A.Wilson013's Build Thread

[owyheerat]

Great trip reports

I too just read your entire thread and am blown away by your build and adventures.

As a recent 3rd gen T4R owner and new forum member, it was great to see the progression of your build. I'm looking at a 2017 move to the PNW and loved seeing all of the trails and scenery that aren't as common for east coasters to know about. There is so much to explore our there. Who knows, I may use the TAT as my route to Oregon.

Thanks for actively sharing your journey.

I agree ^^^. I'm not new hear, but don't post much, mainly lurk and glean from SWEET builds like yours, @A.Wilson031's. Your 4Runner looks awesome and obviously gets you to and from many great places. Thanks for sharing the stories and great pics. Very inspirational.

Cheers

Durwin

 

[Unner]

Nice pics, looks like fun! Always love looking at your pictures.

Since you're gonna scrap it just send it to me. I'll give you KBB, that's more than any scrap yard will give for your pile of crap .

 

[BigBluePile]

Way to get stuck.....today....

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[Road Bull]

Man, Those are some fantastic pictures. Why didn't you think the first gen could push further? Hard to tell from the pics but was he running smaller tires, or are you guys all locked besides him. I was looking at your build and I didn't see mention of an E-locker or other unless I missed something.

I am wondering how far I might get in a similar situation. At the moment, I am only running 265/75/16s and not locked. But I am eager to get out there as I am finishing up painting my Stubbs sliders and I just found out that my Savage skids will be here Friday.

 

[4-Ripcord]

Way to get stuck.....today....

op2:

 

[A.Wilson013]

Way to get stuck.....today....

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op2:

Man, Those are some fantastic pictures. Why didn't you think the first gen could push further? Hard to tell from the pics but was he running smaller tires, or are you guys all locked besides him. I was looking at your build and I didn't see mention of an E-locker or other unless I missed something.

I am wondering how far I might get in a similar situation. At the moment, I am only running 265/75/16s and not locked. But I am eager to get out there as I am finishing up painting my Stubbs sliders and I just found out that my Savage skids will be here Friday.

The 1st gen was on 265/75/16s (or maybe they're 265/70/17) which are indeed smaller than both of our other vehicle's tires. Not by a lot, but smaller. The main point was that he did not have a locker, which both of us did.

op2:

Incoming.

 

[Scramble]

Man, Those are some fantastic pictures. Why didn't you think the first gen could push further? Hard to tell from the pics but was he running smaller tires, or are you guys all locked besides him. I was looking at your build and I didn't see mention of an E-locker or other unless I missed something.

I am wondering how far I might get in a similar situation. At the moment, I am only running 265/75/16s and not locked. But I am eager to get out there as I am finishing up painting my Stubbs sliders and I just found out that my Savage skids will be here Friday.

It depends on your ground clearance & tire type. It looks like he was center hung so a taller tire would have helped.
Also my truck does much better in powder with MT's than AT's. AT treads get filled up with show & are kind of useless. MT's are designed to spit out mud & rocks & do the same with snow. On packed snow, dedicated snow tires give the best traction because of their sticky compound & they're designed to spit out snow too but aren't that great in deep snow.

 

[A.Wilson013]

Snow! 11 Dec 2016

[MENTION=82047]BigBluePile[/MENTION] [MENTION=144411]Renton4runner[/MENTION] and I went up into the hills outside of Darrington today in an attempt to find more snow. When we got out to Darrington my hopes were pretty low. It was raining and there was nothing but wet, slushy crap on the roads.

Alas, we pushed on. When we got to the start of NF-24 it was still crap. Wet, slippery, and miserable. We aired down and headed up the road with some of us [MENTION=82047]BigBluePile[/MENTION]) sliding all over the place. We stopped at about 1500' to and took some pictures while standing in the rain/snow mix.
DSC_0030 by Alex Wilson, on Flickr

As we were stopped there I took a little (like 100 yard) drive up the road and noticed the flakes were much bigger, and much drier just up the road.

We pushed on.

About the time we hit 2000' everything changed. It was ACTUALLY snowing, it was cold, and it wasn't just ice and slush under our tires. Where NF-24 splits off from NF-2421 (or maybe it was 2420) we went UP NF-2421 and starting breaking our own trail through at least a foot of fresh, untouched powder using the BigBluePlow.

DSC_0063 by Alex Wilson, on Flickr

We continued on for quite some time and the snow just kept getting deeper and better the higher we went.

DSC_0072 by Alex Wilson, on Flickr

Then [MENTION=82047]BigBluePile[/MENTION] got a text message he just HAD to look at, and we were here...

DSC_0064 by Alex Wilson, on Flickr

We thought @RentonRunner would be the one having issues if anyone did so we had placed him in the middle of the pack thinking that if needed we could pull him forward or backward if necessary. However, this bit us in the ass here as I couldn't just winch the big 1st gen out of it's snowy resting place.

Eventually he was able to winch himself forward (or to the right, but who's keeping track?). The lesser equipped 4Runners drove right past his "trouble zone" by driving straight, and not looking at our phones. :fish:
DSC_0052 by Alex Wilson, on Flickr
DSC_0048 by Alex Wilson, on Flickr

Onward we pushed until the BigBluePlow was unable to continue forward progress on a little hill. It was getting late, and we decided it was best to try and turn around.

First up was [MENTION=82047]BigBluePile[/MENTION]. He charged into the 3' of snow off the side of the road and got stuck.

We had the other 3rd gen drive up the road a bit so I could pull up past the 1st gen and back down into the 3' of snow, then winch myself back onto the road, but pointing down hill.

Well, that was the plan.

I back into the bank, tried to use my recovery boards to no avail, and was here... (Thanks for posing, Logan!)

DSC_0080 by Alex Wilson, on Flickr

On to the winching plan! Should be easy! Instead my winch decided I didn't need to go forward. Rather, I needed to slide sideways down to where I was just a couple feet from the 1st gen.

So we were here. (some phone pictures incoming)

Not wanting to continue sliding down into the 1st gen we anchored my 4Runner to the other 3rd gen with a strap, got out a snatch block and I pulled the 1st gen out of the bank and back onto the road.

Setting that up...

This went swimmingly, and pretty quickly (hence the lack of photos).

Pulled Logan out onto the road. With him out of the way took off the anchor strap and pulled myself out onto the road, then had Jesse (in the other 3rd gen) back into the bank where we had laid the recovery boards down (lesson learned), and he just pulled right back out onto the road.

And we all went home.

Awesome day up there!

 

[Scramble]

Beautiful pics Alex & that backwards downhill slide story is crazy! Glad you made it out ok. I've got some black ice sliding stories that scared the crap out of me but I was never backwards!

 

[BigBluePile]

[MENTION=63487]A.Wilson013[/MENTION] remember kids, distracted driving is distracted driving......

Thanks again for the invite, I'd plow for you anytime. :naughty:

 

[4-Ripcord]

Damn, you guys don't mess around with your day trips. Those are great pics!

You have also made me realize how woefully under prepared I am for trips like that, so thank you. Better now than on the trail.

 

[A.Wilson013]

Damn, you guys don't mess around with your day trips. Those are great pics!

You have also made me realize how woefully under prepared I am for trips like that, so thank you. Better now than on the trail.

Thanks man!

As for being prepared... Though the gear is pretty expensive I truly believe it has paid for itself time and time again. I've yet to be in a situation I couldn't get myself out of. I'd be pretty screwed if I were nose down in a ditch or something though, I imagine.

I need to get a little set of snow shoes. Tromping through snow that was above my knees to get an anchor point was less than ideal =p

 

[Renton4runner]

Damn, you guys don't mess around with your day trips. Those are great pics!

You have also made me realize how woefully under prepared I am for trips like that, so thank you. Better now than on the trail.

Me either. Happy to be able to tag along with Alex and the bigblueplow. Not getting yourself stuck helps also [emoji14] I just barely needed the recovery boards when we turned around. This might have had something to do with the other two guys clearing a nice path for me, but whatevs.

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[Renton4runner]

This is was me at our farthest point. I had moved all the way forward to let Alex get around me so he could try extract the bigblueplow. The doors were scraping the snow as I got out of the truck...

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[A.Wilson013]

so he could try extract the bigblueplow.

No try, my friend. Just do.

:llama:

 

[BigBluePile]

Me either. Happy to be able to tag along with Alex and the bigblueplow. Not getting yourself stuck helps also [emoji14] I just barely needed the recovery boards when we turned around. This might have had something to do with the other two guys clearing a nice path for me, but whatevs.

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Oh here we go.....[emoji12]

Good to meet ya, glad you had some fun! Sorry about not getting to the top lol

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[BigBluePile]

Thanks man!

As for being prepared... Though the gear is pretty expensive I truly believe it has paid for itself time and time again. I've yet to be in a situation I couldn't get myself out of. I'd be pretty screwed if I were nose down in a ditch or something though, I imagine.

I need to get a little set of snow shoes. Tromping through snow that was above my knees to get an anchor point was less than ideal =p

Well, no need for snow shoes as long as Garrett is around to trudge thru it! [emoji13]

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[A.Wilson013]

Today the 4Runner very nearly failed it's primary task: Get me and my family home safely.

This morning I left Bend, OR en-route to Seattle.

As I pulled out of the gas station parking lot (in 4hi due to the compacted ice/snow on the ground) I immediately went sideways and had NO control. Throttle moved me sideways no matter where I turned the wheel. In order to get out of the way of traffic on the busy street I just hammered the throttle and slid into the sidewalk as quickly as I could. I sat there for a couple seconds trying to figure out wtf was going on, when a taxi driver stopped to tell me that my rear driver's side tire was completely locked up- not spinning at all.

I engaged the rear locker, gave it some gas, and the wheel started spinning again. Turned the locker off and was back on the road as if nothing had happened, but with a lot of questions running through my head.

Fast forward 6 hours and 200 or so miles.

I was able to cruise without issue from Bend to Hood River (up 26, down 35) The roads were still a sheet of ice, and traffic was stop and go when I hopped on I84 west to Portland. I was cruising along (maybe 15mph?) in the left lane (4hi) when out of nowhere the rear end slid out to the right (and into the right lane). "Knowing" (kind of) what happened, I quickly pressed the e-locker button and blipped the throttle to get the moving wheel to spin, and the locker to engage. Doing this immediately straightened me back out, again, as if nothing had happened.

I was VERY lucky.

My front bumper missed the median by no more than 6 inches.

My rear end (which slid into the other lane) slid into the fairly large gap a semi had left between him and the car in front of him.

The older Jeep Grand Cherokee that was riding my ass was some how able to stop on a dime and didn't run into me.

I lost a lot of faith in my 4Runner in that 10 seconds or so. I drove the next ~10 miles (at 10mph or less- the flow of traffic) with the locker on to be sure the damn wheel would keep spinning. Once traffic picked back up to 50 I stayed in the right lane with the truckers going 25, doing everything I could not to touch the brakes.

Tomorrow I need to take the wheel off and try to figure out what is causing that brake to seize up. This morning I thought maybe my e-brake was sticking (it was COLD and wet last night) but then it happened while I was driving (foot was not on the brake, but I was in stop and go traffic. I had probably just let off the brakes.). I expect to find brake shoes which are soaked in gear oil, but like I said, I cannot see or smell it.

When I pulled over to get gas I was able to replicate the issue by lightly applying the brakes while going VERY slowly on ice. When I tried without ice I could feel it grab, but with the traction of the road it would let go almost instantly. If I wasn't looking for it, I would not have noticed it. The brake does not seem to be radiating much more heat, if any, than the others though it was below freezing outside while I was playing with it. I am guessing that slowing my 6000lb 4runner heats the brakes up pretty quickly and that when there's ice under the tire, that cooked gear oil I expect to find is enough to hold the wheel solid.

 

[Road Bull]

Glad you and your family are safe. That must have been scarry as hell and made for a nerve wracking trip home.

Do you think it might be an ABS, or traction control problem? Have you checked for any codes? The last time I bled my rear brakes for the lift, my rear driver side didn't bleed. We checked with a pump by disconnecting the line to see if there was just an obstruction. It cleared so there was no obstruction, but still would not bleed. I don't think that my driver's side rear brake is working much at all. I have yet to delve into it very much, but.it might be worth doing a few function checks to try to rule some things out.

 

[Coward]

Today the 4Runner very nearly failed it's primary task: Get me and my family home safely.

This morning I left Bend, OR en-route to Seattle.

As I pulled out of the gas station parking lot (in 4hi due to the compacted ice/snow on the ground) I immediately went sideways and had NO control. Throttle moved me sideways no matter where I turned the wheel. In order to get out of the way of traffic on the busy street I just hammered the throttle and slid into the sidewalk as quickly as I could. I sat there for a couple seconds trying to figure out wtf was going on, when a taxi driver stopped to tell me that my rear driver's side tire was completely locked up- not spinning at all.

I engaged the rear locker, gave it some gas, and the wheel started spinning again. Turned the locker off and was back on the road as if nothing had happened, but with a lot of questions running through my head.

Fast forward 6 hours and 200 or so miles.

I was able to cruise without issue from Bend to Hood River (up 26, down 35) The roads were still a sheet of ice, and traffic was stop and go when I hopped on I84 west to Portland. I was cruising along (maybe 15mph?) in the left lane (4hi) when out of nowhere the rear end slid out to the right (and into the right lane). "Knowing" (kind of) what happened, I quickly pressed the e-locker button and blipped the throttle to get the moving wheel to spin, and the locker to engage. Doing this immediately straightened me back out, again, as if nothing had happened.

I was VERY lucky.

My front bumper missed the median by no more than 6 inches.

My rear end (which slid into the other lane) slid into the fairly large gap a semi had left between him and the car in front of him.

The older Jeep Grand Cherokee that was riding my ass was some how able to stop on a dime and didn't run into me.

I lost a lot of faith in my 4Runner in that 10 seconds or so. I drove the next ~10 miles (at 10mph or less- the flow of traffic) with the locker on to be sure the damn wheel would keep spinning. Once traffic picked back up to 50 I stayed in the right lane with the truckers going 25, doing everything I could not to touch the brakes.

Tomorrow I need to take the wheel off and try to figure out what is causing that brake to seize up. This morning I thought maybe my e-brake was sticking (it was COLD and wet last night) but then it happened while I was driving (foot was not on the brake, but I was in stop and go traffic. I had probably just let off the brakes.). I expect to find brake shoes which are soaked in gear oil, but like I said, I cannot see or smell it.

When I pulled over to get gas I was able to replicate the issue by lightly applying the brakes while going VERY slowly on ice. When I tried without ice I could feel it grab, but with the traction of the road it would let go almost instantly. If I wasn't looking for it, I would not have noticed it. The brake does not seem to be radiating much more heat, if any, than the others though it was below freezing outside while I was playing with it. I am guessing that slowing my 6000lb 4runner heats the brakes up pretty quickly and that when there's ice under the tire, that cooked gear oil I expect to find is enough to hold the wheel solid.

-------------
I have had the same thing happen to me, just not on ice. On mine its a combination of leaking axle seal and a warped brake drum. At very low (idle) speeds in parking lots one wheel would lock up just as i eased on the brake. Have you had any vibration under braking at normal speeds?