[williamteichroeb]

First of all I have to say that Luke and the 4x4labs team are amazing to work with. The only slight knock I'd have to say, was that they didn't communicate any delays to me, and I was always initiating the communication, however, they were very responsive when I enquired for updates and the lead time ended up being about 12 weeks instead of 8 which is still reasonable to me, expecially because my order was very customized.

They seemed enthusiastic to do a custom build and really went the extra mile to make sure everything was perfect. And I'm very satisfied with it. 95% I'd say. There are only 2 minor gripes which I'll elaborate on below, but I'd still give them an A+++ and 5 star review any day! They're the best.

This is how I received the bumper. It was on an oversized pallet and packaged extremely well. Zero damange to the products or the powdercoat. Excellent job!!

[williamteichroeb]

So first of all, I thought this would be much quicker than it actually was. It's not hard at all, but I have some tips to make it easier for you guys.

No instructions came with the bumper, but I emailed Luke and he emailed me the instruction document. It's pretty good but a few things could have been more clear.

After you remove the mud flaps, bumper cover, rear resonator/pipe, and trim pieces, you have to remove the vent cover. There are some holes that will be left exposed after removing the top trim pieces. I just used gorilla tape to cover these holes so water wouldn't get into the vehicle. The best thing to do would be to get automotive body clips and RTV seal them in place. If I ever have to remove the bumper I will do this. I also don't like the idea of the vent cover being off but with mud flaps installed I can't see much getting in there. The vents themselves are just soft rubber flaps that can move freely to allow cabin pressure to vent. They're angled down so shouldn't allow water to enter easily, but still doesn't make my OCD happy.

Also, it wasn't explicitely stated in the instructions but I had to cut about 1/2-3/4" off of the lower portion of the body seam below the vent (where the bumper would first contact on the sides). This was hitting the inside of the bumper and not allowing it to be lifted high enough to bolt in place. I also had to cut a corner of the rear fender flares on both sides to clear that kick outs. If you don't order this with kick outs you won't have to do this, but because of the angle they attached the kickouts I had to. Not a big deal, but I had to borrow a dremal to make it a clean cut.

I then masked around the paint areas and painted everything behind the bumper, including the hatch area, and the frame where I had to cut it. I did 2 coats of automotive satin black paint. I think this makes it look much cleaner. I painted right over the tape I had installed to cover the holes above the vent cover. Hopefully this helps seal it and hold the tape on. Guess we'll find out.

I highly recommend you tap out your holes and preinstall the bolts to make it smoother and easier when actually holding the bumper up. It probably weights a good 200lbs without attachments and my buddy and I did it ourselves by each lifting a side, and resting it on our knees while we reached down with one hand each to start the bolts about 5-6 turns. It's doable but you'll probably be sweating. LOL

Once it's test fit and you mark where you have to drill out the holes to the 3/4" diameter, you have to uninstall it, drill out the holes, spray paint them, install the sandwich plate and then reinstall it. In the instructions they suggest to pack some foam or cardboard behind the sandwich plate before reinstalling. We were able to not have to do this, but it was about 10 frustrating minutes a side while we maneuvered the sandwich plate with curved pliers and an allen key to get the other nut to line up with the bolt and carefully thread it on a few turns. Because I have the winch plate the passenger side was even more "fun." But we got it.

Lastly, I tapped the smaller M8x1.25 bolt holes in the front of the bumper to clean out the threads and installed them. Only 1 wasn't lining up properly, even with the bumper "loose" so I had to drill and file a small section. I also found that the washer's they included for these were too large a diameter to function properly so I bought a larger but smaller diameter hole'd washer to secure these up. I also added 2 washers between the bumper and the frame to space down the bumper slightly, because upon flexing it would hit the body at the fender. It still will hit the body if flexing a ton I think, but much less now. I wish there was about another 1/4" clearance at the front of the bumper to mitigate this. It would also help the bumper avoid that "sagging" look. It doesn't sag at all and it super strong, but the way the lines are it almost looks like it.

[williamteichroeb]

After the bumper was installed I installed the swingouts. At first I wasn't sure how strong the 4x4labs design would be for attaching swingouts, but I'm impressed. The square tubing has a sleeve fit inside and the bolts just barely go through the attachment and the arm. It's super tight and there's zero movement. It will definitely hold up to abuse.

They did a phenomenal job incorporating the Backwoods Jerry can holder and All Pro propane tank mount. They reinforced areas that seemed weak to them on those mounts, and also installed a Hi-lift mount behind the propane tank mount that fits on a stud on the swing arm itself. The passenger swing arm only holds the spare tire.

The only things I'll say that I wish was different is that the tire carrier should be 1" to the right. My spare right now is a 32" and it barely clears (with maybe 3/8") between the jerry can holder. This is only for mine because they had to shift so many things around to incoroporate all my customizations. I can move the jerry can holder though by re-drilling 2 holes in the bottom, so when I upgrade my tire size, I'll move it 1/2" to the left. The only reason I'm mentioning it is because there's more clearance on the other side to have the most view of the taillights, so Ideally they should have mounted the right swing arm slightly to the right. But I still give them 5 stars. I'm just being nitpicky.

I also had them install the rear table. It's super cool that it's a very strong magnet that holds it up when stowed or not in use. You just have to give it a hard tug down and it will drop down. Another very minor gripe is that it's not level when down. Even when my vehicle is level it's a bit off. Not even for your coffee cup to spill but anything round would definitely not stay on. Maybe there's a way to adjust this. I'll play around with it later.

[williamteichroeb]

Parts removed:

5 year old dobinson's C59-677V coils
7 year old leaking Fox performance series 2.0 sthock for 2-3" of lift.
7 year old 2nd gen 4runner sway bar end links

Parts installed:

Dobinsons C59-701V coils
Fox performance series 2.0 sthock for 2-3" of lift.
new 2nd gen 4runner end links

I already have the extended rear brake lines, which are a must for this lift. I opted not to get extended bump stops or a panhard correction kit, but may opt for the bolt-on panhard extended kit depnding how it drives the next few weeks.

We'll see how long the shocks last with the weight of the truck now. If they fail I'll upgrade to 2.5" shocks with a longer length and probably get bump stops. But this setup lasted me 150,000kms including a few pretty good offroad trips so I'll give it a go again. The fox shocks were so inexpensive and had the longest extended length and range of travel even against some much more expensive ones, so it was an easy decision for me until it fails.

The rears are pretty easy to install so I won't go over much. I will say, I definitely wish I had ratcheting wrenches! Would have probaby saved me 45 minutes of resetting the bloody wrenches!

Getting the long travel springs in was the most "exciting' part. I had to rent a spring compressor and they only had the stupid design that goes insdie the spring. This obviously interferes with our coil isolater so the compressor had to be on an angle and tended to slip which took off some of my powdercoating on the springs. After about 45 minutes a side, I got them in.

**PRO TIP** Use the stock bottle jack between the bump stop and the axle to force it down to make it easier. Just be careul of all your lines and everything. At full droop without the shocks in my springs were hitting my gas tank skid, but when everything is buttoned up there's tons of clearance. Had my worried for a second though that something was wrong.

Onto the shocks:

The shock top studs I just angled grinded off to save time, since they were garbage anyways. This made it so much easier to remove.

The lower shocks were seized pretty good on the lower shock mounting stud. They came off with some good whacks and left the bushings behind which I got off with some vice grips.

Getting the new shocks and bushings on was the real challenge. I had to go to the hardware store for a heavy deadblow hammer. My 20oz carpenters hammer wasn't going anywhere. Once I got the propper tool it was easy and the rest of the job was easy.

[williamteichroeb]

I remember from doing it before that the front would be more difficult so I left it for last.

Parts to uninstall

-7 year old JBA upper control arms (5 year old BJ's)
-7 year old OME 885/medium nitrocharger strut assemblies
-inner tie rod ends
-outer tie rod ends
-original lower control arms and BJ's
-original sway bar end links

Parts to install:

-JBA 2.0 upper control arms and BJ's
-Dobinson's C59-352/IMS shocks strut assembly (with 1/2" driver's side top spacer)
-aftermarket inner tie rod ends
-aftermarket outer tie rod ends
-OEM Toyota lower control arms
-aftermarket sway bar end links


Everything was soaking in PB blaster for 2 days.

