While I'm on the subject, here's my newest addition...

HNG Boner achieved!

I havent taken mine out in awhile. i really need to before its really winter.

Ha thanks. I love it. I went from the Epic (XC race machine, 100mm) to the carbon Stumpy Evo (135/140mm) and feel like I only gave up a little (climbing/flat speed) but gained so much more in the loose/rocky downhills and drops. I've been able to break all my records set by the Epic but some of that's due to a combination of me being in better condition and gaining confidence. In a perfect world, I would've held on to the Epic and used it for racing but I couldn't justify having 2 expensive bikes. As with the 4runner, I'm always tweaking and adding to it. My next big purchase will be a set of carbon wheels...

any picture of your storage solution?

No. I've since removed them as I've been using all my space to move. Here is what I bought (not sure why it's so expensive on the site

Walmart: Sterilite Large Modular Drawers- White, Set of 4

I agree on the grill. I tried doing the same and when I got done it just looked wrong and just void. Maybe a different mesh would of been better but I traded with a local and just painted the stock sport grill myself. I liked it way better as well.. great looking rig by the way..

Thanks man. For some reason, it never looked as good to me once it was actually on my truck as others I have seen on here. Maybe I just liked the idea of it and not the actual end product. Either way, it had to go and i'm much happier now.

So it looks like it's been about a year and half since I've added anything on here. All my free time has been wrapped up in my house (complete remodel) along with my main hobby, mountain biking (gratuitous action shot). So, not much has really changed.


I'm still running the AT II's. However, they've got around 55k on them now with another 5k of life left in them. Undecided on what i'll get next as I haven't really been keeping up with any of the newer tire releases.


In other news, I finally suffered the dreaded LR UCA weld fail . Since I've kind of been out of the scene for a while, it wasn't on my mind when I noticed something a little odd in my steering when making turns. I checked the usual and went on my way for the 3 hour drive down I-65. It was only to my horror once I got home and actually inspected my truck the next day (in the daylight) that I discovered the front weld was completely severed with free movement in the driver's UCA!!!


I called up Headstrong Offroad (the place that I bought it 4 years ago in a TacoWorld GB) and she referred to the CS POC at SPC (Light Racing). They were extremely responsive and aware of the quality on these earlier arms and sent out my new UCAs (updated version w/ greasable zerk joints) within 30 minutes. They arrived 2 days later and were promptly installed (truck was parked otherwise). So far so good but really nothing "new" about them. Overall, I was very impressed with SPC in how they handled the situation given how long i've actually had them, again 4 years (shout out to Tom and Garret at SPC CS).

Then this happened, hit 180k on the ODO!! Hopefully it lasts another 100k. Once this rig goes, I'll be moving on to a fullsize Tundra.


The only real addition I've done lately is adding in a Chinese (Joying) Android HU, JY-TQ123 ($300 PRIME shipping). I preferred this model as it exactly fits the OEM opening size (~200mmx100mm) and I HATE the look of most filler pieces i've seen that go into the universal double-din installs.

I've only recently been turned on to these but they sounded awesome from what little research i've done if you can deal with a more DIY trouble shooting side involved in little to no customer support. Having said that, I bought mine specifically from Joying-USA on Amazon and the POC there has been very response in emailed questions. Supposedly comes with a 2 year warranty and it can be shipped back to NY (way better than China like the others). But really, for $300, I'm not expecting this thing to be perfect given all the awesome features it has. It can be flashed with customer firmware, ROMS, etc. Love it so far and it looks OEM. The install was a complete plug in play as this version comes with the Toyota specific ISO hookups and the steering wheel controls work with no additional adapters. Also, no parking break tap to bypass the safety either (still don't advise watching Netflix while driving).





Upcoming Mods:
Really the only thing i'm looking at adding now is
1) New tires when these wear out...still undecided as to type and size
2) Leather/PVC seat covers. I don't know why but I keep thinking a red-rock color with a few matched trim pieces would look good but there's a lot of room for fail on that one. May end up just going dark grey or black with lighter gray stitching.
3) My driver's caliper is seized so i'm going ahead and adding the 5th gen rotors/calipers once Rockauto get's them back in stock.

Well that's fricken scary. It's admirable that SPC responded that way though. Especially considering your part is years old. Still though...

Looks great! Awesome truck.

Did SPC mention if they made changes to address this issue? I know they have updated these arms but I'm curious if the "updates" included changes to address this particular issue.

Yea. They could've been more difficult and denied the claim as I was technically outside the warranty period. I believe this was only in response to the known issues being reported on the forums in these earlier runs. Like you said, still....

Thanks bud! I still like it myself.

They didn't and, as far as I can tell, the welds look nearly identical (granted, not sure how much different it could look). The primary updates are the updated BJs w/ greasable zerks. However, I would hope they've done some additionally QC behind the scenes to ensure these newer arms aren't prone to the same failures. Time will tell...

What's up bud! I met you at Blevins Gap the other day! Sweet looking ride man! I want to look in to one of those head units!

What's up man! Always nice to meet a fellow addict...err enthusiast. I'm still loving mine. You're welcome to check it out anytime if you're on the fence.

Btw, I just got a new set of tires on this weekend and will be getting rid of my 285/70/17 At IIs. They're nearly gone w/ only 4-5/32" left but didn't know if you wanted any that soon (can't remember If I already asked)? Just lmk.