2019 SAS 5th gen Build

[4rNCMTNs]

Update post ATR

Well I know it's been a little while and here's the little and rather boring update.

Of course it went to ATR last week and had it by the Budbuilt booth and spoke to a lot of people about it. It's certainly not fun winching it onto the trailer with a nearly dead battery. It was an adventure getting it off the trailer yesterday.

In any case the new fuel pump from aeromotive will be arriving today along with the required fittings etc. So within this week and early next week it should be finished at this stage. I also purchased the appropriate fitting adapters for the hard lines on the lockers. I will be so happy when this is done and we have no more fittings issues.

to finish we have:

1. exhaust needs to be completed.
2. reroute steering feed lines to Ram as we do not like them sitting next to exhaust on driver side link.
3. fix remote oil filter mount and block off plate. Correct fittings for this arrived yesterday.
4. tig weld bung onto gas tank to ensure no leaking
5. tidy up rear wheel wells with sheet metal to close it up and re-install the factory plastic.

My travel schedule this month is crazy but hopefully we can take it out on a shake down run next Thursday or between 27-29 Sept, as I'm hoping to take it back to Windrock the first weekend of October.

I do have a short walk around video of the hydro steering system I'll try to upload later today.

In hind sight given all of the planning we did we still missed or didn't buy enough or correct fittings but to start (day 1 of cutting) and nearly finish this build in less than 8 weeks is simply amazing.

The atlas should arrive in mid October so be installed after I return from Windrock.

 

[4rNCMTNs]

Random thoughts after going to see truck today

So, I forgot to mention something very humorous from ATR.

When we arrived to the park last Thursday afternoon we had to check in to get keys to cabin. While waiting in parking lot a line of FJ's came up the hill and drove very slowly by. My 4R was of course sitting on the trailer at this point and the first FJ stopped and said "holy ...." I wish I would of had my camera on to video that because the look on his face and then what he said was priceless. As the builder/fabricator said we could of packed it up and gone home at that point.

Now going back to what someone asked a while ago about how much this costs and if I had a budget etc. I think I already said that yes I had a budget and now that we are nearing the end of this phase, I can say we have just about stayed within in except for the small overrun on the larger tires.

Today they gave me the total hours spent thus far on it and while I didn't add them up completely the two main fabricators spent 291 hours on it. The main one spent 201 hours in 27 days on it. So in total with all the various people we had helping it's close to 375 hours not including my own time spent on it.

So looking at what the total parts cost was and labor I can say it's nearly a 50/50 split between parts and labor.

In the short term before my first trip with this, we are going to install a trans temp gauge and I want to monitor the temps to see if an auxiliary trans cooler will be necessary or not. We all believe it will be but that's unsubstantiated so no need to spend the money on one regardless the expense if not needed.

Today we started talking about what to do next after I start getting several wheeling trips in both before and after the atlas install. We to start I have a spare 10k winch lying around since I sold my LC200. So thinking of moving my 12k from it into the front of the 4R and putting the 10k in the back on a new tube bumper.

Longer term is a hybrid cage to be done before the TX Jamboree and maybe replace the glass behind the C pillar with lexan if it doesn't break before then. By that point I hope to be done.

A ton of people are pushing me, while mostly joking to do an LS swap and I'm just not interested even if it was free at this point. With the atlas this beast will be plenty capable. I've never been about matting it to the floor and hitting the rev limiter all the way up a hill.

 

[4rNCMTNs]

Full hydro steering video

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I forgot to get a shot of the cooler which is installed behind the grill. I'll be sure to get that in the full walk around soon. The lines are disconnected from the ram as we had to steer it by hand to get it on and off of the trailer last week.

 

[4rNCMTNs]

Sorry it's been a little while since I've updated this. Been busy with work.

The truck is just about done. Here are some flex pics from today. Ended up trimming the front and rear fenders a little more to get the maximum flex.

I will take it back to windrock the end of next week and hope that the atlas transfer case will be here about two weeks after. This is going to be an amazing vehicle and beyond my wildest dreams and terms of capability.

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

 

[brentlawson8]

crazy! can't wait to watch the progress on this

This will be awesome

 

[TRDORP2019]

Hope to see some video soon of this thing in action!

 

[rdruss]

Must be stumped on something? Maybe too many mods at the same time?
Give us an update.

 

[Saker]

What an awesome build. Most of us can only dream of, you are making it happen.
Can hardly wait to see this thing in action, should be an internet sensation!

 

[4rNCMTNs]

First ride out

Sorry for delay in any updates, I've been busy with work.

Last Wednesday night I took it out for a short run on some private land close to budbuilt. It's a small 500+ acre plot of land. Did a single rock garden and some other hill climbs and it performed great.

On Thursday late afternoon we loaded it up onto the trailer and headed out to windrock. Arrived a bit late to get any riding in that night, but started on Friday morning. I went out with a small group and rode trail 2 and 16. I aired the tires down to 15 and they performed well. I made a stupid move on a V notch and busted my drivers side mirror off. I don't care as they were coming off anyway for something smaller and far less expensive. Further up 16 I tried to go an a very large and slick undercut mud / dirt wall. Let's just say it didn't go well and I got a small dent in driver door. I could have avoided it but wanted to try it. I will do it again next time.

The rest of 16 was a breeze. I have a video of the top of 16 and I will load it up to youtube later and post here.

Friday night after putting in on the trailer I discovered a fuel leak between the tank and fuel pump. I went to lowes and got that fixed rather quickly.

Saturday was a different story for some reason which we need to diagnose. My steering over heated and blew a lot of fluid out of the reservoir which was begging of a long day. Over the course of the day things got worse but fixed it and got off the trail and home. My belief is that as the reservoir got very hot and purged a lot of liquid the main outlet (16 an) down to steering pump expanded, then when it cooled it contracted and became lose slowly draining all of the steering fluid. I couldn't see this immediately but let's just say without fluid a full hydro system does not well at all. Once fully diagnosed a simple wrench to tighten that and then purge the air out. However at same time the steering joint also failed which we do not understand at all. that too was fixed and all is well but let's just say it was a long day with some great people who assisted me.

Also the only other issue was that the rear passenger bump stop kept sliding up allowing the tire to travel to far up. So now we will cut a little more..

Despite these issues which i'm not concerned with since this was the first real test of the truck we will diagnose and correct. It was a great weekend away in the mountains regardless.

Next time my camera woman will do a better job.

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[4rNCMTNs]

Trail 16 @ Windrock

Here's a short video going up the last hill climb on trail 16 at Windrock. I was aired down to about 15# for this first day out. I did drop to 12# on the second day but as I wrote above it was not a full day so can't say much other that I was able to drive over a V-notch with driver tires on the wall and passenger on other side on V at 12#. Again my camerawoman was not on duty so no video.

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[4RunnerMurse]

Here's a short video going up the last hill climb on trail 16 at Windrock. I was aired down to about 15# for this first day out. I did drop to 12# on the second day but as I wrote above it was not a full day so can't say much other that I was able to drive over a V-notch with driver tires on the wall and passenger on other side on V at 12#. Again my camerawoman was not on duty so no video.


<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DLGAAzQKm_U" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Oh my god that thing looks absolutely amazing. Keep the videos coming, this is like the only reason I check the forums anymore haha.

 

[Jeremy556]

You should air down a lot more. I run 8psi on streetable 35" MTs in the rocks. Try 5 if you have a good quality gauge. Those tires probably won't even squat at all at 5.

 

[4rNCMTNs]

You should air down a lot more. I run 8psi on streetable 35" MTs in the rocks. Try 5 if you have a good quality gauge. Those tires probably won't even squat at all at 5.

Agreed. These tires can go down to 3. I had 12# on Sunday and next time out I'll try 8-9 and work my way down to 3. At this point not trying to do a lot of crazy stuff and just get used to width, suspension etc of this entirely new vehicle. The width and overall size is what's taking the longest.

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[2021nightshade4x4]

Can we get a 0-60 on that


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[4rNCMTNs]

Can we get a 0-60 on that

not quite as fast as my '12. It's not a slouch but far from fast.

 

[4rNCMTNs]

Mid November Update

So it's been quite some time since my last update and things will start flowing more frequently now. Was waiting for the Atlas to ship and just finished other jobs.

It was put back on the lift to get a good look at what really happened my first day out. A lot easier to look at everything when it's up in the air then on the ground and all dirty.

So here's what we found:

1. Both rear bump stops had issues. I knew this as I had to tighten them up after day 1. The passenger can ripped the frame a little. All is no problem and easy fixes. We will remove both and reinforce the frame in this area and fabricate different top to bracket to keep the cans secure.

2. The bump problem is what most likely caused my cut fuel line and hard starting issues but more on that soon. At some point the top of the rear links went up and first just barely cut the fuel line. The driver side top link went up and crushed the evap line, this alone is most likely what caused the hard starting issue.

3. Need to extend pad for front bumps a little as depending on angle of axle they are hitting the edge or sliding off under compression.

4. Few other minor details on links and steering rod ends.

5. For my major steering issue, we are going to add more line and either a secondary cooler, small fan, or something.

After 20+ long weeks the atlas should have finally shipped yesterday. Therefore we are hoping to get it installed in the next several weeks.

Things to complete after first run in addition to the items mentioned above.

1. cut rear fenders some more after the damage from the bump stops. This will create a little safety room. May rebuild rear inner fender wells.

2. cut little more and re-engineer the front fender wells for more clearance as there was quite a bit of rubbing under compression.

3. Thinking of moving the gas tank a little forward and rotating evap canister 90 degrees to make room for rear winch. I don't need this but I have a spare winch since I sold my LC200. You never know and I'm sure at some point it will come in handy.

I finally get my tow rig and trailer in a few weeks and we will go on a trip or two over the upcoming holidays. So the real fun and continued learning is close. Goal now as we approach the finish line is to always have the truck in a state that it can be put on the trailer and go wheeling.

I will also get some road wheels and tires to drive it some to fluids moving, batteries charged, etc.

 

[FiveO4Runner]

If you trim those fenders anymore those tires will be in the cab....hahaha, what an awesome truck.

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[4rNCMTNs]

An early Christmas present arrived today. Finally after nearly 6 months the Atlas 4sp has arrived. Total reduction is 10.4:1 (3.81 x 2.72).

This should be installed soon and maiden voyage with it and even further strengthen frame in December.

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[4rNCMTNs]

Today we got the 4Runner weighed and if you look at my very first post in this thread you see when I drop it off, it weighed 6,000 lb and today with the spare tire in the back it weighs 6,680 lb. I would say if we remove the tire and put the drawers in it's going to weigh somewhere around 6,450 lb. All of the weight gain even after all of the cutting is coming from the wheels and tires. So really wheels and tires aside it has lost weight.

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[4rNCMTNs]

A question for you all. I was up at the shop yesterday as we were making a plan to get to completion as well as finish a few small things so we can get out over the holidays later this month.

In any case the atlas is ready to be installed and yesterday we discussed something which I never thought we would. Last year I was one of it not first to do yummy tuck to gain ground clearance in middle of vehicle.

Now we are thinking of clocking the atlas down , losing 2-3" of ground clearance in middle of the vehicle so we could have a one piece front drive shaft. The ground clearance would be no lower than the 4 link mounting points and it would be a flat bottom under the atlas.

At the moment I gave a 2 piece front drive shaft due to the packaging issues. There is a short shaft with a carrier bearing and then front shaft which goes down to front diff. If we clock the atlas down it will allow us to clear a lot of things, and maybe even fit two cats back in.

So my question, is do you agree with me that sacrificing a small amount of ground clearance ( I have 43" tires is this really an issue) in order to have a single piece front drive shaft worth it? I think absolutely.

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