Matt's 07 - Build to the perfect Daily Driven wheeler

Figured out what was causing the leak. It's my main rear seal, so I created this thread to see how bad dropping the transmission and gaining access to the rear main seal was...

Turns out, another forum user used another oil and that ended up working. So... I was due for an oil change, and gave Valvoline MAXLIFE a shot, even though it wasn't recommended as highly as Castrol High mileage(I used them before in my miata and got crazy lifter tick which I wasn't really fond of using them in the first place).

Now, I'm just hoping that will slow or stop the leak all together. If not, I just hope it doesn't get any worse.



Besides that, I've got quite a long list of things I need to do...

1. Spark plugs, due for interval maintenance.
2. UCA's, Ball joints are starting to creak and boots are torn from all the shenanigans and running a 3"+ lift...
3. LBJ's, they're starting to get torn and spreading grease everywhere...
4. CV boots... They started to tear apart.. For the time being, I'm just going to let duct tape hold the tear, until I can find time to replace the boot. :rofl:

Good luck on the leak man! Those are never fun especially when its in such a hard to reach area.

Did you ever decide on which UCA you're going to run? Lots of choices and it'd be interesting to see what alignment numbers you can get with them.

bpchura said:

Good luck on the leak man! Those are never fun especially when its in such a hard to reach area.

Did you ever decide on which UCA you're going to run? Lots of choices and it'd be interesting to see what alignment numbers you can get with them.

Click to expand...

Yea, it blows... I'm just hoping either A) the change of oils really does stop the leak, or B) the leak doesn't get too bad where I could make it through till winter time and have time to drop the tranny.

Honestly, I've been heavily debating between the JBA's and uniballs like Total Chaos or Camburg... But.. I think I'll be joining you and Brian with the JBA's. lmao

Got around to doing my spark plugs, and wow... was I well over due for changing them out.

I just went with OEM Toyota Denso Spark plugs, P/N:909190-01235, or Denso P/N: K20HR-U11


Spark plugs!


Setting the gapping to 0.42 as per Owners Manual.


The worn plugs...



The worst of the 2 plugs...

:yuck::yuck::yuck::yuck:

Had quite a lot of work done to the 4runner this past week, and it'll be broken down into different posts...

First... DIY splash guard. I cut the original wheel well liners, so they wouldn't stick out and be seen from the bumper. The problem now that is that it created a massive hole, where water could easily get sucked into the intake. I tried googling around for solutions, but nothing really came up. So I opted to make my own splash guard with zipties and lexan. It's kinda janky, but.. it's better than nothing.

Before the diy splash guard...

rough mockup with cardboard and traced out with lexan

Mounted!

Next, my CV boot started to tear and I just didn't have time or a place to fix it.. So I used duct tape in the mean time.. Ghetto as hell, but shit worked.. surprisingly...

Before starting...





With the new boot. Woohooo

Next plan of attack was the rear brakes. Once again, I didn't have time to fix them, and I didn't have a place to work on the truck.... Shit was bad..

New pads, with rotors in the back

Cleaning up the caliper pins, and relubing them. WAS MUCH needed.

Reseating the piston.


Yea....

Next was the Lower ball joints. Mine were going out, as it was slowly starting to wobble at speed. Was quite scary to drive on. And turning, I could hear the ball joints popping. I wasn't really keen on spending nearly $500 on just LCA's, so I just opted to replace the LBJ's... Was a PITA...

Moving the hub assembly out of the way.

With ALOT of leverage and penetration oil over night, the LBJ was not budging at all..

LBJ finally popped out.

Old ball joint (top), next to the new Moog replacements (bottom)


New Moog ball joint seated.. woohooo


And yea.. ended up breaking a HF tool. Thank god for their warranty..

My driver side headlight, for some reason was fogging up, so I decided to clean that up. Some maguirs aluminum polish does wonders. Pics don't do much justice.

Smittybilt 98495 XRC Synthetic Rope Winch - 9500 lb and LIGHTS!

Been in the market for a winch as soon as I picked up my relentless front bumper. My options were wide, but I had to stick with my budget, and went with the Smittybilt 98495 winch. I've heard great things about them, even though it's not a warn winch.

Throwing down and extra $100 some bucks, I mated the winch with a Factor 55 closed winch system, Flatlink Expert E. On top of that, I installed some lights while I was down there. It's finally coming together.

Winch installed.


Prepping the LED's.


YESSSS


Now too fix this issue..


Much better.

Signal Peak + Fordyce Lake

Met up with some norcal T4R guys and headed up the mountain bright and early to Signal Peak and Fordyce Lake. Tried a technical spot, so I could make use of that winch, but the 4R just wants to keep on going. Damn impressed with ATRAC.




The technical section:


Another poser shot.


Fordyce lake:

Hehe you just did one of those mass updates. Good stuff man. I plan on tackling the LBJs either next month or early next year too. I'm at 150k and I'm sure they're janky enough that I should service them sooner than later...

tv4184 said:

Hehe you just did one of those mass updates. Good stuff man. I plan on tackling the LBJs either next month or early next year too. I'm at 150k and I'm sure they're janky enough that I should service them sooner than later...

Click to expand...

Yea man. It sucks living in an apartment where you WILL get a notice/warning just for swapping headlight bulbs. My neighbor got that luckily... So I try to keep the wrenching down to only important things, like an alternator at the apartment... Then all other things, when I visit the parents. Anyways, I got all my tools over there haha

Have fun tackling the LBJ's. Even with a solid day of penetrating fluid, the thing would not budge. Getting a ton of leverage was the golden ticket though.

I'm right around 145k, and my LBJ's were worn. Good luck doing them. :nod:

With the winter/rainy season coming up soon, and the intake port/hole in the fender well being somewhat exposed... Looking for options in what I can do with my intake...

A snorkel has crossed my mind but:
-the LC80 snorkel sticks well above the roof line.. dunno if I can even park the truck at work anymore since its a parking garage..
- LC80 snorkel is my only option and the gap you're left with is kinda.... a big deal to me.
-Some trails are unmaintained, and a snorkel would stick out and more than likely get damaged...

Cowl Snorkel also crossed my mind but:
-You're making a significantly big hole on top of the firewall. I doubt it'll have any effect on structural integrity.. but it's also something to think about..
-Smog.. CA is quite strict, and even though its just piping pre-MAF senor, I'm worried i'd need to revert back to stock.

Anyone got any other ideas for intake with an aftermarket bumper?

Well the 4runner's gone under some serious wrenching after going full retard... That's why this thread hasn't been bumped in awhile...

Another T4r member and I went up to Fordyce Jeep Trail... On accident. Our original intentions were to go to Eagle Lakes, and scout around... Since we got to Eagle Lakes real quick, we saw another route, which lead to Meadow Lake(?). Thinking it was another innocent trail, we decided to keep going forth. That was until we were about half way into the trail, some Jeepers caught up to us and told us that we were on Fordyce. They stated that we could make it to the exit point after winch hill 1, so we decided to proceed forward. Big f*cking mistake. Some of the obstacles were mediocre at best during the beginning, but as daylight slowly wore off, and we were getting closer to the exit point, the obstacles really started getting progressively worse. Some time right before the sunset, some Jeepers ran into us, and were surprised to see that we even made it that far, and were willing to help us get out. The 4runner was able to hold its own... to some extent... Quite a lot of winching and tugging required... Wish I had 35's... 33's were barely cutting it, leading to heavy damage which lead to the 4runner being down for awhile. We got on the trail at 9am, and got off at 1am... Being ill prepared, with no extra food/water and lack of knowing where to go, I was scared and worried as soon as the sunset... I can't thank those Jeepers enough. Without them, who knows what would have happened...

That trip definitely pushed my boundaries with fear. That said, I am happy to have gotten off the trail and be able to continue wheeling, and say that I have gone through Fordyce.

Pics of Fordyce, then damage, then repairs to come...

Damage from Fordyce...

Here are just some pics of some of the damage from Fordyce... Not for the light-hearted. :rofl:

Rear quarter panel ripped off like nothing.

Rear bumper ripped off... I really need to look into a rear bumper solution..

Sliders used well.

Exhaust crosspipe pushed back.

Skids...







The cheap asian in me tried hammering out the gas skid, since I lost about 80miles of range... But the thing was FUBAR'd... Ordered up a RCI skid plate that night..

Repair and Upgrades due to Fordyce

RCI Skid Front and Gas Skid tank Skid plate... Probably snag a few later...

Moog Inner and outer Steering Tie rod + CV axle boots...




Wheel Bearing + Knuckle Seal



JBA UCA's!

`

Cowl Intake Mod

After going over multiple threads about intakes, either cowl and snorkel, I opted to go with the cowl route.

Reasons being...
1)It doesn't stand out like a sore thumb in the city
2)Won't get torn off/damaged by hanging trees
3)Lack of support for the 4th gens. Yes, there is the LC80, but I didn't like the fact that there was a gap. Yes you can use a heat gun, but it wouldn't be perfect...
4)I won't ever go into a river crossing that deep and it's RARE... The most I'll ever do is over my tires. The cowl intake provided more than enough head room for that.

I picked up a $7 3" ID PVC tube from Home depot, which had an OD of 3.5". Then was a 90 degree Silicone Hose Elbow off ebay for $10. Had to pick up a hole saw for $25. All in all, spent under $50. Well worth it IMO.

Prior to cutting the tube to length...

Cut to length, in preparation for cutting the hole.



At WOT, it has a deeper growl. While crusing at very low rpms and giving it a little bit of gas, it has a nice deep rumble. Well worth the mod IMO. Performance wise, I doubt anything has changed other than the noise.

Well Matt, clicked on your build here to see what mods you did, first page, then went to the last page, WALA, Fordyce, LOL.

Never seen them pictures, heard of the damage. Then all these repairs, sorry for laughing, but laughing as I'm typing this.

having fun said:

Well Matt, clicked on your build here to see what mods you did, first page, then went to the last page, WALA, Fordyce, LOL.

Never seen them pictures, heard of the damage. Then all these repairs, sorry for laughing, but laughing as I'm typing this.

Click to expand...

HAHAH honestly, I dont care. It's definitely something to laugh about for how stupid I was for even attempting that. :rofl: