Thanks Matt - funny enough was just looking at your cargo build earlier. Definitely got some good ideas off it as well. Good call on the carpeting removal. I couldn't remember exactly what was under there but I had planned on pulling most of it. As for the baseboard, initial plans were to use a thinner baseboard and do cutouts under a portion of the drawer area for weight savings. My only concern was how to adequately address any lateral forces on the uprights so I hadn't figured out how much to cut out. This was another idea I 'borrowed' from Dusty's build.

Good point on the dogs. I had my dog in the back the other day while I was taking measurements to see how tall I could make the box without cramping his headroom. My neighbors probably already think I'm crazy so I'm sure they thought nothing of me tape measuring the height of the dog in the truck haha. That's kind of the tipping point on removing the wheel wells. I think just an inch or two height difference will make or break it for the dogs and still afford me the required storage space AND a totally flat cargo deck. But we'll see. As most projects go - the best laid plans can get turned to garbage in an instant.

I just sourced 1/2" baltic birch locally for a decent price in 5'X5' sheets so I need to see if they'll fit my design templates for all the cuts I need. The local vendor knew his stuff regarding it's strength and feels it would be more than adequate for a box fitting my design.

Loving all these great suggestions - thanks guys!

Similar to gaterose, think thinner material for horizontal parts and thicker material for vertical parts. This helped cut down on height, or increase storage:height ratio for the same size exterior shell.

I used 3/4" vertical pieces so I had some good meat to anchor the thinner horizontal pieces to. I hadn't considered removing the carpet, but you already know my thoughts on keeping the interior in tact. With the right design, I'm sure you could solve all problems you're facing with this build. It just take a little time and a lot of graph paper...

Finally had a chance to swap in the new UCAs. The passenger side Light Racing balljoint was shot after 12k and 10mos. Driver side was in ok shape. Both light racing boots appeared to be well sealed and were undamaged so unless you tested the ball joint or pulled the boot, there'd be no way to tell from the exterior. I have no idea how or when the PS boot was contaminated but the ball joint had excessive play and a ton of corrosion. Both ball joints were brand new when I installed them last spring.

I highly recommend that anyone with Light Racing UCAs frequently check and re-grease the ball joints and boots. Needless to say, I'm done with SPC and Light Racing after having to swap out the sleeves for the bushing configuration re-design and now this. All in less than 1 year and 12k miles. I know plenty of people run them and are happy but my experience has been a headache. Those 12k miles were mostly on road with several hundred miles off road.



Enter the new Desert Racing uniball UCA's from Down South Motorsports. Thanks to @ebg18t for the details on the Desert Racing arms.



Install was straight-forward and they come with 1" stainless steel uniballs and 3 degrees built in caster. The front end is nice and tight again and no squeaks or loud noise issues that some folks have with uniballs. Use a quality grease when installing the bushings and you shouldn't have an issue. I only use the Energy Suspension white grease. It sticks to everything but won't wash out or break down for a long time.



Also swapped out the rear pads and rotors with NAPA ultra premium rotors and AdaptiveOne pads. Been running these on the front for 45k miles and they've performed well.

DIY writeup for the rear rotors and pads



Made a shift knob out of one of my broken hockey sticks the other day.



Saved this small snapper out of the road too...was really tempted to make some turtle soup but my girlfriend wouldn't let me keep him hahaha



Last but not least...got my hobart handler 140! Lots of projects coming up with this now on hand. Thanks to Josh @Whitson_Metalworks for all the help on picking a welder and getting set up. Should definitely keep me busy!

I think you will really like the DSM/Desert Products UCA. They are beefy and well made. Glad you are using a safer product now.

I bought the Redline synthetic grease from Amazon for my grease gun. Works excellent on these poly bushings.

I really like your cargo drawer design. IF you have some extra space on that passenger side, go get a cheap geiger counter, pull it apart and fit that in there! That'd be cool ;D

Really great build and fantastic writeups. I want to follow your lead on the bussman wiring setup. Thanks!

I'm loving them so far! Easy to keep clean and a noticeable improvement from the old UCAs. Super quiet too. Redline CV-2 looks like good stuff - wonder if it's compatible with other moly greases? Currently running the Energy suspension grease on all the poly bushings and mobil1 synthetic for the driveline. I'll have to try it when I run out of the current stuff if it's compatible.

Thanks! I've tried to incorporate everything I'll be using on a frequent basis. The geiger counter would be neat but in keeping with my build philosophy of using everything I add...well, I feel like I'd be inviting disaster by adding one!

Appreciate it! Hope to make a bit more progress soon but I've been slowed down lately with back to back hockey injuries (concussion then a separated shoulder). Then just this week the cam seals on the 4Runner decided to take a dump. So it's been at the shop getting new seals and an alignment. Needless to say, hopefully all my 2014 bad luck is out of the way!

Fun fact on the 2005+ VVTi V8 motors...to replace the cam seals, the cams have to be R&R'd. Not the quickest repair job!

Let's ship over to Chernobyl and do some wheelin'!

Great looking 4runner!

How did you convert the 05 headlights to the 06+ projector ones?

I am looking to do this swap.

Thanks! To swap the 06 headlights in you just need the 06 housings, different trim (little pieces under the headlights) and you can either splice the light wires or get the 06+ harnesses. The 06 headlights bolt right in.

Where's the secondary air block off plates?

btw: I finally got around to doing my HID retrofit on the 06+ housings. If you are ever in the Fairfax area and want to check them out shoot me a PM.

ps. If you ever sell the wheels, let me get first dibs :P

The secondary plates are just below the exhaust manifolds on either side of the engine. You can actually make your own with some sheet metal or buy them online. I tried to find some pictures showing the location (somone on t4r posted up some nice shots of them) but no such luck. If you crawl under the truck or look behind the rear-most, removable fender liner in the front wheels you'll be able to see the junction.

Sounds good man! I'm actually waiting on some new black series lenses from TRS so I can mod up the new housings I got and sell the current 06+ blacked out housings. And I'll definitely put you down as first in line for the wheels...but I won't be looking to sell them anytime soon.

So you just put a block off plate IN the flow path to the manifolds, and the manifolds still have the air injection tubes?

That's correct. you're basically just isolating the secondary air system so that no air goes in or out and the valves cannot get stuck open or closed.