Recent content by R4Adventure

I can vouch for the tools that Duane sells. Top quality stuff and great service. Anything else is a cheap knock off. Rear Axle Bearing Puller Toyota 4Runner FJ Lexus GX460/470 Tacoma | eBay I used these last year to replace the rear wheel bearings. Made the job super easy. If you have...

A press is nice, but not required. I do have a press, but wanted to learn a technique where I can do a repair on the trail. That said, you just need a large steel dowel and a big hammer. I happened to have a pin that I made as part of a tube bender project, that never got completed. Here's...

This is correct. Not really an easy way to check the water pump. Normally, it's replaced as part of the timing belt job.

I would totally recommend the Sherpa roof rack. When I first installed mine, I didn't have my light bar installed for a few weeks. Mind you I didn't do a lot of driving, but I don't recall any wind noise difference between having the light bar installed or not. If your planning on getting a...

Grumpy02, your assumptions are correct. I recently did the timing belt job on my v8 4Runner. If Mattmaine1991 is just inspecting the timing belt, it will only line up when installing the belt. Once the engine is cranked, it will be tough to the get all the markers on the belt lined up. That...

Replaced the u-joints on my rear driveshaft and changed the front and rear diff fluid post break in as I just had them rebuilt and re-geared. Finally found a good use for a pin that I had made on a lathe in fab class for a tube bender that never got completed. The pin is the perfect size...

I recently had ECGS rebuild my front and rear diff on my 4th gen. It was a special case as I was swapping out the rear to an 8.2" diff and housing from a 5th gen. Rear geared to 4.56's and added ARB air lockers front and rear. I don't live close to ECGS, so I had them ship out the diffs with...

My 4Runner already came with a decent lift when I bought it and it’s working for know. I am currently running Bilstein 5100 shocks with OME coils front (OME-886X) and rear (OME-895). My 4Runner also came equipped with a 1 inch body lift. So far, I have no complaints with this setup. The...

The next dispersed spot didn’t have as cool of a view, but it was still nice and secluded. We only had one neighbor who was far enough away that we still had privacy. Here we stayed a few days and just relaxed. Was even able to go down to Rapid City to restock on food and beverages, and stop...

For our next stop, we decided to head to Pactola Lake, so we could do a little Kayaking and fishing. Pactola is a pretty big lake. And staying consistent to the theme for this trip, it was very windy. Most of our fishing occurred in a cove as the currents would keep forcing you back to the...

We saw a few vehicles driving down into the valley when we had setup camp and was interested to see what was down there. After having breakfast and packing everything up, we decided to venture down the trail. It wasn’t crazy, but did have deep, washed out ruts. You could get to our camp spot...

It got pretty windy overnight. Seems to be a common theme up in South Dakota. Didn’t help that we setup camp at the crest of the hill. Ironically, after the wind died down, I had a coyote not more than 20 feet from my 4Runner yapping for an hour. lol. First night in the RTT was an...

Our first major stop was at a cool spot in the Crooked Creek Township, near Wall, SD and on just north of the Badlands National Park. This dispersed camping spot was recommended to us by one of my friends, coworker. This dispersed sight sits on the outskirts of a sunflower farm too...

I was pretty cool, traveling with a group of kitted out Toyota’s. I will admit that I missed my Tacoma, but really enjoyed the v8 in the 4Runner…. just not the gas milage. (I will talk more about that later, it was really bad). The Black Hills, South Dakota isn’t to far from Omaha, NE, which...

Finally Some Adventuring Time for a break with friends. We had been planning this trip for awhile. This was a great opportunity to get away and check out the 4Runner and the roof top tent combo. Our small group wanted to go some place less traveled, were the scenery was great and dispersed...