JustinB's '06 Build Thread

[JustinB]

I want to start out by saying thank you to everyone on this forum. While I haven't personally been involved with much here, the information has been more than helpful and I have no doubts it will continue to be in the future. This is a great community that I'm happy to be a part of and hope to contribute to.

Turning the top of this first post into a current events/setup area, original post is just below this section:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Had this rig for 3 years now and it has been everything I had hoped and/or anticipated. Plans continue to move along well in outfitting it for general off-road use here in the PNW. My dad and brother have been a huge help in getting things installed. Matter of fact my dad is enjoying his slightly modded 5th gen, and my brother is now in a Tacoma he's slowly building up more and more. Pretty cool to all be in very similar Toyotas with similar, but different enough goals and approaches to achieving them. Makes for a great way to see all the options and different repair/mod jobs out there. Not looking like a bunch of identical rigs on the trail is a cool plus too.

Here's today (ish):

2006 Sport Edition V8, Natural White - Katiyana:

Suspension/Wheels/Tires/Lift
Icon Stage 2 lift: Icon tubular UCA's, front coil overs w/ heavier duty 700# front springs, and rear shocks
Dobinsons C59-701V Rear Springs (Extra Heavy Load Bearing, Long Travel)
MetalTech 4x4 Rear Long Travel Springs, Heavy
4Crawler 1.5" Bodylift
Cooper ST/Maxx, 285/75/R17
FJ Cruiser 8-Hole wheels painted satin black w/ white emblems
BORA 1" wheel spacers

Armor
ARB Front Bumper w/ light kit
4x4Labs Rear Bumper w/ tire/hi-lift carrier and 3-can jerry can holder
RCI Sliders
RCI Front, Transmisson and Transfer Case steel skid plates

Recovery
Superwinch Talon 12.5 w/ control box and disconnect mounted in engine bay next to airbox

Electrical
PIAA 510 ION Fog Lights in place of ARB standard fog lights, wired to factory foglight switch on blinker/headlight lever + anytime-on foglight mod
2 Lightforce Striker 170's on bumper, 2 on roof, each set controlled by its own FJ aux light switch
2 Rigid Dually on rear bumper, diffuse pattern, FJ aux light switch
VIAIR 450H Compressor. For now just carried with recovery gear and hooked up to fuse block when it's time to air back up. Still deciding on mounting location and how I want to use it
6 circuit Blue Sea System fuse block for lights, compressor, and future use
Cobra 75WXST w/ Firestik 2 Antenna (3ft), Comet RS720 mount
Secondary Air Injection Pump Bypass Kit from [MENTION=8828]slyfox75[/MENTION]

Other
Custom-ish Fabricated Roof Rack (PM for details on who made it, was a pleasure to work with and makes a great product.) (IN TRANSIT, install coming soon).

Cheap/Easy/Convenient/Useful
Factory VSC-off switch in factory location, pins modified for on/off (instead of momentary), wired via VSC off, ATRAC On Mod
Rear Diff Breather extended to fuel filler location
Color-keyed grill
Poor man's black pearl front/rear emblems (removed SportEdition 4WD side emblems completely)
Weathertech rear mat
Weathertech window deflectors
Satin-black painted luggage rack

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Original/first post below:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I recently (read: finally) found my way into a 4th Gen, 2006 V8 Sport Edition in natural white. Originally I was looking at the V6, but a V8 was dropped in my lap at an unbeatable price. I'm happy to say, I'm glad it worked out that way.

The plans for this 4Runner were about a year in the making, then it took about 9 months to find the right one, and with it finally in my hands it's only a matter of time (and spare cash, as usual) for things to move forward. I won't go into detail about 'I want to do this, and change that, and add those', that info will come out as it happens. I will say, the White w/ Black accents (Stormtrooper?) look is here to stay, was a key element in my selection of 4Runner, hence the long wait/shopping time (had to be white with a black interior, no exceptions), and will continue to be built upon.

It's been 5 months and the changes have been minor (Color-keyed grill, running boards and roof rack painted satin black, Sport Edition 4WD emblems removed, poor man's black pearl emblems, weather tech rear mat and window deflectors, window tint), but it's still only the beginning. The first true mods are a bit passed the drawing board phase, in fact some of them may already be sitting in the garage waiting for other pieces of the equation to fall into place...

This thread will serve doubly as my record of where the 4Runner came from, and where it's going.

All that said, on with the pics:

Purchase day:

In the driveway, so it's official:

Color-Keyed Grill, Bob_98SR5's Poor Man's Black Pearl Emblems(4Runners.org - Poor Man's Black Pearl Emblems), Sport Edition 4WD Emblems removed:

Thanks for looking, check back before too long, major changes should be just around the corner.

 

[JustinB]

I realize this thread was started and nothing really happened. Well, I've been working through some plans...

Through a friend I was able to pick up an ARB bumper for a price I couldn't refuse. It's been sitting around for about 2 months waiting for new suspension to go on before install. Through craigslist I was able to snag 4 LightForce Striker 170's for $125. 2 are brand new looking (though their bulbs were shot, weird), 2 were used and banged up (bulbs worked), and he threw in 2 amber lense covers. No wiring or harness, but I have access to that so it's no problem.

Then through [MENTION=119516]jicko[/MENTION] 's group buy, I snagged an Icon Stage 2 Lift. I added the 700# coils. Having the V8, ARB bumper, and winch in the near future, I thought that would be a good idea.

Shoutout to [MENTION=20116]darkie3495[/MENTION] for letting me test drive his rig which sold me on the Icon setup and letting me pick his brain on ideas/experience.

Installed it all over the weekend. Icon lift was a snap with the help of my brother. Rides pretty great. Initially I left the swaybar off, wasn't a fan of the body roll so I put it back on with the relocater brackets provided by Icon, we'll see if it causes issues. Bumper was a bit more difficult to do. My dad stepped up big in helping out with problems cropping up, adjusting the bumper, and all around assisting in the install.

Haven't adjusted the coilovers at all. The pics below show that I need to though, definitely lower in than front than I'm looking for (and that's without the winch)

 

[JustinB]

Some pictures of the process:

During lift:

^^^^^This guy was a pain. Removing the stock bumper bracket/cross member proved difficult. You can chalk it up to unreasonably tight nuts, improper tools, and lack of patience. Ended up going back and forth between grinding away at the nut and chiseling away at it. Only 2 caused problems, both were the driver side. One finally gave way with a chisel starting to spin it off. The other, as pictured, just peeled away with the chisel rather than spin off. Since the ARB has mostly new hardware, and plenty of spots it bolts to, I Just used two smaller washer nuts from the old suspension mounting that got replaced with Icon's new hardware. They are in between a bunch of new ARB hardware and factory hardware and should do just fine not being the main load bearing hardware .

After lift, no bumper, no adjustment:

I ended up with the following lifts in various areas (again this is factory from icon, no adjustment yet):
Driver/Passenger Front: 3.75"/3.75"
Driver/Passenger Rear: 3.25"/2.75"
Driver Passenger Middle (running board): 3.5"/3.25"
I would call these close approximations.

After bumper install, with lift, still no adjustment to coil overs:

Definitely riding a little low up front.

I had a yakima load warrior w/ extension I picked up a few years ago when I had another SUV I will not name. It has a tire mount on it as well for future 285/70/17's. When I sold my old rig my brother used the basket and added some custom hi-lift mounts to it, so those should be nice in the near future. Somewhere between my first post in this thread and now I also had the tubular steps/running boards and the factory roof rack painted with a black rock-guard sort of material when my dad had some parts painted black on his 5th gen.

 

[darkie3495]

Looks awesome, Justin!! Looking forward to the progression.

Let me know if you ever want to convert those LF 170's to HID

 

[JustinB]

Looks awesome, Justin!! Looking forward to the progression.

Let me know if you ever want to convert those LF 170's to HID

Thanks Kevin!

And the answer is an absolute no-hestiation yes.

 

[JustinB]

Been a couple months, unfortunately haven't got around to updating. Here goes:

After getting the lift and bumper 'finished' and adding the rack it was only a time thing to get to adding some lighting. I bit the bullet and purchased two FJ aux light switches and wiring harnesses. Additionally, added a 6 circuit Blue Sea Systems fuse block and 2 relays. My brother helped me rig up a ghetto bracket to hold the fuse block near the existing fuse box under the hood.

