HokieRunner Build

[AfroWookie]

This is one hell of a build, my friend. I've never been good at electricity and that wiring job sent shivers down my spine. Can't wait to see how everything looks once finished. Good luck!

 

[HokieRunner]

Cargo Drawer Build

In the spirit of constantly having 'in progress' projects, figured I'd better add this up to the build thread. This is most likely the last major project for 2014. The build has come a long ways in just a year so I'm just trying to enjoy the truck this wheeling/camping season after the wiring and cargo box are finalized.

Here's the final design (I hope as this is V.5829....).



Design items:

• Dual sliding drawers
• Slide out shelves affixed to the bottom of each drawer (can be used with drawers extended or closed)
• Flip up wings to access side storage
• Flip up front edge for drawer access through rear window
• Built in switch panel with USB and 12V plugs on driver side
• Built in inverter with voltmeter on passenger side

I have all the hardware on hand minus the wood. Still going back and forth on 1/2" appleply/baltic birch or 3/4" birch plywood. The weight and space savings of the 1/2" are appealling but you definitely pay more for the higher quality 'void free' wood. I have a good bit of woodworking experience so I'm hoping this project will go quickly once started. The box will be finished out in Monstaliner, most likely.

Anyone who has built a cargo box or has some wood working background - feel free to chime in on 1/2" vs. 3/4". Leaning towards the 1/2" if I can source it locally at a good price.

Thanks to [MENTION=73750]Dusty Driftwood[/MENTION] for his help on the cargo drawer. I certainly nabbed a few design elements from his really nice setup.

Stage 1:

• Remove double decker tray
• Cut out plastic wheel well covers**
• Build in cargo box using factory mounting points
• Install inverter/switches/USB/voltmeter etc

**I've gone back and forth on this a million times and I just can't get around the waste of space under the wheel well covers. Yes - it's not a huge space but to me it's valuable real estate. I want the box to sit as low as possible since our dogs will be riding on top of the box on all our trips and to integrate the box into the stock wheel well covers will force the box to sit potentially higher than I need it. This will also help with center of gravity. If I ever need to replace the panels I can source them pretty cheap through parts yards.

Stage 2:

• Fold down steel cargo barrier. just need to find a local welder to piece it together. Still in design phase but it will most likely be a framed wire mesh that will fold down onto the cargo box surface allowing me to haul larger items in the cabin. Will mount onto the box and onto brackets at the top seat belt bolts.

The major pieces:
-28" Accuride HD locking slides.
-Locking, compression T handle latches. These actually pull the drawers snug when closed.





Both of these items are hard to find and/or ridiculously expensive stateside. I shopped around and managed to get them to my door from England at half the cost of US prices a few months back.

Feel free to toss out other ideas!

 

[Dusty Driftwood]

In the spirit of constantly having 'in progress' projects, figured I'd better add this up to the build thread.

Matt,

The drawing looks great, I'm glad I could help you talk through some of the issues you were having. It is always better to do that ahead of time/on paper, instead of when you're standing there in the garage with the saw.

I think the design with the flip up/down wings on the sides is great and could avoid the "need" to cut the wheel wells. Alright, that's the last time I'm going to tell you not to cut the wheel wells, I promise.:lol:

I love those handles and think they're a great addition. One thing to note: I wasn't crazy about my open/routed drawer pulls at first. But, I've actually found them to be convenient for slipping my wallet, phone or other small items into the box w/o having to open the lid. The flip up front lid is nice, but restricted at times when the cargo area is full.

Lastly, I would stick to the baltic birch. 1/2" is fine for a number of parts, but I think you'll appreciate 3/4" when you go to anchor the 1/2" parts down. Again, my box is a combination of 1/2" & 3/4". Feel free to shoot me a PM or mention if I can help with any more questions, or ideas.

 

[HokieRunner]

Matt,

The drawing looks great, I'm glad I could help you talk through some of the issues you were having. It is always better to do that ahead of time/on paper, instead of when you're standing there in the garage with the saw.

I think the design with the flip up/down wings on the sides is great and could avoid the "need" to cut the wheel wells. Alright, that's the last time I'm going to tell you not to cut the wheel wells, I promise.:lol:

I love those handles and think they're a great addition. One thing to note: I wasn't crazy about my open/routed drawer pulls at first. But, I've actually found them to be convenient for slipping my wallet, phone or other small items into the box w/o having to open the lid. The flip up front lid is nice, but restricted at times when the cargo area is full.

Lastly, I would stick to the baltic birch. 1/2" is fine for a number of parts, but I think you'll appreciate 3/4" when you go to anchor the 1/2" parts down. Again, my box is a combination of 1/2" & 3/4". Feel free to shoot me a PM or mention if I can help with any more questions, or ideas.

Thanks Dusty! You've been a tremendous help on conceptializing the box so much kudos for your insight.

Wheel wells - how did I know I wasn't gonna get by that totally unscathed?! :decision: haha

The slots as an open access slot is brilliant :first: ...just learned something else. I see Version.5830 coming on....

Where did you use the 1/2" versus the 3/4"?

Thanks!

 

[gaterose]

That's a sweet box! I've been tossing around the idea of a new cargo box (especially after seeing Jeff's latest rendition) for mine so I thought I'd throw some of my ideas your way.

Didn't see any mention (may have glossed over it) of the carpet. It might not be a bad idea to remove the carpet if you want to gain all possible space and keep it as low as possible. There is 3/4-1" of padding/carpet under there. Since you're already soundproofed, the box should absorb most of the other road noise the carpet and padding are stopping.

Also possibly use a thinner or almost baseless (just strips where the floor is lower and where it bolts down) base board. The base doesn't really support a lot weight since it's just sandwiched between the box frame and the cargo floor, and mostly acts to keep the vertical boards parallel.

You may not like those ideas, but they are things I've had in my mind based on my needs and previous experience with 2 other boxes I built before going to my current minimalist setup. SO I thought I'd mention em.

The main reason I couldn't make a box work was that it was the height. Dogs hated it; their heads were almost touching the roof, this hatred was multiplied on uneven terrain like trails or dirt roads. The raised floor also makes the "wall" separating the cargo box from the rear seat lower which seemed to make them uneasy. Especially since they couldn't 'hang on' to the stiff wood top as well as padded carpet.

Also, I used 5/8" BC sanded Pine for my entire box and was happy with it but planned replace several pieces with 1/2" and possibly some 1/4" in spots. Mostly the bottom and drawers, I'd rather keep 5/8" for the uprights and the top so that I don't have to worry about their strength under heavy-ish loads.

 

[HokieRunner]

That's a sweet box! I've been tossing around the idea of a new cargo box (especially after seeing Jeff's latest rendition) for mine so I thought I'd throw some of my ideas your way.

Didn't see any mention (may have glossed over it) of the carpet. It might not be a bad idea to remove the carpet if you want to gain all possible space and keep it as low as possible. There is 3/4-1" of padding/carpet under there. Since you're already soundproofed, the box should absorb most of the other road noise the carpet and padding are stopping.

Also possibly use a thinner or almost baseless (just strips where the floor is lower and where it bolts down) base board. The base doesn't really support a lot weight since it's just sandwiched between the box frame and the cargo floor, and mostly acts to keep the vertical boards parallel.

You may not like those ideas, but they are things I've had in my mind based on my needs and previous experience with 2 other boxes I built before going to my current minimalist setup. SO I thought I'd mention em.

The main reason I couldn't make a box work was that it was the height. Dogs hated it; their heads were almost touching the roof, this hatred was multiplied on uneven terrain like trails or dirt roads. The raised floor also makes the "wall" separating the cargo box from the rear seat lower which seemed to make them uneasy. Especially since they couldn't 'hang on' to the stiff wood top as well as padded carpet.

Also, I used 5/8" BC sanded Pine for my entire box and was happy with it but planned replace several pieces with 1/2" and possibly some 1/4" in spots. Mostly the bottom and drawers, I'd rather keep 5/8" for the uprights and the top so that I don't have to worry about their strength under heavy-ish loads.

Thanks Matt - funny enough was just looking at your cargo build earlier. Definitely got some good ideas off it as well. Good call on the carpeting removal. I couldn't remember exactly what was under there but I had planned on pulling most of it. As for the baseboard, initial plans were to use a thinner baseboard and do cutouts under a portion of the drawer area for weight savings. My only concern was how to adequately address any lateral forces on the uprights so I hadn't figured out how much to cut out. This was another idea I 'borrowed' from Dusty's build.

