cacarbuff's "Build Thread" but really it's a "Run Thread" :D

C

cacarbuff

New member
Hey everybody!

I wasn't really interested in making a "Build Thread", but I'm hoping to start going on a bunch of runs with my 4x4 club (sonsofthunder4x4.com), and thought I would share some of the events from the runs on here!

I'll try to keep the mod section up to date, but will mostly be adding photos and videos as I get to explore the Southern California 4x4 world.

It started as a 2005 Limited 4WD v8 4Runner with 131k. Serviced at the local dealership every 5k miles (+/- 100 miles) according to the Toyota owners website.

MODS:

Suspension, Wheels, Tires:
Icon 2.5 Extended Travel Remote Reservoir Coilovers
Total Chaos 1" Uniball Upper Control Arms
MetalTech LT Standard Duty 2" Lift Coils
Daystar 1.5" Rear Spacers
MetalTech/Icon 2.0 VS LT Rear Shocks
2011 8-hole FJ Cruiser Wheels (5)
265/70R17 Nitto Terra Grapplers (E-load)

Cargo Carrying and Storage:
Custom 2-drawer Cargo Box beneath rear shelf
Gobi Rack with Axe/Shovel Mount and incorporated Ratcheting Tie-Downs
Gobi Ladder

Communication:
Cobra 29LTD Classic CB Radio
HighGear Noise Canceling CB Microphone
4' k40 Superflex CB Antenna

"Performance":
HCF Delete
TRD Air Filter

And now for some "build pictures".....

The day my wife and I picked her up in April 2012, ready to tow a 20' box trailer across the country so I could start a new PhD program:


Then we decided to stay in Southern California for my new PhD program and went on a 3 month camping vacation before the program started.


I got it up on an OME medium duty lift and the Nitto Terras right around Christmas/My Birthday time last year. I also convinced the wife to let me get a Gobi Rack after the day we found out we were having a baby boy, I got so excited that I drove into a parking garage with my bike on the roof... :roadkill:


Then we went on our first snow run with the Sons of Thunder club.


The OME was far too rough for the baby when he came in the spring, so I went back to stock height for a few months while I saved up for the Icon/MetalTech/Total Chaos lift. It is unbelievably nicer that the OME lift; and it looks pretty. :rockon:



The back seemed to be sagging a bit under the weight of my dog Mosby and the cargo drawers and would hit the bumpstops even on minor road irregularities, so I added a set of rear Daystar 1.5" spacers and cranked the fronts up about 3/4".


And this is how she stands now:


I'll continue to update this post with mods, and will add trail run pictures and videos in following postings. Feel free to add any comments or ask any questions you have!
 
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Sons of Thunder Cleghorn 11/29/13

So the day after Thanksgiving, a member of my 4x4 club and I went up to Cleghorn to do a nice day run. We ended up taking on every technical trail (zero bypasses for us), and the 4Runner performed phenomenally! I'm the only IFS in the club, and my buddy said that he was really really surprised by how well it did!

We started out on a little rock whoopdy "initiation" to see how my new suspension flexed out.


It was raining, so some of the really tight, super steep sections were a bit sketchy...


Then I found out how badly I need sliders.


And some more flex video:


I'll add in some more trail riding videos as soon as I sift through them, including one where my Landcruiser buddy needed to get winched up a section after I made it, and some other fairly technical climbs and descents.

At the very end of the run, with 15 feet of technical trail to navigate, I got wedged on 55 gallon drum sized barrel, and my passenger side cv grenaded.

We made it to a flat section, but had to get towed off of the trail and all the way home by the Landcruiser. :frusty:


My buddy really helped me out though, and hooked me up with a cv for cheap on his shop account. Then he had his mechanic friend teach me how to swap the cv so I can do it on the trail next time I need to. No more getting stranded! We were back on the road that night, and made it home before midnight. It was an amazing day!
 
What's your PHD in? Modding? LOL

Great post, keep us updated. Nice to have good friends to help when needed.
 
I'm gonna have to keep up with this thread for sure.

Them plastic sliders you have will take a beating, I have pictures of when I had mine on in build thread, them gen3 guy took me through some unforgivable beatings, reminds me, need to put the video in it from me testing my new sliders. Love the video of it also you have, at the end, UUUHHHHH.

Great looking ride there also.

So how that whip do for you, can you show a video up for me on how flexable it is, like pull on it and then release?
 
xxaarraa said:
What's your PHD in? Modding? LOL

Great post, keep us updated. Nice to have good friends to help when needed.
Click to expand...

having fun said:
I'm gonna have to keep up with this thread for sure.

Them plastic sliders you have will take a beating, I have pictures of when I had mine on in build thread, them gen3 guy took me through some unforgivable beatings, reminds me, need to put the video in it from me testing my new sliders. Love the video of it also you have, at the end, UUUHHHHH.

Great looking ride there also.

So how that whip do for you, can you show a video up for me on how flexable it is, like pull on it and then release?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the kind words guys! And yeah... the running boards are pretty much done for. I haven't gone through and posted parts of the other two hours of videos, but I had to jump on the running boards to bend them out of the way of the doors on at least three other occasions. Oh well; Demello sliders should be coming soon.

The antenna is really flexible and seems to work really well. I haven't been able to test the range yet though. But just before the first bent running boards section, we drove through a ~200 yard long "tree tunnel". The trees were about a foot and a half above the roof rack, and you've seen where I mounted the antenna.

Here's a flexing video I just took. Sorry for the shakiness and stuff.
 
+1, Ill be keeping an eye on this thread too! Im in so cal too. We just got our 4Runner about 2 months ago (06 sr5 v8) and have a little boy on the way. Shes still stock but ready to wheel. Let me know if you want another 4Runner tagging along on any trail run in so cal. I thinking of heading to Big Bear this thursday to play in some fresh snow.
 
cacarbuff said:
So the day after Thanksgiving, a member of my 4x4 club and I went up to Cleghorn to do a nice day run. We ended up taking on every technical trail (zero bypasses for us), and the 4Runner performed phenomenally! I'm the only IFS in the club, and my buddy said that he was really really surprised by how well it did!

We started out on a little rock whoopdy "initiation" to see how my new suspension flexed out.


It was raining, so some of the really tight, super steep sections were a bit sketchy...


Then I found out how badly I need sliders.


And some more flex video:


I'll add in some more trail riding videos as soon as I sift through them, including one where my Landcruiser buddy needed to get winched up a section after I made it, and some other fairly technical climbs and descents.

At the very end of the run, with 15 feet of technical trail to navigate, I got wedged on 55 gallon drum sized barrel, and my passenger side cv grenaded.

We made it to a flat section, but had to get towed off of the trail and all the way home by the Landcruiser. :frusty:


My buddy really helped me out though, and hooked me up with a cv for cheap on his shop account. Then he had his mechanic friend teach me how to swap the cv so I can do it on the trail next time I need to. No more getting stranded! We were back on the road that night, and made it home before midnight. It was an amazing day!
Click to expand...
This looks awesome. I have only run cleaghorn once. Had so much fun but did it alone so did a lot of bypasses would love to do this you. After my repairs.
 
I am in the Inland Empire and we have a small Christian 4x4 club out here as well. Nice setup but the sliders are definitely in order.
 
masson74 said:
I am in the Inland Empire and we have a small Christian 4x4 club out here as well. Nice setup but the sliders are definitely in order.
Click to expand...

Nice! What's the club called? I was/kind of am part of the "Rough Riders" with Life Bible Fellowship in Upland as well.
 
Hey, we met a couple weeks back on the Socal group's trip up to Santiago Peak..

Bummer to hear about the death of one of your CVs out on the trail but this had me curious... If we busted a front CV/half-shaft, wouldn't it still be possible to drive the truck with the center diff lock turned on? Assuming you were out of the technical stuff and RWD would be sufficient, anyway...
 
AKmoney said:
Hey, we met a couple weeks back on the Socal group's trip up to Santiago Peak..

Bummer to hear about the death of one of your CVs out on the trail but this had me curious... If we busted a front CV/half-shaft, wouldn't it still be possible to drive the truck with the center diff lock turned on? Assuming you were out of the technical stuff and RWD would be sufficient, anyway...
Click to expand...

I did drive it a ways (maybe 1/8 to 1/4 of a mile) with the center diff locked up. But it was making a lot of noises that made me a little bit worried that I would mess up the hub or something in the diff. It was easy enough to hook up a tow strap and get towed the last 1/4 mi.
 
T4R.org Deer Springs 12/28/2013

So I had the great pleasure of going on a run in Escondido, CA last weekend with some really cool guys from this forum. It was a really fun run, and although I didn't get a ton of photos, I got a few good videos from the new GoPro I got for Christmas from my brother! If you hear a weird rattling noise in some of the videos, it's a weld-splatter fragment that rolls around in the tubing of my Gobi rack. Thanks to [MENTION=91297]Kraze[/MENTION], [MENTION=96235]Pisa 8687[/MENTION], [MENTION=89552]Jedrattle[/MENTION], and the other guys that made it out! Hopefully we'll be able to get another run going in the future!

Here's 4/6 of us before we hit the trail.


And here's a video of the start of the trail.


We eventually made it up to the old airstrip and played around on some of the hill climbs. I made a rookie mistake and didn't examine/pick my line before I started the climb because I was a bit distracted. Then by the time I had realized it, I couldn't see the rocks over my hood. Oh well. Won't make that mistake again. Thanks for the spot!


After we got tired of playing around at the airstrip, we headed back down and there was a hairy section about 100 yards from the pavement.

Everyone else was too far ahead for me to capture it on video, but here's what I got:

Here's [MENTION=96235]Pisa 8687[/MENTION] hitting the crack.

And how we helped him out.


Then I was a bit nervous based on what I'd seen, but there was only one way down, so I had to go for it (with a slightly different line).




And here's the video I have of the last section of trail.


Thanks for checking out my run report! There are videos documenting the entire trail uploaded on my Youtube channel.

We should be hitting Cleghorn again this month, so I'll have another report on that later.

Happy New Year Everyone!
 
Great videos... Man that first photo is frighting... Glad everyone made it out without damage!

So that spot is unavoidable coming down the other end?
 
Yeah, it's unavoidable if you do the whole run the way we did. It's not too bad though if you have spotters. You'll lift a wheel, but if you take the right line, it's not much more than that.
 
cacarbuff said:
Yeah, it's unavoidable if you do the whole run the way we did. It's not too bad though if you have spotters. You'll lift a wheel, but if you take the right line, it's not much more than that.
Click to expand...

Where's the vids. Make with the movie clips already :D
 
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