'03 Limited V8 slow build

[llennium]

[MENTION=23427]llennium[/MENTION] Great looking rig, great looking mods, and great pics of your back country playground!

I'm hoping you would be willing to take the time to answer a few questions.

1) why did you choose to run wheel spacers? They make the stance look sweet, but is there a functional purpose?
2) What winch goes with the Bud Built hidden winch mount or is is it a compete kit? Looks friggin killer!!!
3) What needs to be done to add those USB charging outlets? Looks amazing and practical (I haven't searched on this as I hadn't seen them 'till I saw your mod. Rough cost???

Thanks for taking the time to share your build!!!

[MENTION=135766]Powder_Hound[/MENTION], no problem sharing or answering questions.
1) I choose to go with wheel spacers primarily for stock wheel/tire clearance. I didn't want to spend the extra money on wheels at this time.
2) The winch mount is a stand alone unit from Budbuilt. I was part of a group buy on the Tacoma forums and got a great price on an Engo E9000S winch. It's primarily use for clearing trails but capable of pulling the vehicles I ride with.
3) There are a few different styles of thee USB chargers to choose from on Amazon. Here's an example of what I bought, Mic Tuning USB
Also, they are internally lighted and I didn't like that so I disassembled and pull the LED. Mine is wired into the stock 12v socket so no long wire runs.

 

[Baggedug]

Awesome thread

 

[llennium]

i finally broke down bought some 5100s which I installed this week. I was hoping they would fix the rake I had but no luck. Once installed I figured the difference I needed in the front to fix the rake. Since the spacer lift isn't a one for one lift (spacer is 1.5" and gives roughly 2.5" of lift), I got my daughters boyfriend to do the math for me (physics major) and figure up lift per 1.25". Once this was done I determined how to cut down the spacer which along with the shocks would give the lift I wanted and level everything up.

I knew I would need an alignment so I used this process to remove the old shocks (very easy).
Strut install with no spring compressor

I'm still using the Daystar spacers in the rear with the stock springs. The front is now Bilstein 5100 on 2.5" with the Daystar cut down to 1". I used a hack saw to cut down the spacers then used my orbital buffer with a sanding disc installed to finish and smooth everything up.

I'm sure I will have some that don't agree with this process or are purest and would have simply gone with new springs. After picking up the shocks I didn't have the extra cash to grab new springs also but I'm sure they will come with time. For now this will give the lift I want and fix my annoying front rake. I got the front aligned today and it drives like a new vehicle. If I had known the difference the shocks made I would have gotten them much sooner.

Passenger side is dead on 38.5" front and rear from ground.


Driver side is 37.5" rear and 38" front. This was as close as I cold get it. I eventually plan on adding a second battery so the extra weight may bring the front down a little more.

 

[srs034runner]

Nice build! I like the winch! How did you mount it?

 

[llennium]

Nice build! I like the winch! How did you mount it?

Thanks srs034runner. The winch is installed with a Budbuilt hidden winch mount. Here's a link to a write up.
Bud Built Hidden Winch

 

[srs034runner]

Thanks!!! Very helpful!!

Thanks srs034runner. The winch is installed with a Budbuilt hidden winch mount. Here's a link to a write up.
Bud Built Hidden Winch

 

[llennium]

I've wanted to paint my wheels for sometime now but due to health issues just didn't feel up to it. I'm starting to feel some better and decided it was time to get out of the house. I decided to plasti-dip to see if I liked it before painting. I coated the wheels with four coats of black dip and a coat of glossifier. So far I'm happy with it but I just finished yesterday. At least if I don't like it or it doesn't hold up it will come off easily. Now I need to paint the roof rack.

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[danronian]

The wheels look great! I'm planning on doing the same on my gray '03 as soon as I find the time. Great build.

 

[llennium]

The wheels look great! I'm planning on doing the same on my gray '03 as soon as I find the time. Great build.

Thanks [MENTION=139293]danronian[/MENTION], remember to rotate the wheels halfway through or take them off the vehicle. I have a couple then spots since I forgot to rotate. Good luck.

 

[joshik]

awesome build thread. following for sure. i have the SAME rig that i picked up back in '06 and it has been going strong. just passed 200k a lil while ago. gonna put a lift on it in the next few weeks, probably billy 6112 and 5160s. i love the height of your rig and the sleeper look and that is what i am going for too. it is my DD and kid hauler.

what kind of life are you getting/expecting on ur bfg ATs? i have the Nitto TerraGrapplers which i love and last forever. It's about time to get new tires so I was going to get the same or maybe the BFG ATs.

btw, your paint looks awesome. mine looks pretty good still but anything painted plastic is fading/wearing out.... fender flares and lower door moldings. im thinking of plasti dipping the entire lower half of the 4R... bumper, fender flare, door molding...

 

[llennium]

awesome build thread. following for sure. i have the SAME rig that i picked up back in '06 and it has been going strong. just passed 200k a lil while ago. gonna put a lift on it in the next few weeks, probably billy 6112 and 5160s. i love the height of your rig and the sleeper look and that is what i am going for too. it is my DD and kid hauler.

what kind of life are you getting/expecting on ur bfg ATs? i have the Nitto TerraGrapplers which i love and last forever. It's about time to get new tires so I was going to get the same or maybe the BFG ATs.

btw, your paint looks awesome. mine looks pretty good still but anything painted plastic is fading/wearing out.... fender flares and lower door moldings. im thinking of plasti dipping the entire lower half of the 4R... bumper, fender flare, door molding...

Thanks for the kind words [MENTION=27328]joshik[/MENTION]. I'm not sure exactly how many miles I have on KO2s at this point but they seem to be holding up well. They have been the quietest AT tires I've owned so far and with no doubt will replace with the same tire in the future.

I got lucky with the paint and it was in great condition. I have 150k and the fender flares are just starting to fade on the very top edges.

Good luck with your build looking forward to seeing it here.

 

[llennium]

I got to spend the weekend with the wife in the Ozarks for our 24th anniversary. We followed a route we previously took about 8 years ago with the no longer existent Central Overland. It was great weather, comfortable during the day and cool at night for great sleep.

We drove up to Marshall Saturday afternoon and entered the forest in Snowball. Headed to Jasper where we stayed overnight. After eating breakfast at Ozark Cafe in Jasper we drove through Steel Creek Rec area and on to Ponca. After visiting the Ozark Outdoor store we headed to the Redding camp area for the night. Monday morning we cooked breakfast and hit more trails in the Ozarks before eating a late lunch at the Oark Cafe and heading home.

 

[TeamLord]

Black Wheels

Love the painted wheels. They make your tires appear bigger and badder! AWESOME!

 

[campinfreak]

Awesome Wheels

Having seen your wheels I have now made up my mind to do the same.

They look pretty!

 

[llennium]

[MENTION=141557]TeamLord[/MENTION] Thanks for the kind words. I'm starting wish I had gone with 285s but will live with what I have.
[MENTION=139916]campinfreak[/MENTION] Thanks. If you decide you want them black I suggest painting instead of plasidip. The paint would be much easier to clean.

 

[llennium]

Transmission/Transfer case breather

I'm not great at write ups but thought this information might help others performing the same work.

After reading the horror stories others have shared about water getting in the transmission through the breather it had me concerned. I started my homework on this but found info was very limited and not interchangeable from the V8 and V6. I spent the last couple weeks off/on following hoses to confirm my setup. Today I pulled the skids to confirm the front diff breather.

I found the single breather in the engine bay on a V8 is for the front diff. I didn't get a picture of it but it's on the driver side fender well clipped to a harness.

After tracing hoses I found the 4Hi/4Lo selected, transfer case and transmission are tied together and ran about halfway up the firewall. The 4HI/4LO selector has a hose that runs to a connector on top/driver side of the transfer case. On the pass. side of the trans/transfer is a hose with a splitter allowing the two to be connected which then crosses over to the drivers side and runs up the firewall.

The end of the hose on my selector was in pretty bad shape so I pulled the entire hose and replaced. I reused the extra protection on the tubing and rerouted exactly as stock.

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The transfer case is "T" to the transmission and then run up the firewall. I found that my hose was in good shape so I purchased some 5/32" vac hose with a vacuum tubing connector (Dorman #47307". Once connected I ran it up the firewall and zip tied to a brake line until I can get something a little more finished looking, but it's functional now.

Here are a few miscellaneous photos.
T connection for transfer case and transmission

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Tied the two together and used a zip tie. I didn't see a need for hose clamps at this time.

 

[llennium]

Remote temp sensor for fridge.

During our last trip I had concerns with not knowing the temp in the fridge. If it were to fail during the day it would cause the perishables we had go bad. I found that Walmart had had a wireless Acu Rite thermometer for $10, so I decided to give it a go. I have the fridge in the house running with the sending unit and keep the receiver in the living room to monitor. I've been watching this for a couple weeks now and works great.

I plan to put the receiver on the dash during trips and just bring in the house when back home. Allows for some peace of mind when on those longer trips. We are planning a longs trip in the next couple years and would like to work out the little things now so to test real world on our shorter trips and make changes needed. Hope this gives others ideas.

Transmitter/Receiver

Box it came in if interested.

 

[Kris9884]

Very cool rig! I just read this front to back, I'm in Springfield MO so I can totally relate to the drastic temp changes. I'd love to see your 4Runner sometime if you're ever up here!

 

[llennium]

Very cool rig! I just read this front to back, I'm in Springfield MO so I can totally relate to the drastic temp changes. I'd love to see your 4Runner sometime if you're ever up here!

Thanks Kris, I've only been to Springfield a few times but if you plan on being in the Ozarks let me know. Once the weather cools off we try to get to the Ozarks a few times.

 

[bd-wheels]

How did you get the headlights out? I was told at dealership that you have to take off the front bumper to get to the bolt behind the lower grill. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I don't want to just rip off the lower grill that is attached to the bumper...