Jeremy556
New member
The rear turn signal made it out alive? Unbelievable.
Nark's Tinkerings (Build Thread)
- Thread starter Narkhelek
- Start date
Narkhelek
New member
I'm calling this my Camel Trophy mod as I got the idea from watching a bunch of old Camel Trophy videos. Basically the idea is to run a steel cable from the corners of your bumper up to your roof rack so that tree branch strikes will ride up the cables vs smacking your A-pillars. I don't have an aftermarket roof rack so I just ran the cables to the stock roof rails.
I've been wanting to try this for a while and I think it turned out pretty good.
From the front:
Side view:
Closeup of the turnbuckles used to tension the cables:
Some pics of what the cables look like from inside the cab:
I've been wanting to try this for a while and I think it turned out pretty good.
From the front:
Side view:
Closeup of the turnbuckles used to tension the cables:
Some pics of what the cables look like from inside the cab:
Narkhelek
New member
I really liked the gray initially but it is impossible to keep clean looking and it shows up every little pin stripe like a neon sign. The silver has been awesome at keeping the truck looking clean even when the whole truck is dusted with sand. Too soon yet to tell about the pin-striping. I also think the silver looks great in contrast with the TE's black trim.
As for the Blizzard pearl, it's just too white.
However, the other day I pulled up next to a white Range Rover and got to thinking how awesome it would have been to have painted my truck that shade of white that Range Rover uses. Maybe next time I trash my truck I'll repaint it that color.
Narkhelek
New member
Sorry about the delay. I should probably check my own thread once in a while.
The farthest forward point of the ARB Bull Bar are the front covers on the bumper uprights. From the bottom of my satoshi grill (should be pretty much the same as stock) it is 11.5 inch to the front of the upright covers.
FactoryRide
New member
Thanks man, that's what I needed!
Narkhelek
New member
Installed some Dynamat XTREME!!1! today. I purchased the door kit off of Amazon that is suppose to do 2 doors. I ended up installing a layer on the inside of the outer skin and the interior side which ended up using the whole door kit on just my driver side door.
It pretty much took me all day to do it, but I think I could probably do another door in a third of the time now I know how to do it.
The door definitely feels more solid and quieter.
Door with interior furniture removed:
Dynamat XTREME!!!!!! installed on the inside of the outer sheet metal:
Creating the template to cut holes for various clips:
Layer installed on inside of door:
The door kit comes with 4x 1'x3' sections which are the perfect size for the front doors.
It pretty much took me all day to do it, but I think I could probably do another door in a third of the time now I know how to do it.
The door definitely feels more solid and quieter.
Door with interior furniture removed:
Dynamat XTREME!!!!!! installed on the inside of the outer sheet metal:
Creating the template to cut holes for various clips:
Layer installed on inside of door:
The door kit comes with 4x 1'x3' sections which are the perfect size for the front doors.
mikey's2010SR5
New member
I am going to add Dynamat to my list of to dos.
Narkhelek
New member
I replaced my front left wheel bearing. It was starting to make growling noises that got worse when turning right (weight shifting to left wheel). Instead of having to deal with pulling/pressing a new wheel bearing I took the easy although more expensive approach of ordering a complete wheel bearing assembly/hub from Blue Pit Bearings | 2003-2012 Toyota 4Runner Complete Front Hub Wheel Bearing. Andy responded quickly to my questions and had the bearing shipped out the next day.
Bearing was well packaged:
Here is the process I followed to replace the bearing:
Remove the wheel:
Unbolt the calipers:
Make sure you support the calipers vs letting them hang by the brake lines. I used zip ties since I had them at hand:
You can then remove the brake disc. I tried to tap it loose with a dead blow hammer but it was having none of that. So I ended up having to use two bolts to break it loose. The rotor has two threaded holes in it just for this purpose. You can see the bolts threaded in to the rotor below:
With the brake disc removed it's now time to remove the black hub grease cap. Some gentle (and not so gentle) prying/hammering/with thin screw drivers was able to break it free:
Once the hub grease cap is removed you can then remove the cotter pin and the lock cap:
The axle shaft nut is torqued to 173 ft/lbs so you'll need to stop the hub from rotating as your trying to remove it. I put the tire back on and chalked it to remove the nut:
Once the axle nut is off you can remove the four bolts securing the bearing assembly. You may not be able to back them all the way out at once since they will probably bottom out against the hub:
There is a o-ring seal behind the bearing assembly that you'll want to re-use/replace ( in other words not forget to re-install):
Re-installation of the new bearing assembly/hub is the exact opposite of above. The bearing assembly bolts should be torqued to 59 ft/lbs. Installation of the hub grease cap was a serious pain in the butt as it is an exact fit and if you try to hammer it back on without it being perfectly straight it won't go in.
Bearing was well packaged:
Here is the process I followed to replace the bearing:
Remove the wheel:
Unbolt the calipers:
Make sure you support the calipers vs letting them hang by the brake lines. I used zip ties since I had them at hand:
You can then remove the brake disc. I tried to tap it loose with a dead blow hammer but it was having none of that. So I ended up having to use two bolts to break it loose. The rotor has two threaded holes in it just for this purpose. You can see the bolts threaded in to the rotor below:
With the brake disc removed it's now time to remove the black hub grease cap. Some gentle (and not so gentle) prying/hammering/with thin screw drivers was able to break it free:
Once the hub grease cap is removed you can then remove the cotter pin and the lock cap:
The axle shaft nut is torqued to 173 ft/lbs so you'll need to stop the hub from rotating as your trying to remove it. I put the tire back on and chalked it to remove the nut:
Once the axle nut is off you can remove the four bolts securing the bearing assembly. You may not be able to back them all the way out at once since they will probably bottom out against the hub:
There is a o-ring seal behind the bearing assembly that you'll want to re-use/replace ( in other words not forget to re-install):
Re-installation of the new bearing assembly/hub is the exact opposite of above. The bearing assembly bolts should be torqued to 59 ft/lbs. Installation of the hub grease cap was a serious pain in the butt as it is an exact fit and if you try to hammer it back on without it being perfectly straight it won't go in.
Narkhelek
New member
Upgraded the tires to BFG KM2 255/80/17-E from the GY Duratrac 285/70/17-D I was running. Even though they are a a little taller they actually look smaller on the vehicle given how skinny they are. At low speeds they are very quite on road but develop some whine at highway speeds. I did quite a bit of research and there appeared to be quite a few benefits with going with the skinny tires such as: increased traction, decreased wind resistance, decreased rolling resistance, decreased frontal area drag when going through soft terrain such as sand, etc. They also air up much quicker than my Duratracs did.
So far I'm very pleased with them. I've taken them on a few short offroad trips and they have performed great but it's still too early to say how they will perform overall compared to the Duratracs.
So far I'm very pleased with them. I've taken them on a few short offroad trips and they have performed great but it's still too early to say how they will perform overall compared to the Duratracs.
mikey's2010SR5
New member
YEAH. SKINNY TIRES. Looks good. Just throw some spacers on to push them out and it will look much better.
:clap2:
:clap2:
Narkhelek
New member
Thought about it. The question is if there is any off-road performance gains to be had by doing so. If not, then I'd probably pass.
mikey's2010SR5
New member
Your tires are spaced a little wider so maybe a little bit better lateral stability?
:welcome:
Alex T4R
New member
Power Distribution System
Overview
I decided to create a power distribution system of sorts to provide a central place to power my various accessories. My goals were to make it easier to wire up new power feeds without having to continuously find inventive ways to tap in to existing power sources and to centralize power distribution as much as possible to make it easier to work with and troubleshoot.
Details
I decided that I wanted to have two different fuse blocks with one being a constant on power feed and the other being a switched power feed. As others have had success with the Blue Sea fuse blocks, I decided to use their products as well. I went with the 6 fuse ATO fuse panel with negative bus for both the constant and switched power feeds.
Given that the vehicle has a chassis ground the negative bus isn't strictly needed but I went with that model so that I could have the option of a clean ground path for devices such as my CB that can be sensitive to dirty or transient voltages on ground.
Both the positive and negative main feeds to the fuse panels are connected to the auxiliary terminals on my Diehard Group 31M battery with one positive and negative feed for each fuse panel. On the positive side the feeds come off the battery to a 125A ANL fuse. From the 125A fuse the feed then goes directly to the constant power fuse block while the switched feed goes to a 200A relay which then provides power to the switched fuse block. The 200A relay is triggered by power from a fuse tap off the in-cabin fuse panel under the driver side dash.
Pictures
A picture showing the layout while it was still being built out
A picture showing it after being completed
I used 4 gauge wire for the main power and ground feeds to the fuse panels. The 125A fuses, 200A relay and fuse panels are all secured with 3M VHB tape. I decided to leverage the large flat area on top of the engine compartment fuse panel as mounting locations for the 125A fuses and the 200A relay. I don't anticipate having to get in there very often so making use of that space was an acceptable trade off with the loss of easy access to the fuses inside. It's been a few weeks and the VHB tape still has everything very securely attached.
The silver L piece of aluminum you see on the far left of the second picture is a bracket I made to mount relays for my on-board air system.
Very nice setup, where did you get electrical wires?
Narkhelek
New member
The heavy gauge wires are battery cables I got from O'Reilly Auto Parts. The smaller gauge wiring I got from Home Depot. I did the ends myself with connectors and a heavy gauge wire crimp I purchased on Amazon.
Narkhelek
New member
Various Maintenance Activies
I did a pretty thorough inspection after returning from my week long trip to Colorado. My inspection turned up a torn drivers side outer axle boot, punctured passenger side lower ball joint boot, and a passenger side tie rod end boot.
As it turns out it's impossible to replace the lower ball joint and in fact you can't find an aftermarket one listed for the 5th Gen 4Runner. Instead you have to replace the whole lower control arm. I tried to press it out and it was just impossible with the equipment I had on hand so I ended up having to replace the whole lower control arm. I didn't find any after market options that supported KDSS so I ended up having to buy a factory one which is not exactly cheap.
Unfortunately the lower shock mount spacers on my Radflow shocks had fused themselves to the bolt at a molecular level and I had to use a cutting tool to cut them out of the lower control arm which left my shock pretty much unusable. So I decided to just replace my suspension with an ARB OME setup.
Replacement of the front driver side axle wasn't to bad. I ended up going with a new EMPI axle from Rock Auto. It appears to be comparable to the OEM axle (maybe even a tad thicker) for a lot less.
The tie rod end was a Rabestos Professional grade also from Rock Auto. I couldn't really tell any difference between the Rabestos and the OEM.
I did a pretty thorough inspection after returning from my week long trip to Colorado. My inspection turned up a torn drivers side outer axle boot, punctured passenger side lower ball joint boot, and a passenger side tie rod end boot.
As it turns out it's impossible to replace the lower ball joint and in fact you can't find an aftermarket one listed for the 5th Gen 4Runner. Instead you have to replace the whole lower control arm. I tried to press it out and it was just impossible with the equipment I had on hand so I ended up having to replace the whole lower control arm. I didn't find any after market options that supported KDSS so I ended up having to buy a factory one which is not exactly cheap.
Unfortunately the lower shock mount spacers on my Radflow shocks had fused themselves to the bolt at a molecular level and I had to use a cutting tool to cut them out of the lower control arm which left my shock pretty much unusable. So I decided to just replace my suspension with an ARB OME setup.
Replacement of the front driver side axle wasn't to bad. I ended up going with a new EMPI axle from Rock Auto. It appears to be comparable to the OEM axle (maybe even a tad thicker) for a lot less.
The tie rod end was a Rabestos Professional grade also from Rock Auto. I couldn't really tell any difference between the Rabestos and the OEM.
STX4Runner
New member
Next time see if you can get the dealership to sell you just the ball joint boot if you are not concerned about the ball joint being damaged. When I put on my lift last year, I accidentally tore my ball joint boot and originally thought I could just get the joint replaced too. Like you I found out that is not so. But the dealer replaced the boot and re-packed it no problem.
Narkhelek
New member
On board air change
Although I was pretty happy with how my on board air setup came together the performance of the Viair compressor was really poor. It would take a long time to fill up 4 tires. Since I had my on board air setup where the spare tire goes I was running my spare on the roof. I could feel the extra weight on top of the vehicle changing the center of gravity and it made me pretty nervous. So I decided to take care of both issues by removing my on board air setup, relocating my tire to its stock location and purchasing a Smittybilt 10lb CO2 tank system.
So far it's been absolutely awesome. I'm able to fill up my tires in about 1/4th the time and it's surprising how many tire fill ups you can get from one tank. I haven't figured out how many fill ups I can get off a tank but I was in Colorado for a week and would need to air down/up multiple times a day and I returned home with still about half a tank.
Although I was pretty happy with how my on board air setup came together the performance of the Viair compressor was really poor. It would take a long time to fill up 4 tires. Since I had my on board air setup where the spare tire goes I was running my spare on the roof. I could feel the extra weight on top of the vehicle changing the center of gravity and it made me pretty nervous. So I decided to take care of both issues by removing my on board air setup, relocating my tire to its stock location and purchasing a Smittybilt 10lb CO2 tank system.
So far it's been absolutely awesome. I'm able to fill up my tires in about 1/4th the time and it's surprising how many tire fill ups you can get from one tank. I haven't figured out how many fill ups I can get off a tank but I was in Colorado for a week and would need to air down/up multiple times a day and I returned home with still about half a tank.
Narkhelek
New member
I recently installed a Birch wood drawer system made by Adventure Trailers. The drawer came unfinished which I then stained and sealed. It came out looking pretty good. Time will tell how it stands up to abuse. Given the amount of work to stain and seal it I would probably just have it Line-X next time. The box is 20" wide x 12.25" high x 36" deep. It just barely fits and the 2nd row seats are no longer able to recline. I bolted the drawer to the existing rear TE cargo slide out. It's weighs about 85lbs and is super solid.
