Road Bull's 2002 SR-5 timeline.

[Road Bull]

Looks good with the new tires and snorkel! I recently had to replace both my Napa TBU calipers as well, one was dragging, and the other was stuck open. Seems to be a semi common issue with them after a few years.

Thanks man. It has been a pain in the ass to make it all work, but it is coming together.

Yeah, I don't think I would recommend going Napa for the TBU anymore. I mean they just don't have that great a record. I haven't tried to rebuild any junk yard OEM units, but, how hard can it be? LOL...

As for the snorkel, I am hoping that it, maybe in combination with a different pre cleaner will keep our summer dust at bay.

 

[Road Bull]

Retrofits!

So, I guess this is happening. I got this stuff during a BF sale. I am waiting one a replacement bowl housing that I jibbered up the threads on being a dumb ass. I got some new TYC housings as I wanted to keep my newer OEM housings unmolested. My newer OEM housings have stripped adjusters... I found THAT out after buying them last summer. Thanks Craigslist!! It turns out, that you can buy just those plastic replacement adjusters from the retrofit source. Good to know. I think I will pick up a handful of those little f******.

All in all, I think it will look pretty cool and more importantly be a hell of a lot brighter than the candle lights I'm driving by currently. I did not want anything too fancy, partly because I figured I'd **** it up somehow, and partly because I like simple. Looking forward to getting it done.

 

[Road Bull]

Getting ready for a trail run this weekend. I bought an Odyssey 34R PC-1500 battery to swap out my 24F. I also bought the little bottom battery tray insert.

I purchased direct from Odyssey. The had fast free shipping and no extra tax. It was $304.87 for the battery and $4.33 for the snap on spacer, so, $309.20 all said and done.

I've seen better and worse packaging I guess. I would call this pack job pictures, "At least I tried.".

And as you know anything besides the batteries that came in our 4Runners doesn't match up well with the tie down bracket, so I added a little rubber material that I had for the time being till I get it sorted better.

 

[Bandit Runner]

Ha. I used rubber on my Odyssey battery almost exactly like you did. Still holding well after six years now.

 

[Road Bull]

Ha. I used rubber on my Odyssey battery almost exactly like you did. Still holding well after six years now.

Haha.. Good! Well that gives me a bit more confidence in my low brow approach dealing with wandering battery.

I saw a video of someone doing something with a Toyota with a different rubber bracket style arm. It was slotted and had metal inserts at the tie down points. It looked promising, but I have yet to find it, or something better on the market besides a full on weld-in or bolt-in battery box. Even then, most of the aftermarket options are for the 34/78 battery group size. :redbrick: I mean.. Odyssey makes a specific aluminum one, but it is fairly expensive.

Video of a rubber bracket I found. YouTube

 

[Road Bull]

Tahuya 04/20/19 West Loop.

Got together with EPC to stretch the legs out at a fun local area. I had not been on the West loop, (a bit more technical.), And wanted to check it out.

There are plenty of deep alternating transitions that had me dragging ass here and there. There was a section that had tons of tree trunks of various sizes. I got to use the armor a bit. Pivots, landings, deflections and so on. The gatekeeper was fun. We had mostly FJs, besides myself and a 5th gen running everything from 32" to 37" tires.

To get to the W. Loop, you pretty much need to beach yourself between the two large rocks at the entrance, then pull yourself forward a few feet to clear the gatekeeper.

I don't rub in the front after clearancing for 35s, but... I DO rub in the back. It looks like it is rubbing mostly on the flat portion of the rear 4X Innovations bumper. Those are "supposed" to clear 35s, but, maybe not so much.

Fun times.

 

[Road Bull]

A few more pics.

Some more blurry pics.

Oh, I picked up an Odyssey 34R battery. Seems to be working out just fine.

 

[Road Bull]

Here's a bit of video footage from my friend Trevor's youtube channel. He has the tan FJ on 37 Patagonias and the one climbing up and over the rock garden.

I suck and linking youtube stuff, but, let's see if it works...

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[Road Bull]

Feeling cute. Might go blind a few people later, IDK...

J/K

The shit is cut off and haven't been flashed.

So I installed some HID retrofits. They are the Morimoto mini H1 7.0s. Nothing about this seemed fun to me. LOL. Maybe if I did it again, it would be easier, but still a PITA. I used some TYC headlight assemblies for the build.

I still need to raise the passenger side up and do a DRL delete. But, for now, it is a huge difference compared to the dim candlelight I was driving by before. Trying to get used to the hard cut off. That's a little weird.

*Helpful hints. Before sealing up the housing, ensure that there are no silicone packs inside the housing. Ask me how I know.

 

[Unner]

The retrofits look really good. That's one of those things I want to do, but I'm afraid to go away from the trouble free Halogens. Did you read up on longevity of them on off road vehicles at all? Curious if you saw anything positive or negative about them having any sort of issues due to extra vibrations and bumps.

 

[BrianSD_42]

Retrofits can be a pain, I agree. I've done 5 sets now and I'm less eager to do a 6th set than ever now.

Surprised a bit that it looks off like that. With the H1s are those screw on type (like the Mini D2S) or manual drilling holes and aligning type (like FX-R) projectors? If it is screw on type then both should align somewhat similar.

With my Mini D2S I have to tilt them up quite a bit to get that perfect light projection of 3 feet off the ground at 30 yards. The light housing isn't exactly factory flush because of this.

 

[SDmtnbkr]

I don't rub in the front after clearancing for 35s, but... I DO rub in the back. It looks like it is rubbing mostly on the flat portion of the rear 4X Innovations bumper. Those are "supposed" to clear 35s, but, maybe not so much.

Fun times.

Hey, so have you worked on clearance in the rear? How do those 35's tuck into the body at full twist with 3.5 backspaced wheels?? I'm planning my move to 35's right now and I'm worried about the rears. I'd be going with the same wheels as your, just 17's.

 

[Road Bull]

The retrofits look really good. That's one of those things I want to do, but I'm afraid to go away from the trouble free Halogens. Did you read up on longevity of them on off road vehicles at all? Curious if you saw anything positive or negative about them having any sort of issues due to extra vibrations and bumps.

Thanks man! That was sorta the way I felt about it till my FJ friends and 4Runner friend said that they have had theirs for years without much issue. I don't want to jinx myself, but it wasn't too bad I guess. I just cracked em open and used the same factory glue to reseal them. We are pretty much out of our rainy season here, so I hope they hold up to moisture. I have washed my rig a few times since, and haven't had any condensation. We'll see how washboards treat em.

I figure, if they start to be a PITA, I can just throw the stock housings back in the TCY adjustment brackets. My CL purchased housings had good glass, but destroyed adjusters.

Retrofits can be a pain, I agree. I've done 5 sets now and I'm less eager to do a 6th set than ever now.

Surprised a bit that it looks off like that. With the H1s are those screw on type (like the Mini D2S) or manual drilling holes and aligning type (like FX-R) projectors? If it is screw on type then both should align somewhat similar.

With my Mini D2S I have to tilt them up quite a bit to get that perfect light projection of 3 feet off the ground at 30 yards. The light housing isn't exactly factory flush because of this.

There is a chance that one of the sides is, just, off. But I am about to try to adjust them tonight. Even how they sit now.. They are WORLDS better at their job than my old headlights. During install, we just ran out of time and it was like one in the morning. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't blinding anyone.

Hey, so have you worked on clearance in the rear? How do those 35's tuck into the body at full twist with 3.5 backspaced wheels?? I'm planning my move to 35's right now and I'm worried about the rears. I'd be going with the same wheels as your, just 17's.

No I have not. At what I would call full compression, I seem to be rubbing the flat part of the rear 4X Innovations rear bumper. In theory, their bumper is supposed to clear 35" tires. So not too sure what are making mine special. Maybe it's just the swing out that accommodates a 35" tire. But I wasn't expecting rubbing back there with my SS extended bumpstops.

I might look into the Durobumps by Plasticsguy for the rears. I "might" look at extending the current Daystar bumps a bit to cut the rub off at the pass. I mean, I have a ton of travel, giving up a little wouldn't hurt that much. I talked to Flemster, who has the same rear bumper. He said that his rubs too, but not enough to do much about. So that's where I am at. Preferably, I would like to get it sorted. I would rather not have to modify my rear bumper, but we'll see I guess.

 

[SDmtnbkr]

No I have not. At what I would call full compression, I seem to be rubbing the flat part of the rear 4X Innovations rear bumper. In theory, their bumper is supposed to clear 35" tires. So not too sure what are making mine special. Maybe it's just the swing out that accommodates a 35" tire. But I wasn't expecting rubbing back there with my SS extended bumpstops.

I might look into the Durobumps by Plasticsguy for the rears. I "might" look at extending the current Daystar bumps a bit to cut the rub off at the pass. I mean, I have a ton of travel, giving up a little wouldn't hurt that much. I talked to Flemster, who has the same rear bumper. He said that his rubs too, but not enough to do much about. So that's where I am at. Preferably, I would like to get it sorted. I would rather not have to modify my rear bumper, but we'll see I guess.

Interesting... I would imagine the tire would smash right into the top of the wheel arch, right on the body. I actually have Duro bumps (before he started calling them that lol) front and rear because with my 265's on 17" Sequoia dual stars and 1.25" Spidertrax spacers, it contacted pretty good in the arch. I wasn't hitting the outter body, but it was damn close, and was binding just inside the arch. With wider tires and a much wider offset, I'm surprised it doesn't hit. Maybe you haven't flexed it to full compression?

Before the spacers, I could tuck the wheel so far in the rear well without my sway bar, it was crazy. That 1.25" spacer was enough to get the tire to bind in the arch, so I had to add the bump stops to limit up travel. I guess I'll just have to do it and figure out what I need to cut afterwards lol.

Btw.... those duro bumps are amazing! The rears aren't anything special. They work great and all, just limit up travel. But the fronts were night and day!

 

[Road Bull]

Interesting... I would imagine the tire would smash right into the top of the wheel arch, right on the body. I actually have Duro bumps (before he started calling them that lol) front and rear because with my 265's on 17" Sequoia dual stars and 1.25" Spidertrax spacers, it contacted pretty good in the arch. I wasn't hitting the outter body, but it was damn close, and was binding just inside the arch. With wider tires and a much wider offset, I'm surprised it doesn't hit. Maybe you haven't flexed it to full compression?

Before the spacers, I could tuck the wheel so far in the rear well without my sway bar, it was crazy. That 1.25" spacer was enough to get the tire to bind in the arch, so I had to add the bump stops to limit up travel. I guess I'll just have to do it and figure out what I need to cut afterwards lol.

Btw.... those duro bumps are amazing! The rears aren't anything special. They work great and all, just limit up travel. But the fronts were night and day!

Yeah, so I run a SS 1.2 rear lift with the exception of the upgraded ARB 861 springs. So I still run a rear sway bar and full flex till resistance as it stands. LOL. Certain flex I can hear the drive line touching the OEM gas skid. I need to pound that out of the way. I keep forgetting.

As for tire backspacing and clearance, I remember reading the SS suggested certain items for going up to a 35" tire. He suggested 3.5" BS to be ideal. I took this on faith and a bit of hope. I wanted wheels that were made for our center bore and I wanted the 3.5" BS because I felt, at the time, that there was a *small* possibility that I might be crazy enough to get a 315/75/16 tire. Well, here I am. Not all "35s" are equal. Some are taller, or wider, or both. But, so far, I was at the flex limit, limited, ultimately by the stout rear bumper end caps. I guess that's better than the top of the arch, or sharp body corner near the bumper.

I still want to get it sorted, or at least be assured that I can live where it rubs currently. I feel that *some* rubbing is okay, as long as it isn't doing body or tire damage.

 

[Road Bull]

Here are some poser *flex* pics just for stuff reference. Some of the benefits of having a vehicle that can use the space they shoveled all the snow into.

Now, for reference, I think the bumpstops were touching, but not as compressed as when I went off-road and was cycling the suspension at opposing corners.

 

[Road Bull]

So I got some camping in before the NWOR. I wanted to try out hammock camping. Well.. I might need some more practice. The night I broke the hammock out, it got down to the low thirties... Hahahaha. In the morning we got a light dusting if snow. I guess we were around 6200 feet elevation.

The rally was cool. It was more about camping and hanging out though. Oh, and pina colada and margarita Jell-O shots.. Whooohooo!

 

[Road Bull]

Sherpa Roof Rack has landed.

I had been wanting one of these for a long time. My friend came by and lent a hand getting it mounted up with the help of a few beers.

 

[violation]

is it just me or does your rack look like it's mounted kinda high off the roof? maybe it's just the angle of the photo?

 

[Road Bull]

is it just me or does your rack look like it's mounted kinda high off the roof? maybe it's just the angle of the photo?

I took this picture if my rig while I was squatted down. I think that is what might be accentuating the appearance of more space then what is actually there. Here's a side profile pic.