JVC8790
New member
Thanks!!
If you're not going to do any rear springs, 2nd gen should be fine. If you're planning to do rear springs (FJ or anything) then I'd look for 3rd gen. I bought 3rd gen but haven't put those in yet (to replace the 2nd gen).
JVC8790's Daily Duty Cruiser "Build" Thread
- Thread starter JVC8790
- Start date
Thanks!!
If you're not going to do any rear springs, 2nd gen should be fine. If you're planning to do rear springs (FJ or anything) then I'd look for 3rd gen. I bought 3rd gen but haven't put those in yet (to replace the 2nd gen).
If you're not going to do any rear springs, 2nd gen should be fine. If you're planning to do rear springs (FJ or anything) then I'd look for 3rd gen. I bought 3rd gen but haven't put those in yet (to replace the 2nd gen).[/QUOTE]
I'm definitely planning on doing new rear springs. That's another question I have. When I look up FJ springs, I see Moog and a few other brands, but some say they're "Variable Rate" and others are "Constant Rate". Any idea what the difference is and which I'm supposed to get?
I'm definitely planning on doing new rear springs. That's another question I have. When I look up FJ springs, I see Moog and a few other brands, but some say they're "Variable Rate" and others are "Constant Rate". Any idea what the difference is and which I'm supposed to get?
JVC8790
New member
To be honest, I'm not sure... I was going to buy the Moog ones, but ended up buying some used FJ Trail Teams ones from a forum member for a few bucks cheaper than the Moog units.
JVC8790
New member
Here goes my first trip report from this past weekend! Finally got this thing off-road and it did great!
Started off Friday after work heading down to London, KY area and stayed the night at Levi Jackson State Park. We were going to be riding on the Kentucky Adventure Tour which is a 900 mile loop of mixed roads throughout Kentucky and partially into Tennessee/West Virginia.
Tossed an air mattress in the back and moved my extra gear into the front seats for the night. This worked out great and took just as much time to set up as it did my buddy to set up his Smittybilt RTT on his Xterra. It was a little warm/humid, so next time I'll be sure to bring a fan. I bought the window screens on Amazon for $13 and they worked out great, only piece of advice is to air them our before using the first time, the smell of glue/plastic was a little overwhelming when I took them out of the bag.
RTT on my friends Xterra
The trails consisted of a mix of paved, gravel, and dirt roads with a few cool sites to see. One of which was the Wildcat Battlefield monument from the Civil war era.
The trails got a bit "tougher" after the civil war monument, but were easily tackled.
We came across a cave on the trail.
Made a few stops along the route just to stretch our legs and let the trucks cool down.
Along the route, we came along the Pumpkin Hollow Road section. After getting to the top of the hill, I looked down over a section that looked a bit more difficult (remember I'm a noob).
I took a little video, although you can't really tell, but this area was very rutted and some folks had said it would likely be impassable with a stock vehicle (we found that out later). Both the 4Runner and Xterra are largely stock with oversized tires compared to some of the trail rigs people take out.
Here's a shot from where we stopped at the end of the trail.
I'm working on uploading a few quick clips from the drive, I'll add them here when I can.
Overall, this was a great first experience! We put down about 170 miles (lots of that was paved/gravel), and spent from 9am-5pm on the trail system enjoying the time outdoors. We started at the bottom left (Main 2) and ended at the very north point (Main 1).
Needless to say, we have a trip planned for November 15-17th and will hopefully bring along a few other friends that didn't make it out this time. If anyone else wants to join us just let me know!
Started off Friday after work heading down to London, KY area and stayed the night at Levi Jackson State Park. We were going to be riding on the Kentucky Adventure Tour which is a 900 mile loop of mixed roads throughout Kentucky and partially into Tennessee/West Virginia.
Tossed an air mattress in the back and moved my extra gear into the front seats for the night. This worked out great and took just as much time to set up as it did my buddy to set up his Smittybilt RTT on his Xterra. It was a little warm/humid, so next time I'll be sure to bring a fan. I bought the window screens on Amazon for $13 and they worked out great, only piece of advice is to air them our before using the first time, the smell of glue/plastic was a little overwhelming when I took them out of the bag.
RTT on my friends Xterra
The trails consisted of a mix of paved, gravel, and dirt roads with a few cool sites to see. One of which was the Wildcat Battlefield monument from the Civil war era.
The trails got a bit "tougher" after the civil war monument, but were easily tackled.
