Another new member in the CO Front Range (1 Viewer)

[hakmo]

Hi all,

After frightening the wife by taking her old Rav4 several places where it maybe shouldn't have gone (Fourth of July Trailhead, Greys and Torreys Peak, Loch Lomond in the snow) I was given the go-ahead to get something more capable/comfortable/reliable. I've ended up with a lightly used 2017 premium in Nightfall Mica/Noble Brown:

The current plan is to do a light go-anywhere build as time allows (and with an 18 month old son, time is rarely allowed). In order of priority:

• Wheels and tires: Current tires are just about shot, so this will need doing sooner rather than late. Thinking to pick up some 17" TRD Pros, though the price of used TRD Offroads is appealing (I wish they had a bit less offset to avoid rubbing). Undecided on tires.
• Silders: RSG is close by, and RCI is just a short drive away so I'll need to decide between those two.
• MTS and CC
• Roof rack: Gamiviti is in my backyard and I like the flexibility of the system, so that's my likely choice.
• Front bumper: I like the CBI Stealth, but by the time I get around to this there may be other options
• Lift: Likely Ironman FCP, since they seem to hit the price/performance sweet spot. Wish they still sold the orange coils!

I'll try and keep this thread updated with build progress as I go.

 

[jmanscotch]

Welcome!

 

[r2m]

Congrats on your new rig!
Always looking forward to new build threads!

 

[Ramzizaz]

Congrats, I am also in the front range and just bought mine a couple months ago. I personally got the trd offroad wheels and tires for 300 so waiting for those to get shot before picking up hopefully some Wildpeaks. You might want to take a look at victory 4x4 sliders if you need more of a step. Good luck with the build

 

[hakmo]

Congrats, I am also in the front range and just bought mine a couple months ago. I personally got the trd offroad wheels and tires for 300 so waiting for those to get shot before picking up hopefully some Wildpeaks. You might want to take a look at victory 4x4 sliders if you need more of a step. Good luck with the build

Do you get any rubbing with the Offroads? The price in this area is definitely attractive, but I'm hoping a bit less offset will allow me to avoid any rubbing and delay the need for a lift.

Has anyone seen corrosion under the rear window? I've got some on the hinge pins for the window and the edges of the mounting plates for the gas struts:

Seems like an odd place for corrosion, the underside of the truck looks fine. Will need to find a good way to clean this area up.

 

[Ramzizaz]

Do you get any rubbing with the Offroads? The price in this area is definitely attractive, but I'm hoping a bit less offset will allow me to avoid any rubbing and delay the need for a lift.

Has anyone seen corrosion under the rear window? I've got some on the hinge pins for the window and the edges of the mounting plates for the gas struts:
View attachment 2593124
View attachment 2593126

Seems like an odd place for corrosion, the underside of the truck looks fine. Will need to find a good way to clean this area up.

I currently have the stock 4runner tires and no rubbing with that. Will plan on going with that same size Wildpeaks 265/70R17 and from what I have read, there should not be rubbing with stock suspension.

 

[hakmo]

Found a good deal on 17" TRD Pros in Matte Grey, so I picked up 5 and put some 265/70/R17 Nitto Terra Grappler G2s on them:

I don't have a problem with the chrome on the GX, but I'll probably look for some vinyl wrap to match the wheels and wrap the chrome bits as I find free time here and there.

 

[r2m]

Looks good!

 

[Tex68w]

Do you get any rubbing with the Offroads? The price in this area is definitely attractive, but I'm hoping a bit less offset will allow me to avoid any rubbing and delay the need for a lift.

Has anyone seen corrosion under the rear window? I've got some on the hinge pins for the window and the edges of the mounting plates for the gas struts:
View attachment 2593124
View attachment 2593126

Seems like an odd place for corrosion, the underside of the truck looks fine. Will need to find a good way to clean this area up.

I had similar corrosion in those same areas on our 2019 LX570 and it was largely a street queen down here in south Texas. It baffled me as well but the only thing i can figure is that those parts weren't properly treated.

 

[Silverstreak]

Like the wheels, looks good. I have the CBI bumper and Ironman foam cell, Great performance and price point on the ironman. I'm on the Front Range if you want to check either out out before purchase or when the snow melts maybe we can plan an adventure. Let me know.

 

[hakmo]

Like the wheels, looks good. I have the CBI bumper and Ironman foam cell, Great performance and price point on the ironman. I'm on the Front Range if you want to check either out out before purchase or when the snow melts maybe we can plan an adventure. Let me know.

Thanks, I'll be sure to keep that in mind when I'm getting ready for the lift/front bumper. Did you mount everything yourself, or are there any good local shops you'd recommend?

Would definitely be interested in checking out some trails with others! Lots of good places nearby on my todo list (Bunce School, Kingston Peak, etc). I'm sure there are a ton of others I haven't heard of.

 

[Silverstreak]

Thanks, I'll be sure to keep that in mind when I'm getting ready for the lift/front bumper. Did you mount everything yourself, or are there any good local shops you'd recommend?

Would definitely be interested in checking out some trails with others! Lots of good places nearby on my todo list (Bunce School, Kingston Peak, etc). I'm sure there are a ton of others I haven't heard of.

I did all the work, can’t afford to pay someone else.

 

[PirateMcgee]

I did all the work, can’t afford to pay someone else.

Silver streak; sent you a pm.

 

[lunoho]

Same boat. In Denver, 2013 with FCP, TRD rims, 275/70/17, Gamiviti rack, MTS, CC. Also Ironman front and Metaltech rear bumper, and Demello sliders.

Did all the work myself, except for the Gamiviti install. Tim helped with that in his garage. Super cool guy, and it's a great product.

Good luck on your build!

 

[K Dub]

Hi all,

After frightening the wife by taking her old Rav4 several places where it maybe shouldn't have gone (Fourth of July Trailhead, Greys and Torreys Peak, Loch Lomond in the snow) I was given the go-ahead to get something more capable/comfortable/reliable. I've ended up with a lightly used 2017 premium in Nightfall Mica/Noble Brown:
View attachment 2590253

The current plan is to do a light go-anywhere build as time allows (and with an 18 month old son, time is rarely allowed). In order of priority:

• Wheels and tires: Current tires are just about shot, so this will need doing sooner rather than late. Thinking to pick up some 17" TRD Pros, though the price of used TRD Offroads is appealing (I wish they had a bit less offset to avoid rubbing). Undecided on tires.
• Silders: RSG is close by, and RCI is just a short drive away so I'll need to decide between those two.
• MTS and CC
• Roof rack: Gamiviti is in my backyard and I like the flexibility of the system, so that's my likely choice.
• Front bumper: I like the CBI Stealth, but by the time I get around to this there may be other options
• Lift: Likely Ironman FCP, since they seem to hit the price/performance sweet spot. Wish they still sold the orange coils!

I'll try and keep this thread updated with build progress as I go.

As a former Ned-Head, I took a lot of cars up to 4th of July that I shouldn't have. I love the color combo. Looking forward to pics in this thread.

 

[hakmo]

Planning a trip to Crested Butte and Mesa Verde for the July 4th week, hoping to drive Schofield Pass to Paradise Basin and possibly some other trails while we're down there.

As part of getting ready I spent an hour doing the uni mod and installing MTS and Crawl Control. I don't have AVS/RAHC, but since I know I'll want some extra switches for mods later on down the road I installed the crawl control switch set that includes the AVS/RAHC switches. Took the time to reverse engineer both switch sets before installing, and have spent a bit of time designing a circuit board to insert between the switches and the vehicle that will allow me to break out the AVS/RAHC switches/buttons for external purposes:

Figured that I may as well break out the crawl control switches while I was at it, so the board could be useful for adding crawl without purchasing the crawl switch set. Need to finish routing the board and send it off to fab; will hopefully have a couple prototypes to test out in a month or so.

 

[r2m]

Very nice! looks like SolidWorks??
Also this may help, Acrad posted this some time ago:

Repurpose AVS/RAHC switches?

Has anyone figured out something clever to do with the switches after installing a lift? The height control I assume is a momentary connection at High and Low and open in Normal. And the ride/shock control is 3 position continuous? Just in case my question isn’t clear - after installing the...

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[hakmo]

Very nice! looks like SolidWorks??
Also this may help, Acrad posted this some time ago:

Repurpose AVS/RAHC switches?

Has anyone figured out something clever to do with the switches after installing a lift? The height control I assume is a momentary connection at High and Low and open in Normal. And the ride/shock control is 3 position continuous? Just in case my question isn’t clear - after installing the...

forum.ih8mud.com

It's actually KiCad/Pcbnew's (schematic capture/board layout software) 3D viewer.

Lots of good info from Acrad; I may end up trying the RAHC switch for a winch and the AVS switch for lighting. Either of those projects are a ways off yet, though.

 

[hakmo]

Took an hour off work this morning to drive up to RCI and pick up some goodies I purchased back on Black Friday:

Will wait for the weather to warm up and then take a day off to install.

 

[r2m]

Ha-ha! I know what you're doing this weekend! And it's not shopping with the wife.