Hi-desert Cheapskate build thread - Toyota 4Runner Forum

Hi-desertT4R · 11-28-2021, 12:14 PM

Welcome to my thread. My name is Matt. I’m originally from Salt Lake City, UT. I have lived in Southern Nevada since 2005. I’m an Environmental Compliance Technician for a hazardous waste landfill. I’m also an Emergency Medical Responder in Nevada. I love the outdoors and spend as much time as possible.

My 2007 SR5 4WD V6 was purchased new from Findlay Toyota in Henderson, NV in Feb. 2007. It is titanium metallic with stone gray interior. Sunroof, Homelink, compass and cargo net…pretty basic.

The 4Runner stayed mostly stock until 2015 when I finally lifted it. This forum was a huge influence in my rigs progression. I appreciate all the members who have taken the time to post maintenance and mods for all our benefit.

The dealership did all the routine maintenance for the first two years and replaced one inner cv boot. Except for a couple alignments I’ve done all my own maintenance and modifications.
If it’s not broken, fix it till it is.

Her name is Koya which means Wasteland or Wilderness in Japanese.

Hi-desertT4R · 11-28-2021, 12:42 PM

Quick list of mods/upgrades:

Suspension

Bilstein 6112 w/650# springs
Dobinsons 1/4” spacers
JBA upper control arms
Whiteline LCA bushings
Durobumps front
Supreme Suspension sway bar
relocation brackets
Toytec 3” HD rear coils
Bilstein 5160 rears
Toytec 2” rear bump stop spacers
Toytec diff drop
eimkeith PCK
Energy Suspension pan hard bushings
Energy Suspension poly sway bar bushings-rear
YotaMafia extended ss front brake lines
Toytec extended ss rear brake lines
Dobinsons adjustable lower rear links

Toytec 3” lift springs front-Removed
Bilstein 5100 fronts @ .85”-Removed
Icon 2” rear springs-Removed
Toytec adjustable pan hard-Removed

Wheels

KMC XD 17” 0 offset
Ironman All Country M/T 285/70r17
Kenda Klever 285/70r17 spare
TPMS off mod

American Racing Baja 17”-Removed

Armor

True North Fabrication kit bumper
Hot Metal Fab rock slider kit
DIY engine & mid skid
DIY lower link skid
RCI T-case skid
RCI Metalworks gas tank skid

Lighting

Auxbeam FT-1 LED low/hi
GS Power Tacoma ditch light brackets
Nilight light pods w/yellow Lamin-X
40” light bar-roof
Sealight RGB rock light kit
Auxbeam 6-way chase lights

DIY

Body mount chop
Body lift 1/2” UHMW
Rear link skids
Skid plates
Splash guards
Rear diff breather mod
Cabin air intake screen mod (critter mod)
Running board delete
Mud-flaps chopped
Hitch mount tire carrier
and Hi-lift mount
Rear bumper chop
Console radio/accessory mount

Performance

Nitro Gears 4.56’s
ECGS solid spacers and bushing
Eaton E-locker- rear
Super Pro steering rack bushings
HCF delete
K&N intake filter- removed
Cowl intake mod
Resonator delete
$8.00 side exit exhaust

Storage

Pelican storm case
Rigid packouts
Yakima Mega-warrior roof rack
Monkey Fist

Interior

Pioneer FH-S700BS head unit
Crux SWRTY-61S SWC interface
Metro DDXL-8202 gap fillers
ScanGuage 2
LED dome and map lights
ottratw switches
DAC relocate to dash
8 ball shifter knob - removed/replaced
Circion Designs cup holder insert
Center console hidden compartment
Lev-O-gage
HDPE cargo liner
3D printed TEQ shift knob
DIY dash radio/phone mount
Ram mount
Slip-grip 2-way radio bracket

Gear & Recovery

Smittybilt XRC 9500 winch
True North Fab recovery point/
frame tie ins
Hi-lift 48” farm jack
Viair 300p compressor
ARB Speedy Seal 2
Raymond Innovations TireEQ
MaxiTrac deflator
Husky 10k 30’ tow strap
RhinoUSA 8’ tree saver
Husky D-ring shackles
D handle shovel
X-bull traction boards
Tred board
Cold Steel trail axe.
Sven Saw collapsible bow saw

Comms

Midland MXT275
Midland FRS
Baofeng UV-S9PLUS
Nagoya UT-72 mag mount antenna

Maintenance

Valvoline Max Life- Transmission
Transmission filter @ 164070
Lucas 80w-90- T-case
Power steering flush w/Maxlife atf
Lucas 85w-90 diffs
Denso SK20HR11 spark plugs
Brakes-
Power Stop KC137-36 Z36 kit-front
Wagner OeX pads-rear
BrakeBest Select rotors-rear
BrakeBest E-brake kit
Lucas synthetic dot 3
Napa V-power serpentine belt & idlers
5th gen Cv boots
Left CV replaced-twice
Axle tube seal Timken 710595
Outer axle seals SKF 28739
ECGS solid bushing
SuperPro poly steering rack bushings
Throttle body and MAF douche
Moog rear upper control arms
Moog inner/outer tie rods
Factory Toyota clock spring
EverStart 27f AGM

Needs:

Coolant flush
Valve cover gasket

In the works:

Marlin Crawler HD LCA brace kit
Rock Rash Performance spindle gussets

Wishlist:

3.0 D-4D 1KD-FTV turbo diesel
FJ T-case
Werewolf Portals
Marlin RCLT
Swing out tire carrier

Hi-desertT4R · 12-17-2021, 11:52 PM

Living in Las Vegas at the time,
tint was the first necessity.
I went with 35% ceramic tint all around
with a brow on the windshield.
Never really cared for the running boards
so off they came.
Installed a Yakima Mega warrior roof rack.
Did the HCF delete and K&N filter.
Removed K&N and run a stock Toyota filter. We have some really fine dust in the desert and the K&N just doesn’t cut it.

Hi-desertT4R · 12-18-2021, 12:02 AM

Fog light independent on was the next mod following J.A.’s guide. Later on I added Lamin-x amber film. Hated the orange. Removed shortly thereafter and installed Sealight 3000k LEDs.

Edit. Fog lights removed after front bumper build.
Fog light mod reversed.

Hi-desertT4R · 12-18-2021, 12:12 AM

In 2015 I installed a 3” Toytec lift with front Bilsteins set at 0”, rear HD Superflex coils and their Boss shocks. Also installed Toytec’s adjustable panhard bar.

Currently I’m on my second set of Bilstein 5100’s up front set at .85”. The rears were replaced with Icon 2.0s in 2021.

I have JBA upper control arms and installed Whiteline bushings in the LCAs.

Dobinson’s adjustable lower trailing arms.

Toytec rear bump stop spacers and extended stainless brake lines in rear.

TLar25 · 12-18-2021, 01:33 AM

Got any current pictures of it?

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

Runnin on E · 12-18-2021, 01:33 PM

Just curious how much off road driving you did before the Bilstiens stopped working?

Hi-desertT4R · 12-18-2021, 04:56 PM

Today as of 12/18/21

Hi-desertT4R · 12-18-2021, 05:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Runnin on E

Just curious how much off road driving you did before the Bilstiens stopped working?

Thousands of miles on harsh Nevada backroads and intermediate difficulty 4 wheeling. I have property in northern Nevada and it’s 25 miles off pavement so it gets a lot of time on washboard and rough embedded cobble roads. I had them installed for about five years till the right side started leaking and then the shaft came loose from the valve inside the shock.

One thing I wouldn’t do again is set them above .85”(second from bottom).
It has a lot of pre-load and rides terrible in the front. My next set of shocks will most likely be Dobinsons IMS.

You may be able to see oil all over and the plastic cap on the shock body pushed up. You can also see how bad my stock upper control arms contacted the spring.

Hi-desertT4R · 12-18-2021, 09:51 PM

So in 2018 I bought new wheels and tires. I went with American Racing Bajas in black 17”x9” with -12 offset and Kenda Klever a/t 285/70r17. I bought five of each to have a matching spare.

First few times wheeling I found that I had tire contact with the left body mount.

I used an angle grinder and reciprocating saw to cut it back then I made a filler plate with flat stock and booger welded it. One of these days I’ll cap the end. Edit: finally capped the end

Hi-desertT4R · 12-18-2021, 10:05 PM

BMC worked great. No more contact there. I was however getting tire rub other places. I decided to research body lifts. Being cheap I decided on diy. I followed someone else’s write up. Basically I used 1/2” UHMW to make pucks. I used 2-1/2” and 3-5/8 hole saws to cut them then reamed the centers in increments with drill bits till they fit. 31/64th
I believe. I used 1/2x7-1/2” bolts for the two rearmost mounts, all other stock bolts were reused.

While I was at it I removed the front mud flaps and chopped the rears. Also I folded back the left pinch weld.

Hi-desertT4R · 12-18-2021, 10:18 PM

Yakima Mega Warrior roof rack was added early on, not the greatest but has served me well. I’ve made a number of different brackets over the years to attach tools and lights. I like the Quick Fist brand Monkey Fists to hold tools. I also like to use firearm cable locks to secure the tools. I made some basic brackets out of some random L shaped brackets I had laying around and some 1/4” stainless u-bolts to attach them. Currently I have a t-handle shovel, a traction board and a 40” light bar mounted up there. There are two rear facing KC lights that are currently disconnected.

For a short period of time I had my spare up there. That sucked. Getting a 60+Lb wheel off and on the roof was a pain. My wife would have been SOL had she gotten a flat if she was driving it. I made a tire carrier but that’s a bit later.

Hi-desertT4R · 12-18-2021, 10:29 PM

On multiple occasions I had rodents get into my cabin air filter. I used basic hardware cloth and some 5mm bolts and nuts to secure it to the intake under the cowl. Seeing how others have done this makes me want to redo it cause it looks lame.

Hi-desertT4R · 12-18-2021, 10:38 PM

I bought a 2-1/2” 90° exhaust elbow from Auto Zone for about $8.00. I cut the resonator off about 1/4” in front of the inlet. I cut the hangar off the resonator and cut the left leg off the “A” shaped bracket. I trimmed it to fit around the elbow and booger welded it.