My Build Thread for "Imogene"

[Full_Throttle]

UPDATE 07-22-2014

Pictures of rig as of 07-22-14




(original thread beginning)
Well, I thought it was time to start a build thread. I bought my 4 runner in the spring of 2010 because I needed a 4wd vehicle for hunting. In summer of 2011 I was planning a hiking trip in south-west Colorado and had noticed my shocks were worn out, so I installed High Country shocks, a small 1" spacer lift, and added 265-75-16 AT tires. While in Colorado, I went on my first REAL off-road excursion. I went over Imogene pass. My buddy has thus named my runner "Imogene" and the name stuck.

So, without further delay let me introduce "Imogene"

Here we are at 13114 ft.

Now fast forward to summer of 2012. I have decided to sell my Honda Valkyrie bike to get funds for my 4runner. Bitter sweet.

See ya, great and awesome bike.

My plan is a real 3" lift (no spacers), bumpers, tires, and sliders.
To start off, I should post up a picture of how it looked when I bought it.
I bought it in March of 2010, from the 2nd owner. I have every service record where it was serviced at the dealership for it's entire life. That was the main reason I bought it was the extensive and detailed service record.

My plan includes an ARB bumper, and making the runner all black instead of the two-tone (I do NOT like the two tone colors:barf

As she sits today;

And here is what came in the mail today :bravo:

I have some 1 1/4" spacers on the way so when they arrive I will be mounting up these bad boys. (285/75/16 Goodyear Duratracs)

I have also ordered the ARB bumper, so let the fun begin!!
I will post up more as I go along...this is gonna be fun.

Upgrades & Modifications:

Transmission:
Stock A340F 4 Speed Automatic
Transmission Cooler w/ electric fan. (bypass radiator)
Synthetic fluid

Differentials/Transfer Case:
Stock 4.30 Gearing
Stock T-Case
Stock Open Differential up front
Stock E-Locker in the rear
Synthetic 75w90 everywhere

Instrumentation:
ScanGauge 2 OBDII Interface

Lift/Suspension:
Front Toytec 3" Coil-Overs
Rear Rough Country Shocks OME 896 Springs w/1 1/2" spacers
Roger Brown 1" body lift

Wheels & Tires:
Custom 16" wheels (Level 8)
285/75 R16 Goodyear Duratracs


Armor:
ARB bumper, model #3423020
Custom-Made Rear plate bumper w/ Tire Carrier
Sliders

Recovery:
Smittybilt XRC 8 Winch.

Body
Limited Grill painted flat black
Sport Hood
Whitson Metalworks Full Roof Rack
PIAA Roof Lights and Driving lights

This list will grow. :biggrin2:

 

[GSPRunner]

Nice dude!

 

[Dark Lord]

I'm going to subscribe to this thread. You have the same truck as me! I want mine all black as well! I actually like the two-tone color, the only thing is when I buy a plated front bumper (probably a Shrockworks), it won't look right with the two-tone. I'm interested to see how you plan on making it all black.

Right now, my concern is my lift. I'm currently saving up to buy the rest of my lift kit. I had LC springs, looking to get Trekmaster shocks for the rear, and 5100 shocks/TRD coils up front.

 

[imboredeveryday]

nice i like its the same color as mine and i was wondering what it would look like with out the running boards that match and honestly i like the look might be doing that tommorrow

 

[Full_Throttle]

spacers have arrived.

My 1 1/4" spacers arrived today, so when I get off work I will be headed to the tire shop to have my Duratracs mounted up :guitar2:

Pics to follow.

On a related note, my ARB bumper has shipped...and I have a smittybuilt winch on order as well. Oh, and I am in the process of getting toytec coil-overs

It's good to have a wad of cash and a wonderful wife to let you spend it :girl:

 

[Full_Throttle]

wheels & spacers

Well, my wheel spacers showed up today. I couldn't wait to get home and get them installed. It didn't take long. I discovered my rear axle seals are leaking . That will be another day.

Once I installed the spacers, it was off to Wal-Mart (YES, you read correctly) to have my Duratracs installed. Seems that all the local tire shops want over $100 to install tires they don't sell. Walmart charged me $54 out the door, and that included LIFETIME balancing and new valve stems.
I had to laugh however, it took them an hour to change them due to the height of the vehicle....their lift wouldn't go high enough and they had to do one tire at a time.:lmao:

So it is dark by the time I get home, so the picture of the truck isn't the greatest but hey, tomorrow is another day

Here is the wheel spacer on the rear.

Here are the Duratracs. Minor rubbing that will be fixed soon, thanks to Toytec :naughty:

 

[Full_Throttle]

Lift ordered

Yesterday I saw in the classified section where a Toytec ultimate lift was up for sale, so I figured I would go ahead and grab it. I was torn on which lift to do, and since it is getting hard to find the Tundra and LC springs I thought it was the smart thing to do. I LOVE the front coil overs.

Because I will be re-doing the lift on the vehicle, I went ahead and placed an order with shoptrd.com to order the Tacoma LBJ and OTE (Thanks Singtoe for the work for this mod Ball Joint)

So, this next week will be exciting:reddance:

I should receive my ARB bumper, my Smittybuilt winch, Toytec lift, Taco LBJ.

I'm going to be busy, but it's a GOOD busy:frisky:

 

[Full_Throttle]

pinch weld

I managed to flatten out the Pinch welds so I can drive on-road without rubbing. Once the lift is installed I should be fine. I had to trim the front bumper edges slightly, its all good .

Cleaned it up and took some pics. I really love the look of the Duratrac tires, and they are QUIET!

Here are some pics of the pinch welds bent over and then painted.

I plan on filling in the cut area so crap doesn't get in behind the fender.

 

[Full_Throttle]

Rear Bumper Mod

I have ALWAYS disliked the way that Toyota designed their trailer receiver (the Reese Receiver).
In my opinion it just looks......like an afterthought. Sticking way down there, added on with no thought given to ground clearance.
The few times I have been off-road I have drug it a LOT.:redbrick:

I have always thought it should be possible to raise it up with out too much trouble.
This afternoon, I decided to give it a go.

Now my long term plans include an aftermarket rear bumper w/ tire carrier.
Having said that, I still thought it was a worth while project. I can always hack it out of the way when the time comes.
My plan is to raise the receiver so that it tucks in behind the factory "bumper" and only the actual receiver piece hangs down.

I started by removing the factory trailer receiver.

Next I removed the rear bumper and all of the brackets that hold it in place.

Now, in the above pic you can see the frame rails just sitting there.
I figured that I could cut the factory hitch down so it would fit in between the frame rails.
I would box in the frame and weld it all in place. So I proceeded to cut off the "wings" on the trailer receiver.
I started off using my chop saw, but the 4" cut off wheel worked better.

Using some scrap metal, I cut small pieces to weld the frame and the receiver together.
I welded a 3"x3" piece on the bottom of each frame rail so the receiver would sit just perfectly between the frame.
I test fit everything to make sure the bumper would bolt back on and sit just right.

Then I welded a cap on the ends of the frame rails.

Applied some paint;

Now, I am no welder, but it gets the job done. It aint pretty, but who cares, it is functional.:surfer:

Next I put all of the bumper pieces back on and VOILA!
Functional and out of the way. I have NOT checked if the spare fits.
In my case, it doesn't matter due to my plans for a rear tire carrier in the future.

I hope you all enjoy it. I had fun making it.:banana:

 

[thardy]

Looks sweet man!! I'm surprized that your running 285's on a 1" lift. I've got 285's on my 3" and still rub if I hit the right angle. I just inherited a set of 315's and I'm trying to figure out how to fit them and still be able to wheel it.

Also love the reciever hitch mod. I'd like to do kind of the same thing but hve the hitch still a little higher. Defininatly use this as a referance thou.

Subscribed for sure!!!

 

[fightman80]

Very cool hitch mod man! Your truck is coming along nicely!

 

[Hepar]

Really liking it. The hitch is great too. Cleans up the rear end nicely and gets most of the hitch out of the way. Form and function.

 

[Full_Throttle]

Looks sweet man!! I'm surprized that your running 285's on a 1" lift. I've got 285's on my 3" and still rub if I hit the right angle. I just inherited a set of 315's and I'm trying to figure out how to fit them and still be able to wheel it.

Also love the reciever hitch mod. I'd like to do kind of the same thing but hve the hitch still a little higher. Defininatly use this as a referance thou.

Subscribed for sure!!!

I have a 3" Toytec lift on the way. It does rub if I do any flexing at all. I figured I could go a week without a lift without doing too much damage :whip2:

 

[Full_Throttle]

Before and after shots

Here is a before and after shot, as if you guys don't know what a stock runner looks like from the rear:uzi:

 

[thardy]

I have a 3" Toytec lift on the way. It does rub if I do any flexing at all. I figured I could go a week without a lift without doing too much damage :whip2:

Awesome!! look forward to seeing it with the lift. It is a beautiful rig as is.

 

[BigFishAllDay]

Here we are at 13114 ft.

I've been there before! You get one hell of a view from that spot. I'm assuming based on the direction you're parked that you ran Imogene from the Ouray side. Good choice. I ran it it from the Telluride side, and I think it would have been more fun the way you went.

I bought it in March of 2010, from the 2nd owner. I have every service record where it was serviced at the dealership for it's entire life. That was the main reason I bought it was the extensive and detailed service record.

HUGE selling point right there. I usually won't buy a vehicle unless I can get all the service records. You can't really put a value on peace of mind.

Upgrades & Modifications:

Armor:
ARB Taco bumper, model #3423020 (ordered, not installed)

Recovery:
None (yet)

This list will grow. :biggrin2:

I like your sub-heading titles & formatting, they kinda looks familiar...

The truck looks good sitting low on the 285's. I have a similar lift on my '97 and that picture almost makes me want to throw 285's on it. The good thing on your end is that you've already clearanced everything @ the current ride height. I doubt you'll have any rubbing at all once you get the Toytec lift on there.

 

[Full_Throttle]

I've been there before! You get one hell of a view from that spot. I'm assuming based on the direction you're parked that you ran Imogene from the Ouray side. Good choice. I ran it it from the Telluride side, and I think it would have been more fun the way you went.

Yep, I ran it from Ouray. I plan on doing black bear next year(among others)

HUGE selling point right there. I usually won't buy a vehicle unless I can get all the service records. You can't really put a value on peace of mind.

I was stunned when when they showed it to me. They had the dealership do EVERY recommended maintenance item from the owners manual. The brake fluid had even been changed 2 or 3 times if I recall.

I like your sub-heading titles & formatting, they kinda looks familiar...

....I wonder where I got that idea... At LEAST I changed the color:whipping2

The truck looks good sitting low on the 285's. I have a similar lift on my '97 and that picture almost makes me want to throw 285's on it. The good thing on your end is that you've already clearanced everything @ the current ride height. I doubt you'll have any rubbing at all once you get the Toytec lift on there.

Yeah, the spacers + 285's REALLY look aggressive, I LIKE it :thumb3:
I sure hope I don't have any issues, but there's always a body lift if necessary.

 

[Jungoes]

you just saved me a lot of time, i just never liked how the exposed bar looks , your install is very clean, definitely how i am gonna do mines,
thanks for the writeup..

 

[white_n_slow]

Kudos for the trailer hitch mod. That's the way it should have come from the factory.

 

[Full_Throttle]

I LOVE the mail man

Look what showed up at my house this morning.:bravo:

It's gonna be a loooong day at work waiting to go home so I can start installing this bad boy.
(I stopped by on my lunch hour so I could make sure it was all there and take Pics for you guys):banana: