[apohl17]

So, after reading up about the whole pck/ drop or/and lift bracket debate, I wanted to simply due a 2" lift on the axle side and leave the option for a drop bracket for another day. I was this close to ordering one of Eimkeith's bracket sets, as that would have been the easiest, but the delivery date kinda pushed me away, so I decided to make my own. I used two separate pieces to make mine because I had a hard time sourcing the right piece of square stock. See below for pics. Used the lower bolt as alignment, then welded each side individually. I didn't paint it because i knew I was going to coat the whole frame/read end once I was getting closer to being done.

Right around this time, a few or four weeks in, I also had the grille done (finally)!

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[apohl17]

Moving on. I power washed all the flake rust off the bumpers parts, hitch, and panels, and extracted the plethora of broken bolts that riddled the mounts after removal. I then ran a tap thrught all the holes to open the threads back up. I started etching the chrome and painting the bumpers in the meantime.

I finally got around to installing the fabtech coilovers from 3rdgenfan. I got them at a very fair price, as I purchased them more for the lift, not neccesary the valving. (I do find out later that they are actually pretty nice, just on the stiffer side). These are still leagues above a spacer lift on the PO's KYB struts...

So my plan was to replace LBJ, ITRE, OTRE, steering rack bushings, end links, sway bar bushings, and obviously the suspension.

I got the LBJ's installed smoothly (without an extractor or puller, may I add) and starting getting off my slopped tie rods. Well, it turned out that I found holes in both my steering rack boots, and of course all the local parts stores were sold out of them, so I had to wait on finishing up the front end all at once.

I also fixed a known exhaust leak by the rear 02 sensor. Local NAPA recommended this epoxy putty, looks nice and hopefully will last a while too.

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[apohl17]

Next week: continued to coat the bumper panels. You'll note that it's a high gloss--I purposely went with a protective thickly costed automotive enamel for durability over multiple layers of primer. As the pics continue, you'll see what it looked like after simply hitting it over the entire surface with some clean maroon scotchbrite to dull it down once it dried and almost fully cured.

I started my headlight retrofit by separating the glass from the reflector with a high gun and even heating. I didn't really want to stick it in the oven for cleanliness sake, but I was ready to if the heat gun didn't work. It did.

My boots finally came in and I got to wrap up the front end. I went with beck/arnley for the OTREs, energy suspension for the sway bar and end link bushings, and proforged for the rest (ITREs, 2nd Gen rear end links).

I didn't feel the need for upper ball joints as I likely will go with new SPC UCA's or similar in the near future. I am very happy for now, but sometime I would like to get my extra 2 degrees of caster back!

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[apohl17]

Moving on. The next few days were spent half in the shop, painting and undercoating the plastic bumper valences as well as undercoating the frame, and half inside, fabbing and painting the retrofits. I will be starting a new thread with more pics of how I built and customized these!

I got them put together, installed on the vehicle, and got them rotationally aligned. Probably the single most beneficial exterior upgrade - what a huge difference they made. Meanwhile, my Falken wildpeak arrived. Went with 265/75/16s for a meaty tire, while keeping the gas mileage up compared to 33's or even 35's.

Figured out that I wanted extended lug nuts for the front as I was only getting about 5 full turns of engagement. New ones got more than 10-wayyy better.

Installed the wheels, hammered the pinch welds for clearance right away, and got it on its own legs! Drove it out to compare it to the trusty red one with 315k on her. Night and day.

Fast forwarding a few more days, got the bumpers, grille, lights, all installed and sitting pretty. Wiring in the halos was fun. Hooked it to my corner lights circuit so I had a switch on the dash (first notch lights) as well as my turn signals for the switchback function. Soldered my connections so I never have to worry about it again.



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[apohl17]

Next task was internal. Replace the stock single DIN head uunit with something a little nicer and decided to run a backup camera. Replaced the stock tails with eagle eyes while I was at it. Routing the wires through the hatch was oh, so joyful, plus, I wired in a bypass switch for the camera to turn on at any time. I had to use a couple of diodes to keep my reverse lights from turning on when I flipped the switch (located between the two 12v ports). Awesome.

Did just rust converting and paint up on the front end because the surface rust was bugging me. Much cleaner now.

Last week I drove it into the alignment shop, found out that my makeshift alignment was actually pretty dang close, and he got it into great spec (except for only about 1 degree of caster, which I expected.)

Since then, I degreased and cleaned the engine bay, cleaned MAF and throttle body intake, and have been slowly polishing the single stage natural white exterior.

I have yet to paint the rims but am waiting a bit to verify they don't need rebalancing. I'll be throwing on a custom skid plate this weekend hopefully as well as installing cover king seat covers.

That's about it for now, enjoy the multitude of pictures and please, comment your thoughts, concerns, anything!

You guys helped me get this to where it is now, and I only hope I can repay the favor by providing insight to others as well.

To be continued...

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[dogtail]

Other than myself, you're the 1st person I've seen that put on 4 OEM crossbars. Comes in handy for me cause I put a ton of weight on the roof.

[AZPHX4Runner]

Originally Posted by apohl17

Next task was internal. Replace the stock single DIN head uunit with something a little nicer and decided to run a backup camera. Replaced the stock tails with eagle eyes while I was at it. Routing the wires through the hatch was oh, so joyful, plus, I wired in a bypass switch for the camera to turn on at any time. I had to use a couple of diodes to keep my reverse lights from turning on when I flipped the switch (located between the two 12v ports). Awesome.

Did just rust converting and paint up on the front end because the surface rust was bugging me. Much cleaner now.

Last week I drove it into the alignment shop, found out that my makeshift alignment was actually pretty dang close, and he got it into great spec (except for only about 1 degree of caster, which I expected.)

Since then, I degreased and cleaned the engine bay, cleaned MAF and throttle body intake, and have been slowly polishing the single stage natural white exterior.

I have yet to paint the rims but am waiting a bit to verify they don't need rebalancing. I'll be throwing on a custom skid plate this weekend hopefully as well as installing cover king seat covers.

That's about it for now, enjoy the multitude of pictures and please, comment your thoughts, concerns, anything!

You guys helped me get this to where it is now, and I only hope I can repay the favor by providing insight to others as well.

To be continued...

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Where did you end up buying your eagle eye taillights? I couldn't find them on their website and I'm not sure how legitimate other pairs of identical taillights are.

Also, did the taillights come with the necessary wiring or did you buy it separately?

Thanks in advance!

[apohl17]

Originally Posted by AZPHX4Runner

Where did you end up buying your eagle eye taillights? I couldn't find them on their website and I'm not sure how legitimate other pairs of identical taillights are.

Also, did the taillights come with the necessary wiring or did you buy it separately?

Thanks in advance!

Hey man,

I went through ebay. Couple versions there-if you want ones that look like mine, make sure you get the ones with the black base and clear housings, not the tinted housing "blacked out" versions. LINK

[Lamer]

wowzers, made some awesome progress! and looking really nice

[apohl17]

Originally Posted by dogtail

Other than myself, you're the 1st person I've seen that put on 4 OEM crossbars. Comes in handy for me cause I put a ton of weight on the roof.

I talked to someone today who asked me "who made your rack?" I cruelly made him guess and he listed off 3 or 4 aftermarket places before I gave in and told him it was simply an extra Two OEM cross bars... I don't know why more people don't do it, really. Quick stop at the junk yard will normally get you at least one cross bar in good shape for a few bucks.

[apohl17]

Fabbed out a front diff skid plate and painted the lettering on my grille this past weekend. The skid was a piece of reused steel with some real nice laser cutouts, but the downside was that it's nowhere near the thickness of any aftermarket skid. May end up replacing it down the road, but for now, it makes me feel better and sharpens up the front end a bit. Pics to come tonight after I get back from the alignment shop (again) to fix a small pull to the right!

[apohl17]

Updated pics of this weekend's fun. LED corner, reverse, and interior dash, dome, and map lights should come this week!

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[apohl17]

Updated the link for my mesh grille on my main page! Hope someone gets inspiration from what I did.

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[onemanarmy]

Why use wheel spacers? Ruins the clean lines of the truck and throws water/mud/dirt up everywhere.

[apohl17]

Originally Posted by onemanarmy

Why use wheel spacers? Ruins the clean lines of the truck and throws water/mud/dirt up everywhere.

To each his own, buddy! Personal choice. Widens the track width for stability at the expense of throwing dirt up, but hey, I expected that when I took the fenders off.

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