[GetOut]

2000 Toyota 4Runner - Limited w/Factory e-Locker

Suspension:
Front:
SS Eco-Coilover (Tundra Progressive Bilstein)
Toytec Top ½” Plate spacer
Toytec 1” front Differential drop
Rear:
Land Cruiser- 7.75 Wrap Coils & Bilstein 5125

Wheels & Tires/ Braking:
FJ Cruiser TRD (Anthrcite)
285/75/16 Dck Cepek FC-II
Tundra 199mm Disc Brake Conversion

Engine & Drivetrain Upgrades:
K&N High flow air filter
Lots of Maintenance

Stereo/ CB/Electronics:
Kenwood Excelon DNX-8120 w/Garmin Navigation
Boston Acoustics SE60 Components front & rear
Cobra 75 WX ST Handheld CB
Custom In-Dash External Speaker
4’ Firestik Firefly CB antenna
Alarm – Undisclosed (pretty much everything under the sun)

Lighting:
Sylvania Silverstar Ultra headlight bulbs
LED Dome lights - Passenger & Cargo area
LED Dash Lights (white)
LED Markers (amber)
Disabled DRLs
In progress

Exterior Upgrades:
ARB Front Bumper
4x Innovations DOM Slider w/ Kickout
20% Color-Match Tint
EGR Window visors (in-channel)
Smoked 3rd brake light
Tail Light Guards (removed)
Custom Grill
Replaced factory rack
w/Thule steel rack and
Yakima LoadWarrior Basket w/extension
TRD Decal – custom color

Recovery
Hi-Lift Jack HL485 48"
Wab-Fab Slider Adapter
Front 3/4" D-Ring Shackles
Smittybilt Rear 3/4" D-Ring Shackle Hitch Receiver
Smittybilt CC330 3" x 30' Recovery Strap - 30,000lb
Q Industries MV50 SuperFlow Compressor

[GetOut]

I decided it was time for a 'build' thread. I've seen a lot of yours and was beginning to feel left out



I have always have a limited budget, and I'm not 'good with my hands' by any stretch of the imagination... but I love outfitting my rig for those days off!

I bought my 2000 Limited in 2005 I believe. The sticker price was $15,998 and it had 98,000 original miles. I walked out the door with a price that I was more than happy with - $12,000. Not bad at the time, and I had my eye on factory black

I went and ordered EGR window visors before I even got her home. In Washington state it's the best mod you can have on your rig.
This is the first pic I can find after I got the visors in!

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This rig was originally from Canada. It did not come with the rear "visor" behind the third brake light. I like it. It also did not have a hitch.
I thought the spare always looked a bit like a saggy diaper. It wasn't long before I found a factory hitch on CL for $40.

However, before that I had a misfortunate event where my truck was 'keyed' by what I believe was high school kids. We're talking the hood and most of the passenger side. It was bad. I had then also clean up some of the champagne trim that was flaking, fix a dent in the side of the front bumper from an apartment carport, and .....drum roll.... color match my rear license plate trim.


I have since added a Trimax T-3BLACK Premium 5/8" Key Receiver Lock.

Amazon.com: Trimax T-3BLACK Premium 5/8" Key Receiver Lock Rugged BLACK epoxy powder coat: Automotive

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When I decided to do a lift, I knew 3" just wasn't going to be enough lift for me. I also knew that this being my daily driver... I wanted a bit of give from rigid springs.
Lifting my truck was a stretch for my budget. But I like to take it to the backcountry... particularly the snow.

I didn't lift it for quite sometime, and my stock runner did better in the snow that A LOT of other stock rigs. I definitely wanted some more clearance though.
I decided on the LC Coil/Tundra lift.
I scored some 7.75 / 7.5 LC coils here on the forums - Yahoo!


It is basically a model of the SS 1.2, but since I was on a budget, I pieced my lift together using the Sonoran Steel Eco-coilovers and the rear from Toytec. All Bilstein shocks.
Econo-Adjustable Front Coil-Over 4Runner (1996 to 2002) [] : Sonoran Steel, Sonoran Steel Custom Metal Fabrication L.L.C. Custom Toyota Truck Parts
Rear Bilstein Shocks for 96-02 4RUN - Toytec Lifts: Toyota Lift Kits: FJ Cruiser Lift Kits, Tacoma Lift Kits, Tundra Lift Kits, 4 Runner Lift Kits, Sequoia Lift Kits, Toyota Truck Lift Kits

Props to all these guys for dialing in T4R-specific parts. I also got top out spacers from Toytec to get as much lift in the front and eliminate rake.
Differential drop to dial it in.


Put it on the lift and went to work!


The final result landed right where I wanted it. Got almost exactly 4" of lift.

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I have to give a big thank you to my nephews who have the lift and helped me with my mechanical challenges! They like to build cars with 'switches'. Bless their hearts....

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I decided to blackout my third brake light for some vanity.

First, got it out and taped'er up


Then I prepped it with some light sanding and cleaned it up.

Admittedly, with a few years on it, it didn't clean up as good as some I've seen, but not bad.

I used a brand I can't pronounce that was recommended by a friend over the typical ones you've heard of...


ready to roll...


Final result

[GetOut]

October 2010 - came straight down on a big rock. Ouch!




Time for a bumper! I found an ARB Tacoma bumper on CL. I will say also, that while finding things on CL here in WA is not impossible, is not as easy as some of the lists I have looked at elsewhere, like CA.
Really nice guy who had an LC. The bumper was going to go on his wife's T4R. He had purchased ALL NEW hardware from ARB. He was a great guy, invited me over to expeditionportal and invited me to head out on the trail.

November 2010:



At the time, I also had a OEM (vanity) skid plate from a Tacoma that I hadn't put on yet. I ended up throwing it on CL to another owner who had a nice black '98. He also bought my grill. I had picked up another - painted it black and put a grill in it - courtesy of Burtman.
Burtman Industries

I will say ahead of time, that I purposely chose the 99-00 grill over the 01-02 grill. I think the 99-00 grill looks more like a "Toyota" grill - in line with the rest of Toyota grills. I've never really been a fan of a 01-02 grill.



At the same time, I got a pin strip remover and went to work.
Something like this:
Amazon.com: Pinstripe Eraser Pad (Qty: 1): Automotive

When the front fender was painted from the key-job, they added new pin striping that was 'newer' and didn't match. I never really cared for the pin striping to begin with. The older pin striping didn't come off as easy as the new stuff, and I pulled off a little clear coat in one place. It still turned out pretty good.

At the same time I put the bumper on, it was time to remove the side steps!
I had the front windows tinted at 20% to color-match for a bit of privacy.

[GetOut]

I got a lot of pics along the way that I no longer have. My iPhone 3GS broke and I hadn't synced the pics in a long time.... so a little is missed.
You'll notice I now have a sexy rack!

I wanted stronger crossbars than stock. I went with Thule bars and in-track feet. The only thing that was a disappointment here is that it's slightly taller than stock.

The basket is a Yakima Load Warrior with the extension. I have most of the attachments available.
The reason for my rack choice was simple - best quality at the best price.
The best price is because I work for an outdoor retailer, and got these straight from Yakima and Thule below wholesale. I couldn't help myself.
Also, I wanted a rack that I can easily (and cheaply) find attachments for. I want to be able to carry any kind of toy from a bike to a kayak to firewood to jerry cans and a spare. This was an easy decision.
I only wish it was slightly more low profile. That extra couple inches raises the center of gravity (slightly) on this rig.



As sits without the bike, it just barely slides under a 7' clearance. Perfect for most parking garages around here. However - at 6'10" - 6'11", sometimes I'll get a slight scrape if the ramp is tilted just right (or wrong).

When I installed my ARB bumper, I added clear turn signals the same day.
I learned on Yotatech that the turn signal replacements are the same as those found in the European VW Golf MK2. I got them on urotuning.com as recommended on that thread.
http://www.urotuning.com/shop/front-...ar-p-1303.html

[GetOut]

I installed the ARB bumper in February 2011, and installed the head unit the next month.
I got a used DNX-8120. I don't normally recommend buying electronics on CL, but I do my homework and am careful. The previous owner worked at a stereo shop. It was professionally installed/uninstalled, and came with a brand new ipod cable. Again, I've had to build on a budget.
I targeted a Kenwood unit for the Garmin navigation.

[SCRunner12]

Wow nice build. I like the FJ's with the black.

GetOut, let me know if you want me to delete my post so yours are all together.

[GetOut]

CB:

At the same time I did the stereo, I began my CB install. I started with a custom idea that I had for quite sometime, and had not seen done before.

Q: 3rd Gen Clock fix?

A: External CB speaker!

My head unit had a clock, so I decided this was the choice for me.

I sourced one of the smallest external CB speakers, that had excellent reviews - CB980.
CB980 Most Popular Small Speaker - WalcottCB.com

This is what it looks like:


I took the non-working 3rd gen clock out. Here's how it measures up:


I knew that it would have all the parts I need:


Clipped the screen to size:




I originally used liquid nails, but in the end, landed on a 2-part epoxy.


Not sure why it's spinning my images around, but I'll continue in another post.

[GetOut]

This shows the speaker staged for epoxy:


and the final product:


I can't figure out why it's spinning my images.. If anyone knows let me know and I'll edit. I've already tried resizing. Thanks!

[GetOut]

Originally Posted by SCRunner12

Wow nice build. I like the FJ's with the black.

Thank you much! I even have a 5th wheel.. we'll see if I ever get a rear tire carrier!

No need for my posts to be together.. thanks though

[JWaldz]

Great build.. A lot of time spent here. I really like the color scheme, too

Originally Posted by GetOut

we'll see if I ever get a rear tire carrier!

maybe your rear bumper can "fall on a rock" next

[GetOut]

I decided on a handheld CB. I can remove it from the truck when I'm not using it.
I bought it at the 4x4 swap with the 18' antenna cable
COBRA 75 WX ST

It installed right at the base of the center console below the head unit. This allowed the connector to come out just to the left of my shifters.



Needed to add some wire to reach the battery. This allowed me to use better wire anyway.

The 18' Firestik antenna cable ran perfectly to the rear driver side:
FireStik K-8 18 foot single antenna coax cable

Thanks to Driffter33 who I got the antenna mount from! I like the mount. It uses factory holes, but I ended up adding a couple extra screws to the tail light.


CB ant. mount



I got a red 4' Firestik it matches my other recovery gear...
Firestik ® II FS Series 4ft Tunable Tip CB Antenna 900 Watts Red FS-4RD

I added a spring and a disconnect, that I got at the swap also:
SPRING SHOCK SS HD UP TO 5': Car Electronics
FireStik K-1A Push-n-Twist quick disconnect