Northeast Expedition's 2016 TRDPro build

Just a heads up man, sure you already know the deal with the FJ and stuff. When installing all my suspension and rear links and rear UCAs I was shocked at how loose everything was from the factory, especially the bottom shock bolts front and back. I retightened and used lock tight on all the moving parts. Glad no damage happened!

Yeah I had loosened up the nuts and bolts myself to give more movement in the rear end to install the taller springs. Same thing I did when I did the FJ, I guess I forgot to tighten up the bolt and nut or I didn't tighten it up enough. I do plan on on adding some loctite when I put the new hardware in. Thanks for the tip and thanks! Im totally glad nothing bad happened too haha.
 
Great trail fix. Never would have thought of that.
Did use a hi-lift handle to fix a tie-rod once.

I never would have either! That's interesting, care to share how you did that? I love to hear new ways to fix something on the trail.
 
I never would have either! That's interesting, care to share how you did that? I love to hear new ways to fix something on the trail.

It was on a Jeep in Big Bear. Might have been the drag link (about 15 years ago - mind is going). We couldn't quite straighten it out and were worried any pressure to the front wheel would bend it again, so just disconnected it, slid the handle over like a sleeve, then hooked it back up. Worked quite well actually.
 
It was on a Jeep in Big Bear. Might have been the drag link (about 15 years ago - mind is going). We couldn't quite straighten it out and were worried any pressure to the front wheel would bend it again, so just disconnected it, slid the handle over like a sleeve, then hooked it back up. Worked quite well actually.

That's awesome. I had a feeling it was going to be a trail fix on a Jeep. I've actually seen photos of that done before. Still, its kick ass that you actually did it and it worked!
 
This past Saturday the girlfriend and I took a trip out to Gettysburg, PA. Never been before and thought it would be fun to do. Here's a couple photos from the trip. I even got the GoPro and 6ft selfie stick out for some cool shots haha.





 
This past Sunday, I went over my buddy CJ's (guy with the Jeep JK on 43s in the previous post) and installed the Demello Offroad Rock sliders and finally mounted the fire extinguisher.









 
The Stealth Custom Series wheels arrived on Monday. Went and picked them up. After grabbing them from UPS, I headed home and installed the Superbrightleds.com LED light strobe module. I had one of these modules on my FJ Cruiser and loved the way it would strobe fast then flash slow and stay on constant. This tends to grab people's attention and keeps them from rear ending me. I'll post the video below.

To install it, I removed the two screws holding the 3rd brake light in, cut the wires on the plug, BLUE is POSITIVE and WHITE/BLACK is NEGATIVE. Wire the module up properly, add some heat shrink tubing, and your ready to slip it into the air dam.....problem....the hole is too small. You will have to cut the air dam and make the hole bigger. No biggie cause you'll never see it and it's plastic. No worries of rust! After enlarging the hole, slip it all in and bolt back up the 3rd brake light and try it out!









 
Tuesday was the day it all came together. Went to Mill Street Tire in Moorestown, NJ to have the tires mounted and balanced. Had a bit of an issue with the balancing but Chris at MST took care of me and sent me up to RW Tire in Bordentown where they found out I had a bad tire. Called Discount tire and they are sending me a replacement. Good thing I ordered 5 tires! Yesterday I went back to RW Tire and had them replace the bad tire with the other one. All is great now!

Today I went back to Steinmann's Wheel and Frame Alignment shop to get another alignment since the wheels and tires are different. Marty got Falkor tracking completely straight and better than it was from Toyota! If you're in NJ and need a good alignment, go see Marty! Best $135 ever spent for an alignment. Been going there for 3 years now and he always does a wonderful job.

Here's a few photos from the wheel and tire install. The wheels are Stealth Custom Series SR8s. They are 17x8.5 with a -10mm offset. The tires are Cooper ST Maxx in a size of 285/70/17. The ST Maxx tires actually measure a bit taller than normal 285s. This causes rubbing on the front mud flaps. I plan on removing those this weekend.







 
Tuesday was the day it all came together. Went to Mill Street Tire in Moorestown, NJ to have the tires mounted and balanced. Had a bit of an issue with the balancing but Chris at MST took care of me and sent me up to RW Tire in Bordentown where they found out I had a bad tire. Called Discount tire and they are sending me a replacement. Good thing I ordered 5 tires! Yesterday I went back to RW Tire and had them replace the bad tire with the other one. All is great now!

Today I went back to Steinmann's Wheel and Frame Alignment shop to get another alignment since the wheels and tires are different. Marty got Falkor tracking completely straight and better than it was from Toyota! If you're in NJ and need a good alignment, go see Marty! Best $135 ever spent for an alignment. Been going there for 3 years now and he always does a wonderful job.

Here's a few photos from the wheel and tire install. The wheels are Stealth Custom Series SR8s. They are 17x8.5 with a -10mm offset. The tires are Cooper ST Maxx in a size of 285/70/17. The ST Maxx tires actually measure a bit taller than normal 285s. This causes rubbing on the front mud flaps. I plan on removing those this weekend.








Dude, do you own a money tree? If you do, i want some of
That..lol...
 
Dude, do you own a money tree? If you do, i want some of
That..lol...

Lmao! When it comes to building my rigs, I don't waste a lot of time. So far I've spent over $5k on this build and I haven't really even did anything major to it other than the lift, wheels, and tires. As soon as the roof rack comes in, the build will slow down a bit.
 
Lmao! When it comes to building my rigs, I don't waste a lot of time. So far I've spent over $5k on this build and I haven't really even did anything major to it other than the lift, wheels, and tires. As soon as the roof rack comes in, the build will slow down a bit.

Awesome rig, man!
 
Today after work I decided to tackle the mud flaps. Removed both of the front mud flaps and now there's no more rubbing at full lock. This makes me extremely happy. To remove the front mud flaps, it's four 10mm bolts and two plastic clips. Doesn't look too horrible without them either.










After fooling around with the front mud flaps, I decided to mod the rear flaps a bit. Took a pair of scissors to the rear flaps and cut the tiny flap extension off. It shortens up the flap and gives the rear a different look. More tire showing makes it look like its a bit taller, visual illusions haha.

BEFORE




AFTER




Excuse my hand. I was blocking the sun to prevent bright glare hahaha

 
After riding around and hearing some rattling, I narrowed it down to being the recently install fire extinguisher and mount. Got online and ordered up some 3" quickfist and some original quickfist. Finally got the 3" fist mounted in the original location of the fire extinguisher mount, so no new holes had to be drilled. Then I drilled two holes in the passenger side panel and mounted the original quickfist. Threw in the Gerber axe/saw combo that I had won off of Instagram in a giveaway last week. All fits well and looks good. The extinguisher still has a little bit of bounce due to the plastic flexing. Will address this issue later on down the road. While I was in the back of the 4Runner, I came up with a cool storage solution/shelf system. Now to actually make it happen!








 

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