2002 Operation Blackout

The bumper and emblems look really good. With everything back there black it looks like a totally different truck. I like it. Good call on plastidipping the license plate surround. I never cared for the chrome ones too much. Mine has the charcoal gray color one. I can't even tell the taillights are tinted in those pictures. Whenever it stops raining and the sun decides to come out could you get some pictures in the light?

I just noticed our trucks have the same pin striping decals down the side as well. They are almost twins. Any plans to take off the running boards?
 
Unner said:
The bumper and emblems look really good. With everything back there black it looks like a totally different truck. I like it. Good call on plastidipping the license plate surround. I never cared for the chrome ones too much. Mine has the charcoal gray color one. I can't even tell the taillights are tinted in those pictures. Whenever it stops raining and the sun decides to come out could you get some pictures in the light?

I just noticed our trucks have the same pin striping decals down the side as well. They are almost twins. Any plans to take off the running boards?
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I will get some more pics up this afternoon, hopefully I can get it in the SUN! it finally quit raining. I have thought about taking them off... I don't do a lot of off roading, a rough fire trail might be the most I tackle. For those purposes, I can't justify the $ to do a suspension lift, but I would like to throw a body lift on to clear slightly bigger tires, that would give me about an extra inch ground clearance and about 1 1/2" on the BL.

Personally, I HATE these tires I have now, they ride and drive like total junk.

All that to say, yes I will probably remove them when I throw new tires on this spring, probably do the BL at the same time ...

One thing I HAVE to do is throw some kind of lighting setup on so I have extra visibility, any ideas? Aftermarket bumpers are out of the question ($$$). Anyone is welcome to post some pics for ideas.
 
LimitedBlack said:
I will get some more pics up this afternoon, hopefully I can get it in the SUN! it finally quit raining. I have thought about taking them off... I don't do a lot of off roading, a rough fire trail might be the most I tackle. For those purposes, I can't justify the $ to do a suspension lift, but I would like to throw a body lift on to clear slightly bigger tires, that would give me about an extra inch ground clearance and about 1 1/2" on the BL.

Personally, I HATE these tires I have now, they ride and drive like total junk.

All that to say, yes I will probably remove them when I throw new tires on this spring, probably do the BL at the same time ...

One thing I HAVE to do is throw some kind of lighting setup on so I have extra visibility, any ideas? Aftermarket bumpers are out of the question ($$$). Anyone is welcome to post some pics for ideas.
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I'm good with no more rain for a while haha. I don't do any really serious off roading either. There's not much around here anyway. Mostly muddy dirty fire road trails like you said. I took mine off a few months ago and was amazed at how much better it looks. It looked like I lifted it just by pulling the running boards. I also put some mudflaps on the front to try and keep the amount of crap that gets thrown up onto the car down.

Have you though about doing the 99 coils? That'll give you between an inch and 2 inches of suspension lift for not too much money. This is what I will probably do with mine sometime down the road. Right now I've got 265/70/16 BFG Rugged Terrains and they are good tires, but I wish they were a size bigger. When I size up I'll probably go with a BFG TA/KO2 in a 265/75/16.

If you're looking for on the road lighting I would recommend new headlight bulbs. I just replaced my original stock ones after 14 years and 162k miles! I went with the GE NIGHTHAWK PLATINUM from amazon. They were $20 with a $10 mail in rebate and the difference is outstanding. They are so much brighter and whiter. I also put a light bar on the front bumper, but this is something you certainly can't use on the road, but really helps out on the trails at night.



These are still the old headlights in both pictures.

 
Unner said:
Have you though about doing the 99 coils? That'll give you between an inch and 2 inches of suspension lift for not too much money. This is what I will probably do with mine sometime down the road. Right now I've got 265/70/16 BFG Rugged Terrains and they are good tires, but I wish they were a size bigger. When I size up I'll probably go with a BFG TA/KO2 in a 265/75/16.

If you're looking for on the road lighting I would recommend new headlight bulbs. I just replaced my original stock ones after 14 years and 162k miles! I went with the GE NIGHTHAWK PLATINUM from amazon. They were $20 with a $10 mail in rebate and the difference is outstanding. They are so much brighter and whiter. I also put a light bar on the front bumper, but this is something you certainly can't use on the road, but really helps out on the trails at night.
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Same tires I wanna go with! LIKE the look of the no running boards ... U r on stock suspension there?

Gonna check out those lights! I really like the roof lights, especially since they can be installed to pivot to different angles, I just don't know how funny it would look mounted on the factory roof rack bar. I would like to be able to have 2 forward and 1 left/right that pivot ... might b ridiculous looking though ... can't find any good examples. everyone that I have seen mounts them on the basket style roof rack. Have you seen any without the basket?
 
LimitedBlack said:
Same tires I wanna go with! LIKE the look of the no running boards ... U r on stock suspension there?

Gonna check out those lights! I really like the roof lights, especially since they can be installed to pivot to different angles, I just don't know how funny it would look mounted on the factory roof rack bar. I would like to be able to have 2 forward and 1 left/right that pivot ... might b ridiculous looking though ... can't find any good examples. everyone that I have seen mounts them on the basket style roof rack. Have you seen any without the basket?
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Yup, it's stock suspension mostly. It has the original coils up front, KYB gas-a-justs all around and new coils in the rear along with air bags that really help with the ride when there is anything in the back. It gives it a little rake too which I like. I really do like these tires, the only issue I have with them are they tend to slip easily in the rain when I'm trying to get out into traffic quickly. It's not too big of an issue though. If it's really wet then I just pull out slower or put it in 4WD. With the running boards off I no longer rub my pants leg along them and get them wet or muddy as well. I never used the stock running boards anyway.

The light bar is an AVEC brand. If you look on tacomaworld there is a guy over there who offers really good prices on them. Mine is a 37" single row. I almost mounted it to the roof. It's pretty much the perfect length to mount across the factory rains. I chose not to do that though. The only one I can think of right now with a light bar mounted to the factory roof rack is on a 4th gen. (http://www.toyota-4runner.org/4th-gen-t4rs/139354-stealth-led-light-bar-install.html)

I would like to add a basket style roof rack, but I don't know how much it will affect MPG or wind noise. Have you looked at the CBI ditch light brackets? They sound like they might work for you, you can pivot the lights that mount on them, and I don't think they look ridiculous.
 
Like those light brackets, to tell the truth I haven't even thought of mounting them there ... great idea!

On the lift, I have looked at a lot of options, I just don't know what the benefit of doing the highlander lift vs something like this :

2.5" Lift Kit w/spacers & rear OME coils

you get more lift for about the same price? (~350-360 for OEM highlander coils)

OR:

http://www.roughcountry.com/toyota-suspension-lift-kit-771-20.html

Wish someone could chime in and tell me the difference in these options other than height?
 
I pulled this off to do a closer side by side but you can't tell squat of a difference in the light quality in the sun so i decided not to upload 8 more images, Im gonna wet sand it and finish the other one and i will take some more ... not sure why it has a pink hue on my screen but it is straight black outside ...

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LimitedBlack said:
Like those light brackets, to tell the truth I haven't even thought of mounting them there ... great idea!

On the lift, I have looked at a lot of options, I just don't know what the benefit of doing the highlander lift vs something like this :

2.5" Lift Kit w/spacers & rear OME coils

you get more lift for about the same price? (~350-360 for OEM highlander coils)

OR:

3in Suspension Lift Kit for 96-02 Toyota 4wd 4-Runner [771.20] | Rough Country Suspension Systems

Wish someone could chime in and tell me the difference in these options other than height?
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Yeah I like those brackets too and may add them to mine. Now that I have one light I feel like I need more! Both of those run spacers for the front lift which generally aren't regarded as being as good as an actual lift, and they are known to wear out the springs faster. The good thing with the highlander lift is it is all OEM parts which are known to be quality and they don't lift it so much that it changes the geometry of the suspension too much since it was installed factory on some 3rd gens. You shouldn't have to worry about CV's or anything like that with the highlander coils either.

LimitedBlack said:
I pulled this off to do a closer side by side but you can't tell squat of a difference in the light quality in the sun so i decided not to upload 8 more images, Im gonna wet sand it and finish the other one and i will take some more ... not sure why it has a pink hue on my screen but it is straight black outside ...

View attachment 141629
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That looks pretty good! I like the darkness you went with, you shouldn't have any issues with visibility like that.
 
Unner said:
Yeah I like those brackets too and may add them to mine. Now that I have one light I feel like I need more! Both of those run spacers for the front lift which generally aren't regarded as being as good as an actual lift, and they are known to wear out the springs faster. The good thing with the highlander lift is it is all OEM parts which are known to be quality and they don't lift it so much that it changes the geometry of the suspension too much since it was installed factory on some 3rd gens. You shouldn't have to worry about CV's or anything like that with the highlander coils either.
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DUDE! Finally an explanation ... I have been trolling for weeks looking for the answer to this ... tells me all i need to know to go with the Highlanders!

Been apprehensive about just starting a thread because I knew I would get slapped with a "SEARCH BAR - SEARCH BAR ALERT"

THANKS!
 
JohnJMonroe said:
Can you post up what the product names are that you used to paint the bumpers?

Thanks.
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Check my earlier posts ... Rustoleum Bed Liner, not sure what the etching primer (chrome-metal surfaces) was or the adhesive promoter (on all the plastic) but I would imagine all of that is the same ... Got it at Auto Zone ...

If you are looking to take a run at painting yours up ... my advise: DONT SKIP ON THE PREP ... I went through all of that on page 1 or 2 i think ... and let it dry ... water will ruin a paint job, I even used an air compressor to seriously blow out all of my pieces!

Good Luck!
 
LimitedBlack said:
DUDE! Finally an explanation ... I have been trolling for weeks looking for the answer to this ... tells me all i need to know to go with the Highlanders!

Been apprehensive about just starting a thread because I knew I would get slapped with a "SEARCH BAR - SEARCH BAR ALERT"

THANKS!
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No problem. I like the highlander one because it's basically an OEM lift.

LimitedBlack said:
Finally done with the back! :boxing:

View attachment 141661
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Looks great! Now I want to go do mine haha
 
Unner said:
Looks great! Now I want to go do mine haha
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Thanks man ... If you were closer I would help you out ... It wasn't a bad one man job, but it would be MUCH easier with 2!

To anybody wanting to do this, keep in mind that the Bed Liner spray gets EVERYWHERE! I have a 2 car garage and had plenty of room, however it coated every ... EVERY ... horizontal surface in the entire garage ... major pain in the a$$ to clean up. I spent as much time cleaning that crap up as I did on the Runner.
 
Wanna do my bumpers lol..If you want so cool/useful lights do some led rock lights you can google it and they look awesome I do it but im happy with the lights I got on my brush guard....nice truck man..
 
96 ToyRunner said:
Wanna do my bumpers lol..If you want so cool/useful lights do some led rock lights you can google it and they look awesome I do it but im happy with the lights I got on my brush guard....nice truck man..
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I would do them for you ... PM me if you are interested ... Im near Birmingham
 
LimitedBlack said:
Thanks man ... If you were closer I would help you out ... It wasn't a bad one man job, but it would be MUCH easier with 2!

To anybody wanting to do this, keep in mind that the Bed Liner spray gets EVERYWHERE! I have a 2 car garage and had plenty of room, however it coated every ... EVERY ... horizontal surface in the entire garage ... major pain in the a$$ to clean up. I spent as much time cleaning that crap up as I did on the Runner.
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Thanks for the offer! Right now I'm thinking I'll try it with plastidip on the front bumper and see how I like the textured look and feel. If I like it I'll do the bed liner, and if I feel like I would rather have a smooth painted bumper instead of chrome I'll go that direction. I don't have anywhere to spray inside unfortunately. The garage is full of two cars, and other stuff so I'd have to do it outside, but it's a bit too cold for that right now.

I didn't notice it anywhere, but are you 4WD? If so maybe once it warms up we could try and get a few more 4Runners together and run some of the trails near the talladega forest. I've never been, but from what I've read it's pretty nice there.
 
Unner said:
Thanks for the offer! Right now I'm thinking I'll try it with plastidip on the front bumper and see how I like the textured look and feel. If I like it I'll do the bed liner, and if I feel like I would rather have a smooth painted bumper instead of chrome I'll go that direction. I don't have anywhere to spray inside unfortunately. The garage is full of two cars, and other stuff so I'd have to do it outside, but it's a bit too cold for that right now.

I didn't notice it anywhere, but are you 4WD? If so maybe once it warms up we could try and get a few more 4Runners together and run some of the trails near the talladega forest. I've never been, but from what I've read it's pretty nice there.
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Im not 4wd but most everything through there is passable in 2WD if it hasn't come a monsoon ... Ive been through there several times. Some good places ...
 
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