Inv4drZm's Build Thread

[Inv4drZm]

Finally got my longer bump stop bolts in the other day, so I installed my home-made bumpstop spacers on top of my Wheeler's spacers I already had. Time to see if I cut them the right length!

Rear:

Still have some uptravel left so I could shorten the bumpstop, but I need to trim by the rear bumper. Super easy, I had already trimmed that on the driver's side when I had 35's.







Show me the proof. On the bump:



Front:

Still have some uptravel left so I could shorten the bumpstop here too, but it might require a lot more trimming.

Got the driver's side firewall 90% trimmed/beat. I think I can go full lock without it rubbing, but there is still a little resistance somewhere. Hard to hold it at full lock and look underneath by yourself.

Basically just cut the pinch weld completely off which weakened it enough I could beat it in.

Plan is to weld on some thin gauge steel over the whole area. Or maybe just tack it in a few places, and use sealant everywhere else, just in case I want to do more trimming later.

Had to cut my slider tube.




The proof:



Mid-trim:



After some more trimming and beating:



I threw some paint on to see where it was rubbing:



Full lock?

 

[Offcamber]

Did you permanently ditch the swing out arms in favor of keeping the spare under the platform?

 

[Inv4drZm]

Did you permanently ditch the swing out arms in favor of keeping the spare under the platform?

We'll see about the permanent part, but yeah that's the plan.

Passenger side trimmed and cleared today. Leaving on Friday for a camping and wheeling trip to Tuttle to test the new setup(s) and need to decide between cutting out a sheet of aluminum for my air compressor mount or throwing the air compressor in the back seat and continue plating the firewall...











Cut a piece out of 16 gauge steel for plating. Might go to Lowe's and see if they have something thinner to help with contouring.

 

[Inv4drZm]

Plated the firewall tonight and sealed it. And capped the slider.

 

[Inv4drZm]

Squeezed in a trial run before our Rubicon trip at Tuttle. Camped Friday which we've never done before and wheeled afterward. It was a good test of our camping equipment and trucks. My first offroading with 37" tires, I don't think I hit my skid plates though one time my lower links hit pretty hard. Trimming seems adequate but I'll need longer bumpstop spacers. We tried some harder stuff than we usually do.







My grandpa's trailer ramp somehow never managed to compress the bumpstop as much as it does on this weird obstacle at Tuttle. Looks like front and rear could use 1/2" more spacer.







Front:



The FJ broke a tie rod on an obstacle we've done probably a dozen times before. I wonder if the LT made it weaker? Wasn't a huge issue we have a bunch of spares.













This is where my air compressor lived this weekend since I reconfigured my cargo platform. Hey it worked for this trip.



As soon as I got home I started building my new air compressor panel.

 

[4RunnerAquasport]

Tie rod looks puny compared to the suspension and massive tire. Umm spares are good lol. T4R looks tough as hell now. Should be good to go for Rubicon.

 

[Inv4drZm]

T4R looks tough as hell now. Should be good to go for Rubicon.

I sure hope so. As long as the steering rack doesn't disassemble itself this year on the trail, or something equally as stupid happens, I should be good.

 

[4RunnerAquasport]

I sure hope so. As long as the steering rack doesn't disassemble itself this year on the trail, or something equally as stupid happens, I should be good.

Lol yea I had to have a CVJ rack put in last year while I was on the road working. The rack was still working pretty good but the bushings were moving around, so the wheel was getting clocked to 3 or 9 whenever I hit a a good rut or something. I also had a used GX pump put in at the same time. Working pretty good so far. Not really a job I wanted to tackle anyway. Hope it goes well out there!!

 

[rdruss]

LT didn't make TR weaker but probably multiplies the force the TR sees (?) to the point of failure on that particular obstacle.

 

[Inv4drZm]

Added a storage tote, some tie down points for it, as well as an angle iron piece bolted to the end of the platform to make it a little more rigid when hitting bumps. It would move enough that it would start moving the drawers around and rattle anything inside.

 

[BlairB]

Seriously awesome build! The fact I am just finding it now tells me I am not on the forum enough anymore.

Curious what made you decide to ditch the swing outs on your bumper? Tried skimming your thread but couldn't find it.

I will also echo what you said about Total Chaos "standard" versus "race" kit. You do lose quite a bit of clearance with the standard. I am running the +2" race kit and love it.

Also, you mentioned the +2" vs. +3.5" a few pages back. Personally, I went with the +2" to be able to run something that would still fully tuck with stock fenders. With my current setup (255/80/17) I am able to get full travel without any rubbing and no bumpstop spacers. Still even have my fender liners! Also, with a set of spidertrax spacers in the rear it allows the rig the have a very similiar track width front to rear.

 

[Inv4drZm]

Seriously awesome build! The fact I am just finding it now tells me I am not on the forum enough anymore.

Curious what made you decide to ditch the swing outs on your bumper? Tried skimming your thread but couldn't find it.

I will also echo what you said about Total Chaos "standard" versus "race" kit. You do lose quite a bit of clearance with the standard. I am running the +2" race kit and love it.

Also, you mentioned the +2" vs. +3.5" a few pages back. Personally, I went with the +2" to be able to run something that would still fully tuck with stock fenders. With my current setup (255/80/17) I am able to get full travel without any rubbing and no bumpstop spacers. Still even have my fender liners! Also, with a set of spidertrax spacers in the rear it allows the rig the have a very similiar track width front to rear.

Glad you like it!

For the swingouts I wanted to try to simplify things and reduce weight, and increase rearward visibility. Not sure how much visibility is increased as now my platform is raised 4 inches from where it was and I have my drawers blocking one side. I could never figure out a latch system that I liked, something that was easy to close but also didn't rattle or flex on the interstate. Its a lot easier to open up my hatch now and so far I'm pretty happy with the tradeoff.

 

[tv4184]

I liked the look of the rear tire carrier but it was getting annoying having to open it to access the hatch. You might have liked the latching solution that TireGate used though. Mine never rattled but it did stick out a lot. I would hack mine up to build it into my 4R but it had tons of rust and is now about to go to the salvage yard. Your build really inspired parts of mine. I really like where you were going with the exhaust too. Maybe one day if I get another 4th gen I'll be able to get those if you ever make them.

 

[Inv4drZm]

I liked the look of the rear tire carrier but it was getting annoying having to open it to access the hatch. You might have liked the latching solution that TireGate used though. Mine never rattled but it did stick out a lot. I would hack mine up to build it into my 4R but it had tons of rust and is now about to go to the salvage yard. Your build really inspired parts of mine. I really like where you were going with the exhaust too. Maybe one day if I get another 4th gen I'll be able to get those if you ever make them.

I was bummed to hear about your truck. I hope you find another one.

As far as my exhaust I'll be looking into adding cats soon, maybe those fancy Gesi ones if they fit, so it smells nicer, a hair quieter, and getting rid of some rasp would be good too. I don't think the rasp gets picked up on the phone microphone so I'll see if I can find a mic that works with our GoPro and take some more video.

 

[BlairB]

Glad you like it!

For the swingouts I wanted to try to simplify things and reduce weight, and increase rearward visibility. Not sure how much visibility is increased as now my platform is raised 4 inches from where it was and I have my drawers blocking one side. I could never figure out a latch system that I liked, something that was easy to close but also didn't rattle or flex on the interstate. Its a lot easier to open up my hatch now and so far I'm pretty happy with the tradeoff.

Makes sense. You can definitely feel the weight with it levered that far out back and rear visibility is pretty bad (I gave up long ago)/

Were you using the stock 4x4 labs latch? I have had no rattles from it after many thousands of miles off road. The only time I really feel it back there are certain freeways with expansion joints where you end up noticing the tire shaking very slightly forwards and backwards. If it was my DD I would definitely care more about easy access to the hatch though.

 

[Inv4drZm]

Makes sense. You can definitely feel the weight with it levered that far out back and rear visibility is pretty bad (I gave up long ago)/

Were you using the stock 4x4 labs latch? I have had no rattles from it after many thousands of miles off road. The only time I really feel it back there are certain freeways with expansion joints where you end up noticing the tire shaking very slightly forwards and backwards. If it was my DD I would definitely care more about easy access to the hatch though.

Yes the stock 4X4labs latch, for some reason I didn't use their catch that the latch pulls against and instead welded my own. I also used beefier 3" x 2" x 1/4" wall tubing vs their 2x2 tube. And yeah I've noticed during specific stretches of interstate it would wobble back and forth like you mentioned. It was slightly concerning with a 35" tire, and to be honest with a 37" I would need to rework something because of that wobble. Yes its my DD too.

There might have been some reconfiguring I could have done with the swing arm stops and trying to get the latch to pull more inward but at the end of the day throwing the tire inside is a pretty cheap option to at least try. At this point it's just me traveling in my truck and I don't need a ton of storage room.

 

[BlairB]

Yes the stock 4X4labs latch, for some reason I didn't use their catch that the latch pulls against and instead welded my own. I also used beefier 3" x 2" x 1/4" wall tubing vs their 2x2 tube. And yeah I've noticed during specific stretches of interstate it would wobble back and forth like you mentioned. It was slightly concerning with a 35" tire, and to be honest with a 37" I would need to rework something because of that wobble. Yes its my DD too.

There might have been some reconfiguring I could have done with the swing arm stops and trying to get the latch to pull more inward but at the end of the day throwing the tire inside is a pretty cheap option to at least try. At this point it's just me traveling in my truck and I don't need a ton of storage room.

Got it! Totally makes sense. I would also probably be nervous if I was running a 37" with that wobble.

Traveling alone is definitely easier and much more space efficient! It is amazing how little I need when it is me versus me, my wife and our two big dogs (plus we have a kid on the way).

 

[Broke_Runner]

Another long travel question I know you’re running Heims on your uppers is your bro doing the same with his fj? Is the biggest gain for that the adjustability?

 

[Inv4drZm]

Another long travel question I know you’re running Heims on your uppers is your bro doing the same with his fj? Is the biggest gain for that the adjustability?

We both are. We are now basically adjusting the UCA instead of the LCA for the alignment. The LCA is held in place by the Taco Tabs in the max caster position (all the way forward), final adjusting for camber is done with the UCA. Caster can be adjusted too, but IMO it's not real important as long as it's between 3-6 degrees and you have the firewall clearance you want. (Less would give better firewall clearance since it's the UCA moving).

I think by doing this I've gotten away with only slight grinding and beating of the firewall with 37's instead of a full cut-out and replace operation.

So better firewall clearance, and stronger alignment system when used with Taco Tabs.

 

[Broke_Runner]

We both are. We are now basically adjusting the UCA instead of the LCA for the alignment. The LCA is held in place by the Taco Tabs in the max caster position (all the way forward), final adjusting for camber is done with the UCA. Caster can be adjusted too, but IMO it's not real important as long as it's between 3-6 degrees and you have the firewall clearance you want. (Less would give better firewall clearance since it's the UCA moving).

I think by doing this I've gotten away with only slight grinding and beating of the firewall with 37's instead of a full cut-out and replace operation.

So better firewall clearance, and stronger alignment system when used with Taco Tabs.

Ok that makes sense then I need to pick up some driveway alignment setup like you have do you still take it to a shop after or do you just run it based of the driveway setup? Sorry for all the questions I’m starting to think about my goals for the front now and 37s like you is definitely in the goal I miss the big tires and 33s don’t cut it for me haha.