UPS freight just called. He said that he would be here with my new Shrockworks front bumper loaded with some fog lights. Sweet!

Ding Dong!

My new Shrockworks front bumper and PIAA fog lights have landed! My friend said he would help getting this bad boy mounted. I can't wait.

Holy cow this box is big! I am glad that I didn't try to go pick it up at UPS. This thing was shipped in a sturdy pallet anchored, heavy duty cardboard box re-enforced with wood frame and industrial staples. The bumper itself is anchored down to the pallet with wooden stabilizers, bolted to the pallet. LOL, I would not have been prepared for that, and I would not have gotten it into the runner with the box. Hahahahahaha.

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Ugh.. I have been working way too much as of late and have not gotten time to throw the new bumper on. I am super excited to see how it looks on the front of my rig. I keep passing by someone's maroon 4th gen in Ballard. It is looks sharp for a 4th gen. For some reason the fourth gens seem to benefit the most from cosmetic upgrades seeing as how they start off a little bit on the plane Jane side. Anyway, this one has the Shrockworks front bumper 255/85/16 Cooper ST Maxx tirez, black five star rims, roof rack, and full Icon suspension. It reminds me how sweet these bumpers look.

In other news, I am weighing the pros and cons of different lift combinations. Originally, I was going to go with something like a SS 1.2, or 7.2 lift. But I got some 265/75/16 BFG KO2s and I am really wanting a mid-lift option. I would love something like an Icon lift, but my estimates, it looks like that route would be over $2K. That might be a bit much for me.

The other route in the mid-lift department seems to be combination of something like 881/890 coils with something like Bilsteins 5100s. I am trying to balance a few points of interest.

1.) ~2" lift

2.) Front coils and shocks robust enough to handle Shrockworks bumper.

3.) Rear coils and shocks robust enough to not sag under weight, but not jarring to drive as my DD.

It seems like 3" lifts have a lot more options, but I just don't see myself needing all that.

Did you ever get your bumper installed? Looks like you went with the same style as I did during the group buy. It's one heavy heavy bumper!!

If there's a way you can suspend it to install the lights and install it on the truck, that's the best way to go. I was glad to finally get that installed. Just the sliders next and I'm almost finished with the "major" exterior items.

Will eventually add a roof rack and rear swing out but for now I need to upgrade the cockpit and the seats.

Not yet man. It's killing me too. I have been fairly busy with work and my band so I haven't had time to make it happen. I have a friend that is going to lend a hand, but putting aside time has been difficult. You are not kidding about the weight of the bumper. That thing isn't blowing away. To be honest, I jumped in on the group buy because I thought I was going to be moving a lot more quickly on my build. Things have slowed down a bit and I have been getting to things as I can.

How is your bumper and suspension treating you so far?

I intend to go with a mild lift. I think I might go for something like you got going on. I like the idea of coilovers in the front and maybe 890s in the back. I am looking for a more mild, or mid lift. I am wondering if I run 600# springs up front on the lowest perch if I will be running somewhere between 2 to 2.5". That is what I am shooting for anyway, nothing too crazy. I will be sticking with my 265/75/16s for now.

But before that, I am thinking general maintenance before further modifications. I am looking to:

-Purchase and install a B&M trans cooler.
-Replace the LBJs and possible outer and inner tie rods.

Those are my 50 meter targets for now. Had I considered added weight when I was looking for replacement bumpers, I might have gone with and Addicted Offroad hybrid plate. Those look pretty cool too. I just like how clean and sturdy the SW bumper seems. I am not sure how my stock suspension will handle the new Shrockworks bumper. I am not rubbing at all now, but that could change with the added weight. So I would like to have things lined up to go should that be much of a problem. Then I can just knock the lift out and take a big step forward. But I feel I should cover my a$$ and probably do the LBJs and Trans cooler first.

In other news I should have a new radiator for my 1994 Toyota Ext. Cab V6 4x4 on Friday. I am getting my pickup ready to sell. I love it a lot, and will probably kick myself, but it will make saving for other things I want to do a lot easier. I probably wont get to it till Wednesday after I get back from a CA trip to see some family.

Just read through your build thread and see you are looking at lift options. Last post was a couple months ago so you may have already decided & done the work.

Here is a photo of my 2001 Sport Edition with the Old Man Emu 3" Lift complete from Toytec and a set of BFG AT KO's in 265/75r16. FYI, I did not install the front top plate spacer. Unfortunately I don't have this truck anymore, currently have '06 SE V8 with OME & BFG AT KO2.

I highly recommend Old Man Emu. It rides great! Firm but not uncomfortable. Little to no body roll, no more rear sag, and does not nose dive under heavy braking. As I'm sure you know, you'll want to get the front coil that supports the extra weight of the SW bumper.

Anyway, just thought I'd share a photo to give you an idea of lift height with the 265/75r16 tires.

Cheers!

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Cool rig Jordan! Thanks for sharing your pic of how you 4runner sat with the OME lift and 265/75/16s. That STILL is helpful. Very sharp rig!

You would have thought that I had long since gotten everything sorted out. HA! You would be wrong. I have had some divided attention and life economics slow my forward progress down a bit.

Hell, my SW bumper is still sitting in the back of my 1994 Extra Cab... The truck that needs to be sold. However I knew I needed to replace the 94's radiator. I got that swapped out with a little drama. Then the battery needed a good trickle charge to bring it back to life after sitting for a spell. Just yesterday I called up my friend and said that I was coming over to drop the bumper off so that we could put it on the Runner later. I checked everything over on the 94 since I had not really driven it since I swapped out the radiator. I cranked it up, backed it out of the garage, popped the hood, and it didn't take too long to find a suspicious red radiator fluid leak somewhere along the engine, further back from the radiator. The hell! So back in the garage it went till I can devote some more attention to it.

So I sort of have two projects cooking at the same time. Just in real.... slow.... motion... LOL.

I got my first B&M trans cooler stolen from my front porch. F#*@!! Amazon was cool and sent another. But, I feel uneasy about sending my order for other wanted parts, (LBJs, lift), and not being home to greet it. I will probably just have it sent to my friend's house.

I am still considering all lift options atm. I though that I wanted to go coilover upfront to accommodate the desired mild lift that I was looking for, but with the added weight of the new SW bumper. I am not above looking more closely into the OME lift though. I do a fair amount of highway driving, so whatever it is can't be jarring. I would be tempted to even look more closely at the SS 1.2 lift, but that rake with 265/75/16s seems a bit extreme in some pics that I have seen.

The most exciting thing I have done for my 4Runner has been to change the oil and change the air filter. I was rewarded by earning a CEL with my old friend the P0420 code! Yay! I had already changed out the rear O2 sensor. Now it looks like I will give the front Air/Fuel sensor an update.

Life hates sandcastles...

I found the OME to out-perform the stock suspension on the highway. I live in NY and commuted for months into NYC with my 2001 4Runner. Spent a lot of time on parkways which are two TIGHT lanes in each direction. These roads were built back when cars barely did 40mph and now they are 55mph limit so of course people do 70+mph. The OME suspension stopped almost all body roll & got rid of that rear-sag that these trucks are known for.

Before lift, the rear bounced like a Cadillac & a bump on the highway would cause the rear to kick over. Again, the OME fixed it. It is firm but not stiff. Rides like a truck but in all the best ways. I'm sure you're used to that feeling with the '94 pickup.

You sound very knowledgeable with your vehicles so I'm sure you'll find exactly what you're looking for. Let me know if you would like to see more photos or have questions!

Getting closer to 200K. I was glad to see my CEL came back with its friend P0420 code. Time to replace the gas cap and the upstream sensor as I have already replaced the downstream o2 sensor.

We are heading into the rainy season here. It might be time to pull the trigger on some weathertech floor mats.

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Weather techs are amazing. I second you getting a set!

Agree on the Weathertechs. I have Husky Liners in my Camry and Weathertechs in the T4R. Weathertechs are more supple and seem to fit much better. Husky Liners are a little more stiffer. Matter of preference...

It's been a minute.

My friend and I just put some long hours in trying to get my Shrockworks front bumper mounted. WOW... that was a royal PITA. The bumper mounts were very tight matching up to the mounting brackets that were too narrow. I am sure glad my mechanic friend helped me out. I would have been at a loss as to what to try. So far, we managed to get it mounted and the turn signals hooked up before we had to call it a night. I still need to mount the PIAA fog lights open up a few holes so that I can get the lead bolts in. Sigh...

I found out that if you have a SW font bumper, you can not run your bug deflector. If you do, there is no way to open the hood. There is absolutely no clearance.

Pictures later, I am beat.

You can still open the hood. I'll take pic later on and show you what I did. Hopefully you installed the lights before installing the bumper. It's so much easier. Glad it's on though!

I'm not a fan of the white square connectors that PIAA provides with their lights. Later on I'll find the link to what I did.

OK so what I did was add a piece of white tape even with the hood latch and essentially made a landing strip to guide my plastic scraper under the hood to the release mechanism. I'm using a large black plastic scraper to release the latch once released from inside the vehicle. This works great and allows me to keep my bug deflector there. Because it's a plastic scraper there's no damage. But as you said, no room otherwise. It's a "workaround" I hate a work around but I'll live with this one.

You can also see the connectors I used for my lights. They're nothing but a two plug towing connector for a trailer from O'Reilley's. The photo is a picture of the connectors for the two PIAA 520's. Same concept for the PIAA 510's. If I had to do it again, I would order the Deutsch connectors that Rigid Industries uses. They are so much better.

EDIT: Something I failed to mention is the location of your connectors. I would recommend you keep your connectors on this side of your engine bay just in case you ever need to remove your bumper or slide it forward etc. You'll notice my PIAA 520 connectors are in the front, easily accessible so I can install a winch to the bumper later on or change my lights to a 30" LED Bar without having to cut and splice. Just a thought.

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Thanks for the good information. I like the bumper, but knowing what I know now, I am not sure I would go the same route again. Those tight tolerances are a b**!!. I can't see being able to access the grill for removal. I picked it up as part of the last group buy, and I thought I did a good amount of research. What I would really look into going foward is serviceability, ease of installation, and the function and form. Live and learn.