Dirtco's 1999 4Runner Build

BrianSD_42 · Jan 2, 2012

Hey Dirtco, hope you had a good holiday out there in CO. I was wondering if you can post some pics of that light bar lit up without the headlights.

TacticalSR5 · Jan 3, 2012

Dirtco said:
I also installed my Rigid Industries 10” SR-Series Specter LED Light bar. It’s rated at 5100 lumens, and only draws 50 watts.

:naughty:Action shots!!??

P.S.
:nicethread:

Dirtco · Jan 4, 2012

brianemc2_42 said:
Hey Dirtco, hope you had a good holiday out there in CO. I was wondering if you can post some pics of that light bar lit up without the headlights.

TacticalSR5 said:
:naughty:Action shots!!??

P.S.
:nicethread:

No action shots yet, but I plan on taking some pictures when I get some time.

Here is a good Youtube video (not mine) of the same light in action. I think he needs to aim his a little higher but it gives you a good idea of the light output:

Toyota Tacoma Hood Scoop LED - YouTube

KSWAY · Jan 6, 2012

Bad ass 4runner..:thumb3::thumb3::thumb3:

Dirtco · Jan 8, 2012

KSWAY said:
Bad ass 4runner..:thumb3::thumb3::thumb3:

Thanks man!

Dirtco · Jan 8, 2012

A couple weeks ago I took a trip to down to Denver in the 4Runner, and when I got home I saw what looked to be oil or grease all over the driver side tire, suspension, frame and undercarriage. After a little investigation I found out it was gear oil that had come from the front diff breather hose. I did some searching and came up with the following links of people having the same issue.

Leak! Transmission or Front Diff Breather??? - YotaTech Forums

Front Breather Leaking oil - YotaTech Forums

And some more…

Front Diff pushing fluid out vent hose. - TTORA Forum

Front Differential breather puked - TTORA Forum

I had over filled the front diff a little (to keep the pinion bearings happy with the diff drop) but it puked the extra fluid out. I checked the fluid level and it was good, so I reinstalled my skid plate and figured it would be fine. I made another trip down to the Front Range to do some wheeling and when I got home I saw a small amount of gear oil again coming from the breather hose, this time it was just a small amount and I hardly noticed it. After reading the above links it seems that this is a pretty normal issue, especially for people using synthetic gear oil (I’m using Royal Purple) at high speeds. I also think the diff drop plays a large roll in this as well. The fluid level was right where it should be, so I wanted to keep it there and prevent it from burping gear oil under the truck (I hate leaks).

Here is what I came up with: I removed the factory breather and installed a 5/16” double sided barb, I then added a short section of 5/16” hose and installed a generic clear fuel filter. I installed another short section of hose and reinstalled the factory breather. Any small amount of gear oil that gets forced up the breather line will collect in the filter housing, and as the pressure inside the differential decreases it will run back down the hose into the diff. An extra plus is that it adds another foot or two to the height of the breather.

fightman80 · Jan 9, 2012

Nice work!

Brilliant · Jan 9, 2012

^ thanks for that. I recently changed my oil and I filled to the bottom of the plug so I'll probably get this issue the next long trip.

BTW - Snow pics are awesome and so is your runner. :hatsoff:

BigFishAllDay · Jan 9, 2012

I had that same issue on my '97 when I drained & filled the diffs last time. I used Redline synthetic, and just like you I spotted a leak on my next long road trip. I followed the fluid and found it coming out of the breather tube, running down the tube, then blowing rearward along the undercarriage.

I realized I overfilled it, and just let it do it's thing until it stopped. When I filled the front diff on that fluid change, I had shot a couple extra squirts of gear oil in the diff and put the plug in before it could run out, figuring it could do no harm. Now I just fill until it runs out the fill hole, and wait until it stops draining out before I put the fill plug back in. No problems since that first time.

It would be worthwhile just to extend the breather though. :hatsoff:

Dirtco · Jan 10, 2012

BigFishAllDay said:
I had that same issue on my '97 when I drained & filled the diffs last time. I used Redline synthetic, and just like you I spotted a leak on my next long road trip. I followed the fluid and found it coming out of the breather tube, running down the tube, then blowing rearward along the undercarriage.

I realized I overfilled it, and just let it do it's thing until it stopped. When I filled the front diff on that fluid change, I had shot a couple extra squirts of gear oil in the diff and put the plug in before it could run out, figuring it could do no harm. Now I just fill until it runs out the fill hole, and wait until it stops draining out before I put the fill plug back in. No problems since that first time.

It would be worthwhile just to extend the breather though. :hatsoff:

Yeah, the first time I was guilty of the same thing. After the first time it leaked I checked the fluid level and it was good, right where it should be, but on my last trip I still had a little fluid leaking out. I'll keep an eye on the filter and see if it still pushes gear oil up the breather hose. Like you said; even if it doesn't I still raised the breather up a couple feet, it only took a few minutes and it costed less than $10.00.

Dirtco · Jan 19, 2012

So I took the 4Runner on its first trip up Chinaman’s! It’s one of my favorite trails, and it’s been almost a year and a half since I’ve run it. It’s also the first time I took the 4Runner on a harder rock crawling trail.

Chinaman’s: TrailDamage.com - Chinaman Gulch

It was a great day to be out on the trail, and I can’t wait to go again! The 4Runner worked awesome, better than I expected. I was able to take most of my favorite lines without an issue. I didn’t take any pictures, but everyone else did…

Cory

Aaron

Dirtco · Jan 19, 2012

And some more…

Jeff

Cory again

Headed home

rickashay · Jan 19, 2012

Awesome Dirtco, alwasy impressive to see your T4R on the trails. That roof-chopped white 3rd gen is saweeet!

Hepar · Jan 19, 2012

rickashay said:
Awesome Dirtco, alwasy impressive to see your T4R on the trails. That roof-chopped white 3rd gen is saweeet!

I was just about to say the same thing. Looks like he did a super clean chop.

rickashay · Jan 19, 2012

Yah, I'm loving how the rear hatch was still used. I wonder if the rear window still works?

Dirtco · Jan 20, 2012

rickashay said:
Awesome Dirtco, alwasy impressive to see your T4R on the trails. That roof-chopped white 3rd gen is saweeet!

Hepar said:
I was just about to say the same thing. Looks like he did a super clean chop.

rickashay said:
Yah, I'm loving how the rear hatch was still used. I wonder if the rear window still works?

Thanks man! Here is a link to the 4Runner with more pictures and info on the chop, I'm pretty sure the window still works.

Choppin up the 4Runner - YotaTech Forums

AddictedOffroad · Jan 20, 2012

Good to see Jeff getting his out again.

SJC · Jan 27, 2012

Dirtco said:
And some more…

Jeff

Cory again

Headed home

Does Jeff have a build thread?

fightman80 · Jan 27, 2012

Don't know about a complete build thread....but he does have the link to the Chop on post #296.

Dirtco · Feb 1, 2012

I finally got in some good snow bashing! My main snow wheeling area got shut down, so I went and checked out a new area. The snow wasn't that deep at the beginning, but it got deep fast! There was a good 1'-2' over most of the trail, and some area's were over 4' deep!

I only got a few pictures because I was alone, and I didn't feel like wading though the deep snow. I did get some good video on my GoPro, but I still need to edit the footage.