[Jhalko]

Ok, well it's taken forever mostly because of time, work and motivation but 5 years and many miles and mods later I'm going to get this done. Many folks on here start a build thread the day they buy their truck, I've got 82k on it and have had so many adventures already I need a place to document all this stuff. Here is what is was stock:



Hopefully this all works and if not I'll fix it when I can... I'm packing for a big road trip now! I plan to update this thread as quickly as i can with all the mods and pictures of them that I have, so hopefully you'll see a lot posted quickly, then probably a 4-5 day gap then more, and so on, as internet allows!

This all started innocently enough, I bought a limited, I needed better tires, go to my local discount and they wouldn't mount anything decent on a 7" rim. The research begins, I find this site and the money drain starts. Since then I've met a ton of members, made it to Overland East (aka hurricane joquin), gotten up to the Cove and my modding skill has grown exponentially while my bank account has shrunk by a lot, but this truck is awesome and we've had so many wonderful family adventures! Here is how it sits today:



The details will come....

[Jhalko]

Reserved... work in progress. In no particular order...

Mods:
- RCI steel skid plates front to back
- Toytec Boss suspension-Now running Superflex HD rear springs, previously SAW
- Shrockworks step sliders
- OE Trail Edition Rocker and front cap
- Camelback Metal Gear roof rack (drabbits)
- Gobi ladder with HD struts for lift gate
- Trasharoo sometimes mounted to ladder...
- Tepui Kukenam Sky RTT
- ARB 2500 awning and room
- Rotopax 2 gallon water jugs...
- Rigid Industries upper and lower front grill- SR20 and Amber D2 Driving
- CBI rear bumper, no swingout, Rigid Dually floods
- Spod for power mgmt-Behind fuse box on driver side
- 3 Switch Contura panel installed below factory switches
- Indel B 12v Fridge 40L
- Constant hot 12v on driver side of cargo area with 8g ARB wiring straight to the batter for fridge
- LE w/ third row cheap and fast removable fridge mount
- Bearcat 980SSB mounted inside the center console
- Camburg Moog Ball Joint UCA
- Hi Lift jack
- Rigid Radiance 40" (white) in garage waiting to be installed
- CBI single passenger ditch bracket with Firestick 2 mounted for CB
- ARB CKMA 12 sitting in the garage waiting to be installed...

[Jhalko]

Yeah this one is mine too...

[Jhalko]

First mod on tap after realizing I would be taking it off road was to get rid of the stock 20" wheels, being cheap on this and not being in love with anything after market I picked up a set of the SR5 wheels for next to nothing after putting about 20k miles on it. At that point I put Goodyear SilentArmors in a C load on the SR5 wheels, this was a great combo given solid snow traction as I am up in the Summit County a TON during ski season and they were solid off road in dry conditions. (I hate mud) Note, I sold my stock LE wheels with somewhat worn tires for more than I paid for the SR5 wheels...

[Jhalko]

New tires... well next up was a required trip to Moab! At this point I had been to Moab at least 12 times and every single time only to Mtn bike, I had been out some of the roads to camp but this was site seeing with my wife and we hit a couple easy trails. Even with the stock step boards it was fine. We then went down to Durango and back via 285...







Tried to go through Ouray down to Durango but Red Mtn pass had construction, brutally I had to back track like 1.5hrs to go the other route, oh and I had the flu while doing this. Not fun!

[Jhalko]

I had added the Rigid Industries lower grill at this point, super easy mod, take the plastic shroud over the radiator off, remove ONE bolt, then use a panel removal tool to pop out the lower grill. This is detailed in some of the Satoshi mod threads so you can look for pictures there.

This was the point where I found that I love the Dremel tool, used that puppy to cut out the grill to install the Rigid stainless grill, still in and after about 3 winters of mag chloride it's still in great shape, has held up better than the faux chrome and the paint on my lift gate actually! I started with dually spots and upgraded to Amber D2 driving lights, which are nice with specific conditions, most of the time they don't do much though.

I love my dremel.

[Jhalko]

It was at this point that I had fully caught the bug... not the flu, I was over that! But realized I wanted a lift and with two small kids I wanted to plan for future adventures so I wanted a roof rack. I agonized over pulling out Xreas and decided if I was going to do it I wouldn't go too cheap but didn't want to go crazy as I wasn't sure how often I would be offroading. I decided to get the Toytec Boss coil overs and since I was going to stay with stock size tires I would try the SAW rear coils with some Bilstein 5100's. Coming from Xreas I had zero complaints with the change, the lift and C load tires were a great ride and the highway ride was still great. Keep in mind I came from a Heep SUV that had so much body roll the Xreas felt like a sports car... I kid you not it was that bad. Anyway, love the Toytec Boss ride and price point...



Here is where I'll comment on the rack... I have the Camelback Metal Gear rack (drabbits) when I bought it was promised a 3 month wait time, it took 4 months. The product is solid but you can read the thread and issues with what I feel is unacceptable wait times, no one should have to wait a year with zero communication after paying in full for a product, that's my feelings, still a nice rack. I do have some rust spots and at first it was a concern but it's not terrible and it is steel, they will all rust. If I was buying today I would try to go aluminum perhaps.

Also, I paid to have my lift installed, no time or confidence myself, I took it to High Country 4x4 here in Denver. Excellent service and it was perfect, including the alignment on stock UCA's, Caster was low but other than highway driving being a bit darty, it drove perfect. At that point the lift was around 2.5" front and 1.5" rear, I have third row for what its worth.

[Jhalko]

The above picture was like it's awkward pre-teen stage, almost ready for more difficult stuff, but those low hanging step rails just scream mall crawler... So once again, cool new mod (lift) means a trip to Moab! (Minus those step rails as Shrockworks step sliders had been on order from a GB)

This is was one of those times things don't go quite as planned but you still end up having a great time. I had planned a weekend in Moab, camping a couple nights, hitting a couple trails and maybe a couple easier mtn bike rides. Turned out @3wbdriver was on his big road trip and I happened to PM to see where he would be, we would be in Moab at the same time and decided to meet up. This ended up being literally the first time it ever rained on me in Moab in 10+ years of going out there... being concerned about getting out on the rocks with a huge downpour we opted for a fairly easy trail and had a good time. Even had a broken down SBS try telling us we couldn't make it up the trail. (Ironic since he was getting towed back himself!)



Not long after our run and chat I found a camp spot... notice water puddles from downpour.

[Jhalko]

The next day I decided I would just do an easy trail, still too wet for me to want to mtn bike. Turned out the "easy" gravel road was washed out which made things quite interesting, the easy water crossings were still easy but at least it was entertaining. At the top of the mountain I was stupid and thought I'd cruise through a somewhat more muddy section, clearly misjudging how bad it was I almost got myself stuck.. I had my imitation Maxsa tracks and they might have helped but was able to get out not treading as lightly as I would have liked...

At the top before almost getting stuck...


This was the "clean" side after almost getting stuck...


After that I pushed hard to get back to Denver by dinner, luckily (I say somewhat sarcastically) it rained very heavily for at least an hour on the ride home. FREE CARWASH! Nearly a YEAR later I was still washing that Moab mud out... good times!

[Jhalko]

Quick note on the mods at this stage, the exterior stuff was all bolt on, I'll eventually go back and provide links for what I used as guidance. It was all based on write up's others had already done. The rigid grills were straightforward once I got the factor grills out (thank you again dremel). The RI lights were wired straight off the battery at this stage, I suck at electrical and just followed their instructions, the RI harness has a built in relay and I used AOB switches I had gotten in a group buy. The only downside was to ensure I didn't forget and leave them on a run down the battery. I only left the lower ones on once over the next year or so and they draw so little power it didn't matter (this was while I had stopped for an hour or two). It was also at this point that I had read every single built thread and PM'd with @Antman a few times with the most basic dumb questions. He responded with detailed answers and was so helpful... the guy is a saint.

So again, at this stage it was all bolt on stuff basically, other than dremeling out the factory grills. My thought on that was, well the worst I can do is cut the plastic wrong and have to buy a new grill and start over, costly but I wasn't going to blow anything up or kill myself! I have stated I'm not that handy, but really I just hadn't done any of this type stuff in a long long time. When I was a kid we couldn't really afford to take it in to a shop when a car broke down so I remember helping my dad do all kinds of stuff, he's also super good with electrical. I have built at least 3 mountain bikes from the frame up, two roads bikes, plus I've rebuilt 3 different suspension forks. I guess I'm handy enough to buy a book and figure it out... I try to know my limits and start small. Everything I've done I believe anyone could do, just go slow and ask questions when you aren't sure!

[Jhalko]

Next up I did Georgia pass, one side is easy gravel road, the other side is easy for a stock 4runner but does require low range and Atrac is very helpful if you are going up the hard side. I've now been over it at least once each of the last three years, one section has gotten a little harder but a good driver I'm sure could get through with just 4 low.

My idea of a deep water crossing, haha


I went over Webster pass as well, I think it's rated Moderate by Wells, really just one small narrow section but otherwise it's easy and I think best to run from 285 over towards Keystone if you've never done it or are nervous. It's fairly rocky so not sure how stock tires would fair, I had the GY SilentArmors in C load and don't think I bothered to air down. The views at the top are great...


Looking up to Webster pass


I'll throw this in as well as it was around this time I think... while up in Summit hiked Mesa Cortina, probably the best fall colors I've seen in CO that year.


At this stage I was starting to camp and explore the easy gravel roads and such and studying more moderate stuff. I used to be a big backpacker and mtn bike racer, that doesn't work as well with small kids so building out the runner for family camping has replaced ANY backpacking.

[Jhalko]

The sliders were in and I got the OE trail edition rockers so those went on ASAP... it was at this point it started looking a bit more like a proper off road truck. The amount of clearance gained plus protection was better than expected. In removing the factory LE rocker and replacing with Trail rocker plus step sliders I still gained an 1 1/4"!!! The difference from the LE rocker to the Trail rocker alone was 3.5" if my notes are correct! At this point I started looking back and admiring the truck again when I would park sometimes.



I liked this setup for sure... still look at it with admiration.


Also, I did need to trim the front caps to get them to fit, some have said the 10-13 SR5's don't, check before cutting, I'll include this just for reference:

[Jhalko]

Next up was a trip to Jones pass, very easy, I did use 4 low on the steeper section, had a nice picnic with the family on the way to Summit County. This was the day my wife agreed that we should get an ARB awning and also around the time she stopped questioning mods... Early on we discussed each expenditure and why... starting to get more family picnics and camping in she started enjoying it more. Not to mention all the wildlife we've seen, sometimes extremely close, some of which she had never gotten so close to in her 25 years of living in CO!

These were mid July, notice snow still there, and the pass itself was still blocked!


Kids had a blast, enjoyed the PBJ's and other snacks!

[Jhalko]

Took my son camping, near Jefferson lake off Hwy 285, scenic but the mosquito's were TERRIBLE! We slept well and had bison dogs for dinner, a camping favorite for my son and I!



Took the long way home the next day... literally we drove down to Co springs basically then drove the entire length of Rampart Range road home. Interesting once, won't do that again if I can avoid it.

[Alaska_4Runner]

Originally Posted by Jhalko

@Jhalko

I like this, I can't help but admire your 4Runner!.
I have a 2012 and I'm currently looking at options as I just ordered new step sides.

By chance do you have the part numbers?