Unner
New member
Great truck, I like your posts. Lots of pictures of you using the truck. Those anthracite wheels are one of my favorites, too bad they're hard to find and you can't order them from the dealer without a FJ Trail Team VIN...
Crowdad Build
- Thread starter crowdad
- Start date
Great truck, I like your posts. Lots of pictures of you using the truck. Those anthracite wheels are one of my favorites, too bad they're hard to find and you can't order them from the dealer without a FJ Trail Team VIN...
Thank you. I appreciate it. You have Jmann have some pretty nice and vibrant threads as well. Some strong Alabama repping between the 2 of you!
I had no idea about the Anthracite wheels...weird.
Looks like you are running on some pretty nice wheels yourself. I really think it makes your truck look about 10 years newer than it is. Sticking with the Toyotas like you did makes it look stock still. Looks really great!
Unner
New member
Yeah there's a few Alabama members here, we don't have all the cool trails you guys have out west though. Thanks! It was between the wheels I have now and the wheels you have for me. I got a great deal on my wheels, after I sold the stock tires that came with them I paid $160 for a brand new set of wheels. Can't beat that! Everyone tells me that about the grille and wheels, that they took years off the truck.
I like seeing you use the WMW rack for your kayaks too, I bought my first kayak a couple months ago, the day I got my rack back from powder coating actually. I haven't got to use it yet because it got cold, but I hope to use it this coming spring and summer.
peytokristen
New member
Nice rig.
I have to drive pretty far myself to get to much good stuff. Love the roof rack!
Enjoy the Kayak!
Appreciate it! Thanks for reading.
Mount Whitney/ Death Valley
Mount Whitney/ Death Valley
Summer 2014 I decided to take a couple buddies and head to California to climb Mount Whitney. As this is the highest point in the continental US and the lowest point is located just 20 miles away in Death Valley, we made a plan to take my 4Runner and explore Death Valley and do a bit of offroading and camping before we went up to the mountain. Note: August is not a good time to camp in Death Valley.
We packed up and drove 24 hours straight and got to Las Vegas. Upon getting there I started feeling my transfer case was getting really hot. I didn't pay it much mind since we had just driven for 24 hours straight.
After a bit of a break we packed back in the truck and headed to DV.
We arrived about ~3 in the the afternoon in the main road of the park and started looking for our first trail and camping spot. The first trails we were going to do were Hole in the Wall and Echo Canyon. Aired down and started on the trail.
Hole in the Wall
Once we made it to the top of this first trail it was starting to become the time where we would have set up camp. It was still hovering around 100 degrees though and none of us wanted to sleep in that hot of temperature. So we decided to hit up the low point in Badwater Basin and then head to the Whitney Portal on the mountain and try to find a spot there.
Inn at Furnace Creek
Gas Prices!
Sea Level
Whitney Portal Camp
Our permit for Whitney was still a day away and since we left Death Valley a day early we had time to explore around Lone Pine.
Mount Whitney- Went up the Mountaineers Route and came down the normal Whitney Trail. Started about 3 in the morning and it took about 14 hours total.
Looking back towards Death Valley:
The Very Top
Coming back down Whitney Trail
On the way out of Lone Pine my air conditioner stopped working so we stopped in to the only parts store and got a can of Freon. It turned out to be a blown o ring and didn't even last an hour. While we were stopped I checked all my fluids since my T-case was so hot. Of course it the fluid in the T-case was low so I topped it off and and set off for a miserably hot drive home through the south west with no AC in a black truck. 24 hours of driving with the windows down, sweating on leather seats after hiking 14 hours straight was good times!
Mount Whitney/ Death Valley
Summer 2014 I decided to take a couple buddies and head to California to climb Mount Whitney. As this is the highest point in the continental US and the lowest point is located just 20 miles away in Death Valley, we made a plan to take my 4Runner and explore Death Valley and do a bit of offroading and camping before we went up to the mountain. Note: August is not a good time to camp in Death Valley.
We packed up and drove 24 hours straight and got to Las Vegas. Upon getting there I started feeling my transfer case was getting really hot. I didn't pay it much mind since we had just driven for 24 hours straight.
After a bit of a break we packed back in the truck and headed to DV.
We arrived about ~3 in the the afternoon in the main road of the park and started looking for our first trail and camping spot. The first trails we were going to do were Hole in the Wall and Echo Canyon. Aired down and started on the trail.
Hole in the Wall
Once we made it to the top of this first trail it was starting to become the time where we would have set up camp. It was still hovering around 100 degrees though and none of us wanted to sleep in that hot of temperature. So we decided to hit up the low point in Badwater Basin and then head to the Whitney Portal on the mountain and try to find a spot there.
Inn at Furnace Creek
Gas Prices!
Sea Level
Whitney Portal Camp
Our permit for Whitney was still a day away and since we left Death Valley a day early we had time to explore around Lone Pine.
Mount Whitney- Went up the Mountaineers Route and came down the normal Whitney Trail. Started about 3 in the morning and it took about 14 hours total.
Looking back towards Death Valley:
The Very Top
Coming back down Whitney Trail
On the way out of Lone Pine my air conditioner stopped working so we stopped in to the only parts store and got a can of Freon. It turned out to be a blown o ring and didn't even last an hour. While we were stopped I checked all my fluids since my T-case was so hot. Of course it the fluid in the T-case was low so I topped it off and and set off for a miserably hot drive home through the south west with no AC in a black truck. 24 hours of driving with the windows down, sweating on leather seats after hiking 14 hours straight was good times!
Christmas Break
Took a couple weeks off during Christmas to head out to West Texas and do a little hunting/ family Christmas. We ended up getting almost 6 inches of snow over 2 days and made for great hunting weather. My mud terrains are getting pretty worn down and were not the best performers in the snow but it made for some fun driving at the ranch. I did a lot of hard driving at the ranch and the last couple of days of our trip I noticed my truck would start to get a death wobble at any speed if I hit even a slight bump or rut in the road. It would start wobbling left and right and felt like it was about to loose control. At first I thought it was my sway bar bushings or endlinks not tightened up enough, but after getting home and washing the truck real well I found it was my panhard bar drop bracket weld had broken.
My favorite wild game:
At the end of the couple weeks I ended up with a Red Stag bull, a female Red Stag and a bull elk. That is some good eating right there!
Took a couple weeks off during Christmas to head out to West Texas and do a little hunting/ family Christmas. We ended up getting almost 6 inches of snow over 2 days and made for great hunting weather. My mud terrains are getting pretty worn down and were not the best performers in the snow but it made for some fun driving at the ranch. I did a lot of hard driving at the ranch and the last couple of days of our trip I noticed my truck would start to get a death wobble at any speed if I hit even a slight bump or rut in the road. It would start wobbling left and right and felt like it was about to loose control. At first I thought it was my sway bar bushings or endlinks not tightened up enough, but after getting home and washing the truck real well I found it was my panhard bar drop bracket weld had broken.
My favorite wild game:
At the end of the couple weeks I ended up with a Red Stag bull, a female Red Stag and a bull elk. That is some good eating right there!
So since my sway bar end links were bent I started down this whole "well if I'm down there I might as well replace this..." mentality. I know if it aint broke dont fix it but most of what I wanted to accomplish was actual upgrades.
After getting under and finding my sway bars bent I took the sway bar off and while doing that saw my CVs were leaking on my drivers side. I was not surprised in the least as the truck is now 220K miles (110K of lifted driving) and these are original! I also noticed that since grease was everywhere my steering rack was all greased over and had a slight bit of give to it. As the bushings had never been replaced on it I marked that down on the list too.
List now sits at-
End Links
CV Joints
Steering Shaft Bushings
I had actually let the truck sit for about 3 weeks as we were on vacation and while gone, I got into this whole idea of a complete restoration on the front of my truck. Take everything off clean it, put new seals, joints, bushings, cvs, and replace every consumable and fluid. Luckily I have an M3 to drive in the meantime...