Inspired by [MENTION=20116]darkie3495[/MENTION] I ran rooftop light wiring all the way to the rear in the existing channel under the kick boards, up through the jack/tools box area and into the same harness as the rear window sprayer that goes from the body to the hatch. Put a small hole in that piece of rubber, pulled the wire through and taped it up good. Then I ran the wire down the roof channel, under the main crossbar mounts, and up to the front.

A lot of work, but didn't wanna put any holes in my roof after seeing some roofs leak due to that.

I'm in the process of fabbing up some brackets to weld inside the bumper for new PIAA 510 Plasma Fogs. I already got the wiring all setup into the existing fog light wiring, just need to mount them properly. All I have is a teaser for now of all of the lighting.

 

[JustinB]

Next up: The lift has been begging for larger tires. Well, I spent the last several weeks scouring forums and craigslist for a deal. Goal was a decent set of 285/70/17's to hold me through this coming fall/winter/spring and then buy a brand new set next summer.

I lucked out huge and snagged a set of BFG T/A KO's for next to nothing considering they easily have 30-40k miles left in them. Came off a Tundra Rock Warrior that just recently lifted and went to bigger KM2's. Load range E, I can deal with a bit of extra stiffness for the amount of money saved.

Now, the sport rims are cool and all, but who doesn't want new wheels with tires? I took to forums and craigslist again. Was able to pick up a set of 5 of the often loved, and equally often hated, 8-hole FJ/Trail Edition wheels that I love. Came off an FJ that just got lifted and went with bigger tires and new wheels. I like the 8-hole look, and love the more aggressive styling of them vs a cheap stealy. My only issue was that I wanted to keep with the white/black theme, so silver was a definitive negative. The alternatives are pricey though, and I wanted a slightly wider stance with no spacers, but nothing too crazy, and I personally like the feeling of having factory toyota wheels that aren't factory to my vehicle, so this worked out.

(picture shows 4, spare is already under the car)

Best part about the whole thing, they came with tires with over 50% tread left so I'm hoping to be able to sell those off and recoup some of the cash spent for new tires and wheels.

 

[JustinB]

Now I know after that whole long story of getting new wheels and new tires you all want to see some pictures. Well, I just recently got the tires mounted on the 8-hole wheels.

The problem is, remember I wanted black?

I got busy on making that happen this weekend.

I thought about powder coat, but the risk of scratching an expensive powder coat job scared me. Next thought was plastidip, but I'd heard it can just collect brake dust and not clean up very well, true or not it was enough to spook me a bit. I opted for spray paint. 1. Figure a good opportunity to learn proper prep techniques isn't bad. 2. I don't mind the extra time if it directly affects the 4Runner. 3. Touching up scratches will be a breeze.

Started with a warm soap and water wash. Then took to the wheels with some 0000 steel wool to scuff things up. Did another warm soap and water wash.

Then the fun started:

Masked it all off as necessary:

Took to the wheels with some primer. I went with Rustoleum Self Etching Primer:

I took the 0000 steel wool to the wheels again after the first coat of primer. Then used low pressure air to blow it all away and took a tack cloth to them to get the remnants. Followed it up with another coat of primer. Repeated the sand/clean step again before going to paint.

Next was paint. I'm a fan of satin black myself, similar to the 5th gen TRD Pro wheels. So I opted for Rustoleum Satin Black Enamel:

Meanwhile, I was also applying the same primer/clean/paint process to the hubcaps, and happened to hit the emblems with some white:

All said and done, I got a bit scared. This 'satin' black turned out super glossy. But I wasn't finished. After 2 coats it was time to clear coat. To keep the satin look going (or so I thought, again, this satin black didn't look very satin-y) I went with Rustoleum Satin Clear Enamel. It made a world of difference:

I only did 4 wheels as the spare is already under the car, and the used tires are only there for a year or so tops. Once new tires are installed, I'll have to repaint anyways, at which point I'll get the 5th done.

All in all, 2 cans of primer, 3 cans of black, 3 cans of clear for 2 coats of each (black and clear I went a little thicker in the coats). I couldn't be happier with how these turned out. I got my aggressive 8-holes at an affordable price, hub-centric, toyota original, and slightly wider stance, and got the color I wanted. Special thanks to my dad and brother for helping out with some of the painting and prep and providing opinions/advice, as well as a good friend who got down and helped me sand the wheels by hand multiple times in exchange for me helping him put some mudflaps on his subaru. Also, I have to give thanks to those who inspired me. I unfortunately can't remember where I first saw black 8-holes, or where I first saw black wheels with the white toyota logo, but thank you to whoever has done it and posted pictures. The only bad part about all this is, I'm out of town until sunday so the final look will have to wait. What this really means, is they'll get plenty of time to cure I suppose.

Stay tuned for full-rig pictures coming next week :cheer2:

 

[darkie3495]

Nice work, Justin!! I like your choice in wheels and obviously the color. ha

As I went the powdercoat route, you made the right decision. Finding a spray paint to match to cover up the many scratches you get on the trail was a trial and error exercise.

 

[JustinB]

Thanks Kevin! Just need to get it out on the trails now in the near future

 

[06forerunner]

Great job on the paint prep. A lot of times people get antsy and in a hurry to get painted and done that they skip most if not all of the prep work.

Fantastic job on the prep work and final product. Looks GREAT ! Can't wait to see it wrapped in BFG's and mounted up !

 

[JustinB]

Thanks [MENTION=119297]06forerunner[/MENTION]! I figured even if they will get scratched later and need touch up I didn't want them to start peeling and flaking away like you so often see with other cars. Nothing looks worse then an accidental 2-tone wheel.

As for the BFG's, they're actually already wrapped around them under that plastic, it's just taking the time to get the 4Runner off the ground and switch out the old wheels and tires now. I've set aside some time between football games on Sunday to do just that.

By the way I like the way you're progressing over there as well, well done sir.

 

[JustinB]

ALAS, snapped a couple photos today....one small problem when installing the new (used) wheels and tires....let's just say I found out that somewhere between 83 ft/lbs and 98 ft/lbs of torque, you can snap the studs. Oh well, easy enough to replace and a good lesson learned :hello:

Pictures are conveniently taken/cropped to hide the fact I haven't got around to properly installing the PIAA 510's in the fog light holes...shouldn't be too long.

 

[4thgenblake]

Looks badass man. Like a white version of mine!

 

[JustinB]

Thanks [MENTION=130960]4thgenblake[/MENTION]. Not quite on that 4-6" lift game yet myself. You're lookin sharp over there though, I've always liked black headlights on black rigs.

 

[4thgenblake]

Thank ya man. Next up is a roof rack! I like what you've done with yours

 

[4Runrrun'n]

Your rig is looking great. I'm interested to see your further work as well.
PS thanks for your help with wiring up my FJ switches!

 

[JustinB]

Thanks [MENTION=86238]4Runrrun'n[/MENTION]. You're looking great over there too, can't wait to see all the lights ready to go with that roof rack and everything!

Question for anyone following: These ARB bumpers seem to be more tailored for the earlier 4th gens, with the lower marker lights. Anybody have any methods they've approached for where to pull power wires to the ARB side markers? I've looked into just using them as an additional auxiliary light with a different LED light, but it's not catching my fancy.

I'm not a fan of DRL's personally. They serve their purpose, but for me I almost just wish there was one bulb on the corner of the headlight that was controlled by the headlight switch. Off, then on at the halfway (running light) switch on the headlight switch, then stays on with the headlights. It would also work as a blinker. Obviously this isn't the case, maybe I'll make it so in the future.

But for now, what ways have people been wiring their ARB marker lights on their 06-09 4Runners?

 

[4thgenblake]

I'm at this same conflict. Mine aren't even wired so new headlights and bulbs are up next for me. I like the really bright white light type.. Would look good in those arb light spots

 

[tannerk15]

Really like the look of your rig. Seeing those FJ wheels on makes me hate my stock wheels even more.