MillerPKA Build Thread #2

[Unner]

[MENTION=8329]MillerPKA[/MENTION]

They do fit the 231s.

Thread I made back when I was debating those wheels.

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-gen-t4rs/196149-trd-wheels-tundra-brake-upgrade.html

 

[Stshuao]

Welcome back! If your last build is any indication of the direction this will go, I'm excited to see it.

 

[the great him]

Stopped by Nitro Gear and Axle on Thursday on my way home from work. Saw something you might be interested in... I shoulda snapped a teaser shot for you to droll over

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

 

[JBurt]

Good to meet you up in Pine Valley last week. Your rig looks much better in real life.

Hope you caught that Sunset! Keep us updated on an Ocotillo Wells trip.

 

[hounddogman]

Congratulates on the article in 4WD Toyota Owner. :trophy:

 

[MillerPKA]

Stopped by Nitro Gear and Axle on Thursday on my way home from work. Saw something you might be interested in... I shoulda snapped a teaser shot for you to droll over

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

Were they building the diffs while you were there? That's awesome!

Good to meet you up in Pine Valley last week. Your rig looks much better in real life.

Hope you caught that Sunset! Keep us updated on an Ocotillo Wells trip.

Great running into you man! Thank you and yeah now that the heat is starting to calm down a trip is definitely around the corner. I'll keep you posted!

Congratulates on the article in 4WD Toyota Owner. :trophy:

Thank you! It's been fun working with them and now that it's properly geared the supercharger has been such a great addition.



The past two months have been incredibly busy between work and the truck. Here are some of the highlights and we have a lot more in store in the next couple months.

The rear link bushings finally crapped out and was happy to replace them with the Toytec adjustable upper and lowers. World of a difference

Added an OZ Powersports 3 color LED bar for the rear.

Gears! Finally after all these years getting those sweet, sweet 4.88s. Rear went in a few weeks ago and finally got around to the front.

Under the knife

Finally sourced all of the dual battery components. Started with the in-cab flush mount controller and will try to finish the rest of the job this weekend or next.

The Toytec Boss remote resis were mounted in the wheel well but they rubbed the tire slightly at full stuff. The CBI gets in the way of a popular mounting spot so I'm trying this location for now.

Picked up a Simpson III tent to go with the Kakadu, and the other project rig we are working on.

 

[MillerPKA]

This is a bit off topic but we are building up my buddy's Lexus as the other Outworld Overland expedition rig, and things have been off to a great start. We started with a Toytec Boss kit and some new wheels/tires, and this past week we installed the ARB Prado bar. Took some cutting of the fenders and quarter panels but I was really happy with how it came out. Wanted to give this a proper introduction since you'll see it from time to time.

2005 Lexus GX470
4.7L V8 (2UZ-FE) w/ VVTi

New headlight housings w/ 4300k HID conversion
ARB Prado 120 Bull Bar

Finished result

Took a trip this weekend to our favorite area in San Diego and had a blast!

 

[smallfry]

Nice.

 

[kolelt]

Wow. Awesome. Badass brotha ! Really digging it. I like the dial battery set up and the flush controller. What can you do with that controller ? Was it hard to wire it in ? Did you have to adjust your rear LCA and UCA a lot?

Lexus IS sexy to. Not to mention luxury.

 

[MillerPKA]

Wow. Awesome. Badass brotha ! Really digging it. I like the dial battery set up and the flush controller. What can you do with that controller ? Was it hard to wire it in ? Did you have to adjust your rear LCA and UCA a lot?

Lexus IS sexy to. Not to mention luxury.

I haven't gotten around to installing the dual batteries and wiring yet, but the other weekend I was going Dremel crazy and decided to knock that part out first while I had the cutting wheels out. It monitors the charge on each battery, allows you to switch between the two batteries as well as access both at the same time for either self-jumping or winching. Great piece of tech.

 

[MillerPKA]

A little update in the form of power management. With the dual battery upgrade in process, I wanted to find a way to centralize the auxiliary lighting and at the same time organize my switch setup. After lots of research in finding a proper fit for my needs, sPOD blew up on my radar and we decided that both the 4Runner and Lexus were going to get their full treatment.

Here are the systems we are using in both rigs

8 Circuit SE System w\Touchscreen for Universal Trucks

This is essentially a plug-n-play power management system with a touch screen rocker panel. One of the coolest features of this is the simplification of future wiring. No more relays, inline fuses, etc. You cut all of that off, run a positive and negative to the controller, and the sPOD does the rest.

They are actually produced and tested here in southern California, so my buddy and I decided to take the day off and head up to their shop personally. John is the owner and a long time engineer, and he was happy to give us a tour of the shop and a firsthand view at the crazy attention to detail in producing these systems. He and his wife run the operations and have a very talented and awesome team working with them. Their products are top notch, and I'm happy to support a local business whose products are 100% made in America.

I was able to install the system this weekend which was a breeze. Haven't finished up all of the accessory wiring but was able to power up the rear multi-color LED bar. The bar can be tapped into the brake lights, but with the versatility of the sPOD decided to have that unit control it and wired each color separate. For each input, you can flash, strobe, adjust brightness, and even link switches. I'll have better media soon but wanted to throw up a few pics and a quick video so you can get an idea.

