Bishop's 2000 Build

[sambishop]

Everyone, thank you for checking out my thread here.

Suspension
-Bilstein 6112 coilovers on highest setting
-OME 890 springs
-Bilstein 5125's

Wheels & Tires
-2015 4runner trail edition wheels
-275/70/17 Cooper AT3's

 

[Renegade_Medic]

Looks good, what are the details?

 

[sambishop]

Looks good, what are the details?

If you mean for the lift, I want to go with Bilstein 6112's but I'm patiently waiting for the 5160's to be released for the rears before I do :couch2:

 

[sambishop]

First things first, replace this crummy old carpet that has definitely seen better days. I went with stockinteriorreplacement's carpet and was pleasantly pleased. I paid like an extra $50 for the mesh backing which added a little more sound deadening.

New carpet all trimmed up

Install was more time consuming than the tearing out but all worth it in the end. I went ahead and just detailed the heck outta the center console since I had to take it out.
I also shampooed the seats and cargo area with a RugDoctor which made a huge difference.

 

[sambishop]

With no record of a timing belt job on file, I went ahead and did it. The truck has 190,000 miles and assuming it was done at 100,000 miles, it still looked pretty bad. Water pump, accessory belts, pulleys, tensioner, cam seals, and crank seals were all changed.

I cannot praise this lisle seal puller enough. For the fun of it, I tried taking one of the seals out with tools I had around the garage, I couldn't even get them to budge. 10 seconds with the lisle tool and they were out.

I drove in the seals with a piece of PVC I bought from Lowes

With the front of the engine all taken apart, I replaced the OEM radiator with a Denso. A external transmission cooler is desired but not attainable at the time.

 

[sambishop]

Over the course of the next week I did a couple odd jobs to the truck I wanted to knock out before making her a daily. So, I started with lower ball joints. I went with moog, it's what we used a firestone. I trust the brand.

Next, may God curse the person who decided that window visors that stick onto the body of the vehicle were a good idea. The visors were missing pieces of plastic and looked horrible so I picked away at the rest and was left with this gunk on the paint. :frusty:

A heat gun, rubbing alcohol, and a plastic scraper got most of it off. I hope to polish it eventually and hopefully it will get the rest of the gunk off.

CRAIGSLIST SCORE!!! 200 BUCKS for these mint* 5th gen 4runner wheels. These will go on once the lift is done.

Went ahead and replaced the contacts in the started. The old ones actually looked good but I didn't pay but 15 bucks for the replacements.

And the New

With the original power antenna broken, I replaced it with a tacoma whip antenna. Here is How-To video I made on the job: <iframe width="853" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/n94ck2tv-iQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Finally, I knocked out the valve covers, spark tube gaskets, cam plugs, and half moons were cleaned along with new RTV applied. Top end and front end of motor now up to standard.

 

[Renegade_Medic]

That all looks great. I do have something to add. I know it isn't your first rodeo, but depending on what size tires you go on those wheels you may have clearance issues on the front. I had FJ cruiser wheels, which I believe have the same dimensions as those Trail wheels. I could not clear 285/70R17s without spacers.
Also those LBJs... it was my understanding from all my research that for LBJs it was OEM or nothing, at least if lifted.

And that carpet was naaaasty.

 

[Road Bull]

Love the Tacoma whip mod video. Plenty of realistic cursing and overpowering old crappy plastic clips. Those things suck. Keep up the good work!

 

[sambishop]

I could not clear 285/70R17s without spacers.
Also those LBJs... it was my understanding from all my research that for LBJs it was OEM or nothing, at least if lifted.

I appreciate your feedback! With the bilstein 6112's ill get 2.3" of lift in the front and will probably go with 3" in the back. I want to run the biggest tire size possible so I may reach out to you in the near future here. And I hear you on the LBJ's but for street use and minimal off-roading, I'm not too worried about a catastrophic failure.

Love the Tacoma whip mod video. Plenty of realistic cursing and overpowering old crappy plastic clips. Those things suck. Keep up the good work!

I promised myself that when making any videos that I would keep it real. No editing out the cursing or mishaps. I'll be doing a video on the power steering rack bushings replacement next weekend and you can expect the exact same amount of unprofessionalism you can see in all my videos.

 

[Renegade_Medic]

I appreciate your feedback! With the bilstein 6112's ill get 2.3" of lift in the front and will probably go with 3" in the back. I want to run the biggest tire size possible so I may reach out to you in the near future here. And I hear you on the LBJ's but for street use and minimal off-roading, I'm not too worried about a catastrophic failure.

Right on. I have pretty aggressive sidewalls on my tires. That is what was hitting, mainly at droop, like going over speedbumps. I used an angle grinder and cut a little off the arms and it was better, but since I knew I would be using the truck offroad I wanted more clearance. If you can find a 275 tire, I'm sure that will be just fine with no grinding or spacers.

 

[sambishop]

Changed out my rear shoes along with the parking brake bell cranks since the drivers side was frozen. The shoes were in desperate need of replacement. Pictured is the old shoe next to a new o'Reilly shoe. I ended up returning the set and getting a set of Toyota shoes.

 

[Unner]

Might want to think twice about those Moog LBJs. Lots of documented failures with low miles on them, some even at 5k miles. We don't say to use OEM parts because we like to pay more for parts. We say it for a reason. LBJ failure can cause a rollover if it happens at speed too, I don't think you want to tempt fate again with that. That other wreck looked horrendous.

 

[TravisM]

Wow, that is a crazy Craigslist find, you lucked out! :dance:
Looking forward to see what it turns out to look like

 

[sambishop]

Automatic Transmission Fluid changed at 192,300

<iframe width="853" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0XQujXXeoOI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[johnbyebye]

Been there, done that with the stick-on window deflectors. Mine looked horrible as well. Algae was growing on the adhesive. I spent an hour scraping all of it off with a plastic razor blade. There seems to be some discoloration left on the paint but I haven't had time to try and remove it.

 

[jtnumberthree]

Ha! Great thread! Love the vids!

 

[DK327]

I hear you on the LBJ's but for street use and minimal off-roading, I'm not too worried about a catastrophic failure.

I'd have nightmares with non-OEM LBJ's... It's the next worst thing since pink milkshake dontchaknow!

 

[sambishop]

Couple things to update on:
Got myself a proper set of LBJ's off of Ebay from some dealership in Nebraska for a total of 180 bucks.

My 1999 had a spoiler wing and I hated that this one didn't have it so I put one on myself. I recorded it but lost all the footage :Cry:

 

[sambishop]

Here are the Bilstein 5125's compared to the shocks I had on. They're much smoother and handle much better.

First drive after the lift is all done: