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[marshal]

so here goes my first attempt at a Toyota. for the past few months I've been hunting for a toyota rig. i started at an LC80, dropped into a 62 then wound up looking at 100 series' before i finally settled on a V8 4th gen 4runner and then immediately changed my mind to a 5th gen Trail because… its a Trail, i mean come on.

so i sold my Jeepi in December and spent a month or two tracking various 4runner trails throughout them interwebz to finally realize that at any given time, there are only ~50 used 4runner Trails for sale in the country, 3/4 of which were overpriced and out of my budget. finally i got a crazy idea up my *** to search craigslist for the whole country and found this little gem in Denver Colorado. one thing led to another and i flew out to get it and drive her home.

so, she's a:

2010 4Runner Trail
-45,000 miles (almost 47,000 now)
-stock tires that are GONE
-synthetic fluids its WHOLE life
-maintenance records
-KDSS
-backup camera
-weathertech mats
-3m tinted windows
-3m invisible bra and skirts






overall it was a steal and a wrote them a check for cash

it'll be a long build, but a build none the less. the goal is to create a vehicle that was more effective at going my JKUR's job than my JKUR was - which was badass daily driver that can haul my ***, my wife and my daughter around while being "quiet", well mannered and spacious. And then kick serious ass at trails

the long term end goal plans are:
-SAS (Currie F9 housing)
-custom built rear long travel suspension and Currie F9 Housing
-37" tires on hutchinson double headlocks

how i plan on getting there (eventually) is:
-OME Heavy Front coils
-Camburg balljoint uppers
-Bilstein 5100s
-Currie/Eibach 3.75" rear coils.

Unfortunately due to (at the time) recent heavy snow in the area early this spring- the burnt up stockers were putting me in a safety hazard and i needed tires. I ordered a set of 285x75R17E Nitto Terra Grapplers to hold me over for the next 35-40k miles and then get the 35s. they're the largest AT i can find (33.9x11.7x17) it gives me a little wiggle room and lets me get some cash saved to get the suspension plus the E load tire will be a nice reprieve from this floaty caddy P-rated bull**** it comes stock with



Then I got the 285s on, they're a true 34x11.50 and woooooo are they snug! Needs a lift and spacers for sure now!



my 3 year old Newfoundland/GSD travel buddy



2 pair of 1.25" spidertrax spacers.



Battery in



Did some branding





So, forgot to mention. Easily one of my favorite features of the 4runner - it can easily hold a liter Nalgene bottle <3

 

[marshal]

Making slow progress, but progress none the less


Running boards removed


And painted the emblem black till I shatoshi

Found some time to do some work last night and this morning. Did the front body mount chop.



Then my buddy swung by and helped me sand the wheels and prep them for paint



Then I put the spidertrax spacers on and started the process of heavy cutting and reminding the front wheel wells to clear the 285/75/17s and full stuff and lock. I was able to remove most of the fender liner, modify the flare lips slightly and trim the air dams. At this point if I want to fit 35s at full stuff all I need to do is extend the bump stops in the front slightly, and clearance the double wall section of the body slightly.

 

[marshal]

then i started the process of converting my fog lights to amber. I'm not a big fan of painting the whole lens of the fog housing, so i elected to make my own amber bulbs instead. this is a little bit more of a complicated process but should yield the results that i want, which is not painting the housing. (this didn't work... at all)



next i needed the paint - this is Duplicolor's Yellow metal cast paint. its a high heat resistant transparent paint that comes in the perfect shade of amber. the goal was to paint the bulbs about 2 shades darker than what you want and then let them fully dry before you test them. if you test them before they're fully dry and cured you'll make the paint bubble and ruin the bulbs.



next i wanted to bring the paint up to temperature. i like painting with rattle cans when they're around 110-120 degrees. the paint flows better and when it flys through the air and hits the object its already at room temperature



finished product. now i wait for it to dry fully and test them out that evening



Here are the springs I'll be testing. Notice the left spring is roughly 3/4 of an inch taller than the right spring. It is driver side specific to compensate for the 22 gallon fuel tank and 200lbs of driver wright on the drive side of the vehicle. I don't think very many realize that the right side of the 4runner are heavier than the left



disaster struck!

i turned on my fog lights that morning to snap a pic when i left work to come home and within seconds i noticed that the yellow was slowly turning white again, and that suddenly i couldn't see through the lens. it was completely opaque.

TURNS OUT that i didn't do enough research and discovered this morning that the low beams, high beams and fog lights ALL use 55watt H11 bulbs, which are the hottest burning, brightest 55watt bulbs available outside of harnessing the sun. so since toyota overbuilt the s*** out of the lighting system - these bulbs are much much too hot for the paint to withstand. i had done this project before on my Jeep, but the fog lights on my jeep were only 23watts.

so - pulled the bulb out to find this and an awful burnt smell



and as well - the inside of my fogs were hazed in burnt soot. so i had to remove them from the truck and wash them. i soaked them in dawn and rinsed them out thoroughly and they cleaned right up. then i promptly took them outside to dry out and paint the faces in the same paint. thankfully the face of the lens is far enough away from the bulb that there shouldnt be any issues.



finished product. you can't see through it all the way because there is moisture on the inside of the lens still from it drying out. they should be good to go this evening. i was able to scrape the burnt paint off the bulbs with a razor and clean them back up to be used again.



really happy this time around. worked perfect and the results were great

 

[marshal]

Got a deal on some parts that I couldn't pass up.
OME 887 Heavy front coils
Currie/Eibach heavy rear coils
Bilstein 5100s front and rear shocks
Camburg balljoint upper control arms and moog balljoints

And then the front bumper kit from 4x4labs is on it's way to me from California



My friend Quinten at Moab Offroad in Louisville ky, which is by far the best and friendliest business partners I've ever had the opportunity to deal with. Max, the owner, knew exactly what I wanted and was able to get everything to the shop right on the dot and even personally helped assemble my control arms with Quinten and I. Truely top notch service



The ride home



The bumper, truly in it's kit form (4x4labs)



Everything ready to go



LAWD Jesus that was hard. Working around the KDSS is a huge bitch. Probably wasted 2-3 hours because of it. That said, super happy with the results. Need an alignment now, but it drives like a champ. Glad I went with the heavy setup




a




Bombed through the creek to check for creeks

 

[marshal]

bumper construction has taken some time, but i finally got it wrapped up thanks to this:



rolling along





fully tacked, with a few finish welds started



awesome approach angle



finish welded, ground, beautified and painted - oh and my old SR20 thrown on







<3



all thats left is finding a mesh/perforated metal for the lower grills and to use for doing the shatoshi mod, and relocating the washer fluid reservoir/pumps

 

[Perfected]

This is sick.

 

[Sam Stewart]

That bumper looks great.

 

[marshal]

so i made this today out of some perforated aluminum. had a 9x36" section of it and somewhere between here and there made cardboard template and decide the best way to secure it to the grill would be tabs and screws. so i did just that

some gloss black to sex it up

tomorrow I'm going to explore some trails, stretch the trucks legs. decided i need my maxtrax with me and proceeded to mount them on the cross bars. i used the maxtrax mounts. i don't particularly like them because they stick up about 4", but they're easily removed - and with the cross bars being aluminum i don't have to worry about corrosion. only mounted one side as honestly i don't see the point in mounting the other two right now.

ready to run tomorrow

 

[marshal]

trip was a blast

really really pleased with the performance offered by the Nitto Terra Grappler in 285/75/17. here is the sidewall bulge at 12PSI on level ground



my friend's wrangler doing a hill climb







found ourselves in some very tight trails







then, this happened...



i thought the ledge was a lot more shallow then it looked from 15 feet behind it. the drivers side slid down an the vehicle landed on the frame and rocker panel. the fact that it didn't endo is a miracle. the only thing i can think of as to why it didn't was the fact that the frame was on the ground, and the nearly full fuel tank was also on the drivers side

Adam standing in for reference



needless to say this wasn't going to work




so i got winched back to make another attempt (which wouldn't end up working) i could have backed up under my own power, but i was soooo unstable that it would have been anyones guess if i were to make it without rolling if i had.













due to the lack of travel in the suspension, as well the low lateral traction due to the all terrain tires - i had to do a 6000 point turn and make my way back up a different adjacent trail. I'm very confident that this would have been disastrous without A-TRAC and the KDSS

 

[sana5500]

Looking great view. Keep it continue.

 

[Sam Stewart]

Looks great out on the trails. It's always nice to see people actually use their trucks.

 

[murf]

Nice work on the mods...esp your bumper!

 

[yotasavg]

Truck looks great man, definitely nice to see these get used.

 

[onemanarmy]

Yea, that bumper is a work of art.

 

[Willy beamin]

where were you wheeling? nice looking rig

 

[marshal]

where were you wheeling? nice looking rig

that was at Dirty Turtle, however the trails are pretty tight and/or steep. definitely met for smaller rigs that are road hard and put away wet.

 

[marshal]

i realized i haven't been in this thread to update it since last year pretty much. sorry guys

i got some floor mats

the rest of this thread i'll copy and paste from my thread on T4R.org, so sorry if it doesnt all make sense and is linear.

It's been a cold and snowy winter here, I've used 4wd more in the last 3 weeks than I've used it the entire time I've owned this thing





Truck performed flawlessly and I'm super happy with the performance of the Nittos. However, I'm about 10,000 miles from them needing to be replaced, and next up are another pair of 35x12.50 General Grabber Red Labels for me. Very excited about this.


In other news, my 2 year old Odyssey battery s*** the bed. Was reading 13.1v and had 56CCA at 70 degrees. Odyssey graciously sent me their new Made in USA performance model, which packs a wopping 1350 amps. I'm hoping to take this dead odyssey to a batteries plus near by and see if they can reclaim it. I'd like to have a dual batt setup.



Obligatory action shot for coolness





And I'm really excited about the floor mats I got from [MENTION=81573]Stifler[/MENTION] I finally got them in and they're fantastic. I've eyed these for a long time and I'm pumped I have them. Thanks again buddy.

 

[marshal]

it would appear that i may have made a serious miscalculation on the size difference between a true sized 35x12.50 and a 285x75. could potentially be a problem D: oh well. nothing a little sledge grind and cut can't fix

 

[marshal]

turned out awesome, and i was in fact able to get out of the parking lot, albeit not being able to go past about 75% to lock. when i got home i had to do some more cutting on the body mount and I'm rub free right now on the street. as far as getting it offroad ready, some metal work is going to be in order. super pumped though








[MENTION=66316]1engineer[/MENTION] [MENTION=69819]FactoryRide[/MENTION] [MENTION=89562]bimrunner[/MENTION] [MENTION=51030]joneseyyy[/MENTION] [MENTION=62087]SPENK05[/MENTION]

 

[marshal]

We've been working with expedition one to develop a washer bottle relocation kit for the 5th gen trucks. We finally wrapped everything up for a finished product, are putting the finishing touches on a write up and the kit should be available soon for those who are interested. The kit includes CNC bent 3/16ths powder coated brackets, stainless hardware and a nearly 2 gallon OEM style thick clear plastic container. It fits compactly behind the passenger headlight and requires no modifications or extensions to the harness.



Also did a good-all direct to battery quick jump kit. It's faster, more convenient and safer for getting or assisting in battery jumps. If also uses a standard 400amp connector if you had to power something like a winch directly off your battery. Uses 4AWG copper wire.

Pilot holes drilled


Fitted



Threw a coat of black paint ontop to hide it



Finished product.