Thank you for those numbers.

I'm stationed in Camp Lejeune, come home to Conover(Hickory) on the weekends. You let me know when you want to come down toward the beach, and i'll see what I can work out....

I need to get out to NC and see what it is that keeps making people into geniuses...

My biggest accomplishment was my 4WD conversion and you just barely mentioned yours, haha. Yes, pics please.

How do you get to Conover? Do go through Charlotte or Raleigh?

BTW- The beginning of the post said that you were in Afghanistan. Thank you for your service for our country and very grateful for the Sacrifices that you have endured with your family. If there is anything that I can do to help you, (4runner or Firearms) please let me know and I will do what I can.


I want to fab up some bumpers too. May be need to get together to have a bumper fabbing party.

Thank you Sing. It's a bit of a tough ride at times, but it's worth it. Wouldn't trade any of it for anything.

Gettin home, I hit 40. 24 to 40 all the way to Cononver. I wish there were an easier way. You know, Raleigh traffic sucks, especially right there at 269? Where it goes from the 3 lanes to the 2. I hate that place....

I think what I'm going to do with the bumpers is get a bunch of 3/16" foam board, and fab up the bumper with that so I can get all the angles and stuff, then transfer those to a sheet of 3/16" steel. I unfortunately don't have anything besides a grinder to cut the steel with, but, it should work out pretty well. Might just do it at the shop on base.


You asked for it man......

Here's the donor. '99 Limited, 4WD. Some college kid had it, wrecked it, and got rid of it. If he only knew what he had in his hands........ Only thing that was gone out of it was the ass end. That made for an interesting drive to the house......


By doc11 at 2012-07-04


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I dont have many pictures from doing mine, but here't what I have.

Hubs and Diff out:


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Old tranny out:


By doc11 at 2012-07-04

New shifter in..


By doc11 at 2012-07-04

It was raining....


By doc11 at 2012-07-04

Harness going in...


By doc11 at 2012-07-04

I had to fix this. Ended up getting cut, so I had to splice all the wires together.....


By doc11 at 2012-07-04



That's all I really have for the swap. It was a bit of a PITA doing it alone in Janurary, but oh well. It was worth it.....

It's the water

My buddy has a 85 toyota truck with 63 rear leafs. They flex real well but he sometimes has issues because they dont flex enough. He is wanting to swap to coils or better leafs since I always out wheel him with my coils.

How many springs is he running? Since it's a pick-up, he should be able to get away with running 2-or-3. The less springs he has, the better it'll flex. If he's running the overload, take that off for starters. I'm running three in mine right now, and the ass end sits about 2" higher than the front. I'm sitting at a little less than 41" in the back, and 39" in the front. That's from the ground to the middle of the fender well...

Nice work! Good to see another NC guy around! That bumper build party sounds like a great idea, I would like to be involved in building mine and learn what goes into it. My stock bumper is beat to junk!

Thats so awkward looking from the back and seeing no coils! haha sweet build.

Do you still have the parts 4runner?

^^ No. I did all this work at a friend of mines house, and needed to get it out of there. I've got a couple panels, the seats, the ADD stuff.

A few flex pics for you guys.....


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Here's some carnage pics for you guys.

For those of you that missed my post about driveshaft lengths, what happened was a redneck moment. My brother, an engineer who graduated from the Naval Academy had a "Hey y'all, watch this" moment. He took the slip yoke off the shaft, and lengthened it by cutting the splines off of one of his old drive shafts, as well as some of the tube. He then welded it to an old yoke he had, and put it back on the drive shaft. The U-Joint was fine, not siezed or anything. The Pinion angle is 1.5* less than the driveshaft, which is well within the .5-3* limit. I honestly think this might have worked if we could've gotten the shaft balanced. But, it was Sunday, and there ain't shat open here in the bible belt on Sundays.

Here is the slip yoke and the pinion flange from the 3rd. Snapped clean off.You can see where we tried to lengthen the slip.


By doc11 at 2012-07-11

My mother FLAT TOWING me home with her KIA OPTIMA!!!


By doc11 at 2012-07-11

My muffler.


By doc11 at 2012-07-11

And my gas tank...


By doc11 at 2012-07-11


I dont have any pics of the 3rd, but when I dropped it off at ECGS, they pressure tested the ARB, and it worked. The new gears and install are going to run me $785. Like I said before, good thing my brother volenteered to pay for half of it.

I'm hoping I can get away with a the muffler for a little while while I save up to get a new one.... Unless someone has something from the Cat back that the're willing to get rid of for cheap.....

I have a cat back you can have. You can pick it up when ever.

I even have a gas tank and gas tank straps if you need it.