[aemravan]

Its not cookies im baking..

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[xtremewlr]

Originally Posted by aemravan

Day 1 of diff and axle swap and welded total chaos gussets. Making progress. The front diff is already in the car and gussets are welded ready to be painted tonight.

The rcv axles are beefy next to thr factory ones..

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Nice! Something I'd like to do eventually myself.

[xtremewlr]

Originally Posted by aemravan

Definitely. Haven't decided between fox, king or radflow... but yes, for sure.

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Might I suggest ADS? I know they don't list for the 4th gen 4R but the front suspension is the same as the 2nd/3rd gen Tacomas and they can do custom rear shocks without issue.

ADS have been shown to have slightly more travel than the others you listed. Up to an additional inch. They also happen to be local to me here in Tucson.

Arizona Desert Shocks - Shocks proven to perform and outlast the competition

[Roody]

Dude, this is absolutely killer. Bravo.

[aemravan]

Air locker diff install day 2..

My brother dropped by to do some truss gusset welds on his '17 rubicon while I was finishing up my car. My initial thought was that I'll wrap mine up quick and help him out. Boy was I wrong..

I spent 3 hours fighting what I originally thought was a fitment issue with the RCV axles and my factory bearings, etc.. I was developing a gap on the back side of the axle to the bearing bushing that I just couldn't figure out. Long story short...the rcv axles did not come with the factory-style dust cover on the axle.. hence the "gap" that I was seeing. Anyhow. I spent quite a bit of wasted time on stupid stuff, but after a while the front end went together (and I hope like hell I got everything fastened properly and it stays together lol).

The rear was a really quick process.. I'm not sure why a lot of places I saw suggested undoing the brake lines from the caliper.. but I had plenty of room to slide the axles out to remove the 3rd member. It took me longer to fill up the damn things than it did to swap in the rear diff... the pump broke and I was too beat and dirty to source another one. After a 12 hour day on day two, I finally had everything done and the airlines connected.

The air lockers tested out good and hold air and engage, can't wait to test them. But... I am currently on the very slow 500 mile break-in process and am roughly 200 miles in.

Saw some different information regarding the break-in process but decided to follow the one by ECGS since they are they ones carrying the warranty on the assembled members. The nitro gear process stated 50mph max (thus suggesting no highway use) 500 mile break in, the ECGS procedure does not limit MPH and states that after the 2-3 initial heat/cool cycles highway miles are OK as long as kept to no more than 50 miles trips between cool down and varying the speed every 5-10 minutes. It did not mention limit of MPH, but I leaned towards the safer side on the highway speeds and kept it between 55-65 mph in 10 minute segments.

I believe everything is OK.. only thing that caught my attention a bit of a decel gear noise (a faint whine) that would appear when slowing down off gas around 32-28 mph. Does not do it under throttle and does not seem to come/go at any other mph/rpm. I'm going to try and get the rest of the miles in over the next 4 days so I can do the oil change friday and have it ready for full use this weekend.

[aemravan]

Originally Posted by xtremewlr

Might I suggest ADS? I know they don't list for the 4th gen 4R but the front suspension is the same as the 2nd/3rd gen Tacomas and they can do custom rear shocks without issue.

ADS have been shown to have slightly more travel than the others you listed. Up to an additional inch. They also happen to be local to me here in Tucson.

Arizona Desert Shocks - Shocks proven to perform and outlast the competition

The spindle gussets were as straight forward as it gets, and at like 60-70 bucks it was a no-brainer while doing the rcv axles and new wheel bearings.

with regards to ADS, looks like now they actually do have a 4th gen-dedicated product line so I will definitely take a look at them. From a glance, they are for sure not the cheaper option of the other sets but a good quality shock with more total travel would be well worth it.

[xtremewlr]

Originally Posted by aemravan

The spindle gussets were as straight forward as it gets, and at like 60-70 bucks it was a no-brainer while doing the rcv axles and new wheel bearings.

with regards to ADS, looks like now they actually do have a 4th gen-dedicated product line so I will definitely take a look at them. From a glance, they are for sure not the cheaper option of the other sets but a good quality shock with more total travel would be well worth it.

I ran ADS on my 1999 Tacoma and probably will eventually on the 4Runner. Not saying the other choices are bad but I do like ADS stuff a little more.

[drive4fun]

Wow this looks sweet. Subed to see how this comes a long.

[awhitney1]

Nice build progress! Those RCV axles are BEEFY! I plan to get those whenever I get the Marlin Crawler kit.


Are you still using the stock 8" rear axle for the differential?

Do plan to stick with the 4.56 gearing if go to 37" tires?

[aemravan]

Originally Posted by awhitney1

Nice build progress! Those RCV axles are BEEFY! I plan to get those whenever I get the Marlin Crawler kit.


Are you still using the stock 8" rear axle for the differential?

Do plan to stick with the 4.56 gearing if go to 37" tires?

Thanks! The rcv are definitely beefy.

I'm still on the stock rear axles other than 4.56 gears and air lockers. Haven't looked far enough to what the next step up would be for those yet... afraid I might like what I see lol.

As far as the gears and 37s.. I honestly don't know if I'm gonna go 37s any time soon.. its already way more car than I wheel. 95% pavement and some offroad.. if I went 37s with 4.56 gears it would be a similar step up asr the 33s and stock gears to 35s. And honestly with the v8 I haven't noticed much a difference

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[aemravan]

So all the parts except the fenders for the tacorunner project are here. I'm planning on painting the hood tomorrow while the weather is nice.

The grill and lights are looking mean ! I can't wait.

The gears are breaking in nicely, im hoping to be done with the 500 miles by end of tomorrow. Then a quick oil change and I should be good to go to try out the lockers. Cant wait.

After a slight hold up in customs, thr coastal offroad bumpers have also arrived so im anxious to get welding on the front bumper now too !

Stay tuned !

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[awhitney1]

Since you spent to money to get RCV axles for the front, have you thought about getting beefier axles for the rear?

Originally Posted by aemravan

Thanks! The rcv are definitely beefy.

I'm still on the stock rear axles other than 4.56 gears and air lockers. Haven't looked far enough to what the next step up would be for those yet... afraid I might like what I see lol.

As far as the gears and 37s.. I honestly don't know if I'm gonna go 37s any time soon.. its already way more car than I wheel. 95% pavement and some offroad.. if I went 37s with 4.56 gears it would be a similar step up asr the 33s and stock gears to 35s. And honestly with the v8 I haven't noticed much a difference

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[Tomm-]

Originally Posted by aemravan

A fellow FRS owner! Thought I saw some valenti taillights in one of those pics...

[aemravan]

Originally Posted by awhitney1

Since you spent to money to get RCV axles for the front, have you thought about getting beefier axles for the rear?

Naturally, I imagine that i'll have to beef up the rears, yea. I haven't looked too far into what the options/cost would be.

This car currently is 95% daily pavement queen, with 3 off road trips. I plan to do much more with it this year off road wise, but still nothing too crazy so the stock rear axles should hold up for a bit.

ideally the plan would be to swap the rear axles when I am doing the FJ T-case. That way I can also get slightly beefier driveshafts made, and with the down time for the swap, I could pull the rear axles, get something beefier in there, while also doing the bearings/seals, etc. But this isn't something I plan on doing at least for a year, unless the electronic Tcase takes a dump on me before then... I'd much rather spend the money on some nicer 2.5 shocks prior to diving into more drivetrain upgrades.. but we'll see what happens.

[aemravan]

Originally Posted by Tomm-

A fellow FRS owner! Thought I saw some valenti taillights in one of those pics...

Haha you sure did. Its my wife's car for the time being. Looking to get rid of it in the next few months and get something a bit bigger.

34k miles on it right now... may be the lowest mile '13 frs for sale haha

Here is what its looking like right now



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