Dropzone's 1994 4Runner Expedition/Overland Build

[Dropzone]

added a few more horsepower to the 4runner.

spent some time on a Long Range Surveillance team a lifetime ago, my Long Range *Recon membership packet finally came in..

Howdy!

I've got a fresh decal just waiting for the new paint job!

Hey There! Definitely gotta keep the spirit alive after a fresh paint job!


Hope and pray everyone had a great Christmas!
The missus hooked me up so I can find my 10mm socket!

 

[Dropzone]

in an effort to keep the center console intact ordered one of Rory's Triple sticks.
I'll have to massage the transmission tunnel slightly with a hammer for a little clearance but this will help. I should have kept the triple sticks from the Trekker:der:

 

[Dropzone]

the 4runner's paint is starting to flake a bit on the roof and hood so decided to take the plunge and ordered some monstaliner to roll on the truck
monstaliner by ocdropzone, on Flickr
monstaliner sand by ocdropzone, on Flickr

 

[Black798]

Youll like that monstaliner. I've had it on my fender flares for almost two years now and it looks like the day I rolled it on despite taking a serious beating. It's very easy to work with too

 

[Dropzone]

Youll like that monstaliner. I've had it on my fender flares for almost two years now and it looks like the day I rolled it on despite taking a serious beating. It's very easy to work with too

Good deal, that is good to know.


i really like winter and to me the more snow the better. The Portland area usually doesn't get snow at all so it's cool to even get a little. Thought it was great to have snow on the way home a few days ago. I have been really happy with my LED headlights up until this point.
runnerupdate 4 by ocdropzone, on Flickr
on the way home my head lights were getting dimmer and dimmer due to snow build up
Output by the time i got home. One thing I love about the lights is the low power draw. Downside is they don't put out the heat of Halogens and therefore snow builds up
runnerupdate by ocdropzone, on Flickr
runnerupdate 2 by ocdropzone, on Flickr
runnerupdate1 by ocdropzone, on Flickr
knock the snow off and life is good again
runnerupdate 3 by ocdropzone, on Flickr
This is going to be a limited problem since so is so infrequent in my area but now looking into adding a heating element to the housings or hit the boneyard for some headlight wipers

Battery died over the weekend, should have known since I have a volt meter in the lower console but the phone and GPS cords got shoved against is and blocked it
So this jump box came in handy
runnerupdate 5 by ocdropzone, on Flickr

Hid bone yard with the missus on friday It was surprising because it about about 30* that she said sure.
Capture by ocdropzone, on Flickr
a 1990 4Runner had just showed up so scored a few parts.
The killer was finding a set of covers for the rear swing out mount. I love having the mount but for some reason it bugged me the covers weren't there.
Since the swing out mount was only 90-91 I had no luck for 2 years.
runnerupdate 6 by ocdropzone, on Flickr
runnerupdate 7 by ocdropzone, on Flickr
They are a little rough, when but when i do the monstaliner I'll do some black on the mounts

 

[Bryceal1]

been reading this thread and couldn't figure out why this truck looked so familiar. I've torqued my head on the road around eugene trying to catch a quick peak at your truck. looking good!

 

[Dropzone]

been reading this thread and couldn't figure out why this truck looked so familiar. I've torqued my head on the road around eugene trying to catch a quick peak at your truck. looking good!

Thanks! There must be another one like it down your way, in it's current configuration I haven't had it down in the Eugene area yet..probably this summer though

Picked up some Series 10 8020 strut and brackets for a little experiment this weekend
Capture by ocdropzone, on Flickr

 

[Dropzone]

Picked up some Series 10 8020 strut and brackets for a little experiment this weekend
Capture by ocdropzone, on Flickr

so had some some to put the pile of 8020 to use
had to redrill the mounts to get the strut as low as I could
20180321_125332 by ocdropzone, on Flickr
if you go slow you can save some time and effort and tap aluminum with a drill. it worked awesome with a 1/4-20 tap
20180321_155831 by ocdropzone, on Flickr
20180322_124347 by ocdropzone, on Flickr
20180322_124327 by ocdropzone, on Flickr
20180322_124327 by ocdropzone, on Flickr
20180322_124422 by ocdropzone, on Flickr
went this route as an experiment since after 25 years the factory cross bars are brittle,also wanted the crossbars to sit lower for my eventual roof basket. saved a ton of $$ over what some vendors charge for racks.

 

[128keaton]

so had some some to put the pile of 8020 to use
had to redrill the mounts to get the strut as low as I could
20180321_125332 by ocdropzone, on Flickr
if you go slow you can save some time and effort and tap aluminum with a drill. it worked awesome with a 1/4-20 tap
20180321_155831 by ocdropzone, on Flickr
20180322_124347 by ocdropzone, on Flickr
20180322_124327 by ocdropzone, on Flickr
20180322_124327 by ocdropzone, on Flickr
20180322_124422 by ocdropzone, on Flickr
went this route as an experiment since after 25 years the factory cross bars are brittle,also wanted the crossbars to sit lower for my eventual roof basket. saved a ton of $$ over what some vendors charge for racks.

I know what you mean. I've broken three of those cross bars and I got tired of fixing them. $245 for a Yakima crossbar set and I've never been happier.

 

[RAD4Runner]

... after 25 years the factory cross bars are brittle,also wanted the crossbars to sit lower for my eventual roof basket. ...

I know what you mean. I've broken three of those cross bars ...

Yeah the factory load-bars have plastic load-bearing parts and could only be as wide as the distance between factory rails. Poor design.
After-market ones and Robb's custom crossbars do not, and could be wider than the width of the roof. (I can load 2 kayaks flat, and face down side by side on mine. Can't do that with factory cross-bars).

Robb,
The struts seem to follow the curve of the roof; Would they match your roof basket mounts?

 

[Dropzone]

Yeah the factory load-bars have plastic load-bearing parts and could only be as wide as the distance between factory rails. Poor design.
After-market ones and Robb's custom crossbars do not, and could be wider than the width of the roof. (I can load 2 kayaks flat, and face down side by side on mine. Can't do that with factory cross-bars).

Robb,
The struts seem to follow the curve of the roof; Would they match your roof basket mounts?

Ray I think you mean the curve of the roof front to rear?
if so I do have some more brackets that I can drill to have some more adjustment out of it.
However the roof basket I have is a generic cheap one like you mind find off Amazon. I bought it a couple of summers ago at a garage sale cheap.
My plan is to cut it down so it is half height or lower. it's about 5" high, pretty sure I can get it down to about 2-2.5". Gonna be somewhat tedius but should work out ok, and it not I won't be out a ton of cash, I think I paid $50 for it
And to get back to your original point with the material of the basket I am pretty sure it will have enough flex to bend to the curvature of the roof, both in the X & Y axis...thankfully don't need to work about theta:flame:
20180323_115616

And Yes I could make the bars wider, but for this project having 36" bars should be fine. One advantage to an 84" long basket, extra room for light long stuff

 

[Chuckles89]

Rack looks great! I just used 1/2" galvanized pipe for mine

 

[Dropzone]

storage options

so i have been trying to come up with a storage solution for the back of this thing.
i probably haul too much crap on a daily basis with some tools, basic spare parts, fluids and some recovery gear.
I had 3 rubbermaid totes that have been around since i first got the Trekker. Great, durable etc but they weren't that great. A lot of wasted space both internally and externally. Not stackable etc.
I contemplated making a drawer system out of some 8020, the strut is stupid easy to work with and not priced bad. Some companies get crazy prices for their storage systems, great stuff but I am not gonna spend over a grand on a permanently mount drawer unit.
One of the guys I follow on instagram uses his truck to play on weekends and a full blown work truck during the week. I saw that he was using some Rigid Tool boxes. Googled them, found them at home depot. Lockable, water tight, stackable with integrated latches that allow them to interlock. And the killer part, they aren't all that expensive.
So i figured I would give them a shot
20180327_164834 by ocdropzone, on Flickr
20180327_164827 by ocdropzone, on Flickr
The smaller case come with an organizer deal for bolts and has an inner piece of plastic. I popped that out for a little more room
20180327_164917 by ocdropzone, on Flickr
i need to add a center tie down point but you get the idea.
20180327_171536 by ocdropzone, on Flickr
It is nice to have the majority of the back of the truck back for costco runs and crap. They make some milk crate style cases too. Thing I like about it since it's modular you can pull or add a case when budget allows or you don't need some stuff and just pull the case off the shelf when you need something.

 

[128keaton]

Strange question: how 'loud' is your interior? Like, does it rattle much? Mine has enough now to drive me near crazy!

Love the storage solution. I might do something similar.

 

[Dropzone]

Strange question: how 'loud' is your interior? Like, does it rattle much? Mine has enough now to drive me near crazy!
.

Not a strange question at all and you aren't the 1st to ask.
Like any 25 year old truck with 200k+ on the clock it has some rattles, squeaks and groans..sorta like my old paratrooper ass.
It actually isn't too bad, I have a couple I can hear from the back, worse with the back seats down.
Nothing that drives me insane yet...I thought running the MT's would add more noise, they hum but I can still hear the radio with windows down running around in town.
Seems like changing out the roof bars it actually got quieter..

Love the storage solution. I might do something similar.

Thanks! I thought about one big pelican case but for less than I price of one of those I was able to get these. I will probably pick up one or two more down the road

 

[Dropzone]

Coming soon to a store near you

 

[Chuckles89]

I'd buy it!

 

[Dropzone]

Added another s track tie down rail and picked up some self retracting ratchet straps. These are nice, push the button and it retracts the slack like a seat belt and tighten as normal.
They secure the boxes nicely.

 

[Dropzone]

a friend of mine saw me driving a few days ago
click to play
d83932ce67c0304283407a36d3535e09[1] by ocdropzone, on Flickr

 

[DannyBFresco]

Awesome build dude! I just picked up a '95 that's basically where yours started. Once I'm done building my Tacoma, I may be going down this same rabbit hole for SAS on the T4R. Keep up the good work! op2: :thumb3: