Kotrin 3rd Gen...Adventure

[Kotrin]

So due to a medical surgery that went wrong, I have had to give up my 5th gen. I have a link to my history on how I got to that stage and I'll be starting a build/adventure thread (not sure how well it will go because I'm very limited, but I didn't want to give up my adventuring/4Runner...

Kotrins 5th Gen Build

So my new to me 2000 4Runner, Limited 3.4L w/ Auto. Everything but the front of the vehicle has been custom done. My dad(one of the 5 friends I have) has helped me out beyond words since my unfortunate downfall. Ultimate goal is to get me out and see the sights since I am unable to walk more than about 1000 steps...

So here it is with the tires swapped from the 5th Gen..


As it sits now April 3rd 2018


I've crawled around it and already started some swapping of internal components from the 5th to the 3rd, but after lots of medicine and less than 30 minutes my body locks up and won't let me do much more. It's got a few little problems that I will be addressing (paying someone)to fix or father to do it, but it will be a work in progress and I do have the Title!!!

I've been house locked for the last 3 months and haven't gone anywhere, so my first trip out will be this Sunday...nervous but I'm tired of being pent up in the house..

 

[Kotrin]

MODS/UPGRADES...
- ARB Front Bumper
- Custom Rear Swing Away & Plate Bumper - 1st build

- Rear Rack
- Smitty X20 Winch w/ Synthetic Line
- Trailgear Weld Sliders
- Interior LED (Started)
- Custom LED underbody Lighting
- Custom LED back-up lights
- Front LED D2's
- Fuel Boost D534 Wheels
- 285/70/17 Duratrac (I hate them)
- Transmission By-pass Cooler
- Diff/Transmission/Transfercase Breather Modifications
- Extened Rear Brake Lines
- Ram Mount Tablet Mount
- Scangauge II
- Custom Heated Seats


To still be completed..
- Rear Rack Cover/Canopy system
- Interior Rear changes

Future Items...
- Icon Stage 5
- BFG KM2's or STT PRO or ????? (I want a wider tire than current but not taller & not so wide I have to completely redo my lift/body/etc)
- Finish Interior LED conversion
- FIX Climate Controls (finish modifications)

 

[Kotrin]

Adventure List

Route 3 Oregon Backwards
Edison Butte - Oregon
Overland Steen's/Avlord Desert Oregon
Ophir Pass 2017
Snow Run 2018

-------
Both Video's are rough. Having problem's with paying 800.00 to fix the bouncy. I'll use a new mount to help out with it.

 

[CdaleR4000si]

That looks great! Someone did a really nice job of bobbing it... That just doesn't sound right.

 

[MyHigh]

Well, you weren't kidding when you said "lightly" modded 3rd gen.....:guitar3:

 

[Kotrin]

Lift - Needs corrected..

Well I need to re-due the lift due to the stiffness of a spacer lift(had one before the toytec lift in the 5thgen, its stiff) and the fact it just needs to be replaced. I've had an OME, Toytec Ultimate, Toytec Spacer, Revtek Spacer, Toytec Ultimate (tacoma one). Between all of the lifts i've had, the Truck lift was probably the smoothest that I can recall.

I need to find the best lift for comfort now as I unfortunately can't seem to bounce around at all (no more rock crawling or even 'rough rocks' anymore for me). So It looks like for me to get the best ride I have to go with an Icon Stage 3 at least. I would value some of the opinions after reading pages of builds on rides. As you can see from my pictures what you see on it is all its going to get. My trips will be day trips and Hotel Sleeping due to my back/nerves. Can anyone with a very smooth ride chime in on what they have noticed?

My research says to buy Icon, but 3600.00 is a lot. But as I tell my Mechanic(Dad) I have to be able to drive, any hard bumps has long consequences. I know some people may say, well don't go fast or off road, lol. I've done that for a year where I didn't, it doesn't work and i've been house 'locked' for 3 months and was supposed to go out over Thanksgiving but instead my leg didn't work and I ended up stumbling down some stairs and ripping some ligaments in my left leg (thankfully its an auto =D). I realize I'm rambling (its my medicine), Thank you again and I love reading people's stories/adventures. Lets go Places!!!

 

[masphx]

$3600 is pricey! IMO buying a la carte is better then the stage advice unless you have alot of $$$. For me getting 2.5 shocks were the biggest priority. My setup cost ~2k for the shocks and rear springs. Only reason I would buy front res icon shocks would be for the clicker ajustment system. Btw I would not rate icons as 'soft'. In fact they can be harsh at times. It is a digressive shock so it get softer only when at speed in the dirt. Something like king might be better for you as they are 'softer' at slower speeds but firm up at speed? Correct me if im wrong here.. Hope this helps. My lift parts are in my signature so you can see what I did.

 

[A.Wilson013]

[MENTION=71420]masphx[/MENTION] is correct. I think a King setup would be best for your uses, but maybe a bit overkill. I'd call Down South Motor Sports and let them know your situation; see what they have to say/recommend. I'd also give Toytec a call for the same reason.

Not sure which wheel/tire setup is going to stick, but I think you'd benefit from a 16" wheel and a C rated tire, or D rated at most.

 

[99Runnr]

Nice looking truck, I can partially relate.

Sorry to hear of your circumstances. I got wadded up and lost a truck as well. It happens, hope you make the best of it.

 

[MyHigh]

[MENTION=71420]masphx[/MENTION] is correct. I think a King setup would be best for your uses, but maybe a bit overkill. I'd call Down South Motor Sports and let them know your situation; see what they have to say/recommend. I'd also give Toytec a call for the same reason.

Not sure which wheel/tire setup is going to stick, but I think you'd benefit from a 16" wheel and a C rated tire, or D rated at most.

Makes good sense, bigger tire with more sidewall, then keep the tire pressure lower while on dirt. That and a good soft setup and hopefully you can enjoy driving once again.

 

[Kotrin]

Yeah I have the duratracs which are a very soft tire and when I go out I always drop the pressure down. Even at 20 they are very soft. I'll give toytec a call along with the other recommendation and look into the KING shocks. I plan to keep the tires exactly the same and the work will be done by my Father(savior and a saint and the touchgest guy I know. He was in the room with me when I woke up from Surgery and found out I couldn't lift or even move from below my arm pits down to my toes, tried to move and couldn't move. I cried but he didn't (I think he's immune) but love him all the same). So continuing on he's got a built to the hilt rig and we would like to do 'gentle' exploration trails but gotta be , better than the spacer/plastic lift...





Thank you all for the input, i'll let you know what they suggest/find.

 

[Kotrin]

So I'm trying to figure out what other's have done for a soft top or snap buttons for a vehicle in the rear and am having a lot of problems finding something that will work for my 4runner. I want to create a 'softtop' for my rear portion to keep it 'semi-dry' All I can seem to find is screw type snap buttons which I feel won't be strong enough to hold in just sheet metal. The other's I find are more designed for wood which doesn't really work for me as my 4runner isn't wood (last I checked). Anyone able to help shed some light on this for me, I would be greatly appreciative. I can sew while I sit at home so it isn't going to stress me to much, my dad will put the snap buttons on the 4runner but he's being the best and letting me be the director in everything =)

 

[Freb_mc]

You may have already considered it, but check into "Rivnuts" then find a snap and some small fine thread bolts to work with the snaps? I have seen a lot of people install fender flares with them, and seen some take a lot of abuse.

 

[MStudt]

You can buy snaps from McMaster-Carr for a variety of uses. You can use these male snaps, and get females to go with them. This is probably your best option.

Male

Female

 

[Rock_Rat]

So due to a medical surgery that went wrong, I have had to give up my 5th gen. I have a link to my history on how I got to that stage and I'll be starting a build/adventure thread (not sure how well it will go because I'm very limited, but I didn't want to give up my adventuring/4Runner...

I'm really sorry about your situation. It sounds like you're not letting it get in your way and are moving forward. I've seen you in the Portland/WA thread this past summer. When you decide to do any work on your 4runner give a shout out to the Portland crew. I'm sure there are a number of us with tools and time willing to give you a hand.

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-gen-t4rs/87169-portland-oregon.html

 

[audiness]

Great looking truck, would love to see more pics of it.

Sorry to hear about your medical situation, hope that gets better with time.

 

[Kotrin]

I'm really sorry about your situation. It sounds like you're not letting it get in your way and are moving forward. I've seen you in the Portland/WA thread this past summer. When you decide to do any work on your 4runner give a shout out to the Portland crew. I'm sure there are a number of us with tools and time willing to give you a hand.

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-gen-t4rs/87169-portland-oregon.html

Thank you. I appreciate the offer, my dad does a lot of it for me. I do some(sorta) when I can and I may take some of that assistance, but as I'm sure you know (and my dad's aware of it) I'm really 'picky' on how things are ran and everything, lol. Which is really hilarious because I shouldn't/can't really do things anyways =(

 

[Kotrin]

Stalling out under Low RPM's

Been awhile since I posted or visited but been having a realy hard time standing for more than 15 minutes so no projects really. I ran into a drivability problem that I fixed and wanted to update for other people.

So I started to get the low rpm's and it stalling out and normally would only happen if I was in traffic. I never noticed it till my son was in the car and my driving changes when he's riding with me. As I went to move forward I barely hit the gas and it did the stutter than jumped up in rpm, I was shocked and then i actually killed it on the next time. So if I barely put my foot on the gas it would try to stall out till I pushed my foot more to the floor. Now I researched the issue and found a few people on the forum's to solutions/fixes. My temp fix was to adjust my foot to push 'harder' which fixed it, but ultimately I wanted to fix it 100%. I cleaned the MAF, throttle body and it would still do it. I was reading where someone replaced the IAF(??) and was able to fix it from that but the part is 200.00. I brought it to a local shop that has treated me really well to help me solve the problem. We got it to reaccure with the technician in the car by applying the brake and pushing on the gas really lightly in Drive. I told him what I had done so far and he brought out the computer and we monitored the throttle position. It was at 9% idling. When we would apply the gas it would drop to 6 to 3 percent before it would go back up. We replaced the throttle position sensor. After replacing the throttle position sensor this seem's to have fixed the problem for me. I have YET to be able to make this problem happen again or have it occur in traffic as I've tried to make it do it. The readings after replacing it was 10% now versus 9%. It also never dropped after replacing it according to the computer readout.

Just thought I would post about it for others. Hopefully this helps.

 

[Kotrin]

Been struggling and having to slowly relocate now and ontop of everything else I got served paperwork and being sued for 200k..

Before I got served my ..spacer lift in my 4Runner was being to hard on my body and I scored a Toytec Ultimate superflex lift for 1440 installed(includes everything but new Upper a-arms). Get's installed on Friday and hopefully I can go over a speed bump at 10 mph versus having to slow down to 5 or less...

I know I will struggle a little more getting in, but I will take it (from my 5th Gen when I did spacer and than to the Toytec Ultimate (such a difference) why I spent my last change from my sock draw...

I'll post pictures after I get it done.

Oh for my Birthday my father made a sweet cover for my bed to keep things dry! (pictures to come)

 

[Kotrin]

So lots of research I took my little bit of money I had and got my 4Runner properly lifted/shocks versus hard spacers. Noticed a huge difference and its way softer and I can actually go more than 30 minutes straight without locking up to badly. Here is the final product (also got a cool taneau cover my dad created for my birthday) does wonders and more secure for the few items I put back there.