nihkon's 4Runner

[fourfive]

With my 1.5" body lift, I figured I wouldn't get as much rubbing as most people do.....but, umm....yeah....lots of rubbing! lol I can only turn the wheels about 30% before they hit the front of my sliders. I'll need to trim off the front of them and weld on an end plate I guess. After they clear the sliders, then I can see where they contact the wheel wells, then go from there. For the meantime, I'll end up installing a set of Spirdertrax spacers that I've had sitting around. Hopefully that will give me slightly more room to turn the wheels until I can modify the sliders.

Great look with your new 315s. I like your wheels too. I've always gone back and forth between the FN 5 stars & the SCS F5.

Did you already have your pinch welds flattened or have any other modifications to your front wheel well? I'd imagine you would have more rubbing with the wheel spacers no?

 

[Johnny_K]

i just checked out the 1st and last 5 pages and good stuff. I used to have a few CRXs back in the day.

 

[nihkon]

Its so damn good looking!

BTW try to have your caster set all the way forward, should help bring the front tires forward and clear the sliders a bit better.

Thanks dude!
I'll have to look into doing that, then take it in for an alignment for fine tuning....since I'm sure I'd jack up the toe settings when playing with the front LCA's. I don't trust Firestone to do much beyond basic stuff. lol (I have lifetime alignments through them though, so I keep going back.)

Man, you have one sweet looking rig. I like those FN 5 stars more and more every time I see them. And, those are some big shoes on there too. I rub with my 285s, I can't imagine all the drama that 315s would cause me. LOL. I want to find a good local alignment shop that knows how to adjust SPC LR UCAs. I should be okay then.

There is something cool about a clean, black, modded 4runner.

Thanks man! I'm a big fan of the FN 5 Stars too.
My brother in law had some rubbing issues with his 285's as well (on a 1st gen Tacoma.) For some reason, I never had issues with my 285's though. Good luck finding a good alignment shop!

Great look with your new 315s. I like your wheels too. I've always gone back and forth between the FN 5 stars & the SCS F5.

Did you already have your pinch welds flattened or have any other modifications to your front wheel well? I'd imagine you would have more rubbing with the wheel spacers no?

Thanks! I hear ya! I was so close to pulling the trigger on a set of SCS F5's a bunch of years ago. But FN said they were about to release their 5 Stars, and I liked the sharper edges of their wheel spokes a little better, so I opted for those instead.

I didn't modify anything in the wheel wells before installing the 35's. I wanted to see what rubs before I started modifying things.
My thought with the spacers was that it would, obviously, push the wheel out 1.25" and, hopefully, give just a slight amount of extra room when turning the wheels left and right. I think the spacers would potentially hurt clearance when articulating up an down. But I'm not too worried about that right now. I just gotta get it a little more daily-driver friendly for now. haha I'll worry about off-road clearance after that.

i just checked out the 1st and last 5 pages and good stuff. I used to have a few CRXs back in the day.

Oh right on! Do you have any pictures?

 

[Johnny_K]

Oh right on! Do you have any pictures?

ha that was back in 2000 when we couldn't easily take digital pics. Had a some print outs at some point but not sure what happened to them.

Here is a pic of one of my Fd's though

 

[nihkon]

ha that was back in 2000 when we couldn't easily take digital pics. Had a some print outs at some point but not sure what happened to them.

Here is a pic of one of my Fd's though

lol, I know what you mean. My first CRX was around the same time and most of my photos of it are grainy film photos.

The RX7 looks nice dude. I'm diggin' the Volks on there.

 

[nihkon]

It's been a while since I've posted, so here are a couple current shots of my 4Runner from a quick offroad trip this past weekend:


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[Road Bull]

There's nothing like a clean black 4runner. Those FN Five Stars look great on it too.

 

[Chuckles89]

Looks great!

 

[Bandit Runner]

How do you keep it so clean while wheeling? That thing is spotless!

 

[fourfive]

Wheels look great. How'd it go with the clearancing?

 

[nihkon]

There's nothing like a clean black 4runner. Those FN Five Stars look great on it too.

Thanks dude! After almost 5 years on these wheels, I'm still loving them!

Looks great!

Thanks man!

How do you keep it so clean while wheeling? That thing is spotless!

Don't be fooled by the photos. It's actually pretty dirty. The magic of photography! lol This particular trail was just a couple miles of dirt road, and a few small obstacles. Nothing to really get it dirty.

Wheels look great. How'd it go with the clearancing?

Thanks! The clearancing is still in process. I had a guy cut back my sliders by a few inches and the very lightly massaged the bottom/rear of the fenders and the pinch welds. That was enough to get me daily driving again, but I knew I'd be far off from wheeling. But at least I was able to park without having to do a 5-point turn anymore. lol For daily driving, the only rubbing I was getting was on the frame rails at full lock while backing up.
This weekend's trip was really the first time I was able to get it out in the dirt and articulate the suspension to see what rubs. From here, I can start with the heavy trimming/welding.

From my testing this weekend I found that I'm rubbing at the rear of the front wheel wells (no surprise there.)
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What did surprise me was that the tires were actually hitting my rear bumper! Looks like I'll have to cut a couple inches off the bumper.

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[Unner]

It's so shiny!

Any idea if you can buy that fairing without the rack? I like the look of that fairing. Mine has the permanent bug stain mod at this point...

 

[NateMob]

She's still got it.

Paint that vent behind the rear bumper wing though!

 

[nihkon]

It's so shiny!

Any idea if you can buy that fairing without the rack? I like the look of that fairing. Mine has the permanent bug stain mod at this point...

lol! I'm thinking I've gotta get this thing REALLY dirty before you guys believe me that it's actually dirty! haha

I'm not sure about the fairing being offered separately. It's shaped and drilled to work with his roof rack. But I can certainly check with him. If I don't get back to you in the next week, then remind me about it.

She's still got it.

Paint that vent behind the rear bumper wing though!

Thanks man!
Uggh, I know. Don't remind me (or do! lol). That's one of those things that I don't even notice in person any more. It's only in pictures that it stands out for me. I gotta just take the time to get it taken care of sometime.

Here are a few more photos from this past weekend:

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And here's a shot of my brother in law's dope Tacoma on TE37's
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[Road Bull]

Man those pics are crazy! I can sometimes forget what size tires someone is running looking at a side profile shot. I guess things still look a bit proportional unless sitting next to 33" tires. But... From the front? Wow! Those are big. Hahaha.

Also, not sure how much of a pain in the ass it might be, but I think Toyota changed the rear vent design for 2001-2002. There is a vent, like everyone has, but there is also a plug pass through that is separate. I am not sure if you currently run anything through your vent now. Some do, and if you just have the flap vent resting on whatever is passing through, things can get pretty dusty.

Pic of mine. 3rd pic down. http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-gen-t4rs/196568-road-bulls-2002-sr-5-timeline-13.html#post2749496

Anyway, if you have a pic and pull, you could grab one, paint it, and throw it in there. Just throwing that out there. But if it isn't useful to you, it should be simple enough to paint your 99 vent.

 

[Gasper Jaspers]

What a sweet looking rig!

 

[Unner]

lol! I'm thinking I've gotta get this thing REALLY dirty before you guys believe me that it's actually dirty! haha

I'm not sure about the fairing being offered separately. It's shaped and drilled to work with his roof rack. But I can certainly check with him. If I don't get back to you in the next week, then remind me about it.

Sounds good!

 

[nihkon]

Man those pics are crazy! I can sometimes forget what size tires someone is running looking at a side profile shot. I guess things still look a bit proportional unless sitting next to 33" tires. But... From the front? Wow! Those are big. Hahaha.

Also, not sure how much of a pain in the ass it might be, but I think Toyota changed the rear vent design for 2001-2002. There is a vent, like everyone has, but there is also a plug pass through that is separate. I am not sure if you currently run anything through your vent now. Some do, and if you just have the flap vent resting on whatever is passing through, things can get pretty dusty.

Pic of mine. 3rd pic down. http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-gen-t4rs/196568-road-bulls-2002-sr-5-timeline-13.html#post2749496

Anyway, if you have a pic and pull, you could grab one, paint it, and throw it in there. Just throwing that out there. But if it isn't useful to you, it should be simple enough to paint your 99 vent.

Lol I know huh! I always see my 4Runner from the sides on a daily basis. Then seeing the front view in my photos, I was like whoa! lol

Thanks for the info about the 01-02 vent. That's pretty cool for sure! I do still have a CB wire going through my vent, but I basically ditched the CB, so the wire needs to be pulled out. I'll probably just end up painting my current vent.

What a sweet looking rig!

Thanks dude!

Sounds good!

Hey man....sorry I didn't get back to you sooner about him selling the fairing separately. But I did talk to him, and he's not really set up for shipping. Sorry dude!

 

[nihkon]

Finally some updates.....
Last Summer, I picked up a set of MetalTech4x4 rear lower control arms. Here are a few pictures after the unboxing:

These things are freakin' beefy!
Anyway...I sat on them for a few months before getting the time to install them. After I had the rear end apart, I found out that the metal sleeves in the polyurethane bushing were the wrong size. The inner diameter was too small.

Here is a picture showing the inner diameter of the sleeves. And then a picture showing the inner diameter of the sleeve in the Johnny Joint (which was the correct diameter)

After a quick email with pictures sent to MetalTech, they were very responsive, and sent out a new pair of bushing sleeves that day. I gotta give it up to their customer service. They were really on the ball!

After I got the new sleeves, it took another month or more to find the time again to re-attempt the install. This time around, I discovered that one of the Johnny Joints was the wrong size! lol It wouldn't fit inside the bracket on the frame. Of course, I didn't discover this until all the stock parts had been removed again. lol So after putting all the stock parts back on, I took pictures of the Johnny Joints and sent another email to MetalTech. The next day, a new joint was in the mail on it's way to me!

Here are a couple pictures comparing the 2 joints. You can see that the "sleeve" part through one of them is longer than the other.

This past weekend, now having all the correct parts, I was able to finally bolt these bad-boys onto my 4Runner. The job was super easy (now that this was my 3rd time doing it! haha)

Here is the new arm compared to stock:

 

[nihkon]

In the "installed" pictures above, you might also notice the Lotus rear control arm skids. My sister in law just got those for me for Christmas.

The install was pretty straight forward, as you'd imagine. They just took a little massaging with my small sledge hammer, so that they conform better to the contour of the frame bracket.

You can already seem them install in my post above. Here are a couple "unboxing" photos of them: