OT Tangent from 3rd Gen Skidplate thread comparing 4Runners with new Xterra

[YotaFun]

What I love is we have this rugges as 4Runner built to do some rugged things.
I was driving down the road last night and saw an off-road edition X-terra (newest one) and noticed that the thing is FLAT BELLIED!!!

I could not believe my eyes, there was no transfer case cross memeber or anything sticking down below the frame rails, Toyota needs to get it together!

[20005spd]

What I love is we have this rugges as 4Runner built to do some rugged things.
I was driving down the road last night and saw an off-road edition X-terra (newest one) and noticed that the thing is FLAT BELLIED!!!

I could not believe my eyes, there was no transfer case cross memeber or anything sticking down below the frame rails, Toyota needs to get it together!
ya know what? lets really test this idea, next time i get an offroad edition xterra at work ill measure the belly clearance, then we can compare it to 4runners. i will say they are sorta "flat belly" compared to 4runners, but the vitals are still as unprotected as yotas lol, and they have plastic tanks, puke, oh and they use dana drivetrain....puke again lol

[Gerdo]

What I love is we have this rugges as 4Runner built to do some rugged things.
I was driving down the road last night and saw an off-road edition X-terra (newest one) and noticed that the thing is FLAT BELLIED!!!

One of my sons has an off-road Xterra. Everything is even or above the frame rails. He has a full belly skid and it is a flat belly. The down side is that everything is lower than a 4runner transfer case (stock to stock). My son has ~4" of lift and he drags less than me with ~3+" of lift.

I could not believe my eyes, there was no transfer case cross memeber or anything sticking down below the frame rails, Toyota needs to get it together!
ya know what? lets really test this idea, next time i get an offroad edition xterra at work ill measure the belly clearance, then we can compare it to 4runners. i will say they are sorta "flat belly" compared to 4runners, but the vitals are still as unprotected as yotas lol, and they have plastic tanks, puke, oh and they use dana drivetrain....puke again lol


One of my sons has an off-road Xterra. Everything is even or above the frame rails. He has a full belly skid and it is a flat belly. The down side is that everything is lower than a 4runner transfer case (stock to stock). My son has ~4" of lift and he drags less than me with ~3+" of lift.

[YotaFun]

It was dark, and the GTI is low enough to the groudn to see the underside of most SUVs and Trucks, and all I could tell was that there was nothing hanging below the frame rail.

Thats all I said, I am sure it would need skids and all, but still require less work then we would have to do to get a 4runner flat bellied.

I know for sure there still a cross member hanging down for the t-case or tranny mount.

Next time I go to do a PDI I will check out the trail edition sitting out there and see what its clearance is too.

Yes plastic gas tank sucks and yes its got a dana drivetrain, but like everything else we do it can be changed.

[Scuba]

What I love is we have this rugges as 4Runner built to do some rugged things.
I was driving down the road last night and saw an off-road edition X-terra (newest one) and noticed that the thing is FLAT BELLIED!!!

One of my sons has an off-road Xterra. Everything is even or above the frame rails. He has a full belly skid and it is a flat belly. The down side is that everything is lower than a 4runner transfer case (stock to stock). My son has ~4" of lift and he drags less than me with ~3+" of lift.

I could not believe my eyes, there was no transfer case cross memeber or anything sticking down below the frame rails, Toyota needs to get it together!
ya know what? lets really test this idea, next time i get an offroad edition xterra at work ill measure the belly clearance, then we can compare it to 4runners. i will say they are sorta "flat belly" compared to 4runners, but the vitals are still as unprotected as yotas lol, and they have plastic tanks, puke, oh and they use dana drivetrain....puke again lol


One of my sons has an off-road Xterra. Everything is even or above the frame rails. He has a full belly skid and it is a flat belly. The down side is that everything is lower than a 4runner transfer case (stock to stock). My son has ~4" of lift and he drags less than me with ~3+" of lift.


Suspension or body lift doesn't affect whether your going to drag something on the underside.. that would be tire size.

[Seanz0rz]

well a suspension lift would put all the sprung components that much higher. unsprung components (axles, control arms, etc) are still the same height off the ground. the only way to increase the clearance between unsprung components and the ground is larger tires.

[YotaFun]

I didn't mean for this to go way off topic and probably should have started a new thread.

This gas tank skid is beautiful for the 3rd gen 4runners and would be great for us not looking to relocate it or do a flat belly lift.

What I was just trying to compare my little off topic tangent to was a New 2010 XTerra Off-Road Edition to a 2010 4Runner Trail Edition, and how my observation was that the newer Xterra has a flat belly well at least nothing hanging below the frame rails while the 4runner still has a cross member hanging below.
Just a simple observation.

Mods if possible could we get the Off topic part of this thread moved into its own thread?

[troyboy162]

is it differnt then the old xterra? this one has a 3 inch lift...to me it looks about as lifted as my stock 96
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z228/XterraVT/IMG_1634.jpg

[YotaFun]

The old xterra I thought had more stuff hanging below it, wheeled one once that had a 2" lift and all j was hittin was the rear diff and nothing else.

[Gerdo]

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i115/Gerdo_2006/Xterra2.jpg
He goes thru everything that I do and drags less. Yes, it has a totally flat belly.

[Crinale]

that looks pretty lifted though, and your 4runner doesnt really... or am i mistaken?

[YotaFun]

Well before I threw my back out changing the oil on a 2010 4Runner, I was able to take measurements.

Frame rail to ground clearance is 13"
Gas tank and t-case crossmemeber are 10" from the ground.

[Crinale]

thats all? huh.. guess im too used to lifted trucks :flipoff:

[20005spd]

Well before I threw my back out changing the oil on a 2010 4Runner, I was able to take measurements.

Frame rail to ground clearance is 13"
Gas tank and t-case crossmemeber are 10" from the ground.
ok now im gonna really havta measure an xterra haha

[Okie81]

I see their new off-road package is "Pro-4x", I assume that's the updated off-road edition?

I'm curious how it'll stack up to the Trail Edition.

[20005spd]

i did a pdi on a frontier pro x 4. it was pretty cool. just basically has every option they can throw at it. 32" tires not sure about clearance. ill see what is in the shop on monday

[KZN185W]

does the xterra have a live rear axle still? iirc, what i saw before was ifs/irs.

[Crinale]

Xterra has always been live axle rear and double wishbone front.

are you sure your not talking about the XTrail? completely different vehicle, made to compete more with the Rav4 than 4Runner

[KZN185W]

isn't the xterra known as the pathfinder outside of north america? because the pathfinder is IRS

http://www.nissan.arabianautomobiles.com/vehicle/pathfinder/performance.html

[Seanz0rz]

we have the pathfinder here in NA, and i believe it is IRS now. what you linked is what we know here as the pathfinder as well.

the x-trail is a different vehicle from the pathfinder and the xterra, and is not sold in NA

http://www.nissan.arabianautomobiles.com/vehicle/xterra/index.html

that is the xterra.

[Crinale]

wrong sean, its just not sold in the US... the XTrail is sold in both Mexico and Canada, and is so much better than what we get (the Rogue)

And really, the Pathfinder is IRS now?? i thought only the exploder for compact/midsize SUVs had gone that route..

edit: just checked edmunds, and yes, the Pathfinder seems to be Double-Wishbone independent at all 4 corners.

[KZN185W]

Thanks for the correction guys. I thought the pathfinder and the xterra were one and the same vehicles as i thought they looked similar

[20005spd]

you guys are correct :thumbup: the confusing part that makes me laugh is the armada. on some of the tailgates it says pathfinder armada :confused: reminds me of the celica supra haha just name it something! :D