Body Lift
-AC Upper Control Arms
-3" Suspension Lift with Bilstein 5100's in the front and Bilstein 5125's in the rear
-Sway-A-Way Torsion Bars
-Rear sway bar removed
-Front sway bar removed
-Add a Leaf
-Grassroots 4x4 Centerlink sanded and painted red (8/27/14)
-Total Chaos Idler Arm Brace (8/27/14)
-Bandit 4x4 bushings (8/27/14)
-AC Heavy Duty Tie Rod Adjusters (8/27/14)

Engine and Transmission:

-Resonator delete with K&N drop in
-High flow cats with new O2 sensors
-Replaced distributor cap and rotor
-NGK plug wires and NGK Laser Iridium spark plugs
-All fluids replaced with Amsoil products
-Timing belt kit installed

Interior:

-Raingler pet barrier net
-Uniden PRO520XL CB

Future Plans:

-New stereo for MP3 connectivity
-Fix headliner
-Replace headers to fix exhaust leak/annoying sound
-Rock sliders
-New front bumper
-Rear bumper with swing away tire carrier
-Lights (way down the list)
-New brakes with stainless steel brake lines

Now for the pictures!!!

I bought her back on April 9, 2013. From the first few forums I came across, I knew the mod bug had bitten me hard and burrowed deep. The first ever picture I took (my fiancee's Fiat next to it):

(4/9/2013)

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Freshly cleaned for forum showing off (still had the temp tag):

(4/13/2013)

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Picture I took for info gathering purposes when I first noticed my Xterra was little taller than stock. I had no clue till then that it had a body lift already on it:

(5/24/2013)

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Some stickers from Creepy:

(1/10/2014)

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When I first bought it, I was throwing a code for bad catalytic convertors or bad O2 sensors. I was pretty upset about that so I took it back to the dealership which was a little operation, not a big official dealership. They decided in good faith to replace the front cats for me, which was performed by their in-house mechanic. Took two weeks for them to find cheap enough ones and install them. The codes were gone, but I still couldn't pass an emissions inspection and I was noticing a huge loss of power. For 3 months, I replaced anything I could, sought the advice of anyone willing to help me on CX, and I was frustrated beyond all belief. Buyer's remorse was really settling in. It was at that point I decided I needed to get professional help with it, so after looking through reviews for local shops, I found a really good one. Long story short, he hooked it up to the scan tool and found that the wires for the O2 sensors were plugged into the wrong connectors. After switching them to the correct ones and replacing the badly damaged O2 sensors from the dealership mechanic's doing, the B-2 was good as new! Such a headache relief! Obviously no mods were really done to that point besides maintenance, but I still went out for some riding.

(12/21/2013)

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About 4 months ago, I started to get really pumped about what I should do next. After reading through tons of posts for ideas, and knowing that a set of 33's with new wheels were coming my way, I decided steering upgrades were a good bet. Not wanting to fork out over $1,000 for a full set, I pieced it together. With our Albuquerque meet and greet coming up, I figured I could get some more knowledgeable fellows to assist me with installation. The day came, and we figured knocking out a torsion bar crank would finish off my already installed suspension lift components. The thought of doing it swiftly was just that, a thought. It took the whole day, a busted forehead, a few beers, delicious pulled pork tacos, and fun for it to happen. Which couldn't have happened if not for rokdaddy, NMTerras, and CaptainMorgan_SOS all pitching in. Thank you gentlemen. We also discovered a couple of unexpected bonuses when we were under the truck, the first one being that the truck already had Sway-A-Way torsion bars and secondly there was already an Add-A-Leaf in there. Very Nice! While the decision at the time was to not put the shackles on, I'm still contemplating the idea of installing them. It will add a little bit of a rake though, which is the part that I'm thinking the most about.

Only picture I took of the meet up, although Captain and NMTerras took a few (even one of me bleeding I believe):

(4/5/2014)

1x5M5LC.jpg


Post lift with wheels and tires and I'm a very happy man. It's awesome how quick I've gotten to this point so far and yet enticingly daunting how much more I want to do. My goal for the B-2 is to have a very solid, capable off road vehicle that I can count on getting me to where I need to go everyday and getting me in and out of places I wouldn't normally have gone. Since this is going to be my daily driver for quite a while, reliability will always be my first priority.

