Dirtco's 1999 4Runner Build

[MtnT4R]

dude there is no way you can wheel THIS much and keep your truck that CLEAN. Do you just keep some high school kid on retainer to take it to the car wash after you get off the trail? I wheel maybe every other week, and I totally give up and hope the rain storms clean it off; my T4 looks like a dirty heathen.

you ever consider building a roof rack for that monster?

 

[Dirtco]

Sounds awesome, i will most certainly put it on the calendar for next year. The overgrowth down here has done a number on my paint, some things are just worth it!

Looked it up from my town, 7 1/2 hours. Not bad really, I've driven much further to wheel. Ill send Scotty an email to have him keep me in the loop for next year.

Sounds good! I guess I thought you were in the Albuquerque area, 7 1/2 hours is quite the drive! There is usually a few rigs from NM, maybe you could get a small group together and make a trip out of it (cough [MENTION=44220]BigFishAllDay[/MENTION] cough ). There is quite the collection of trails in the area, from scenic to hardcore, and everything between. Being that the event is in August, it might also give you a break from the heat down in NM!

 

[smallfry]

Nice.

I miss wheeling in Colorado.

 

[Dirtco]

dude there is no way you can wheel THIS much and keep your truck that CLEAN. Do you just keep some high school kid on retainer to take it to the car wash after you get off the trail? I wheel maybe every other week, and I totally give up and hope the rain storms clean it off; my T4 looks like a dirty heathen.

you ever consider building a roof rack for that monster?

Hahaha! I have a carwash at work so that helps a little. This is by far the nicest vehicle I have ever owned, and the family wagon too, so I really try to keep it nice and clean. It drives me crazy to let it stay dirty! I guess I might be a little OCD when it comes to that.

As for the roof rack...

Yes, I've thought about it but I have not decided on anything. The first idea is a low profile Yakima box. I have the trailer for all my camping gear; but once I load up my daughter in her car seat, the dog that takes up the other side of the back seat, and all my wheeling gear that lives in the back of the truck, I have no room for diaper bags, duffel bags, pack and play, etc, etc (it keeps going)! The nice thing about the cargo box is it's light, water proof and aerodynamic; perfect for light crap in the above list! It's also great for snowboards in the winter. But, I've been waiting to see how much the "whole family" really goes wheeling/camping before spending the money.

Here is a quick paint picture I made, the low profile box doesn't look that bad.



I've also thought about building a WMW style rack (or maybe just a simple rack) and storing a spare tire up there (just a pizza cutter 255). I want a spare tire, but I really don't want to deal with a swing out tire carrier all the time on a daily basis. But, I also don't like all that weight up on the roof. I don't know, I'm really undecided on the whole thing and I also have some other idea's floating around. I guess we'll see what happens...

 

[Fishwerks]

I cant believe I have never posted in this thread. One of my favorite builds! The Turbo Runner was pretty awesome too. I love seeing your wheeling pictures, such a beautiful part of CO.

 

[cdrewferd]

Looking really good. I'm gonna have to hit you up for some guided snow wheeling this winter.

 

[liveoffroad]

Nice meeting/wheeling with you at jambo man, take care of that rig!

 

[Dirtco]

I cant believe I have never posted in this thread. One of my favorite builds! The Turbo Runner was pretty awesome too. I love seeing your wheeling pictures, such a beautiful part of CO.

Thanks man! Let me know if your ever in the area and want to go wheeling, I try to get out as much as possible. One day I need to get down to your area and check out some new trails.

Looking really good. I'm gonna have to hit you up for some guided snow wheeling this winter.

Thanks! Just let me know and we'll figure it out. It really depends on the weather and snow pack, but I have a couple different places we could go.

 

[Dirtco]

Nice meeting/wheeling with you at jambo man, take care of that rig!

Same here! We'll have to do it again, let me know if your in the area and want to go wheeling.

 

[Dirtco]

It’s been a while since I updated this. I’ve mainly just been wheeling (almost weekly), and planning out some future modifications. Overall I’m extremely happy with the 4Runner, but there is always something to adjust, add or tweak. I’ll get into that soon, but first I want to share the trip I went on last weekend.

I’ve really been itching to go on a more expedition style trip, and with winter quickly approaching I wanted to get in at least one more camping trip. My buddy Aaron has wanted to check out some trails in the area, and also wanted to get in that possible last camping trip of the season.

This network of trails is literally in my backyard and I run these trails several times a year, but not with the trailer! I came up with a route that would hit all the good stuff, and start/end on highway 285 so that Aaron had an easy trip both ways. We came up with the plan of running Red Cone first, part of Webster pass, then Saints John over to North Fork of the Swan, where we would camp off a spur trail that I know of. Sunday would be the rest of North Fork, followed by Georgia Pass.

The plan was to meet Aaron Saturday morning at the trailhead of Red Cone, but that meant I had to run all of Webster Pass to get there. I woke up, looked out my window, and saw snow towards the summit of Georgia pass!



I ran the first part of Webster Pass and dropped the trailer off before the switchbacks on the Summit County side. Webster Pass has a tendency to wash out at the top, is extremely narrow, and there is no place to turn around until you get a ways down. The last thing I wanted to do was back the trailer back up the trail if there was an issue, it’s really not a trailer friendly trail (as if any of these trails are ).

We met up mid morning at Red Cone and started up the trail. Aaron would be driving his stock FJ cruiser instead of his 1st Gen 4Runner on 40’s, it’s better suited for this terrain and weather. It was obvious that all the trails were going to be wetter, and more washed out than normal with all the extra rain we have been getting. While I had already experienced that on my way to the trailhead, Aaron got is first glimpse of this shortly into the trip. This spot is always washed out, but not like this.





All that moisture really made for some green scenery, and mushrooms everywhere.



Playing on some rocks

 

[Dirtco]

It was cold, rainy and windy once we got close to the summit, so we stopped for a minute and worked our way back down the hill until the weather eased up a little.

Just before the last descent to Webster







Double rainbow at the top of Webster, end of Red Cone. At this elevation you look down on rainbows.



We made our way down to the trailer, where I reconnected with the truck’s other half, and then had lunch. This would be an awesome campsite if the weather was better.





Normally I would take Radical Hill over to Dear Creek, but with the stock FJ and the trailer in tow, we decided it would be best to take Webster down to the main road and connect with Saints John. Running into a washed out section towards the top of Radical would really suck, and after all this was to be a fun, relaxing trip.

 

[Dirtco]

We finished Webster and hit Saints John’s; it was a short mile or two on an improved dirt road (no pavement for us!), then a mile or so until the ghost town. It’s all private property, and people still live there, so we slowly rolled through town (if you call it that) but didn’t take any pictures. We stopped at the first good camping spot to take a break and take in the surroundings.



Cabin just above where we were.



And this is when the weather really moved in; it started raining/sleeting, and we were literally in the clouds with limited visibility as we assented the steep switchbacks. With the trailer in tow I had no desire to take pictures, I just wanted to get to the top before we ran into traffic. I fired up the amber RI dually’s hoping that someone would see them before dropping down the trail. We got lucky and only ran into a couple dirt bikes that pulled over for us.

Here we are at the top, in a break of the weather



We continued down the trail; there were several steep descents, and we were following the ridge of mountain range. We were still in the clouds, normally the views would be breathtaking! We continued on for a while, turning onto the North Fork branch of the trail. After 10-15 minutes the sky opened up and we were greeted with sunshine and amazing views!

 

[Dirtco]

Panorama, look for the rainbow on the right side of the picture



Another

 

[Dirtco]

We worked our way down to Wise Mountain, and the crazy cabin that was waiting for us. There are a ton of these cabins around; bring more than you take, and leave it cleaner than you found it, that’s the rules. You wouldn’t catch me sleeping in one by choice, but I know where they all are in case of an emergency.

Whoever decided to build this cabin above tree line, directly in the wind path is an idiot! I can’t even start to describe the conditions this poor cabin witnesses on a given year, all the rocks on the roof are to keep it from flying away in the 100mph plus wind gusts it has to live with on almost a daily basis!







The inside is even more sketchy, hope you have your shots and like snuggling with little rodents!







After leaving the cabin the trail drops down a steep ravine; it’s washed out on a normal basis, so I was a little concerned how it bad it was going to be with all the rain we have gotten, and the trailer in tow!

Starting down the hill it became obvious it was more washed out than normal, but there was no turning back! It also became apparent that once the trailer starts to high side the trail it will not drop back down, here we go!





It was a little nerve racking, then I hit a spot that I knew was going to be trouble! It was washed out more than normal, and there was a tree with a protruding root right in the way. It got a little intense for a few minutes, but I made it through with an inch or two to spare! I have GoPro footage but I still need to edit it, here is a screen shot to tie you guys over!

 

[Dirtco]

There was an old town site about 20 minutes away, which would be camp for the night. It’s off the main trail and dead ends a little ways up past our spot, which meant less traffic. It’s a really cool spot that is surrounded by trees, but still has an open area. Here is an overhead view of the area, disregard the green arrow.



Aaron had a bit of roof top tent envy, and wanted to show me that you don’t have to spend a grand on a RTT, just go to Wal-Mart and pick up an air mattress! It was hilarious!



Woke up Sunday morning, packed up and made the short trip down North Fork and headed up Georgia Pass. It was rainy and muddy so we didn’t bother with pictures until the summit.







Aaron made is way over the rest of Georgia Pass and back home, while I headed back down the Summit County side and explored some side trails and campsites. It was an awesome trip, one of my favorites! Having the trailer behind the truck really ups the difficulty level of the trails; it was a lot of fun and never a dull moment! I can’t wait for the next trip!

 

[smallfry]

Nice.

 

[Dous]

Awesome pictures....those panoramas are breath taking

 

[Dirtco]

Nice.

Awesome pictures....those panoramas are breath taking

Thanks guys! I think I might have to get an Iphone 5 just for that panorama feature, it's awesome!

 

[cdrewferd]

Great trip report. Wondering where you're headed with the build though.

 

[Dirtco]

I've been debating what to do about tires for a couple months. The whole conversation is a couple pages back, but to make a long story short... the KM2's are wearing a lot faster than I thought and with winter coming I need some decent tires (for both DD duty, and snow wheeling). I'm having a hard time justifying the price of new tires when the KM2's still have 13-14/32's, but they were not going to make it though the winter season the way they are.

So I ordered a tire groover and came up with a simple pattern. This is pretty much a last ditch effort to save the tires I have for a few more months, if it doesn't work I'll have to order new tires.

Here is what the tires looked like, with a basic pattern on top of it.



I used the tire balancer as a work station and got to work. It was actually less time consuming than I thought it would be, but it's physically hard work!



One tire



After I cut the front two tires and installed them, I felt that there needed to be a couple extra cuts for lateral stability. So I just cut them on the truck.





Two tires, and the minor adjustment in the dust pan!