LawnDart's Build Thread

Padres86 said:
Right. I was just curious why he replaced it was all. And would anyone recommend his previous setup for someone getting into overlanding and it not costing as much as his current setup. Basically, for a newbie what suspension setup would you go for. Thanks.
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Can't go wrong with Icon. It's nice stuff.
 
Padres86 said:
Right. I was just curious why he replaced it was all. And would anyone recommend his previous setup for someone getting into overlanding and it not costing as much as his current setup. Basically, for a newbie what suspension setup would you go for. Thanks.
Click to expand...

IMHO Mr. Dart's rig isn't built solely for overlanding. It's more of a purpose built rig or combination overland/rock crawl/baja rig. The 5th gen 4runner is ready for overlanding right out the box! I would recommend better tires however. What you need to think about is where you want to travel then build your rig according to the terrain you are going to tackle without sacrificing too much on road manners and reliability. Here's a good article to get you thinking.

The 10 Commandments of Modifying an Overland Vehicle | Expedition Portal
 
happy4runner said:
IMHO Mr. Dart's rig isn't built solely for overlanding. It's more of a purpose built rig or combination overland/rock crawl/baja rig. The 5th gen 4runner is ready for overlanding right out the box! I would recommend better tires however. What you need to think about is where you want to travel then build your rig according to the terrain you are going to tackle without sacrificing too much on road manners and reliability. Here's a good article to get you thinking.

The 10 Commandments of Modifying an Overland Vehicle | Expedition Portal
Click to expand...

My rig is purpose built to balance 3 key roles:

1. Daily Driver - I can't make it a trail toy only.
2. Overlander - Carry a lot of weight on anything from a fire trail, through Moab, etc.
3. Work vehicle - I don't post my rig on jobs because most jobs I'm on for commercials and tv would fire my if I brought out my camera to take photos. However it's been critical in being able to haul gear into remote places for where even production trucks for shows can't go.

Being that I exceeded the capability of the Icons to do one key thing: comfort. While they supported the vehicle alright, they weren't giving me the articulation or comfort I wanted. This pushed me towards long travel, which is admittedly VERY expensive, very maintenance intensive, but very very badass. If you primarily daily drive your rig, LT is not the way to go.

Obligatory pic:
30780271055_535e6e418f_h.jpg
 
Flemster said:
Got time to sit down and finally read through all the way from the FJ Summit post, seriously awesome job on this build. Reading about your long travel squeaks has me a little uneasy after I just swapped about 75% of my bushings with Poly so Ill be picking up some of that spray, Im already staring to squick pretty good on larger bumps and dips! Keep up the good work man, seriously in love with your rig!
Click to expand...

grease is what you want on the bushings, T9 and triflo are for the uniballs. re-apply both after any water crossings, and every time you change your oil
 
I realized the first page was grossly out of date, so I went back in and tried to capture all the mods we've added/done. I'm sure I missed a few.
 
Hey Isaac,

Seeing as you've logged a few miles on the Ridge Grapplers - any initial impressions? Maybe even a mini comparison between the Terras/Trails/Ridges if you recall that far back when it was stock haha!

Thanks man!
 
Jaydub514 said:
Hey Isaac,

Seeing as you've logged a few miles on the Ridge Grapplers - any initial impressions? Maybe even a mini comparison between the Terras/Trails/Ridges if you recall that far back when it was stock haha!

Thanks man!
Click to expand...

I believe I had about 5K miles on the terra's before I went trails. I swapped the trails at about 24K, so I had about 19K miles on the trails before going to the ridge grapplers.

I haven't put the Ridge Grapplers through heavy mud, so I can't make an assessment of how they stack up against the Trail Grapplers in that regard, but offroad on rocks the Ridges are awesome.

There's kind of a reason why Nitto has basically said, if you ask them in person, that the Ridge essentially kills both the Terra and the Trail product lines. But they're keeping the Terra and Trail because one is a distinct AT tire, and the other is a distinct MT tire. The Ridge however combines the best of both worlds.

If I'm being frank I rolled the dice on the Ridge Grapplers, and both Walt and I were a bit uncertain if it'd pay off. However what we've found is the Ridges are far tamer on the road, work just as good offroad, and have absolutely no hum on road unlike the Trails (the trails are still far quieter than their Toyo Open Country R/T counterparts). I'm actually able to hold a conversation in the 4Runner when using my cell phone unlike with the MTs.

The other thing is I drove back through the Mojave from Vegas to LA, in torrential rain, and you can just feel that the Ridge Grapplers handle wet roads far better than the MTs.

I don't distinctly remember the Terras all that well, but I'd say it'll come down to if you primarily drive on roads with a little offroading maybe go with the Terras, if you do equal parts go Ridges, if you're mostly doing offroad go Trails.

All three are really good, I just think the Ridges are pretty much the best of both worlds without any downsides.
 
Thanks a lot guys for the suspension help! Kind of gave me an idea for my own rig. Prob end up going with the Icons since it'll most likely line up with what I want to do. But who knows maybe down the road I might go LT. Now off to install my Gobi rack!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
happy4runner said:
IMHO Mr. Dart's rig isn't built solely for overlanding. It's more of a purpose built rig or combination overland/rock crawl/baja rig. The 5th gen 4runner is ready for overlanding right out the box! I would recommend better tires however. What you need to think about is where you want to travel then build your rig according to the terrain you are going to tackle without sacrificing too much on road manners and reliability. Here's a good article to get you thinking.

The 10 Commandments of Modifying an Overland Vehicle | Expedition Portal
Click to expand...

Well stated. Good artical as well. I noticed in most overland setup videos, all they change is the suspension, electrical power, and tires (as far as major items)
 
LawnDart said:
I believe I had about 5K miles on the terra's before I went trails. I swapped the trails at about 24K, so I had about 19K miles on the trails before going to the ridge grapplers.

I haven't put the Ridge Grapplers through heavy mud, so I can't make an assessment of how they stack up against the Trail Grapplers in that regard, but offroad on rocks the Ridges are awesome.

There's kind of a reason why Nitto has basically said, if you ask them in person, that the Ridge essentially kills both the Terra and the Trail product lines. But they're keeping the Terra and Trail because one is a distinct AT tire, and the other is a distinct MT tire. The Ridge however combines the best of both worlds.

If I'm being frank I rolled the dice on the Ridge Grapplers, and both Walt and I were a bit uncertain if it'd pay off. However what we've found is the Ridges are far tamer on the road, work just as good offroad, and have absolutely no hum on road unlike the Trails (the trails are still far quieter than their Toyo Open Country R/T counterparts). I'm actually able to hold a conversation in the 4Runner when using my cell phone unlike with the MTs.

The other thing is I drove back through the Mojave from Vegas to LA, in torrential rain, and you can just feel that the Ridge Grapplers handle wet roads far better than the MTs.

I don't distinctly remember the Terras all that well, but I'd say it'll come down to if you primarily drive on roads with a little offroading maybe go with the Terras, if you do equal parts go Ridges, if you're mostly doing offroad go Trails.

All three are really good, I just think the Ridges are pretty much the best of both worlds without any downsides.
Click to expand...

That is interesting. Everyone I talk to says the RT's are quiet, not that I entirely believe them. I would expect the Ridge's to be quiet though just based on looking at the tread.
 
I haven't been in a 4runner with the Nitto Trails. I have about 13k miles on my Toyo RTs and they are fairly quiet compared to Duratracs and other MT tires...I guess we all base our noise level assessment on what we've had before or driven...so to me they aren't loud. I believe the RT's are Toyo's "in-between" tire like the Ridges...Toyo has the Open Country ATs and MTs. I do however plan to try a different tire next Spring and the Nitto Ridge's are high on the list. There's nothing I hate about the RT's, its their lack of sizes that has me looking elsewhere.

Looking forward to hearing how the Ridges do in snowy conditions!
 
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