Good point on the dogs. I had my dog in the back the other day while I was taking measurements to see how tall I could make the box without cramping his headroom. My neighbors probably already think I'm crazy so I'm sure they thought nothing of me tape measuring the height of the dog in the truck haha. That's kind of the tipping point on removing the wheel wells. I think just an inch or two height difference will make or break it for the dogs and still afford me the required storage space AND a totally flat cargo deck. But we'll see. As most projects go - the best laid plans can get turned to garbage in an instant.

I just sourced 1/2" baltic birch locally for a decent price in 5'X5' sheets so I need to see if they'll fit my design templates for all the cuts I need. The local vendor knew his stuff regarding it's strength and feels it would be more than adequate for a box fitting my design.

Loving all these great suggestions - thanks guys!

 

[Dusty Driftwood]

Where did you use the 1/2" versus the 3/4"? !

Also, I used 5/8" BC sanded Pine for my entire box and was happy with it but planned replace several pieces with 1/2" and possibly some 1/4" in spots. Mostly the bottom and drawers, I'd rather keep 5/8" for the uprights and the top so that I don't have to worry about their strength under heavy-ish loads.

Similar to gaterose, think thinner material for horizontal parts and thicker material for vertical parts. This helped cut down on height, or increase storage:height ratio for the same size exterior shell.

I used 3/4" vertical pieces so I had some good meat to anchor the thinner horizontal pieces to. I hadn't considered removing the carpet, but you already know my thoughts on keeping the interior in tact. With the right design, I'm sure you could solve all problems you're facing with this build. It just take a little time and a lot of graph paper...

 

[HokieRunner]

Light Racing UCA out - Desert Racing Uniballs IN.

Finally had a chance to swap in the new UCAs. The passenger side Light Racing balljoint was shot after 12k and 10mos. Driver side was in ok shape. Both light racing boots appeared to be well sealed and were undamaged so unless you tested the ball joint or pulled the boot, there'd be no way to tell from the exterior. I have no idea how or when the PS boot was contaminated but the ball joint had excessive play and a ton of corrosion. Both ball joints were brand new when I installed them last spring.

I highly recommend that anyone with Light Racing UCAs frequently check and re-grease the ball joints and boots. Needless to say, I'm done with SPC and Light Racing after having to swap out the sleeves for the bushing configuration re-design and now this. All in less than 1 year and 12k miles. I know plenty of people run them and are happy but my experience has been a headache. Those 12k miles were mostly on road with several hundred miles off road.



Enter the new Desert Racing uniball UCA's from Down South Motorsports. Thanks to [MENTION=86678]ebg18t[/MENTION] for the details on the Desert Racing arms.



Install was straight-forward and they come with 1" stainless steel uniballs and 3 degrees built in caster. The front end is nice and tight again and no squeaks or loud noise issues that some folks have with uniballs. Use a quality grease when installing the bushings and you shouldn't have an issue. I only use the Energy Suspension white grease. It sticks to everything but won't wash out or break down for a long time.



Also swapped out the rear pads and rotors with NAPA ultra premium rotors and AdaptiveOne pads. Been running these on the front for 45k miles and they've performed well.

DIY writeup for the rear rotors and pads



Made a shift knob out of one of my broken hockey sticks the other day.



Saved this small snapper out of the road too...was really tempted to make some turtle soup but my girlfriend wouldn't let me keep him hahaha



Last but not least...got my hobart handler 140! Lots of projects coming up with this now on hand. Thanks to Josh @Whitson_Metalworks for all the help on picking a welder and getting set up. Should definitely keep me busy!

 

[ebg18t]

I think you will really like the DSM/Desert Products UCA. They are beefy and well made. Glad you are using a safer product now.

I bought the Redline synthetic grease from Amazon for my grease gun. Works excellent on these poly bushings.

 

[Stuck CAPS]

I really like your cargo drawer design. IF you have some extra space on that passenger side, go get a cheap geiger counter, pull it apart and fit that in there! That'd be cool ;D

 

[Ryanmb21]

Really great build and fantastic writeups. I want to follow your lead on the bussman wiring setup. Thanks!

 

[HokieRunner]

I think you will really like the DSM/Desert Products UCA. They are beefy and well made. Glad you are using a safer product now.

I bought the Redline synthetic grease from Amazon for my grease gun. Works excellent on these poly bushings.

I'm loving them so far! Easy to keep clean and a noticeable improvement from the old UCAs. Super quiet too. Redline CV-2 looks like good stuff - wonder if it's compatible with other moly greases? Currently running the Energy suspension grease on all the poly bushings and mobil1 synthetic for the driveline. I'll have to try it when I run out of the current stuff if it's compatible.

I really like your cargo drawer design. IF you have some extra space on that passenger side, go get a cheap geiger counter, pull it apart and fit that in there! That'd be cool ;D

Thanks! I've tried to incorporate everything I'll be using on a frequent basis. The geiger counter would be neat but in keeping with my build philosophy of using everything I add...well, I feel like I'd be inviting disaster by adding one!

Really great build and fantastic writeups. I want to follow your lead on the bussman wiring setup. Thanks!

Appreciate it! Hope to make a bit more progress soon but I've been slowed down lately with back to back hockey injuries (concussion then a separated shoulder). Then just this week the cam seals on the 4Runner decided to take a dump. So it's been at the shop getting new seals and an alignment. Needless to say, hopefully all my 2014 bad luck is out of the way!

Fun fact on the 2005+ VVTi V8 motors...to replace the cam seals, the cams have to be R&R'd. Not the quickest repair job!

 

[Stuck CAPS]

I'm loving them so far! Easy to keep clean and a noticeable improvement from the old UCAs. Super quiet too. Redline CV-2 looks like good stuff - wonder if it's compatible with other moly greases? Currently running the Energy suspension grease on all the poly bushings and mobil1 synthetic for the driveline. I'll have to try it when I run out of the current stuff if it's compatible.



Thanks! I've tried to incorporate everything I'll be using on a frequent basis. The geiger counter would be neat but in keeping with my build philosophy of using everything I add...well, I feel like I'd be inviting disaster by adding one!



Appreciate it! Hope to make a bit more progress soon but I've been slowed down lately with back to back hockey injuries (concussion then a separated shoulder). Then just this week the cam seals on the 4Runner decided to take a dump. So it's been at the shop getting new seals and an alignment. Needless to say, hopefully all my 2014 bad luck is out of the way!

Fun fact on the 2005+ VVTi V8 motors...to replace the cam seals, the cams have to be R&R'd. Not the quickest repair job!

Let's ship over to Chernobyl and do some wheelin'!

 

[bugeye1257]

Great looking 4runner!

How did you convert the 05 headlights to the 06+ projector ones?

I am looking to do this swap.

 

[HokieRunner]

Great looking 4runner!

How did you convert the 05 headlights to the 06+ projector ones?

I am looking to do this swap.

Thanks! To swap the 06 headlights in you just need the 06 housings, different trim (little pieces under the headlights) and you can either splice the light wires or get the 06+ harnesses. The 06 headlights bolt right in.

 

[Jonota]

Where's the secondary air block off plates?

 

[navin]

Thanks! To swap the 06 headlights in you just need the 06 housings, different trim (little pieces under the headlights) and you can either splice the light wires or get the 06+ harnesses. The 06 headlights bolt right in.

btw: I finally got around to doing my HID retrofit on the 06+ housings. If you are ever in the Fairfax area and want to check them out shoot me a PM.

ps. If you ever sell the wheels, let me get first dibs

 

[HokieRunner]

Where's the secondary air block off plates?

The secondary plates are just below the exhaust manifolds on either side of the engine. You can actually make your own with some sheet metal or buy them online. I tried to find some pictures showing the location (somone on t4r posted up some nice shots of them) but no such luck. If you crawl under the truck or look behind the rear-most, removable fender liner in the front wheels you'll be able to see the junction.

btw: I finally got around to doing my HID retrofit on the 06+ housings. If you are ever in the Fairfax area and want to check them out shoot me a PM.

ps. If you ever sell the wheels, let me get first dibs

Sounds good man! I'm actually waiting on some new black series lenses from TRS so I can mod up the new housings I got and sell the current 06+ blacked out housings. And I'll definitely put you down as first in line for the wheels...but I won't be looking to sell them anytime soon.

 

[Jonota]

So you just put a block off plate IN the flow path to the manifolds, and the manifolds still have the air injection tubes?

 

[HokieRunner]

So you just put a block off plate IN the flow path to the manifolds, and the manifolds still have the air injection tubes?

That's correct. you're basically just isolating the secondary air system so that no air goes in or out and the valves cannot get stuck open or closed.