Adventures of 4RnR Grl (and build)

[4RnR Grl]

Beautiful 4Runner...very envious to say the least!

Had a Shrockwork's front bumper on my 4th Gen, looks like the quality is still top notch! :thumb3:

I was torn whether I wanted to do a bumper... the old 5th gen mod traded his truck in and sold the goodies. So I took the opportunity, and didn't have to wait on a new one from Schrockworks. The cost was significantly less. I cleaned it up real good and hit a few spots with some rustoleum. The bumper has saved my hide a couple times, so functional as well as looking good. I'm extremely happy with it.

 

[4RnR Grl]

I'm noticing the new quotes from the latest outing at the Cove. I kinda expect something crazy from Corey, I'd sure as heck like the background on the hotel comment. I'm really surprised Maximus didn't come???

:hurt:

So there's a back story behind the toast, eggs and coffee comment......

My husband went nuts on Amazon a couple weeks before the Cove trip last year. He bought a 3 in 1- toaster oven, coffee maker and griddle.... I told him it was ridiculous and that I was not taking it camping to the Cove. John and Steph showed up as I was packing the truck Friday morning "for the show" as John said. Well Doug was adamant about the toaster oven combo... I refused to pack it. So in good form, John gave me a hard time about it all weekend. I might add.... we also have a manual rotisserie still sitting in the box in our garage.... I'm not exactly sure what Doug planned on doing with that... but it also did not make the short list for the trip.

On the hotel comment... we brought our friends Rick and Tracey with us to the Cove... while Rick is a seasoned camper/wheeler, Tracey had never been camping in her life. It was entertaining to say the least lol.

:dance:

 

[4RnR Grl]

Today is get dirty and dual battery day!

 

[3wbdriver]

Do/did you use a Ram mount for your GoPro in the back? I am so nervous to trust something on the outside of the vehicle. I leash mine too though just in case it gets too bumpy.

Nope. I used the giant suction cup I found on Amazon.

The GoPro suction cup mount has always been my primary. So many location options with it. I just carry a small spray bottle of windex and a microfiber cloth and clean the area before I stick it. They are rated to over 200 mph, have been used on airplanes, and I literally cannot pull mine loose without popping the release lever. I love putting mine on the rear quarter panel looking at both tires, so I can watch the suspension work.

 

[4RnR Grl]

Ok. So we got the aux air pump moved into its new location and the battery tray installed along with the battery. We didn't start the electrical work today as I have a couple of details that need ironing out first.

But here are the battery and air pump in their new homes.

 

[4RnR Grl]

I was so excited to get my oil changed this go-round. At the last oil change I installed a Fumoto valve to make things cleaner & easier. I got my length of plastic tubing hooked up to the valve, drain pan in place, opened the valve and success.... oil came down the tubing into the drain pan. That is, until I bumped the pan and the tubing popped out of the pan.


Upon removing the filter I also managed to bathe in OW20. Soda bottle is for keeping oil off the skid... which did work. My arm, not so much. Some days I can't do the simplest things. Sigh.


At least I had some creepy helpers.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

 

[Antman]

I was so excited to get my oil changed this go-round. At the last oil change I installed a Fumoto valve to make things cleaner & easier. I got my length of plastic tubing hooked up to the valve, drain pan in place, opened the valve and success.... oil came down the tubing into the drain pan. That is, until I bumped the pan and the tubing popped out of the pan.


Upon removing the filter I also managed to bathe in OW20. Soda bottle is for keeping oil off the skid... which did work. My arm, not so much. Some days I can't do the simplest things. Sigh.


At least I had some creepy helpers.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

Did Doug make you a sammich at least?

 

[Jhalko]

Did Doug make you a sammich at least?

keep that man in the kitchen!

 

[4RnR Grl]

Did Doug make you a sammich at least?

Hah! He wasn't even home lol.

 

[OneGreenTaco]

I was so excited to get my oil changed this go-round. At the last oil change I installed a Fumoto valve to make things cleaner & easier. I got my length of plastic tubing hooked up to the valve, drain pan in place, opened the valve and success.... oil came down the tubing into the drain pan. That is, until I bumped the pan and the tubing popped out of the pan.


Upon removing the filter I also managed to bathe in OW20. Soda bottle is for keeping oil off the skid... which did work. My arm, not so much. Some days I can't do the simplest things. Sigh.


At least I had some creepy helpers

I get tired of waiting on mine to drain using the valve. Start the valve, smoke a cigarette, change the filter, smoke a cigarette, grab a funnel and get my new oil jug ready....wait for it to drain for another 5 min....close valve. Still better than dropping a skid every 3k.

Probably wouldn't get so much oil on you if you had two normal elbows.

 

[Antman]

Probably wouldn't get so much oil on you if you had two normal elbows.

John you crack me up.

 

[OneGreenTaco]

John you crack me up.

Seriously...one goes too far, the other not far enough. I say we thread some grease zerks in her elbows and pump moly in until it squirts out the sides.

We can rebuild her...we have the technology...stronger, faster....


...and now I've carbon dated myself somewhat to the group.

 

[4RnR Grl]

As the end of the week draws near, I will miss the freedom and accessibility of miles and miles of trails and dirt roads.

 

[jstim]

Not a huge deal to most people.... but after waiting and wanting, this finally fell into my lap.... This means.... I can FINALLY build my storage box and I have full use of the rear seats again (which I never really use).

This is made in Switzerland. It is the only dog crate that has been through extensive crash testing (and passed). This is not cheap, and I only got it because someone was selling theirs (never used) for less than half the cost of a new one (I could never justify the cost of a new one). It's lockable, anchors to the truck, easily slides out, has a front emergency escape hatch, and is designed to collapse to keep the dog safe. It's the Bentley of dog crates. It's a MIM Variocage XXL.

EDIT: I might add: there are about six 4Runner projects sitting in my garage hinging on a roof rack and Dual battery setup...... soon............

Is that a actual divider between the dogs? That thing is awesome... Truck looks good....makes me want to mod my 5th Gen.

 

[OneGreenTaco]

Is that a actual divider between the dogs? That thing is awesome... Truck looks good....makes me want to mod my 5th Gen.

Trust me, this thing looks like an escape pod in person. I've not seen one built that beefy. At the bottom of a large cliff will be a ginger...identified by her recovered elbow joints, and two angry ridgebacks, alive in their escape pod.

 

[Antman]

will be a ginger...identified by her recovered elbow joints...

hahahaha

 

[4RnR Grl]

Trust me, this thing looks like an escape pod in person. I've not seen one built that beefy. At the bottom of a large cliff will be a ginger...identified by her recovered elbow joints, and two angry ridgebacks, alive in their escape pod.

Hey.... you wanna fab some brackets for me this weekend? I 'could' bring you coffee.... or liquor.... or both. I'm going to pick up a sheet of MDF for a temporary floor until Jeff builds my cargo storage box. [emoji3] [emoji3] [emoji3] The seats have made it into the place of no return, the attic. Which means I'll probably give them away in a year, like I do everything else.

 

[Antman]

Hey.... you wanna fab some brackets for me this weekend? I 'could' bring you coffee.... or liquor.... or both. I'm going to pick up a sheet of MDF for a temporary floor until Jeff builds my cargo storage box. [emoji3] [emoji3] [emoji3] The seats have made it into the place of no return, the attic. Which means I'll probably give them away in a year, like I do everything else.

sooooo, how big is this storage box going to be now? Is it going to be 2 pieces like we talked about?

 

[4RnR Grl]

sooooo, how big is this storage box going to be now? Is it going to be 2 pieces like we talked about?

Yes sir. I think the extra length would be good. If you want to take some other measurements with everything out, let me know.

 

[4RnR Grl]

As an aside I thought I would at least talk about removing the back seats. There are a lot of threads that talk about the 3rd row, but not as many about the 2nd row.

We do not have kids that live with us, so the back seats were getting used once every year or so. Basically never. Sunday evening I'm cleaning out the truck and Doug says, "I dunno why you don't just take the back seats out...." I actually had talked about this with Jeff.

So now they're out and already in the attic which means they're not going back in.

To remove:

There are plastic covers over the bottom seat bolts, pop them off, there are four 14mm bolts. With the seat backs upright remove the visible 14mm bolts (one for the center seatbelt). Then flip the seat backs down, you need to pull up the strip of flooring directly behind the seat to get to the other bolts (remove the 10mm bolts holding down the tie-downs). Then flip up the bottom of the back of the seat cover to access the last two bolts on either end.

I also removed the seatbelts. I popped the bottom cover off, then removed the 12mm bolt. I pulled off the thin slotted cover in the pillar, slightly spread it and fed the end of the belt through. It got stuffed into the pillar and the cover replaced. The seatbelt bolts go through to the inside of the wheel well. I wasn't expecting this so filled them with waterproof silicone.