[FoundedSine14]

Took a trip to Sand Hollow and it became abundantly obvious that my approach and departure are inadequate.

My friend does tours there, here's a video he put together of my experience. You can see the first obstacle (dubbed "The Funnel") where I scraped my Lost Trails bumper. Not in the video is when I also scraped my hitch.

You can see the scrapes in this photo. It's not a huge deal, but I do think it would be fun to weld up my own custom tube bumpers, so this is my excuse to do it really.

[FoundedSine14]

I followed this tutorial to do a "viper cut" on the front bumper, similar to what 5th gens have. I think it came out pretty ok. I think the tutorial creator is on this forum, but check out his channel either way, he has some cool stuff.

I made the cuts with this oscillating tool and a plastic cutting blade

[locked up]

Nice looking truck.

How bad is the rust on the central frame?

[FoundedSine14]

Originally Posted by locked up

How bad is the rust on the central frame?

It's not too bad, but it could be better. It definitely sees some salt every winter but I do my best to spray it down.

[FoundedSine14]

The viper cut bumper exposed my windshield washer fluid reservoir on the passenger side, so I followed this tutorial to relocate it. I've seen Loose Axles on this forum, too. Seems like a chill dude.

My new reservoir leaks, so I need to put some silicone seal around the pumps or something, but otherwise this was pretty cut and dry. An easy welding project. And it really cleans up the front end

[FoundedSine14]

I've really liked the OEM Trail Edition wheels with the 1.25" Spidertrax spacers, but I just don't really trust spacers. They're probably fine so let's just call it my own paranoia and move on.

I sprung for these Icon Rebound Pros in Titanium. They are 17x8.5 with 0 offset. I haven't had the chance to put these to the test yet, but they tout Icon's InnerLock so I'm excited to see how they do.

To compare wheels:

Before:
- Trail Edition: 17x7.5 Offset +15
- Spidertrax Spacers 1.25": Offset -31.75 offset
Resulting in 3.59" backspacing

After:
- Icon Rebound Pro: 17x8.5 Offset 0
- Removed spacers
Resulting in 4.5" backspacing

I feel a lot more comfortable with the new backspacing.

The stance is almost the same. The new setup has about 4mm less poke, but I don't mind since I also sprung for 34" Milestar XTs so all the trimming I've done up front is nearly adequate. I mostly have rubbing issues on the rear bumper plastic.

To compare tires:

Before:
- 285/70/17C KO2s: true diameter 32.7"

After:
- 285/75/17E Milestar XTs: true diameter 33.8"

Even though I ditched the spacers, I still went up about 15lbs per corner:

Before:
- 285/70/17C KO2s: 50.3lbs
- Trail Edition Wheels: 32lbs
- Spidertrax 1.25" spacers: 3.5lbs
Total 84.8lbs

After:
- 285/75/17E Milestar XTs: 66.8lbs
- Icon Rebound Pro 17x8.5 ET0: 33lbs
Total 99.8lbs

I definitely feel the added weight and diameter. I have not regeared yet, mostly because this is still the family vehicle and I don't want it out of commission for too long. I hope that'll change soon because regearing, lockers, and LT are so tempting! Been eyeing some GXs and 5th Gens to replace our 2006 Camry, then this 4Runner will become my full-time toy.

[shiftmx]

Nice build! I really like that swing out tire carrier. Do you have any pics of it during the weld/install?

[FoundedSine14]

Originally Posted by shiftmx

Nice build! I really like that swing out tire carrier. Do you have any pics of it during the weld/install?

I do not, unfortunately. I paid a friend of mine to do the install since he's a certified welder and I have welded very few things so far

[FoundedSine14]

Basic maintenance this weekend:

• cleaned and oiled my reusable intake filter
• spark plugs
• oil change

I meant to take a sample for a Blackstone analysis then totally forgot! I did an analysis last time at 170k and now I'm at 175k so I doubt much has changed.

Spark plugs have been on my to-do list since I bought this truck so it feels good to finally have it done. The driver side coils were a PITA but after removing this vacuum hose then using my little 1/4" ratchet, it ended up not being too bad

I used a pick, like these, to get the connectors off of the coils. These pick tools are always on sale at Harbor Freight for like $1 or sometimes free


I was surprised to see 3 Denso plugs and 3 NGK plugs but I guess that's normal for 1GR-FE engines? Either way, I just replaced them all with Autolites that were on sale from RockAuto.

All 6 of the old spark plugs had oil on the threads and on the head around the plug mating surface. The coils were all dry, the valve covers were all dry. Only a little ring of oil where the plugs meet the head. I'm dumb and didn't get photos of that, but all 6 were like this.

Here's one of my new plugs compared to my old ones:

[AuSeeker]

Originally Posted by FoundedSine14

Basic maintenance this weekend:

• cleaned and oiled my reusable intake filter
• spark plugs
• oil change

I meant to take a sample for a Blackstone analysis then totally forgot! I did an analysis last time at 170k and now I'm at 175k so I doubt much has changed.

Spark plugs have been on my to-do list since I bought this truck so it feels good to finally have it done. The driver side coils were a PITA but after removing this vacuum hose then using my little 1/4" ratchet, it ended up not being too bad

I used a pick, like these, to get the connectors off of the coils. These pick tools are always on sale at Harbor Freight for like $1 or sometimes free


I was surprised to see 3 Denso plugs and 3 NGK plugs but I guess that's normal for 1GR-FE engines? Either way, I just replaced them all with Autolites that were on sale from RockAuto.

All 6 of the old spark plugs had oil on the threads and on the head around the plug mating surface. The coils were all dry, the valve covers were all dry. Only a little ring of oil where the plugs meet the head. I'm dumb and didn't get photos of that, but all 6 were like this.

Here's one of my new plugs compared to my old ones:

The "3 Denso plugs and 3 NGK plugs" tells you those are the original plugs rom the factory, it has been said the reason Toyota did this was because each head came from a different factories (1 used Denso & 1 used NGK) in Japan before getting to the engine assembly plant, apparently Toyota had contracts with both Denso and NGK for spark plugs.

Anyway you got 175,000 miles on the original set of spark plugs...BUT I wouldn't wait that long on the second set, around 30,000 miles is normal/suggested for the V6, I also would suggest on the next set go with either Denso or NGK.

Also I'm not seeing the photo of the new and old plug?

[FoundedSine14]

Originally Posted by AuSeeker

The "3 Denso plugs and 3 NGK plugs" tells you those are the original plugs rom the factory, it has been said the reason Toyota did this was because each head came from a different factories (1 used Denso & 1 used NGK) in Japan before getting to the engine assembly plant, apparently Toyota had contracts with both Denso and NGK for spark plugs.

Anyway you got 175,000 miles on the original set of spark plugs...BUT I wouldn't wait that long on the second set, around 30,000 miles is normal/suggested for the V6, I also would suggest on the next set go with either Denso or NGK.

Also I'm not seeing the photo of the new and old plug?

Thank you for the heads up about my image links! I think I fixed them.

I definitely don't plan to go another 175k before my next set of spark plugs, but it's awesome to see what they're capable of. It's interesting that Toyota would choose different plugs per head - I would imagine they'd want them to be the same. But I'm not an automotive engineer so I won't pretend to be. In fact I did go to school for mechanical engineering but dropped out haha!

[AuSeeker]

I don't think Toyota choose to use different brands intentionally, I think it was more they are both of the same quality and it what they had at the different plants so it's fine to use them.

The gap on your old plugs surely so their age, it looks to be more than twice the gap of what the new plugs are.

[FoundedSine14]

I finally ditched my rear mudflaps and did some more trimming to accommodate the new 34s. Thankfully I was only rubbing on plastic, but I've been rubbing every time I exit my driveway until now.

Just cut the rear bumper cover from where it matches to the fender and take the cut to the end of the flare. Covered the cut with some of this "Car Edge Rubber Guard"

While I was in there, I hammered the pinch weld back and sprayed it down with some rubberized undercoat. I'm not too worried about how crappy it looks because I intend to ditch this OEM bumper cover at some point anyway.

I do technically need mudflaps so I'll whip up something temporary that I can easily remove when I get to the trails. Maybe using wingnuts or something? I'm accepting ideas if you have any!

[FoundedSine14]

I replaced a couple interior bulbs and must have shorted some circuit because all my interior bulbs went out and my key fob stopped working. It was an easy fix, just the 10A fuse labeled "DOME" in the engine bay fuse box.

I'm putting this here in case anyone else has this issue. It really caught me off guard and took me way too long to figure out what happened!

[FoundedSine14]

I'm installing this transmission cooler kit from Iconic Fabrication: 2003-2009 4runner Transmission Cooler Bracket Kit
– Iconic Fabrication

The install was easy, but relocating the horns was such a pain in the ass.

I'm waiting on a Blackstone Oil Lab kit before I do the plumbing because I want to get my trans fluid tested.