Bandit Runner's Build Thread

[Bandit Runner]

Man, I like the green. Looks very sharp.

Thanks Drew!

 

[Bandit Runner]

I tried taking some more pics today. Out of the 30 I took, these were the best 4:

 

[Bandit Runner]

I edited a few of my earlier photos. They came out a little better:

 

[Bandit Runner]

One more:

 

[achha64]

I finished getting my rock lights all installed and wired. I think they came out pretty nice. (The pics aren't the greatest because it was starting to get light out this morning when I took them, but you get the idea.)

I used 9 lights for each side of the truck located like this:
- 1 near the front body mount in front of the front tire.
- 2 in the front wheel well.
- 1 just behind the front tire.
- 1 midway between front and rear tires.
- 1 just in front of the rear tire.
- 2 in the rear wheel well.
- 1 near the rear body mount behind the rear tire.

As you can see, this gave me a fairly nice even distribution of light all around the truck.

Man seriously. Your 4runner is really really Bad ass. Nasty but clean the same time. I have a black runner also. I think I will go like you man. Good job bro

 

[MTD]

Never realized you were so close to me over here in Sconsin. We should get together sometime and hit the Cliffs or something. Next summer... lol its pretty much half way for both of us.

 

[Bandit Runner]

So I have this issue with my rear bumper. When my dog jumps into the back of the truck, he uses the top flat part of the bumper as a step. Well his nails scratch up the paint on the bumper pretty bad. Also it is too slippery for him, and he sometimes slides and loses his footing.

In order to fix this, I decided to attach a piece of rubber to the top surface of the bumper. After looking online for a while I finally found some 1/8” thick rubber flooring that had the diamond plate pattern on it. I chose this because it would provide traction, and because it matches the diamond plate pattern on my sliders. It comes in a 48” wide roll up to 50 feet long, but can be purchased by the foot. I only needed one foot, which was like $10. It doesn’t come with an adhesive backing, so I decided to use heavy duty interior/exterior double sided carpet tape to hold it down.

Scratches:

Rubber flooring and tape:

At first I was planning on just putting it on the top flat horizontal area, but I realized I had enough to go up the vertical back section and also down the front chamfer surface too.

End result:

I think it turned out really good. The only downside is that section of the bumper is about 52” wide, so the 48” wide rubber didn’t quite cover the ends, but no big deal. I took the dog for a ride and he jumped in the back without slipping or scratching the bumper. Success!

 

[Bandit Runner]

I started a new small project a few weeks ago. I wanted to make a set of rear lower control arm mount skids (mainly because I’m too cheap to buy a set.) Anyway, these will be a little different than the Lotus ones. The skids will go all the way up to the bottom of the frame to provide a less steep ramp angle. They will also have an additional bolt going vertically through the frame, for another attachment point.

I started with some 3/16” thick steel, and cut about half way through the thickness where I wanted the bends. Then hammered them to the desired angles.

Then I added some square holes for carriage bolts, and tacked on the outer walls:

Then tacked on the inner walls, and notched out for the control arm bolt:

That’s where they are right now. I need to fully weld them yet.

 

[Bandit Runner]

I got some more work done on my lower control arm mount skids today. I got them fully welded and then cleaned them up.

With the bolts:

Here’s what they look like on the truck:

Just need to get some paint on them yet.

 

[MTD]

You guys get much snow over there yesterday? Looks like a little at least

 

[Bandit Runner]

You guys get much snow over there yesterday? Looks like a little at least

Hardly any. You?

 

[Limbwalker]

Beautiful rig, man! Really nice. Hey, are those CBI ditch light mounts? Just curious bc I know the kid's Arb Snorkel didnt work with them, and I just ordered a set and wonder if your snorkel worked better(if so, what brand is it), or if you made those mounts? Thanks

 

[Bandit Runner]

Beautiful rig, man! Really nice. Hey, are those CBI ditch light mounts? Just curious bc I know the kid's Arb Snorkel didnt work with them, and I just ordered a set and wonder if your snorkel worked better(if so, what brand is it), or if you made those mounts? Thanks

Thanks for the compliments. I made the ditch light brackets myself. I'm pretty sure the CBI's wouldn't have worked with my snorkel. The snorkel I made myself, here is the build thread for that if you are interested:

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-gen-t4rs/109438-bandit-runners-custom-snorkel-build.html

 

[MTD]

Hardly any. You?

Bout 3 inches, enough for the county to feel it necessary to put salt on the roads... i still need to seal my frame. Just curious what is your profession? You remind me of my engineer friends with your projects.

 

[Bandit Runner]

Bout 3 inches, enough for the county to feel it necessary to put salt on the roads... i still need to seal my frame. Just curious what is your profession? You remind me of my engineer friends with your projects.

Yeah, I work in product design/engineering for a large home appliance manufacturer. I do a lot of CAD design for countertop appliances. Been there for over 20 years.

 

[Dirtyfingers]

Your ingenuity never ceases to amaze me.

 

[MTD]

Yeah, I work in product design/engineering for a large home appliance manufacturer. I do a lot of CAD design for countertop appliances. Been there for over 20 years.

Wow very cool! I co-op'ed in the design department at Wolf appliance this last semester/summer and really enjoyed it. As far as consumer product design goes I couldn't be happier doing much else. I am staring to look for internships for next summer, do you know if you take any on?

 

[cdrewferd]

Great looking LCAM skids. You're truck is looking good as always. The green looks better everytime I look at your thread.

 

[Bandit Runner]

My winter project - Rear diff skid:

After spending so much money on a newly regeared and ARB locked rear diff, I figured I better protect it as much as possible.

 

[JBurt]

Wow that looks pretty beefy. I wonder if you could sell plans like that like your bumper. It would also be easy to extend it to cover a factor locker motor.

Just out of curiosity did you ever get pics of peoples bumpers that they've put together.