Exciting delivery day! Terrain Tamer parabolics have come in. They were delivered to a local freight terminal, they brought out the pallet and the very nice forklift driver helped me load it all into my Xterra. Very nice of them to help, and they had no issue taking away the pallet and dealing with my non-pickup truck. Good process.
Sadly I won’t have a chance to play with these parts for a little while, have to get the radiator on my TR3 replaced first so I can get that car off my lift and Otis up there. But nice to have the parts in hand. Should at least be able to open up the boxes this weekend and make sure everything is there.
Been a while since any updates — I’ve spent the last couple months dealing with some medical stuff that really knocked me back, and while I’m doing better I still have a ways to go. Given that I decided to have a local cruiser shop do some work on Otis. I was planning to spend this spring doing a comprehensive service, as I don’t really know the service history. Otis was well cared for by the previous owner, but I just wasn’t sure of everything. With the reality that I won’t be out in my shop much possibly until July (maybe) I decided to open up the toolbox and pull out the checkbook.
Plan is a full service: oil, diffs, gearbox, transfer case, valves, etc. Also doing the front hub service and a few other miscellaneous things — basically a baseline big service to make sure all is up to date and ready to go. They’ll be looking at a few small fixes (heater cable, temp gauge) and a desmog. Big chunk of change, but when I looked at my reality this year it was worth it. A friend used this shop recently for his FJ40 and was very happy with the work, so we’ll see how it goes. They’re also going to give me a quote to install the Terrain Tamer kit — if it’s reasonable I’ll probably have them do that as well.
I had planned to do all this work myself to really learn the truck, but my aging body had other ideas. Ah well!
Thanks! This medical stuff popped up out of the blue — one morning I was fine, that evening I was in the ICU. Yikes. Very eager to get back to driving and working on Otis (and all my other old car projects).
A little update and a picture (cuz we love pictures). Work is well underway, diffs and gearboxes fluid changed, front hubs serviced. They gave me a great quote to install the Terrain Tamer suspension so I gave them the go ahead on that as well. Hope to have Otis back soon or so if all goes well, need to swing by in a couple days and check in now that I'm past the worst of my hospital stuff.
I picked up this center console from a seller here on Mud.. Needs some cleanup and paint, but should be nicely restorable and gives me something to putter on as I continue to heal. Need to check with my local car friends to find someone with a bead blasting cabinet, that will make things so much easier. Otherwise a little elbow grease is all it will take.
Just need to figure out the proper silver-ish paint to use.
Ya, Its super common, people step on them, stuff lays in or falls on them. They are just sheet metal. I didnt even know till I saw a good one. Super quick fix.
The big bill is paid, and Otis is back home and ready to go. While it was a bunch of money, when I look at the list of work the price paid is very fair. I had intended to all this work myself, but given my recent medical issues this was the best way to get the 40 ready to go for this summer. There was no way I could have done this work this year. So this is my present to myself for getting through the last three months.
Here's the work that was done:
Oil change and general lube of chassis
Diffs, transmission, transfer case fluids
Coolant flush
Front knuckle rebuild
Valve adjust and new valve cover gasket
Desmog
Install Terrain Tamer suspension and new tie-rod ends, including alignment
Replace heater valve
Replace temp sensor to fix the temp gauge
New thermostat
Was only able to drive it a couple miles home today, but it drove great. Shop owner was impressed with how well Otis started up and drove, and he gave me real confidence that I did buy a good, solid truck. There will be plenty more work to do I'm sure, but at least now Otis is ready for the season.
Otis home with the fleet
Beauty shot
Measurements from the original stance on the 30" KO2 to now. I measured to the bottom of the fender opening center to the tire. Still a touch of lean, once I've got some miles on and things settle a bit we may see if we can make some adjustments to level it some more.
Had a little time yesterday to get Otis out for a spin on some local dirt roads. Lovely to be out in the nice weather.
Not a lot of miles yet, but I’d say that the Terrain Tamer suspension is notably more plush over rough ground. Of course that’s compared to clapped out stock springs (and newer shocks), but still. Very happy with my choice to go this way. Now I really need to rebuild the doors and window fuzzies to address those rattles. Yes it’s a tough (futile?) battle with a 40 but still worth fighting.
I'm fully committed now! After 9 years and 80k miles, I just sold my 2011 Xterra. The Xterra was my daily and my desert exploration vehicle. Was sad to see the old girl go, but it's time to make a few fleet changes for some practical purposes. The truck is off to a good friend who plans to keep using her for adventuring.
So Otis is now my only off road/dirt road adventure vehicle. Will keep putting on some miles to sort out any issues. I've got a camping trip planned for October down in southern Utah somewhere, hope to have Otis to a point where I'm comfortable driving that far from home.
Need to rebuild the Otis fund after the recent work, but starting to think about how I want to go about carrying more fuel.
You didn't happen to be in The Swell in May of 2025 with a flat tire, by chance? I stopped and spoke with someone with that identical Xterra back in Red's Canyon last year.
Bought Otis a few treats, new jack and tools/bag. I geek out on the fact that you can still get this stuff. Small thing for sure, but as I’m coming back off the disabled list these days I’m swamped catching up with life and work so this was a fun way to keep progress moving. I had hoped to rejuvenate the yellow factory jack that came with Otis, but it seems to be pretty much rusted solid. Hence the new jack. The factory tools actually seem pretty good quality, certainly good enough for emergency use — I’ll put together a more comprehensive kit for any real adventuring.
Next up is work getting the used center console I picked up straightened and painted.