The man himself, John aka the sPOD guy

Decided to gut the ashtray and install a double RAM arm for mounting the display

Mockup

Wiring the unit itself is easy as can be. Positive and negative cables go to the battery, and a really slick cat5-3.5mm cable goes from the controller to your in-cab display. Most of my time was spent adding new wiring throughout the vehicle, and clipping the now useless relays and switches that were powering the rest of the aux lighting. Here are the guts spilled out but now that it's all buttoned up it is so much cleaner. I am going to be strapped for space with the dual batteries going in the stock location so I opted to mount on top

Quick video of it wired up

<embed width="600" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullscreen="true" allowNetworking="all" wmode="transparent" src="http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf" flashvars="file=http%3A%2F%2Fvid974.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fae224%2Fmillerpka%2FMobile%2520Uploads%2FVID_20160917_183114_zpsxobt5ks9.mp4&title=">

 

[MillerPKA]

New meats are in! Probably installing this weekend

 

[JBurt]

Have you already worn down your red letters or are you going bigger?

 

[MillerPKA]

Have you already worn down your red letters or are you going bigger?

Red Letters have probably 50-60% tread remaining. I'm working with General Tire on their X3 release and unfortunately the red letters are coming off. I've ran them for a long time and love them, but I'm very excited to test these out - especially this winter in the Sierras. At a loss as to why they took the red lettering off certain sizes for these, but at the end of the day it's just aesthetics.

 

[MillerPKA]

Grabber X3s are on

 

[1985taylor1925]

Were they building the diffs while you were there? That's awesome!



Great running into you man! Thank you and yeah now that the heat is starting to calm down a trip is definitely around the corner. I'll keep you posted!



Thank you! It's been fun working with them and now that it's properly geared the supercharger has been such a great addition.



The past two months have been incredibly busy between work and the truck. Here are some of the highlights and we have a lot more in store in the next couple months.

The rear link bushings finally crapped out and was happy to replace them with the Toytec adjustable upper and lowers. World of a difference

]

Hey miller, replacing my rear control arm bushings is something I've wanted to do for a long time now. At 245k I think they've had a long enough life. I would like to do poly bushings but I haven't been able to find anyone who makes poly for the rear.

Anyways, I've wondered about heim joints like the toytecs as a replacement for bushings. So obviously they have no give or cushion like a bushing does. Seems like that could be good and bad. Since you are running them can you tell me how that translates in terms of driving characteristics? Does the back end feel more stable? More predictable? And do you think they would be a good option for daily driving?

I take my truck to the local mountain trails here in WY quite a bit, but nothing crazy. It is primarily a dd on the tarmac, and then a weekend adventure rig. I am looking for sharper handling and was just wondering what your impressions of the heims are for daily driving. Thanks

 

[MillerPKA]

Hey miller, replacing my rear control arm bushings is something I've wanted to do for a long time now. At 245k I think they've had a long enough life. I would like to do poly bushings but I haven't been able to find anyone who makes poly for the rear.

Anyways, I've wondered about heim joints like the toytecs as a replacement for bushings. So obviously they have no give or cushion like a bushing does. Seems like that could be good and bad. Since you are running them can you tell me how that translates in terms of driving characteristics? Does the back end feel more stable? More predictable? And do you think they would be a good option for daily driving?

I take my truck to the local mountain trails here in WY quite a bit, but nothing crazy. It is primarily a dd on the tarmac, and then a weekend adventure rig. I am looking for sharper handling and was just wondering what your impressions of the heims are for daily driving. Thanks

I went into a bit of detail in this write up

Product Testing: Toytec Adjustable Rear Control Arms - Outworld Overland

At 245k you should be looking at all of your bushings including the arms. It's tough to give an absolute review because I haven't had an opportunity to feel the difference between new poly bushings and heims. I went straight from busted stock bushings to the adjustable arms.

Especially with the weight in the rear now, it feels much more solid. There are slight benefits to adjusting with pinion angle and what not, but I installed the uppers and lowers at separate times so at the moment are set to stock length. I love having the beefier setup, but I think new stock arms and bushings are a worthy upgrade. I more or less daily this rig and the back end feels really solid on and off the road.

If you can justify the cost of upgrading those arms I think you'll be happy.

 

[infamousRNR]

I went into a bit of detail in this write up

Product Testing: Toytec Adjustable Rear Control Arms - Outworld Overland


. There are slight benefits to adjusting with pinion angle and what not, but I installed the uppers and lowers at separate times so at the moment are set to stock length. I love having the beefier setup, but I think new stock arms and bushings are a worthy upgrade. I more or less daily this rig and the back end feels really solid on and off the road.

did you do any signifcant adjustment from stock length to something different on the adjustables to fix pinion angle?

i'm wondering how much people adjust and how (longer/shorter than stock) to get the pinion angle to a more stock angle.

do you have adjustable upper and lower?

 

[1985taylor1925]

I went into a bit of detail in this write up

Product Testing: Toytec Adjustable Rear Control Arms - Outworld Overland

At 245k you should be looking at all of your bushings including the arms. It's tough to give an absolute review because I haven't had an opportunity to feel the difference between new poly bushings and heims. I went straight from busted stock bushings to the adjustable arms.

Especially with the weight in the rear now, it feels much more solid. There are slight benefits to adjusting with pinion angle and what not, but I installed the uppers and lowers at separate times so at the moment are set to stock length. I love having the beefier setup, but I think new stock arms and bushings are a worthy upgrade. I more or less daily this rig and the back end feels really solid on and off the road.

If you can justify the cost of upgrading those arms I think you'll be happy.

Do you know of any companies selling poly bushings for the rear ca's?

 

[fourfive]

Do you know of any companies selling poly bushings for the rear ca's?

Whiteline. They are elastomer. They're like poly but a little softer. That's what I have in my rear upper and lower arms. They seem to handle well.