NachoPitt's 1999 Build/Maintenance Thread

N

NachoPitt

New member
I have been a long time lurker and occasional poster but figured I finally have enough for a thread. This is my 1999 Toyota 4Runner SR5 4WD with the 3.4l V-6 and automatic transmission. This thread will serve as additional documentation beyond what I keep in spreadsheets and paperwork and hopefully help anyone else (and myself!) looking for answers to questions they have or burning up a couple of minutes at work. This truck is my DD and has to be as reliable as possible.

I got it about a year and a half ago, having previously owned a 1999 Tacoma
(same setup except with the 2nd gen supercharger). My family got bigger and the Tacoma wasn't big enough to haul us around. I got it from the second owner, a lady who purchased it as a Certified Pre-Owned vehicle. When I purchased it - it had about 177k miles on it - I am now a 195K.

The truck came with 265/70/16 Michelins (which I can't seem to wear at all), 4.30 gears and 99 Tall springs all around - stock. The tires are kinda funny - everyone thinks I have a slight lift installed now because the tires are so small. Mounted and inflated they are 29.5" in diameter. Plans for the future include a true 32" tire.


This is the earliest pic that I have - A couple of days I bought it, my fiance and I used it to help move into a new house.

In October, 2011 at 179,990 miles I did a number of upgrades and maintenance to it:
1. Changed the all the fluids, lubed everything, replaced the fuel filter,
2. Began an AutoRX treatment course for it
3. Did the 199mm TBU
4. Added a B&M transcooler and bypassed the stock cooler
5. Added a mount for my iphone and blitz interface unit for the factory radio
6. Installed a Scanguage in the ashtray area.
7. Added a K&N filter purchased from Ripcord (going very light on the oil prevents MAF clogging)

I followed a number of guides from the forum for the TBU and the transcooler - mostly from BigFishAllDay. Later in October I pulled the running boards (and sold them for way more than I thought I would - most people toss them) and added the SR5 flares order from Toyota of Dallas.


In that same month, my family and I were left stranded when the fuel pump went out - about 200 miles after changing the fuel filter. After doing a bit of research, I don't think that this is totally uncommon for 4runners that don't have the fuel filters changed on a regular basis. I was very busy with work at the time and had a local shop replace the pump. I like to wrench on my vehicles but just didn't have the time to pull this off.

For the next year, I have driven and just enjoyed it. It ran great, got a consistent 20-24 MPG and had more than enough room for the family and puppy and the occasional camping/hunting trip. I had a small fender bender in May, 2012 where a nice lady in a Kia stopped in front of me. My bumper was toast and I replaced with an ebay bumper - cheap and fits alright. Every time I changed the oil, I used a Toyota filter (buying in bulk) and lubed all of the points on the driveshaft. Even though it is kinda messy, I would rather do it myself than pay someone - mostly because I can't inspect the underside of the truck if someone else does it.











 
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In October of 2012, I decided to give it some proper attention. Even though I try to wash it once a week and wax every couple of months, the paint was getting tired, the flares were fading and the roof rack was chipped and peeling. I pulled all the trim off, the air deflector and roof rack. I washed, waxed and claybared the paint, then used my DA polisher to bring out the shine, followed by two coats of wax by hand to seal in it and protect everything. The roof rack and air dam mounts were painted with Krylon Industrial Flat Black and the trim redyed with Forever back - took about 12 hours total. I would recommend the Forever Black - it has lasted me in the past for years. The easiest way to apply it is to carefully pull the top off and pour it into a container, using a cheap foam brush to apply it. The applicator that comes with it sucks.

The rear pinion bearing had been starting to go last couple of weeks. Coupled with a high pitched vibration at speed and I knew it was time for a rebuild. I called around to a couple of places about having my diff rebuilt. The prices locally were outrageous and some of the reviews that I read online left me wondering about the quality of work. I contacted Zuk from Gear Installs, the Toyota gear guy and was surprised to hear how reasonable it was to have him build the rear end. So reasonable that I would save enough to have him install a Spartan and still come out on top. Calls were made, parts were ordered and yesterday was chosen as the day to pull the diff and mail it to him. He has shipping down to an art.

I pulled the rear yesterday - again following most of the axle seal walkthrough that BFAD did. Upon draining the diff (remember - fill plug first, the drain plug), I found some small metal shavings.





The driveshaft took some work to get off - there isn't any rust on the truck but after 195k, bolts need a little PB Blaster and some leverage to come off. I marked the driveshaft for easy reinstallation later. The U-joints on the diff end of the rear shaft are kinda crusty despite faithful lubing over the last 20k miles (at least the time that I have owned it). I am trying to figure out how to source Toyota joints, but for a third gen and the funny double cardigan joint, it is nearly impossible. Since the truck will be down for a week while Zuk works his magic, I will be calling around locally to see my options. I have a press and would prefer DIY (they are just u-joints!) but the lack of parts is driving me crazy.

After the axles were out and the driveshaft disconnected, the diff popped out. Kinda. It is heavy and completely awkward to drag out from under the truck. I was happy to get it out without crushing myself to death. Owners trying this themselves should remove the rear swaybar for some extra clearance - I left mine in but will be removing it before installation.



Once out, I gave the diff a bath in the greatest substance known to man, Brake Cleaner. It came out clean. I was amazed at the lack of wear on the gears, despite the mileage. Zuk told me that the gears were easily reusable. I was considering a regear but having to replace the front (Zuk won't build fronts for these clamshell diffs) doesn't appeal to me. I still need to be able to park in the garage and all the measurements I have seen of 285 trucks would be too tall. Plans are to run a 265/75/16.



So fresh and so clean.

The diff was boxed up yesterday and sent via FedEx ($38 to ship one way with two day delivery).

While the diff is rebuilt, I am going to do the following:

1. Install the Sonoran Steel extended brake line in the rear (for future lift) and StopTech front stainless lines.
2. Install speed bleeders on all brakes.
3. Install extended diff breather - old breather was clogged but axle seals were not leaking.
4. Have new bearings, exciter rings, etc. per BFAD axle seal thread (using the same shop as BFAD)
5. Have drums turned and install new rear brakes shoes- the current ones squeal like a school bus; I don't think the old ones are Toyota.
6. Find out about having the U-joints in the front and rear driveshaft replaced.
7. Change fluids - transfer case, oil, front diff.
8. Install new rear fill and drain plugs from AllPro OffRoad - my old plugs are nearly stripped and have seen much better days.
 
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Driveshafts and Ujoints

After bumming rides and borrowing cars for most of the week, I am making some progress.

I ordered a set of Matsuba Ujoints from High Angle Drive Line which should be here tomorrow. Good guys there and great prices. These Ujoints are supposed to be as close to an OEM replacement as you can get as toyota doesn't stock these parts, only complete driveshafts. I found a local driveline shop that will install the Ujoints cheaper than I could myself. The shop will also clean up the old accumulated grease, which you can see below is pretty bad and check the balance. The rear Ujoint on the rear driveshaft only seems to have 3 positions and only moves with a lot of pressure, despite my greasing of all lube areas over the last 20k miles. Everyone I have talked to doesn't seem to think that the double cardin joint will be bad - with proper lube they should last longer than the Ujoints. Upon removal of the driveshafts tonight, it seemed fine. The other joints were just nasty after 195k and should be a lot smoother after new joints. I had a high pitched vibration coming from the front of the truck between 50-65mph that developed over the last few hundred miles - I hope that new joints fix this. They didn't seem to be as "sticky" as the rear joint, but since they are off it is easy (and comparatively cheap) to replace.


Slip joint will be cleaned out and repacked













I marked all of the flanges in red nail polish to make sure that they would be installed the same way that they came off. This should prevent the need to balance the driveshaft and keep vibrations at bay. I was able to wrestle the front driveshaft off by pulling all the bolts from the flanges, then maneuvering the driveshaft towards the drivers side frame rail while pushing it back. Once there, I tipped it forward and pulled it through between the crossmember and the front swaybar.

I got my rear axles back from the shop today. New wheel bearings and all associated parts replaced. I had them also turn the drums in the rear. Combine that with my new brake shoes and it should quiet things down back there.

More wrenching tomorrow evening - adding in diff breather, replacing all brake lines with stainless steel lines and changing all the fluids and cleaning the accumulated grease out from under the truck.
 
Brakes, Breathers and Bashed Knuckles

Progress made tonight! Changed out all the brake lines to stainless steel lines. The fronts were replaced with Stoptech lines and the rear with an extended line from Sonoran Steel. The old lines were starting to crack and had seen better days. I probably could have used them for a lot longer but since I had already pulled the rear lines to get the axles out, I figured I might as well put them on. I also added speed bleeders to the front Tundra calipers. I like to be able to bleed my brakes by myself and have used these in the past. New front lines went on in about 10 minutes but I struggled with the rear line. I haven't dropped my spare yet (on the to-do as it won't help me much if I have a flat anyway - the TBU made sure of that) and the panhard bar was in the way - I limbered up, dropped a wrench on my face once and called myself victorious an hour later. I did need to gently file out the mounting area for the Sonoran Steel line to fit in - the mounting hole was too small and oddly shaped. 2 minutes with the dremel, a little touchup paint and it was fine. I am very happy with how the lines themselves turned out, despite having brake fluid dripping and running down everything.


Old Line vs. New Line - I installed the shiny


A little hit of the dremel and it mounted flush on the brake tap. The metal retainer fell into place and I was quite happy with it and the way it looks. It is definitely built better than the factory piece.


Another shot - Maybe I am impressed with myself because after everything I have taken off, this is the first thing back on.


Ah the Stoptech superfund site that my front suspension has become. All joking aside, the brake system was nearly empty from draining over the last few days from the rear. There was some leakage, but not as much as I thought. Everything fit perfect and tightened to factory specs without any modifications.


Another shot - here you can see the speed bleeder. Nice piece of kit and easy to install. It does remove the 10 mm bleeder and uses an 11mm bleeder now. I found a spare 11mm wrench in my junk draw and tossed it into my onboard tool box.​

Hopefully all the pieces that are out start to come home and assemble themselves on their own while I have a beer and watch. Barring that, I would be happy to run around, pick things up and wait for the FedEx guy to drop off my diff. Fingers crossed.
 
Good to see you getting a thread started for your 4Runner, Nate. I read through the first couple posts the other night. You've been putting in some serious work lately!

A couple questions:

1. What's this all about >
After doing a bit of research, I don't think that this is totally uncommon for 4runners that don't have the fuel filters changed on a regular basis
Click to expand...

I'm curious what your research revealed on the subject.

2. How much is Zuk charging you for the rear diff setup? I'm starting to investigate a re-gear and I'm curious if it would be cheaper to have him re-gear my existing 3rd than it would be to go through ECGS.

Those front Stop-Tech lines just made it onto my "To-Do" list. Seeing them here in your thread reminded me. Glad to hear you went with Toyomasters on the press work, those guys will treat you right. Did you end up using the same driveline shop that Ripcord went with?
 
BigFishAllDay said:
Good to see you getting a thread started for your 4Runner, Nate. I read through the first couple posts the other night. You've been putting in some serious work lately!

A couple questions:

1. What's this all about >

I'm curious what your research revealed on the subject.

2. How much is Zuk charging you for the rear diff setup? I'm starting to investigate a re-gear and I'm curious if it would be cheaper to have him re-gear my existing 3rd than it would be to go through ECGS.

Those front Stop-Tech lines just made it onto my "To-Do" list. Seeing them here in your thread reminded me. Glad to hear you went with Toyomasters on the press work, those guys will treat you right. Did you end up using the same driveline shop that Ripcord went with?
Click to expand...

I read a couple of threads back when it happened about having the filter clogged and creating a condition where the pump is working harder than it should. The theory is that this creates a lot of heat (that might still be within spec). When the filter is changed, the pump is no longer choked, the heat continues to build and the pump fails. I am not sure I believe that but a couple people have floated it idea. I thought I had sub'ed the threads, but can't find them anywhere.

My thought was that pulling the filter causes all sorts of crap to float around in the lines and run through the pump. The older the filter, the more crap.

Either way, it is much more difficult to change the pump in the 3rd gen that it was in my 1st gen :)

As for Zuk - he has been great. He quoted me at $250 to for labor. I ordered the parts and had them sent to his house. The ride for the rear diff was about $45 to get there (he is specific about packing materials - he has shipping down to an art) and $28 to get back via FedEx 2 day shipping. He started on the diff today and has been sending me emails (with pics!). It is nice to see how obsessive he is about what he does. I was quoted 400-500 locally at a couple of shops. Gears have always been like a black art - it is easy to talk about setting up in theory but I have tried a rebuild in the past and nearly pulled out what little hair I have.

I am not sure where 4-Ripcord took his driveshaft stuff - I took mine to Albuquerque Driveshaft - I should have them back tomorrow with the new joints installed.
 
Looking good dude! Us ABQ guys sure like to tear apart those rear axles..

I had a custom driveshaft build through the same shop you went to, he did good work and his prices were great.

Good luck on the rebuild, its actually pretty fun putting the axle all together. Hope you get back on the road without any more hickups!
 
Driveshafts and Diff Install

Made some more progress today. Last weekend, I helped my dad buy a new-to-him FJ Cruiser. This in turn freed up his (formerly my) Tacoma so I could have some wheels while I finished up the rear end. That lead to me ordering a whole slew of parts for the whole truck; if the 4runner is going to be down, I might as well rebuild the front end and anything else that needs work. I placed a large order with Toyota of Dallas on Monday for new tie rod ends, upper and lower ball joints, new steering rack guide, LC black shocks and other misc. items. A quick call to Wheelers netted me a set of Tundra 5100 Billies and some coil isolators. I also ordered a couple of brackets and an adjustable panhard bar from Steve at Sonoran Steel; He is a great craftsman and all around good guy.


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Driveshafts​
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Early last week, I took the driveshafts in for new u-joints and a balance. I had a high pitched vibration coming the front between about 50-65 mph. I assumed it was the front driveshaft. A quick trip to Albuquerque Driveshaft and both the front and rear were back in order. The driveshafts were cleaned up, new u-joints installed (Matsuba) and the balance was checked. I have little more cleaning before getting them back on the truck. Both driveshafts balanced fine. I will have to see if the vibration and noise is there when the truck is back on the road. I paid around $100 for all the work and I supplied the joints. Also got a free T-shirt - can't complain with that. The U-joint on my rear driveshaft was shot - it is impossible to tell but likely killed by (or killed) the pinion bearing in my rear diff.


New U-joint


All of the Zerks were installed in phase (they all line up). This makes greasing the Zerks easier - if you can get to one Zerk, you can grease them all without having to move the driveshaft.


[size=+2]Differential​
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The day before Thanksgiving, I got my rear diff from Zuk back. In short, his work is nearly flawless. If you are neurotic or have mechanical OCD, Zuk is gonna make it worse. He rebuilt my diff and added a Spartan locker and a solid collar. During the rebuild, I received roughly 100 pics of the process, from the box as it arrived at his house to the diff packed up for return (and a couple of pics of his shop cat). I would recommend his services to anyone looking of diff services - it was worth the downtime.

Upon tear-down, Zuk found the rear pinion bearing was chewed up. Pictures are better than words.






The diff back with me - Zuk shoots the outside with black primer - it is much cleaner than when it left my house!


Spare parts from the Spartan install in case I ever need to remove the locker.​

Installation of the diff was much easier than removal after I removed the swaybar. I used diff gasket number 42181-60020 (non-elocker gasket) and replaced the lockwashers, part #94512-00800 (you will need 10). I cleaned the inside of the diff housing with shop towels and brake cleaner (use a couple of cans). I also cleaned the mating surface of both the diff and the axle housing, carefully scraping off the old gasket and sealing material with a razor blade - acetone would probably work equally as well. Once dried out, add a bead of grey RTV to the mating surface of the axle, making little loops around the studs. Take a razor blade or index card and gently spread the sealing material on the mating surface, flattening it out and making sure the coverage of the RTV is even. Take a shop paper towel or sponge and wet it. Get the paper gasket nice and damp BEFORE trying to fit it over the studs. When it is wet it is a little more fragile but it does expand and will fit over the studs; it won't when it is dry.

​

Apply the RTV to the diff mating surface and pull the thing on your floor jack. Wheel it up to the axle and start pumping the jack. Like a little elevator, the diff goes right up and makes it easy to slid back in. Once back and held by the studs, I added blue locktight to the threads on the studs and reinstalled the bolts with new lockwashers. I torqued all 10 bolts to 15 ft-lbs. After an hour, I tightened them all first to 20 ft-lbs, then 25 ft-lbs, working in a star pattern. The FSM says to torque them to 50 ft-lbs for the non-elocker diff and 18 for the e-locker diff. I went with 25. I think if I would have tightened them to FSM specs, I would have broken or stripped something.


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Buttoning up the rear​
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After the diff was installed, I installed new axle seals per the BFAD Axle Seal thread - the engineers who designed the seals couldn't have done as good of a job as he did writing it. Both seals measured 1.5 inches when seated. New bearings were pressed on at Toyomasters; the drums were resurfaced at the same time. I installed new rear brakes while the axles were out.

​


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LC Springs and Shocks​
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I started to pull the rear springs and shocks today. I got as far as the passenger side. It seems that when using the LC shock, you have to use the FJ80 shock discs which are not included in with the shock (only the rubber bushings are). I didn't order the disc and had a hard time swallowing $120 what are essentially 6 washers from my local Toyota dealer. 2 of the 4runner shock discs work; I am going to drill the other 4 tomorrow. I had read on the forums that others install the LC shocks and away they go. Are people not installing the shock discs or just using the two discs from the 4runner that fit? Seems like a big detail to leave out when using these shocks.


Bigger is better right? 4runner on the left, FJ80 on the right


FJ80 on the right, 99 tall on the right​

Small speed bump for the day but also a good ending point.
 
4-Ripcord said:
Looking good dude! Us ABQ guys sure like to tear apart those rear axles..

I had a custom driveshaft build through the same shop you went to, he did good work and his prices were great.

Good luck on the rebuild, its actually pretty fun putting the axle all together. Hope you get back on the road without any more hickups!
Click to expand...

Axles were fun to do - more messy than anything. Gary at Albuquerque Driveshaft is a good guy - very fair and gave me a nice cash discount. T-shirt is pretty awesome too (I am a sucker for free shirts). I can't wait to see how the driveshafts work once they are in.
 
Fast forward a bunch over the last month or so while I tried to balance both the busy time at work and home life and still get things back together. Sorry if some of the pics seem a bit fuzzy, my main camera went hunting during this time (sadly, I didn't).

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LC Springs and Shocks Part II​
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After drilling the center washers for the shocks, the rear went back together fine. All the bolts in the rear suspension were loosened prior to installation. The FJ80 shocks and springs went in smooth using a floor jack on the opposite side of the axle. The SS panhard bar was adjusted for approximately 4.5 inches of lift and went in just fine. I didn't install the rear internal spring bumpstops. Upon removal, my rear swaybar links were broken. A couple of minutes on rockauto and I found 2nd gen endlinks for $8 each. They are about longer than the factory rear links to help better position the swaybar after lift, but don't hit the trailing arms at any point during articulation. An easy and cheap mod.








​

All in all, I was pretty happy with how the rear came out. Of course, little did I know what waited for me in the front of the truck.


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Deckplate Mod and MAF Cleaning​
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I had some extra downtime while waiting for parts so I decided to do the deckplate mod. Nothing ground breaking that hasn't been done before. I sourced a deckplate locally, made my hole off to the left of the front of the box to clear the washer filler tube and siliconed/screw it in. I did remove the MAF before doing anything to the box so I wouldn't damage the MAF. I noticed that it was fuzzy brown while it was out. 15 seconds with some cleaner and it was back to normal. When I reinstalled the MAF I used some allen head screws to make removal and cleaning easier next time (the small screws that were on there were starting to strip)







​
 
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Front End Rebuild​
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I got the truck with about 170k on it about a year ago. I had no idea when the last time the balljoints had been changed. With the Tundra/Billie combo I had planned for the front, a rebuild was in order. I wasn't going to stress age-unknown components. With that in mind, I found quite a few walkthroughs on online, gathered the parts and tools and got to it. Over the course of approx. 2 weeks of casual work I replaced the following:

Steering Rack Guide
Steering Rack Bushings
ITR/OTR
UBJs
LBJs
CVs
Strut Assembly
Energy Suspension Swaybar kit
Revtek Diff Drop

The Steering Rack Guide and Bushings weren't difficult following the excellent walkthroughs here and on mud. Most of the front suspension was very easy with the exception of the upper ball joints. Despite my best efforts, 6 hours, a torch, multiple pulling tools and gallons of PB Blaster, the uppers weren't coming out. Luckily, I have a friend with a press. The old ones were out and new ones pressed in within 20 minutes. There is no way that I would have been able to break those free. For those doing this in advance, skip the auto store pullers and just take the spindle to have the UBJs pressed. It will save you a ton of aggravation.


UBJ Conquered



Everything on the truck came out clean with some PB Blaster and a little elbow grease. Despite having nearly 200k miles, it's life in NM has left it rust free.



Old on the left, new on the right


Old on top, new on bottom​

I installed the diff drop from Revtek before I installed the struts. My CVs appeared to be original but were spitting lots of grease (evidenced by the mess I found under the truck). I pulled them to reboot them and found them to be full of crap - the dirt and grime found their way back into the joint. I wanted to used Toyota OEM wherever possible but couldn't swallow the asking price for Toyota CVs. I ended up going with new NAPA CVs and keeping mine. I am going to have them rebuilt/rebooted and will keep them as spares - from what I have read, this might not be too long. It wasn't ideal but it was what I could do with the time allotted. The CVs looked ok and appeared to be nearly identical to my factory CVs, save for being cleaner and having some neat stickers on them.

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Bilstein 5100/Tundra Coils​
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The Struts went together rather nicely - Bilstein makes a great shock and looks awesome. I mated a my old top hats with the Tundra Isolators from Wheelers and they went together fine. The upside bottle jack trick had them installed in about 20 minutes without any drama.



​


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Wrapping Up​
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The results of all of the wrenching for the last month speak for themselves. THe truck drives great. Vibrations are gone, the steering is solid, and other than what I think might be a LCA bushing (of course the one thing I didn't replace) and the Spartan, the truck is very quite.




Poser shot - at this point the truck as been moving under its own power for the the first time in over a month and this was the biggest "obstacle" I could find.





​

As a point of reference, I started with the following hub-to-fender measurements:

Driver Front 21.25"
Driver Rear 21.5"
Passenger Front 21"
Passenger Rear 21.75"

and after all of the above am here as of now (I expect a little more settling) with a quarter tank of gas

Driver Front 22.75"
Driver Rear 25.75"
Passenger Front 22.75"
Passenger Rear 25.5

Up next is an alignment, some new tires and some sliders - I am kinda a short dood and my girlfriend loves laughing at me jumping up in the truck.

​

I did pick up a complete set of FJZ80 wheels this weekend - $25 each. They are off a 40th Anniversary Edition. The plan is to refinish them (still on the fence about powder or doing it myself and painting) and get some 255 or 285 tires on. Due to the 199 TBU that I have, I am either going to have to run a spacer (meh) or grind the backs of the wheels (double meh). Any suggestions?
 
Dang man! :wow2:

You've really been busting it out. The new suspension looks great, and you got some good lift numbers out of it... 2" up front and 4" out back as I read it, right? The LC coils will settle about an inch over the next 5-10K miles. I didn't see you mention what perch you're sitting on w/the Bilstiens up front?

The MAF sensor before = yuk. That thing was filthy.

Your truck should be driving like new now with all the new suspension and front end parts. Great work.

On a final note, where did you pick up the LC wheels? Sounds like you got a great deal on them. It's hard to tell from the picture but they look like they're in pretty good shape. If so, I would just leave them alone if it were me. I really wanted to retain the factory finish on the ones that I put on the '97 but they were so pitted I had to re-finish them.
 
BigFishAllDay said:
Dang man! :wow2:

You've really been busting it out. The new suspension looks great, and you got some good lift numbers out of it... 2" up front and 4" out back as I read it, right? The LC coils will settle about an inch over the next 5-10K miles. I didn't see you mention what perch you're sitting on w/the Bilstiens up front?

The MAF sensor before = yuk. That thing was filthy.

Your truck should be driving like new now with all the new suspension and front end parts. Great work.

On a final note, where did you pick up the LC wheels? Sounds like you got a great deal on them. It's hard to tell from the picture but they look like they're in pretty good shape. If so, I would just leave them alone if it were me. I really wanted to retain the factory finish on the ones that I put on the '97 but they were so pitted I had to re-finish them.
Click to expand...

Thanks! I love tearing into stuff like this and getting maintenance done - I can't stand a vehicle that makes noises (that I don't know about) The age of the suspension didn't give me any confidence as it was.

I am on the second perch of the Bilsteins - I followed richashay's notes and am very happy with the ride. The LC/LX450 springs have about 90k on them already. They do make the rear "floaty" but I have a bunch of junk to put in the back that should help with that. I am about 2" in the front and 4" in the rear - my springs were all 99 talls. The rears were very slightly sagged before I pulled everything. I think I was in the top of the measurements for 99 springs, based on what I have read here.

I expected the MAF to be nasty - I am running a K&N that I got from Ripcord - not really for the performance aspect but because I am cheap. I ran one in my Taco and I figured out how much oil is "enough" for them. The supercharger in the Taco would turn the MAF into a brown caterpillar in no time flat if over-oiled. I am probably going to switch to a Amsoil filter or maybe an airraid intake - I do like having my factory airbox in place though.

I got the wheels in Pojoaque - a bit of a trip but not bad. I found them on Mud after posting in the local section. The guy who sold them was super cool. I only got two center caps but I found two more and they are on their way to me. I am reconsidering refinishing - the clear coat is chipped in a couple of place from wheel weights but it isn't horrible. I will try to polish up the best 4 of them this weekend and will probably just run them as is. The center caps will need to be repainted. If they clean up ok, I will probably make it down to Discount and get some tires mounted. I am still on the fence about the size - 255 would fit really nice with the 80 wheels and are lighter but 285s are easier to source. Tough decisions, no? :D
 
4-Ripcord said:
Nice updates!

Loving the pictures! You take really good ones that show a lot of useful info.
Click to expand...

Thanks! I take a bunch of notes when I do stuff - mostly cause I have a hard time remembering what I am doing. My camera tends to be more useful than my wrench.
 
Great build so far. Doing all of that maintenance BEFORE you started to do the "mods" is going to pay off 100-fold. Excellent documentation of the whole process as well, very BFAD esque.

Those LC wheels have the darker painted "inserts" because they are off a 40th. Super cool. I vote leave them factory if they are in any sort of decent shape!

Oh, PM about-to-be replied. haha
 
rickashay said:
Great build so far. Doing all of that maintenance BEFORE you started to do the "mods" is going to pay off 100-fold. Excellent documentation of the whole process as well, very BFAD esque.

Those LC wheels have the darker painted "inserts" because they are off a 40th. Super cool. I vote leave them factory if they are in any sort of decent shape!

Oh, PM about-to-be replied. haha
Click to expand...


Thanks so much for the PM - I am going with spacers - no need to grind these. The wheels require the "shank" style of lugnuts which I think should give me enough engagement. I have decided to clean up the wheels and run them like they are. Sometimes I go a bit too far cleaning but these have a nice patina and fit with the DD nature of the truck. Plus the dark inserts are pretty cool.

I am still on the fence about Duratracs or BFG ATs. I can get a good deal on either and would like to get some before I get an alignment next week.
 
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