Ross' XK Garage

[Ross]

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Although its a time for celebration, I have a bit of bad news. Over the years, my Commander has had intermittent starting problems, leaving me stranded on multiple occasions. Because I had a warranty, I was able to get it "fixed" many times. First they fixed it by replacing the battery, 6 months later it happens again. So the dealership "diagnosed" the XK for a week, just to come up with a 100$ computer flash, fixing it for all of 1 day. By the time it gets back to the dealership, it starts right up and they couldn't replicate it, sending me on my way. Fast forward a few months and it happens again, but the dealership won't look at it for 6 days and will still charge 150$ just to look at it. So I took it to my buddy's mechanic and they had to replace a few front modules. This was a 1300$ fix, but the warranty kept me from losing my a**. Now around 8 months later, its happening again, while staying inconsistent enough to diagnose. Coming up on 60,000mi and needing 285's in the coming months, I had to decide whether to trade in now, or try and run it to 100,00mi+. I really love the XK, as it was my first vehicle, and got me out wrenching and upgrading like a shade-tree mechanic. The main issue, is I was unaware of the different 4wheel drive systems when it was purchased. Over the years I have realized that the QT-I system is great for "gun it and run it" mudding, but just can't keep up when the group starts crawling on some rocks. I had always intended to do a T-case swap, but with the intermittent electrical gremlins, I'm not too keen on dumping anymore money into it. This forum has been a great resource for parts, info, and a few good laughs, ever since the xk-forum days, it really gave me the confidence to dive in and start wrenchin'. I'll be sure to hang around the forums, and keep my garage updated with my next rig. I plan on parting out a lot, sadly, I had finally got everything together to swap to 3.73's, so hopefully another v6 can take advantage of this. I'll be starting a for sale thread soon, but I have also updated my first post in this thread with what's for sale as of now. I'm not sure as to what vehicle I'll be swapping for, but I'm leaning toward a smaller type 4x4 truck, like a Toyota Tacoma or Nissan Frontier.

[Matt]

I'd go with the Tacoma over the Frontier. Definitely nice little trucks!

[XKLover]

Although I wouldn't buy a foreign vehicle I've heard nothing good about the Nissan.

[Sal-XK]

If you plan on off roading get the Tacoma. The aftermarket support for it is their and Toyota's are pretty darn reliable.

[brendon]

I say Taco as well.

As for the not starting, sounds like a flat spot on the starter to me. I had the same problem no one could duplicate; one grease monkey at an oil change place told me I needed a battery (I didn't believe him). I just happened to be parked at the store nextdoor when it wouldn't start, I would never take a vehicle to one of those places!

Anywho, I replaced the starter in my driveway that night and never had a problem with that since. Now, the ignition switch failure is another story. When is that recall finally going to come through?!?

[Ross]

I was unable to access the site recently since the hack. Anywho, I traded in the XK on New Years Eve for a 2015 Lava Red Nissan Frontier Pro-4x. The Pro-4x has an upgraded 8.8"12 bolt rear axle (modified Dana 44) w/ electronic locker, 4.0L V6, and most importantly 4-low. Although the Frontier is better spec than my QT-1 XK, it was a bittersweet buy for a day or two. I really learned a lot wrenchin on the XK and had come to really dig it, hopefully I'll find my way back in one down the road some day.

I checked out the new Colorado and although it was nice, it seemed to be breaking already. The windows didn't want to roll up past half way and eventually the rubber molding around the glass just started pulling up when the window finally decided to roll up all the way. I also checked out the Tacomas, but they were quite a bit more for a 4x4 than the Nissans, and the tacos still come with rear drum brakes. I was also apprehensive because I have back problems when sitting for long periods and I saw many forum posts about the Tacos having uncomfortable seats over extended periods.

All in all, I'm happy with the Frontier, as there's a solid aftermarket and offroad following. Better yet, the Nissan Titan UCA's and LCA's are a direct bolt on to increase track width 3" on each side and greatly increase travel. All else that's needed is either extended axles for the stock diff, or a stronger, Titan diff.; which is a direct bolt in as well and allows usage of inexpensive OEM cv's.

I'll be sure to keep y'all updated, as I'm about to throw on an inexpensive 2.5" front/2" rear lift just to get a bit of height until I start diving into upgraded leaf packs/springs to hold up some steel bumpers.

Hope y'all are havin a good new year, best wishes.

-Ross