electroCrunch - 2000 SR5 Build Thread

[electroCrunch]

Changed out my dome/cargo lighting to these VLED bulbs. I was using an older style LED panel which was more on the blueish side. The light output was good, but I didn't like the color. Switching to the VLEDs means a true 6000K color, and a reliable bulb.

It looks like a reflector could be easily made to reflect some of that lost light up top.

Link for more details on the bulbs: 5K / 6K WHITE LONG LIFE 360° 24 LED 31MM 3175 - 3175 - Interior Lighting

 

[electroCrunch]

While my back interior panels were apart for other work, I was able to check off another project that I've had on my mind.

Upgrading my rear cargo area lighting to something much brighter and ideally draws a low amount of energy. I stumbled upon these LED Pods offered by VLED, rated at 3 watts. They are intended to function as DRLs so they should last a long time as cargo lights I'm hoping.

After some inspection I found an area which distributed the light pattern to where I wanted it, AND had enough backspacing so there is plenty of room behind the pod itself. I also added a neoprene rubber washer between the pod and the plastic for any heat the pods give off.

After looking at the stock wiring and messing with the light switch for the cargo light, I decided to do an always-live switch just for the pods. Originally I thought about adding the pods to go on when the stock cargo light turns on, but after looking at the switching mechanism and thinking it through, I decided it was ideal to use a different switch for that flexibility. Why not, sounded like a fund project.

Spliced into the stock wiring (and on the "Dome" circuit/fuse) and added a disconnect so the panel could be removed if necessary.

Here is where I ran the harness through the roof, which is where the male end of the disconnect will meet.

I picked up this SPST switch off of Amazon. I used a 19mm hole saw, but a 20mm would have been perfect. It's really snug and it's not going anywhere anytime soon. The switch mounted very flush to the panel.

Once the switch was installed I could do the wiring. I went a little overkill with the shielding and heat shrinking, but I wanted to get some wiring practice in.

Installed:

Totally worth it!!!

 

[electroCrunch]

Last night I noticed my new cargo LED pods were not turning on. This morning I pulled the panel, messed with the wiring to make sure there are no bad connections. Everything tested fine, which is weird, since it wasn't working. Everything measured was getting a good 12.6 volts. I put everything back together, tested it one more time, pods and cargo light all work as designed. So weird!

Then I closed the latch and swing arm. I flipped the switch one last time with latch closed but rear window open and it would NOT turn on. I think I found the issue lol. Seems to only get power when the rear hatch is closed. Doh! :doh:

If it gets annoying enough and I find I want the functionality of it being always live, hatch closed or not, then I will have to rewire it. I'm just going to leave it for now to see if it's actually a real world annoyance.

I need to get with the program and add an additional power circuit to the car for stuff like this.

 

[electroCrunch]

Grabbed a pic while my son and I were on our way out from his football game. You'll note there's a CB antenna sticking up there. Almost done with the CB install, which is the last item before I can tear the bumper down and get it to powder coat.

 

[Road Bull]

Looking good man. Now that you have had the rear bumper on a bit, how are you liking it?

 

[electroCrunch]

Looking good man. Now that you have had the rear bumper on a bit, how are you liking it?

Hey, thanks!

For daily life it hasn't been too bad. Opening the swing arm is only a minor inconvenience for me at this point. I have yet to see my girlfriend open it, so we'll see what her vote is when that times comes LOL.

I recall when I chatted with Addicted Offroad they told me to stay far far away from a swing arm. A lot of that is the reason why I wanted a shorter swing arm, thus less leverage and less strain. AOR warned that the handling would be terrible and I would regret it. In all honesty, I can't really notice the extra weight back there as far as handling goes. I do notice it rides more comfortable with the added weight, but no negative impact otherwise.

Anyways, I like the bumper and am glad I chose it. There's no added wind noise, lots of spots/holes to add things down the road (rotopax, hi lift mount, cb antennas, etc.), and seems for the weight that it's going to be strong and last me a long long time.

The only real annoyance is the spare tire blocks a chunk of my rear window. But that's with any tire carrier on the back. I'm mostly use to that now and a minor mirror adjustment made this a non-issue for me. I think that moving the tire offset to passenger side was a good call. It helps with visibility somewhat (as opposed to being in the middle), and it's easy to access the cargo area via the driver's side, by just putting the rear hatch window down and not needing to open the swing arm.

I did document the first time I had to move the swing arm because it was in the way, as you can see below :nerd:

As I own the bumper longer, and especially get some wheeling and camping time in with it, I'll be sure to update as I learn anything new or my opinion on it changes. At this point in time, for what I want out of a rear bumper, I would buy it again (as long as the wait time expectations were better set up front).

 

[electroCrunch]

Disassembled the rear bumper after getting everything mocked up, and sent it off to powder coat last Friday. Hoping it will be ready by the weekend to get it reinstalled.

Also, was at another football game for my son, and saw a great parking-hard photo opp with another fun looking Toyota.

 

[electroCrunch]

I believe I'm done with prepping the rear end for the final install of the bumper, once it's back from powder coat. I took a wire wheel to that rust which was forming between the hitch and frame. I also hit a few other spots where there was freshly exposed metal from fitting/trimming/drilling during bumper mock up (and when I installed the poly body mounts back there). It's all been prepped and painted with 2 coats of rustoleum semi-gloss black.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

If I can find the motivation it looks like the exposed underside could use a pressure washing, plus a treatment. I think that would be the last thing before the bumper goes on. Otherwise, the hard work's done!

 

[Kotrin]

Looks good, I can relate to the multiple builds of the swing-away.

 

[iancbf32]

Looks good! I like that extra light

 

[Johnny_K]

i like the rear light setup, might have to try that.

 

[electroCrunch]

I noticed some front end noises had developed at some point recently. Upon inspection, I found two issues that were easy fixes.

The first issue was a pop/clunk kind of noise. It would usually be noticeable at lower speeds (10-30-ish MPH) with minor bumps in the road. I realized that if the brakes were pressed at all while this noise was occurring, it would stop. Without jacking up the car (woo hoo!) I just turned the wheel to get better access to the front of the caliper. I found the brake pad retainer clip had somehow sheared itself apart and was just barely hanging there.

In diagnosing the issue, I had similar symptoms as what was being described in these threads: brake pad knock/clunk & Problem with Tundra Brakes!!!

Sheared clip on the left. New NAPA replacement clip on the right.

Since the kit came with 2 clips, I installed both.

 

[electroCrunch]

The second front end noise issue I resolved sounded rotational. I could only hear it at like 15+ MPH and it was barely noticeable. I would usually need to be driving next to a wall on the passenger's side in order to hear the click click click click click. At faster speeds though, I could not hear it at all.

It took me a minute to find the source, but I noticed on the front-passenger wheel the tech who balanced the tires had stacked weights. The weights were rubbing the caliper every revolution. The sticky backing for it was barely holding on. I can only guess the bottom weights they stuck it to were dirty/dusty and did not initially stick well.

A quick scrape off the bottom weights and here is the culprit.

Maybe this will help someone in the future.

***

Removing that weight did not affect the balancing of the tire that I noticed while test driving. I drove the car for about 5 miles around town and both of those noises have vanished. I'll take the easy fixes when I can!

 

[electroCrunch]

Maintenance update. Performed at 211,x miles.

New O2 sensors at Banks 1 & 2.
Part: Denso 234-4162 Oxygen Sensor

**Note: Equipped with 49 state Federal & Canada emissions

 

[electroCrunch]

I picked up the rear bumper from powder coat last week!

Reassembly was pretty smooth overall. I found this 8" harbor freight clamp to be really helpful in getting the swing arm pressed on carefully, along with some Inox MX-3 lube/protectant. A bit larger clamp would have made it slightly easier, FYI.

I'm taking a page out of Ronny Dahls' book, and keeping my spare in good condition. Washed it really well, then ended up giving it a couple coats of tire shine/protectant. (Wheels were all waxed before they had tires mounted, including the spare.)

 

[electroCrunch]

A few different angles of the bumper about 98% installed. Just a bit of wiring to zip tie into place and I'll be done with this stage of bumper work.

I couldn't wait to grab some pics, so these will have to do for now. Will get some better pics at some point in the future.

What an adventure from the time of deciding to order bumpers, up until this point of having them coated and installed. I love the final product and the look of the 4Runner now. The front and rear combination of AOR plate and CBI hybrid rear goes together nicely in my opinion.

Gotta start thinking about sliders now.

 

[electroCrunch]

I noticed a small pool of gear oil forming under the transfer case. I bought new front/rear output shaft seals and nuts assuming that's the issue. Upon a closer inspection, the leak didn't appear to be coming from those seals. It also wasn't coming from the top. I found BFAD's post, Replacing Transfer Case Output Shaft Oil Seals, a How-To for DIY'ers, to be really helpful in diagnosing it was not leaking from those seals. So I did some research and found a part number for an o-ring that goes where the leak seems to be accumulating, as circled in red below. I don't know what this part/thing is. If anyone else knows I'll update this post with that info.

OEM replacement o-ring. Part number: 96711-24030

Removed the single 12mm bolt and the assembly came out easily. Some oil initially spilled out, FYI. Looks like oil just sits in this little area, which makes sense as to why it was leaking from here while parked.

Original o-ring was obviously worn, compared to what you see here where the new o-ring bulges out slightly to form a seal. Cleaned up all of the surfaces and lightly oiled the o-ring before installing.

Re-installed the assembly and tightened until it felt right lol. No idea what torque is, but it's going into aluminum so I was gentle.

Topped off the transfer case fluid with Redline 75W90 GL-5. Good stuff!

No visible leaks yet after an initial test drive. I'll be glad if this fixes the leak. Will get to the output seals, since I have all of the parts, whenever they start leaking or if I'm ever in there working on something else and it's convenient to do so.

:thumb:

 

[Road Bull]

A few different angles of the bumper about 98% installed. Just a bit of wiring to zip tie into place and I'll be done with this stage of bumper work.

I couldn't wait to grab some pics, so these will have to do for now. Will get some better pics at some point in the future.


What an adventure from the time of deciding to order bumpers, up until this point of having them coated and installed. I love the final product and the look of the 4Runner now. The front and rear combination of AOR plate and CBI hybrid rear goes together nicely in my opinion.

Gotta start thinking about sliders now.

Man... your rig is looking good. We need to see some better pictures of your 4runneras it sits now. I think it looks good with those FN five stars and 265/75/16's.

 

[electroCrunch]

Man... your rig is looking good. We need to see some better pictures of your 4runneras it sits now. I think it looks good with those FN five stars and 265/75/16's.

Thanks! You rig is looking pretty great too these days.

I'm heading up to Sedona this weekend, that should hopefully make for a good photo opportunity. The trip isn't specifically for wheeling, but I will be sure to hit some easy trails (likely just a forest road or two) and snag a few pics as it sits now. The GF isn't crazy about wheeling, so gotta keep the trails pretty tame this weekend.

 

[electroCrunch]

Had a blast in Sedona over the weekend. I hadn't spent any time up there before. It's an offroader's play ground I came to learn. And the scenery is awesome. And... SO MANY JEEP TOURS AND RENTALS lol. Had fun waving at all the Pink Jeep tourists going by, and the jeep rentals with drivers who were purely abusing those poor Jeeps. Regardless, it's fun seeing people getting exposed to the joy off roading and adventuring.

We came into Sedona through a scenic forest road back way, called Schnebly Hill Rd. The road slowly twists its way along the edge of Sedona, down into the valley.

Making our way through Coconino National Forest.

Stopped before the end of the national forest, before we got to Schenbly Hill overlook to start our descent. Made sandwiches here and took a quick rest.

Through the forest and now officially descending into Sedona.

My girlfriend and I stopped here after noticing a trailhead to go explore. We spent about an hour hiking into a canyon down behind the 4Runner.

This is the last picture I grabbed before the end of the trail down. It's also my favorite picture from the off roading adventure.

Now back to that hike I mentioned a moment ago... I proposed to my girlfriend and she said YES! My hat marks the proposal spot on our hike. Woo hoo!

That is it for the off roading portion of my Sedona weekend adventure. I tried Airbnb for the first time and was not disappointed. Stayed in this quiet neighborhood just outside of Sedona. Also woke up and enjoyed my early morning coffee to this great view. Of course the camera phone can't do the scene justice.

This was my first time off roading since doing a lot of work to my 4Runner. I'm pleased to report there were no issues with any of these recent modifications, upgrades, maintenance, etc.

I did have an event where my Accessory Power circuit kept blowing fuses. I gave up and figured I shorted a wire due to some intense vibrations. The next morning I went to inspect closer and found that my 3 year old who was playing in the car while I was packing it up earlier, had lodged a penny into my cigarette lighter port. Somewhere along the drive the penny rattled into place and started blowing fuses. LOL!

That's it for this adventure report. I highly recommend checking out Sedona if you ever get a chance.