I had a shop set up PML on my 2001 Xterra SE 4x4. Big mistake I should have done it myself. Anyways, they lifted the front 2" even though I only asked for a 1.5" lift in the front. What I did is, I lowered the front by half inch by loosening the torsion nut. What I noticed though is the steering feels heavier than before. This is specially noticeable when driving slowly, for example, when I try to park my car in a parking spot. Heavier even before I had the PML applied on the X. I am very religious about keeping the air pressure on each tire at 28 psi when using the X for regular commutes. I know that improperly inflated tires will make steering a little difficult. I have these questions.

1. If the torsion nuts on the driver side and passenger side were not cranked evenly, for example, one side has cranked 10 full turns and the other 12 full turns, will this cause the steering to feel heavy?

2. I noticed that the passenger side is higher than the driver side. I checked another Xterra and it looks like this is also the case. Is it true that all X have the passenger side higher than the driver side, probably to compensate when the gas tank, which is on the passenger side, is full?

Anyone else has a 2001 Xterra SE 4x4 who has 16" wheels and P265 70 R16 tires with poor man's lift who can share with me the ground to frame measurement on both the drive and passenger side? I know the diameter of P265 70 R16 tires will differ depending on the manufacturer and model. I have the General Grabber A/T 2.

I had a Calmini shackle installed on the rear.

Number 1. If you paid a shop money to raise the front 1.5 inches and they did not do this correctly, you did not get what you paid for. Take it back to the shop and make them fix it, you paid for an end result that they did not give you.

28 psi would probaly be a little squishy for me for road driving, try bumping it up to 35 and see how that feels in the steering.

As for the passenger and drivers side being even, I will let a more experienced person comment on that but I would think they should be even.

Please excuse my ignorance, but what the hey is "PML" ?

PML = Poor Man's Lift.

Crank the Tbars to lift thefront up about 1 1/2 inches.
Shackles in the back to lift it., about 50$.
Alginment.

And, if you just crank the front, no alignment needed. FREE!

Thanks for the education!

If you just crank the front, yes, it is a free! The only cost is that of an alignment. If the front is cranked you have changed the frontend geometry. You will need to get an alignment done soon, or else your tires will take on an interesting new appearance, your steering wheel might wobble, and the truck may pull to one side.

Rob

What happens when you crank the front and not do an equal lift in the back is the nose of the truck goes up, increasing the positive caster angle. You might have a small amount of adjustability to bring it back to stock with the adjustment cams, but the complete solution is to lift the rear an equal amount. That would effectively decreases the caster back to a close to stock angle.

I had the same issue when I installed my AC lift arms but only put my Revolvers on in back. When I finally got my new leaf packs and raised the rear back up all was well again.