We came across a cave on the trail.
Made a few stops along the route just to stretch our legs and let the trucks cool down.
Along the route, we came along the Pumpkin Hollow Road section. After getting to the top of the hill, I looked down over a section that looked a bit more difficult (remember I'm a noob).
I took a little video, although you can't really tell, but this area was very rutted and some folks had said it would likely be impassable with a stock vehicle (we found that out later). Both the 4Runner and Xterra are largely stock with oversized tires compared to some of the trail rigs people take out.
Here's a shot from where we stopped at the end of the trail.
I'm working on uploading a few quick clips from the drive, I'll add them here when I can.
Overall, this was a great first experience! We put down about 170 miles (lots of that was paved/gravel), and spent from 9am-5pm on the trail system enjoying the time outdoors. We started at the bottom left (Main 2) and ended at the very north point (Main 1).
Needless to say, we have a trip planned for November 15-17th and will hopefully bring along a few other friends that didn't make it out this time. If anyone else wants to join us just let me know!
JVC8790
New member
Got some work done this weekend, nothing major.
Took some time to swap out my SWI-JACK steering wheel control interface in favor of the SWI-RC to work with my new headunit. While in there, I used a 1/4 to 1/8 headphone adapter to utilize the mic from my old headunit that had already been routed so that it could be used with the bluetooth on my new headunit. Tested it out and it worked perfectly! Bluetooth functionality for calls will be nice for roadtrips and taking work calls while out and about during the week.
Also finished up the assembly of my custom Fog Light Housings/ Element LED Amber Cannons, go check that out in the thread I made below!
https://www.toyota-4runner.org/4th-...it-element-led-amber-cannons.html#post3367730
[/url]
Took some time to swap out my SWI-JACK steering wheel control interface in favor of the SWI-RC to work with my new headunit. While in there, I used a 1/4 to 1/8 headphone adapter to utilize the mic from my old headunit that had already been routed so that it could be used with the bluetooth on my new headunit. Tested it out and it worked perfectly! Bluetooth functionality for calls will be nice for roadtrips and taking work calls while out and about during the week.
Also finished up the assembly of my custom Fog Light Housings/ Element LED Amber Cannons, go check that out in the thread I made below!
https://www.toyota-4runner.org/4th-...it-element-led-amber-cannons.html#post3367730
JVC8790
New member
Well this is a bummer to post...
Took my car to meet a friend for dinner, left my car outside his house and took his Xterra to dinner. While we were eating, his roommate called to say someone hit my 4Runner.
She admitted fault that she was reaching for her phone and swerved into my car. Everyone is fine, I wasn't even there when it happened. Car is being towed to a friends body shop to get assessed. We'll see what comes next...
Untitled by John Van Cleave, on Flickr
Untitled by John Van Cleave, on Flickr
Untitled by John Van Cleave, on Flickr
Untitled by John Van Cleave, on Flickr
Took my car to meet a friend for dinner, left my car outside his house and took his Xterra to dinner. While we were eating, his roommate called to say someone hit my 4Runner.
She admitted fault that she was reaching for her phone and swerved into my car. Everyone is fine, I wasn't even there when it happened. Car is being towed to a friends body shop to get assessed. We'll see what comes next...
Untitled by John Van Cleave, on FlickrUntitled by John Van Cleave, on FlickrUntitled by John Van Cleave, on FlickrUntitled by John Van Cleave, on Flickr
apohl17
New member
Eeesh...Sometimes, as much as one tries to protect something, life happens!! I would be upset... Hope you get everything fixed under insurance with extra money for upgrades!
That_Titanium_4RNR
New member
Well this is a bummer to post...
Took my car to meet a friend for dinner, left my car outside his house and took his Xterra to dinner. While we were eating, his roommate called to say someone hit my 4Runner.
She admitted fault that she was reaching for her phone and swerved into my car. Everyone is fine, I wasn't even there when it happened. Car is being towed to a friends body shop to get assessed. We'll see what comes next...
Now that I'm looking at these pictures closer I'm wondering if sliders would have helped at all in this situation? Makes me want to get some ASAP if so
JVC8790
New member
Possibly? Since her car was lower it could have pushed the car off the slider instead of letting it hit the rear door. We'll see what happens with this, hoping its not totaled but I can come out with some repair work/sliders/bumper etc haha
JVC8790
New member
Sometimes, as much as one tries to protect something, life happens!! I would be upset... Hope you get everything fixed under insurance with extra money for upgrades!
Yeah, no one was hurt which is what matters, cars can be replaced. I'm pretty light hearted about the whole thing, shit happens and I cant un-do it, so lets just hope they make it right and help me build a more badass trail rig! haha
That sucks man! You def have the right outlook on it though. It looks like a fairly small street, and from the damage to her car it begs the question as to how fast was she going?
Major bummer, but sounds like you've got the right attitude. This is why some people can't be trusted with cellphones.
Inv4drZm
Senior Member
Or with driving 4000lb vehicles.
montijo505
Senior Member
sundance-runner
New member
Hey I want to know what size pod light you used cause I want to do this but I can't find the pod light you're using
JVC8790
New member
For the foglights I used Element LED Amber Cannons, the ditch lights are Rigid D2 I believe!
JVC8790
New member
RIGHT?!?!
The word from her insurance is that its a total loss. The delta between the vehicle value and the buy back is about $6,150, I still owe $4k on it. So I have $2,150 to play with to get it fixed.
My friends body shop is addressing the mechanicals of the car to get it running. It looks like the wheel, the lower rear link, and the exhaust are the only immediate things needing to be repaired.
Luckily, [MENTION=117408]Oneluv13T4R[/MENTION] is parting out a white 4Runner and he's willing to ship me all of the body panels and stuff I need to bring this back to glory! Cant tell you all how excited I am to have found the body parts I need from a seller thats willing to deal with palletizing and shipping them to me.
Hopefully in another couple of weeks it will be back together complete and it should be "on the road" by the end of this week and back in Daily duty.
The one thing I didn't post here yet, was 2 days after this accident, I had to drive my project car Volvo to work and got hit in an intersection rendering that car undriveable. Luckily it looks like that one will be also able to be fixed, but lets just say last week sucked!
Untitled by John Van Cleave, on Flickr
Untitled by John Van Cleave, on Flickrand one of the 4Runner after it made it to the body shop
Untitled by John Van Cleave, on Flickr
AuSeeker
Elite Member
RIGHT?!?!
The word from her insurance is that its a total loss. The delta between the vehicle value and the buy back is about $6,150, I still owe $4k on it. So I have $2,150 to play with to get it fixed.
My friends body shop is addressing the mechanicals of the car to get it running. It looks like the wheel, the lower rear link, and the exhaust are the only immediate things needing to be repaired.
Luckily, [MENTION=117408]Oneluv13T4R[/MENTION] is parting out a white 4Runner and he's willing to ship me all of the body panels and stuff I need to bring this back to glory! Cant tell you all how excited I am to have found the body parts I need from a seller thats willing to deal with palletizing and shipping them to me.
Hopefully in another couple of weeks it will be back together complete and it should be "on the road" by the end of this week and back in Daily duty.
The one thing I didn't post here yet, was 2 days after this accident, I had to drive my project car Volvo to work and got hit in an intersection rendering that car undriveable. Luckily it looks like that one will be also able to be fixed, but lets just say last week sucked!
and one of the 4Runner after it made it to the body shop
Damn, boy when it rain it pours and then a tornado strikes to add insult to injury!! :whipping2
Sorry to hear about both of these accidents, but at least it looks like you'l be getting them both back on the road!
What are you driving in the meantime...a bicycle?
RIGHT?!?!
The word from her insurance is that its a total loss. The delta between the vehicle value and the buy back is about $6,150, I still owe $4k on it. So I have $2,150 to play with to get it fixed.
My friends body shop is addressing the mechanicals of the car to get it running. It looks like the wheel, the lower rear link, and the exhaust are the only immediate things needing to be repaired.
Luckily, [MENTION=117408]Oneluv13T4R[/MENTION] is parting out a white 4Runner and he's willing to ship me all of the body panels and stuff I need to bring this back to glory! Cant tell you all how excited I am to have found the body parts I need from a seller thats willing to deal with palletizing and shipping them to me.
Hopefully in another couple of weeks it will be back together complete and it should be "on the road" by the end of this week and back in Daily duty.
The one thing I didn't post here yet, was 2 days after this accident, I had to drive my project car Volvo to work and got hit in an intersection rendering that car undriveable. Luckily it looks like that one will be also able to be fixed, but lets just say last week sucked!
and one of the 4Runner after it made it to the body shop
Welcome to the "sometimes if it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all" club LOL. Glad it seems to at least be starting to come together though man.
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