I'm finally part of the club! Here's my introduction and progress thread...

[Joey Link]

Geez, clean 4Runner's are hard to find! After selling my '97 BMW 540i 6-speed and searching for 4 months, I finally brought one home last night. It's a 2000 Limited with 128,xxx and service records for the major services (60k/90k/120k). I was able to get it for $9500, which I think is a pretty good deal. I'm so happy I was able to score one with the e-locker!

The front bumper is in total disarray, littered with rock chips and dents. No matter, it's getting replaced very soon! The rear bumper is also messed up from where the previous owner slid back into a rock or tree stump. Luckily there's no damage to the actual body. Anyone have a silver rear bumper? There's a dent in the back lift that looks like it was hit with a baseball, and a 'push out' crease in the driver door, where I imagine the person who installed the speakers messed up. The leather is worn on the bolsters, so I'll need to condition that, and a couple pieces of in the cargo area are cracked/damaged. Other than those imperfections, it's in great condition.

Stay tuned to this thread for my updates as I complete them. I have a very clear goal of what I want this rig to do, and I think some of you might enjoy watching the transformation. Here are some pics of how it sits now.

Cheers!
Joey

 

[Joey Link]

 

[Joey Link]

I removed the stock soccer-mom running boards today. Looks 100% better in my opinion!

 

[blarchitect]

Nice rig. You should remove thoose pre '99 tail lights and put in the stock 'jewel' ones or LED's

 

[Joey Link]

Those aren't the stock tails?

 

[blarchitect]

No, these are from pre '99.

 

[RonMAIDEN]

Those are the stock tails,they didn't upgrade the 3rd gens til '01. It's the headlamps that got upgraded in '99.

Here's mine next to an '01 with the newer tails which were more clear epsecially on the clear part with silver reflectors inside.

 

[Joey Link]

Can you post a pic of the '99+ tails?

 

[blarchitect]

Thanks for correcting me iron maiden

 

[Joey Link]

Oh whew, that worried me a bit

 

[Joey Link]

When I bought the vehicle, it came with 4 like-new Avon Mud Terrain 245/75R16 tires with studs. The other tires that were on there were pretty much bald, so today I had Les Schwab mount the Avon's. I think it looks 10x better, though these are noisy and ride like (even for a mud tire with studs).

 

[RonMAIDEN]

Yikes,studded snows? Do you really drive that much on snow since pavement will eat those tires up.

 

[Joey Link]

Yikes,studded snows? Do you really drive that much on snow since pavement will eat those tires up.

Jenny and I really enjoy going up to the mountain and playing in the snow. I plan on doing a bit of snow-exploring as well. I'll only be running them until April.

 

[RonMAIDEN]

I'd be curious to try studs on ice and snow but in Denver we just don't see enough snow staying on the roads and living/driving in Colorado mountains for almost 24 years I've just used A/T tires on my trucks and all seasons on my AWD car.

 

[Joey Link]

Honestly, the reason I mounted them was more due to "the tires that were on there being totally shot and me not wanting to purchase another set of tires between those and the larger ones I plan on purchasing soon" than me really needing studded snow tires.

 

[Joey Link]

Made quite a bit of progress today! My brother and I installed an ARB winch bumper and a Warn M8000 winch

It was quite the pain in the butt, but we did a real clean job. My vision for this truck is now two steps closer to coming true.

We started off by unbolting the front bumper. A bolt here, a bolt there; it was slow going. Finally, Mikey asked me if I was planning on keeping the front bumper. I wasn't, due to the poor condition. He runs to the tool room, only to emerge with a Sawzall, then proceeds to go to work tearing it off. His payment for helping me was lunch, so I figured he ought to be able to have some fun with it.

Front bumper removed, in record time.

I think it's pretty hilarious how the ARB manual says absolutely nothing about the fact that you have to cut the caps off the frame, especially considering it was probably the biggest part of the whole job. Instead of just grinding the flanges off, we opted for the plasma cutter.

We cut the flanges out in the shape of the frame rail, ground off the excess, welded the end cap portion of the flange all the way around to the frame, then ground the weld again, then painted it. It came out VERY clean.

Test fitting the impact absorbers.

Finally, after wrestling with it for an hour and getting it lined up as best we could, the project was complete. I'm VERY happy with the outcome; the difference in appearance is night and day. I'll try to get some outdoor shots tomorrow, as it was dark by the time we finished.

 

[icantsee]

[No message]

 

[Sloan]

now all you need is some sliders :bigok:

 

[KellyJ]

Very nice, are you planning on doing the same thing to the back end?

 

[Joey Link]

I'd like to, but as far as I know nobody is offering a bolt on rear bumper replacement, or even a kit that they'll ship. I might go custom at some point, but there's no real need right now.