Brilliant's Mod Thread

[A.Wilson013]

Hopefully it comes out half as well as your center console fab work did.

I am going out on a little adventure out in Wilkeson with the TacomaWorld locals today. If it's any good, could be worth putting something together for a future date. Maybe make it into a snow run.

 

[PNW yota]

Dude your center console/rear cargo inverter outlets are, well.. brilliant! Unfortunately way beyond my fab/electrical skills. I can only hope to someday be able to afford to pay someone to do a mod like that!

 

[Brilliant]

UCAs

Getting the UCAs on. What a nightmare. Never did get the arm free of the stud.

The drivers side was much easier and straightforward. I took some advice and cut the ball join stud off and pressed out the ball joint directly on the ball. I used was a pickle fork and a ball joint service C press borrowed from Oreilly's.

I read that you had to bend some sheet metal on some toyotas to get the bolt out of the fender. It must be on later tacos as it slid out just fine on the passenger side. The drivers side I had to remove the battery tray and a couple brackets. Nothing time consuming or difficult.

 

[tyr0981]

Getting the UCAs on. What a nightmare.

Never did get the arm free of the stud.

I'd say you defiantly tried to loosen that thing! damn! nice remote reservoir!

:decision:

 

[Brilliant]

I'd say you defiantly tried to loosen that thing! damn! nice remote reservoir!
:decision:

It was a b to get off.

Remote reservoirs only because I bought them used. Its quite cumbersome to adjust the height with the remove reservoirs and stock arms.

 

[Brilliant]

Put a new coat of paint on the calipers and installed the brake lines I had sitting around. My old lines were cracked and crusty. Red TRD because I could?

 

[Brilliant]

FJ Coils - Details

I've heard that rear FJ 4x4 coils could go in the 3rd gen rear, so I tried it. I've heard they are a bit higher rate and perform well on washboards.

I think they'd work as an alternative to 99 talls, but not much more than that. The lower free height means you have less droop.

The Before
99 talls with 1 10mm packer each side (3/8"). 99 talls are newish with 20k mi. (Yes, my 4runner is that uneven).

Rear from floor
Pass Rear 36.5
Drivr Rear 36.125

The After
Rear floor
Pass Rear 37.25 (+3/4"),
Drivr Rear 36.5 (+1/8")

Hub Fender
Pass Rear 22"
Drivr Rear 21.25"

Free Height
99 talls - 16.25"
FJ - 14.75-15"

Coil Diameter
99 talls - 130mm ID
FJs - 145mm ID
99 talls - 145mm OD
FJs - 160mm OD

Wind Diameter
99 talls - 14mm
FJs - 15mm

side by side, shiny one is the FJ

99 talls

FJ

Coil Diameter
99

FJ

Wind Diameter
99

FJ

Hows it look in a coil isolator compared to the 4runner
Well its 1.5cm or so wider, so its looser. There is maybe 0.5 cm of play in the 4runner coil/isolator, that grows with the larger ID of the FJ.
99

FJ

As it sits on the isolator
99

FJ

FJ on the pad

FJ in the cup

It rides very close to the frame, with a half cm or so of clearance

 

[LittleCaesar]

How is the ride with the FJ coils?

Also, did you have any clearance problems with using those FJ rims and the Tundra calipers?

 

[Brilliant]

How is the ride with the FJ coils?

Also, did you have any clearance problems with using those FJ rims and the Tundra calipers?

The FJs rode better than the 99 talls, felt more stable on forest roads with the bit higher rate. It sits a bit taller so I had a tad more shock travel as well and that maybe helped a bit too.


I ran around some mild trails today, some pot holes, and some whoops. I'm liking them more than the 99s and am going to keep them installed. They perform better in every way, except full axle droop, but my shocks arent that long anyway.

FJ rims should clear the calipers just fine without spacers, I have a spacers so its no issue. They're the same backspacing as tundra and other OEM 17s.

 

[Brilliant]

Did a few odds and ends. Something is making an awful noise in the front so I was looking at the supervention. I found the drivers side LBJ was leaking. I ran to the dealer and got a new one. The install was super easy, compared to fighting with my UCA all last weekend. Thanks to [MENTION=15176]spongerx[/MENTION] and [MENTION=14772]shootmymime[/MENTION] for the step by step. But my noise is still there so its something else.

I had this big sky elocker guard sitting around for who knows how long. I remember I didnt put the locker guard on there since it had an interference with the sway bar. I didnt have a place to work on anything at the time so it went back in the box.

I ended up grinding part of the guard down to clear the swaybar. I also had to grind down the bracket bolt and the guard to get the guard to sit flat and clear the other bracket bolt. Most just leave it off, but I had invested too much time in another thin headed bolt to be defeated.

I also found the diff breather parts, so I installed that. Since I am not intending to drive through water above the bottom of doors, I ran it just to the top of the rear deck and attached it to the brake line bracket.

I tool another good look at the FJ coils. No issues after a thorough workout for the level of my runner.

While under the 4runner I took more measurements for can bumps. I thinking of getting rid of the OE bumps and getting something more interesting in the rear to keep up with the front.
18 cm - Distance from top of cup to cone bump bottom
16 cm - Distance from bottom of frame bump (axle strike) to top of cup (current compression limit)
20 cm - Distance from top of cone to frame bump (axle strike)
10 cm - Distance from bottom of bump (axle strike) to bottom of frame

 

[shootmymime]

Did a few odds and ends. Something is making an awful noise in the front so I was looking at the supervention. I found the drivers side LBJ was leaking. I ran to the dealer and got a new one. The install was super easy, compared to fighting with my UCA all last weekend. Thanks to [MENTION=15176]spongerx[/MENTION] and [MENTION=14772]shootmymime[/MENTION] for the step by step. But my noise is still there so its

Is it your rack guide? Mine make a good thud when going over bumps.

Lift the front off the ground and place your hand on 3 and 9 o clock of the driver side wheel as you rock it back and forth by pushing and pulling. As if you are turning the steering wheel left and right very quickly.

It will look like you driver inner tie rod end is bad. The steering shaft should move up and down. To get a better look. Slide the large end of the steering shaft boot off and wiggle the tire again. You will see the steering shaft move up an down.

 

[Brilliant]

Is it your rack guide? Mine make a good thud when going over bumps.

Thanks for the thoughts... but no thuds over bumps, just a grinding sound, left to right, not related to full lock. It coincides with the UCA install, but not certain its related. I'm going to take it in to get aligned and maybe firestone can tell me what's going one.

Today I moved the transcooler up and the horns to the right. The mounting standoffs have failed on the right side of the cooler. Pretty lame for an toyota part. I wasnt sure who made the transcooler, so I mounted it right side up like the TRD instructions. Its more out of the way now for the HID wiring and will function at idle better.

I also swapped the HID bulbs and ordered some extension cables for the bulbs. When doing the Hella 500 HID swap, I would not recommend DMM brand. The bulbs I had were not sealed all the way on the backside and allowed water to get in and fail the bulb. The replacement bulbs I got in were sealed with hard plastic. I'd also get some extension cables for the bulbs to ballistic if doing the swap, the short little hid bulb ends aren't long enough to mount the ballasts.

 

[Brilliant]

Ridgid RW2 Wide Rear Lights

Objective: Install rear backup lights for illumination while backing and wire a dash switch for lighting up camp.

What I Did

• Obtain some surface mount LED lights
• Look at both sides bumper, find a section with clearance on backside
• Create paper template, trace on bumper
• Drill corners with 1/4" drill
• Drill out center with 1/2" diameter drill
• Insert saw into center hole cut to corner holes
• Install backup lights
• Tap reverse light, wire to trigger
• Run 14 awg from relay to light
• Use a diode and wire to dash switch

 

[Brilliant]

Made a small bracket for the 80A relay that runs the inverter. I had to move it out of the way to make room for a fusebox.

I also installed an aux relay/fuse box. I used a piece of HDPE and a heatgun to form the shape.

 

[LittleCaesar]

Brilliant,

If you take any pics of the reverse lights at night, please post them in the future.

Nice job!

 

[northernT4R]

Amazing mods and thanks for providing such detailed info! Would love to incorporate some of those ideas into my '98....oh to dream...

 

[Brilliant]

Brilliant,
If you take any pics of the reverse lights at night, please post them in the future.
Nice job!

My camera doesn't do night shots very well but I'll see what I can come up with.

Amazing mods and thanks for providing such detailed info! Would love to incorporate some of those ideas into my '98....oh to dream...

I try to document what I've done to make it easier for the next guy. I use the forums a lot myself.


Thinking of getting these and running an HID inner.

 

[spenedwrds]

Where did u find those lights? I love the look of those.

 

[Brilliant]

480C Viair Compressor

Purpose: Install OBA for ARB front diff lock and for airing up tires

What I did

• Remove rear drivers panel
• Install compressor behind panel
• Drill holes in firewall, install nutserts
• Mount small compressor manifold
• Wire relay and wire
• Run air line (since replaced with 1/4" hard)
• Mount ARB mini tank under hood w/ pressure switch
• Run air quick disconnect under hood mount

 

[shootmymime]

hey ill trade you the air compressor for the 1.5" lifts im selling in classifieds! haha :violin: PLEASE!