Much obliged sir, thank you.

Not a big update, but I painted the upper bumper and bent the mounts so the LED turn signals would flush with the bumper, not recessed in the bumper where the original mounts were. Also gave the rig a full wash and wax...something that was much overdue.

Another small update, I changed my oil and got on the bigger oil filter mod like T4Rchadly did with his rig. 1995 Ford Taurus 3.0 filter for 30% larger filter. Might as well ya know...

I went on an overnight camping trip with my brother and dad and it was a lot of fun, but I realized now, more than ever, that if i was going to sleep in the 4Runner, I was going to have to figure out more storage solutions. On the trip up, my storage compartments were filled up, I had to fold down one of the rear seats to put stuff there, and I couldn't even see out the back window. When I set up the sleeping platform, I had to put all the things my dad and brother couldn't fit in their tent in the front 2 seats, then rearrange everything the morning after. And that was just for 3 people on an overnight trip! Not 2 days later a Yakima Skybox 18 went up for sale on Marketplace in my area. For $175 I had to snag it.









Oh and of course I had to flex out the other yota I have lol

This is very nice and I am very glad you had such an interesting trip! If there are any more pictures - I'd love to see them. By the way, I don't know about you, but with me college takes up a lot of time because of this I decided to turn to top writers who will do the writing for me (https://edubirdie.com/top-writers) and I will have more free time to deal with cars, it really works and I am very happy for this.

Small update, but my steering wheel wrap was falling apart and after unstiching it, the original leather was ripping as well. Thought I should spend $5 on paracord instead of $20 for a crappy cover or $50-150 on a new wrap. I mean I guess it's cool...super broverlander. Feels good and doesn't move around on me so that's the most important part. Also offers good grip when my hands are sweaty or dirty.

I also use the oversized Taurus filters. I love it. They're definitely a tight fit. Been using Fram filters and having good results so far.

I think this turned out great and doesn't look broverlander at all. Looking at it from a functionality standpoint, I respect the fact that you took this approach vs. spending money on a new leather and you know that gets pricey quick. I like it.

Had some fun after working on my friend @fl_2runner rig replacing all the belts and his ac pulley. Went down an empty dirt rode and after making sure it was clear, got some high speed flyby's in. It was our little sliver of desert in Georgia. To check out the video, visit my instagram @4_runnin99

Oh boy, after almost a year here we are. I'm thinking about making a whole thread on the absolute process and things that go unspoken when doing this project. It's the home made OSR kit with 7.5 wraps because no other coil spring is long enough. Here are my key takeaways.

1.) it's "easy". Took me and my buddy like 3 hours to bend, cut, weld, and install the hoops. We used the existing circular cross beam as the front point to weld to, then the square opening on the back. Very simple.

2.) it's hard. Cycling the suspension from full droop to full compression and flexing it out both ways brought us nothing but heartache. We were in this position for about 6 hours trying to clear everything, which leads me to the last takeaway.

3.) it sucks. The ugly truth that nobody talks about is that YOU WILL LOSE UP TRAVEL. This is probably the main reason for me doing this. Here are the issues I ran into:
a. I have the pck, and without a bumpstop extension, you WILL smash the top of the axle mounted panhard bar into the frame cross member.
b. with it flexed out, I was hitting the tire into the shock body with over 3" stroke left in the shock and 2" till I contact the stock bump. I could not move the lower mounts even lower, because the 4 link would bind (and yes, i have adjustable control arms). I also couldn't move the relocation kit or the lower mounts anymore inward because the shock body would smash into the frame itself. All of this was done on a 3.5" bs wheel with a 255/85 pizza cutter tire (so not a large tire and proper bs)!
c. You can't even make either side of the kit even. What I mean by this is that if it's flexed out, full droop on the driver and full stuff on passenger, the geometry of the panhard bar will actually pull the axle into the frame more. When it's flexed the opposite way, the panhard makes it to where it pushes the axle away from the frame. This led to me essentially having the shock body contact the frame on passenger when passenger was at full droop and driver did not have 1/4 panel clearance because it was being pushed out of the wheel well. Likewise, when driver was drooped and and passenger at stuff the tire was too tucked and therefore contacting the shock body.

Okay, technical rant over. My conclusion is this. 12" shocks are too much on a stock link platform. 3 link it and I know it will do well. That's way too much time and effort for me though, so I would definetely recommend a 10" shock to retain good uptravel numbers, and not have to deal with the 4 link actually sucking balls. Anyways there ya have it.

This summer was a lot of fun. I took a lot of day trips and a couple decent size trips. In May, I went mountain biking in Bentonville, Ar with my brother and two other friends. It was about a 2500 mile round trip by the time we were home and it was a blast. 4Runner did perfectly and we were cruising at 85mph the entire time...about 15 hours straight each way. Highly highly recommend Bentonville if mountain biking is your thing.





Second trip was a surf trip with my brother and one other friend in OBX, more specifically Cape Hatteras and the surrounding area. Had a lot of fun surfing, filming my brother, and ripping the runner on the beach. This ended up being just under 2000 miles round trip because of how much driving we did around the island. Again, the 4Runner was flawless and cruised nicely at 85 the whole way there and back.