aemravan's build thread - project TacoRunner

[aemravan]

What kind of long travel shocks did you go with?

I haven't bought anything yet... kinda need to make sure I can sell off the current ones without taking too large of a loss.. I feel like $400 off from my original $1400 price tag for 3 trail rides and 3400 miles I can live with.. if its any lower I'll probably stick with my current setup for a bit.

But, with that said, I'm looking at the Metal Fab extended travel kit that uses their progressive spring and the Icon 56550 Metaltech LT R 2.0 shock. Looks like I can do the full setup with extended bump stops, shocks and springs for right around $760 which isn't bad and should be in stock.

 

[aemravan]

So after parking my car facing down the incline for the weekend I came back from a trip to find an inch of standing water in my drivers floorboard.. being not the first time this happened I decided to take a look at my sunroof drains having heard they clog.

Long story short… looks like my sunroof seal has been leaking for a while and along with a clog in the drain allowed water to pool there and essential rust through the sunroof. By far the worst rust damage the entire has, which is flurry fortunate I guess I gave it a good wire rush clean and hit it with some primer. Probably need to replace the seal or think about sealing the sunroof shut since I don’t use it ever.. After doing some digging online I was able to find multiple posts with identical damage. Looks like the sunroof seal dries out and allows for water to get in behind it and not make its way to the drain for a while, which in turn causes rust, which then falls off and clogs the drain, like it did for me.
I also found out that the seal is not a replaceable OEM part because its attached to the glass, and you would basically have to source a new glass piece or at minimum take apart the sunroof and try to adhere an aftermarket seal to it (neither of which I am looking to do). I dropped in some silicone into the groove and placed the seal back on the front edge, hopefully it seals enough. I have no need for my sunroof, but I did use it for access to the top of the windshield so I don't really want to seal it complete shut unless I really have to. I'm hoping my patch job leaves it good for a while.

I also found rust along the windshield line on the roof which I found surprising. It too was fairly bad but I hit it with the wire brush and through some silicone along the entire seam to seal it off some. I would say this repair to be done right id need the windshield out to give me space to work. I did find a video online where a glass repair shop was redoing a 4runner windshield that had similar-ish rust issues which turned out to be from an improper glass replacement at some point in its life. Maybe thats what happened here, but who knows. I'll let it be for a little while and then have the glass taken out so I can really scrub it down an hit it with primer before they put in a new one. These repairs are not the ones I enjoy doing... lol.


With regards to the sunroof drain… who at Toyota designed the exit cavity ?? I thought I was crazy when I poured water to test the drain and saw it pouring out of what looked like a seam between two panels on the front wheel well… turns out from what I can find online that’s actually how it was designed…? So a drain tube leads the water all the way down the pillar and into the rocker panel area but does go all the way out but instead allows it to seal from between panels in some opening …? That sounds ass backwards and just asking for rust… not to mention this is going to be right in the area that I am planning on rubbing later for 37s.. I’m thinking I’ll take that opportunity to provide and actual exit tube for the water.. but, after doing all this, I think my actual issue was a blunder on my part... if you look at the first picture you'll see my radio antenna wire lazily coming through the door seal opening (which obviously keeps both of the seals from closing completely when the door is shut) and this is probably why I am seeing water coming out of the bottom side of the dashboard onto the floorboard when i'm parked backwards on an incline (maybe?) My original thought that it was from the sunroof probably isn't correct because none of my headliner or pillar was wet..

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[aemravan]

Well...while doing some late evening searching on the water infiltration issue with the sunroof I found out that it's actually fairly common (kind of shitty of Toyota to not take any action against this... this is clearly an issue if they can have 3rd gen 4runners with sunroofs with 0 issues but the 4th gens start developing leaks, some as early as 4-5 year old vehicle) issue with the 4th gens that have sunroofs and live outside of the garage in sunny regions that get a decent rain.. but whatever, now that I know it's a problem area I will keep an eye on it. Worst case I'll get close off the sunroof permanently later on..

after getting that sorted out I somehow ended up ordering a set of Dobinson long travel rear shocks and their springs.... yay.. lol. I am absolutely terrible at this impulse buying thing... I don't even know if i'll be able to sell my near-new Icon 2.5 rear shocks that I just spent $1400 on 6 months ago and put on a whopping 3400 miles.... I really need to get better at this.. but , with that said, having a 12" travel shock along with my upgraded rear links I should be able to get quite a bit more down travel out of my setup.. kind of excited about that.. this should hold me over until I'm ready to do a 3-link (possibly a reverse triangulated 4link) in the rear but with these shocks on order I would only do that if I am swapping axles.. at that point I would probably need something like a 14" travel shock, possibly 16" but that will be a conversation for a different day. Hopefully these are actually in stock as promised on the website... now to go and try to sell my rear shocks..

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[awhitney1]

That great about the long travel shocks...cheaper than the ICONs!

Well...while doing some late evening searching on the water infiltration issue with the sunroof I found out that it's actually fairly common (kind of shitty of Toyota to not take any action against this... this is clearly an issue if they can have 3rd gen 4runners with sunroofs with 0 issues but the 4th gens start developing leaks, some as early as 4-5 year old vehicle) issue with the 4th gens that have sunroofs and live outside of the garage in sunny regions that get a decent rain.. but whatever, now that I know it's a problem area I will keep an eye on it. Worst case I'll get close off the sunroof permanently later on..

after getting that sorted out I somehow ended up ordering a set of Dobinson long travel rear shocks and their springs.... yay.. lol. I am absolutely terrible at this impulse buying thing... I don't even know if i'll be able to sell my near-new Icon 2.5 rear shocks that I just spent $1400 on 6 months ago and put on a whopping 3400 miles.... I really need to get better at this.. but , with that said, having a 12" travel shock along with my upgraded rear links I should be able to get quite a bit more down travel out of my setup.. kind of excited about that.. this should hold me over until I'm ready to do a 3-link (possibly a reverse triangulated 4link) in the rear but with these shocks on order I would only do that if I am swapping axles.. at that point I would probably need something like a 14" travel shock, possibly 16" but that will be a conversation for a different day. Hopefully these are actually in stock as promised on the website... now to go and try to sell my rear shocks..

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[aemravan]

That great about the long travel shocks...cheaper than the ICONs!

Yea at least I'm not spending extra... still looking at $400 loss on my Icons IF i can sell lol. Plus I"m losing the remote reservoir along with the adjuster valve but i'm willing to live with that for added travel.. we'll see how it works out

 

[awhitney1]

I can't believe the long travel shocks are almost a grand cheaper with less features besides being 'long travel'. I would think the $1400 ICON shocks would be long travel for that price!

Yea at least I'm not spending extra... still looking at $400 loss on my Icons IF i can sell lol. Plus I"m losing the remote reservoir along with the adjuster valve but i'm willing to live with that for added travel.. we'll see how it works out

 

[aemravan]

I can't believe the long travel shocks are almost a grand cheaper with less features besides being 'long travel'. I would think the $1400 ICON shocks would be long travel for that price!

Well the biggest price difference between the dobinson long travel and the more expensive Icon's I'm on now are the fact that the Icon's are a wider diameter shock tube with an external reservoir plus and adjuster valve, those two options alone added quite a bit of money, but for the driving I do I don't see the advantage of having additional fluid (which unless I am wrong basically allows it to stay cooler and not fade when you are doing high speed desert running for instance and the shock is constantly cycling) for low speed crawling and city driving..

Icon does actually offer a long travel shock that I would needed in the same set up, but I was unaware of that... and it would have been an extra 200-300 bucks from what I could tell with an insane lead time. It's probably because of a very small application window with most of their customers not running a long travel suspension (which really isn't long.. just extended, I wouldn't consider it a LONG Travel in the rear unless you are running a 14-18" shock.

But anyhow.. I'll find out soon enough how these work I guess

 

[aemravan]

Anddddd already got a tracking number from Dobinson. Looks like if everything goes well I may have these on before Christmas this week. Talk about an early present !


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[aemravan]

Took a little longer to install than I wanted but that was my fault, forgot to take out the inert icon spacer and had to do double work lol.

Took a bit to compress the shocks to fit, there is definitely a ton more travel in these over the icons. I did it one side at a time with one tire always touching, but was a bit confused about what was keeping each side from dropping any further with the shock completely out.. feel like it should have dropped down a lot easier on it’s own, but I guess it’s hard to visualize the binding between the 4 links, the uppers are ridiculously short , really want to do a long arm 3 link..

The springs were amazing taller too, even with my 1 inch spacer, but did compress a lot easier. I used my Amazon spring compressed and they went in just fine at full droop.

I’m fairly certain I picked up maybe just a tab but if lift, but they’ll probably settle a little in the next week or so, but either way I’m super happy with the height. It is at least as tall as my hd icon springs with a 1 inch spacer, but can actually compress fully when needed.

I pushed the rear axle back by lengthening the lower links about .75 inches, not sure if this will move the wheel 1:1 but I didn’t feel comfortable enough to go any further because the shank on the heim is already pretty far out. Last thing I need is to pull threads out while driving.. kind of kicking myself for not making these longer when I was fabricating.. an extra inch would have gone a long way(that’s what she said). Oh well, it’ll do for now and I don’t think I’ll be ready for 37s for a while since my tires are still good but we’ll see.

I was surprised to hear a strange scraping sound under a heavy right turn while test driving.. come to find out my driveshaft was hitting the gas tank skid.. strange, has never happened before with the previous setup and I don’t think pushing the axle back a bit should not have hand an impact. But whatever, not a little hammering couldn’t solve lol. Can’t wait to flex this thing out and see how it compares. I have a 2inch bump stop extension but from a rough measurement I feel like it will need to be longer but I guess we’ll see.

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[y=mx+b]

Took a little longer to install than I wanted but that was my fault, forgot to take out the inert icon spacer and had to do double work lol.

Took a bit to compress the shocks to fit, there is definitely a ton more travel in these over the icons. I did it one side at a time with one tire always touching, but was a bit confused about what was keeping each side from dropping any further with the shock completely out.. feel like it should have dropped down a lot easier on it’s own, but I guess it’s hard to visualize the binding between the 4 links, the uppers are ridiculously short , really want to do a long arm 3 link..

The springs were amazing taller too, even with my 1 inch spacer, but did compress a lot easier. I used my Amazon spring compressed and they went in just fine at full droop.

I’m fairly certain I picked up maybe just a tab but if lift, but they’ll probably settle a little in the next week or so, but either way I’m super happy with the height. It is at least as tall as my hd icon springs with a 1 inch spacer, but can actually compress fully when needed.

I pushed the rear axle back by lengthening the lower links about .75 inches, not sure if this will move the wheel 1:1 but I didn’t feel comfortable enough to go any further because the shank on the heim is already pretty far out. Last thing I need is to pull threads out while driving.. kind of kicking myself for not making these longer when I was fabricating.. an extra inch would have gone a long way(that’s what she said). Oh well, it’ll do for now and I don’t think I’ll be ready for 37s for a while since my tires are still good but we’ll see.

I was surprised to hear a strange scraping sound under a heavy right turn while test driving.. come to find out my driveshaft was hitting the gas tank skid.. strange, has never happened before with the previous setup and I don’t think pushing the axle back a bit should not have hand an impact. But whatever, not a little hammering couldn’t solve lol. Can’t wait to flex this thing out and see how it compares. I have a 2inch bump stop extension but from a rough measurement I feel like it will need to be longer but I guess we’ll see.

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The longer shocks will cause the driveshaft to rub the tank skid on with a lot of left rear compression, so mighta tweaked the skid then and caused the rubbing while driving normally. I think it has to due to how the wheel cambers on the left when the right side droops out longer with the longer shocks

 

[aemravan]

The longer shocks will cause the driveshaft to rub the tank skid on with a lot of left rear compression, so mighta tweaked the skid then and caused the rubbing while driving normally. I think it has to due to how the wheel cambers on the left when the right side droops out longer with the longer shocks

That’s kinda what I figured but I was surprised to see this happen under street use lol. Granted I’m with no sway bars and was leaning pretty hard but the fact that I’ve never heard it under off-road conditions before is kind of what threw me off


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[aemravan]

Not going to lie.. I am impressed so far.. Very impressed. Really wish I went this route to start with.. could have not wasted 600 bucks I’m gonna lose selling the icons and the wait time was next to none. But it is what it is now, they are on and pretty awesome.

The ramp test at my old job yielded the tire below the door line, and I think it may have gone just a tad bit more but not much.

The bump stops will need some modification. They completely miss the axle at full bump bc I have the axle pushed so far back. At full bump I have about .25” of shock still exposed and the tire fully clears the door, bumpers, and flare that I clearanced.

The driveshaft interference with the gas tank skid will need to be figured out as well.. it definitely hits and bends it back out when it pushes over at full bump.

More work to do I guess but looking promising for next season !

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[aemravan]

a quick sidenote to yesterday's flex test.. I was looking at the previous pictures on this same ramp and obviously since I wasn't hitting a bump stop in the rear there was nothing to push the vehicle weight down/forward to compress the front shocks. There is a lot more total articulation in the system but I won't be able to see it until I can sort out the bump stop situation. I haven't looked into it yet, but more than likely it will require some welding to push the bump stop back about 2-3 inches (since I'm never going to bring the axle back again).

With that said, these new shock/springs definitely introduce a lot more roll in turns since I'm not running a sway bar. It is at a point where I could become borderline uncomfortable for street driving if I had to make a quick evasive turn. But aside from the on-road issue, on the trail I imagine it doing something similar when I get off-camber and start leaning, the body will just want to keep going. I'm not looking to run a sway bar (not a stock one anyhow) so I am now seriously considering looking into going the Currie (or something similar) anti-rock route (Maybe I'm wrong.. but all these antirock bars are really just a sway bar but are significantly less stiff and are able to articulate more than the short/stiff oem bars) since I've seen it at least partially documented on here on a 4th gen.

The front will remain with no sway bar, but the rear definitely needs something done.. lol.

 

[Inv4drZm]

a quick sidenote to yesterday's flex test.. I was looking at the previous pictures on this same ramp and obviously since I wasn't hitting a bump stop in the rear there was nothing to push the vehicle weight down/forward to compress the front shocks. There is a lot more total articulation in the system but I won't be able to see it until I can sort out the bump stop situation. I haven't looked into it yet, but more than likely it will require some welding to push the bump stop back about 2-3 inches (since I'm never going to bring the axle back again).

With that said, these new shock/springs definitely introduce a lot more roll in turns since I'm not running a sway bar. It is at a point where I could become borderline uncomfortable for street driving if I had to make a quick evasive turn. But aside from the on-road issue, on the trail I imagine it doing something similar when I get off-camber and start leaning, the body will just want to keep going. I'm not looking to run a sway bar (not a stock one anyhow) so I am now seriously considering looking into going the Currie (or something similar) anti-rock route (Maybe I'm wrong.. but all these antirock bars are really just a sway bar but are significantly less stiff and are able to articulate more than the short/stiff oem bars) since I've seen it at least partially documented on here on a 4th gen.

The front will remain with no sway bar, but the rear definitely needs something done.. lol.

Yes a sway bar of some form in the rear will help the front articulate more when the weight is off the nose, like it is in the pics, at least in theory.

Might look into other brands other than Currie, some might be better in terms of price and adjustability for our rigs. I believe stiffer torsion bars and shorter arms are for desert racing, whereas more flexible torsion bars and longer arms are better for rock crawling. I believe they make some with adjustable length arms and bars you can swap out. My brother has the TK1 Racing sway bar on his FJ.

 

[aemravan]

Yes a sway bar of some form in the rear will help the front articulate more when the weight is off the nose, like it is in the pics, at least in theory.

Might look into other brands other than Currie, some might be better in terms of price and adjustability for our rigs. I believe stiffer torsion bars and shorter arms are for desert racing, whereas more flexible torsion bars and longer arms are better for rock crawling. I believe they make some with adjustable length arms and bars you can swap out. My brother has the TK1 Racing sway bar on his FJ.

Thanks man, doing some research now. I did come across a couple of posts with the Currie bar that seems to be pretty much a bolt-on solution, and have seen other weld mounts for it, which i"m not opposed doing. But quickly after looking into the currie bar I decided it was an absolutely ridiculous amount to spend on a simple torsion bar, so I went with a similar (probably same exact) setup as your brother with the TK1 racing sway bar for the Toyota application with the lowest spring rate rockcrawling option. With the amount of adjustability it has in it I should be able to get it dialed in pretty close to perfect, so excited to see how it works out when it gets here.

 

[aemravan]

well.. ended up ordering the TK1 Racing rear anti-rock bar kit for the toyota, excited to see how this thing will install and perform.

On top of that I also made the decision that the rear bump stop/extension I have isn't exactly ideal, and since I have to cut and move it anyhow, I decided i'll spend the extra $200 bucks and go with a proper bump stop from Dobinsons that was meant to go with this LT rear setup... So I also ordered the Timbren ABSTORSEQ Active Off Road Rear Bumpstops Kit and it's already on the way. This way I can be certain that I won't be bottoming out the shock next time I'm out wheeling.

did someone say a bank account on wheels? Oh , and I can't ever take out the money I deposit? Sweet!

 

[awhitney1]

Do you have the link for the rear anti-rock sway bar?

Thanks man!

well.. ended up ordering the TK1 Racing rear anti-rock bar kit for the toyota, excited to see how this thing will install and perform.

On top of that I also made the decision that the rear bump stop/extension I have isn't exactly ideal, and since I have to cut and move it anyhow, I decided i'll spend the extra $200 bucks and go with a proper bump stop from Dobinsons that was meant to go with this LT rear setup... So I also ordered the Timbren ABSTORSEQ Active Off Road Rear Bumpstops Kit and it's already on the way. This way I can be certain that I won't be bottoming out the shock next time I'm out wheeling.

did someone say a bank account on wheels? Oh , and I can't ever take out the money I deposit? Sweet!

 

[aemravan]

Do you have the link for the rear anti-rock sway bar?

Thanks man!

TOYOTA PU AND 4 RUNNER - AND IFS TO STRAIGHT AXLE CONVERSIONS

For the options I got mine with the Mounting Bracket add, Rock Crawling-High Articulation (medium rate), and the billet endcaps.

They had a doubleshear option for the arms, but from their description I don't believe I would need it and it also saves 100 bucks.

 

[awhitney1]

Thanks for the info. I'm running no rear sway bar links with the Dana60 and at highway speeds going around corners gets a little tippy!

TOYOTA PU AND 4 RUNNER - AND IFS TO STRAIGHT AXLE CONVERSIONS

For the options I got mine with the Mounting Bracket add, Rock Crawling-High Articulation (medium rate), and the billet endcaps.

They had a doubleshear option for the arms, but from their description I don't believe I would need it and it also saves 100 bucks.

 

[aemravan]

Thanks for the info. I'm running no rear sway bar links with the Dana60 and at highway speeds going around corners gets a little tippy!

yea that's half of my concern as well since 95% of the time this is a street rig... it's to the point where I can see it getting really dangerous if I had to avoid something. But also on the trails without something to help push down the opposite side it's just going to keep wanting to lean over which in turn will make all this awesome extra articulation kind of pointless.. lol.