Lists now sits at-
Trans drain/fill
CV Joints
End Links
Steering Rack bushings
UBJ/ both sides
Upper Control arm Bushings
ARB Bumper cut and adjustment
All new clips and fasteners
new differential seals
Timing Belt
Waterpump
belts
Crank seal
Degrease
Here we go:
Suspension, axles, diff out, degreased and painted:
Front diff out and cleaned up!
Engine under surgery. To get to the Crank seal you have to remove the timing sprocket. As I was prying it out I easily broke a couple of the teeth off the sprocket. It is extremely soft metal and it actually looked like some of the teeth were already compromised. :
Pretty new Sway end links:
Love removing old rtv...
New trans Filter coming up:
After getting under and finding my sway bars bent I took the sway bar off and while doing that saw my CVs were leaking on my drivers side. I was not surprised in the least as the truck is now 220K miles (110K of lifted driving) and these are original! I also noticed that since grease was everywhere my steering rack was all greased over and had a slight bit of give to it. As the bushings had never been replaced on it I marked that down on the list too.
List now sits at-
End Links
CV Joints
Steering Shaft Bushings
I had actually let the truck sit for about 3 weeks as we were on vacation and while gone, I got into this whole idea of a complete restoration on the front of my truck. Take everything off clean it, put new seals, joints, bushings, cvs, and replace every consumable and fluid. Luckily I have an M3 to drive in the meantime...
Lists now sits at-
Trans drain/fill
CV Joints
End Links
Steering Rack bushings
UBJ/ both sides
Upper Control arm Bushings
ARB Bumper cut and adjustment
All new clips and fasteners
new differential seals
Timing Belt
Waterpump
belts
Crank seal
Degrease
Here we go:
Suspension, axles, diff out, degreased and painted:
Front diff out and cleaned up!
Engine under surgery. To get to the Crank seal you have to remove the timing sprocket. As I was prying it out I easily broke a couple of the teeth off the sprocket. It is extremely soft metal and it actually looked like some of the teeth were already compromised. :
Pretty new Sway end links:
Love removing old rtv...
New trans Filter coming up:
Thanks Unner! The Sierras are spectacular. Very different than the Rockies which is where most of my mountain time has been spent. I want to go again.
My BFGs will have to do for another few thousand miles but when the time comes, I am leaning more towards the Cooper ST Maxx as I have read some good reviews on it.
SilverRidgeRunner1
Member
This is a really nice build... LOOK like u could use a retro fit upgrade
JWaldz
Moderator
Just a tip.. While Cooper tires are amazing and the ST Maxx has definitely proven itself, I hate the fact that most their tires (in common sizes at least) are all E rated (10 ply). For me, I've always had better performance in my 4Runner with D (8 ply) rated tires. I wanted the ST Maxx for a while until I saw nearly all of them were E rated. I don't understand their logic for this. A lot of other companies are going this route too for more aggressive A/T tires.
Lucky for me the tire I've fallen in love with, and definitely the next tire I will buy, is in 8-ply. The Mickey Thompon ATZ P3.
Don't let this sway you. There are plenty of people here that have had good performance with E rated tires. It's just a personal preference for me.
4Runner is looking really good by the way! Great work.
Thanks a bunch JWaldz. I will definitely take that into consideration on the choice when the time comes. Right now I have the BFG KM2s and they are E rated. I lower the PSI to around 10 when wheeling and it seemed to flex a decent amount.
I have VLED headlights right now. I love the output of the HID retrofits but just don't love the look. But I probably haven't seen all the options available.
Yeah I really do like my KM2's but they are $$$. What is the ratio for a 34" tire?
I assume you will be looking at the 255/85/16 for the 33 skinny?
Unner
New member
Look at [MENTION=82154]GSPRunner[/MENTION]'s retrofit. It's about as stock looking of a retrofit as you can do.
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-g...-life-story-build-adventure-photo-thread.html
I'm on 17's so I'd be looking at a 255/80/17, but same thing as a 255/85/16. The 34's I'm looking at are a new size that BFG just started making the KO2's in, 34x10.5x17. They're a little more expensive than the KM2's though I believe. Wish tires weren't so expensive...
paddlenbike
Member
I also will not run load range E tires on my 4Runner. I bought Cooper Discoverer STs which are available in Load Range C on a 17" wheel.
Front end refresh continued...
I had the front diff completely out and all clean and could not bring myself to put it back in there. The problem was, I had lurking in my mind, the idea of a re-gear and the addition of a front locker. This was a big decision because of the time investment and of course the cost. The decision was honestly pretty easy since I already had the front diff out and ready to be replaced. So in deciding to regear the front, of course I had to redo the back as well.
So I placed an order for my front differential at East Coast Gear Supply specing 4.88 gearing with an ARB locker. I knew I wanted a selectable locker as I didn't want any kind of hindrance while driving on the road and I wanted to be able to turn it on only when I may think a CV wouldn't be destroyed.
For the rear I decided to go through Marlin Offroad and bought a fully built rear 4.88 3rd member with the Toyota Elocker. I had been having problems recently engaging and disengaging the stock rear locker. At first I thought it was my rat problem and a wire issue but upon installation of the new locker, that has been cancelled out.
Beautiful and clean!
Removing the ADD and shaft
In!
Hello there!
New shaft seals
Out with the old:
In with the new:
New End Links, Inner and out tie rods
New UBJs... Pretty sure the last one in America at the time...
Rebuilt CVs with new Toyota Boot Kit
And while I had the diff out I might as well...
New seals in and what I used to hammer them in:
All Put back together and cleaned up!
I had the front diff completely out and all clean and could not bring myself to put it back in there. The problem was, I had lurking in my mind, the idea of a re-gear and the addition of a front locker. This was a big decision because of the time investment and of course the cost. The decision was honestly pretty easy since I already had the front diff out and ready to be replaced. So in deciding to regear the front, of course I had to redo the back as well.
So I placed an order for my front differential at East Coast Gear Supply specing 4.88 gearing with an ARB locker. I knew I wanted a selectable locker as I didn't want any kind of hindrance while driving on the road and I wanted to be able to turn it on only when I may think a CV wouldn't be destroyed.
For the rear I decided to go through Marlin Offroad and bought a fully built rear 4.88 3rd member with the Toyota Elocker. I had been having problems recently engaging and disengaging the stock rear locker. At first I thought it was my rat problem and a wire issue but upon installation of the new locker, that has been cancelled out.
Beautiful and clean!
Removing the ADD and shaft
In!
Hello there!
New shaft seals
Out with the old:
In with the new:
New End Links, Inner and out tie rods
New UBJs... Pretty sure the last one in America at the time...
Rebuilt CVs with new Toyota Boot Kit
And while I had the diff out I might as well...
New seals in and what I used to hammer them in:
All Put back together and cleaned up!
Last edited:
zgensler31
Senior Member
Yeah its funny how a bent sway bar link (circa 25$) can turn into an entire new and refreshed front end...regear and rebuilt rear axle (circa >4000$) when you frequent the forums enough.
Yeah zgensler it was definitely over $4000 for everything! But now I am done now with most major failure points sans a HG or a trans failure and the truck drives really nice with the 4.88 gears.
For anyone debating on gear ratios: All I can speak of is my experience but the 4.88s add a good bit of pep off the line and help the truck not have to search for gears so much on hilly terrain while still maintaining a decent RPM at 70-75 mph, which I drive everyday. 5.29s would have been great too but the highway speeds scared me away from them. If I were DEFINITELY going to throw 35" tires on I would have went for the 5.29s.
After all the refresh it feels like I am driving a brand new truck.
Thanks for reading everyone!
