[superman3043]

And... to recap what the hell we're talking about. The site apparently crashed yesterday after I posted my update. Did I break the internet? So here it is:

Installed King shocks and JBA UCA's Saturday.













So when I scripted out these moves, I was sort of at that cross-road that most face at this point of maturity in their builds; Long travel or SAS? Unpacking that question led me toward the path of long travel. And then ole' mister sensible kicked in once again and I wound up with yet another mid travel set up.

First off, just about everybody I talked to with a long travel kit while doing my research loved theirs and would do it all over again if they had to. But those that were being honest with themselves were more than happy to share the downsides to help educate me a little bit.

At the end of the day, I opted to stay MT and here is why:

1) Initial Cost - I don't have to go in on this. Them shits expensive.
2) Cost of Upkeep - Kit's require more maintenance than I want to do.
3) Install complexity - More than I want to deal with right now
4) Application - Admittedly, my build is way overbuilt for what I'm able to use it for, so really no sense in going "whole hog". If the riding out here was more high speed desert play maybe it makes sense. But trails are tight and slow and track width and turning radius are factors to consider.
5) Alignment issues
6) Race truck noises - Goes back to point #4. Race truck parts on a non-race truck.
7) Body Roll

I think these are some of the points that deterred me personally. I'm sure there were more. Was just the right decision for me at this time.

My brother recently had a short fling with a Nissan Frontier and during which I learned that they have a budget friendly, "factory-ish", LT solution in which they swap out the front end suspension with that of a Titan. If we could do a "Tundra Swap" to gain more travel in the front of our trucks, I might be in for something like that.

So... What's one to do if they still have the itch to experience long travel but want to do so in a factory-ish type solution? If only somebody offered such a thing that maybe came with +3.5" LT from the factory... stock rear locking differential, 35's, a truck bed, full size cab, and maybe even those sweet amber grill lights that everybody seems to be doing these days would be huge bonus. If maybe I could turn my WRX into something like that, that'd be pretty sweet...
Hmmmm...... 🤔

[KumaBiscuit91]

Took me a bit but reading through all 49 pages was definitely worth it.
You got a great looking 4Runner, man! I definitely learned a thing or two and got some inspiration for my own 4runner.

[superman3043]

Originally Posted by KumaBiscuit91

Took me a bit but reading through all 49 pages was definitely worth it.

You got a great looking 4Runner, man! I definitely learned a thing or two and got some inspiration for my own 4runner.

Thank you so much for taking the time to go through it, leaving a nice comment, and thank you for the Instagram follow!





What have we been up to?



Lot's of Raptor work.



Got dirty with new friends during quarantine and found a new spot to wheel close by. Shout out to the fine folks that run Patriot Mtn. Off-road park:










Got clean:








Went to officially welcome @Darklight to the 40 year club:








Flexed around the yard some:










Then Memorial Day weekend rolled around so all this happened with a Murph sandwiched in between... whew:







Fresh LCA's (bushings were toast), front wheel hub/bearings, stainless steel front brake lines (already have rear), pads and rotors on all 4 corners (rears were toast). What a job. Not gonna even get into the Raptor work here, but for the curious it can be found on the Raptor forums.



Hope everyone is getting along okay through all this weirdness. We're on the tail end. Take care of each-other out there.

[AuSeeker]

Originally Posted by superman3043

Got dirty with new friends during quarantine and found a new spot to wheel close by. Shout out to the fine folks that run Patriot Mtn. Off-road park

Patriot Mtn. Off-road park, is that in Sugar Grove N.C., near Boone/Blowing Rock?

Just curious because I tried an internet search for it and Trip Advisor says it's "Permanently Closed" if it's the same one...BUT it had a link to report it being back open since Trip Advisor info is user input type data/ reviews it seems.

Patriot Mtn. Off-road park: - Bing

Their website however says they are opened Saturdays, Sundays and some Fridays, as of April 21, 2020

Patriot Mtn Offroad Park LLC - Off Roading Area in Sugar Grove/Valle Crucis NC

[superman3043]

Originally Posted by AuSeeker

Patriot Mtn. Off-road park, is that in Sugar Grove N.C., near Boone/Blowing Rock?

Just curious because I tried an internet search for it and Trip Advisor says it's "Permanently Closed" if it's the same one...BUT it had a link to report it being back open since Trip Advisor info is user input type data/ reviews it seems.

Patriot Mtn. Off-road park: - Bing

Their website however says they are opened Saturdays, Sundays and some Fridays, as of April 21, 2020

Patriot Mtn Offroad Park LLC - Off Roading Area in Sugar Grove/Valle Crucis NC

Yeah that’s the one. They’re open as far as I know. You can always give them a call to check before planning a trip. Truly great folks.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[superman3043]

Forgot to mention that the above work was a 5 day evolution with problems at every corner.

First corner a leaky brake line which was more of a factor of me not seating the flares properly I think.

2nd corner a frozen caliper. Really just one piston. My first in over 227k+ miles so I’m sure I was due and consider myself lucky here.

At the rear it was odd to discover the rear pads were spent since this was the most recent set I changed. Maybe like 4 years (~40k miles ago). The first set of rear brakes I want to say lasted almost 200k. Could have been a factor of cheap Amazon (K Max or something?) brake components and possibly a poor bed-in. Front (Power Stop) still looked great. The rotors were stuck on the e-brakes on both sides. Had to be driven off with the screw holes and even then they were so tight they literally mangled the brake shoe assemblies when they came off. So I had to learn all about how the e-brake system works and how to work on them. Holy smokes this could be one of the ‘funnest’ things I’ve ever work on. In the end, even after putting it all back together I still couldn’t get the new hats to slide over the shoes even when compressed all the way in. This explains why they were so hard to take off the old ones as well as the deep grooves worn in the old hats. I deleted them for the moment. Will dive back in probably today. Should see an uptick in fuel economy anyway if I’ve been dragging my brake shoes this whole time.

Also alignment was way off after all this work. Good now.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[AuSeeker]

Originally Posted by superman3043

Forgot to mention that the above work was a 5 day evolution with problems at every corner.

First corner a leaky brake line which was more of a factor of me not seating the flares properly I think.

2nd corner a frozen caliper. Really just one piston. My first in over 227k+ miles so I’m sure I was due and consider myself lucky here.

At the rear it was odd to discover the rear pads were spent since this was the most recent set I changed. Maybe like 4 years (~40k miles ago). The first set of rear brakes I want to say lasted almost 200k. Could have been a factor of cheap Amazon (K Max or something?) brake components and possibly a poor bed-in. Front (Power Stop) still looked great. The rotors were stuck on the e-brakes on both sides. Had to be driven off with the screw holes and even then they were so tight they literally mangled the brake shoe assemblies when they came off. So I had to learn all about how the e-brake system works and how to work on them. Holy smokes this could be one of the ‘funnest’ things I’ve ever work on. In the end, even after putting it all back together I still couldn’t get the new hats to slide over the shoes even when compressed all the way in. This explains why they were so hard to take off the old ones as well as the deep grooves worn in the old hats. I deleted them for the moment. Will dive back in probably today. Should see an uptick in fuel economy anyway if I’ve been dragging my brake shoes this whole time.

Also alignment was way off after all this work. Good now.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Concerning your E brake issue, did the adjusters not work as they should?

If they were adjusting as they should I wonder if they were ever replaced and possibly with after market adjusters and are too big.

[BackOff]

i just burnt thru a set of rear pads in 18k miles.

thoughts... lifting affected some form of self proportional front to rear system?
Or because i drive with the ABS disabled?


... i used to work with a guy, everytime he hard to do something he didnt like he would look at me and say "FUN" really loudly.

[superman3043]

Originally Posted by AuSeeker

Concerning your E brake issue, did the adjusters not work as they should?

If they were adjusting as they should I wonder if they were ever replaced and possibly with after market adjusters and are too big.

Got it squared away yesterday. It's like with every project I seem to do; if I'm perplexed, it always seems to help to step away from it and then re-visit it after I've had time to think it through and can look at it fresh when I'm not fatigued and frustrated. You're pretty spot on though. The adjusters were functioning properly and AFAIK it's all original factory stuff in there. I just didn't ensure they where fully seated in the notches. There's like this secondary smaller notch in one of the shoes and once it falls into place, all is good. Took no time to fix once I figured that out. You wouldn't believe how many online forum posts I read with people having the same issue (not necessarily Toyota) and finding the same solution. When I read them, I was like "could it be?". Sure enough.

Originally Posted by BackOff

i just burnt thru a set of rear pads in 18k miles.

thoughts... lifting affected some form of self proportional front to rear system?
Or because i drive with the ABS disabled?


... i used to work with a guy, everytime he hard to do something he didnt like he would look at me and say "FUN" really loudly.

Whoa, 18k?? Your guess is as good as mine. Definitely could be a proportioning issue though, as the rears definitely aren't supposed to be the ones doing the "heavy lifting". Like I mentioned, my first set basically lasted forever.

Haha, your guy sounds like my type of people. I'm a Jocko Willink mentality guy, so when shit starts to go south, I always tell myself "GOOD".

[superman3043]

Hit Uwharrie for the first time in a few years this Sunday trying to do “Jeep things”





Base of Dickey Bell hill climb:



Got dusty




Got un-dusty.



First time wheeling with a front camera and one of the few times out with an operational locker. Also first time this set up (Kings, JBA, 35” KM3’s) saw Uwharrie. Worked great. Gonna need to ditch my rear mud flaps finally and probably trim some of the rear bumper as well as deal with one of the pinch welds up front a little more. Nothing too terrible. Proabably try it without a front sway next go. Happy to get out and do the damn thing. I believe we’re a shade over 228k miles at this point. She just keeps getting after it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[superman3043]

Approaching 229k. Replaced the only untouched original suspension component, the rear upper control arms. Was getting a vibration, clunking, wandering, and sometimes pulling under braking. These things were shot. New ones had thicker bars. Used Rock Auto Mevotech.





Much better. Drama free install.

Also came out this week to find the new brake caliper leaking. Fixed that. And just found out the wheel speed sensor on the new hub assembly I just put on the Raptor has already failed. I’m not normally a ‘Parts Store’ guy if I can help it but in a pinch I do what I gotta do. O’Reilly’s is not batting high numbers in my book at all.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[superman3043]

So much improvement from the new rear upper links I decided to rebuild the lowers and panhard.





Lower link bushings were shot but everything else was still fine. Job definitely didn’t go as smooth and straight forward as I would have thought but got it all done.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[superman3043]

Refreshed drive shafts with new U-Joints. Didn’t really need to. That is all.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[montijo505]

Originally Posted by superman3043

Refreshed drive shafts with new U-Joints. Didn’t really need to. That is all.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Did you have clunking before? How many bananas out of 10 is this job? Lol

Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk

[superman3043]

Originally Posted by montijo505

Did you have clunking before? How many bananas out of 10 is this job? Lol

Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk

No, no clunking really. Just regular occasional drive line clunk that could be temporarily resolved with grease. I've gone through this entire year just chasing and solving vibrations and I'm on the tail end of that chase, but the last little stretch has me pretty whooped. Just a slight sensation in the floorboard. Seems to be emanating from the front end.

At this point I've pretty much replaced everything I know I could with the exception of tie rods, which I've had parts for a long time, but just haven't done them yet, as I'm pretty sure that's not my issue. I poked around the drive shafts with a pry bar checking for play before the job and they were all tight with the exception of the rear most u-joint at the diff. I'd think if any of them were to go it would be that one. I can't see the fronts getting that much work at all. But I figured I'd just do them all while I had the press. Also wasn't 100% sure if the play was in the U-joint or in the pinion at first, but after re-installing the rebuilt shaft, it was gone, so probably the u-joint.

At the end of the day, I may end up chalking it all up to tire balance. It could also be that I'm just being hyper sensitive.

From a difficulty stand point the job isn't hard. Maybe 4.5 bananas. Just time consuming. Thought I'd knock it out in a few hours (like I feel about most jobs) and always takes longer than you expect. Trickiest thing was making sure everything is lined up before pressing as the yoke ears on the shaft end are nice and flat but on the flanges are tapered, so you need to pay attention to them. Also, knocking out the retaining clips before pressing helps... failed here on more occasions than I want to admit.

Anyway, take a run at it if you need to. Holler at me if I can help in any way.