Black798
New member
So I did end up getting the truck done in time to make my Moab Trip, at least sort of. By some miracle RCV shipped my axle shafts out of the blue and they got here just in time to get the front end buttoned up the day before we were leaving. So with absolutely zero test time I drove the 4runner out of the garage, did a quick flex test, washed it and loaded it up on the trailer. I figured if it wasn't going to work Id rather wrench on it in Moab than here at this point.
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/147275993@N05/51951244241/in/album-72157718571188535/" title="IMG_0868"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51951244241_1a027b5043_b.jpg" width="1024" height="819" alt="IMG_0868"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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First time out of the garage in over 8 months and even though it was running like absolute garage on the base tune I had loaded in the haltech it was a damn good feeling.
We got into Moab super late the next day and camped south of town. Woke up early and headed straight to the Oreilys since pretty much everyone in the group was under prepared in some aspect. I spent the entire day remaking my rear brake lines since I overlooked the sway bar contacting them at full flex. There really wasn't a good way to test this in the garage so I took a guess and obviously guessed wrong. I decided to just remove the rear sway bar as it was the fastest solution to the issue and freed me up to do other things. We did a quick alignment, got it off the trailer and then I spent the afternoon working on the tune because it had a nasty off idle stumble that made the truck pretty much undrivable because it would either stall or jerk so ad you had no control, not ideal for crawling lol.
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/147275993@N05/51961298830/in/album-72177720297499735/" title="_DSC9893"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51961298830_7f5566e41b_b.jpg" width="1024" height="681" alt="_DSC9893"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Got the tune sorted out well enough to drive it and the next day after some more tweaking with my coilovers we decided to run steel bender since it is right up the street from the house we rented.
Before we were even through the first obstacle I knew we were going to need to turn around. Without the rear swaybar to balance everything out the truck just wanted to lay over on its side which was making the smallest off camber sections feel like the 4runner was about to roll on its side. Add to that one of the 80 series popped a birf so we called it and headed back to the house. You can see here how tippy it was getting on the smallest things.
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/147275993@N05/51960795128/in/album-72177720297499735/" title="_DSC0326"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51960795128_b273e92984_b.jpg" width="681" height="1024" alt="_DSC0326"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
That night We came up with a plan for how to get the rear swaybar back on the truck without putting my brake lines in danger again. We took the next morning to get the swaybar mounts built and welded on and after a bit of trial and error we had eveything good enough to go test again. We were trying to catch up with the rest of the group that had taken off to run steelbender again and in the exact same spot we had turned around the day before I broke one of the swaybar mounts and sheared yet another brake lines. Turn around and head back to the house and beef up the mounts and a few hours later we were out testing again. Again this time we got to the first main obstacle and yet again I broke the swaybar mounts just in a different spot. By this point Id come to the conclusion the rear swaybar was way too stiff because the rear end would hardly articulate and it was taking so much force to move it that the mounts just couldnt handle it. We headed back to the house again and went to get some bigger material from town so I could make another set of mounts for the bar and ghetto turn it down with a grinder to make it softer.
Even when it was broke this thing still looked damn cool.
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/147275993@N05/51961018734/in/album-72177720297499735/" title="_DSC0665"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51961018734_8a3a1bef42_b.jpg" width="681" height="1024" alt="_DSC0665"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/147275993@N05/51961298765/in/album-72177720297499735/" title="_DSC0674"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51961298765_2d81c29cfa_b.jpg" width="1024" height="681" alt="_DSC0674"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The next morning I was finally confident enough to drive the truck and we opted to run cliffhanger. I figured if the truck was going to break the swaybar system again it would be on the first obstacle so it would be easy enough to recover and get it back to the house. But thankfully the new mounts held up and we were able to run the whole trail without a single issue. This was the first time I had gotten to wheel the truck and holy shit this thing is like cheating. Between the crawlbox and lockers it just walked up every obstacle on the whole trail and felt incredibly planted doing it.
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/147275993@N05/51960799858/in/album-72177720297499735/" title="_DSC0985"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51960799858_15cbd3466b_b.jpg" width="681" height="1024" alt="_DSC0985"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/147275993@N05/51961303280/in/album-72177720297499735/" title="_DSC1050"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51961303280_8072f81fb5_b.jpg" width="681" height="1024" alt="_DSC1050"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/147275993@N05/51959736462/in/album-72177720297499735/" title="_DSC2632"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51959736462_ca7f3ea370_b.jpg" width="681" height="1024" alt="_DSC2632"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/147275993@N05/51951328928/in/album-72177720297499735/" title="IMG_0945"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51951328928_4885bde771_b.jpg" width="819" height="1024" alt="IMG_0945"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/147275993@N05/51951857695/in/album-72177720297499735/" title="DSC_7137"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51951857695_1cf2a27457_b.jpg" width="1024" height="683" alt="DSC_7137"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
So it took me half the trip, but I finally had a working wheeler and it was quickly living up to end exceeding all the expectations I had for it. There were a few little quirks but for a completely fresh build this was to be expected.
On the way back to the house that evening we made the quick trip up part of Moab Rim to run the main obstacles. The pressure switch on my compressor took a shit halfway up leaving me without lockers so I turned around after the first obstacle but was able to swap the switch that evening with someone else in the group.
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/147275993@N05/51959736607/in/album-72177720297499735/" title="_DSC3690"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51959736607_6302ce0d77_b.jpg" width="681" height="1024" alt="_DSC3690"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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Next up Pritchett Canyon
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First time out of the garage in over 8 months and even though it was running like absolute garage on the base tune I had loaded in the haltech it was a damn good feeling.
We got into Moab super late the next day and camped south of town. Woke up early and headed straight to the Oreilys since pretty much everyone in the group was under prepared in some aspect. I spent the entire day remaking my rear brake lines since I overlooked the sway bar contacting them at full flex. There really wasn't a good way to test this in the garage so I took a guess and obviously guessed wrong. I decided to just remove the rear sway bar as it was the fastest solution to the issue and freed me up to do other things. We did a quick alignment, got it off the trailer and then I spent the afternoon working on the tune because it had a nasty off idle stumble that made the truck pretty much undrivable because it would either stall or jerk so ad you had no control, not ideal for crawling lol.
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/147275993@N05/51961298830/in/album-72177720297499735/" title="_DSC9893"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51961298830_7f5566e41b_b.jpg" width="1024" height="681" alt="_DSC9893"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Got the tune sorted out well enough to drive it and the next day after some more tweaking with my coilovers we decided to run steel bender since it is right up the street from the house we rented.
Before we were even through the first obstacle I knew we were going to need to turn around. Without the rear swaybar to balance everything out the truck just wanted to lay over on its side which was making the smallest off camber sections feel like the 4runner was about to roll on its side. Add to that one of the 80 series popped a birf so we called it and headed back to the house. You can see here how tippy it was getting on the smallest things.
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/147275993@N05/51960795128/in/album-72177720297499735/" title="_DSC0326"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51960795128_b273e92984_b.jpg" width="681" height="1024" alt="_DSC0326"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
That night We came up with a plan for how to get the rear swaybar back on the truck without putting my brake lines in danger again. We took the next morning to get the swaybar mounts built and welded on and after a bit of trial and error we had eveything good enough to go test again. We were trying to catch up with the rest of the group that had taken off to run steelbender again and in the exact same spot we had turned around the day before I broke one of the swaybar mounts and sheared yet another brake lines. Turn around and head back to the house and beef up the mounts and a few hours later we were out testing again. Again this time we got to the first main obstacle and yet again I broke the swaybar mounts just in a different spot. By this point Id come to the conclusion the rear swaybar was way too stiff because the rear end would hardly articulate and it was taking so much force to move it that the mounts just couldnt handle it. We headed back to the house again and went to get some bigger material from town so I could make another set of mounts for the bar and ghetto turn it down with a grinder to make it softer.
Even when it was broke this thing still looked damn cool.
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/147275993@N05/51961018734/in/album-72177720297499735/" title="_DSC0665"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51961018734_8a3a1bef42_b.jpg" width="681" height="1024" alt="_DSC0665"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/147275993@N05/51961298765/in/album-72177720297499735/" title="_DSC0674"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51961298765_2d81c29cfa_b.jpg" width="1024" height="681" alt="_DSC0674"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The next morning I was finally confident enough to drive the truck and we opted to run cliffhanger. I figured if the truck was going to break the swaybar system again it would be on the first obstacle so it would be easy enough to recover and get it back to the house. But thankfully the new mounts held up and we were able to run the whole trail without a single issue. This was the first time I had gotten to wheel the truck and holy shit this thing is like cheating. Between the crawlbox and lockers it just walked up every obstacle on the whole trail and felt incredibly planted doing it.
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/147275993@N05/51960799858/in/album-72177720297499735/" title="_DSC0985"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51960799858_15cbd3466b_b.jpg" width="681" height="1024" alt="_DSC0985"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/147275993@N05/51961303280/in/album-72177720297499735/" title="_DSC1050"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51961303280_8072f81fb5_b.jpg" width="681" height="1024" alt="_DSC1050"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/147275993@N05/51959736462/in/album-72177720297499735/" title="_DSC2632"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51959736462_ca7f3ea370_b.jpg" width="681" height="1024" alt="_DSC2632"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/147275993@N05/51951328928/in/album-72177720297499735/" title="IMG_0945"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51951328928_4885bde771_b.jpg" width="819" height="1024" alt="IMG_0945"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/147275993@N05/51951857695/in/album-72177720297499735/" title="DSC_7137"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51951857695_1cf2a27457_b.jpg" width="1024" height="683" alt="DSC_7137"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
So it took me half the trip, but I finally had a working wheeler and it was quickly living up to end exceeding all the expectations I had for it. There were a few little quirks but for a completely fresh build this was to be expected.
On the way back to the house that evening we made the quick trip up part of Moab Rim to run the main obstacles. The pressure switch on my compressor took a shit halfway up leaving me without lockers so I turned around after the first obstacle but was able to swap the switch that evening with someone else in the group.
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/147275993@N05/51959736607/in/album-72177720297499735/" title="_DSC3690"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51959736607_6302ce0d77_b.jpg" width="681" height="1024" alt="_DSC3690"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/147275993@N05/51960730641/in/album-72177720297499735/" title="_DSC3847"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51960730641_d7443db12e_b.jpg" width="681" height="1024" alt="_DSC3847"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/147275993@N05/51960800413/in/album-72177720297499735/" title="_DSC3893"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51960800413_2b9861ea0e_b.jpg" width="681" height="1024" alt="_DSC3893"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Next up Pritchett Canyon