gaterose build thread

[gaterose]

Most Recent Pictures​

(Cobbly Nob, TN, 11/1/14)

Up to Date Mod List
(10/28/14)
Tires & Wheels
255/75R17 Goodyear Wrangler Duratrac
Graphite Duplicolor OEM Limited 5 Spokes
Spidertrax 1.25" Hub-centric spacers
Suspension
Moog FJ Cruiser 4x4 Front Springs (1", 660 lbs)
OEM FJ Cruiser Rear Coils
Bilstein 5100 Shocks Front (@0.85") and Rear
Energy Sway Bar & LCA Bushings
Timbren Bump Stops (Front)
WabFab Rear Sway Bar Links
Deeza HD Greasable Front Sway Bar Links
Engine/Performance
aFe Stage 2 Cold Air Intake with Pro5R Filter
aFe Throttle Body Spacer
Borla 4" Angled Rolled 45° Exit Tip Powdercoated Black
FilterMag
EBC USR Sport Slotted Rotors Front & Rear
EBC Green Stuff Pads
Exterior
Shirley Fabrication Flat Top Front Bumper, Cut for Winch Access, Color-matched
Warn M8000 with 98' of Any7 Off Road 3/8" Technora
Stubbs Welding HD-SKO Sliders
Brand X Stealth Rack with Ladder, Hi-Lift, & Rocky Mount bike mounts
Expeditioneers Front Skid Plate
Bay Area Metal Fab LCA Skids
Küat Sherpa Hitch Bike Rack
Gun Metal Badges
Color-Matched Center Bumper Sections
AutoVentShade In-Channel Vent Visors
WeatherTech Sun Roof Vent Visor
Satoshi Mod '06 Grille
Valance Grille Mesh to Match Satoshi
Lighting
Hanma LED Light Bars -
29.5" 90W Single Row Combo on the Bumper
13.5" 72W Double Row Spot on the Center of Roof Rack
2x 7.5" 36W Double Row Combo on the Sides of Roof Rack
2x 18W 3"x3" Flood in Rear Reflectors (reverse lamps)
2x 18W 1.75"x6" Spot on the Rear of Roof Rack
6 LED "Duallys" with Amber lens
Satin Black '06 Projector Headlight Retrofit
Mini Morimoto D2S RetroQuik Bi-Xenon Projectors with 5000K Morimoto Bulbs/Ballasts
Satin Black Fog/Turn Signal Housings
PIAA Xtreme White High Bulbs
LightSource LED Prejector Reverse Bulbs
'06 LED Tail Lamp Retrofit
SuperBrightLEDS SWFLS 4500K LED Puddle Lights Wired to Running Board Circuit (4)
LightSource LED Interior Kit
Red Instrument Cluster/Switch Conversion
LED License Plate Bulbs
Electronics
DieHard Platinum P5 (Odyssey) Battery
Blue Sea 5025 Fuse Block w/ Plexiglass Shelf for Auxiliary Light Relays
Kenwood eXcelon DNX9960 with DVD, Garmin Navigation, Bluetooth, 80GB USB Hard Drive, & Voice Control
Kenwood CMOS-200 Rear View Camera Mounted in Stock Location
MB Quart Discus 216 6.5" Components Front & Rear
JL Audio 12W3V3 in Custom JL Stealth (type) Box
JL Audio J2 250.1 Amplifier for Subwoofer
JL Audio J2 320.4 Amplifier for Components
Blue Sea Dual USB output in dash
Viair 300P Portable Air Compressor (soon to be used in hybrid on-board/portable air)
Interior
Nifty Xtreme Liners Front, Rear, & Cargo
FJ Cruiser Fog Light Switches
Pedal Dimmer Switch for Forward Auxiliary Lighting
Lev-O-Gage
B-Quiet Extreme & VComp Sound Deadening All Around
Strong Arm Lift Supports for Rear Hatch
Eventual Plans
Locker or Limited Slip
​

Some of my favorite photos -

Summitville Summit, near South Fork, CO (8/3/11)

Wheeler Geologic Area Trail, Pool Table Mountain, Creede, CO (8/1/11)

Lake Como Road, Alamosa, CO (1/8/11)

 

[gaterose]

More recent/favorite pictures

Descending Mt. Blanca on Como Lake Road. Alamosa, CO (1/5/11)

 

[gaterose]

The 4runner the morning I bought it​

Later that day​

Yakima MegaWarrior, RockyMounts Pitchforks, Auto Ventshade In-Channel Vent Visors, Weathertech Sunroof Wind Deflector, Defiant Light Bar, PIAA 580 & 510, KC 26 Backup Lamps with PIAA Xtreme White Bulbs

FJ Switches for Auxiliary Driving, Fog, and Backup Lamps​

PIAA Extreme White Plus Reverse Lamps, LED Turn Signals & Tails, Rear Fog Light Mod​

Josephine & Sid Vicious, my Blue Heeler & my roommate's Great Dane​

FJ Cruiser Springs Front & Rear; 1/4" Toytec Top Plate Spacer​

aFe Stage II Cold Air Intake & Silver Bullet Throttle Body Spacer​

 

[SkylineGTRracer]

Looks great so far. What else you got planned for it?

 

[Clemsonfan15]

Looks like you've been busy. Are you going to lift it?

What did you do to the Silverado besides the bumper?

 

[gaterose]

Looks great so far. What else you got planned for it?

For now just:
Eonon Half-Din DVD Player in Center Console
LED Lighting for Tube Steps & Floorboards
Tint Rear Lights
265/70R17 or 255/75R17
Wheel Spacers

 

[gaterose]

Looks like you've been busy. Are you going to lift it?

What did you do to the Silverado besides the bumper?

I have the FJ springs and 1/4" spacer thats probably as much as I'll do..

The Z

 

[K.C.]

Very nice start!!

Love the FJ Switches...so glad you got them, they are super pricey, but they are super clean.

In low lighting and night shots, NO CAMERA can take great pictures...because you need a long shutter speed.

Grab a camera w/ Manual settings and a tripod or super steady platform to capture crystal clear photos in the dark.

 

[Uneek]

I'm not sure why the LED pictures are so grainy, I think my camera sucks…

No, it's not your camera being bad or anything. It's the ISO setting getting bumped up to compensate for lowlight and fast shutter speed to maintain sharpness with the picture. The easiest fix as mentioned is to slow the shutter speed and use a tripod to keep the picture sharp. The other is if it's a SLR, you'll need a lens with a large aperture (low F number).

What kind of LEDs are those? It's got a good color temperature without too much blue.

 

[8086bruce]

Looks Great!!!!!!!!!

 

[gaterose]

Very nice start!!

Love the FJ Switches...so glad you got them, they are super pricey, but they are super clean.

In low lighting and night shots, NO CAMERA can take great pictures...because you need a long shutter speed.

Grab a camera w/ Manual settings and a tripod or super steady platform to capture crystal clear photos in the dark.

Thanks, the FJ switches definitely look cleaner than any other switch, the price made me debate it for a while. I just wish I hadn't wasted money on the wiring harness. The tacoma switches look good too, but I needed the indicators.

Maybe I will try and snap some night photos with my roommates D60 & play with the settings, I just have a sony cybershot.

 

[gaterose]

What kind of LEDs are those? It's got a good color temperature without too much blue.

Thanks for the advice about the pictures.. The LEDs are actually a mixture of white vleds and white bulbs I found on ebay w/ the most LEDs per bulb. They are all SMT style bulbs though. I have been lucky so far with the cheap bulbs, although I've heard they won't last. They are definitely a nice white though, and very bright.

Looks Great!!!!!!!!!

Thanks! Can't wait to see yours if you ever make up your mind about the lift..

 

[8086bruce]

I'm copycating yours it'll be done this weekend! Unless this happens:beer:

 

[gaterose]

I took a trip out to South Fork, CO over the past week to haul my friend's Harley out there for him. While I was there I decided to check out some of the trails in the local mountains and somehow wound up on the 4x4 trail to the Wheeler Geologic Area. I made it about 10 of 14 miles (I think) before it got too hardcore and I had to turn around.
If I had 4wd or at least a locker and some better tires I would've gone farther but it was getting dark and I hadn't seen anyone or gotten cell receptions for hours and I didn't want to risk getting stuck that far out.

I don't have any video of climbing the harder stuff because the camera was messing up and then the trail got too technical for me to be dealing with the camera. I did however figure out the camera when I turned around and got most of the way back down from the more difficult stuff.

I started this video after I got bored because the trail was so slow
Video 1

This video was long but has some decent action climbing up a small rock garden about 6:00 into the video.
Two

This is about a minute after I turned around when it got too hardcore.
turning back

More of the way down that didn't get recorded going up.
Final Video

 

[gaterose]

I took A LOT of pictures on my trip and a lot of those were of the 4runner so I figured I'd post em here.


On the way pulling my friend's Harley:

I'm pretty sure this is about the muddiest she's ever been (sad huh?):

Night shots from Hunters Lake in Wolf Creek Pass near South Fork, CO:

 

[gaterose]

On the way to the Seven Peaks bike trail and other shots around Creede, CO

This is on the way to and from where I went 'wheeling'

 

[KingZ]

I took a trip out to South Fork, CO over the past week to haul my friend's Harley out there for him. While I was there I decided to check out some of the trails in the local mountains and somehow wound up on the 4x4 trail to the Wheeler Geologic Area. I made it about 10 of 14 miles (I think) before it got too hardcore and I had to turn around.
If I had 4wd or at least a locker and some better tires I would've gone farther but it was getting dark and I hadn't seen anyone or gotten cell receptions for hours and I didn't want to risk getting stuck that far out.

I don't have any video of climbing the harder stuff because the camera was messing up and then the trail got too technical for me to be dealing with the camera. I did however figure out the camera when I turned around and got most of the way back down from the more difficult stuff.

I started this video after I got bored because the trail was so slow
Video 1

This video was long but has some decent action climbing up a small rock garden about 6:00 into the video.
Two

This is about a minute after I turned around when it got too hardcore.
turning back

More of the way down that didn't get recorded going up.
Final Video

Very Nice, gotta love being in the hills. Also like the soundtrack...everything from Bone Thugs to Doug Stone, then back to Rick Ross.

 

[Autbond]

Looks great! So I guess the trip out West was good? did you have to take the trailer back with you? Cool pics too. What are the LED's by your tube steps?

One more thing, do you still want those wheels?

 

[gaterose]

Very Nice, gotta love being in the hills. Also like the soundtrack...everything from Bone Thugs to Doug Stone, then back to Rick Ross.

Yeah it was awesome, I'm going to try to move out there as soon as I can. Thanks, yeah it was diverse, you left out the pink floyd & grateful dead. I didn't even think about the video having a 'soundtrack' until Body Movin' started playing in the rock garden.

 

[gaterose]

Looks great! So I guess the trip out West was good? did you have to take the trailer back with you? Cool pics too. What are the LED's by your tube steps?

Yeah it was great and luckily I got to leave the trailer and see the MPG go from 13 on the way there to 25 leaving the mountains. That trailer was heavy! Waaayy too heavy duty for such a small trailer.

The lights by my steps are are just flat LED strips I mounted under the doors (where it's flat) and wired to the stock running board wiring. They light up the ground beneath the doors when you get in & out like the stock running boards but you can't see them during the day.