nihkon's 4Runner

[nihkon]

Also....the Toytec rear bumpstop extensions that I posted a couple pages ago....you can see those installed in the pics on the previous.

Another small thing I added recently was the e-brake extension bracket from Sonoran Steel. Not much to say about it. It was cheap, and it does it's job. lol
Here are some pictures of that:

Since I'm posting pictures and giving updates.....
I realized that I never posted about my rear shock upgrade. My original lift kit from Toytec came with Bilstein 5125's in the rear. They held up fine for a while, but eventually blew out last Summer. I had kicked around the idea of going fancy with some bypass shocks from King or ADS or someplace. But I needed something quick and was tired of researching, so I just kinda "cheaped out" and got standard Icon 2.0 shocks. I figured they were cheap, readily available off the shelf, and a little bit of an upgrade. And it was nice to have a set of shocks with the stud-mount on top, as it allowed me to ditch the adapter bracket that I had to run with the Bilsteins. The build quality seems pretty nice and the installation was straight forward, as you'd imagine.

You can see them installed in the pics up above. Here are my "unboxing" pictures:

 

[Levi saleniuc]

I just binge read this whole thread and your rig inspired me to get a 3rd gen. Wow what's gorgeous truck. Keep going at it excited to see what's next.

Now I'm off to search for the right one!

 

[nihkon]

Thanks man!
Good luck with your search!

 

[Tyler James Inc]

Well?! How're the ICON shocks?

 

[Trialrun]

curious to hear your thoughts on the ICON 2.0 shocks

 

[nihkon]

Well?! How're the ICON shocks?

curious to hear your thoughts on the ICON 2.0 shocks

Sorry for the delayed reply dudes!
As for the Icons...umm, they're shiny! lol
Actually, I must admit, I'm not all that savvy when it comes to really telling the difference between one shock and another.

My old Bilsteins were blown though, and I needed to replace them. I figured the Icon 2.0's were about the cheapest option for an "upgrade" over what I had. They don't bounce around in the rear like my old Bilsteins but, then, they were blown! lol So it's not really a fair comparison.

 

[Trialrun]

Sorry for the delayed reply dudes!
As for the Icons...umm, they're shiny! lol
Actually, I must admit, I'm not all that savvy when it comes to really telling the difference between one shock and another.

My old Bilsteins were blown though, and I needed to replace them. I figured the Icon 2.0's were about the cheapest option for an "upgrade" over what I had. They don't bounce around in the rear like my old Bilsteins but, then, they were blown! lol So it's not really a fair comparison.

Right on, thx

 

[nihkon]

I did a thing

 

[theesotericone]

I did a thing

What are the chances of two of us ordering on the same day? Congrats

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/2951363-post270.html

 

[nihkon]

What are the chances of two of us ordering on the same day? Congrats

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/2951363-post270.html

^Sweet! Great minds think alike huh!
I actually ordered mine about 2.5 weeks ago. So hopefully they'll be shipping by early next week! :reddance:

Are you doing the install yourself? I'd love to tackle this on my own but, unfortunately, I just don't have the time.

 

[nihkon]

I did some upgrading of my lighting.
First up was my front turn signals. The turn signals that came with the Shrockworks bumper are a joke. At night you can see them decently. But during the day, you might as well not even bother...as they're barely noticeable. They've been on my to-do list for years, but I just never got around to it...other than trying out various led lights in the oem parking lamp housings. I came across a For Sale ad here with a member selling a handful of various Rigid lights. One of the ones he had for sale were the "Ignite" model. I hadn't heard of that model before, but they got me thinking about my turn signal project again.

They pros to the lights were:
-They were small, but high powered (about 1000 lumens each)
-They utilize GoPro mounts. This was appealing for me, as I have a bunch of random GoPro mounts/arms laying around. And it meant that I wouldn't have to weld in some sort of mounting platform if I wanted to use some other kind of higher-powered lights that that the typical stud mount on the bottom.

So I went ahead and picked them up. I just need to apply some amber tint to them. So I got a sheet of amber tint from LaminX. It took 2 layers to get it just right.

Here is a shot comparing the tinted vs. non-tinted:

Here is the LaminX that I used:

Here they are, re-packaged, after tinting both lights:

And here is the finished product. I think cars will notice when I need to change lanes now!

 

[nihkon]

Next on the list was the fog lights. I had a set of PIAA 510's that I converted to HID a long time ago, but I was never really happy with them. One day I came across a deal on some amber-led Rigid Duallies. They were spot pattern, which obviously isn't ideal, but they were a great deal. So I pulled the trigger on those.

Here is a shot of the Rigids installed. The one cool thing about them is that they matched my ditch lights and the newly installed turn signals.

It was immediately apparent, though, that the spot pattern was pretty much a waste of time for fog lights. So I yanked them out and picked up a set of Baja Designs Squadron-R Sports, with the driving/combo pattern. The top 2 lenses are set up for driving, and the bottom 2 are "wide cornering" pattern. My bother in law has the Squadrons on his Tacoma, and I've always liked how they look on his truck.

Here they are installed. I think the overall round shape fits the bumper better. And the smaller round shapes compliment the Rigid turn signals. And my little girl said that she lights the yellow. So it was worth it!

 

[Road Bull]

Those look great. I really need to up my lighting game a bit this year. Those Squadron Sports work really well with your bumper too. And I would say that is a solid improvement in the turn signal department. That's good to know in case I ever need to swap out the simple LED that are in my AOR front bumper. I need to start to pay more attention to other people's lighting situation as far as what spread pattern (use) that they are using. I think for the most part I would benefit from close to medium distance coverage. I am not driving fast offroad, so it would seem that the spots would be less useful. But, I will have to start looking into it.

 

[theesotericone]

^Sweet! Great minds think alike huh!
I actually ordered mine about 2.5 weeks ago. So hopefully they'll be shipping by early next week! :reddance:

Are you doing the install yourself? I'd love to tackle this on my own but, unfortunately, I just don't have the time.

I'll be installing them as soon as they get here. I'm open/open currently so mine are coming with ARB's in both diffs. I already have an ARB compressor under the hood for my on-board air and I've already run the wiring because of that. So it should be as simple as installing them, running the air line, installing the solenoids to the compressor, then plugging the electric pigtails in.

I talked to ARB about the break-in period and about what to do for gear oils after the 500 mile change. To my surprise the recommended to stick with Lucus 85-140 dyno. I'll be using that since it's what they recommend.

Nice job in the bumper lights.

 

[ZOMBRNR]

Next on the list was the fog lights.

Boy those Baja's look perfect in there! I have the PIAA 510 LED's but they're super weak.

I actually bought a set for my Subaru Rally car, but rarely use them. Same as yours Squadron R Sport Amber. Debating putting the in my fog light location now lol.

 

[mikesayboom]

Just went through this build thread and you gave me a lot of ideas on what i want to officially do to mine.

Kudos to the clean well thought out 4runner! Wish i would have waited a little longer to find a clean black runner like yours but couldn’t pass up the deal i got on mine.

 

[nihkon]

Those look great. I really need to up my lighting game a bit this year. Those Squadron Sports work really well with your bumper too. And I would say that is a solid improvement in the turn signal department. That's good to know in case I ever need to swap out the simple LED that are in my AOR front bumper. I need to start to pay more attention to other people's lighting situation as far as what spread pattern (use) that they are using. I think for the most part I would benefit from close to medium distance coverage. I am not driving fast offroad, so it would seem that the spots would be less useful. But, I will have to start looking into it.

Thanks! Yeah, I'm really liking how the Squadrons look in the bumper. Now I just have to see how well they work at night! lol
And yeah, don't bother with the spots unless you really need that distance.

I'll be installing them as soon as they get here. I'm open/open currently so mine are coming with ARB's in both diffs. I already have an ARB compressor under the hood for my on-board air and I've already run the wiring because of that. So it should be as simple as installing them, running the air line, installing the solenoids to the compressor, then plugging the electric pigtails in.

I talked to ARB about the break-in period and about what to do for gear oils after the 500 mile change. To my surprise the recommended to stick with Lucus 85-140 dyno. I'll be using that since it's what they recommend.

Nice job in the bumper lights.

Gotcha. Shouldn't be too difficult for you then, since you've got a little of the work done already!
I'm open in the front, and will continue to be with the new setup. So that should be straight forward enough. My oem rear locker electronics should transfer over pretty easily to the new 3rd.

Good to know about the recommendations from ARB. I'll have to do some research to confirm what's needed for my setup. For the initial lubrication, I'll be using the gear oil that ECGS provides. I haven't looked too far into the break-in process yet, but I'm assuming those first 500 miles will need varies speeds...with no long, consistent stints on the highway. Kinda like breaking in a new engine or clutch.

Boy those Baja's look perfect in there! I have the PIAA 510 LED's but they're super weak.

I actually bought a set for my Subaru Rally car, but rarely use them. Same as yours Squadron R Sport Amber. Debating putting the in my fog light location now lol.

Thanks dude! Lol, yeah the stock 510's leave a lot to be desired!
The Squadrons would look good on the Subaru! My brother in law will probably be getting a set for his Forrester too.

Just went through this build thread and you gave me a lot of ideas on what i want to officially do to mine.

Kudos to the clean well thought out 4runner! Wish i would have waited a little longer to find a clean black runner like yours but couldn’t pass up the deal i got on mine.

Thanks! Hopefully yours turns out well!
Lol though...I didn't actually want a black 4Runner. But, like you, I came across a deal that I couldn't pass up. You can feel better having not found a black one...knowing how much of a pain it is to have a black off-road vehicle. Black is hard to keep clean, and it shows scratches like nothing else! lol

 

[nihkon]

So my shipment from ECGS showed up on Tuesday, and the 4Runner was torn apart on Saturday. Just to re-cap, I order the front clamshell and rear 3rd member....both sporting Nitro 5.29 gears.

Here are the boxes with the gear assemblies, and a bunch of gear oil:

Everything out of the boxes:

I also went ahead and picked up new oem inner axle seals and the o-rings:

The rear end all torn apart:

New 3rd vs old:

New 3rd installed: (with my brother-in-law's sweet Tacoma lurking in the back)

Then it was time to tear apart the front end:

I forgot to take installed photos of the front clamshell before re-installing the skid plate.

I'm still in the process of the initial 500 mile break-in period, so I'm taking it easy on it. But I can already feel that it has some more spring in its step again. Going up grades on the freeway didn't require me to click off overdrive, and the trans temps didn't seem to climb as high as quickly. Overall, the drivetrain did seem to feel a bit smoother too. But maybe that's also a factor of new oil and freshly torqued nuts/bolts.

After running some errands in it today, I'm down to about 400 miles left for the break-in. Then it will be time to drain/fill with new gear oil, then I can get this thing back out on the dirt finally!

Thanks again to Jason (Speed Freek on Tacomaworld) for taking charge with the install. It was fun to chat during the install, and lend a hand when I could.

 

[synergy101]

Drive it everywhere and rack up them break in miles! Then off to some tough trails to test out the new upgrades!!!:clap2:

 

[Dezert4Runner]

I knew I recognized that driveway! Jason is the man and anyone within driving distance to Vista that needs install work done should hit him up. The 4Runner looks great!