I recently purchased an '02 SE after selling my cruiser in April. Has anyone in Mass been to the Vietnam trail? Im sure someone has. I took my X out there the other week and have been impressed with the truck ever since. I took it easy on the entrance, which was fun in itself and drove around the area for a bit. The trip was cut short when some 16 year old thought he could take mom's Explorer -comlplete with the tiny stock tires- up the hill and hung his rear end up on a rock between the leaf spring and tire. Ive never seen a CV axle blow before....He must have had fun trying to explain that one to mommy.
Being from Va, all I have had to drive in off road was mud and sand; rocks are a new beast to me. I think that the LSD is a great addition, since every other truck I have owned have had open diffs. I spent 90% of the trail I was on in 4HI and didnt realize it. I usually have to think a line out in the mud, having to think which tire is going where so I will have traction, with the LSD, I still have to, but its a nice bit of insurance knowing that its there. Probably in the future it would be feasable to put an e locker in there. I am abstaining from the ARB.
Has anyone else been out to Vietnam? I had heard about it when I had my FJ60, and met people in a Land Cuiser club out here. Are there any good places to go out in central Mass? The truck is set up without any suspension or tire mods yet, but have tried to carry over as much junk as I could from my cruiser (Not much, just the Hi Lift and a few other little things). I have a buddy up in VT who works at a machine shop, and we will be adding some rock sliders and possibly some skid plating in the near future. Until then, I am looking for some decent places to go and have a good time.

Until you will get those sliders, whats the point of carying high lift

unleas you will use it as a winch ( good luck )

It would have been put to good use getting the kid off that set of rocks a lot faster (and more safe) than the hour and a half it took them to get it off with the stock jack.
-If you have been stuck in mud and dont have a winch (like me), the HiLift can help get you out when you've been mudsucked and high centered. Even if someone has a pull strap to get you out, many times you may need to put the HL under the rear bumper and break the vaccuum before you will move. I have used my HL several times as a winch and it works great. I certainly dont carry that heavy assed thing around because some people may think it looks cool.

Sometimes its good to have it in case someone else doesnt.

The point of the message was to see if anyone else had been on this trail, not to explain why I have a HL and no sliders.

He was saying, in his roundabout way, that there is no place to lift an Xterra with a Hi-Lift unless you have a rear receiver hitch. The bumpers won't work. You need sliders to lift from the side, and aftermarket bumpers (or a hitch in the rear) to lift the ends.

Brent