Clicking in rear was just a loose sway bar end link. Pretty best case scenario to have been alerted to the cv early and the culprit only being something easy.

Did atf with Valvoline multi-vehicle giga chad synthetic, running great so far, even had a small grind on hills resolve itself after.

Went to change gear oils, front diff bottom allen bolt completely stripped. Gonna return to that after I get a new bolt to replace it with.

Almost caught up with my current set of parts/fluids!

Remember, pull the filler plug before the drain plug! If the drain plug comes out, great. If the filler plug doesn't come out, that drain plug just screwed you over, so to speak. Besides, if the drain plug is stripped out, what are the chances the filler plug is? Pretty good?

Pat☺

Very beginning to now

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Looking good! Helps that Anthracite is the sexiest color ;)

If you plan on keeping the basket (looks like a Rola Clone) you may benefit
by fabbing up some feet out of angle iron and bypassing the oem crossbars.
Mine is a decade old now and haven't had any issues whatsoever.

https://www.toyota-4runner.org/1712516-post226.html

Lots has changed since then, but the basket is still going strong.
keep it up!

Dealt with my stripped diff bolts today, gonna put on my breather tomorrow! I'm not sure how long its been since diffs and transfer case have had their oil replaced. Generally no sparkles but oil was definitely dirty. Small metal residue on each magnetic drain bolt but doesn't seem too concerning.

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Here's where I ended up running the rear diff breather. Not sure if the ARB kit was fully worth the 70$ but happy with how it turned out. FYI the kit comes with enough fittings to run two breather tubes, not all 4. I just hooked up rear diff for now.

I also changed up my roof rack set up, and I'm really liking the new setup. It had been a short enough time for me to return my harbor freight rack (which was actually pretty nice just didn't fit my needs), and picked up a used Yakima Skinny Warrior for my driver side, and Yakima Bow Down kayak mounts for my passenger side. My board is 13 feet long and doesn't fit inside the truck. The bow down actually works surprisingly well and I was driving highway speed with no issues. The skinny warrior length is definitely better if you carry traction boards and a farm jack like I do, compared to the harbor freight rack. The traction boards actually sit all the way inside the basket with room to spare for gas cans.

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