We just got back from a trip to the Rubicon Trail, Lake Tahoe, CA:

The trail took us two solid days covering Friday, July 15th and Saturday, July 16th. Our group of 8 rigs included three First Gen Xterras (one with a CALMINI solid axel conversion), a solid axel Frontier, another solid axel Toyota, a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, a Mazda B-Series truck, and myself, our 2005 Xterra Offroad. I was definitely the least built rig on the trail with only a factory rear locker, 2 inch suspension lift, 33 inch Xterrain tires, and front bumper and rocker panel skids by Shockworks.

First of all the trail is one of the most beautiful and easily the most challenging I’ve ever done. I required a lot of spotting and assistance (thanks to “Xterror” of Northern California). I’m glad we had the experience of doing the Rubicon with another Xterra owner who has completed the trial at number of times before and once just this year.

Doing the Rubicon in an IFS rig is a team effort. There is no way I could have done it without the help of the spotters and a few tugs or pushes from the team. We had a great group of folks, some young and some old, making the journey through the Rubicon even more enjoyable.

Body damage? Yes, mostly the fenders on the passenger side. The bulges make the new Xterra look a little beefier but that extra two inches of sheet metal just begs rocks to leap up from the trail and rub on them. The undercarriage… Oh man, I think the truck is five pounds lighter now with all the metal shavings I left on the Rubicon

My advice for anyone who wants to take a 2GENX of the Rubicon: More lift. Our mere two inches of lift caused a lot of undercarriage wear. Undercarriage wear included grinding the rear passenger shock mount down and bending it inwards. The muffler now has a couple small holes in it from being rubbed on the rocks. The rear sway bar mounds are useless now. I “tacoed” the drive shaft rear woke collar and dinged the rear differential more than a handful of times just due to the clearance issues.

Xterra reception on the trail? It’s a mixed bag, some appreciated seeing us take our family wagon on the trail; others thought the Rubicon was no place for a nearly stock Xterra. I would agree that our Xterra required some babying through the trail and that tends to slow things down. But broken rigs on the trail slow things down even more.

Anyways here are the photos: XSNOOPY LINKY

Enjoy

Way to go Snoopy. You rock.

Looks like you guys had an awesome time Snoop!

Oh man, that just looks killer. Awesome looking run; great job on the pics!

You took family wheeling and back county adventure to a new level considering the full load and amount of passengers you where carrying, great job.

Pix of one of the rock piles to get some prospective more to follow when I have the time.

Very nicely done. Excellent write up!

Need more skids... heheheh!

Awesome pictures and website! Nice work. Looks like you had a lot of fun..

Nice job travis. Oh I've wanted to tell you that me and emily saw you and your wife on the freeway not to long ago. Your wife probably didn't recognize us because we were driving my little samurai. it's a blue samurai with a crappy rear bumper and a license plate that has "if you can read this, flip me over" written upside down. You had your Kayak's on the top and were behind us for a little bit, I pulled into the next lane and tried to honk and wave but you guys didn't look. oh well, Rig looked nice

Chris,

I did see you! I remember thinking, what a cool couple in the Samurai just enjoying the great Ventura weather and a Saturday evening drive. Chantil did notice you once I pointed out that you were waving. We were getting back from San Diego.

Thanks again for the help with the bumper. We have an Xterra shirt for you that we picked up from Nissan while in Moab.

Great pics Travis Way to represent

Congrats Travis! Greta pics and terrific write-up!

Very nice.

Good write-up. Great pictures, too.

You and your truck did great! The Rubic0n trail is about as tough as it gets. You did it in an X with only a 2" suspension lift. Plus, the only damage you got was a bent rear shock mount and a dimpled rear fender (very easily repaired with a rubber mallet). The rest of your underbody "damage" is typical stuff and is all part of the sport.

Sounds like you had plenty of rig to me. Man, I wish I could have joined you guys.

Travis,

That presentation has a very professional quality to it and yet is still informal and quite friendly! Impressive.

Thanks again! You got me very interested in xing the Rubicon Trail (maybe my full set of skids would get a workout - cause they really weren't touched much at Moab(just the sliders))

Good to meet you at Moab, too!

Hey Travis, you ever figure out that 4-Lo issue?

I did, the clutch AND 6-speed shifter need to be in "N" prior to switching to 4LO.

awesome write up , pics are great

I had been monitoring any feedback on the Pirate 4x4 board andthis was all I saw so far. This post was in a thread about Landrovers going throug. I saw their pictures and they got pretty beat up. Here's the post:

07-20-2006, 08:47 AM #19
welndmn

Member #398

Nice pics, I love watching the stock'er' rigs going though, I hate being stuck in traffic though (Nissians from last weekend ) but I think its great your taking those rigs out and beating them up.
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Those Land Rover guys did seem to get beat up. 5 days!
Who cares what the silly Pirates say. The trail was not built for buggies, it was built for mortal 4x4s. With camping and management going downhill quick though, the Rubicon is looking less attractive.
I have to admit I want a 5" lift before doing the Con, but that is because I am used to my current trail rig. But that, a winch and some skids and a Gen II
The Sierras will test your rig like no other. If you can handle the Sierras, you can handle anything.
I have been known to do the Dusy, Rubicon and Fordyce in one trip
In 2 weeks it is Dusy, Mirror, Coyote, and Swamp