Mike's (Redswan) 2005 4x4 sport edition

[Redswan]

So the first camping trip in the Highlander went well. We averaged 24MPG with the RTT on, compared to the 12-14 MPG in the 4Runner with the RTT on. We didn't tackle anything too hard, some snow, ice and dirt trails.

1. 38*F with 30 MPH wind a cold and windy night

2. sunrise in the morning

3. rough night was worth the view in the morning

4.my good deed for the day, because that would have sucked

5.

6.

7.

8.

9. A snowball fight with the kids

10. Our lunch cookout in the wind rain and snow. Lucky to have such a great gal!

11. Our lunch overlook

12. Stellars Jay

13. Bald Eagle

14.

phew...lots of driving and a great weekend out with the family

 

[jediwebdude]

Hmmm...this very well may be the first Overland Highlander.

 

[oljedi11950]

Good stuff Redswan & family !! Did all 4 of you sleep in the rooftop or kids n the back ? I'm really digging the Highlander as a soft 4x4 , ok for that kind of overlanding ?

 

[Redswan]

Good stuff Redswan & family !! Did all 4 of you sleep in the rooftop or kids n the back ? I'm really digging the Highlander as a soft 4x4 , ok for that kind of overlanding ?

Mike,

thanks. Yeah we all fit in the RTT. It is 51" by 96". We put one kid across the top and that leaves 72" or so for the other 3 of us.

 

[NuclearN8]

so when is the dedicated highlander build thread coming?... haha

 

[Redswan]

We'll see about a highlander build thread :biggrin2:

 

[Redswan]

So today I did some quick fixes.

1. The resonator has had this rattle since my last DV trip. So I drilled a small hole and a bunch of water poured out. There is a piece of metal rattling around in there. I couldn't pull it out so I broke down and just cut it off and the rattle is gone. There is no real sound difference without the resonator which is a relief, because I hate the drone of an exhaust. :ybrick:



I guess now I have no need for this TRD Tip... guess it is going up for sale.



it has a scuff down the side


2. I took the truck out for those pictures of the storm last week and on the way back everyone was high beaming me, because my lights were aimed too high (well everyone in a car). I took the time to lower it and align them and I think it is much better now.

with everything on...




3. My air filter kit for the S/C is for an FJ and was supposed to route in front of the radiator, so my air filter has been been sandwiched between a charge pipe and the over flow tank. I bought a 3" stainless steel pipe and a coupling and moved it closer toward the battery with about 3" of clearance there.

 

[Redswan]

I thought this looked cool

 

[BrianSD_42]

Got the superbumps in the mail today. They went on pretty quick. I will let ya'll know how they do on the trail when i get a chance.

Now that you've had these for awhile what do you think?

Also are you running 2 per side or just one?

My 3rd Gen normally has 2 per side but I hear many people only run 1. I'm installing 2 per side and will test it out this weekend.

AWD and 280hp it's pretty capable

IS this a typo? Its 208 HP correct?


BTW Congrats on the WIN !

 

[Redswan]

Now that you've had these for awhile what do you think?

Also are you running 2 per side or just one?

My 3rd Gen normally has 2 per side but I hear many people only run 1. I'm installing 2 per side and will test it out this weekend.




IS this a typo? Its 208 HP correct?


BTW Congrats on the WIN !

Thanks Brian. [MENTION=65101]BrianSD_42[/MENTION]

Well I have had these on for a trip down the Mojave Road and DV trip we just went on. I haven't really used them other than those 2 trips and I had that trip our in the backyard last week. I have tried to hit them pretty good to see how much different they are over stock.

Honestly,I love them. They are very soft and dampen the hard hits and have little rebound, but I am scrubbing the fender lining on every hard hit. So, I think it has more up travel as a result of them being softer. I dropped them a half inch, and that helped a little. with them dropped it now rests the bump on the LCA at normal (38") height. I am at 43.5" height from top fender to to the ground at full extension in the front and normally ride at 38" in the front. I am going to guess that is 5.5" of down travel and 4: of up travel on 34" tires. (Those are the numbers, I am probably calling it he wrong thing)

So I am happy with them. I think that my scrubbing is from my 34" tires instead of 33" that I am supposed to run. I also think that one bump stop is enough and that 2 per fender is probably overkill, but I would be interested to see if it limits the up travel.

So, this video is i think the best summary of the bumps and suspension altogether. Being able to hit this stuff at +30MPH without a worry and a nice soft landing that has a controlled rebound.



_______________________________________Highlander...

That is NOT a typo-o maybe a little over estimated, edmunds and MSN autos state the Highlander is 270 @ 5600 RPM and 212 Tq @ 3600 RPM stock. I have added a K&N filter to it and thought it was 276 stock and guessed around 280...so whatever, it has more HP than any stock 4Runner

Its a great car!

 

[Redswan]

Well for financial reasons we sold the Highlander this week and decided to just buy a cheap Daily Driver. There is only one car I love more than my 4Runner the Celica Gt Four.

So, this week I bought a 1990 Celica GT 4 that I had some left over parts for the RC conversion that I installed this week. I love this little thing AWD Turbo and its a Toyota, that's a great recipe.

2 cool cars in the driveway now.

 

[NuclearN8]

You change vehicles more often than I do, and that's sayin something!...
congrats on the new pickup, pretty slick dd. When is the Roo trash bag getting installed on the Celica?:rockon:

 

[Dawg4Runner]

Two boosted cars in the driveway!:driving:….Nice!:thumb:

 

[Tayzorz]

that is awesome!!! I too have a soft spot for Celicas

 

[Redswan]

I figure I owe you subscribers some updates

So last weekend I put together a Mojave Road Trip from Fort Mojave all the way to Afton Canyon.

We started out at the Avi in Laughlin, NV on Friday morning and use a service road to the start of the Mojave Road off of Needles Freeway. On the way up less than 5 miles in my brand new trasharoo decided to break at the buckle and dragged for about a mile. So with that I tried to patch it up, but it was no use, what a waste We headed on to Ft. Piute for lunch and to the petroglyphs near Lanfair. The school bus was back on fours and looked a little worse for the wear. We took the quick route using Cedar Canyon Road which is pretty smooth and allowed us to cover ground quickly to our camp site on the south side of the Hole in the Wall. We settled into camp for a beautiful sunset. The night there was riddled with gusty winds which shook the tents like a tornado in a trailer park. You could hear it howling down the canyon on its way to the camp site.

We woke up in the morning and recovered the camp site and headed over to the ranger station at the Hole in the Wall before heading over Vulcan mine road to the Kelso dunes. We had lunch there at the dunes and headed up to the Kelso Train depot. The museum there is great and had some good history on the region. We headed the short drive up to the Death Valley mine to check out some of the sights. Then we back tracked to the Mojave road to pass Beale Mtn and Marl Springs. We made it to the Lava Tube and our camp site right before sunset (which was spectacular). We set up camp after changing our mind several times with the change in wind direction and after about seven changes we finally decided on a nice spot on top of Aiken Mine. We were greeted at sunset by our camp host a horned owl who had a huge nest about 50' above us on the top wall of the cinder cone.

After a great night's sleep we headed down the road toward Soda Lake. Soda lake was muddy, but was packed tight over a set of tracks so we made it without incident. I would say that if you went off of those tracks, you would probably have gotten very stuck. We headed on to Afton Canyon, which had a good amount of water moving through it an both crossings were very deep. We aired up by the off ramp for I15 and parted ways.

What a great trip and thanks to Bryant, Zack, Patrick and Daniel for being such a great group and the friendliness to my family. This was a great trip!

I thought this was funny given recent events :rotflmao:

Playing in the river


More lame BOV videos


Zach crossing the river


Bryant Crossing the river

 

[Redswan]

continued...

So on the way home we smell this gear oil smell. I stopped to check and discovered that the rear axle was cracked. It has gradually bowed over time giving me some negative camber at the rear wheels.

So I had to take a trip up to Las Vegas to get a new rear end that I spent 2 nights after work installing. So after spending over a grand in parts and about 5 hours of labor. I got it all swapped out and driving again. It still amazes me the toughness of these trucks.

So for anyone interested. I need to recover some money from buying this rear end. So, I have decided to sell some of the stuff off of the truck (which I have posted in the classifieds).

1. The swing gate $500
2. Icon bump stops $500
3. TRD Exhaust tip $50

Also I have my 3rd member from the old axle and parts off of it such as the shafts, brakes and ABS sensors.

 

[Tayzorz]

Is that tiregate still for sale? I just came here to ask you if you liked it because I was thinking of getting one myself. Need more space for jerry cans and my spare

 

[Redswan]

Is that tiregate still for sale? I just came here to ask you if you liked it because I was thinking of getting one myself. Need more space for jerry cans and my spare

Sorry, no I sold it locally a couple of months ago. I liked it, but I needed money to pay off the truck, which is all mine now. Every piece of it is paid off in full, which is a great feeling.

I am going to go back to 285/70/17s so that I can stow the spare underneath and keep the fuel cans on top.

 

[ThePMFG]

have you noticed your spare tire heating up any, or exhaust smell inside the cab since you cut the exhaust just over the rear axle? i've been considering doing this to mine for awhile, just havent committed to it yet, curious what you think about it..?

 

[Redswan]

have you noticed your spare tire heating up any, or exhaust smell inside the cab since you cut the exhaust just over the rear axle? i've been considering doing this to mine for awhile, just havent committed to it yet, curious what you think about it..?

It sounds different at WOT which is a little annoying (I hate exhaust noise) It is quiet at idle, but it has like this woosh that is a little loud. For mechanical/safety, since putting the spare back on bottom i haven't noticed any soot on it, so i think it still blows down and away from the spare. There is no smell in the cab unless I drive with the rear window down. Other than that all is well. Aesthetically, I think it looks ghetto, but it is functional in that I don't have a resonator getting beaten anymore.

I hope that helps