cencalifoothill15's simple build thread

[CenCalifoothill15]

polite and thoughtful responses are always appreciated. its members like you that i enjoy communicating with when asking simpleton/newbie questions...\
have you ever been puled over by the police for your tinting on your lights?

-no prob mr. infamous! I appreciate your kind words man. I think this site is awesome and full of endless info, all of us here share one thing in common.

...and I have never been pulled over in my 4R! ever! If I did a couple of more coats of tint then I might be pushing it. olice:

 

[CenCalifoothill15]

Well here are some thoughts on the roof-rack I recently installed-

When I first installed it I had it mounted on the cross-bars like it's orginally designed to be with the brackets provided, however I was not pleased to have it sitting so high from the roof, but it was fairly solid with it mounted that way. With that being said, I wasn't satisfied with it...

With the advice from "Shoots" I decided to flip the brackets over, and achieved the Look I was going for, but when I lowered it I didn't realize that it blocked me from opening my lift-gate all the way, and rubbed with the rack. So my solution was to move the rack forward by 2 inches, and that fixed it, and had all the clearance needed to open my lift-gate.
So after doing this I came across another issue... DAMN IT!!
Not enough support now in the front of the rack, since I have the rack extension and only have it mounted on 2 supports (crossbars)
When off-roading I was getting this intense bouncing like a diving board effect on the front end of the rack. can't have that crap!
I searched online for a solution with no luck, then I thought about buying some yakima towers or some sort of univeral rack mounts to better support the front end, but none were really what I was looking for so I scratched that idea, and came up with this simple yet effective mod-

I got some 1/2" pvc pipe, cut em up to size, painted them to match, and Voila!
I also used some mounting pads to help keep the pieces in place and keep it nice and snug. (I just wedged them in there really good, even after going down a washboard dirt road they didn't budge... I think it looks good and flows with the rack.
and BTW the rack it is not shaking or vibrating at all whatsoever, it's solid now.

 

[snivilous]

Sweet idea! That looks really clean and sexy. When I first scrolled through the pictures I even saw the supports and thought it was stock, and thought you would have to cut them down to lower it once I started reading. Dig the Toyota sticker too :thumb:

 

[CenCalifoothill15]

Stripped & removed the tint on my corner lights.....
Then re-tinted leaving the amber exposed-

 

[CenCalifoothill15]

shovel mounted-

 

[CenCalifoothill15]

Giant Sequoia National Monument 4-14-14

Family Getaway-

 

[CenCalifoothill15]

Giant Sequoia Forest 4-14-14

Biggest Tree's in the World!

(By volume)

 

[CenCalifoothill15]

Giant Sequoia Forest 4-14-14

Only 45 mins from my front door! :driving:

 

[CenCalifoothill15]

Giant Sequoia Forest 4-14-14

Where's the 4Runner???
:bigok:

 

[CenCalifoothill15]

4-14-14

:shrug: I guess this is the last snow I'll see this year.....

 

[CenCalifoothill15]

General Grant Tree "The Nations Christmas Tree"

3rd Largest tree in the world-

 

[infamousRNR]

love the mod for your rola roof rack with extension...
i plan to copy you to some degree when i get the ball rolling on that item..

 

[NateMob]

man thats cool, Is there still a Redwood that you can drive through? I would love to visit that area one day.

 

[CenCalifoothill15]

love the mod for your rola roof rack with extension...
i plan to copy you to some degree when i get the ball rolling on that item..

-Thanks man, the supports are still holding up fine.... when things slow down with work I plan on ditching the cross-bars and making some low-profile mounts. I still want to get it welded, but i'm debating if I want to buy another extension, I have yet to see anyone with a double extension...
-I plan on doing a lot of camping this summer so this roof rack is worth the money.

man thats cool, Is there still a Redwood that you can drive through? I would love to visit that area one day.

-Yup you can still drive through the tunnel log in Sequioa Park, actually I think there is a few trees throughout CA that you can drive through. You really gotta see them for yourself one day, truly amazing how big these trees are!

-Here's a pic from 11 years ago, to give you a better size-to-scale perspective. And couple of drive-through trees... (scanned pics- came out really blurry)

 

[CenCalifoothill15]

took the scenic route today...

 

[CenCalifoothill15]

4Runner on Acid!

 

[CenCalifoothill15]

Low Profile mounts for my roof rack

"Back to the build"
I removed my factory roof rack, and started toying around with L-brackets I had (10x Simpson strong ties #ML24Z) Only $2 a piece @Home Depot.
I reused the factory bolts that hold down the gutter, and got some washers to help hold it down and bolted into the existing holes from the factory. Also used 3M Extreme mounting tape so that there is no metal to metal contact from the mounts and roof; plus to ensure a better bond.
I thought it would be a good idea to waterproof the holes so i used some Kwik-Seal clear silicone, last thing i want is water leaking into the cabin. The mounts are solid, and sturdy.
I test fitted the roof rack with the new mounts and it looks like I need to move the mounts inward about an inch on each side so that I can bolt it up. Shouldn't be to difficult to make it fit right, just need to drill new holes onto the brackets.
The roof rack sits up about 1/2" from the roof, pretty flush with the top.
I'm not going to be able to finish today due to my schedule, but I should have it done soon! :juggle:

-more to follow......

 

[JDG]

Oh man, your 4R is awesome! Great motivation, This kinda of just pushed my idea of getting rid of my 08 Tundra for a 3G 4R, man oh man. Following this build very closely!

 

[Slow_T4R]

Oh man, your 4R is awesome! Great motivation, This kinda of just pushed my idea of getting rid of my 08 Tundra for a 3G 4R, man oh man. Following this build very closely!

Daaaaang look at that, David's changing lives! :whoo:

Hope [MENTION=109212]JDG[/MENTION] gets a t4r!

 

[snivilous]

But seriously...upload to photobucket or something :rofl: