Inv4drZm's Build Thread

[Inv4drZm]

X2s are good batteries. I have one of the starting batts in the 4th gen, and 2 in the 5th gen, one starting and one deep cycle for the house battery.

Just have to keep them topped off with a charger every couple weeks when not being used. They don't like to sit. I put a cheap solar panel on the 5th gen to help with charging. Seems to work well.

Also bought the alternator voltage boosters to accommodate the higher charging requirements of the AGM.

I've beat up so many batteries over the years, I wanted to try to have more reliability in these two rigs.

The northstar I had was drained down once or twice with my fridge needing the accessory circuit/ key turned on for a few nights during my trips. And I didn't install the voltage booster until recently. Should be good to go now, ordered a battery charger too.

 

[Inv4drZm]

Dirt King sells fab parts to adapt Moog ball joints to typical uniball cups, so on my LT kit I could run ball joints for the UCA and LCA. It would save about $200. Not sure on angle capabilities and it wouldn't be as strong as heims. Something to think about.

I could also use the sealed Icon Delta Joint for the UCA. I will probably just stick with stainless heims though.

As far as where to find uniballs/uniball cups/spacers/bungs, etc. Kartek is the usual go-to but I've found everything I need surprisingly at Dirt King.

For those curious, it'll end up being:
$1000 from Dirt King
$500? 1/8" and 3/16" steel cost/laser time
So $1.5k vs $4.5k for a comparable Total Chaos kit.
Add the cost of a tig welder and its still cheaper if you have the time to learn.

 

[Inv4drZm]

Ordered a 200 series LC steering rack, found a decent sale on them, $400 shipped from Toyota.

My brother sells aluminum offset bushings to adapt the rack to our frames. On order as well.

200 amp tig torch is ordered as well as 50ft extension cord to get 220v from my dryer outlet.

I have a bunch of 1/8" steel to practice welding until I'm good enough to do control arms.

 

[aemravan]

Ordered a 200 series LC steering rack, found a decent sale on them, $400 shipped from Toyota.

My brother sells aluminum offset bushings to adapt the rack to our frames. On order as well.

200 amp tig torch is ordered as well as 50ft extension cord to get 220v from my dryer outlet.

I have a bunch of 1/8" steel to practice welding until I'm good enough to do control arms.

DEFINITELY following on the 200 series steering rack.. its on my to-do list in the future for mine, should probably pick up a set of the bushings from your brother in case he stops offering them later how much and where can I get them?

 

[Inv4drZm]

DEFINITELY following on the 200 series steering rack.. its on my to-do list in the future for mine, should probably pick up a set of the bushings from your brother in case he stops offering them later how much and where can I get them?

PM my bro on instagram or pm me if you don't have an acct.

iconicfj_

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[aemravan]

PM my bro on instagram or pm me if you don't have an acct.

iconicfj_

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Awesome , thanks man ! Done and done. I thought it was pretty cool he also has a red supra haha

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[4RunnerAquasport]

Definitely intrigued about the 200 rack. Sherpa mentioned having to put motor mount spacers in there to clear the 2UZ on the rack. Wishbone on Taco world talks about notching the cross member to get the rack into the oem centerline. Just curious what your thoughts were.

FYI, modified clevis that fit the 200 if you haven't seen them.
LC200 Rack Steering Clevis' | Tacoma World

 

[Inv4drZm]

Definitely intrigued about the 200 rack. Sherpa mentioned having to put motor mount spacers in there to clear the 2UZ on the rack. Wishbone on Taco world talks about notching the cross member to get the rack into the oem centerline. Just curious what your thoughts were.

FYI, modified clevis that fit the 200 if you haven't seen them.
LC200 Rack Steering Clevis' | Tacoma World

Yeah I saw that, I'm on the list for the next batch of clevis's.

According to the install instructions for Marlin's RCLT, 2003-2004 V8 4Runners need the engine raised 1/4". 2005 and higher vvti 4Runner's don't need to. Page 15.

 

[4RunnerAquasport]

Yeah I saw that, I'm on the list for the next batch of clevis's.

According to the install instructions for Marlin's RCLT, 2003-2004 V8 4Runners need the engine raised 1/4". 2005 and higher vvti 4Runner's don't need to. Page 15.

Ah ok 1/4" ain't too bad. That seems a lot easier to do than notching the frame on the other thread I had seen. Your Brother has me on his list for for his next batch of bushings. Gotta find the coin for the clevis set up now.

