NateMob's "DD" Build

Just wanted to stop by and say that your build is slowly becoming one of my favorites around here. So much detail put into your rig man I love it. Keep up the good work!
 
Wow your 4runner is looking awesome! I don't know if you mentioned it before, but what front bumper are you going with? I have to say that BFG AT sidewalls aren't the strongest I've seen. I took chunks out of both my fronts my last wheeling trips. Keep up the good work and I'm intrigued by this new mod you're hinting at.

Thanks a lot Robert, I havent mentioned which front bumper I'm going with because it hasnt been announced by the fabricators and mine will be the first in the wild!:naughty: I'm really freaking excited and cant wait to get rid of the TERRIBLE approach angle i have with the "fat lip" bumper. I like the way your swapped yours out for an older one.

Okay I'm intrigued. Nice pics BTW! The pic of the BFG AT makes me glad I have MT/Rs with Kevlar reinforced sidewalls :D

Patience grasshopper! I found out earlier this week that I wont have the new bumper until the last week of June. True that on the BFG sidewalls, not my favorite.

Do you happen to have the part number for these bumpstops?

I dont, but if you contact Wheeler's Offroad, a vendor here on this board, they designed and sell them. Dan is the guy that helped me with my order over the phone, to make sure i got exactly what i needed.

Just wanted to stop by and say that your build is slowly becoming one of my favorites around here. So much detail put into your rig man I love it. Keep up the good work!

Very kind words brother! I really appreciate it, Lord willing, I will keep updating this thread frequently with new modifications and offroading trip reports. I really like the stance of your truck with the TRD wheels and 295s, such an awesome looking combination!

Been working on some new lower links for my truck that should be done in the next couple weeks, other than that, not much planned until the bumper unveiling at the end of the month.

[MENTION=78854]Dark Lord[/MENTION] , I forgot about your post asking about the CBI swing-away closure. I snapped some photos just now to help illustrate.

When i first got and installed the bumper and spare carrier the swing-arm barely touched the snubber, now 2 1/2 months later and a some hard miles the arm slides up an 1/8" or so to sit nicely on the rubber snubber when closed. I dont have to pick up on it at all which I want to point out. As far as how secure i think it is, it is stout. With the hand screw snugged down it moves ZERO and i have never found it to have loosened itself after rough trails or high speed desert runs.

Closed and tight.





Loosened fully


Just hanging out


And opened up, dirt likes to collect and settle between the two plates here, thats not rust just the weird red sand we have here.


If you have any other questions, let me know.
 
Just turned 133,000 last night.

As I am pretty sure everyone knows Jim (4-Ripcord) is/has put his awesome 4runner back to stockish in preparation to sell it. Being as I am only about 3 hour drive and wanted to see his truck before i went to a new owner we worked out some deals and I drove up early on a Saturday to turn some wrenches and swap some parts around, it was a good day for both of us! :yo:

Poor 4Runner.


Jim also hooked me up with some Weathertech front floor liners, always wanted some of these, never could stomach the cost though.


I was able to upgrade to some slightly longer Bilstein 5150s that are now discontinued. The extra fluid capacity should help keep the shock from being over-worked in the high speed rough stuff. They have a slightly stiffer feel than my 5125s.



I also got his new adjustable upper links that dwarf the stock uppers. Poly bushings went on the axle mounts and Currie Johnny Joints are at the frame end of things, total length currently is set at 13", so about 3/4" longer than stock to rotate the pinion up. These reduces driveline vibrations as well as helps the joints last longer in the driveshaft by reducing operating angles. It also picks the pinion up out of harms way a bit, handy when you are in the rocks.

Hitting the bumpstop on the driver side.


Driver side upper stuffed.


Passenger side not quite fully extended.


All together now.


We also swapped my stock airbox for his that he modified with a deckplate. I never really care to cut up my stock air box because i couldnt see it being that much of an upgrade. Boy was i wrong! Throttle response is noticeably quicker, the sound is a little loud at times pulling up mountain passes but for around town driving its not bad. I am convinced that it also bumped my fuel mileage a bit as well. My last three tanks have looked like this:

18.4 mpg prior to deckplate. (usual mpg for my style of driving)
19.6 mpg after swap, interstate driving. (cruising at 65-75mph)
19.4 mpg post swap, daily commute.

I knocked some dust out of my air filter at the same time as the swap so that could be attributing to the gain as well but this is a mod that cant hurt in my eyes.

Went out last night for a "Dinner in the Desert" cruise with Las Cruces Four Wheel Drive Club. We had a good time, some awesome smoked brisket and an easy trail through the desert after the sun went down.

The only picture i took.


I should have my last big upgrade for a while this week. Cant wait to mount it up and get my winch off my work bench. :bluejump:

Southwest guys need to register and plan on attending the 2013 Thrill on the Hill. Its a Toyota exclusive event with an awesome raffle, live music, catered meals, and great trails. It is limited to 100 rigs and filled up last year.

www.nmfjrally.com to register and watch a cool video from last year's event.
 
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Nice updates! I was hoping it would be a supercharger that you picked up from Jim, but I guess the other stuff is cool...haha I'm excited to see the bumper.
 
Good for you man! Links are on my list as I recently crushed my passenger lower link mount. I'd love a set of those Weathertech's too but $$$

Ripcord has one clean garage BTW lol

:cheers:
 
Nice updates! I was hoping it would be a supercharger that you picked up from Jim, but I guess the other stuff is cool...haha I'm excited to see the bumper.

Thanks buddy, unfortunately not all of us can land incredible deals on shit all the time! Congrats on your SC dude, i am always looking for a good deal on one.

Good for you man! Links are on my list as I recently crushed my passenger lower link mount. I'd love a set of those Weathertech's too but $$$

Ripcord has one clean garage BTW lol

:cheers:

Thank you sir! I dont know if its too late but you could look into Lotus' RCAMS to keep them together in the future. I have all the bushings, joints, and steel to build myself some BEEFY new lowers but just havent had the time lately. The Weathertechs are really nice man, the initial cost sucks but once you throw them in you will never regret having them.

And yeah, Jim's garage is much cleaner than mine also.


Looks like you are already putting all that stuff to good use. Glad we could help each other out.

Of course i am, had to test it all out to make sure i was still worthy of all your hand-me-downs. Its crazy how loud the intake is now when the trans kicks down.

So you got his uppers, dang you!!!!!! Congrats on the new to you items!

Yep. Haha, how are your new links coming along? Thanks for checking things out in here. :wave:



A lot of the trails down here are very dry and the dust kickup can be really thick, on top of that, the soil/sand here is incredibly fine. I have been running the AFE Pro Dry-S filter for a few months now and recently been wondering if it was doing a good job of filtering the silt from the intake air. Long story short, it wasn't.

I pulled my MAF sensor to take a look and possibly clean it if need be, this is what i found.

No denying it, thats the fine red silt that we have down here.


I bought this truck with the intent on keeping it for a long while. Any small performance gained from it is in no way worth the possible damage that i could be inflicting on my engine. After a careful and thorough cleaning with electronics cleaner it was back to looking proper.



Kinda scary how much dirt was stuck on it before being cleaned. I ended up getting a couple old fashioned paper filters, traditionally the paper filters do filter better but allow less airflow than the aftermarket "high performance" filters.
 
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Thank you sir! I dont know if its too late but you could look into Lotus' RCAMS to keep them together in the future. I have all the bushings, joints, and steel to build myself some BEEFY new lowers but just havent had the time lately. The Weathertechs are really nice man, the initial cost sucks but once you throw them in you will never regret having them.

And yeah, Jim's garage is much cleaner than mine also.

I'm just gonna take a prybar and a sledge to it so I can make this Gold Lake trip next month. I'm done with IFS. I'd love some weathertechs but money is now going to SAS. I'm picking up a HP dana 44 from a friend and a rear 14 bolt next month (was gonna grab a 9" but decided otherwise, and I was going to grab a dana 60, but again decided otherwise LOL) and rebuild the axles. The 44 is sitting there waiting for me, I just have to source a 14bolt. My fab shop friend already has some .250 wall links built sitting in a corner with my name on them. Plans to 3link/3link, not gonna touch the gas tank. My friends 3link/4link build is almost done so his will be rolling out of the shop next month and then I can roll mine in. Let's hope I can get this done before the end of the year haha. Fingers crossed.
 
I'm just gonna take a prybar and a sledge to it so I can make this Gold Lake trip next month. I'm done with IFS. I'd love some weathertechs but money is now going to SAS. I'm picking up a HP dana 44 from a friend and a rear 14 bolt next month (was gonna grab a 9" but decided otherwise, and I was going to grab a dana 60, but again decided otherwise LOL) and rebuild the axles. The 44 is sitting there waiting for me, I just have to source a 14bolt. My fab shop friend already has some .250 wall links built sitting in a corner with my name on them. Plans to 3link/3link, not gonna touch the gas tank. My friends 3link/4link build is almost done so his will be rolling out of the shop next month and then I can roll mine in. Let's hope I can get this done before the end of the year haha. Fingers crossed.

Man, thats awesome dude! Good call on going with a 14b over a 60, they aren't nearly as strong as people like to think. Ill be waiting for awesome things to be happening in your thread soon! My new links are 1/4" wall also. :rockon:
 
Man, thats awesome dude! Good call on going with a 14b over a 60, they aren't nearly as strong as people like to think. Ill be waiting for awesome things to be happening in your thread soon! My new links are 1/4" wall also. :rockon:

Thanks man - yeah I've been wanting to do this for a while now. There are just so many damn options, but since meeting this fab shop friend he's put it in much better perspective and he's a genius when it comes to this stuff. It's also hard to not pull the trigger on something when it's literally sitting right in front of you LOL. When I installed the sliders, he hung out while we worked and stared at my truck for a bit then basically made the decision for me, though we've been discussing it for a few months now :D The links were built for a bronco a while back and the guy never paid or picked them up, same with the HP44.

/thread hijack :playball:
 

Yep. Haha, how are your new links coming along? Thanks for checking things out in here. :wave:


Slow. I have the lower bushing barrels awaiting some 1.5" .250wall DOM to be welded on and then will press in new bushings. Also awaiting my JJ's to build the uppers.
 
Just browsing this build for the first time. It looks like a great rig and you clearly have plenty of trail experience by now.

Good choice on using the thinner grip tape. I bough 2" wide grip tape from Home Depot and installed it only to find that since it wraps around the curve of my sliders that it scrapes and cuts anyone getting in the truck. I'm 6'2 and still get cut up btw. I finally pulled it all off a few days ago.

Based on your post I'm now going to stop over at lowes and try to find that thin tape.
 

Yep. Haha, how are your new links coming along? Thanks for checking things out in here. :wave:


Slow. I have the lower bushing barrels awaiting some 1.5" .250wall DOM to be welded on and then will press in new bushings. Also awaiting my JJ's to build the uppers.

ACTUALLY...I just ordered the DOM tubing, jam nuts, and tube adapters. Went outside to take a peak and noticed one of my ruca's is bent. Just got kicked into high gear.
 
I had problems in the desert with the pro dry as well. I went back to OEM paper filters and was still finding dust in the intake tube. After doing some research I found a paper/oil filter made by Purolator called the pure one. I have went through three and its the only filter that has kept everything clean in the desert following a long trail of trucks. Purolator PA34886 PureONE Air Filter:Amazon:Automotive

Thanks a ton for posted that link, that is a good looking filter that i will most certainly be trying out. How many miles are have you been running them before swapping it for a fresh one?

Slow. I have the lower bushing barrels awaiting some 1.5" .250wall DOM to be welded on and then will press in new bushings. Also awaiting my JJ's to build the uppers.

What brand of joints did you end up with? I ordered my stuff from Summit Machine, they seem to be of high quality. Still havent had a chance to weld them up yet.

Just browsing this build for the first time. It looks like a great rig and you clearly have plenty of trail experience by now.

Good choice on using the thinner grip tape. I bough 2" wide grip tape from Home Depot and installed it only to find that since it wraps around the curve of my sliders that it scrapes and cuts anyone getting in the truck. I'm 6'2 and still get cut up btw. I finally pulled it all off a few days ago.

Based on your post I'm now going to stop over at lowes and try to find that thin tape.

Thanks for checking my build out Brian, always nice to see the more experienced guys in here. The 1" tape has worked perfectly, never scraping myself or my wife getting in and out and it is narrow enough to not want to peel up because of the curvature of the tubing. If you cant find it let me know, i can mail you some. :hatsoff:

ACTUALLY...I just ordered the DOM tubing, jam nuts, and tube adapters. Went outside to take a peak and noticed one of my ruca's is bent. Just got kicked into high gear.

Yippee, nothing like more damage to get your ass in gear right!? haha




Got out and went UP Baby Rattlesnake a couple Sundays ago. Took about 6 hours to go 3 miles with only 4 well equipped trucks, shit broke! We had Colin from this board in his elocked 4r on 255/85s KM2s, an elocked first get Taco on 33" KM2s, a fully armored loaded down elocked 2nd gen Taco on 33" Duratracs, and my rig on 32s . I have led a group down the same trail a couple times but never tried it running the other direction, against gravity! We had two badass photographers with us on this particular trip, so there are a ton of photos.

Here we go...


Our group for the day.


It gets fun quick.


Suspension Test.









Thats tire smoke.


Made it. Lots of rubber left behind. I need a locker.



Immediately after youve got this steep step. I rub the front, the belly and the rear on this rock.


More coming...
 
Sorry everyone i had a nice narrative written up last night and just as i press preview to see proofread everything, my computer took a shitake on me. Rage ensued. So here are some photos, i will try and keep them in order.

KM2s did work all day for Colin at 15psi.


Nice three wheel motion.


Then it was Matt in his heavy, fully armored, elocked beast. There's a kitchen sink back there somewhere.




This is a very fun trail no matter which way it is ran.



And then you are out of the canyon and you are faced with the gnarliest of hills. Unfortunately I was the leader so no photos of my trip to the top, everyone was out of their trucks looking on in fear! :snacker:



Camera tilt much?! lol



Large and small rapidly shifting rocks combined with fine silty sand made traction scarce!


Broken u-joint about 75% the way up.


Stay tuned!
 

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