I found "The One", 2001 Sport Ed. TRD SC'd

[BigFishAllDay]

After wheeling it a little bit that day, it became apparent to me that the front end was now too low due to the added weight of the ARB/Winch. I was going to have to do something about it because it was rubbing pretty badly on the pinch weld on both sides.

My front measurements from ground to fender before the bumper/winch were 38” on both sides. After we got back that day I took a measurement and the Driver’s side was down to 37 3/8” and the Passenger side was down to a little less than 37.5”. I wanted my front lift back so I decided to pull the front coil/shock assembly and bump it up a notch. With the SS 1.2 setup, this requires completely disassembling it w/a spring compressor and putting it back together with the clip moved up a notch… FUN!!

I got it done, and while I was in there I took a grinder with a cutoff wheel to pinch welds. I cut them back as far as I felt safe, and used a propane torch to soften and reshape the inner fender.

Here’s a shot before the Re-Lift… sitting at about 37.5” ground to fender up front…

And here’s a shot after. It came back up to 38.25” on both sides after it settled, so I’m right back where I started and I’m happy with it again.

On to the pinch welds… before trimming…

After trimming…

Paint…

Inner fender before taking the torch to it and re-shaping it… (This is actually my wife’s ’00, but it’s the same… I forgot to take a before pic of mine)

And after taking the torch to it/reshaping….

I pulled it out to check for clearance and this is what I had… remember, this was a full on rub before the re-lift/trim/reshaping of the inner fender. The tire was still way too close for my taste. I didn’t want to cut up the inner fender, but that little knob at the bottom was now causing the clearance issue (the pinch weld behind it is trimmed much farther back.)

ALSO, NOTE THAT ALL OF THE FOLLOWING PICTURES ARE TAKEN WITH THE WHEELS TURNED TO POSITION THE TIRE AS CLOSE AS POSSIBLE TO THE PINCH WELD AREA

I took the Dremel and carefully cut off the part that was extending out the furthest, trimming as little as possible off the inner fender… It helped a lot.

Before… (w/finger for scale)

 

[BigFishAllDay]

(Continued....)

After… (w/tape measure for scale)

This is what my pinch weld/inner fender looks like after all the trimming…

Finally, just some overall shots with the front end back to the proper height… MUCH BETTER!!!

 

[fightman80]

Looks good man! I'm obviously kinda partial to chrome, but you're emblems + your vehicle color = BEAUTIFUL! :trophy:

 

[BigFishAllDay]

Fightman, you crack me up dude. Every time I go to do an update you grab the thread and reply before I can get all my pics up!

But thank you for the encouragement!

 

[4-Ripcord]

MUCH better!! :guitar2:

 

[fightman80]

Fightman, you crack me up dude. Every time I go to do an update you grab the thread and reply before I can get all my pics up!

But thank you for the encouragement!

Yeah...I spend way too much time on here! HA HA HA! BTW, all the trimming looks good! As for the encouragement....Just think of me as the friendly little cheerleader!

 

[Hepar]

Looking good, as always. We really need to get the twins together sometime.

 

[BigFishAllDay]

Ripcord... you're tellin' me man! :bigok:

Fightman... I think you must be inspired by your extra hand in the garage. You've got a personal cheerleader, but I wouldn't call you one. I'd say you're the offensive tackle of the northern frontier for the 4Runner Team.

Hepar.... Meet me at Pyramid Lake. We'll catch some big a$$ fish and wheel the piss out of the twins!

Beyond that... I think I'm gonna have to start spray painting my wheels, get some new tail lights, get in a wreck, or start getting crappy gas mileage.

Maybe it's true... this is high school... YT is college. Might be time to get a dorm room.

To all the guys that have followed this thread and given honest feedback, encouragement, and even criticism. THANK YOU!!!!! I put alot of work into this and it's nice to see that somebody's reading it, or even that it's helping someone out with their mods.

To all the 13K+ viewers who never say anything.... :flipoff:

 

[Hepar]

I'm down, but you're gonna have to teach me how to fish.

And don't you dare move on to college...

 

[BigFishAllDay]

If my wife can catch bigger (and more) fish than me, you can too!

And I'm not going to college... I'm just knocking back a few rum and cokes tonight and I felt like speaking my mind. I just laugh sometimes at all the bull-**** threads that get SO MUCH attention on this forum. Sailor Jerry Rum is :guitar3: by the way.

That being said, this forum is definitely a good one overall... lots of good info, and the core group of 3rd gen guys really does a good job at inspiring others to do big things with their 'Runners, myself included.

 

[Hepar]

If my wife can catch bigger (and more) fish than me, you can too!

Dang. That's a lot of pressure! I've been wanting to get into it more recently. A lot of my friend around here are hardcore fly fishermen and I think I need a new weekend activity that doesn't beat my body up so much.

And I'm not going to college... I'm just knocking back a few rum and cokes tonight and I felt like speaking my mind. I just laugh sometimes at all the bull-**** threads that get SO MUCH attention on this forum. Sailor Jerry Rum is :guitar3: by the way.

That being said, this forum is definitely a good one overall... lots of good info, and the core group of 3rd gen guys really does a good job at inspiring others to do big things with their 'Runners, myself included.

Yeah, I hear you. Just have to brush them off with a laugh.

I definitely like it better than some of the other Toyota forums. People here seem a little more laid back and easy going about their rides.

 

[BigFishAllDay]

Sway bar bushings...

The 4Runner has been on the back burner for a little while due to the onset of spring and the good fishing that comes with that. I did get a chance to install a new set of front sway bar bushings.

I got the polyurethane sway bar bushing set from Wheeler’s Off Road (Anti-Sway Kit for Toyota 4Runner from Wheeler's Off-Road). They appear to be manufactured by Energy Suspension, and I figured for about $30, including shipping, I could afford to give them a try and see if they cure the front end noise that I’ve been getting when going over big bumps.

Note: If you decide to do this, here’s a link to an exploded diagram of the sway bar, bushings, and components, including the torque values for everything >>> http://www.ncttora.com/fsm/1996/SIL...toypdf/02rmsour/2002/024runne/sa/fsb/comp.pdf

The kit, as it arrives from Wheeler’s Off Road…

And some shots of what my old stuff looked like…

Driver’s side frame mount….

Passenger side frame mount….

Driver’s side endlink bushings….

Passenger side endlink bushings….

A side by side comparison of the poly bushings to the factory bushings… You can see that the new bushings have a much thicker cross section on either side of the frame mount, and that they are internally ribbed to retain the grease that you apply during installation. I would also think that the internal ribs create a smaller contact area between the bushing and the sway bar, reducing the friction that the bar sees as it rotates within the bushing.

And a comparison of the endlink bushings… The new poly bushings have a smaller diameter, but are otherwise similar to the factory bushings.

And finally, all the bushings in place…

Driver’s side….

Passenger’s side…

I haven’t even had a chance to drive it yet, and the bushings have been in for over a week. Once I get it out on the road, I’ll update on whether or not it cleared up the front end noise.

(See the related thread here >>> http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-g...bumps-w-ss-1-2-lift-your-thoughts-please.html )

Also, one more thing. I did NOT use the replacement bump stops included in the kit due to some horror stories I've heard about removing them once they've been on the truck for any length of time. Apparently the mounting bolt frees up inside the bushing, making it nearly impossible to get any torque on it to remove it from the lower control arm down the road.

 

[BigFishAllDay]

Finished up the sliders....

With summer coming, and the increasing possibility of rain, I figured it was also a good idea to finish painting my sliders before any rust forms. Since I've had them installed, the feet have remained unpainted where they were welded to the frame. I've been putting this off because it's such a pain in the arse to mask off the feet for painting once they're on the truck.

I used 9' x 12' 1 mil plastic drop cloths to mask off the entire side of the 4Runner, along with some blankets for the hood and hatch area. I then took some newspaper and stuffed it between the body and the frame, along with the plastic drop cloth, then taped everything in place. It ends up looking like this....

Hit it with some primer...

Then the good old Rust-Oleum Hammered Finish Black paint....

Finally a coat of flat black right where the legs meet the frame, just to blend everything together. I didn't want gloss paint on the frame, I thought it would stick out and look funny.

I did the driver's side, then had to leave the 4Runner to gather dust for a few days while I went and caught some fish.... (With the username BigFishAllDay, I had to have a couple fish pics somewhere in my thread! )

Back on topic now....

After that I hit the entire slider with a fresh coat of paint, and let it dry for the recommended 48 hours. I've noticed since I've had the sliders installed that they can get very slippery when wet. As a matter of fact, I slipped off the slider the first time I stepped on it to get in the truck. To solve that problem, I picked up some of this....

And applied a single strip of it along the entire length of the slider on the stepping surface. I also applied short peices to the cross bars between the outer and inner beam. Not only does it give you some grip when you step on the sliders, but it prevents the top half from getting scuffed up and looking nasty right away. It only took a couple steps on the first coat of paint to really scuff it up. I know once these get used they're gonna get trashed anyway, but I'll worry about that later.

 

[fightman80]

That looks really clean man! Great job on the Slidders and those Poly bushings look really beefy! Do you find the truck handles any better with the new bushings installed???

 

[SCRunner12]

Just wanted to say that your ride is one of the cleanest, most well thought out one on this forum. It's always nice to see what changes you are going to make and the write ups that accompany them. I'll be using your transmission cooler write up in a few days when mine comes in.

On a side note, whay kind of fish is that. I have caught a ton of them when I drove cross country with my dad when I was 9. The name is escaping me. I'm planning a salmon trip with one of my coworkers in the next couple of weeks. Gotta love fishing.

 

[fightman80]

On a side note, whay kind of fish is that.

It looks like a kind of fish we have here in Ontario Canada....we call it "Pike".

They can get really big....I've got some as big as 10 - 13lbs.....but I'm no fisherman....Only go once a year with my dad.....

 

[SCRunner12]

I thought it was a pike, but not 100% sure since it has been 15 years since I caught one. Keep up the good work BigFish.

 

[BigFishAllDay]

Fightman,

I haven't had a chance to drive the truck since I installed the bushings. I just got all the masking taken off the passenger side last night. It's ready to go now and I'll have it out this weekend, so I'll update the thread with my impressions once I get behind the wheel.

BTW, you are correct about the fish, they are Northern Pike. The one in the second picture was 39.5 inches and 14lbs, the 1st one was 33 inches, and about 8 lbs.

SCRunner12,

Man, you're lucky to have salmon within driving range. We have kokanee down here (landlocked sockeye salmon) but they don't get very big. Thanks for the comments on the truck and the thread man, I appreciate the feedback. Good luck with the transmission cooler install too!

 

[SCRunner12]

Fightman,

I haven't had a chance to drive the truck since I installed the bushings. I just got all the masking taken off the passenger side last night. It's ready to go now and I'll have it out this weekend, so I'll update the thread with my impressions once I get behind the wheel.

BTW, you are correct about the fish, they are Northern Pike. The one in the second picture was 39.5 inches and 14lbs, the 1st one was 33 inches, and about 8 lbs.

SCRunner12,

Man, you're lucky to have salmon within driving range. We have kokanee down here (landlocked sockeye salmon) but they don't get very big. Thanks for the comments on the truck and the thread man, I appreciate the feedback. Good luck with the transmission cooler install too!

Yeah I live a 5 minute walk from the ocean. My coworker went out last weekend and caught a 30 in salmon and 10 lbs. I haven't been in the last few years because I was at college, but I will this year.
Hopefully those new bushings will solve your problems.

 

[KellyJ]

Woah, you have so much freaking patience to mask off the entire side of the truck just for painting where the slider meets the frame... That's why I love your thread you have got to be one of the most meticulous when it has come to truck prep and work being done to it... Amazing stuff. Also, thanks for the low-down on forced induction on an older motor... I appreciate the feedback and just wanted to let you know that whole story you wrote was put to good use... I'm now on the prowl for a supercharger of my own. I found a second gen with about 60k on it for a little over a grand, deciding whether or not to bite the bullet on a higher mileage SC, but I may end up going for it. Although I do off road, on road is where my truck is at about 90% of the time, and I'm going to be 'reasonable' and put money towards modifying the truck as if it were to stay on road for the rest of it's days, even though once it dies I'm gonna bring it back as a trail rig. I'll never get rid of this thing. So in summation... Thanks for helping me empty my wallet out even more!!

On a side note, cool fishing pictures... my uncle does a ton of fishing out west (he's from NY and loves to go to CO, NV, MT, etc to fly fish). I haven't been in about 3 years since I went deep sea fishing off Cape Hatteras. Another side note/ fun fact, my dad holds the world record for the 3rd largest tuna fish ever caught by a man alone, he caught it back in 1974 while on a fishing trip with his parents up in Prince Edward Island. I'll have to dig up a picture of the thing... it must have been 11 or 12 feet long, and it's total weight was 985 lbs. Hence why his license plate is 985TUNA, haha. When I was younger, this quickly spread amongst my friends and my dad was referred to as Tuna Man for a while lol.