Grunt build
- Thread starter HedgehogOutdoors
- Start date
HedgehogOutdoors
New member
I'm going for locally made, everyone has ARB, I want to be original! lol nothing against ARB, but they look too generic. Not sure how many months/years it's going to be until I can afford custom plate bumpers anyways lol.
HedgehogOutdoors
New member
*update* 10/30/12
Well, about a week ago when responding to a fire call, there was a loud crunching grinding noise in my 4runner, I thought for sure it had to be the tranny. I couldn't get it to do it again, and it's been fine since. Mechanic said it may be a thin layer of rust coming off the brakes, which is why it would crunch, as it did happen as I was braking hard. I also found out that annoying noise is not my exhaust, but rather my water pump gurgling for more antifreeze. Tomorrow the antifreeze will be taken care of, we'll see what happens with the grinding situation.
Well, about a week ago when responding to a fire call, there was a loud crunching grinding noise in my 4runner, I thought for sure it had to be the tranny. I couldn't get it to do it again, and it's been fine since. Mechanic said it may be a thin layer of rust coming off the brakes, which is why it would crunch, as it did happen as I was braking hard. I also found out that annoying noise is not my exhaust, but rather my water pump gurgling for more antifreeze. Tomorrow the antifreeze will be taken care of, we'll see what happens with the grinding situation.
Chandler_Ross
New member
Holy Crap.
I love your 4Runner man. Looks almost just like mine. lol. I remember looking at it back when Shawn had it and I liked what he did with the plasti dip. I had never put it together that it was yours now until i found your video on youtube about a month ago. did you ever figure out what the clicking noise in 4wd was?
I love your 4Runner man. Looks almost just like mine. lol. I remember looking at it back when Shawn had it and I liked what he did with the plasti dip. I had never put it together that it was yours now until i found your video on youtube about a month ago. did you ever figure out what the clicking noise in 4wd was?
HedgehogOutdoors
New member
I did, actually. I brought it to my dad's friend's house(he was a racecar mechanic in his younger days), we got it up on jackstands, and found out there's this shield around where the brakelines run up the frame, and that shield is cracked, and was forced against the front driveshaft. It was holding the 4runner still when in 4wd, even without brakes on, now that it is pulled away from the driveshaft, it can roll, and doesn't click. I will try to post some pictures in the next few days.
This is slowly going to become my own fire truck(minus all the cool stuff a fire truck has) haha. I got myself a Uniden BCT15X scanner for it, need to weld up a mount and get all the hardware for an antenna. As it was with the stock antenna, it has a very bad signal, that is a combination of our town using multiple towers, several over the ridge at the east end of town, and that was made worse by the fact that the antenna doesn't go outside of the 4runner, I will be running a 4 ft Firestik outside.
Shawn did do a good job with this, that's what attracted me to this thing. I'm glad you like it, I need to check out your threads now, thanks for the compliments, but I can't take credit for Shawn's work haha.
HedgehogOutdoors
New member
No More Clicking in 4WD!
Some of you that followed Shawn's threads when he owned this 4runner may recall him talking about clicking in 4WD. When we tested out 4WD at the dealership, we didn't have that problem. BUT, when we had the big snow storm recently, I needed to use 4WD to get up our driveway. CLICK CLICK CLICK. I remembered reading about that on Shawn's thread, so once up the hill I took it out of 4WD, no clicking. I brought the 4runner to my dad's friend's house, got it on jackstands, and he said this shield:
which is located on the driver's side of the frame right under the front door, was rubbing against the front driveshaft. I remembered from when the 4runner was on the lift at our local garage, seeing this same shield cracked:
I looked underneath, and sure enough, the shield was against the driveshaft, so long that the driveshaft had worn into the shield, and rust from the driveshaft is now on that shield:
I apologize for the out of focus pictures, I didn't really have a way to take these without laying down in the snow. The clicking is gone with that shield pulled off the driveshaft now. I know some people have had a similar problem, this may or may not be the cause. This shield is rather flimsy, I don't know what you'd consider the material it's made of, it's almost like fiberglass, but not as strong.
Some of you that followed Shawn's threads when he owned this 4runner may recall him talking about clicking in 4WD. When we tested out 4WD at the dealership, we didn't have that problem. BUT, when we had the big snow storm recently, I needed to use 4WD to get up our driveway. CLICK CLICK CLICK. I remembered reading about that on Shawn's thread, so once up the hill I took it out of 4WD, no clicking. I brought the 4runner to my dad's friend's house, got it on jackstands, and he said this shield:
which is located on the driver's side of the frame right under the front door, was rubbing against the front driveshaft. I remembered from when the 4runner was on the lift at our local garage, seeing this same shield cracked:
I looked underneath, and sure enough, the shield was against the driveshaft, so long that the driveshaft had worn into the shield, and rust from the driveshaft is now on that shield:
I apologize for the out of focus pictures, I didn't really have a way to take these without laying down in the snow. The clicking is gone with that shield pulled off the driveshaft now. I know some people have had a similar problem, this may or may not be the cause. This shield is rather flimsy, I don't know what you'd consider the material it's made of, it's almost like fiberglass, but not as strong.
HedgehogOutdoors
New member
Well, the 4runner died on me twice last night on a 3 mile trip. I was at the Ambulance Corps' building for my EMR training, and about a mile down the road, she quit, so I quickly got it into a parking lot out of the way of traffic. Tried to start it, rapid clicking. So, I called up a buddy from the fire dept., he has jumper cables, I don't. The one thing I don't have is jumper cables, I've been telling everyone on the forum that something like this would happen since I didn't have cables. While waiting for him to show up, another friend that lived a quarter mile from where it died came along, but he had just taken the jumpers out of his mother's Sunfire and put it in his flatbed. So he waited with me until the first friend came along.
Got it jumped, started, let it charge for about a minute, it was less than 0 degrees Fahrenheit, even less with wind chill, I was shaking like a crack fiend, that's how cold it was. I get going down the road, about a mile from home and everything goes dim again, tach drops to zero, battery and ABS lights come on, radio shuts off, heater dies out, headlights turn a dim orange. Okay, I'm less than a mile from home, I can make it. Anyone that knows my driveway knows it is extremely steep, so I started going up it, 4runner starts sputtering, dropped her into neutral and rolled back down the hill.
Went inside, got the keys for my mom's TrailBlazer(she was sleeping, and my dad has a broken ankle and is laid up), and hooked up the cables to the 4runner AGAIN. Got it up the driveway. Finally home an hour late.
Today, I brought it to the garage to have them deal with it, since one guy there has worked for Toyota since the '80s. Died right in the parking lot. Good thing that was a short ride.
So, she's down for the count for probably a good week or so, don't know how quickly they'll have the new alternator, might even need a new battery. My check from the FD was going to go towards getting my antenna setup, not anymore! lol.
Always be prepared guys, don't be stupid like I was and hold off on getting jumper cables(I wanted a nice American made set of cables, could only find Chinese). Have warm clothes, blankets, etc. I know for sure if I called a wrecker I would have been there for at least an hour. Probably would have made it home faster had I pushed it all the way back lol.
Got it jumped, started, let it charge for about a minute, it was less than 0 degrees Fahrenheit, even less with wind chill, I was shaking like a crack fiend, that's how cold it was. I get going down the road, about a mile from home and everything goes dim again, tach drops to zero, battery and ABS lights come on, radio shuts off, heater dies out, headlights turn a dim orange. Okay, I'm less than a mile from home, I can make it. Anyone that knows my driveway knows it is extremely steep, so I started going up it, 4runner starts sputtering, dropped her into neutral and rolled back down the hill.
Went inside, got the keys for my mom's TrailBlazer(she was sleeping, and my dad has a broken ankle and is laid up), and hooked up the cables to the 4runner AGAIN. Got it up the driveway. Finally home an hour late.
Today, I brought it to the garage to have them deal with it, since one guy there has worked for Toyota since the '80s. Died right in the parking lot. Good thing that was a short ride.
So, she's down for the count for probably a good week or so, don't know how quickly they'll have the new alternator, might even need a new battery. My check from the FD was going to go towards getting my antenna setup, not anymore! lol.
Always be prepared guys, don't be stupid like I was and hold off on getting jumper cables(I wanted a nice American made set of cables, could only find Chinese). Have warm clothes, blankets, etc. I know for sure if I called a wrecker I would have been there for at least an hour. Probably would have made it home faster had I pushed it all the way back lol.
HedgehogOutdoors
New member
Yes, the alternator had been whining for quite some time. The alternator is now replaced, and the battery is holding a charge. Now to buy some jumper cables lol.
I just went to the gas station, and guess who I saw jumping another car? haha, same kid that jumped me is jumping someone else 2 days later, busy guy.
HedgehogOutdoors
New member
Mystery Switch and Update
Got this switch hooked up, anyone know what for? Picture below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eA-YAB383vU
Onto the less good news. Tuesday morning while going to the firehouse, I smelled something plastic burning, not sure if it was me or the Tundra in front of me. When I got to the firehouse I checked everything, didn't see smoke or blown fuses or anything that would indicate it was me. Next morning on the way to school, same thing, only smelled it with the heater going. That night I noticed the battery light was on when I started the 4runner for a call, as soon as I hit the brake it shut off. When we finished with the call, I started it up, battery light was on again. Only shut off when I put it into gear and let off the brake. Today, on yet another call, same thing, but this time just tapping the brake shut it off. I went for about a 15 mile drive to the store to get a watch for my EMR course, as well as an extinguisher(just in case), and the battery light came on again, and STAYED on. Back to the shop. *sigh* this is going to get expensive real quick.
Got this switch hooked up, anyone know what for? Picture below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eA-YAB383vU
Onto the less good news. Tuesday morning while going to the firehouse, I smelled something plastic burning, not sure if it was me or the Tundra in front of me. When I got to the firehouse I checked everything, didn't see smoke or blown fuses or anything that would indicate it was me. Next morning on the way to school, same thing, only smelled it with the heater going. That night I noticed the battery light was on when I started the 4runner for a call, as soon as I hit the brake it shut off. When we finished with the call, I started it up, battery light was on again. Only shut off when I put it into gear and let off the brake. Today, on yet another call, same thing, but this time just tapping the brake shut it off. I went for about a 15 mile drive to the store to get a watch for my EMR course, as well as an extinguisher(just in case), and the battery light came on again, and STAYED on. Back to the shop. *sigh* this is going to get expensive real quick.
Chandler_Ross
New member
Hey man. I saw that you took your roof rack off. Are you removing it permanently? Or just cleaning under it. Also, another way our runners are almost identical (were. lol) you're missing the second part of the skid plate. Have you checked in to finding a replacement for it? I'm trying to decide if I should get the second piece to it or just ditch it all together and get a Skid Row plate once I get my lift on. Still wanting to know what the switch in the dash is for too!
HedgehogOutdoors
New member
Well, the roof rack as of right now is staying off. I will clean it up with the buffer, but I think it looks a little sportier without the bars up top. BUT, I will be making use of the rails, not sure what yet, but I think a light setup will be there eventually. I did find the second skidplate, it was mounted in the wrong place and sideways, ziptied to the engine's oil dipstick tube.
Here is how it should look, it is the one the camera is focused on:
I think go with aftermarket, these plates aren't very sturdy. The switch has been a mystery to everyone, I guess I'll just reveal it. Most people think it is useless, but it is useful for me in a crowded fire call, makes getting in and out easier. Just pay attention to the sounds, this is what the switch will be powering.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhSxcN_N43k
HedgehogOutdoors
New member
Frame rot
:dammit:
Well, this sucks. Muffler exploded one day, not sure if something inside blew it outwards, or something got jammed up it, could be either. So, brought it to the shop to have the exhaust done. They took off the muffler, the entire side of the frame that runs right next to the muffler was rotted out. They cut it out and put a plate pretty much the entire height of the frame, and painted over it.
Anyone else have similar experiences with their frames? I'm sure this is the worst of the frame, it was rotted completely through, only on the passenger's side, too. I'll try to get a picture tomorrow, and try to get details of what they replaced my exhaust with.
:dammit:
Well, this sucks. Muffler exploded one day, not sure if something inside blew it outwards, or something got jammed up it, could be either. So, brought it to the shop to have the exhaust done. They took off the muffler, the entire side of the frame that runs right next to the muffler was rotted out. They cut it out and put a plate pretty much the entire height of the frame, and painted over it.
Anyone else have similar experiences with their frames? I'm sure this is the worst of the frame, it was rotted completely through, only on the passenger's side, too. I'll try to get a picture tomorrow, and try to get details of what they replaced my exhaust with.
HedgehogOutdoors
New member
Update 4/15/13
Got what I needed for the switch!
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/UspynH1jUzM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Well, I apologize for not getting around to the picture of the patch in the frame. So here it is:
^I apologize for the angle, this is the best I could do.
Next order of business. I went trailing with a friend yesterday, I've done this trail before, but never attempted one part, so I tried yesterday. During the process, I got some war wounds. Smacked a tree, bent my FD plate as well as regular plate, and put a dent in my bumper. I don't know how bad it is behind the plates, I will find out soon enough. Also, my tire caught one part of a pretty good sized branch, kicked it up into my door, and scuffed it up pretty good. But, as the old saying goes, "shit'll buff out!"
Final order of business. I'd rather not go into details, but I will say that suicide has shaped me into who I am today. So, I mocked up something I will be having professionally done, eventually. Not sure when, but this will go on every vehicle I own, it means that much to me. I hope by having this on my vehicle, I could help people out that are "in trouble". I appreciate anybody who read this part, this part to me is the most important, which is why I saved it for last. It gets better.
Got what I needed for the switch!
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/UspynH1jUzM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Well, I apologize for not getting around to the picture of the patch in the frame. So here it is:
^I apologize for the angle, this is the best I could do.
Next order of business. I went trailing with a friend yesterday, I've done this trail before, but never attempted one part, so I tried yesterday. During the process, I got some war wounds. Smacked a tree, bent my FD plate as well as regular plate, and put a dent in my bumper. I don't know how bad it is behind the plates, I will find out soon enough. Also, my tire caught one part of a pretty good sized branch, kicked it up into my door, and scuffed it up pretty good. But, as the old saying goes, "shit'll buff out!"
Final order of business. I'd rather not go into details, but I will say that suicide has shaped me into who I am today. So, I mocked up something I will be having professionally done, eventually. Not sure when, but this will go on every vehicle I own, it means that much to me. I hope by having this on my vehicle, I could help people out that are "in trouble". I appreciate anybody who read this part, this part to me is the most important, which is why I saved it for last. It gets better.
Last edited:
HedgehogOutdoors
New member
Update 4/23/13
Well, some of you may know about my shock. For the past few months, something has been clunking when I go around corners. Yesterday, I noticed the clunking was pretty loud. So, today, I got to pulling the wheel off. Notice the hub sludged up. You all know what that means.
And here is the shock when I pulled it out. The end of it is dickered, as is where it is supposed to mount to.
Any suggestions for a new setup? haha
Well, some of you may know about my shock. For the past few months, something has been clunking when I go around corners. Yesterday, I noticed the clunking was pretty loud. So, today, I got to pulling the wheel off. Notice the hub sludged up. You all know what that means.
And here is the shock when I pulled it out. The end of it is dickered, as is where it is supposed to mount to.
Any suggestions for a new setup? haha
HedgehogOutdoors
New member
Update 8/29/13
Well, it's been a while since I've updated you guys on anything. Everything's going smoothly now, haven't blown an EFI fuse in a few months. BUT, I did get a bit of damage. Working on another project(an '84 GMC dump truck), I had to go through a muddy patch in the field to get to it. I had to jump start it, and when I got close enough, the mud was so slick I just slid right into the damn thing. Busted off the left bracket that's attached to the bumper, and bolts to the bracket on the frame.
But, on a brighter note, the 4runner was a mule when it came to working on that truck. Put about 20 miles just back and forth on the farm fetching parts for the truck. Rotted out tires, threw them on there after jacking that truck up a few hours, and yanked her out.
Engine Turns Over! (GMC K3500 Project Day 3) - YouTube
^As you can see, the GMC got a little too close to the F600 and ripped the mirror off.
So back to the bumper.
^As you can see, I took the bumper off in the parking lot. The bracket that's supposed to be attached to the bumper is still bolted to the frame bracket in this picture, ripped completely off.
^Here is where the bracket is supposed to be attached. If you look at the bottom where the metal attaches to the valence, you will see how tweaked it is. I had to bend the bracket quite a bit to get it back to normal, same with the bumper itself.
This is how the other bracket was attached, the top bolt snapped off when I was detaching the bumper.
I decided to weld both brackets just in case. My friend had the bright idea to water quench an already brittle crappy bumper, I'm sure it will be breaking again soon over the winter. This is a temporary setup. The F600 I mentioned earlier happens to have a good amount of metal in the back, I will be salvaging that and building a better bumper.
Quick mock-up. Thanks to Kurtis for the design, and for allowing me to sponge it. Good looking bumper, sir!
P.S. Be prepared to see more of the GMC, I may be doing a school project involving it, counts for a good chunk of my grade at the end of the year. And once it's roadworthy, it will be my friend's daily driver.
Well, it's been a while since I've updated you guys on anything. Everything's going smoothly now, haven't blown an EFI fuse in a few months. BUT, I did get a bit of damage. Working on another project(an '84 GMC dump truck), I had to go through a muddy patch in the field to get to it. I had to jump start it, and when I got close enough, the mud was so slick I just slid right into the damn thing. Busted off the left bracket that's attached to the bumper, and bolts to the bracket on the frame.
But, on a brighter note, the 4runner was a mule when it came to working on that truck. Put about 20 miles just back and forth on the farm fetching parts for the truck. Rotted out tires, threw them on there after jacking that truck up a few hours, and yanked her out.
Engine Turns Over! (GMC K3500 Project Day 3) - YouTube
^As you can see, the GMC got a little too close to the F600 and ripped the mirror off.
So back to the bumper.
^As you can see, I took the bumper off in the parking lot. The bracket that's supposed to be attached to the bumper is still bolted to the frame bracket in this picture, ripped completely off.
^Here is where the bracket is supposed to be attached. If you look at the bottom where the metal attaches to the valence, you will see how tweaked it is. I had to bend the bracket quite a bit to get it back to normal, same with the bumper itself.
This is how the other bracket was attached, the top bolt snapped off when I was detaching the bumper.
I decided to weld both brackets just in case. My friend had the bright idea to water quench an already brittle crappy bumper, I'm sure it will be breaking again soon over the winter. This is a temporary setup. The F600 I mentioned earlier happens to have a good amount of metal in the back, I will be salvaging that and building a better bumper.
Quick mock-up. Thanks to Kurtis for the design, and for allowing me to sponge it. Good looking bumper, sir!
P.S. Be prepared to see more of the GMC, I may be doing a school project involving it, counts for a good chunk of my grade at the end of the year. And once it's roadworthy, it will be my friend's daily driver.
HedgehogOutdoors
New member
Update 12/18/13
Well, Saturday I made a booboo.
After a few hours of beating on the bumper, this is how she looks
Another project I've been working on is a Code 3 MX7000 I bought at a swap meet in October for $30. None of it worked when I got it. So, after a little rewiring, I got it all working, except for the middle rotator, which is missing a bulb and the motor is fried. Here is the video right after I got the takedowns working:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiryrqGTD5c
Shortly after I got the lightbar, I started working on feet for the bracket to mount to. These feet slide into my roof rack rails. Started off by making two, forgetting the heft of the bar would cause it to be off balance and flop around. So I custom made some pieces to weld to the existing brackets, and made it so I would need 4 feet in my roof rack rails to level out the lightbar. Made those 2 feet this morning and ran my wiring during my 2 study halls. Here's how it looks mounted.
Well, Saturday I made a booboo.
After a few hours of beating on the bumper, this is how she looks
Another project I've been working on is a Code 3 MX7000 I bought at a swap meet in October for $30. None of it worked when I got it. So, after a little rewiring, I got it all working, except for the middle rotator, which is missing a bulb and the motor is fried. Here is the video right after I got the takedowns working:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiryrqGTD5c
Shortly after I got the lightbar, I started working on feet for the bracket to mount to. These feet slide into my roof rack rails. Started off by making two, forgetting the heft of the bar would cause it to be off balance and flop around. So I custom made some pieces to weld to the existing brackets, and made it so I would need 4 feet in my roof rack rails to level out the lightbar. Made those 2 feet this morning and ran my wiring during my 2 study halls. Here's how it looks mounted.
SantaCruzRunner
Senior Member
was wondering where you been!
Dirtyfingers
Senior Member
Hey man good to see the build again. Looking forward to the bumper. What about the clearance lights?
HedgehogOutdoors
New member
Was very busy the past few months with EMT class, 3 days a week, then 2 days a week at FD, so I had Sunday and Friday nights off. Very tiring. Anddddd I got mono in addition to that so I am exhausted at about noon time every single day.
Well, I know a guy that I could get those clearance lights from, but they wouldn't be going on for quite a while. I might be able to start on the bumper after Christmas break. I am still not the best welder in the world by any means, but I can weld decent enough to have a sturdy bumper.
As for my lightbar project, my friend bought 2 MX7000 bars(same model as mine), but his are the 47" made for police cruisers. He got them from the junkyard; they didn't test them so they sold them really cheap. He is pretty much clearing out their stock, so we are going back there Monday. The deal is, if we find another bar, I can buy the one in this video off him, and he will sell his first one to a friend, but the friend gets my amber covers off my 52". Great deal for me, can't pass this up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYlPlAGBG6A
