Geofox's 15' Grey Trail Build / Adventure Thread

[geofox784]

Intro:
About a year ago I moved from Denver to Grand County, CO. I found that my mini cooper was great and fun to drive in Denver, but didn't do so well deep in the rockies and limited my camping / hiking options quite a lot. I knew I wanted a vehicle I could so some decent off roading with, so I started looking at jeeps, but even more importantly I wanted a vehicle that would last me 10 years without problems, so that lead me to the 4runner. After a few months of searching I saw the perfect used vehicle show up within my budget that had a ton of features in my "want" as well as my "need" list. I plan on upgrading it to an overland vehicle I can camp out of and that can take me on 90% of the trails out there.

As it stands today:

Factory / off the lot features:

• 2015 Trail Premium w/ 50K miles
• KDSS
• Heated Seats
• Sunroof
• Clear protective film on hood and other forward facing body panels
• Leather seats with red stitching

Upgrades / mods currently installed:

Google sheets build list with links & planned upgrades

APPEARANCE:

• Black out kit on badging
• Window tint on front windows to match rear window tint
• American flag decal on rear side windows
• "4Runner Decal" on passenger side dash
• "TRD Offroad" Decals
• All cabin / assistance lights changed to white LED's
• ARC Lights LED's in map, center, and hatch lights
• AJT Design key fob swap
• Under hood lighting with LED Strip
• Rear hatch LED Strip
• Trd Pro grill trim

PROTECTION / ARMOR:

• ARB Diff Breather w/ Rear Diff + E-Locker Attached.
• Air injector upgraded filter
• Husky Floor Matts
• Block Heater
• RCI Engine, Transmission, and Transfer Skid
• RCI Lower Link Skids
• CBI Gas tank skid
• CBI Front Bumper Steel w/ full hoops
• Victory 4x4 Rear Bumper w/ Tire carrier and table
• SDHQ ABS guards
• RAD Rubber engine splash shields
• RSG Sliders
• RSG KDSS Skid
• ECGS CV Bushing replacement for needle bearing
• C4 Diff skid
• Dobinsons Snorkel
• Rago rear shock guards

TIRES + SUSPENSION:

• Falken Wildpeak AT3W tires - 285/70/R17
• Dobinsons UCAs
• Fox 2.5 DSC Remove Reservoir shocks (custom valved by Accutune)
• Icon Overland rear springs
• Toytec rear bump stop spacer
• Blackgate customs rear KDSS spacer
• Spidertrax 1.5" Spacers
  

COMS + NAV:

• ICOM ID-5100A HAM Radio
• Midland 75-822 CB Radio w/ Firestik II
• Expedition Essentials Dash Mount
• RAM Mounts for phone, Ham, and iPad
• Midland GXT1000 FRS Radio w/ 4 cheap FRS radios to hand out on the trail
• Weboost Drive Reach OTR LTE Booster
• iPad mini running Gaia GPS and some other apps
• V1 Radar detector w/ mirror mount
• Viofo A129 Dash Camera
• Garmin road GPS
• Garmin GLO GPS module for iPad
• Garmin Inreach mini sat messenger
• Tilt Smart 45 degree incolmeter / roll indicator
• Scangauge II with tire pressures programed in

STORAGE:

• Center console + glove box organizer
• Raingler Attic net
• Goose Gear drawers
• Goose Gear rear seat delete
• Dual Rago Storage Panels
• Prinsu roof rack
• Plano 52" Rifle Case for roof top storage
• Whynter FM-65G Fridge
• Easy Slide Es-150PLUS
• Eezi-Awn swift awning
  

EXTERNAL LIGHTING:

• Xenon Depot XTREME HID 5000k kit
• DDM Tuning High Beams
• Amber "raptor" lights
• 2019 OEM LED Fog lights
• CaliRaised roof light bar
• Baja Squadron Pro ditch lights
• Maxxima Scene lights (x6)
• Teralume Icon spot lights
  

ELECTRICAL:

• Carista adapter for changing settings
• Front fisheye camera
• Switch Pro 9100
• Pedal Commander
• Rear hatch inside window and lock controls
• Infinity REF3022CFX dash speakers
• Alpine PWE-S8 subwoofer
• Genesis Offroad Dual battery kit
• Odyssey 25-PC1400 batteries (X2)
• ArcLighLed Triple State Voltage Booster
• Custom made dash electrical panel
• Blue sea low voltage disconnect
• National Luna Dual Battery Display
• Custom made electronics tray in engine bay
• Smittybilt 2781 Compressor mounted in engine bay
  

RECOVERY / SUPPLIES:

• Tool bag
• 3 Recovery bags of various supplies
• First aid / trauma kit
• Recovery Straps, tree savers, snatch blocks, soft shackles
• Smittybilt 98510 10K synthetic winch
• Factor 55 Flatlink Expert with rope guard
• Fiskars X11 Splitting Axe
• Agawa Canyon Boreal21 Folding saw
• Generic Shovel
• Generic folding hand saw
• 2 rapid deflators
• Tire repair kit
• 5LB Fire extinguisher
• Hi-Lift X-TREME 60" Jack
• Hi-Lift Winch kit
• Hi-Lift Off-Road Base

Adventures:

• Rollins pass, CO
• Little Muddy Creek, CO
  ---
• Trip 'round Colorado 1000 mile road trip:
• - Colorado Springs (Garden of the gods, gold camp road)
• - Medano Pass Primitive Road
• - Great Sand Dunes National Park
• - Million Dollar Highway
• - Ouray, CO
• - Back Canyon National Park
• - Crested Butte, CO
• - Kebler Pass
• - Glenwood Springs, CO
• - Maroon Lake
• - Independence pass
• - Keyser Creek
  ---
• Jones Pass
• Georgetown Lake Ice Racing
  ---
• Moab Trip June 19'
• - Long Canyon
• - Shafer Trail
• - Potash Road
• - Fins and Things
• - Hell's Revenge
• - Top of the world
• - Salt Valley Road
• - Tower Arch
• - Eye of Whale
  ---
• Kingston Peak
• Jones Pass
  ---
• Ouray Trip Sep 19'
• - Engineer Pass
• - Cinnamon Pass
• - California Pass
• - Corkscrew Pass
• - Black Bear Pass
• - Imogene Pass
  ---
• Moab Trip Oct 19'
• - Fins n' Things Night Run
• - Seven Mile Rim
• - Hell's Revenge

 

[geofox784]

First week of mods

Right after I drove it home for the first time. First order of business was getting the brakes resurfaced as I could feel some steering wheel wobble at highway speeds. Once that was taken care of everything felt more stable.

Bumper vinyl wrap:
I was amazed how easy it was to remove the front bumper, on my mini cooper its a half day project to remove it.

Sanded and body filler on the bottom trim to smooth out the rock chips.

Black out kit on the badging:

Front and rear rhino shackles:
(Yes I know that the front are not to be used for recovery, but its the best I have for now.)

Rear hatch flood lights:

V1 Radar detector mounting and wiring:
(3 sets of 12V pins)

Phone mount:

Xenon Depot XTREME HID kit 5000K:
Stock left, HID right

Recovery bags:
Just strapped down for now while I wait for my goose gear drawers.

Bag 1: Tools

Bag 2: Recovery

Bag 3: Miscellaneous

Bag 4: Trauma

 

[geofox784]

First (kinda sorta) adventure

I took it up to Rollins Pass yesterday. I definitely could not have pulled this off with my mini so I am very happy I was able to get up there with no problems. I noticed that the car handled large dips quite well, but the small rocks and stuff shock the car quite a bit. I'm hoping that once I get true off road tires (I have BFG K02's on order) and I am able to air down some it will help out with the ride quality some.

 

[Raingler_Nets]

Pretty epic on the organization in there! Looking forward to seeing how you get it all set up.

 

[geofox784]

Weekend Mods Round 2

Geofox's 15' Grey Trail Build / Adventure Thread - Toyota 4Runner Forum - Largest 4Runner Forum

Some more mods installed after stuff showed up in the mail:

The biggest of the all: BFG KO2 Tires 275/70/R17

Wow do these make a huge difference in the appearance of the rig. It finally is starting to really look like an off road worthy vehicle.

I chose the KO2's due to the huge following and numerous recommendations from others in the forums. I am also limited in my options, as I wanted to get the biggest tire I could get that would fit without a lift. I planned on doing a lift first, then get tires so I could get 285 tires, but the difference in size was so small it was worth just getting the 275's now. The limited options wasn't really a big deal though as I probably would have went with the KO2's anyway.

As for normal road driving I was worried that the ride would be too harsh, as others have reported that the LT (light truck) tires, especially those that have a load rating E, have a harsh ride. I had them at 40PSI (recommended as the "sweet spot" for the tires on this weight vehicle) and didn't feel that the ride was harsh at all, but that was on normal driving on paved roads. I will be taking them on rocky roads soon, but will air them down to 20PSI when I do that.

Time will tell how my MPG is affected. Before my MPG averaged 21 MPG on mostly highway use.

Raingler Cargo Net. I found that it was too big for stock and would be too loose unless these was a large object in the back. I am not worried though as once I have my Goose Gear drawers it should fit just fine. Update: After talking with Raingler I tried looping the straps through the rear seat hinge. Now it fits perfectly.

Rear window flag. Got them on both sides.

Inside passenger side decal:

 

[klk87]

Could you post a link to the rear hatch flood lights you installed? They look super bright!

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

 

[geofox784]

Could you post a link to the rear hatch flood lights you installed? They look super bright!

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

Here ya go.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IXD7GOE/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[geofox784]

Adventure (kinda sorta) number 2

Took it back up Rollins pass again to try out the new tires. Aired them down to 20 PSI from 40 PSI. MUCH better ride than the stock tires at 35 PSI. They absorbed the rocks and washboarding much better. I took it up a side path with about a 40 degree incline and was expecting to have to activate A-TRAC or the rear locker, but in 4L and these tires to took it like it was no problem at all.

I also took it much further down the trail, and I'm glad I didn't make the same attempt on the stock tires like I had planned but it was getting too dark before. The road got VERY rocky to the point of where it was made of 100% loose large rock. There was a number of times I was sure I was going to make contact with the stock skid plates but never did (with one exception). There was also a few spots with some serious pucker factor with high tilt angles next to a cliff face.

Average MPG 10.5! Hopefully that will almost double on road use.

Same spot as an earlier pic but with the new tires:

Climbing in 4L:

Parked at the end of the trail. Earlier the rocks were about 2X as big and completely covered the road.

Eating a rock at 20PSI:

Airing back up. Took about 3min per tire:

My first trail damage. Tis but a scratch.

 

[honda250xtitan]

285's fit stock :shrug:

 

[geofox784]

285's fit stock :shrug:

From what I have read in multiple locations, that is not the case. http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/156378-going-bigger-5th-gen-tire-fitment-guide.html

 

[willo]

Nice.
I should be picking up my 16 trail later this week if all goes well.

I'm glad you had fun in my back yard. (I live south of Rollinsville)
Avoid using fix a flat like the plague. Many shops won't repair a tire that it's been used in.
--Get a patch kit

--Get a matching spare tire. (maybe you did, I didn't see anything about it)
If not, then you'll need to put the spare up front and avoid using 4wd while it's on there. I also have a telescoping 1/2" breaker bar. (Lesson learned from owning an old land rover)

One more for your gear list: Water. I find poorly put out or even unattended fires once a year or so. Last year it was a camp fire with 3 foot flames that was left unattended by idiots.

 

[honda250xtitan]

From what I have read in multiple locations, that is not the case. http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/156378-going-bigger-5th-gen-tire-fitment-guide.html

fender liner mod and mudflap delete:rockon:

 

[cjdewese]

Much respect for the organization of your google sheet.

Over $20K in planned mods though... gonna be a very nice ride when all said and done.

 

[geofox784]

Much respect for the organization of your google sheet.

Over $20K in planned mods though... gonna be a very nice ride when all said and done.

Yeah the 20K is everything I want. I doubt I will get everything I want. But who knows, I plan to have it for a very long time.

 

[geofox784]

Nice.
I should be picking up my 16 trail later this week if all goes well.

I'm glad you had fun in my back yard. (I live south of Rollinsville)
Avoid using fix a flat like the plague. Many shops won't repair a tire that it's been used in.
--Get a patch kit

--Get a matching spare tire. (maybe you did, I didn't see anything about it)
If not, then you'll need to put the spare up front and avoid using 4wd while it's on there. I also have a telescoping 1/2" breaker bar. (Lesson learned from owning an old land rover)

One more for your gear list: Water. I find poorly put out or even unattended fires once a year or so. Last year it was a camp fire with 3 foot flames that was left unattended by idiots.

Patch kit: Just recently added one.

Matching spare tire: In the mail.

Water: I plan on taking adding some kind of water tank / storage.

 

[geofox784]

iPad Mount

EDIT: I ended up changing my mount to something else.

I wanted to find a way to mount my iPad so I could have topo maps easily accessible. I went with RAM Mounts. When mounting to the side of the shifting column (is that what you call that?) I found that the bottom of the plastic had no support so the whole mount wobbled quite a lot. I fabricated an aluminum bracket that braces the mount from the inside and that helped. It's not quite as rock solid as I would prefer but when I took it on that last trip it saw some serious bumps without problems.

Parts used: (Total cost around $100)
RAM-HOL-UN8BCU
RAP-200-1U (X2)
RAP-276U (X2)
RAP-PP-1112 (cut down to size)
RAM-2461U

 

[geofox784]

Weekend Mods Round 3

Mods recently completed:
- ARB Diff breather. I have it mounted to the top of the firewall and have individual lines running down to the Diff and E-Locker.


- Added a tilt meter. Nice to see how much tilt there actually is compared to how much tilt it feels like.

- Custom LED underhood lights. Nice to have when attaching the compressor in the dark. Instead of spending $80 on some of the kits available online I made it myself using waterproof 5050 LED strip, a push switch, some wire, and an inline fuse holder for roughly $25 dollars.

 

[geofox784]

First real adventure - Little Muddy Creek.

More info on the trail here

Little Muddy Creek was VERY muddy. It had been raining for the past few days and the surface was 100% loose wet clay. Took about an hour with a pressure washer to get most of the mud out that was forced into the undercarriage. Had I known how rough this trail was I would not have attempted it without getting a lift first. My biggest problem was lack of ground clearance at the front skid plate when the wheels were in deep ruts.

I went with a group of 3 other jeeps. There was a few times were we had to get pulled / winched after sliding almost off the trail and dangerously close to trees. The wheel direction seemed to be only a suggestion that was often ignored. I often heard and felt scrapping so I was expecting a fair amount of undercarriage damage but surprisingly the only damage was to the skid plates. The stock skid plates did surprisingly well. Only dented in a little but scratched up a ton. Some rattle can paint once I got home fixed that.

Overall the vehicle tackled many things that I would have thought to be impossible with my current configuration. The A-TRAC and crawl control were amazing. There were many spots where I got stuck even while in 4 low and with the rear locked. Threw it into crawl and it pulled me right out of it. The photos don't do this trail justice. All off the really "bad" areas I didn't get any pictures.

VERY Muddy. Took a lot of effort not to fall in the mud myself. I need some better floor matts.

Trail damage. Had to take it off anyway to get about and inch of mud out, but while out I sprayed it down with a rattle can.

I've read 30 degrees is close to rolling so that was a little daunting. Right tires in a rutt though so no risk of sliding somewhere.

The one picture I got of mine.

It was about 2X worse than this in spots.

One of the fairly deep ledges.

 

[geofox784]

Trip 'round Colorado 1000 mile 5 day road trip

First big road trip! 5 days total and over 1000 miles. Unfortunately I was about 1 week too late to avoid the winter weather. For the 5 days of the trip a cold front moved in and it snowed all over the west side of the state. A few places originally planned were canceled due to the weather (RMNP, Off roading around Ouray, Crystal Mill, and Transfer Trail). I'm planning on doing all of those next summer, especially a 3-5 day trip around Ouray.

Stats for nerds:

• Total miles: 1070
• Over 21 hours of driving
• Average MPG 17.9 (18.5 adjusted for tire size difference.)
• Total gallons of gas: 59.90
• Total $$ spent of gas: 179.32

Day 1: Home (Fraser, CO) > Black Forest, CO
Miles: 129

No photos or anything of interest here. Planned on swinging through Rocky Mountain National Park on the way down but the snow started and the pass closed the day we planned on leaving. Stayed at my Uncle's place.

Day 2: Black Forest, CO > Medano Pass
Miles: 173

More snow for most of the drive.

Garden of the Gods

Lower Gold Camp Road

Top of Medano Pass
Snow started sticking as we gained elevation. Trail got a little slick but nothing compared to little muddy. I was starting to get worried that if the trail was as curvey as the way up as on the way as the way down and if the snow continued overnight then I could be in trouble. Fortunately there was only about an inch of snow and the trail was much easier on the way down then up.

Camp location. Pretty much at the top of the pass. I was hoping to continue on and get a little lower but it was getting dark. While trying to sleep I started to realize I was making a risky move. I read that the valley below would be seeing a few inches of snow, but I had no idea how much I'd at the top of the pass. If I saw a lot of snow I could be stuck up there with no cell service many miles from civilization and a lack of heavy snow clothing.

Day 3: Top of Medano Pass > Ouray, CO
Miles: 251

Medano Pass
The way down was much smoother. Moved out of the thick forest and the snow wasn't much of a problem. Water passes were no problem, deepest was hub height. Glad I installed the ARB diff breather.

Sandy area at the bottom of the pass. No problem for the aired down KO2's.

Great Sand Dunes National Park

View of the Dunes

After hiking to (what I thought was) the top.

Ouray, CO
Drove through Wolf Creek Pass, but in heavy snow. Million Dollar Highway was incredible. Some of the sharpest drop offs and no guard rail. I would never have expected a well traveled public road to be this dangerous. I planned on staying a day in Ouray to do some off roading but with the weather decided against it. I don't feel bad though because there looks to be so much to do around the area it justifies its own dedicated trip. Absolutely incredible location. Planned on camping in the woods but all of the camping locations involved driving up some fairly steep roads and with possible heavy overnight snowfall so I gave in and booked a night in a motel. Worth the warm bed and shower though.

Day 4: Ouray, CO > Glenwood Springs, CO
Miles: 219

Black Canyon National Park
Once the clouds cleared this place is amazing. Sharp drop offs the size of skyscrapers.

Crested Butte & Kebler Pass

Planned on staying at windy point on Transfer Trail, but with the snow I didn't want to risk getting stuck up there. Stayed at a KOA.

Day 5: Glenwood Springs, CO > Home
Miles: 218

Maroon Lake

Took Independence pass and then Keyser Creek on the way back.

Sleeping arrangements.
The goose gear drawers and sleeping platform wasn't here in time (although I wasn't expecting it to) so I built a cheaply made plywood platform. Used an Exped MegaMat Duo 10 (Double) sleeping pad. Fit perfectly with the seats moved forward. No room to spare. Super comfy and warm. For sleeping bags I used two Wenzel Grande 0 Degree Sleeping Bags. Super warm and comfy, especially with the flannel interior. Both nights I slepts in the car it was about 30 outside and we were plenty warm even without the bags zipped together.

Folded down to make room for the seats moved back:

Sleeping bag without the top bag:

 

[geofox784]

Better LED lighting photos

Some better photos of my lighting upgrades

Hatch light bar:

Hatch light bar from inside:

Under hood lights:

LED high beam comparison to stock: