[MatthewK]

Hey man, Just getting into moding my 4runner, i love your front bumper. i see its an Addicted, but I was curious if you have the exact model?

Thank you!

[derpiful]

Originally Posted by MatthewK

Hey man, Just getting into moding my 4runner, i love your front bumper. i see its an Addicted, but I was curious if you have the exact model?

Thank you!

Thanks! It's the plate bumper. Flare width, stinger, and LED turn signals. Hope this helps!

[derpiful]

Recently installed DuroBumps front and rear, and I was very surprised at how well they work. I didn't expect to feel such a change, but everything is much smoother now.





After a few long weeks of waiting, the new diffs showed up from ECGS!



I didn't take many photos during the install, as I was just trying to hurry and get through it. Turns out that didn't quite work as intended...

The old rear diff wasn't the easiest to get out- the old FIPG was holding on like glue. Once it was out the new one went in pretty easily.

The front diff wasn't too bad, just tedious. After getting the ADD tube and mounts swapped over I got the diff back in, everything else back on, and tried 4WD. The front driveshaft started spinning without any power to the wheels (center diff unlocked), which is when I realized what had happened. The stub shaft from the diff to the ADD tube wasn't swapped over, and with the open front diff all of the power was simply spinning the passenger side output.



The diff came out again, the stub shaft installed, and back in it went. The second time was much smoother and quicker.


The old ones:


The difference in the power is CRAZY! From 4.10s to 5.29s was a huge step up and it's very noticeable. Around town the power feels great, and on the highway it still feels fine. At about 65mph it sits at about 2400RPM.

[4-Ripcord]

whoops lol.

I really wanna drive your truck and see how the 5.29s feel in the 3rd gens

[theesotericone]

Originally Posted by 4-Ripcord

whoops lol.

I really wanna drive your truck and see how the 5.29s feel in the 3rd gens

My rig was the most fun to drive with 5.29's and 295/70/17s. It was damn near like it had a super charger. Since moving up to Pitbull Rocker's 35x12.50 it's still fun but not holy crap this is rad fun. lol

[Black798]

Originally Posted by theesotericone

My rig was the most fun to drive with 5.29's and 295/70/17s. It was damn near like it had a super charger. Since moving up to Pitbull Rocker's 35x12.50 it's still fun but not holy crap this is rad fun. lol

I had the same impression when I had 33s and 5.29s. If I tried I was able to smoke the tires at a stop light pretty easily haha. Only downside was spinning 3k at 75. But 5.29s and a supercharger with 35s is straight sex haha. Cruises so nice at 80 and when you put your foot down it really has some balls now. Id venture to say that even weighing 5k lbs with the bigger tires my truck as it sits is faster than a stock NA 4runner.

Hayden you'll really love those gears when you get them in the rocks, made such a huge difference for me being able to roll through and over things nice and gentle rather than romping on it with stock gears.

[jeredcollins]

Originally Posted by theesotericone

My rig was the most fun to drive with 5.29's and 295/70/17s. It was damn near like it had a super charger. Since moving up to Pitbull Rocker's 35x12.50 it's still fun but not holy crap this is rad fun. lol

What kind of RPMs were you pulling at highways speed (70MPH)?

[theesotericone]

Originally Posted by jeredcollins

What kind of RPMs were you pulling at highways speed (70MPH)?

At 75 MPH in OD I was at just under 3000 RPM's. If my rig dropped into 3rd that would bring me up to almost 4000 RPM's. These motors don't mind high revs so for me it was no big deal. My MPG's actually went up slightly with the regear because I could actually hold OD 95% of the time.

[Bandit Runner]

Originally Posted by derpiful

The front diff wasn't too bad, just tedious. After getting the ADD tube and mounts swapped over I got the diff back in, everything else back on, and tried 4WD. The front driveshaft started spinning without any power to the wheels (center diff unlocked), which is when I realized what had happened. The stub shaft from the diff to the ADD tube wasn't swapped over, and with the open front diff all of the power was simply spinning the passenger side output.

The diff came out again, the stub shaft installed, and back in it went. The second time was much smoother and quicker.

Don't feel bad. You are not the only one to do this. My buddy and I did the same thing when I regeared to 5.29's. Only I had already shipped my original front diff back to ECGS for the core refund. So I had to call them and ask them to remove the stub shaft and send it to me. haha

Also, FWIW, you don't have to remove the front diff to install the stub shaft. We were able to install it with the diff still in the truck.

Enjoy your new gears. I love mine.

[derpiful]

Originally Posted by 4-Ripcord

whoops lol.

I really wanna drive your truck and see how the 5.29s feel in the 3rd gens

We can switch one day, I wouldn't mind driving a taco haha

Originally Posted by theesotericone

My rig was the most fun to drive with 5.29's and 295/70/17s. It was damn near like it had a super charger. Since moving up to Pitbull Rocker's 35x12.50 it's still fun but not holy crap this is rad fun. lol

I'm enjoying it so far!