I had a CVJ reman put in while I was on the road working a couple years ago, but I ordered a 200 rack yesterday since I plan on pulling the diff to swap in 4:56s, and I'll have room to work on all this stuff. So it just made sense to upgrade it then and it would suck to build this thing out, only to have the CVJ fail shortly after. As always thanks for the knowledge!

Now I need to learn about bump steer and if this will work with the DK +3.5 I'm installing. If not I don't think I will have any problem selling the 200 rack. It's brand new from McGeorge Toyota.

 

[Inv4drZm]

My buddy and I have been talking about building him a squaredrop style micro camper that he could pull with his Tundra. It would be nice to get MZLT finished but this would be a fun project too.

Could theoretically build a couple a year as a side business. If it turns out ok. If I begin I'll start a new thread and link it to this one.

 

[aemravan]

I've been tinkering with the idea of building an offroad trailer as or recent as well.. would love to just buy something, but man, even crappy backyard builds are north of 5 grand with crap quality and minimal amenities.



Originally the idea was just a basic trailer to carry the RTT, but the more I build the 4runner the more I want to be able to drop a trailer and be able to go wheel the 4unner and not be locked into a campsite. A nice off road trailer would also make it a lot easier to get the wife and dogs outdoors without the need for going up and down the ladder to the RTT all the time. I'm in the design stages of mine with Solidworks just to get a rough idea of what I would want this thing to look like (leaning towards a 5x8 base to build off of but we'll see).



I already designed and welded an articulating hitch for it, should be plenty beefy enough for a 700-ish lb trailer but not sure how I feel actually putting it to use... lol .

 

[Inv4drZm]

I've been tinkering with the idea of building an offroad trailer as or recent as well.. would love to just buy something, but man, even crappy backyard builds are north of 5 grand with crap quality and minimal amenities.



Originally the idea was just a basic trailer to carry the RTT, but the more I build the 4runner the more I want to be able to drop a trailer and be able to go wheel the 4unner and not be locked into a campsite. A nice off road trailer would also make it a lot easier to get the wife and dogs outdoors without the need for going up and down the ladder to the RTT all the time. I'm in the design stages of mine with Solidworks just to get a rough idea of what I would want this thing to look like (leaning towards a 5x8 base to build off of but we'll see).



I already designed and welded an articulating hitch for it, should be plenty beefy enough for a 700-ish lb trailer but not sure how I feel actually putting it to use... lol .

I had forgotten you had posted something like this. This started out as a flatbed/camper build but the trailer being easier to hook on and go won out.

Rough estimated cost is 5k for a bare trailer (done right with steel exterior plywood interior) and 7.5k with electronics and solar goodies.

Next step would be to start drawing in 3D.

 

[Inv4drZm]

My power was out for a little over 2 days after a big wind storm with 100mph winds. With most my tools at my grandpa's shop, I managed to jerry rig the new front grille while I was extremely bored at home. Also noticed the outer passenger CV boot is blown. I re-booted 3 years and 4 months ago with SDHQ boots. I don't think the outer boot ribs were ever rubbing eachother so not sure what happened, but its not a terrible lifespan considering its lifted.

You can see the grease on the inside of the tire in this pic actually.

 

[Leadnuts]

I'm new here. Just signed up.

I woke up this morning got a cup of coffee, sat down, and googled info about building myself a rear bumper setup... First off i found this thread and site and 6hrs, 7 cups of coffee later I finally get to this last post and can now blink.

This is an inspiring thread! I'm sort of new to this 4wheeling stuff, (or at least being the driver) but I feel pretty confident I can now pull a cv joint apart, shorten a drive shaft, and break stuff driving... and just about everything else you've gone into detail to. Thanks for a brilliant build thread and build!

I'm in Kansas City and was thinking of trying out the Kansas Rocks this weekend. Think is I don't have under body skid plates yet. Think that could be a problem?

Also, you mentioned a few pages back about a cnc plasma, I don't have that but I do have a nice 4 axis Fanuc Robodrill cnc machine center if you ever happen to need one. Also, I do 3Dscanning.

Recently I acquired a 2017 4Runner Off Road, and am starting to look at making a bunch of stuff for it.

Anyway, great thread!

 

[Inv4drZm]

I'm new here. Just signed up.

I woke up this morning got a cup of coffee, sat down, and googled info about building myself a rear bumper setup... First off i found this thread and site and 6hrs, 7 cups of coffee later I finally get to this last post and can now blink.

This is an inspiring thread! I'm sort of new to this 4wheeling stuff, (or at least being the driver) but I feel pretty confident I can now pull a cv joint apart, shorten a drive shaft, and break stuff driving... and just about everything else you've gone into detail to. Thanks for a brilliant build thread and build!

I'm in Kansas City and was thinking of trying out the Kansas Rocks this weekend. Think is I don't have under body skid plates yet. Think that could be a problem?

Also, you mentioned a few pages back about a cnc plasma, I don't have that but I do have a nice 4 axis Fanuc Robodrill cnc machine center if you ever happen to need one. Also, I do 3Dscanning.

Recently I acquired a 2017 4Runner Off Road, and am starting to look at making a bunch of stuff for it.

Anyway, great thread!

Thanks! Kansas rocks has a pretty easy main loop that takes you around the whole park, and from there you can choose to do some technical hill climbs if you want. I've been there after a bunch of rain, and even the parking lot has a few inches of mud. I bet with this snow melting today it'll be soaked but you should still be able to do the main loop if you wanted it'll just be pretty rutted out.

Funny you mention 3D scanning, I've gotten a few quotes to have the Toyota spindle 3d scanned for my long travel designing, I don't remember if I posted that in this thread yet. Was going to ship the spindle to Florida to have it scanned and an .stl file created but I'll PM you to see if you are interested.

 

[awhitney1]

Definitely an inspiring thread and appreciate his work on his build! Heck, he even inspired me to get a Dana60 rear axle lol.

Inv4drZm, I really do appreciate all the time and work you have put into this thread. Very informative too!

I'm new here. Just signed up.

I woke up this morning got a cup of coffee, sat down, and googled info about building myself a rear bumper setup... First off i found this thread and site and 6hrs, 7 cups of coffee later I finally get to this last post and can now blink.

This is an inspiring thread! I'm sort of new to this 4wheeling stuff, (or at least being the driver) but I feel pretty confident I can now pull a cv joint apart, shorten a drive shaft, and break stuff driving... and just about everything else you've gone into detail to. Thanks for a brilliant build thread and build!

I'm in Kansas City and was thinking of trying out the Kansas Rocks this weekend. Think is I don't have under body skid plates yet. Think that could be a problem?

Also, you mentioned a few pages back about a cnc plasma, I don't have that but I do have a nice 4 axis Fanuc Robodrill cnc machine center if you ever happen to need one. Also, I do 3Dscanning.

Recently I acquired a 2017 4Runner Off Road, and am starting to look at making a bunch of stuff for it.

Anyway, great thread!

 

[AuSeeker]

Thanks! Kansas rocks has a pretty easy main loop that takes you around the whole park, and from there you can choose to do some technical hill climbs if you want. I've been there after a bunch of rain, and even the parking lot has a few inches of mud. I bet with this snow melting today it'll be soaked but you should still be able to do the main loop if you wanted it'll just be pretty rutted out.

Funny you mention 3D scanning, I've gotten a few quotes to have the Toyota spindle 3d scanned for my long travel designing, I don't remember if I posted that in this thread yet. Was going to ship the spindle to Florida to have it scanned and an .stl file created but I'll PM you to see if you are interested.

Being new to the forum he only has 1 post so far, so he may not being to receive a PM yet.

 

[Leadnuts]

Thanks! Kansas rocks has a pretty easy main loop that takes you around the whole park, and from there you can choose to do some technical hill climbs if you want. I've been there after a bunch of rain, and even the parking lot has a few inches of mud. I bet with this snow melting today it'll be soaked but you should still be able to do the main loop if you wanted it'll just be pretty rutted out.

Funny you mention 3D scanning, I've gotten a few quotes to have the Toyota spindle 3d scanned for my long travel designing, I don't remember if I posted that in this thread yet. Was going to ship the spindle to Florida to have it scanned and an .stl file created but I'll PM you to see if you are interested.

Yeah, I can scan it for you. Its Metrology grade. ATOS GOM.

I don't see a PM area yet.

 

[Inv4drZm]

Yeah, I can scan it for you. Its Metrology grade. ATOS GOM.

I don't see a PM area yet.

Its because you're a new member.

Send me an email at

I'll delete this afterward.

 

[Leadnuts]

sent you an email.


Also, if others need some help with a part, I'm willing to help out when I'm not jammed with working.