[derpiful]

Originally Posted by Road Bull

Great work on the lights man.

I suppose you like the STT Pros enough throughout the life of the tire to get again at least. You could try out the new BFG KM3s when they come out in June. It looks like they tweaked them a bit and changed the rubber composition as well. It would be a bit of an unknown quantity thing though.

BFG KM3 offering.

But Cooper tires seem to at the top of their game with a few different options.

Thanks!

I'm assuming you're saying they wore fast? (Sorry I'm just not understanding entirely). I have about 30k on these tires, which I'm pretty happy about for how much abuse they've been put through.

I have looked at the KM3, and it looks decent. Curious what everyone thinks once they come out. My only problem is that I plan on getting some within the next month...

[Road Bull]

Originally Posted by derpiful

Thanks!

I'm assuming you're saying they wore fast? (Sorry I'm just not understanding entirely). I have about 30k on these tires, which I'm pretty happy about for how much abuse they've been put through.

I have looked at the KM3, and it looks decent. Curious what everyone thinks once they come out. My only problem is that I plan on getting some within the next month...

Haha.. I was multitasking when I was writing that and was interrupted a few times. Sometimes I go back and I can't understand what the hell I was going on about.

I wasn't really saying that they wore fast, but I think, maybe @Fishwerks mentioned something about them wearing a bit faster than he thought that they would. But, if you are using them, then they are one of those things that you get your money's worth out of them, if you are lucky, then, rinse and repeat.

I know you use them a lot off road, but how do they treat you on the road? A lot of MT tires don't have great reputations for road handling or in the rain. But I don't hear anyone complaining about their STT Pros though.

[derpiful]

Originally Posted by Road Bull

Haha.. I was multitasking when I was writing that and was interrupted a few times. Sometimes I go back and I can't understand what the hell I was going on about.

I wasn't really saying that they wore fast, but I think, maybe @Fishwerks mentioned something about them wearing a bit faster than he thought that they would. But, if you are using them, then they are one of those things that you get your money's worth out of them, if you are lucky, then, rinse and repeat.

I know you use them a lot off road, but how do they treat you on the road? A lot of MT tires don't have great reputations for road handling or in the rain. But I don't hear anyone complaining about their STT Pros though.

No worries, it was fun to try and figure it out haha.

Yeah, I talked to Chris about that too. I thought mine were also wearing faster than I wanted until I looked at how many miles I actually had on them- I always through I had was less. For an MT like this I'm honestly pretty happy with 30k. Unfortunately they are expensive tires, but that's the price you pay to play.

On road they are awesome. They seem to be quieter than Duratracs and balance really well- I've never had vibrations or anything. Rain hasn't ever been a problem for me, but snow has. These definitely aren't the best, but I'm willing to compromise for how they work off road.

[derpiful]

Installed the nicest and most expensive parts I have: King Shocks!

My old shocks (the rears especially) were leaking terribly and needed replacing. I was constantly hitting bumpstops over the tiniest of dips, and hated it.

For the front, I went with the extended travel 2.5 coilovers with 600lb springs.



They look amazing, especially next to my old setup.


Ignore the rust! Hoping to get some painting time in soon.


For the rear I had custom-length ones designed. I wanted the most amount of travel while not having to outboard the shocks- I don't want to push my tires out more and am very happy with where they sit now, but they 100% will not fit a shock next to them.

These are 2.5s with the piggyback resi, with a travel of 9.6".



These are not only longer, but way bigger too!


Something I never realized until install was how nice it is to have the shaft at the bottom and not the top like the 5100s- tightening the nut is so much easier when you can just hold the shock and not have to hold the shaft to keep it from rotating. Made install much easier.

Hitting the bumps showed how perfectly they were designed. These would not work well without the extension.




Additionally, I installed an OME 10mm trim packer onto the 861s while I was back there. I think they've broken in/worn out a little bit and I noticed them sagging a bit more, but now they're back to where they should be.
At full droop, the ABS line is pretty stretched, and I probably need to get a longer one. These are already the extended lines from Toytec.

I haven't had time to properly flex it out and see the travel, but here's the closest I could get! There was definitely some more in it and the tire was still firmly on the ground. Those are 35s basically clearing my sliders!


An issue I've noticed with the rear is the shock wanting to rotate, which moves the resi over the lower control arm and in a spot that it could be ripped off. I'm going to try tightening the top nut first, but may need to move the resi and externally mount it.

You can notice a huge difference in ride quality, both on and off road. It is so much smoother, and many bumps I can hardly feel anymore. They're amazing!!

[JBurt]

Congratulations! Now we just need a trail report with them, and one that doesn't include the resi's getting ripped off.

Mid sharing the spec's on the rears you had built?

[Road Bull]

Congrats!! That's quite an upgrade man! You are one of a hanfull of 3rd gen owners with a full set of Kings. I have the same Kings up front with 600# springs. Maybe someday I will upgrade the rears to ones like yours, but I would want to make sure there's a way I could Mount the external Reservoir so they don't have to piggyback on the main shock. That seems to be the only drawback with those external reservoirs is it they get in the way when they start to rotate. I know @Unner is running the same set up, but I'm not sure how his anti rotation solution is holding up. It would seem to me that if King has the ability to make these things custom that you could request enough length of reservoir connecting hose to mount them somewhere out of the way.

[derpiful]

Originally Posted by JBurt

Congratulations! Now we just need a trail report with them, and one that doesn't include the resi's getting ripped off.

Mid sharing the spec's on the rears you had built?

Thanks! I'm hoping to get out soon and test them out. I'm sure they'll be great...

The rears are 9.55 stroke, 24.75 extended, 2.5 smoothies with piggyback resi and standard King valving. Hope that helps!

Originally Posted by Road Bull

Congrats!! That's quite an upgrade man! You are one of a hanfull of 3rd gen owners with a full set of Kings. I have the same Kings up front with 600# springs. Maybe someday I will upgrade the rears to ones like yours, but I would want to make sure there's a way I could Mount the external Reservoir so they don't have to piggyback on the main shock. That seems to be the only drawback with those external reservoirs is it they get in the way when they start to rotate. I know @Unner is running the same set up, but I'm not sure how his anti rotation solution is holding up. It would seem to me that if King has the ability to make these things custom that you could request enough length of reservoir connecting hose to mount them somewhere out of the way.

Thank you! I actually just went and read a bunch on his build thread to look into it. Thanks for pointing me there- I think it mostly just needs to be tightened more. We'll see! I'm pretty sure it's definitely possible to get a longer hose and externally mount them, but oh well, I'll make this work

[derpiful]

Some updates! It's been a bit since posting, but I've been busy and haven't had the time to edit my photos.

New tires! The old ones were pretty worn and Discount was having their Memorial Day sale, it the timing worked out well. I went with the same 315/75R16 Cooper STT Pros.



For a while I was debating trying to make 37s fit. @TCMach 's look so good that I wanted some! I realized though that while I'm still daily driving it, I probably shouldn't go bigger.


I bought a tent! It's the Tepui Ayer Sky 2. I told myself I would never do this, but the convenience is super nice. I have it setup on 2 crossbars of the Rocky Mountain Racks Matterhorn, so it's pretty easy to take it off, just big and heavy. Anytime I'm going to be doing a harder trail (Moab, Holy Cross, etc) I'm going to take it off, as you can definitely feel the added weight up there.





It's super nice having all of the bedding ready. I have full sheets, blankets, and pillow all up there, and it still closes nicely. Since purchase and install early June, I've spent 3 nights in it.

[Unner]

Tent looks good, as does the new suspension!

Keep us updated if you figure anything out about the rear shock rotation. I've cranked down on mine pretty good, but still have a slight rotation. I just rotate it back by hand every now and then. I want to figure it out eventually, but it's too hot to mess with right now for a minor issue like that.

The ride quality is night and day with the Kings right? I wish I had spent the money on them upfront on my build. Buy once cry once. Lessons learned for the next build...

[derpiful]

Originally Posted by Unner

Tent looks good, as does the new suspension!

Keep us updated if you figure anything out about the rear shock rotation. I've cranked down on mine pretty good, but still have a slight rotation. I just rotate it back by hand every now and then. I want to figure it out eventually, but it's too hot to mess with right now for a minor issue like that.

The ride quality is night and day with the Kings right? I wish I had spent the money on them upfront on my build. Buy once cry once. Lessons learned for the next build...

Thanks!

I think I'm eventually going to move the resi, I just haven't had enough time. For now, I ran a zip tie from the resi hose connection on the main shock body to whatever was close enough in front of it. It's been holding for 3 weeks now, haha.

Absolutely! They're incredible. So very expensive, but worth it in my opinion.

[Unner]

Originally Posted by derpiful

Thanks!

I think I'm eventually going to move the resi, I just haven't had enough time. For now, I ran a zip tie from the resi hose connection on the main shock body to whatever was close enough in front of it. It's been holding for 3 weeks now, haha.

Absolutely! They're incredible. So very expensive, but worth it in my opinion.

Hmmmm. I hadn't thought about the zip tie thing. Might just need to try that out myself hahaha

They are worth it. I really like that yours are custom length. I got the regular length ones for the 3rd gen which are a tad bit shorter than I'd like, but I got them for an awesome deal so I won't complain.

[derpiful]

Ran Kelly Flats recently for the second time- this was shortly following the new tires and tent, so of course a test run was needed.



My friend tried the Chutes in his TJ, and needed a bit of human power:


Good weather, good views:


@Flemster getting flexy:


King flex!

[derpiful]

I use the Torque app and a bluetooth OBDII reader for CELs, but for some reason it never occurred to me that I could look at the tranny temp with it! So I did... 225C @ 75mph on the highway!! I continued to monitor it and found that it never went below 215, but went as high as 240. Too hot! That night I went on Amazon and ordered a Hayden 679 tranny cooler.

I decided to install it in series with the stock cooler, as my radiator is only a few years old. Install was easy- I was planning on also flushing the tranny and changing the fluid, but it was honestly really clean so I decided not too.



What a difference! Now, my tranny runs at 160-180, and even going up Vail Pass (very steep @ 10k ft) it never got over 200. Very very happy with this, especially for less than $75.

[Unner]

Originally Posted by derpiful

I use the Torque app and a bluetooth OBDII reader for CELs, but for some reason it never occurred to me that I could look at the tranny temp with it! So I did... 225C @ 75mph on the highway!! I continued to monitor it and found that it never went below 215, but went as high as 240. Too hot! That night I went on Amazon and ordered a Hayden 679 tranny cooler.

I decided to install it in series with the stock cooler, as my radiator is only a few years old. Install was easy- I was planning on also flushing the tranny and changing the fluid, but it was honestly really clean so I decided not too.


What a difference! Now, my tranny runs at 160-180, and even going up Vail Pass (very steep @ 10k ft) it never got over 200. Very very happy with this, especially for less than $75.

No external cooler before I take it? 225 cruising is pretty warm... Makes me feel better when mine occasionally touches 200 haha. You ran it for alot of miles like that too, so it must take the abuse pretty well.

I wish I had data from before I put my external cooler in just to know what a stock 4Runner would be at transmission temperature wise.

[derpiful]

Originally Posted by Unner

No external cooler before I take it? 225 cruising is pretty warm... Makes me feel better when mine occasionally touches 200 haha. You ran it for alot of miles like that too, so it must take the abuse pretty well.

I wish I had data from before I put my external cooler in just to know what a stock 4Runner would be at transmission temperature wise.

Nope, no cooler before, just stock. It was very warm, especially for being on a flat highway. I'm sure it's been running like this for a looong time, but seeing the fluid made me feel better about it.