(4/6/2014)

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And pre-suspension lift but more pics of the front:

(3/19/2014)

(I smacked the crap out of a dirt bank on my first off-road adventure, hence the tilt of le bar)
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Pre-corrected rear bumper, but repping the squadron:

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Much more to come over summer 2015, hope you enjoy!
 
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Cruecible

Titan Swapped / SAS'd
Location
Albuquerque, NM
I realize now in hindsight that I should've started this a while ago to document everything. At the same time though, I wanted to have some base material lol
 

Cruecible

Titan Swapped / SAS'd
Location
Albuquerque, NM
Yeah I did get lucky lol. I had no clue what I had until quite a few months into it, and I think the Sway-A-Ways and BL were the biggest surprise, and of course the AAL was pretty cool too. I can't wait to get all the steering goodies put on and get that timing belt done for peace of mind.
 

Cruecible

Titan Swapped / SAS'd
Location
Albuquerque, NM
Thanks for the nice words! It came with 31's on the supercharged wheels, and I snagged the desert runners with the 33's already on them. I need to take more pictures, I've painted almost all the plastics and added the P&P rear recovery points. Hopefully I'll get to finish the CB install tomorrow. I lucked out with the mods already installed when I bought it, but I'm really enjoying getting to do everything else and really learning the truck inside out. Like the steering upgrades, that'll be fun to tackle here pretty soon lol
 

rokdaddy

Wheeling
Founding Member
Location
New Mexico
Heya, Crue...

FedEx dropped off your bearings today.

Flyfishing has taken over most of my time this month but I should be able to work on your steering stuff later this week. I'll give you a call later this week after things calm down a bit.

-Rok
 

ericcris10sen

First Fill-Up (of many)
Oh sweet! I haven't seen the recovery points yet, I'd like to see that. Oh nice! So you have another member helping you out? That's an awesome way to meet people and get to learn how to do things. When I lived in AZ I met someone who helped me put my front bumper on, and in return I helped him get his rock sliders on. Really fun to meet people like that!
 

Cruecible

Titan Swapped / SAS'd
Location
Albuquerque, NM
Definitely man, I couldn't have done most of this stuff without help and guidance from rokdaddy. It's always a great experience to have people who know so much about Xterra's help you out with hand's on knowledge and assistance. I joined up with a local off road group too of mostly Jeep guys, but they love how unique the Xterra is and they always go over everything every time we have a mod day. After my wedding and with a little luck of me getting a promotion I put in for, the mods should become more frequent. The forums really inspired to start trying things out myself mechanically, but I realized pretty quick what my mechanical extent was lol.
 

Cruecible

Titan Swapped / SAS'd
Location
Albuquerque, NM
Sorry for skipping over your post Rok, hope the fishing was good!

Finally got around to installing the CB I received for my birthday. Overall it was about what I expected with difficulty of installing everything, but it came out better than I thought it would. Below are pictures of the finished product.

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I kept going back and forth on what kind of mount to go with, and in the end I'm very happy with my choice. I need to get a 4' Firestik, I'm running an older style 4' non tuning capable antenna that I got from the CB shop for free. It works for now, but I really want to dial in a good SWR reading.

Now for the fun mystery mod... When I initially pulled up the carpet on the drivers side for possible coax running options, I finally found where the mysterious toggle switch under my dash went to...

Said mystery toggle switch
HtCeLQN.jpg


Following the wires, I found this mystery box under my seat. The CB shop guy thought it was for a ham radio. I did notice above the tail light there were paint scratches that looked like they came from the more common antenna mount style I've seen on here. When I flip the switch, there is noticeable distortion to my regular radio clarity, so it's still drawing power. I didn't follow it all the way under the dash though to see where it's drawing power. Here's the box

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IMAG0042_zpsfih5op8d.jpg~original


I have no clue. There appears to be an antenna cord, an "EXT" plug in, and what looks like a coax plug in. Any thoughts?
 
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Cruecible

Titan Swapped / SAS'd
Location
Albuquerque, NM
Also installed P&P rear recovery points back on 7/12/2014. It was my first time using an angle grinder which was a fun experience. I didn't get it as perfect as I wanted but it looks pretty good, and it was about the function anyways. Also gave me a good excuse to bedline the rear bumper finally.

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I'm really impressed with them. Very good mod to do and for the price it's really a smart buy.
 
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Tex Terra

Bought an X
Sorry for skipping over your post Rok, hope the fishing was good!

Finally got around to installing the CB I received for my birthday. Overall it was about what I expected with difficulty of installing everything, but it came out better than I thought it would. Below are pictures of the finished product.

IMAG0032_zpsjicg4hqb.jpg


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I kept going back and forth on what kind of mount to go with, and in the end I'm very happy with my choice. I need to get a 4' Firestik, I'm running an older style 4' non tuning capable antenna that I got from the CB shop for free. It works for now, but I really want to dial in a good SWR reading.

Now for the fun mystery mod... When I initially pulled up the carpet on the drivers side for possible coax running options, I finally found where the mysterious toggle switch under my dash went to...

Said mystery toggle switch
IMAG0045_zpsqlzv6kx1.jpg


Following the wires, I found this mystery box under my seat. The CB shop guy thought it was for a ham radio. I did notice above the tail light there were paint scratches that looked like they came from the more common antenna mount style I've seen on here. When I flip the switch, there is noticeable distortion to my regular radio clarity, so it's still drawing power. I didn't follow it all the way under the dash though to see where it's drawing power. Here's the box

IMAG0043_zpsakwftmqy.jpg


IMAG0042_zpsfih5op8d.jpg


I have no clue. There appears to be an antenna cord, an "EXT" plug in, and what looks like a coax plug in. Any thoughts?

Its one of them there electrical thingys that hook up to that electrical box thingy bro.

Nice lookn truck by the way keep it up brother.
 

Cruecible

Titan Swapped / SAS'd
Location
Albuquerque, NM
Roadwarrior is the winner! I Googled it and pulled it up on their website, and they show the exact same box. That's pretty damn cool, would've been cool to know about it a few months ago, but I love mine and I'm still happy
 

robcarync

Sliders
Location
Raleigh, NC
That box is the CB radio for the Cobra 75 CB. You just need to buy a Cobra 75 handset and you can plug it right in! (see....I know I didn't win, but I still knew what it was!)

Glad to see the CB got installed...and that you already had a CB installed to begin with! Now you have two! Looks good!
 

Cruecible

Titan Swapped / SAS'd
Location
Albuquerque, NM
Haha, thanks Rob. I like the location of the one I installed a little more. While it would be nice to have one so easily removable, if I was out on a trail for a while, there wouldn't really be any convenient place to mount it except by my legs. It would be cool if that little box could work with a HAM, but I doubt it
 

Cruecible

Titan Swapped / SAS'd
Location
Albuquerque, NM
The toggle is for power interestingly enough. I'm curious where the previous owner ran the power to though because when I flip the switch, it's causes slight radio interference. I think they also had some serious stereo equipment because when I was initially pulling out the dash for my original mounting idea, there was some thick gauge stereo wire in there, but all cut out. It would've been nice for them to leave the original coax and antenna mount on there too lol.

I went to get the antenna tuned from a local group guy, my receiving is close to 2.5 and my transmit is a little under 2. I suspect it solely has to do with my antenna location.... Which is a bummer because lets say I did end up going with a different mounting location later, I'd have to fill in the holes and try to make it look halfway decent. I'm happy with the performance, but it's not as great as it could be. I could always just get a 6' whip too lol
 

Cruecible

Titan Swapped / SAS'd
Location
Albuquerque, NM
Updated OP with info!

Finally installed all the new steering goodies! When it was all said and done, I put in a Grassroots 4x4 center link, Total Chaos idler arm brace, AC HD tie rod adjustors, Bandit 4x4 idler arm bushings, new inner tie rod ends, and new outer tie rod ends.

Damn, these parts made a world of difference. I read post installation reviews from people doing similar set ups, and they all noted a vast improvement in tightness. What an understatement! It's a night and day difference to me. It's tight, VERY responsive, and very solid feeling now. It's still taking a little getting used to though, when I went around turns, obviously one gets use to the wheel returning itself somewhat to center. Not anymore! I go around a turn, and this sucker will hold itself where I turn it. It was a very quick learning curve that I needed to overcome lol. I have a feeling this will get better with time, and/or I'll get more used to it. This isn't to say though it's not dramatically harder to turn, if anything, it is more firm to steer, it's just that it will hold that wheel position dramatically more than it ever did.

The Grassroots center link I received had a few problems initially with the bearings. Lucky for me, Rokdaddy was my installation guide and machining guru and got them sorted out. The consensus was that the bearings were pressed in to a diameter that was too small, therefore constricting their ability to move and gouging the bore holes. After pressing them out and cleaning up the bores, new ones were pressed in and the difference in movement was immediately noticeable. My customer service experience with Grassroots was poor, and I was mostly getting a defensive attitude from the guy about his center link design and how he couldn't understand how I was experiencing the problems that I had. It could be chalked up to bad bearings, poor pressing, poor drilling, or just a lemon center link all together, but I'm glad Rok was able to fix it and we got everything assembled. Hopefully everyone else has had or will have a better experience with Grassroots.

The alignment came out great, and I couldn't be happier. I'll post up all the pics a little later, as I'm going to get her washed after not doing so for a few months. I also need to touch up some of my spray on bed liner on the plastics, pieces came off after pressure washing off some mud. I can't wait to go out and wheel again so I can really appreciate the new steering equipment.
 
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Cruecible

Titan Swapped / SAS'd
Location
Albuquerque, NM
Pictures! I'll move them all to the front page when I get back on my desktop. I just went under there and snapped what I thought were good shots, although I still fail hard when it comes to mid-installation pictures. This whole installation was on par with the torsion bar re-indexing for massive pain in the jewels.

Goodbye old centerlink (if someone needs it for a core deposit send in, let me know)

G52iJdz.jpg


Sweet baby Jesus in a manger, this device saved my sanity along with Rok's surgical precision while cutting the old pitman arm. Seriously, my old one did not want to come off. With a regular pitman arm puller, it was not budging even with a Snap On breaker bar and a 3 foot cheater stick. Then, a local off-road buddy came through and brought by his Matco heavy duty puller. With an impact wrench, it still wouldn't budge. Finally after Rok cut into it and using the Matco one again, it came off.

pblvhnv.jpg


New to me Bilstein 5100's put in. My old Rancho's were beyond blown out. I could compress them by hand, and they did not want to push back out at all.

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Sexiness

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Total Chaos IAB and shiny new Bandit 4x4 Idler Arm Bushings

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And a final clean updated shot. Need someone to take some trail pictures of me next time I'm out

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Cruecible

Titan Swapped / SAS'd
Location
Albuquerque, NM
I had a fair amount of bump steer before all the upgrades so I'm glad I pulled the trigger. Same with my front shocks, it's a totally different vehicle now. I'm now close to 70% done with mechanical things I want to take care of before I move on to armor and all that fun stuff.
 

Cruecible

Titan Swapped / SAS'd
Location
Albuquerque, NM
Here are some pictures from the Cedro Peak run I did a month ago, it was a blast! Every time I go out, I learn a little more in regards to what my truck can do.

Getting ready to head out

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I think there were 14 other rigs total, all Jeeps. My little brother is sitting on my bumper, trying to look cool

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The ride up to the fun stuff was beautiful

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The first break we took. The jeep in front of me is some dude's second rig being driven by his 18 year old daughter who had no clue what she was doing. This was after the first little mud hole we went through, and it only went downhill for her from there. Constant over-heating of that jeep had us stopping every 10 minutes, I thought we wouldn't get out of there.

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Pretty kick ass that this kid caught this thing as it was running by his foot

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Second break, and another attempt to clean out the radiator of the over-heating jeep

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Stopped at a big open area near the top. It had just rained in the mountains a few days before, which made an Olympic sized pool of mud up here.

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And some pictures other people took with my X in them


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I'm in the last row, in the BFM shirt. KCCO

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Still wanting to wheel with another X... Maybe Moab '15 will be my best hope
 
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Cruecible

Titan Swapped / SAS'd
Location
Albuquerque, NM
This hasn't been updated in a while! Nothing mechanically yet, just the routine stuff. I have some stickers that I need to put on, and a really cool one that I have never seen on any other rig yet... Pics will come soon, I promise. Also thanks to shanostyle I have some LED goodness that I need to wire up and install bulbs as well. I will want to get an aux fuse box and watch some videos on lighting before I get into it all though.

I'm going to Gone this year and want to make sure everything is completely sound on my rig. I haven't decided on how many days I'll be out there, it'll come down to who goes from NM and my wife's tolerance lol. I'm hoping at least 3 days but I would prefer the whole week. Before May I'd like to get my timing belt kit installed, new brake pads and shoes, trans drain and fill, diffs drained and filled, and new rear shocks. It's a very realistic list and I feel confident in getting it all done.

Also, to anyone who has read this far, I'm still beyond befuddled about the height of the back of my rig..... I measured both front and rear fender height yesterday up to the bottom of each plastic trim piece in the center of the fenders. It was 38.5" in front and 39" in the rear, my driveway has a slight decline going down in the front. Now, I have studied everything I can in terms of rear leafs and shackles and as far as I can tell mine are stock. With my mods (2" BL and 3" SL up front, with 33" tires) is this normal? Is that the rear height other people have as well with the same mods? Is that stock height (adjusted for BL and 33's) and I'm over-thinking it? What really got me thinking about all this was reading Jack Stilt's build noticing his measured heights. I didn't see that he had a BL and is running 32's, and his measurements were the same as mine roughly. Any knowledge would be appreciated.
 

MichaelS75

Bought an X
This hasn't been updated in a while! Nothing mechanically yet, just the routine stuff. I have some stickers that I need to put on, and a really cool one that I have never seen on any other rig yet... Pics will come soon, I promise. Also thanks to shanostyle I have some LED goodness that I need to wire up and install bulbs as well. I will want to get an aux fuse box and watch some videos on lighting before I get into it all though.

I'm going to Gone this year and want to make sure everything is completely sound on my rig. I haven't decided on how many days I'll be out there, it'll come down to who goes from NM and my wife's tolerance lol. I'm hoping at least 3 days but I would prefer the whole week. Before May I'd like to get my timing belt kit installed, new brake pads and shoes, trans drain and fill, diffs drained and filled, and new rear shocks. It's a very realistic list and I feel confident in getting it all done.

Also, to anyone who has read this far, I'm still beyond befuddled about the height of the back of my rig..... I measured both front and rear fender height yesterday up to the bottom of each plastic trim piece in the center of the fenders. It was 38.5" in front and 39" in the rear, my driveway has a slight decline going down in the front. Now, I have studied everything I can in terms of rear leafs and shackles and as far as I can tell mine are stock. With my mods (2" BL and 3" SL up front, with 33" tires) is this normal? Is that the rear height other people have as well with the same mods? Is that stock height (adjusted for BL and 33's) and I'm over-thinking it? What really got me thinking about all this was reading Jack Stilt's build noticing his measured heights. I didn't see that he had a BL and is running 32's, and his measurements were the same as mine roughly. Any knowledge would be appreciated.

I'm currently running 33x12.5 duratracs, 2" BL, calmini UCAs, and AC adj. shackles. My front fender height measures 39 and 1/4 on each side, and the rear measures 40 and 1/8 on each side.
 

Cruecible

Titan Swapped / SAS'd
Location
Albuquerque, NM
First of all, welcome back sir. Secondly, thank you for the refresher. I was doubting it seriously when I started looking at other Xterra's in the wild because my pack looked exactly like them. But the more I thought about it, there was no way it was stock back there. I guess I was just looking for affirmation that I wasn't losing my mind.
 

rokdaddy

Wheeling
Founding Member
Location
New Mexico
I've been poking around here lately, just haven't felt the need to log in since I got a new laptop a while back.

I'm pretty sure that I pointed out the extra leaf a while back but I think I also remember you being more excited about the other aftermarket stuff we found. You had a lot of good stuff to work with.


-Rok
 

Jack Stilts

Skid Plates
Location
Michigan
You have a single leaf add-a-leaf lift in the rear, sir.


-Rok

This plus the weight of my bumpers & gear are weighing it down a bit. Not sure how much was in there when I measured, but I know those bumpers aren't helping!

Love your DR wheels with the BFGs, but I might be biased ;)
 

rokdaddy

Wheeling
Founding Member
Location
New Mexico
This plus the weight of my bumpers & gear are weighing it down a bit. Not sure how much was in there when I measured, but I know those bumpers aren't helping!

Love your DR wheels with the BFGs, but I might be biased ;)

Very cool, I didn't know that he got that stuff from you. Small world.. or should I say small Nation?


-Rok
 
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