Build Thread?

[Mutant138]

Ha there is not much actual speed involved with this truck. The holes are actually more functional for washing out all the dirt that accumulates back there.
Plans for the Bumper? More stickers. I might have something very light fabbed up as a tire carrier as the truck is heavy enough (over 5800lbs w recovery/tools), but the rugged unfinished look is growing on me. It kind of represents me in a nut shell, rough around the edges. Do Not miss that plastic crap though. The Dark Bronze was the best color choice I ever made. Really goes well with the Shoreline Blue.

Love the truck. Pre facelift headlights loot too good with full hoops.

Question about bumper cover free life...

This thing has been nothing but problems for me since day one. Mine is all mangled now and covered in bedliner to mask. Only reason I leave it is protection?? I should pull it off and have a look myself.

What's underneath the bumper cover on the bottom side. Anything that would get mangled/caught on a rock?

 

[4RunnerAquasport]

No Plastic Allowed!!

Love the truck. Pre facelift headlights loot too good with full hoops.

Question about bumper cover free life...

This thing has been nothing but problems for me since day one. Mine is all mangled now and covered in bedliner to mask. Only reason I leave it is protection?? I should pull it off and have a look myself.

What's underneath the bumper cover on the bottom side. Anything that would get mangled/caught on a rock?

Thanks!! Been pretty happy with the SW Bumper. I like these headlights too. Sooo much better than the 4th gens.
As far as under the bumper cover? There is the inner fender, some pinch welds and a vent that allows the pressure to equalize when you shut the door that could get damaged. I don't think there is anything critical under there. It's just an open gap under the location where the OEM jack is stored. If you hit a rock hard enough, even with the cover on there it would still take some damage.
I fought that damn thing for over a year. Heat gun, super glue, new fastener brackets, 2x4 wedged up against it to help it dry in place. PIA! Once the plastic fastening tabs on the backside of the cover get compromised? Stick a fork in it.
So, I say go for it!! Rip that sucker off there. Just say no to Plastic!!
Ironically, tomorrow night I'm driving this thing out to Maricopa to the folks house for Christmas. You can crawl under there and look for yourself if your near Phoenix lol. Can't wait to romp around on the trails out there!!

 

[Mutant138]

Thanks!! Been pretty happy with the SW Bumper. I like these headlights too. Sooo much better than the 4th gens.
As far as under the bumper cover? There is the inner fender, some pinch welds and a vent that allows the pressure to equalize when you shut the door that could get damaged. I don't think there is anything critical under there. It's just an open gap under the location where the OEM jack is stored. If you hit a rock hard enough, even with the cover on there it would still take some damage.
I fought that damn thing for over a year. Heat gun, super glue, new fastener brackets, 2x4 wedged up against it to help it dry in place. PIA! Once the plastic fastening tabs on the backside of the cover get compromised? Stick a fork in it.
So, I say go for it!! Rip that sucker off there. Just say no to Plastic!!
Ironically, tomorrow night I'm driving this thing out to Maricopa to the folks house for Christmas. You can crawl under there and look for yourself if your near Phoenix lol. Can't wait to romp around on the trails out there!!

Interesting... I have my breathers going through those vents. Might have to move those but I think I'm doing that and chopping the tail pipe back to the axle this weekend.

Oh shit. Very possible man. I'll send you a PM.

Edit:

**** that bumper

 

[4RunnerAquasport]

Back in the AZ. Vulture Mountains.

 

[4RunnerAquasport]

Love me some AZ.

 

[4RunnerAquasport]

Well the 50k mile rebuild is doing good so far.
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[4RunnerAquasport]

CV Axle

I had been bragging about the Toyota remans I got at the dealer for $150 ish, but not anymore. Inner boot tore pretty early. The only thing I can say in their defense was I just rebuilt my Kings last fall, maybe I damaged it some how. But after looking at the tear, the boots aren't very thick. No fooling me twice. Pulling these axles with a full Shrockworks skid plate is no fun, so I had heard of the body puller method and it worked pretty well. Small aerosol cap to plug the diff fluid works pretty well too. Now to clean up all this F*&%ing grease.

 

[lobo_feroz]

Back in the AZ. Vulture Mountains.

That’s a great photo and a great place to off-road with your 4Runner!

 

[4RunnerAquasport]

Roof Rack Solar

I purchased one of the Harbor Freight Thunderbolt Panels in early March. After liberating it from a 30 day Covid quarantine, I've been going through ideas on how to supplement my secondary battery, but in a convenient way. This is what I've come up with so far.

The panels come in 25W sections that you can fasten together, so I figured one wouldn't take up too much space on the rack. They're framed in plastic so I wanted to cushion it some, and had some of this HVAC insulation noodle. Cut it in and Gaff taped it, then painted it to give it half a chance of not deteriorating in a couple months.

Grabbed some electrical ground clamps and some wing screws with a piece of fuel line rubber to protect the rack and two of those will secure the back end. I will just wrap a bungy on the front, and then it can still be secure with the ability to move it around. It can be quickly removed completely if I come up with a good connection point. Not sure if I want to use this cheap controller. More to follow...

 

[4RunnerAquasport]

So after several msg exchanges with [MENTION=144483]Bumbo[/MENTION], who is quite the bad ass when it comes to DC power and Solar. Check out his You Tube channel, he has some amazing portable battery solutions that really pack a punch. He also wants to do some T4R related electrical mod videos in the future, so jump on there and give him some encouragement!
YouTube

Anyway as I mentioned after our msgs, with room for only one full time HF 25W panel on the roof rack, Bumbo recommended going with a Victron Smart Controller. The MPPT controller will get better efficiency out of this little panel than the cheap PWM that comes with the HF panel. I also installed some Anderson connectors tapped into the "PV in" terminals, so that when I'm stationary in camp, I will have a plug and play option to add my Renogy suitcase panel to get a full 100W out of this array.

Testing the HF 25W panel, it only put out 16W/1A for pretty much the whole day with not a cloud in the sky. So I will be shopping for a better one that will fit in the space allowed. But in the meantime this panel will help with the load of the Fridge while underway, lessening the load on the alternator. I also installed an alternator voltage booster to accommodate the AGM batteries I run.

The Victron controller works really well, as does the BT app that allows you to set up the parameters and monitor the system from your IOS or Android device.

 

[4RunnerAquasport]

I did a video of the install of a Dirty Parts Alternator Voltage Booster on my 4th gen to accommodate the higher charging voltage required for an AGM battery.
I also installed one on my 5th gen, which the fuse box is laid out a little differently and the orientation of the booster is opposite of the 4th gen , but the process is the same. Here is the 4th gen video.
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[4RunnerAquasport]

Finally put a coat of wax on LE, after about 2 years. Starting to see the Pearl in that Shoreline Blue.

 

[vandert]

We knew it woukd happen

Since you left Facebook, My 2020 Quicksand Double Cab TRD Sport Tacoma in Manual will arrive on Tuesday or Wednesday if this week

Went with TRD sport for the color matched and scoop, will not mod till after we get moved to Tennessee late this year, but will get ARB's, regear, lift with sliders and RTT in short order after I get moved up there!

 

[4RunnerAquasport]

Since you left Facebook, My 2020 Quicksand Double Cab TRD Sport Tacoma in Manual will arrive on Tuesday or Wednesday if this week

Went with TRD sport for the color matched and scoop, will not mod till after we get moved to Tennessee late this year, but will get ARB's, regear, lift with sliders and RTT in short order after I get moved up there!

Nice! My buddy has one and is happy with it. He complained to the dealer and they remapped a couple things so it seems to have more pep and less searching for gears.
Posted a thread about fb, but it's been removed. It was mostly a waste of time, but somebody didn't like it.

 

[vandert]

Nice! My buddy has one and is happy with it. He complained to the dealer and they remapped a couple things so it seems to have more pep and less searching for gears.
Posted a thread about fb, but it's been removed. It was mostly a waste of time, but somebody didn't like it.

The Auto's have alot of issues, but got the Manual so can row the gears, hope to have this when it's as old as your 1st gen... Going to edit in pics in a moment

Tried editing, wont add will the from computer in a few

 

[4RunnerAquasport]

The Auto's have alot of issues, but got the Manual so can row the gears, hope to have this when it's as old as your 1st gen... Going to edit in pics in a moment

Tried editing, wont add will the from computer in a few

Yea the manual is the way to go for the Tacos. The site doesn't like pics larger than 1 MB, don't know if that was your issue. I've actually gone down below 500 KBs and it seems to do ok with those. Now you gotta open an account on Tacoma World lol. I love this forum but the format Taco world uses seems to be a lot more user friendly.

 

[vandert]

Lol, had tacomaworld account since 2000 when I got my T100, before that had bjbcb if old BBS forum accou ts! Hell my Pirtae4x3 original account was 96, then current one after server crash is form 99!

 

[4RunnerAquasport]

[MENTION=120701]Cymon[/MENTION], well it took 5 1/2 years and about 70 BS posts in the last two days lol

 

[Cymon]

Yeah, I don’t really pay attention to much on there anymore. I saw your post in the FLORC thread. If you need anything PM me and I’ll send you my outside contact info.

:cheers:

 

[4RunnerAquasport]

Yeah, I don’t really pay attention to much on there anymore. I saw your post in the FLORC thread. If you need anything PM me and I’ll send you my outside contact info.

:cheers:

This post was eluding to the fact that I finally hit the Senior Member status. It took you what, a year? It took me over five. lol
I have no bitterness towards Anthony or the Florida 4runners, just fb in general.
I miss those guys a bunch, as well as the various other groups I was in, and the classifieds too. Lot of goofy stuff going on with the big tech right now so I'm just watching my Ps and Qs. Thank you for the support and the friendly gesture my friend.