Build Thread: Mothra, the (blown) budget camping rig

[Renegade_Medic]

Swing out carrier is almost complete

Got a lot of work done on this thing today. Really all it lacks is the license plate relocation, LP light, paint, and a little lip against the top to transfer some weight off the hinge and latch.

 

[Renegade_Medic]

Tire Carrier wrapped up

Got the tire carrier almost completely finished with paint, grease in the bearings, and a functioning license plate light. It looks exactly How I wanted. I need to put the stopper in for the holding position so that the liftgate can open and clear the tire and carrier. I should have placed the farther out towards the side. Oh well.

It even looks kind of Land Cruiser-ish I think.

My bumper from NWTI showed up. Kind of disappointing, I expected it to be a bigger package... (Insert joke here). Did a tally of the parts and I may be missing a part. Don't know, there are no instructions for this kit and I have not been able to get a response back from him since June 21st.... So, here's to hoping I can figure it out!

Final product:

 

[JackedYota]

Try this page and download the instructions. I was actually looking at getting one of these possibly. Instruction Manual Links

 

[Renegade_Medic]

Try this page and download the instructions. I was actually looking at getting one of these possibly. Instruction Manual Links

Yeah I have the open top bumper and the 4runner instructions are for a different kit, also seems to be missing info. The instructions for the taco open top are close, but don't show how to attach to the front of the frame. I'll figure it out or make my own mounting.

 

[chuckburban]

Awesome work so far! I'm new to the 3rd Gen and am definitely taking inspiration from yours in planning out the next steps with mine.

 

[electroCrunch]

Wow, what a transformation your 4Runner has gone through! I just read through your thread. Great work, I'll be following your build.

 

[Renegade_Medic]

Awesome work so far! I'm new to the 3rd Gen and am definitely taking inspiration from yours in planning out the next steps with mine.

Wow, what a transformation your 4Runner has gone through! I just read through your thread. Great work, I'll be following your build.

Thank y'all, glad I am able to help everyone out. I have really grown to love the little truck, I just wish it had a little more oomph.

 

[Renegade_Medic]

Front Bumper Build Pt 1

I had some time earlier this week to get started on my front bumper. It's the redesigned open top kit from Northwest Trail Innovations.
I'll just come out and say this about the bumper: There are some things I like and some things I don't like. The design of the bumper is nice. It's easy enough to put together and MOST of the pieces fit together well. I did end up with 2 decent sized triangular pieces that I have no idea where they could go, the angles don't fit anywhere, but with basically no direction, I think I did alright. This kit is not for the faint of heart.
Goodbye, old front end. It was nice, looked cool, but it was very hard to use the winch, since I couldn't see the spool and it was hard to get the controller plugged in.

There was a little reworking done to make everything fit.

Finally starting to look like a bumper.

Got it all tacked up, then did the outer welds. I'm going to lay down some good heavy welds inside for structural support.

There was a casualty though. While trying to cut off the old winch mount, a cutoff disk bound up, then exploded off the center ring, knocking the grinder out of my hand and on to the floor, and then into my leg.

Feels great!!!!

 

[Renegade_Medic]

Front Bumper part 2

Picked the hottest day of the year so far to finish this front bumper up. Had to stop and go to the store for a new fan as mine fried and it was determined that a fan is an absolute necessity.

Did all the finish work today and some welding on the inside for extra strength.

Plus side of the heat: paint dries very fast.

I put some LED lights under the headlights, because thy dont have a wide viewing area and no where on the bumper pointed straight ahead, other than the main part, but they looked really weird there. The Novita EP35 flasher relay I got doesn't work properly, so I'll deal with the hyperflash until I can find a suitable relay.

Sneak peak: Up next is a Sequoia Brake Upgrade. Similar, to the TBU, but it's different..... Got a hell of a deal on my upgrade parts.

 

[Renegade_Medic]

Brake upgrade part 1

Had some plans change today and [MENTION=159759]Spunky1[/MENTION] came by to help me rebuild and paint the Tundra Calipers. Rebuild was fairly straight forward. There were 2 sets of dust boots in the kit, no idea which one is right, they both fit, so we went with the one that looked closest to what was on the calipers to begin with. Used kit 04479-60081. This was the correct kit, as far as I can tell. The package says "RR DIS", so it was confusing.

Before:

All rebuilt and ready for paint:

This was done with just a can of Duplicolor Caliper spray paint, not the whole kit. The can probably has enough to do 4 calipers, if you watch your spraying. This is 2 medium coats and 2 heavy coats. Even though it was like a blast furnace outside, it still took around 6 hours for these to dry to touch.

 

[I'mStock]

The package says "RR DIS", so it was confusing

Generally speaking, Toyota (and some other manufacturers) uses "RR" for rear and "FR" for front. It can be pretty confusing because my brain always wants to assume "FR" is " front right" and "RR" is "rear right."

So, having said that, I plugged 0447960081 into my parts catalog and it states "Front" in the comments. So much for consistency, Toyota. :laugh:

 

[Renegade_Medic]

Generally speaking, Toyota (and some other manufacturers) uses "RR" for rear and "FR" for front. It can be pretty confusing because my brain always wants to assume "FR" is " front right" and "RR" is "rear right."

So, having said that, I plugged 0447960081 into my parts catalog and it states "Front" in the comments. So much for consistency, Toyota. :laugh:

Gotcha, it's still weird, because pistons of that size would be some pretty beefy rear brakes. They also call a U joint a spider gear, or just spider. Was very confusing.

 

[Renegade_Medic]

Brake Upgrade Part 2

Had more help from [MENTION=159759]Spunky1[/MENTION] today. Got the 13WL calipers on. Wow they really are huge compared to the stock calipers. Install was painless. Cut the dust shield up to get them to fit. Rotors fit fine. Everything really went together well. I do wish I could find a kit to replace the hard steel line with Braided steel with a banjo bolt on the end. I don't trust the hard lines anymore after my random failure.

The red definitely looks sweet. I am a bit disappointed in the performance and glad I didn't do the 199mm I see lots suggesting is good enough. If you are going to go through the trouble of changing your rotors and calipers, go BIG!

Performance: Roughly the same as my OEM rotors and Wagner Thermoquiet Pads (good grip). Before bedding the pads in, they were pretty suspect even.

I ordered a set of Powerstop Z36 Drilled/slotted rotors and Ceramic pads. I had this exact set up on my F150 and it was superb with crisp braking a firm pedal. Also no brake shudder. I can't wait for the Powerstop kit to be in. I am expecting a considerable increase in braking power over these used junkyard parts. I just wanted a good comparison baseline. Plus, the shiny drilled/slotted rotors will look killer in there.


Also replaced the shifter bushings. The shifter had a ton of slop, to the point it wore out the park senesor and I was having hell trying to get the key out of the ignition for the past few weeks. It was fairly easy, but definitely easier with a friend to help out. Amazing what difference 4 little blue bushings will make.

New Rotors and pads will go on Friday or Saturday.

 

[Renegade_Medic]

Powerstop Tundra Brake Upgrade

So in was pretty underwhelmed with the Tundra Brake Upgrade. The pads I had were actually decent too, but the rotors may have just been a little too old. My previous brake setup was OEM rotors with Wagner Thermo quiet. These had incredible grab and didn't fade much, if at all, for anyone who doesn't quite need the additional stopping power of the Tundra brakes. These just got overworked while my rear brakes were full of gear oil.

I plulled the trigger on the Powerstop Z36 kit. I've had the Z36 kit on previous vehicles and was always happy with the performance. They arrived and I was ready to get them on. Since we just had everything off it was a pretty quick swap, nothing to figure out or break loose. They went on without a hitch, break in was painless, and boy do they work! The pedal still feels like it has a little extra travel before these engage, but once they start engaging they grab hard. Plus they look freaking killer.

Really happy with these brakes. I was considering getting the 4Runner Powerstop kit, but after pricing it out, it cost me roughly the same amount to buy these calipers and rebuild them with the Tundra equipment, so for roughly the same cost I got the added benefit of thicker rotors and somewhat beefier pad material.

 

[Renegade_Medic]

Trailer build part 1

I went with my dad across the state to pick up an expedition trailer about a month ago. It's a Morris Mule, its pretty sweet and it got me thinking about making a little trailer for myself.

I certainly can't afford a Mule, but I figured I could probably make something. The purpose of the trailer is more to take to somewhat nearby camping trips (ie: gulf coast). Although, my favorite fishing spot is now wiped off the map thanks to Hurricane Harvey. The trailer will probably not be doing any extreme offroad, given it's 20-ish-inch tall tires. Although it's probably light enough to just drag over anything it gets hung up on.

To start, I got a little trailer from Harbor Freight. It's 40x48" and has the larger 12" wheels.

Assembly was easy and took about an hour and a half.

I then designed a frame that will bolt to the little trailer frame. It will have an entirely enclosed storage box, a slide-out lid, and a rack for my tent up top.

Even the wife got in on the fun!

It's almost done, really just need to paint all the metal and figure out how to secure the lid. I wanted to do something cool on the back, so I figured a Texas flag is a quick way to add some cool-ness. Now everyone will know a proud Texan is towing this beast!

The plan is to have this loaded with all our camping equipment and cooler 24/7. When we want to go, we can just grab food, fill the cooler, hook it up, and go. No messing with finding someone to help me put the tent on or loading anything. This will be 10 minute-ready. Maybe 20, with putting the kayaks underneath the tent. I will be making an extended tongue for it, since this thing is so short, it's nearly impossible to back up!

It will be finished this weekend.

 

[Brock4x4]

That's a sweet set up! Bookmarked to see what's next. Really like that color of your rig. Can't believe that's rattle canned! Looks awesome.

 

[Renegade_Medic]

That's a sweet set up! Bookmarked to see what's next. Really like that color of your rig. Can't believe that's rattle canned! Looks awesome.

Thanks! Should have more up tonight.

 

[wrench.n.wheel]

damn! Just read through this whole thread and am quite impressed, really only found this thread because of searching for info on the NWTI bumper. Any major issues you encounter?

 

[hylian14]

Awesome set up man, I like the color you chose for the paint. I'm assuming you didn't do inside the door at all, how jarring are the colors when the door is open?

 

[Renegade_Medic]

damn! Just read through this whole thread and am quite impressed, really only found this thread because of searching for info on the NWTI bumper. Any major issues you encounter?

Not really. Don't expect any updates on your order after you place it. It will just arrive at the fastenal a few weeks later. There are basically no directions, so you pretty much have to figure it out. I had a hard time cutting the frame in the correct place, mainly because of my winch plate I added earlier, it was a pain to remove. Other than that, pretty easy to figure out.