[4runit]

Owner: Anthony aka 4runit
Located in: Bay Area, California
Model: SR5 V6 4x4 Auto
Color: Sunfire Pearl Red
Mileage: 206k miles with rebuilt motor

First day I got it...

As the beast sits today...



Picked up my 1998 4runner in mid January of 2009 with 176k miles. I'm a very lucky 18 year old, and my parents bought the 4runner for me. Fortunately, my father has grown to love modding my off-road truck as much as I do. The 4runner has a lot of sentimental value since it's the product of a father son project. It has taken many hours and funds to get The Beast to the point where it's at today and is why I plan to keep the car for as long as possible. I'm a pre-veterinary student at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and am hoping to ship my car over to Hawaii in the future.

At around 179k miles, the cam shaft broke leading to a massive bill and a rebuilt motor with 75k miles on the clock.

Suspension
Toytec Ultimate Lift Kit:

• Front: Silver 600lb Adjustable Coilovers
• Rear: Old Man Emu 861's w/ Bilstein 5150's
• 1" Diff Drop

Wheels and Tires

• Wheels: Pro Comp 7005 17 x 8
• Tires: Nitto Trail Grappler 295/70/R17 (33.3" diameter)
• Trail Gear 1.25" wheel spacers

Armor

• Front: Shrockworks Front Winch Bumper
• Sliders: Savage Off-Road Sliders w/ Kick-out
• Rear: Perkins Performance Rear Bumper w/ integrated reverse lights

Performance

• Deck Plate Mod
• Magnaflow 18" Muffler

Electrical

• PIAA 510 ATPs (in shrockworks bumper)
• Tinted LED Brake Lights
• LED Interior Light swap (Dash, Center Console, Domes)
• Pioneer Double Din head unit
• 2- 12" Rockford Fosgate Subwoofers
• Rockford Fosgate speakers
• Cobra 19 DX IV CB Radio (fits perfectly in ash tray)
• Firestik 4' Antenna
• Lightforce 170 Strikers on Shrockworks
• Projector Retrofit on Eagle Eyes Black Headlights
• RECON LED DRLs below headlights

Accessories/Recovery Gear/Miscellaneous

• Rola Roof Rack w/ Extension
• Hi-Lift on Roof Rack
• Bushwacker Extend-a-Fenders
• 00-02 Grill
• 99+ Sport Hood
• 99+ Center Console
• Extended Rear Differential Breather
• WeatherTech Digital Fit Floor Mats

Future Mods

• 231mm Tundra Brakes
• Rear Cargo Storage System
• Spare Tire Carrier
• TRD Supercharger
• Lightforce 140's on roof rack
• SmittyBuilt XRC8 Winch
• Jaos Spoiler
• Savage Off-Road Skids
• Lil Skip's Gas Tank Skid
• 4.88 or 5.29 Gears
• On-Board Air
• Lockers
• Safari Snorkel
• 1" Body Lift
• ...and so on...

[4runit]

First mod was to upgrade the sound system and an alarm, so I got a new pioneer head unit (avh p4000), Rockford Fosgate 12" Subs, and a scytek alarm.



Next I upgraded the suspension to bilstein blue and yellows I got off of ebay. After that, the 4runner got some color matched Extend-a-Fenders by Bushwacker and removed the running boards.





After the flares and running boards were removed, I went on a little mod spree and did the Satoshi Grill Mod, added a Rola roof rack, LED interior lights, tinted LED Brake Lights and front turn signals, +99 Center Console Swap, and painted some 4runner pieces.






A couple months later I got a Magnaflow 18" muffler installed (highly recommend to anyone), and did the Deckplate mod. As far as performance, the improvement was nothing major, but it made the V6 sound beefy!

[4runit]

After a fun trip to Carnegie off road park, my friend and I got in a fender bender. The lady in front of me stopped short, I came within inches of hitting her, and my friend, distracted by something else didn't see me stop and rear ended me causing me to hit the lady in front of me. Long story short, he claimed responsibility for the accident and I got a big insurance check. Because these bumpers are so flimsy, I decided to upgrade them with some custom ones, and I went with Shrockworks for the front and Perkins Performance for the rear.

While waiting for the bumpers to arrive, my dad and I installed the Toytec Ultimate Lift kit we've had since February, Cobra CB and Firestik antenna, pro comp 7005 wheels, Trail Gear 1.25" wheel spacers, savage off road sliders, added a hi-lift to the roof rack, and put on some Toyo Open Country M/Ts (295/70/17) that had very little tread and were meant to just get by while I saved up for some new tires.

[4runit]

About a week later, my dad got the sport hood painted/installed and the body work repaired by a local Sacramento shop for a good price.


That same week, the perkins performance rear bumper came in along with the shrockworks front bumper (which was an early surprise since I was told it'd be in mid-January. That weekend we installed the bumpers which were a PITA to install. We mounted 2 reverse LED trailer lights in the rear bumper and applied tint stickers to them to get rid of that cheesy chrome look. For the shrockworks bumper, we wired the turning signals to function as parking lights as well and got the PIAA 510s wired up.

Nice packaging




After the Bumpers were on, I found a great deal on a gently used set of Nitto Trail Grapplers (295/70/17) with a brand new spare. This past weekend, we got them mounted on, and got the alignment done. Unfortunately, this included replacing the driver side tie rod.
This morning, we got to test out "The Beast", and it did great. Did stuff I never thought it would crawl over and had a lot of fun.




More pics and some videos in a bit.

[blcktpgsr]

That is one Beautiful looking Beast!

[810moto]

do you mind if I use your "As the beast sits today" photo as one of the runners on the cover?

[downpour11]

Originally Posted by blcktpgsr

That is one Beautiful looking Beast!

x2 very tasteful and clean.

[thorridder]

wow dont see many red ones but it looks good

[trailmix]

i love it! its come along way since day 1

[4runit]

[thorridder]

what are those break lights? i really like those.

[downpour11]

4runit, your truck is sweet, but I have to say, that is the CLEANEST garage I have seen in a long time, possibly the cleanest lol.

[4runit]

I haven't updated this thread in a while, I put some grip tape on the sliders for better grip and put in some weathertech mats for the front and rear seats.

So yesterday I did a couple mods:

2 Lightforce 170 Strikers with crystal blue filters for increased clarity.
Lightforce - Products

Why I chose Lightforce over some cheap hellas; they also have an adjustable focus and are very lightweight.
YouTube - Lightforce Lights Tough Test - How Tough are they?

Extended Rear Differential Breather:
4Runners.org - Type R Rear Differential

Upgraded Headlight Bulbs to PIAA Super Plasma GT-X:
PIAA Super Plasma GTX (H4) Halogen Light Bulbs|PIAA Light Bulbs|PIAA High Output Automotive Light Bulb

Also replaced the passenger side cv axle since the inner boot tore and had been spewing grease for the past week. Got the part from NAPA and a replacement boot so I can repair the old cv and carry it around for a spare.

Note: The CV requires a 35mm socket which I also picked up from NAPA.

Overall, cv's are very easy to replace and I'm glad I did it so I have the know how for future repairs.
Here's the great writeup I used: Toyota Maintenance: CV Axle Replacement on 3rd Generation 4Runners and Tacomas

The next mod(s) will be:
231mm Tundra Brakes
Lowered roof Rack
Storage System


Here are some pics of the new light output. When I get some time I'll take some pictures so you can see how far the new lights reach.



Hollister Hills 2/20: Bay Area 4runners Hollister Trip

[4runit]

Originally Posted by blcktpgsr

That is one Beautiful looking Beast!

Thanks, your rig looks great too!

Originally Posted by 810moto

do you mind if I use your "As the beast sits today" photo as one of the runners on the cover?

Of course I don't mind, what an honor that would be. When do you think the calender will be ready?

Originally Posted by downpour11

x2 very tasteful and clean.

Thanks man I'm very happy with it.

Originally Posted by thorridder

wow dont see many red ones but it looks good

Originally Posted by thorridder

what are those break lights? i really like those.

Thanks, the lights are reverse lights are Black LEDs from ebay.

Originally Posted by trailmix

i love it! its come along way since day 1

Thanks! It's turned out a lot better than I thought would ever be.

Originally Posted by downpour11

4runit, your truck is sweet, but I have to say, that is the CLEANEST garage I have seen in a long time, possibly the cleanest lol.

Lol, that's where my dad spends most of his time, I'll try and get some more pics of the "lab" when I go back.

[SCRunner12]

Nice work. That thing is really clean and functional.
The videos aren't working though.