APhelps' Adventure / Build Thread

A

APhelps

New member
Hi All,

Figured it was time to start a thread about the 4Runner.

Back story:
Bought the 1998 Black Limited 4Runner (Leather, 4wd, e-locker) from a dealership in Pacific Beach a little over 6 years ago when I moved to San Diego. At the time I was really just looking for a vehicle to put my dog in and carry some stuff. Had a bunch of Toyota Mr-2s so I am quite familiar with the products that Toyota offered. Anyways.. here's the current mod list.

Mods
----------
99 Cupholder Mod
99 Sunglasses holder Mod
Pioneer Bluetooth Receiver
Built Right Front Upper Control Arms (Uniball)
Whiteline Bushings in front lower control arms and rear control arms
3" Toytec Boss Lift
1" Toyotec Body Lift
Wheelers Off-road Stainless Steel Brake Lines
Morimoto D2S HID projector retro-fit headlights
BF Goodrich KO2 285/75/16 tires on 80 series LC wheels powdercoated Bronze Chrome
Energy suspension bushings in steering rack


Armor
----------
EimKeith Rear bumper and f-150 fuel tank mounts
Savage Off-road Front bumper
4x Innovations Skids
RSG Offroad Sliders




On to the photos!

Back when it was stock a few years ago at the grand canyon north rim.
49334201976_02bfd1c31b_k.jpg


After traveling from the grand canyon I went to a few national parks and ended up at the golden gate.
49333736128_238e5265ad_k.jpg


Fast forward a few years and here's a photo of the 4Runner lifted.
49333731848_58f3ae986a_k.jpg


The running boards didn't look too bad when it was lifted with the stock bumpers on it but atlas I was prepping to take it to Moab so the running boards had to come off!

49333732268_982e28306e_k.jpg


Made it to Moab!
49333724043_457c4dc427_b.jpg


49334410502_c0b25309af_b.jpg


Eventually ended up hitting a few trails with BrianSD_42 around here in San Diego.
49333734828_4e87e08db3_k.jpg


49333733683_d6b79ffbcc_h.jpg


And as of now here's how the 4Runner currently looks:
49333722938_23c9cebd39_h.jpg


49334184646_e9cdf95daa_h.jpg


49331459307_cc9bca1096_h.jpg
 
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‘Bout time you started a thread, ha.

Stoked to see how the rig is turning out. Hit me up if you are looking for someone to join you your next wheeling trip.
 
Team_Jake said:
‘Bout time you started a thread, ha.

Stoked to see how the rig is turning out. Hit me up if you are looking for someone to join you your next wheeling trip.
Click to expand...

Ha! Brian has been telling me to start one too!

I'm trying to line a few trips up actually. One for Moab and a few around here.
 
Went offroading this past weekend and did the "valley of the moon" trail and ended up having the inner cv boots come off and trashing the inner joints. Car drove really badly and ended up towing it home.

Decided I'm not interested in dealing with axles breaking and boots ripping so I ordered some RCV axles *sob* *sob*. :cry2:
 
I love that trail , it's like the proving grounds after a mod

I'm surprised I never blew a CV doing that trail with open diffs.
 
APhelps said:
Went offroading this past weekend and did the "valley of the moon" trail and ended up having the inner cv boots come off and trashing the inner joints. Car drove really badly and ended up towing it home.

Decided I'm not interested in dealing with axles breaking and boots ripping so I ordered some RCV axles *sob* *sob*. :cry2:
Click to expand...

Sucks that happened, but those new RCVs will be sooooo much better!!
 
Team_Jake said:
Sucks that happened, but those new RCVs will be sooooo much better!!
Click to expand...

Yeah I'm going to Moab in a few weeks back with some friends and I'm just tired of dealing with axle problems. I've blown a lot of boots (no broken axles) and just fed up with axles that weren't made for a lifted vehicle.

Not sure what your schedule is but you could probably tag along if you were interested. (Feb 21 - 24ish)

I know you've got manual hubs (which is a brilliant idea for any offroader).
 
JRambo said:
I love that trail , it's like the proving grounds after a mod

I'm surprised I never blew a CV doing that trail with open diffs.
Click to expand...

I've had the worst luck with my CVs. I don't know if I'm just ever slightly too high lift wise or what but I can't seem to not have problems with them. Decided I had a few options really a) pull axles from a junkyard and reboot them with the same high angle boots I have that came off or b) completely solve the problem. I tore factory OEM boots after doing the stretch mod in a few thousand miles, blew through remanned axle boots, and had these ORS boots fall off (I guess they weren't clamped down hard enough).
 
APhelps said:
I've had the worst luck with my CVs. I don't know if I'm just ever slightly too high lift wise or what but I can't seem to not have problems with them. Decided I had a few options really a) pull axles from a junkyard and reboot them with the same high angle boots I have that came off or b) completely solve the problem. I tore factory OEM boots after doing the stretch mod in a few thousand miles, blew through remanned axle boots, and had these ORS boots fall off (I guess they weren't clamped down hard enough).
Click to expand...

I have been pretty lucky so far, but its always in the back of my mind. I will likely take the same route as you when the time comes.
 
APhelps said:
Yeah I'm going to Moab in a few weeks back with some friends and I'm just tired of dealing with axle problems. I've blown a lot of boots (no broken axles) and just fed up with axles that weren't made for a lifted vehicle.

Not sure what your schedule is but you could probably tag along if you were interested. (Feb 21 - 24ish)

I know you've got manual hubs (which is a brilliant idea for any offroader).
Click to expand...

The 3rd gens have so many issues with the front IFS/axles/diff for anyone that wants to offroad somewhat seriously. With the amount of money you have to put into the front to fix every weak point, you might as well SAS (which is why I'm probably going to SAS at some point in the future).

Sorry I can't do another trip this month, I already have 2 trips planned and I can't take more time off work. Moab will be sweet though!

Yeah I got the manual hubs mainly for peace of mind.
 
Looks great! Did you modify your exhaust when you installed the bumper? I'm planning on installing mine this weekend want some ideas.
 
GRNYGRN said:
Looks great! Did you modify your exhaust when you installed the bumper? I'm planning on installing mine this weekend want some ideas.
Click to expand...

The guy who did the welding on my bumper had to cut the exhaust. I really need to get it rewelded so its not rattling around on the f150 fuel tank mount.
 
Team_Jake said:
The 3rd gens have so many issues with the front IFS/axles/diff for anyone that wants to offroad somewhat seriously. With the amount of money you have to put into the front to fix every weak point, you might as well SAS (which is why I'm probably going to SAS at some point in the future).

Sorry I can't do another trip this month, I already have 2 trips planned and I can't take more time off work. Moab will be sweet though!

Yeah I got the manual hubs mainly for peace of mind.
Click to expand...

I'm with you on the SAS. I'm just hopeful these axles will resolve all my issues and I'll just stick on 33's with an open diff.

I do need to gusset my spindles and add a few additional gusseting pieces elsewhere (marlin crawler cam gussets, eimkeith shock tower gussets). I figure when I buy a welder the gusseting won't be that expensive to do and will add a lot of protection.

SAS swaps is a bit of a crossroad for me. I have a hard time not just going to an 80 series or going off the wall and importing a 25+ year old 70 series.
 
Cool to see that you are starting a build thread. I've been meaning to as well. I like the LC wheels good color choice with the black rig. We need to go wheel together or kick it. I'm in North Park
 
4runnerfiend said:
Cool to see that you are starting a build thread. I've been meaning to as well. I like the LC wheels good color choice with the black rig. We need to go wheel together or kick it. I'm in North Park
Click to expand...

Thanks! The big trouble I see with offroading is the huge upfront costs. Don't really need the front bumper but I do feel sliders, skids, rear bumper are basically pre-reqs. Haven't really done that much offroading with it since I've been just working on getting it set up.
 
Well I found out I actually broke the outer cv joint in half on the passenger side. I don't think I was pushing it too hard for the most part so I'm surprised this was happened. I got stuck in some loose rocks / gravel and gave it some gas but managed to climb out of that stuff pretty quickly. All in all I am shocked / surprised at how weak the outer cv joints are. Perhaps my lift angle is a bit more severe than a few folks but this should all be a moot point now when I get my RCV axles in!

edit: photo now added!

49507678938_20694dde26_k.jpg
 
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found out in addition to blowing my outer cv apart, I mashed the front differential up and broke some of the spider gears.
 
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