Nickname's (grey_pilgrim_t4r) Build Thread

I bought my 06 Limited Galactic Grey 4Runner in April of 2018 with 145k miles. I'm a big Lord of the Rings fan so Gandalf seemed like a good name given the color and planned adventures. I quickly got into offroading and the subsequent modifications followed. I didn't take a lot of pictures or keep track of my modifications well in the beginning, but I will add in pictures and what I remember starting from the beginning. I'll try to be better about pictures in the future. My main goal with this build is to have a offroad capable rig with systems that are multifunctional and efficient. Hopefully it looks good in the end too.

Yess! Let's see those engine bay mounting plates!

The Beginning

When I originally bought by 4Runner back in April ’18, I bought it because I wanted something reliable that could handle some rugged terrain and take me to some trailheads. I have a couple buddies who both went offroading and said that I should get into it, but that wasn’t a priority when I got the 4Runner. I also want to say that I had NEVER worked on a car prior to owning this truck. I never even changed the oil myself in another vehicle.
I had been looking at trucks for a couple months before I found Gandalf. I had pretty much settled in on a 4Runner or an older style Pathfinder (deep down I really wanted a 4Runner). I looked at a bunch of different 4th gens. I missed out on some deals and I passed up on others. In the end, I found Gandalf at a Chevy dealership of all places. It was not my intention at all the buy from a dealership, but after looking at Gandalf and taking him for a test drive I knew it was the one. Reasons I went with Gandalf:


1. 06 4Runner (V6) I knew the 03-05 had some issues with head gaskets and it seemed like the problem had been resolved by the 06+ years. I also wanted a V6 as this would be my daily driver and I wanted better gas mileage. In hindsight I wish I bought a V8. Way more fun.
2. No rust on the body or frame.
3. Limited Edition (Heated seats! And a sunroof!)
4. Low miles (141k when purchased) This was a little higher than I wanted, but still under my limit of 150k.
5. Brand new Michelin Defender Tires. This was essentially $800 in tires and was a nice bonus.
6. Leather interior was a nice bonus, but not at all an essential.
7. Paint. I liked the color and overall the paint was in really good condition. No fading of the clear coat and only minor dings. (That would change quickly as I got into offroading).

The first thing I did after purchase was take the truck to Toy Doc down in Littleton. I’d heard good things from a friend and I got a full synthetic oil change and 120pt inspection. I figured I’d want to know if I missed anything wrong with my new purchase. Thankfully, everything came back clean except for a minor leak in one of my front struts. Remember, I knew nothing about cars except for what I had researched to buy my 4Runner. To me, that sounded like a relatively big deal. I asked how much to fix, and they quoted me several hundred dollars for new parts and labor. I’d just spent most of my money so that was not an option. I called up my buddy and he convinced me it would be an easy replacement to do on my own. Little did I know, this would be the start of my build…

Suspension

After news of my leaking front strut I looked up options for replacement. I quickly decided that if it needed to be replaced, then it was worth looking into upgrading at the same time. I saw people mention 5100s everywhere on the forums and they seemed like a good budget option. I liked that I could level out my 4Runner in the process as well. I got the 5100s in the front only and road those for a while. I liked them a lot, but I started trophy riding whenever I put something in the back. I got the 5100s for the rear and found a pair of FJ rear springs for $20 on craigslist. I threw those bad boys on and rode that setup for over a year. I loved it. Handled well on the road and had good articulation offroad. I found a set of 1” rear spacers as well and threw those in the back to give the truck a little extra height for towing or loaded down camping trips. This gave me a good look and didn’t have me trophy riding everytime I went camping.
At some point during all of this, I saw a cheap group buy for some SPC UCAs on the forum and pulled the trigger on those. I was thinking about going to 33s at this point and new the adjustability would useful down the road. Can I just say that these are one of my favorite upgrades to Gandalf. Not only are they super strong, but the ball joints are serviceable and replaceable. The X-Trans bushings noticeably smooth out the ride. Love these things and they were a super easy install. A couple months ago, I got a set of energy suspension bushings for the front sway bar. Haven’t noticed a huge difference, but the truck seems a little quieter so I guess they were worth it. I didn’t get any for the rear since I did a rear sway bar “delete.” More on that under Locker and regearing.

I recently picked up a set of Toytec Superflex 2" lift springs for the rear. These things are awesome. Great articulation and smooth ride. Plus I don't have to run the spacer anymore. If I ever do a drawer setup or steel rear bumper I'll probably get the heavy duty (HD) version of these springs. Overall, I'm very impressed with them and would highly recommend. I also get my alignments done at Toytec since they know how to adjust the SPC UCAs. They are great people down there with some cool rigs. Always fun to go down there and chat with them.

Rear Locker and Regear

This is going under one section since I did it all at the same time. I don’t remember when I started thinking about getting a rear locker. There were a couple water crossing exits and trails that I though it would have been helpful on, but the “bump it” strategy had been working out for me so far. One day I was perusing craigslist looking at 4Runners and parts when I saw quite an interesting listing. A guy had taken the rear locking 3rd member from an 07 Tacoma and put it into the rear axle housing of an FJ. In the process he had regeared to 4.10s as well. He was listing this along with the front differential (also regeared to 4.10s) for $900. Essentially this was a bolt-on rear locker and regear for my truck. Too good of a deal not to pass up. I spoke with him on the phone and he was willing to let it go for $800 if I picked it up that day and paid in cash. I started driving.
These sat around in my buddy’s garage for a few weeks until we both had a Saturday free to install. We pulled the 3rd member, inspected the gears and resealed everything. Upon removal of my old rear axle I found out that my rear sway bar was snapped in half. These things are pretty dinky and I have no clue how long I drove without it, so I figured I might as well get rid of it. Haven’t felt I needed it since. We got the rear axle swapped out that day, but didn’t have time to do the front differential too, so I drove around in 2wd for a couple days with my front diff at 3.73 and my rear diff at 4.10. Not ideal, but hey, it works.
I tackled the front differential by myself the night before leaving to drive to Salt Lake City to visit my sister. Not a great choice. I got it done, but I was up until 2am getting everything back together. This can definitely be done by yourself, but muscling a differential into position by yourself is, well… not ideal. Got everything finished and figured that there was no better way to test it than to drive a few hundred miles through the desert. Thankfully everything worked out fine and there were no issues. I am now running 33’s instead of the stock 31.5’s (I don’t remember the exact factory size) and these are great with the 4.10s.

Update: I've run into some issues with the locker. My theory is that when we took apart the 3rd member and removed the actuator when I first got it, I did not index the actuator gear correctly. I also originally installed the locker in the unlocked position. The locker worked fine when no weight was on the vehicle, but as soon as the locker was engaged under weight, it would not longer work. I then pulled the locker actuator and installed it in the locked position based off some information I received from JWaldz. This worked better, but when the locker was "stressed" it would not unlock again. What I mean by this, is that I can drive with it and unlock and lock the differential, but when I lock the differential and loose traction on one of the rear tires (the situation for which the locker is designed), I cannot unlock the locker afterwards. Since then, I've read that I need to install the locker in the locked position, but with the gear on the actuator indexed correctly. I did this using a couple pieces of wire and 2 AA batteries to turn the actuator when it was out of the vehicle. I have yet to test this, but I hope this solves the problem. In troubleshooting all of this, I took apart the actuator motor and regreased the gears and clock spring inside. Hopefully I didn't screw anything up when I did that...

Update 2: Used the locker the other day to do a fun obstacle off of a trail I was driving. The locker locked right in and unlocked with no fuss. Looks like the AA battery alignment did the trick!

Fitting 33's

After almost two years of a good amount of offroading, my Michelins were getting pretty worn down. As with most of my mods/upgrades, I figured that if I needed to replace something it was worth it to consider upgrading at the same time. To that end, I started to look into fitting 33’s. Right off the bat I hit a snag. Since my truck is a limited, it came factory with 18in wheels. Not ideal for offroading, but I like the look and didn’t feel like buying new wheels and tires. This significantly narrowed down my options. I ended up getting Falken Wildpeak AT3W’s (265/70/R18 which works our to 32.6” I believe). In order to fit these larger tires, I did a body mount chop (BMC) from Total Chaos Fabrications. This has worked, but in hindsight, I would do the BMC from RSG Offroad. I think it gives more clearance and looks cleaner in the end. I also had to fold in the pinch weld at the rear of the wheel well, trim a ton of the front bumper and run 1.25” wheel spacers. I ended up notching the pinch weld, hammering it over, and then spraying with a ton of undercoating. This is a rubberized spray and it seems to go on thick and do a good job of sealing everything. I trimmed a lot of the front bumper, but I also used a heat gun and a wet towel to push in the inner fender liner a lot. With the -2° of castor that comes with the neutral configuration on the SPC UCA’s, this was just enough to fit the tires. Next time I go in for an alignment, I will push my tires out more and go to -4° of castor that the adjustable ball joint allows.

Onboard Air

This was one of my first mods and I can’t tell you how often I have used it since I put it in. I originally bought a viair compressor kit that came with a tank. I got the 450CC kit with the 100% duty cycle compressor. Although this compressor has lower cfm, I liked that I could run it as long as I wanted in case I needed to air up for friends as well. I mounted the compressor in the engine bay and mounted the tank in the front bumper using some big L brackets. I don’t usually leave the tank pressurized so I wasn’t too worried about it in case of a crash. I’ll have bigger worries if that happens...

This setup was great and worked well while I had the factory tire size. With 33’s, it was taking too long and was time for an upgrade. Amazon had a sale of a two pack of the same 450CC 100% duty cycle compressors. As fun as triple air compressors would be, I thought that would be a little overkill. Luckily, my friend agreed (he was running the same air setup as me at the time), so we split the two pack in order to each run dual air compressor setups. I made a new mounting plate and left my tank in the same spot. I turn on the compressors as I’m nearing the end of the trail to get the tank filled. With this setup, I can fill up all my tires from 18 to 38 psi in under 10min. Additionally, I only had to drill 3 holes total to mount the tank and compressors. The compressor plate uses all factor mounting locations except for 1 bolt and the air compressor hangs on L brackets mounted into a crossmember in front of the condenser. I remote mounted my air filters inside the cabin my the passenger footwell. I ran them through a grommet in the firewall. This will give the compressors much cleaner (and drier) air. With the filters in the cabin, I doubt I'll ever have to replace them.

At some point my relay/pressure switch that came with the kit gave out (I used the one that specifically said it wasn't waterproofed). Since I mounted this in my front bumper I imagine that water got into it and corroded some connection. I ordered the waterproofed pressure switch from viair and used a relay I had laying around to make my own relay/pressure switch. I used zip ties and part of a bike innertube to waterproof the relay. So far this has held up well and has had no issues.

I originally had a quick connect up front coming out of the tank and one in the rear of the vehicle under the bumper. Both of these (especially the front) got corroded and were a pain to connect to when I needed them. I finally removed the one in front and routed the one in the rear inside the trunk. I pulled a tie-down clip and didn't have to drill any holes. This is right by the rear window so I just roll it down whenever I'm ready to air up and I'm good to go.

Mounting Location:


First Mounting Plate for Single Vaiar Compressor:


Second Mounting Plate for Dual Viair Compressors:


Dual Compressors on New Mounting Plate:


Waterproof Pressure Switch and Relay:


Air Tank Mounted in Bumper:


Rear Quick-Connect for Air Hose

Relay/Fuse Panel

So far I've done all of my own electrical work on the rig (I carry a fire extinguisher in case my soldering isn't up to snuff). Having an air compressor, radio, locker, lights, etc. all of the positive battery terminal made for a messy engine bay with a rat's nest of wires. I needed to straighten things out so I bought a cooper bussman relay/fuse panel off amazon. You can buy these for cheaper and add in your own wires and relays. I'm lazy so I bought the preassembled one. It cam with about 3 ft of wire for each relay and fuse as well as 5 30amp relays with fuses and 5 15 amp constant hot fuses. This was perfect for what I had already installed and had planned for the future. I could run my lights off the relayed circuits and run my locker, CB radio, engine bay lights, and air compressors on the constant hot fuses. I also installed a ground bussbar and a 90amp circuit breaker on the custom mounting plate I made for the relay/fuse panel.

I ordered a single din switch panel from paranoid fabrications. They didn't have one for a 4th gen 4runner, but I figured that a single din switch plate was pretty standard. I had to drill a couple new holes in the switch plate, but I think it fit well. All my switches are from OTRATTW. They make some sweet switches and you can get them custom laser engraved as well as choose what color LED you want in the switch. These are pretty high quality and well worth it in my opinion. I pulled wires for all my future switches while I was installing it so as I add lights I just have to connect to the panel and put in a switch.

Fabricating the Mounting Plate:


Painted and Test Fit:


Relay/Fuse Panel Installed:


Paranoid Fab Switch Panel:

Lights

Ditch Lights

As those of you with 4th Gen 4Runners know, the stock lighting is... fine. Nothing great about it, but nothing horrible. I do a decent amount of driving in the mountains at night while camping or going up to the family cabin. The stock high beams put out light directly in front, but they don't give you much to the side of the road. That's fine, that's how they were designed, but having some more light to the side when driving at night would be great for spotting deer and/or campsites.

There are a lot of options for ditch lights brackets. I went with the CBI brackets because they mounted to the truck side of the hinge and not the hood side. This means that they do not move when the hood goes up. I don't know for sure that I will ever need the lights when the hood is up, but I am pretty certain I will never need them pointed up at the sky...

I saw a good deal on some Baja Designs Squadron Sports and decided to give them a try. I ordered the combo beam pattern to give me a little throw, while still filling in nicely with the headlights. These have been great so far. Great output, looks good, but they are pricey. Wired these to my switch panel on the dash.

Mounted Ditch Light Brackets:


Trimmed Plastic Piece:


Trimmed and Installed:


Mounted Ditch Lights:


Side/Work Lights:

My buddy had some 120deg work lights on the side of his truck from ExtremeLED. I really liked the wide beam pattern, especially for setting up camp at night or for doing any sort of work around the truck at night. I found some knockoff ones on amazon for a quarter of the price (I think AIAA makes them). I figured I had nothing to lose so I ordered a pair. These have been great and I honestly can't tell much of a difference between mine and the ExtremeLED ones. I mounded them to my rack with some hose clamps and ran the wires down the windshield trim. Wired these to my switch panel on the dash as well.

Side/Work Lights Mounted on Rack:


Side Profile:


Engine Bay Lights

Okay, these might be one of my favorite mods I've done on the truck. I found some super thin LED lights at Oreilly's that mounted with some 3M tape. The light output is great and they were only $20! I got a hood switch from a Nissan Frontier and wired these constant hot. Now, whenever I open the hood, I have plenty of light to see what I am doing. Since the amp draw is so low, I can run these for hours without the engine on. Its such a little thing, but it is so nice to have when you need it.

Mounted Lights:


Pressure Switch:

Performance Upgrades/Mods

IN PROGRESS

Battery

X2Power Dual Purpose/Deep Cycle Battery (Made by Northstar)
930 Cold cranking Amps
92 Amp Hour
27F (This is important or your + and - posts will be switched)
Length: 12.46 in
Width: 6.77 in
Height: 8.75 in

These are the batteries that police run in their cars and trucks. If they trust them, I trust them. They also come with a 5 year warranty. I was going to go with an Optima, but from what I've read, they switched their manufacturing and a lot of people have had issues with them.

Dual Purpose/Deep Cycle Battery:


5th Gen Brake Upgrade

Uneven Wear on the Old Brakes:


Hybrid Ceramic Pads and Zinc Coated Rotors:


New 5th Gen Brakes:


Extended Rear Diff Breather

Grabbed a couple adapters off amazon, a bunch of fuel hose, and ran the rear diff breather all the way up to the engine bay by the other breathers. I know a lot of people run it up by the gas cap, but I figured I would run it up by the other breathers in case I decided to combine them all at some point.

Extended Breather:

Interior Mods

Rago Fab Molle Panels

Initial Design:


Rago MSP in Bare Steel:


As-Installed:


Custom Storage Shelf/Attic

In Progress:

External Mods

Whitson Metalworks Roof Rack

RCI Skid Plates

RSG Angled Sliders

Great Packaging From RSG:


Bedlining the Sliders:


Mounting the Sliders:


Apex Overland Front Recovery Points

I'm not in love with the red powder coat, but these things are beefy. I can't tell you how many times I've recovered off of these things. They have at least four bolts per side and are close to half an inch of solid steel. At around $120 for a pair, these things are well worth their money. Recovery off the tie downs if you want (jk, don't do that). All I'll say is that these things won't be breaking in a hurry.

As Installed:

Nickname said:

One day I was perusing craigslist looking at 4Runners and parts when I saw quite an interesting listing...
...

Too good of a deal not to pass up.
...

These sat around in my buddy’s garage for a few weeks until we both had a Saturday free to install.

Click to expand...

Pretty sure "a few weeks" was like 4 months? At least it felt like it every time I tripped over it or had to move it around by myself. Hehe.

paulforeman02 said:

Pretty sure "a few weeks" was like 4 months? At least it felt like it every time I tripped over it or had to move it around by myself. Hehe.

Click to expand...

Ya... it probably was more than a few weeks. Since I wasn't the one tripping over it, it seemed a lot shorter! Haha

Nickname said:

This was one of my first mods and I can’t tell you how often I have used it since I put it in. I orginally bought a viair compressor kit that came with a tank. I got the 450CC kit with the 100% duty cycle compressor. Although this compressor has lower cfm, I liked that I could run it as long as I wanted in case I needed to air up friends as well. I mounted the compressor in the engine bay and mounted the tank in the front bumper using some big L brackets. I don’t usually leave the tank pressurized so I wasn’t too worried about it in case of a crash. I’ll have bigger worries if that happens.
This setup was great and worked well while I had the factory tire size. With 33’s, it was taking too long and was time for an upgrade. Amazon had a sale of a two pack of the same 450CC 100% duty cycle compressors. As fun as triple air compressors would be, I thought that would be a little overkill. Luckily, my friend agreed (he was running the same air setup as me at the time), so we split the two pack in order to each run dual air compressor setups. I made a new mounting plate and left my tank in the same spot. I turn on the compressors as I’m nearing the end of the trail to get the tank filled. With this setup, I can fill up all my tires from 18 to 38 psi in under 10min. Additionally, I only had to drill 3 holes total to mount the tank and compressors. The compressor plate uses all factor mounting locations except for 1 bolt and the air compressor hangs on L brackets mounted into a crossmember in front of the condenser.

Click to expand...

Curious to see how you mounted that tank.

Also this place look familiar? We were on Saints John trail just a few months ago

Berty_K said:

Curious to see how you mounted that tank.

Also this place look familiar? We were on Saints John trail just a few months ago

Click to expand...

Definitely! As far as I know, no one has mounted a tank up in the bumper. I'm actually in Trinidad and Tobago right now for work. Once I get back I'll do a full write up on it. I've been pretty happy with it so far.

And good eye! I ran Middle Fork of Swan River and came down Saints John. This is on the way down.

Berty_K said:

Curious to see how you mounted that tank.

Also this place look familiar? We were on Saints John trail just a few months ago

Click to expand...

Hey, I finally got around to uploading some more pictures including the tank in the bumper. It is essentially hanging "upside down" in the bumper on two big L brackets. Let me know if you have questions.

Adding "update build thread" to our list of things to do on your 4runner.

paulforeman02 said:

Adding "update build thread" to our list of things to do on your 4runner.

Click to expand...

Ya, I'll get around to it at some point...