A little introduction. I have been wheeling my entire life, with a passion, just about anywhere, anytime. I also lead alot of my own expedition style, trail camping trips in places like Death Valley, Sierras, baja, Utah, ect. I have wheeled on most every difficulty level. My annual "Sierra Carnage" is infamous.

I started out wheeling Monteros in 1988 and found them to be the strongest 4x4s ever made, purely by luck I guess. 35s on early models, 37s on newer models and stock drivetrain and extreme abuse, no problem. In the mean time, like nearly every other 4x4 owner without a Jeep, I made fun of Jeeps (in stock form) being less capable, un-reliable and delicate. Never understood " The Jeep Thing". Until the Rubicon era..... No problem building a trail rig, I just want to start with the best stuff, be able to travel across country for 2 weeks of wheeling, be reliable, and drive home(no trailer), and have enough room for trail camping. Until the J/k, Jeep never came close in my mind.

Then comes 2005 and the new Xterra comes out, the ONLY decent 4x4 with some room on the market!(no J/K, FJ, H3 yet). Heck, with the specs indicated, how could I loose? After all my Montero has 225,000 hard earned miles on it and I want something cleaner for the trail. Soon I learn at the first Nissan event I go to that prior Xterras are ready for the junk yard at 60-80K if you wheel them! WHAT? Then, as time goes on I quit building the Xterrra as I learn neither differential can hold up to STOCK FREAKIN TIRES! I am now suing Nissan because they claim my lift(they helped design) caused my rear diff to explode!

So whats next? Front SAS and rear axle swaps on the X like an old Jeep at 18K, modify the front for 4K when stuff and hope ARB makes lockers as they are t errified of these diffs.....then still worry about things like electronic t/case, paper thin core support...So many elements are well designed, its just too bad the Japanese are dropping the ball now. The FJ is a bit goofy and comes with exploding diffs also.....Or buy a used, newer Montero, like 1995.(The Montero era ended with the Gen 3 in 2002)

Or...pay off the X in the next 1-1.5yrs, save it as a daily driver and buy a J/K, hopefully with the substantial early production bugs worked out and a better engine...I am am leaning toward this scenario.

 

J/K means just kidding.....a JK is a Jeep.

 

Well, at least you're on the right Forum now. After you've been here awhile, you should be able to determine that you really need a JK.

 

That is exactly the idea, lurk around and follow developments for awhile. Especially what Jeep does about early production problems like fires, stauling, tops, engine......

Nissans response was to fix a few things, like timing chain guide and ignore things like twin exploding diffs and extreme bottoming out. Then hang the customer out to dry....So lets see what Jeep does.

Also good to try and get a feel for the community. Its interesting, the J/K commmunity appears quite different them some of the other Jeep communitys. So far very involved in wheeling, but yet well grounded.

 

Fires? I read about one here on JK-Forum, but is there a trend?

 

There was one guy who claimed his brother's Jeep caught fire.

 

May not be a trend, but I am watching! The Diffs on the Xterra snuck up on everyone. The first few everyone was like " oh you must be abusing it to explode ring gears, housing and spiders in a D44" or " you must be wheeling hard...or too much wheel spin...." Next thing you know its a disaster for everyone going off-road. AFTER I spent 9K in upgrades.(bumpers, winch, skids, ect) I am shopping for the longterm, keeping the miles low on a trail rig and running it into the ground over 20years. I dont need endless design flaws or issues to deal with, especially something serious like exploding diffs or fires. I can upgrade skids or axle shafts......but not after a fire or of the entire drivetrain fails or wont run.