So my buddy took me out in Winchendon Mass to do some offroading with him and his 2001 Tacoma. We hit some pretty deep mud pits (around 3-4 feet deep) and water crossings (water reached the middle of my headlights), and 40 degree inclines. The Xterra performed very well and never got stuck, but a few things did happen. I lost the front plastic piece that goes under the front bumper in a water crossing, I broke my right rear shock somehow, my oil light stayed on the whole way home (stopped and checked, everything was filled, no leaks), and now my horn hardly works....No worries though. The horn is cheap to replace, the oil light went away (guessing the sensor got wet) What do you guys suggest for replacement rear shocks on a budget? Do I need to replace the fronts if I change the rears?

I have a pic of the aftermath here. Yes, I forgot to take off the sliders and didnt have any tools handy to remove them, so we had to avoid the real rocky areas...

http://webpages.charter.net/mcarvalh/muddy_xterrra.JPG

http://webpages.charter.net/mcarvalh/bumper_clip_missing.JPG

What do you consider cheap shocks? I have Bilsteins, which are great, but aren't exactly cheap. Check eshocks and other online places (and don't forget ebay) - if you install them yourself you will get a much better deal. The stock shocks suck, but there's no need to change the fronts just because you change the rears (though an upgrade has a lot of benfits).

If you just want something to hold you over for a while, ask if anyone here has a set of stock shocks that still have some life in them you can have. Many people take off the shocks before they are worn out to replace them with heavy duty shocks. I'd bet you can find someone who will give you a set for just the cost of shipping.

-Erik

is the shock broken, or the lower shock mount? If it is just the shock, go to kragen and get another one at stock valving.. 40 bucks or so.. to upgrade to "better" stocks you are in the 50 to 70 per shock..
If it is the shock mount, head to the local junk yard.. as for the lower plastuc thing.. xterraparts.com maybe?

See our suspension section for more discussion than you can digest on shocks...

you're lucky you didn't suck water into the engine.

dont think he was in deep enough to get water in the engine.....leastwise i dont think so. The oil light is probably a sensor getting wet. As far as the little plastic thing on the bottom ....No worries just mount some offroad lights to that cross bar and be done with it.

Welcome to the club!

The level of the water was up to the middle of the headlights, or the resulting wave?

I took mine through some muddy water (not quite as deep as yours) and my oil light came on for about 10 minutes. Then it slowly faded away and nothing seemed wrong when I checked it later that day at home.

My horn got messed up too. Got some water in it and everytime I used it, it sounded like a drowning cow. I replaced it at Kragen's. Don't remember the exact price but it was around 10 bucks if not cheaper. This could be your chance to upgrade to a horn that's actually stronger than a Civic's.

Those are not sliders, far from it!

they are factory rock wanna be sliders.
Big SILLY>>>

what where you thinkin of ....

wow ...

LATER>>>

BOOM

we all know how deep a 3-4 foot mud hole is in a stock X. Its about 18-20 inches.

Yeah, from here<------to------> here is also 8". At least, that's what I'm sticking with.

Bite me....I know they arent real sliders....sorry ,I meant stepbars or whatever the correct name is...Anyways, I got my new bilstein shocks in for the rear. Install was a snap, and the truck doesnt seem to sag as much under heavy acceleration..

Heavy acceleration? Cool. My X doesn't do heavy acceleration.