cbielat's 2011 SR5 Build Thread

[cbielat]

Nicely done.....

Seems like you were probably ready for a plate front bumper anyway. LOL

Those wet slippery rocks are the worst for body damage... Can't say that I enjoy those conditions much, but you don't always get to pick and choose..... Looks like it held together pretty well overall.

Thanks man. I never wanted to put on a bumper, front or rear. I've been trying like hell to keep it looking as stock as possible. But with more of these types of runs, I really do need a bit more clearance and a winch. Weird thing is, I'm not really upset about the damage lol. It adds character plus, it's not a street queen.

 

[E-ROCKER]

Good deal. Priorities, right? lol. Good luck with the house. I could have put a down payment on a house with all the money spent on this truck:wtf:

Enjoyed taking a look at all the pics from your wheeling adventure, thanks for posting them up. The damage report reminded me of the FJ Cruiser I had before my 4Runner. After 6 years wheeling the FJ it had dents from front to back both sides.
The red 5th gen looks like it bent the passenger side CBI bumper. My plastic body panel did the same when I bent mine on the driver side right there, seems like a weak point when your rear tire comes down off a rock and the rock hits the bumper.
It hurts seeing the damage man, I couldn't do it to my Runner now, after thinking about the way the FJ turned out. I took the money I was about to drop on my 4Runner for further mods/parts and bought a 84' pickup crawler that was already built. Now it doesn't hurt quite so bad when I get a dent or scratch.
Congrats on being in the top 5. Looked like a real fun time.:beer:

P.S. I'm sorry to hear that diff skid is still being annoying and not staying on tight, that sucks.

 

[cbielat]

Enjoyed taking a look at all the pics from your wheeling adventure, thanks for posting them up. The damage report reminded me of the FJ Cruiser I had before my 4Runner. After 6 years wheeling the FJ it had dents from front to back both sides.
The red 5th gen looks like it bent the passenger side CBI bumper. My plastic body panel did the same when I bent mine on the driver side right there, seems like a weak point when your rear tire comes down off a rock and the rock hits the bumper.
It hurts seeing the damage man, I couldn't do it to my Runner now, after thinking about the way the FJ turned out. I took the money I was about to drop on my 4Runner for further mods/parts and bought a 84' pickup crawler that was already built. Now it doesn't hurt quite so bad when I get a dent or scratch.
Congrats on being in the top 5. Looked like a real fun time.:beer:

P.S. I'm sorry to hear that diff skid is still being annoying and not staying on tight, that sucks.

Yeah man, it was a great time. [MENTION=103699]lipek[/MENTION]'s rear bumper flexed and popped the bumper cover support off. There wasn't enough plastic cut on the bumper cover to allow flex. That rear diff skid bracket just plain sucks. It needs to be thicker. It was happening to Jared's [MENTION=79132]Nyc-Runner[/MENTION] rear diff skid too. At least we always knew what the sound was lol.

 

[STX4Runner]

That rear diff skid bracket just plain sucks. It needs to be thicker.

Are you talking about the bracket at the front of the diff or the two on the axle tubes? I had ordered one of these earlier this year not realizing it didn't work with KDSS. When it came in, I thought that was a funny looking mounting system. I ended up getting a BudBuilt one as it fits with KDSS.

By the way, awesome looking trip. Very different from most of the wheeling you see on here from guys out west. Tight, wet, muddy trails. You're clearly the hardest core 5th Gen wheeler on the East Coast!

 

[cbielat]

Are you talking about the bracket at the front of the diff or the two on the axle tubes? I had ordered one of these earlier this year not realizing it didn't work with KDSS. When it came in, I thought that was a funny looking mounting system. I ended up getting a BudBuilt one as it fits with KDSS.

By the way, awesome looking trip. Very different from most of the wheeling you see on here from guys out west. Tight, wet, muddy trails. You're clearly the hardest core 5th Gen wheeler on the East Coast!

Ha, thanks Jonathan. It's what we have out here. I think it's great. You can hit almost every type of terrain here in the Northeast. The trails are tight so there's really only one way to go lol. We had so many more great picture opportunities on this trip but we just didn't stop. Always had a good pace going and there were teams minutes behind. There was some strong wheeling going on.

The part of the skid I'm referring to is the front bracket on the pumpkin that connects to the drive shaft. Technically, I believe this also would have an effect on the axle portion of the skid as well but that part never moved much. Just the top bracket. It was always shift angle part of it over the driveshaft and would contact that and the bolts on the bracket. I talked with RCI about it after posting on the forum. Some people were butt hurt about my post title lol. They said I was "taking shots" at the manufacturer. My post title read "RCI diff skid buyers beware". I was just posting that for the members who bought the skid to keep an eye out for this issue and seeing if anyone else had this same issue. RCI felt that they designed the skid just fine and asked me if I had installed it correctly. Obviously the people who have it don't wheel hard enough to actually use it and see it's flaw? I'm not the only one. Jared [MENTION=79132]Nyc-Runner[/MENTION] who was my teammate in the NHOC got to experience it first hand on his 4th gen as he bought one of these skids also. I had mentioned to Josh from RCI that the collar should be thicker like the Boztec rear diff skid. Maybe that would help. The collar just seems too thin.

 

[Nyc-Runner]

Yeah man, it was a great time. [MENTION=103699]lipek[/MENTION]'s rear bumper flexed and popped the bumper cover support off. There wasn't enough plastic cut on the bumper cover to allow flex. That rear diff skid bracket just plain sucks. It needs to be thicker. It was happening to Jared's [MENTION=79132]Nyc-Runner[/MENTION] rear diff skid too. At least we always knew what the sound was lol.

Ha, thanks Jonathan. It's what we have out here. I think it's great. You can hit almost every type of terrain here in the Northeast. The trails are tight so there's really only one way to go lol. We had so many more great picture opportunities on this trip but we just didn't stop. Always had a good pace going and there were teams minutes behind. There was some strong wheeling going on.

The part of the skid I'm referring to is the front bracket on the pumpkin that connects to the drive shaft. Technically, I believe this also would have an effect on the axle portion of the skid as well but that part never moved much. Just the top bracket. It was always shift angle part of it over the driveshaft and would contact that and the bolts on the bracket. I talked with RCI about it after posting on the forum. Some people were butt hurt about my post title lol. They said I was "taking shots" at the manufacturer. My post title read "RCI diff skid buyers beware". I was just posting that for the members who bought the skid to keep an eye out for this issue and seeing if anyone else had this same issue. RCI felt that they designed the skid just fine and asked me if I had installed it correctly. Obviously the people who have it don't wheel hard enough to actually use it and see it's flaw? I'm not the only one. Jared [MENTION=79132]Nyc-Runner[/MENTION] who was my teammate in the NHOC got to experience it first hand on his 4th gen as he bought one of these skids also. I had mentioned to Josh from RCI that the collar should be thicker like the Boztec rear diff skid. Maybe that would help. The collar just seems too thin.

Nothing my Mighty THOR hammer couldn't fix :smash: just a little tough love is all it needed haha No seriously though the way it's designed there's just no way it's going to properly stay in place when your hitting it and scrubbing it over rocks ( which is what it's intended for) It definitely did it's job in protecting the pumpkin!But once it was knocked forward the first time it kinda became a reacurring thing, I don't care how tight you tighten the those bolts on the collar it's not going to be able to with stand hitting a rock multiple times and not shift! I think it being a little thicker might help( that's what she said haha) and also maybe if the bend in collar was angled a little more it might not slip off the edge as easy? I'm to try to bend it a little more when i take it off and see if that helps.

 

[cbielat]

Nothing my Mighty THOR hammer couldn't fix :smash: just a little tough love is all it needed haha No seriously though the way it's designed there's just no way it's going to properly stay in place when your hitting it and scrubbing it over rocks ( which is what it's intended for) It definitely did it's job in protecting the pumpkin!But once it was knocked forward the first time it kinda became a reacurring thing, I don't care how tight you tighten the those bolts on the collar it's not going to be able to with stand hitting a rock multiple times and not shift! I think it being a little thicker might help( that's what she said haha) and also maybe if the bend in collar was angled a little more it might not slip off the edge as easy? I'm to try to bend it a little more when i take it off and see if that helps.

That hammer definitely came in handy.

 

[cbielat]

9/1/2015

Started taking things off the truck. Removed the roof basket, 2nd spare and cb antenna. Will be removing sliders and skids(replacing with stock skids). Looks good from afar.

 

[mace.]

Started taking things off the truck. Removed the roof basket, 2nd spare and cb antenna. Will be removing sliders and skids(replacing with stock skids). Looks good from afar.

Are you just pulling stuff off for the winter?

 

[cbielat]

Are you just pulling stuff off for the winter?

Yeah. I don't really wheel in the winter. I go snowboarding instead. Don't need certain things now.

 

[cbielat]

11/27/15 Winch

Received my Superwinch Talon 12.5 SR winch and Superwinch solenoid relocation kit.

 

[Jeremy556]

What's the exhaust part in the foreground of the 1st picture?

 

[cbielat]

What's the exhaust part in the foreground of the 1st picture?

A cat.

 

[USNA91]

Can't forget the personalized badges that were going around. Mine is appropriately named "Money Pit".

:rofl:

 

[cbielat]

12/31/15 Shelving Unit

Got a much needed shelving unit for Christmas to help clean up my spare bedroom/storage room. A few before and after pictures.

 

[carlomagne]

wow how many sets of sliders do you have? haha

 

[cbielat]

wow how many sets of sliders do you have? haha

Just one, man. I took mine off and the other set of All Pros are for an FJ which I'm giving to a friend.

 

[carlomagne]

hahah oh alright. I thought you might've been one of those guys who likes to collect sets of sliders, wheels, bumpers, etc and change them out whenever you're craving a different look/type of performance.

 

[cbielat]

1/15/16 Transfer Case Switch

4 wheel drive would not engage. Determined it was the transfer case switch. Need to install new part.

 

[Nimbostratus]

Shortly after, I purchased my Radflo 2.0 kit front and rear with SPC's Light Racing UCAs and 2" rear lift springs through Overland Warehouse, 285/70/17 Goodyear Duratracs and 17" Konig Countersteer wheels from FN Wheels.

Looks good!