aemravan's build thread - project TacoRunner

[aemravan]

Looks at all that stopping power lol. Brakes delivered at late at lunch to I ran out to swap them. Limited on time and stupid hot so no pictures other than the finished one.
Quick brake job. But I did realize that running spacers doesn't allow you to adjust the parking brake.. I didnt' realize this until after I did the loctite and torqued the first spacer on, so I just let the parking brake be as it is. Maybe a few clicks of adjustment on the passenger side but don't expect it to hold any better.

The passenger side bearing was not leaking like the drivers side so I think it is still in fairly decent shape but does feel like it's developing just a bit of slop... so if the axle are in stock and will be shipping soon I may be tackling this rear axle job a lot sooner than I have anticipated.. Eventually I want to get rid of the spacers I'm front , both front and rear, but that means I need a new set of wheels that has an additional 1.5-2" of back spacing (or less? which ever way makes up for the spacer lol). The initial idea was to run a for rear axle for added width and beef on a 3-link or reverse-triangulated 4 link in the rear... but honestly, after spending so much time and money this year, I don't think i'll be tackling any big projects any time soon. Only issue with running a different wheel to offset the spacers is that if I end up going LT up front I'll be back to a mis-matched stance.. minor issue, but one to consider if I ever think about getting different wheels.

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[aemravan]

Well, just got my shipping notification on the Nitro axles and they should be here next Monday. Looks like everything should be a go for next week.

I am VERY much not looking forward to taking apart and putting together the parking brake mechanism... I absolutely despise working on it and have had terrible experience with similar setups in the past. A part of me almost want's to delete it completely but I know damn well I need it :lmao:


Currently my plan is to get all the parts in, and then tear down the rear axle at my place and then take them to my parents house to do the press work. All in all, from the multiple videos I've watched, I think it should be very straight forward, but time will tell. Pretty excited to get some new wheel bearings into this thing and have a bit of a beefed up axle setup. :artist:

 

[rdruss]

We'll be watching! Hope it all goes smoothly.

 

[aemravan]

The bearing removal tool is out for delivery today with the bearings and axles scheduled for Monday. We have a beach trip next week from Wednesday to Saturday so I'm trying to decide whether I want to tackle this job before or after.. We're not taking the 4runner, but I don't want it sitting on jackstands for a week.. but I do want to get this done.

I'm thinking about pulling the axles out Sunday and getting them over to my parents house to press the old bearings off to get the backing plate (Which is literally the only thing I need since I have new axles coming... but I wasn't about to spend an additional $300 to source those separately..) which would then just leave me to get the axles and bearings on hand Monday and take them back over to press them on Monday evening and get it assembled Tuesday.

It doesn't help that I am also in the finishing stages with my Supra build and am working on finishing finalized wiring and fuel system so I can possibly get it fired up this weekend.. :guitar2:

 

[AuSeeker]

Can you post a link/part number for the bearing removal tool?

 

[Jakeepoo3]

It’s almost like nothing ever happened.. lol. The only damage left is just internally to myself for making a mistake I did

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Nicely done! Mine need the same treatment.

 

[aemravan]

Can you post a link/part number for the bearing removal tool?

this is the one that I got. There are cheaper, non original knock-offs, but this is the one from the guy that originally designed and built them and is US made, I figured 140 bucks was bad for how much money I am getting ready to save in labor.

Rear Wheel Bearing Puller Kit Toyota Tundra/4Runner 1984-2018 & 1st gen Tacoma | eBay

 

[aemravan]

Nicely done! Mine need the same treatment.

get some Bondo Glass (fiberglass reinforced body filler) and send it! Super easy to work with, just messy.

 

[aemravan]

Some OVS 180 degree goodness. 90 sq far of covered space underneath. Probably won’t use it.. but it’s on and I’m ready to do some camping.

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[aemravan]

Not a 4runner add but something useful for camping trips.

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[Inv4drZm]

Been wanting to fabricate a rotating awning for my truck. Would be a fun and fairly simple project.

But I don't have a roof rack lol.

 

[aemravan]

Been wanting to fabricate a rotating awning for my truck. Would be a fun and fairly simple project.

But I don't have a roof rack lol.

I honestly thought about it .. there’s really nothing to it at all. But after spending as much time as I already have recently on this thing I decided my spare time not spent in the garage for once was more valuable than the money I would save fabricating my own lol


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[aemravan]

The order of beef has arrived

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[4RunnerAquasport]

Nice!

Thats one of the reasons I bought the rear w the 4:56 and ARB. It came w Nitro axles and only has a couple thousand miles on it.

OEM is basically the same as the 1st - 3rd gens.

 

[aemravan]

Nice!

Thats one of the reasons I bought the rear w the 4:56 and ARB. It came w Nitro axles and only has a couple thousand miles on it.

OEM is basically the same as the 1st - 3rd gens.

I was going to take my rear axle to ECGS to do the wheel bearings and put in nitro axles when they were building out the locked and re geared rear end but the nitro axles were in back order at that time .. so I just let it be.. but now that I have to pull all this apart I just couldn’t imagine putting it back together with factory axles.. I’d have to trash a $400 set of bearings if I wanted to upgrade later.


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[aemravan]

Bit the bullet and decided I don’t want wet groceries… got myself into an entry level fridge.. I’ve had a portable battery pack for 2 years now without any use for it.. well .. now I do

picked up a set of locking, 260lb capacity slides that will hold the fridge and will custom fab a quick slide/tilt hinge setup that will mount to the right-hand drawer setup.

I’ve had a 300wh pack on hand and decided to pick up a 500wh pack by bluetti. Those two, without charging from my solar panels or the car itself in transit, should run the fridge for at least 48 hours, pairing that with the solar panel charger I have and being able to feed these 12v from the cig lighter should give me more than sufficient power for the fridge without going full blow dual battery setup to get out on the road for 3-5 days. Now just to plan some trips off grid ..

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[aemravan]

Got my supervisor overseeing the solar panel charge test. Not too shabby.. 18watt output with clouds and mid 50s with sun out. Between the two battery packs and the solar/12 car chargers I should have full time power

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[aemravan]

Not looking forward to doing this… but excited to get it done.

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[aemravan]

Been testing out my fridge and battery setup and I think I’m in good shape. Between being able to power from the rig and charge the battery while driving, have 800 watt hours combined and a solar panel to charge when stationary I shouldn’t ever run out of juice , at least for shorter trips.

I do want to run out a couple more cigarette lighter ports to the rear for more plug in options, especially since I got rid of the front one when doing the FJ t case.

Got some 14awg wire to run back from the battery.
I also still have the 115v 100 watt outlet at my disposal, however, it’s a 2 prong connection without the grounding plug and just about everything I want to plug in has the grounding plug. I bought a small converter from Amazon so we’ll see if that works to be able to either charge up the batteries or possibly run the fridge directly. I’m considering extending and relocating this plug from inside the center console to the back as well.

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[aemravan]

Found a nifty little spot for the two cig lighters towards the rear. Ended up installing them in the removable panel for the tail light access which will make it easy to get to.

Also found 2 body plugs that I can access to run the wires from the engine bay to without having to snake them inside. I’ll just run them along side of my rock lights and poke through the 2 body plugs and be done with it. Easy peasy. Not the proper way to do it… but I don’t feel like removing the drawer and taking apart the interior to properly run wires at this time. The line will be fused and I’m thinking of possibly running it to the auxbeam box to trigger via panel switch rather than always being hot since I’ll only rarely need it and only when the rig is running. This will ensure that it’s fused and not powered for most of my driving.

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