[Team_Jake]

Wired in the Clutch Start Cancel Switch and it works!

I moved the Rear Diff lock Switch and put the Clutch Start Cancel Switch at the Factory Rear Diff Lock Switch location.



Also got the leather shifter boot, the interior looks stock now.



I tried wiring up the Clutch Depress Switch, but it looks like the switch doesn't work, I'll need to take it apart and see if it can be fixed. In the mean time though, I jumped the pins on the connector so I don't need to use the Clutch Start Cancel Switch every time I want to start the truck.

I also tried wiring in the Clutch Release Switch to be able to use cruise control, and I am not able to get it working, even after jumping the switch, I cannot get cruise control to work...I'm not sure if it's a bad connection or what, I'll post more details later to see if anyone has some insight.

[HugeFatChick]

throw a supercharger on there and you would have done everything that i want to do to my T4r

[nedceifus]

Originally Posted by Team_Jake

@HawkPlt @youwitdaface

I guess I'll throw in a little teaser...

Goals:

• High clearance and high approach angle
• Line up with fender flares
• Light weight
• Clean and low profile

I basically incorporated the design of every bumper I liked, there's a little bit of Shrockworks, Addicted Offroad, and Outdoor Logic in there.

The winch mount plates and internal frame is 0.25", the d-shackle mounts are 0.75", and the rest is 10-gauge steel (I might switch to something thicker, not sure yet). Currently it weighs 82.66 lbs, I'd like to keep it under 100 lbs once I add a hoop and mounts that will attach to the wings. Fog lights are made to fit Baja Designs Squadron Sports/Pros. The winch plate is made to fit the Warn M8000. The vertical frame will also be able to mount the winch control box and keep it hidden from view, and an extended control cable will be routed to the top of the bumper through a hole I haven't added yet.

I'm using the frame brackets from Shrockworks because their bumper attachment points are superior to anything else I've seen. I called Shrockworks and ordered a set of the frame brackets with all the hardware, it was ~$130 total.

I made a cardboard mock-up of just the top plate of the bumper, I made 3 different cutouts before I found something that fit the way I wanted.



(I later added another edge, so the wings are 3 edges instead of 2.)

I'm not done with it yet, I still need to add a hoop to the bumper, and I will be adding mounts that will attach to the wings, plus a bunch of little things need buttoning up.

My plan of attack is to completely finish my first prototype in SolidWorks, and then make the bumper by hand out of poster board and test fit. From there I'll make adjustments, and do a 2nd, 3rd, or however many prototypes until I feel i'm ready to have it laser cut and welded together.

...

And just to throw this out there, this is actually my first time ever attempting something like this. I've never had anything laser-cut before, I've never designed car parts before, nothing like that, so if anyone sees anything I am doing wrong please chime in.

Cardboard, a mans best friend

[Team_Jake]

I installed a Marlin Crawler short throw shifter (which btw feels sooo much better than stock, it rides a little higher too so your not reaching as far when shifting into 1st, 3rd, or 5th gears). The little retainer cup was a pain to get seated though.



Then took the 4Runner on a fishing trip to Baja (Sea of Cortez). No wheeling, just beach driving and fishing.



Caught mostly grouper, spotted sea bass, opeleye, and trigger fish. Here is a little trigger fish I speared:



...and then ate a couple hours later (btw I had never tried trigger fish before, and it's honestly some of the best tasting fish I've ever had! If you get a change to try some, do it!!)

[Team_Jake]

But what I'm most excited about is my new DD:







I picked it up last Thursday for $7700. It's a 2001 Tacoma, 3RZ, 5-speed, 4wd. It has 173,000 miles, zero rust, zero leaks, and not a single thing on it that doesn't work. The only things wrong with it is a finicky driver door handle, and the gear shift has quite a bit of play, (which I figure would be a worn shifter seat/socket). This is going to be my new DD, and I will be keeping it mostly stock. This means I can do more in depth projects with the 4Runner and not be in a rush to get it street-able.

[Team_Jake]

Since I just swapped to a short throw shifter on the 4Runner, I had my old shifter plus the seat and socket lying around (which was basically new since the transmission was rebuilt a couple of months ago). I took the old shifter out of the Tacoma, and sure enough, the seat and socket were worn.



I swapped in the entire shifter (with socket) from my old 4Runner shifter and installed the seat. It was a direct swap onto the W59 transmission, now the shifter is tight and it didn't cost me one cent!

[Team_Jake]

Took the 4Runner to Big Bear last weekend, and was able to try more serious obstacles for the first time with a Manual Transmission. It was fun doing Gold Mountain (3N69) again (first time was with the Automatic), the two waterfall sections are a little challenging with the manual, I can see now why a Taco Box can make such a big difference in control and performance.

Just before the first waterfall:




The rock field on Gold Mountain:






And the Squeeze (3N07A):



Not quite as tight as I thought it would be, but I guess 3rd gens are a little smaller than the JKs I've seen just barely squeak by those boulders. The trail is pretty easy but I think worth doing if you haven't before.

Overall, fun weekend.

...I think it's about time I get some sliders now

[Team_Jake]

Finally got some sliders!!

I went with Shrockworks with the 3-tube support, bare metal finish. I chose Shrockworks because I wanted the sliders to be low-profile. It's also nice that they are bolt on - I will probably weld them at some point later on but being able to take them off to repaint is attractive.

I made the order on October 11th, Shrockworks claimed the lead time was 6-8 weeks, but it was much longer than. I got the Sliders on January 9th, almost 13 weeks later (granted there was Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years holidays during that time frame). Not a big deal to me, but if anyone reading this decides to order from them, it may take much longer than anticipated. Other than that, their service was great and the sliders they made look exceptional.

How they come out of the box: (driver side has the shorter spaced legs to avoid contact with the fuel tank skid)





Since these are bolt on, you need to drill into the frame. The top holes are a little difficult to drill, just be sure you have a center punch and a good step dill bit. You don't need a 90° bit, I drilled the top holes at a slight angle and they still come out fairly round. Those of you with a body lift will have an easier time.

I painted everything with Rustoleum satin black enamel paint, I decided to get the canned paint this time and roll it on. No primer, and it goes on thick. I think it should hold up fine.

I love how close to the body they sit. Now for the rest of the pics:

[huski]

Great work, love the work you did on that front bumper!
I had a question for you. I've manual swapped my 99 as well, how did you fix your reverse lights? i have been searching through the wiring diagram but haven't been able to find the correct circuit. I managed to get my cruise control working, if you're still having issues i can help ya.

[Team_Jake]

Originally Posted by huski

Great work, love the work you did on that front bumper!
I had a question for you. I've manual swapped my 99 as well, how did you fix your reverse lights? i have been searching through the wiring diagram but haven't been able to find the correct circuit. I managed to get my cruise control working, if you're still having issues i can help ya.

Thanks, I’m so happy with how the bumper turned out.

There’s a section in the EWD called “Back-up Light”. The wiring is pretty simple:



From the wires that used to plug into your park/neutral position connector, the hot wire (black with a yellow stripe, fed into position 4 on the park/neutral position connector) and the reverse indicator wire (red with a yellow stripe, fed into position 8 on the park/neutral position connector) now are fed into the back up light switch connector (located on the passenger side of manual transmission).



When the reverse rail in the manual transmission engages with the switch, the circuit will close and light up your reverse lights. Easy as that!


I still haven’t gotten my cruise control wired properly (my clutch release switch). When I tried wiring it originally, I cut the wires that fed into the park/neutral position connector (the black wire with a yellow stripe and the white wire with a red stripe, wires 4 and 9 respectively) routed them through the interior, ran them under the dash and over to the clutch release switch. It hasn’t worked (even after jumping the wires together, it doesn’t work). I don’t think my wiring is wrong, I’m guessing the wires are too long resulting in too high of a resistance on the circuit, but that’s just a guess. I plan to tap into another hot wire from under the dash and connect it to the white/red wire and see if that solves the problem, I’m just lazy and haven’t gotten around to doing it yet. But if you know what my problem is I’m all ears.

[APhelps]

Originally Posted by Team_Jake

I still haven’t gotten my cruise control wired properly (my clutch release switch). When I tried wiring it originally, I cut the wires that fed into the park/neutral position connector (the black wire with a yellow stripe and the white wire with a red stripe, wires 4 and 9 respectively) routed them through the interior, ran them under the dash and over to the clutch release switch. It hasn’t worked (even after jumping the wires together, it doesn’t work). I don’t think my wiring is wrong, I’m guessing the wires are too long resulting in too high of a resistance on the circuit, but that’s just a guess. I plan to tap into another hot wire from under the dash and connect it to the white/red wire and see if that solves the problem, I’m just lazy and haven’t gotten around to doing it yet. But if you know what my problem is I’m all ears.

You got a copy of the wiring diagram for the cruise control? (post it up)

I have a hard time imagining the resistance of the wiring is causing an issue since you'd probably talking a fraction of an ohm and I doubt the cruise control is that sensitive.

[huski]

Originally Posted by Team_Jake

Thanks, I’m so happy with how the bumper turned out.

There’s a section in the EWD called “Back-up Light”. The wiring is pretty simple:



From the wires that used to plug into your park/neutral position connector, the hot wire (black with a yellow stripe, fed into position 4 on the park/neutral position connector) and the reverse indicator wire (red with a yellow stripe, fed into position 8 on the park/neutral position connector) now are fed into the back up light switch connector (located on the passenger side of manual transmission).



When the reverse rail in the manual transmission engages with the switch, the circuit will close and light up your reverse lights. Easy as that!


I still haven’t gotten my cruise control wired properly (my clutch release switch). When I tried wiring it originally, I cut the wires that fed into the park/neutral position connector (the black wire with a yellow stripe and the white wire with a red stripe, wires 4 and 9 respectively) routed them through the interior, ran them under the dash and over to the clutch release switch. It hasn’t worked (even after jumping the wires together, it doesn’t work). I don’t think my wiring is wrong, I’m guessing the wires are too long resulting in too high of a resistance on the circuit, but that’s just a guess. I plan to tap into another hot wire from under the dash and connect it to the white/red wire and see if that solves the problem, I’m just lazy and haven’t gotten around to doing it yet. But if you know what my problem is I’m all ears.

AH! that is perfect. I've been without reverse lights for far too long.
So i'm going to do my best to explain this, i am not a wiring guru. When we wired in my clutch pedal we spliced into the harness behind the glovebox. i can provide photos for reference if you want. switch at the top of the pedal tells the ecu its in drive, switch on the bottom sees neutral, we made my ECT button park. i'll try and hunt down my old diagrams, this was about a year ago. My limited understanding of the system is because the ecu does not see drive it will not engage cruise. The second the switch is open it will cut cruise control.

[mesooohoppy]

very rad build. i think that front bumper is the closest thing ive seen to what id like in a front bumper. minimalist, high clearance, not a bazillion lbs, blends with flairs, etc. (just without the hoop)

[Team_Jake]

Originally Posted by huski

AH! that is perfect. I've been without reverse lights for far too long.
So i'm going to do my best to explain this, i am not a wiring guru. When we wired in my clutch pedal we spliced into the harness behind the glovebox. i can provide photos for reference if you want. switch at the top of the pedal tells the ecu its in drive, switch on the bottom sees neutral, we made my ECT button park. i'll try and hunt down my old diagrams, this was about a year ago. My limited understanding of the system is because the ecu does not see drive it will not engage cruise. The second the switch is open it will cut cruise control.

Your ECT button is now park? I don't believe that does anything, the only function the A/T had with park was with ignition safety (and also when shifting the transfer case while in park - that illuminated the A/T P light on the dash but that is irrelevant with a manual transmission). The clutch depress switch (or clutch start cancel switch) is the safety for the ignition, so that is covered, what does your park button do?

[huski]

Originally Posted by Team_Jake

Your ECT button is now park? I don't believe that does anything, the only function the A/T had with park was with ignition safety (and also when shifting the transfer case while in park - that illuminated the A/T P light on the dash but that is irrelevant with a manual transmission). The clutch depress switch (or clutch start cancel switch) is the safety for the ignition, so that is covered, what does your park button do?

I really dont think it does anything. i think in the year its been fixed, i've never used it.