Titan-Swapped Nissan Xterra Becomes the Ultimate Overland Rig

Nissan Overland Adventuremobile

A passion for working on cars, camping, off-road adventure and Nissan have lead Andrew Vukovich to build one truly impressive off-road capable overland Xterra. This build and these passions have also lead him to start Rogue Overland, with his two best friends, Nick and Alex, who also own Xterras and share the same passions. The company is an online resource for Nissan lovers in the overland community, which aims to inspire others to follow their adventure dreams.

“WITH FIVE YEARS OF BUILDING, TESTING AND REFINING THIS BUILD, VUKOVICH HAS LITTLE MORE TO DO BESIDES ENJOY THE FRUITS OF HIS LABOR.”

Vehicle Adventure Passion

Vukovich has been a proper petrol head from a very young age. He attended the INDY500 with his Dad when he was only 5 years old, and vividly remembers being glued to his seat and attentively watching the entire race. In his young teenage years, he built go karts, mini bikes and his first car, fully restoring it by using nothing more than a service manual and the local library as references. He regularly got in trouble in school for reading automotive magazines, which he hid in his textbooks. Vukovich’s father’s garage turned into what looked like a used car lot by the time he was 17, as Vukovich worked full time at a local auto parts store after school and stayed up late each night wrenching on his cars—like his first car, a ‘85 Mazda RX7. After reading his first 4×4 enthusiast magazines, his attention quickly shifted to off-road vehicles and eventually lead him to his current Xterra build.

Besides vehicles, Vukovich has also been passionate about outdoor adventures from a very young age. While most of his peers, when growing up in Ohio, were attending the Friday night football games, Vukovich was out camping and backpacking. He attributes much of his outdoor passion to the Boy Scouts, which taught him skills and life lessons that he very much utilizes to this day.

Straight out of high school Vukovich moved out to the mountains of Wyoming to attend college. There he was able to further pursue both his automotive and outdoor adventure passions. He went on to become a 12-year BWM Master Technician, and even work on the rally car circuit as a mechanic for a period of time.

“THIS XTERRA IS NOW CONSIDERED A FULL ‘TITAN SWAP’ AND HAS BEEN REFINED ALONG THE WAY TO OPTIMIZE THE FITMENT AND FUNCTIONALITY OF

Nissan Obsession

Vukovich’s Nissan obsession started with a 200,000-mile rust bucket ‘90 Hardbody pickup, but he was really smitten after buying his first Xterra in 2005. He liked how the Xterra was different from other SUV options, while being a capable and reliable platform to build upon. He dreamed up some quality modifications, and got the gratification of looking into his garage and knowing he built that, especially as there was—and is—very little aftermarket support for the platform.

Fast forward to 2012, when Vukovich picked up this ‘12 Xterra PRO-4X new off the dealer lot. He bought this truck with the vision of building a truly one of a kind go anywhere overland vehicle. He wanted to build a rig that was unusual, extremely capable and could be a comfortable home away from home. Now five plus years into the build, he’s finally at a point where he can say he’s accomplished his original design goals. After tackling the slick rock of Moab, the sharp rocks of the Rubicon and the deep sand of Baja, this Xterra is now a proven build that can take Vukovich anywhere he can dream up—and he has some big dreams!

The Off Road Build

Building a truly go-anywhere home on wheels out of a Nissan Xterra is no small task. Vukovich had to use his considerable mechanical knowledge and experience to do a lot of rebuilding and customization. Vukovich saw the opportunity in the Xterra platform because Nissan built the full-size Nissan Titan pickup frame identical to the Xterra’s, as far as the driveline and suspension goes. This meant that he was able to “bolt on” larger, wider and stronger Titan components.

The front suspension was transformed by using aftermarket Titan components, customized for this application. The upper control arms are a custom tubular heim joint setup that helps provide an additional 6 inches over stock of track width, allowing the maximum amount of up and down travel with an IFS setup. A combination of 650lb Eibach Springs and custom valved Sway-A-Way Race Runner coilover shocks provide a buttery smooth ride while handling the extra weight of the build. The frontend is finished off with a full heim joint steering setup and the larger stronger Titan front differential, CV axel shafts, front hubs and front brakes.

The factory Xterra rear Dana 44 axel is a solid starting point for the rear suspension and driveline. Custom-built Alcan leaf spring packs properly handle the additional weight of the off road and overland accessories on this build, while allowing for maximum flex. Bilstein 5125 shocks, fully armored with Nisstec rear shock protectors, wrap up the rear suspension setup.

The overall suspension setup provides enough lift to tuck beefy 35-inch MT tires, without any body lift, keeping the vehicle’s center of gravity low and wide. This setup allows for the removal of both front and rear sway bars, while still retaining stability on the highway and allowing full flex on the trail.

STARTING IN 2018, VUKOVICH PLANS TO TRULY PUT THIS VEHICLE TO THE TEST, WITH A SUMMER TRIP TO ICELAND AND THEN A POSSIBLE TRIP TO AUSTRALIA TO TACKLE THE SIMPSON DESERT AND CANNING STOCK ROUTE.”

In order to achieve the perfect balance of good highway cruising rpms in the power band and a solid slow speed crawl ratio, Vukovich regeared the Xterra to a 5.12 ratio. Coupled with the 6-speed manual trans and 35-inch tires the truck performs remarkably well in a wide range of conditions, even when fully loaded down with gear. In order to make trail repairs easier, and less likely, Vukovich removed the factory Nissan driveline and had full custom double cardan drive shafts made, using the common Spicer 1310 joints. ARB Air Lockers, powered by a standalone ARB compressor, make this Xterra nearly unstoppable off road.

This Xterra is now considered a full “Titan swap” and has been refined along the way to optimize the fitment and functionality of the Titan parts. In order to protect all this new running gear—and the truck—from both animal and off-road obstacle impacts, a full Hefty Fabworks armor program has been utilized. It is protected with skid plates, rock sliders and front and rear bumpers, utilizing aluminum for weight savings wherever it made sense. Custom rear bumper corners are designed to be quality Hi-Lift points for those off-road emergencies that arise.

“BUILDING A TRULY GO-ANYWHERE HOME ON WHEELS OUT OF A NISSAN XTERRA IS NO SMALL TASK.”

The Overland Build

While there is no doubt at this point that this Xterra is a truly capable off-road machine, it still needed all the overland accessories that make it a home-away- from-home, capable of self-supported long-range adventure travel. It needed extended fuel range, gear storage, cold food storage, enough electrical power to handle the new accessories, living space out of the weather and of course a dry, flat place to sleep.

In order to get to those far away off-road destinations of your dreams, you need to have the fuel to get there. Vukovich carries 10 gallons of spare gasoline in Roto-Pax mounted on the rear of the vehicle; two 2-gallon mounted to the spare, one 2-gallon mounted to the bumper swing out and one 4-gallon mounted in the original spare location under the truck.

Secure organized gear storage is accomplished through the install of a Gobi roof rack and rear drawer/storage system. Since the Xterra has little aftermarket support, there was no commercially available rear drawer system for this application, which forced Vukovich to design and build his own. The drawer/storage system in the back of the Xterra now houses an onboard air compressor, 10-gallon Front Runner fresh water tank, three Front Runner Wolf Pack storage bins on a slider, an auxiliary battery and a 12v ARB fridge.

Keeping all the new accessories powered up, especially the fridge in hot environments like the American Southwest, is no small task. Vukovich designed his own duel battery setup to handle this task, utilizing National Luna components and an Odyssey AGM auxiliary battery. To distribute the vehicle weight and for a clean install, the auxiliary battery was securely fitted and hidden in the rear storage system.

Home is where you park it with an overland vehicle like this Xterra. Fitted to the Gobi roof rack, and accessed by the rear Gobi ladder, is a CVT hard shell roof top tent. This provides a comfortable place out of the weather to sleep and relax, no matter where adventures might find this vehicle. An ARB 790-inch awning is fitted to the side of the roof rack, providing outdoor living space out of the elements, perfect for chilling in the shade on a roadside lunch stop or preparing breakfast on a rainy camp morning.

The Future

With five years of building, testing and refining this build, Vukovich has little more to do besides enjoy the fruits of his labor. He has lots of adventure plans around his current home in Las Vegas, including some big Baja Peninsula adventures. Starting in 2018, Vukovich plans to truly put this vehicle to the test with a summer trip to Iceland and then a possible trip to Australia to tackle the Simpson Desert and Canning Stock route. These grand adventures are why he built this impressive Xterra—and now he plans to use it.

If you want to find out more about Vukovich’s adventures and this truly impressive Xterra, check out @vegasvuk on Instagram. If you love off-road built Nissans in general, be sure to follow everything Rogue Overland (@RogueOverland & RogueOverland.com).

“HOME IS WHERE YOU PARK IT WITH AN OVERLAND VEHICLE LIKE THIS XTERRA.”

UPGRADES

2012 Nissan Xterra PRO4X

ENGINE: NISSAN 4.0 LITER V6, VQ40DE

SUSPENSION: SWAY-A-WAY RACE RUNNER REMOTE RESERVOIR FRONT SHOCKS, EIBACH 650 LB FRONT SPRINGS, CUSTOM BOXED FRONT TITAN LOWER CONTROLS ARMS, BILLSTEIN 5125 SERIES REAR SHOCKS, 650 LB RATED ALCAN 4″ REAR LEAF SPRING PACKS, NISSTEC REAR SHACKLES

WHEELS & TIRES: 35″ PRO COMP MT/2 TIRES (315/75/16) ON LEVEL 8 MOTORSPORTS 16X8 BULLY PRO WHEELS, SPIDERTRAX 1.5-INCH REAR WHEEL SPACERS

ACCESSORIES: 2012 M205 TITAN FRONT DIFF, TITAN FRONT CV AXELS, TITAN FRONT HUBS, TITAN FRONT BRAKES, AXLES RE-GEARED TO 5.12 GEARS, CUSTOM FRONT & REAR DRIVESHAFTS W/SPICER 1310 U-JOINTS, FRONT & REAR ARB AIRLOCKERS, HEFTY FABWORKS STEEL FRONT & REAR BUMPERS, HEFTY FABWORKS ROCK SLIDER & ALUMINUM SKIDS, NISSTEC SHOCK PROTECTORS, CUSTOM REAR BUMPER CORNERS, ARB REAR DIFF COVER, PRG HEIM STEERING W/CUSTOM INNER TIEROD, BORLA STAINLESS STEEL EXHAUST, BULLY DOG TUNING SYSTEM, AIRFLOW SNORKEL, DUAL ODYSSEY BATTERY SETUP, 20-INCH CURVED LED LIGHT BAR, 30-INCH LED LIGHT BAR, ZAMP SOLAR LED INTERIOR & AWNING LIGHTS, CUSTOM INTERIOR STORAGE, RAINGLER NETTING, SMITTYBILT 10K X20 COMP WINCH W/SYNTHETIC LINE, FACTOR55 PRO-LINK, MAXTRAX, ARB ONBOARD AIR COMPRESSOR, GOBI STEALTH ROOF RACK W/LADDER, CVT MT. ST. HELENS HARD SHELL RTT, ARB 79-INCH AWNING, ROTO-PAX FUEL & WATER STORAGE, TRASHAROO, 12V ARB FRIDGE, FRONT RUNNER 10 GAL FRESH WATER TANK, 3 FRONT RUNNER WOLF PACKS