We did the TBU upgrade while we had it apart.

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So sick dude! Looks awesome!

Rock Sliders welded on! We couldn't reach the top part of the square to weld it, but they are welded on three sides and are going no where! I put a nice bead of RTV silicone stuff along the top, just to make sure no water gets down behind the mounting plate and the frame and starts any rust.

Detailed the engine a bit as well.

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I finally got some time to finish up installing the rack that I got from @MadsBell (who sold his T4R and I bought his AOR front bumper and now the WMW rack....Thanks buddy!!). I waxed the roof before securing it down nice and tight.

I really like the look it gives the truck and especially when I get around to installing my snorkel. Plus it's going to be great to put all my goose hunting stuff up there, instead of inside the truck. (Will give me more room to carry a full load of people now as well as the gear)

I've got some new LED lights as well. I'll put a review up a bit later about them.

Here is a side picture

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Awesome job, looks fantastic. I have to ask how did it go with misc hardware? Was it all good? My biggest fear would be having to use rusty parts on a nice frame.
I bought a rolled 98 and it took me 7 days to dismantle. I saved the frame to someday build one from ground up. I am hoping to complete that within a years time.
What you two accomplished was impressive. Congrads on a job well done!

I have wanted to upgrade my lighting for a long time. My high beams are OK, but my low beams are just worthless. I'm using Sylivan Ultra bulbs, but they still don't give me enough light for regular driving, let alone off-road, etc.

So I got some lights from Online-LED-Store | Emergency Vehicle Warning Lights & Offroad Lightbar and wanted to let you guys know what I thought of them.

First, they have a great selection of sizes and types. You can check them out here.

They have great customer service as well. I had a couple of mounting questions before I ordered and they helped me figure out what was going to work best for what I wanted to do. They even had some pre-packaged wiring harnesses to make things even easier for me than running out and getting the stuff myself.

So I ended up ordering a couple different types to see which ones would work best. I ordered:

The Maverix Cubus

The Maverix 32" bar

The Cruizer 36" bar

The Maverix 6" lights

The heavy wire harness

The standard wire harness

Mounts for tubes


The Maverix series uses 5W CREE LEDs in a single row configuration, while the Cruizer series uses 3W CREE LEDs in a double row configuration. The construction of both series seems very nice with the Maverix line having a very nice slim design and felt a little more robust than the Cruizer line. Two different types of mounting hardware are included with the Maverix line, side mounts or bottom mounts. The Cruizer line has just bottom mounts, but they are quite adjustable. They all come with a 1 year warranty as well. I received everything very quickly with no damage and very nice packaging.

I'm going to try to give you guys as much of my opinion on these different series as I can so that hopefully it will help you if you are looking for lights. When I was doing research, there are just so many cheap imitation companies out there it gets very confusing pretty quick. And to be honest I was not going to pay thousands of dollars for some of the top "name brands" out there.

So let's talk the LED bar's first. I mounted them on my WMW full roof rack, basically right on top of each other. I used the same wiring, just switching the leads as I wanted to see the other light. I have some pictures I will attach of the lights on, but in all honesty they just don't do these lights justice. THEY ARE BRIGHT!!

They have both spot and flood lights in the bar, floods being towards the outside of the bar. I really liked the 32" Maverix single row LEDs which made it more compact, and it was almost as bright as the 36" bar (even though the 36" had more than twice the LEDs). My WMW rack was actually made to fit the 36" Cruizer series and ultimately I decided that it looked just perfect mounted in the rack and the light output was just a bit more than the 32" Maverix bar.

I honestly would have rather had the Maverix single row bar, but they don't make a 36" version and the next size is a 42" which was too big to fit in the rack. But if I didn't have the rack, or was mounting this somewhere else, I would go with the Maverix series. It's just slimmer and puts out a crazy amount of light!

The first picture is just my high beams, the second is just the 32" Maverix bar by itself!!

I used the heavy wiring harness to wire up the LED bar. I'll get some more pictures later to try to show you guys how bright it is.

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What an awesome rig! It really does look super clean!

The reverse lights on our trucks are even worse at providing any usable light, so I was in search of a solution and went with LED lights mounted on the back of the rack.

I really wanted to use the Maverix 6" lights, but I just couldn't get the mounting to work out and be stable. I guess I could have welded in some metal to my rack to make them mount properly, but the rack is coated with Line-X and I didn't really want to mess with it. They would have fit very nice with their single row LEDs. And the flood pattern was really nice and bright.

I went with the Maverix Cubus instead, and am very happy with them. They are basically the same LEDs, just stacked 2 on 2. I went with the flood pattern and the light output is just amazing for such tiny lights. See the picture below, which again just does NOT do them justice, they really light up the whole area!

I used Online-LED-Store | Emergency Vehicle Warning Lights & Offroad Lightbar bar mounts to mount them to the tubes of the rack, as I had no mounting tabs on the rear of the rack to work with. I also wanted the lights to be flush with the top of the rack so that they didn't get in the way of throwing gear and things up there. (or tree branches knocking them)

The tube mounts were very robust in their construction and worked great. They came with 3 different size inserts for different size tubes.

I used the standard wiring harness to wire these lights and got a SPDT switch from OTRATTW so that I could switch them on manually and also have them go on automatically when I put the truck in reverse. I'll tell more about the switches below.

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It really wasn't too bad with the old parts. Some nuts had to be heated to get off, and a couple we had to cut, but overall it wasn't that terrible. The parts weren't too bad with rust, and the things that were, I replaced.

Good luck on your build, I've got a spare motor if you need it!

SO to wrap up the info on the LED lights, I also replaced my Hella 450 with a pair of the Maverix Cubus in spot pattern.

I couldn't keep bulbs working for more than a couple months in the Hella, and although cheap to replace, I just got sick of having to take them apart all the time. Maybe it was the cheap bulbs I was getting for a couple bucks at the auto store.

I wired these Cubus to the existing factory setup so that they would be on with my low beams. (I might change the wiring at the switch so that I can turn them on whenever i want as well, not sure yet)

I was a little worried that the Cubus, in spot beam, would be too bright for oncoming traffic, but I aimed them down a little and haven't had any issues so far. (had a buddy drive at me and they weren't bad)

I'm very impressed with them and they do exactly what I was hoping by lighting up not only further down the road, but also some of the sides. I tried the floods up front, and they really lit the road off to the sides, but didn't penetrate down the road as much as I would have liked.

I have to get some more pictures, but I really like these lights. (I'll add some pics later)

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To finish off the install of my new LEDs I wanted to get all matching switches. I went with OTRATTW Switches CONTURA V with some custom text and Tacoma pictures.

The guys over at OTRATTW are great and their customer service is top notch. I had my switches super fast and they came packaged nicely in bubble wrap.

The switches are the best I have seen and fit the factory knock outs with very little sanding of the side edges. I couldn't be happier with them!

After I installed the reverse light switch, I realized the lights on the switch weren't doing what I thought they would. After a quick talk with the guys at OTRATTW, they steered me in the right direction and they are swapping me out a new switch that should do what I want with the lights now. (I had a SPDT and actually should have got the DPDT)

I'm not a electrical guy and they helped me understand how the switches work and why I needed the DPDT. Again great customer service and a great quality product.

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I’m about to do my frame swap. Thanks for the pictures!

Hi

Its an old post but i am in a situation where full frame replacement is the only iption for me i got myself a 2005 4runner from auction with clean title run and drive 170k on the clock and was really excited to take it for off roading bit joy was short lived when i noticed the frame is ruseted beyond patching or repair of any sort so i am with a nice looking 4runner that i cant register so i am onto a project would appreciate if someone here can help

I have a few questions miggt sound silly so i am sorry in advance

1. Does full frame replacement mean i will have a different VIN number ?
2. What is a good approach to this project?
A. finding a doner car and use its frame and other parts?
B. Getting a full frame and replace it ?

3rd question anyone know or has either of the above options? A doner car or a full frame ? Or knows where can i find it ?

Thanks in advance.
Mubz

You have a 4th Gen 4Runner. This is the 3rd Gen 4Runner section. You would probably receive more specific advice on frame replacement in the 4th Gen section.

With that said, your vin will be the same for DMV/Registration/Government reasons. They go off of the Vin Plate located behind the bottom driver side of the windshield. Most people that do a frame swap use a donor vehicle as far as I'm aware. I'm not even sure if you could find a new frame.

About to start this process on my ‘02. Great info here!