Originally Posted by Black798

I had the same impression when I had 33s and 5.29s. If I tried I was able to smoke the tires at a stop light pretty easily haha. Only downside was spinning 3k at 75. But 5.29s and a supercharger with 35s is straight sex haha. Cruises so nice at 80 and when you put your foot down it really has some balls now. Id venture to say that even weighing 5k lbs with the bigger tires my truck as it sits is faster than a stock NA 4runner.

Hayden you'll really love those gears when you get them in the rocks, made such a huge difference for me being able to roll through and over things nice and gentle rather than romping on it with stock gears.

Thanks Phoenix! I haven't had a chance to wheel them yet, but I'm excited to try it. I've gotten pretty good at the skinny pedal though..

Originally Posted by jeredcollins

What kind of RPMs were you pulling at highways speed (70MPH)?

So far it's been between 2500-3000. All of my highway driving on these gears so far has been hilly, so tough to say exactly.

Originally Posted by Bandit Runner

Don't feel bad. You are not the only one to do this. My buddy and I did the same thing when I regeared to 5.29's. Only I had already shipped my original front diff back to ECGS for the core refund. So I had to call them and ask them to remove the stub shaft and send it to me. haha

Also, FWIW, you don't have to remove the front diff to install the stub shaft. We were able to install it with the diff still in the truck.

Enjoy your new gears. I love mine.

That's brutal.. makes me feel better about my mistake haha. Although I hope to never have to mess with the front diff again, good to know it doesn't have to come out. I will definitely enjoy it!

[derpiful]

This year's BroCo trip was a good one! Spent 8 days cruising around Colorado and briefly Utah with @Flemster , @Rocky Runner , and @4-Ripcord Much less driving than last year's Canada trip, but still a great time. Some of the best camp sites we've had in my opinion!


We started in Ouray for FJ Summit and ran the Alpine Loop- Corkscrew, California, Cinnamon, Engineer, and Mineral Creek. There was still an incredible amount of snow (many trails still closed) and tons of avalanche debris.











The next day we ran Ophir pass into Telluride to hang out in town a bit, then ran it back to Ouray to catch the end of the vendor show.





Sunday morning was early, but we started to head back towards Montrose to begin the RimRocker trail. This is one of those bucket list trails: 163 miles of mostly dirt from Montrose to Moab.

We took our time and went pretty slowly, spending 2 days on the trail.





Once we ended up in Moab, @4-Ripcord and I ran Top of the World at sunset, which was perfect!







Moab was too hot for us, so we headed to Grand Mesa to cool off. I hadn't been to this part of the state before, but it was amazing! Lots of rain up there, which kept temperatures in the 60s and 70s vs the 100s the day before in Moab. The mosquitoes were brutal but that's part of it.



We then headed over Independence Pass and into Marble, where we headed up to the Crystal Mill and ate some amazing BBQ.



The next morning we took Weston pass back towards Denver, where we ran into this guy and got to do a little bit of recovery work:



After that we parted ways and drove home! Until next time..

[Chuckles89]

Beautiful pictures!

[npschuma]

Awesome build thank you for sharing the progress - giving me a lot of inspiration!

[derpiful]

Originally Posted by Chuckles89

Beautiful pictures!

Thanks Charlie!!

Originally Posted by npschuma

Awesome build thank you for sharing the progress - giving me a lot of inspiration!

Thank you! It's been a long work in progress but I'm happy with where it is now!

[derpiful]

For some time now I've been misfiring at startup for 10-15 seconds after sitting overnight, but it quickly goes away and drives just fine after that. It also seemed to faintly smell like oil, pointing me to the valve stem seals. I ordered all of the parts and waited for a good time to do this project, since it's pretty involved (basically a timing belt job plus some).

I got in there and started, and it was going pretty well until one of the valve guides broke. This meant pulling the head to get it fixed, so I started on that. After fighting the exhaust manifold for a while, I got the head off.



Once it was off I made quite a few crazy discoveries.. cylinder 3 was filled with coolant! The whole cylinder was basically entirely full. Not surprisingly, it looked as if the head gasket itself was leaking.



Upon closer checking... a crack on the head!! As it seems to be most common for this engine, there was a tiny crack between the intake and exhaust ports on cylinder 3.



On top of that, I found a sticking exhaust valve. I wouldn't be surprised if there's one or more problems with the driver's side head but I haven't taken it off to find out.

At this point, I am going to simply replace the engine with a used 5VZ. I think I've found one in good shape (with <170k on it) that I will go check out later this week. My plan is to do the timing belt/WP, all the seals, valve covers, and plugs/wires while it's out and easy to do. We'll see what I'm able to find!

I had approximately 321k on this engine.