We'll Heres the welding in action.. and finish product!

























finished product..

Looking good man with the diff bracket! Can't wait for this weekend. It will be a good piece of mind to have a reinforced diff bracket that's for sure!

Bobby

Went out to the uhwarrie jamboree this past weekend and had a little to much fun lol. out night wheeling making a hill climb once at the top I noticed some poping sounds as i would drive forward or stop and back up.. Couldn't find anything obviously broken but as i slowing progressed through the trail i could tell something was up. I definitely began to realize only my front end was pulling.. Anywho I said the hell with it an used everything my truck had to use front wheel drive to get back to camp that night. I assumed it was a snapped axle shaft at first but after further examination.. I tore the ring an pinion all to hell.. Just an FYI i drove about 3 miles of trail and 26 miles on road with this grinding to pieces gotta hand it to the toyota axles they may break under the right loads but they'll get you home every time!

looks like east coast gear supply wheel be getting business with me soon

Opps! Yup, Toyota hasn't left ya hangin' yet Glad you made it out ok!

Time to give Chase a call over at ECGS, glad you made it home okay.

Out with the old...












Tomorrow comes new:
-Rear TJM air locker with nitro 4:56 ring an pinion complete third member assembly.
-Rear Chromoly axle shafts
-New rear hubs ready to press on
-Front ARB air locker with nitro thick cut 4:56 gears complete front IFS clamshell assembly
-New CV half shafts ready to install in truck now
-ARB Twin on board air compressor 100% duty cycle, dual tanks and 6.16 CFM airflow!!


Big shout out to Drivetrain Specialists East Coast Gear Supply and one awesome sales rep Chase for getting everything setup.

Hey Austin,

I hope you know you're a badass. You're going to have the sickest 4runner on the planet and your car has a bullet hole in it.

Hats off to you my friend

thanks buddy, still wish i knew the story behind where that bullet hole came from lol.

Austin is like the JAmes Bond of North Carolina! lol

Bullet hole?

I'll post a pic of it. its in the door jam of the driver side rear door just above the door latch. it looks about the size of 9mm or 40cal. entry. no exit signs doesn't look like the doors been replaced or any signs of body work its weird and the first two owners had the truck under lease. I didnt even notice it durring purchase as I don't typically pay to much attention to the back seat area lol (guess i'll know next time lol) But when i got home an did the first car wash i noticed a plastic plug in the door jam that wasn't on the other side an when i pulled it out it was a plain an clear bullet hole! lol

The trajectory of the entry suggests someone was standing on the driver side facing the opposite direction the truck was traveling aiming at the driver as they were passing by but got the shot off to late and hit just above the driver side rear door latch through the jam and it had to have gone through the plastic interior. But no signs other than the one hole in the jam. (when i get a pic up of it this description should make more sense.)

whoever cleaned up the evidence aside from the actual bullet hole did it under wraps as there's no records with toyota of such repair service. But if cars could talk i could only imagine this truck would have a story to tell!

Hahahaha! Thug life son. It was def a drug dealers car man. I wonder if you looked up public records on the previous owners it might come up with any drug convictions etc.

That's the funny thing I did! lol I'm that curious to know and both lease owners listed one was a guy in his 40's an from what his records show he was just using the truck to drive from tenn. to Ohio for road trips (first owner) second owner was an older women who barely put 20,000 miles on the truck over 4 years. the vehicle records show the first guy got out of his lease at 70,000 Toyota then changes the timing belt and serviced the truck then the women bought it and carried the lease for 4 years it came back to the dealership with 98,000 an that's when i purchased it. neither have any public record convictions

unless the guy had a son that borrowed the truck or something theres no telling lol

Installed new third member with 4.56 gears and TJM air locker and front IFS clamshell housing with 4.56 gears and ARB air locker this weekend. Started friday afternoon when the parts showed up thanks to a good friend Tyler for driving them down from Raleigh. We worked till about midnight friday getting the new rear axle and hub pressed together as well as the front completely bolted up.

We got back to it saturday and had the rear axle bolted together and both drive shafts back on by lunch time. I spent the rest of the afternoon till about 7pm arguing with the PIA emergency drum brakes whoever thought it was a good idea for those to be installed behind the wheel flange is crazy its not a fun design to assemble I have to say each time i got a brake shoe hold down spring installed i felt like a god lol.















Still have to install the Air compressor, wire all the switches into the cab, and run the air lines(should be very exciting lol) I'm looking to mount the compressor just behind the airbox near the fire wall so i'll have to weld up a bracket to support it properly.

The gears were def a noticeable change in the ride. The truck gets up to speed like it did before lift an tires, pulls through every gear, and made the throttle extremely responsive. 4lo got really low top speed in drive in 5th gear is around 30mph in 4wd LO. Once i figure out my percent error in my speedo/odometer I'll be able to run some MPG change calculations an find if it went up or down or stayed the same.

Def. can't wait to get the lockers air'd up and hit the trails!

so here are the pic's of the bullet hole... sure wish trucks could talk they'd have some interesting stories I'm sure!