First thing I did was replace the UCA's. This was super easy. Old ones cam out super quick. I did have to quickly loosen some hard lines under the hood on the passenger side (think they were AC lines) to pass through the long bolt but other than that was super quick.

On the driver's side I had to remove the battery and some hose brackets quickly to pass the bolt through.

I also used my wife to help hold the washers between the bushings and the mount as I passed the bolt through of the driver's side from the hood. A second person is really handy for this.

The strut assembly on the driver's side came out without a hitch. Again, ratcheting wrenches would have been so nicer for this. You can get a socket with a couple extensions from the inside to get to the inner strut mount nut. So much easier.

The strut assmebly on the passenger side though!!!!! .... My inner strut mount bolt broke off and just was spinning with the nut. No way to get an angle grinder in there or sawzall to cut it out and i didn't have my buddies dremal anymore. I spent HOURS!! on this thing. The only thing I could do was drill right through the bolt until I was past the nut and then hammer it off. I tried holding it with my vice grips and spinning the nut but the grips kept slipping no matter what I tried. The stud and nut were so rusty. This was awful. After that, all was good.

The lower control arms were so much easier than I thought...after I went and got a pickle fork to remove the ball joints. No way around this folks. Trust me!!

The only other thing I'll say is take pictures of all your cam bolt positions before taking it off. I didn't do this because I thought, oh well, I'm getting an alignment anyways. But the camber was so off and was awful to drive the 10kms to the dealership.

New cam bolts from SPC. They work fine, but I think the OEM ones are so much better. I just couldn't stomach the steep cost of them, and wanted new ones. In hindsight my OEM weren't seized so I could have reused them but already had these ones and they're shiny and new.

Sway bar end links went on easy. I already have a sway bar relocation kit so they line up nicely and allow better articulation. I will probably remove the sway bar, but have to keep it on for now because I'm moving provinces and when you register your vehicle in a new province you need a full inspection and I'm sure I'd fail if I didn't have it on.

[williamteichroeb]

After everything was installed. I retorqued everything and used a paint pen to mark the bolts (excpept the cam bolts and tie rod ends).

I drove the vehicle late at night when there wasn't any traffic to the Toyota dealership and dropped it off. I have it booked it for:

-alignment
-transmission drain and fill
-power steering flush
-coolant drain and fill

They performed all the services and tested the brake fluid which tested good. They advised not changing it out. These are the only fluids I haven't done myself so I wanted to make sure everything was taken care of.

They got the alignment specs perfect! Castor was at 4.0 and camber and toe were in spec. Steering wheel is strait and drives strait. Very happy with it so far. I do feel like there's a bit of a wandering feeling to it, which makes me think that I should get the panhard correction kit, as others have said this corrects that issue. But I'm going to give it a few days and see how it feels.

Also, my wife got me a nice compass/mountain decal for my 4runner and helped me install it on the hood. These decals can be tricky to install but if you do a "wet" install and use soapy water and a credit card to sqeeze the water out, it goes on smoothly.

Will take measurements of current ride height after I give it a little time to settle.

Now that all the major work is taken care of, the rest of the things on the to-do list next month are:

-find, order, and install mud flaps
-Dobinson's snorkel install
-windshield washer reservoir relocate kit
-rear diff oil change
-rear diff breather
-transfer case oil change
-sand and paint all skid plates and replace skid plate hardware
-fix mounting of KC lights and clean up connections
-windshield replacement

I've also ordered a few cool mods, that I'll be sharing in the next month or two. Standby for that ;)

[LOSTR4]

SO MANY THINGS TO SMILE OVER AND INSTALL! Truck is looking stellar! Nice work Will! You should notice improvement in all features while driving!

[Richmasse]

Cool stuff

[williamteichroeb]

Originally Posted by Richmasse

Cool stuff

Thanks guys! Appreciate it. I have a few really cool things planned for the next couple months that I'm excited to share also.