Samantha's Build

ajonesnv

ajonesnv

New member
Im starting this thread waaaaaaaay too late in the process, so Ill just start with my most recent project and then add older stuff as I go and will try to put it some sort of order.

Basics: 99 SR5, bought with 113,xxx miles on it. To date she has 211,xxx. I am the second owner and feel like I lucked out when I found it...like most it took some patience and time to find "the one". Here is a photo at the DMV the day after I bought it.



Running Boards and wheels were the first to go. Fortunately, the guy had the stock wheels so once the chrome sold I was able to buy a set of new tires. I started with Nitto Terrra Grapplers.

Current Set-Up:

Sway-A-Way Coil Overs
OME 891's with Bilstien 5100's
eBay Uni-Ball UCA's
ARB Front Bumper
CBI Rear Hybrid with a homemade swing out and tire carrier
Full length custom built roof rack
FJ Cruiser 17" wheels with custom made TRD center caps

 
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Current Roof Rack

Like most a high quality roof rack is just not practical...feed the kids or a roof right am I right ;)

I have had several different racks on my truck, the first few were ones I bent out of EMT and surprisingly it was quite strong if reinforced well. I wanted a full length roof rack though and had little to no desire to do it out of EMT.

So, I ended up trying my luck on building off a Rola Extended Roof Rack <----Currently for sale. It turned out nice minus two things that drove me nuts, one it had no bend in it so as it got closer to the front there was more of a gap. (I've been spoiled by looking at too many of Whitsons amazingly built racks.) Second was it weighs quite a bit. Not so much its unmanageable, just too much.

On to my current roof rack...thanks to hundreds of photos of Gobi, Baja, Whitson, and many other custom builds I had in mind what I wanted to do. I wanted a full length rack that followed the curve of the body, is very low profile, and will be ready for a light bar in the future. Ill write a full build on this once Im completed, but here are some teaser photos on how its turning out.


Side note, Im getting my truck painted next week...so ignore the oxidation :(









I will hopefully have it all done by this weekend...It has been a slow process between work and my wife being out of town. But I am quite pleased so far.

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OK, So I lowered the height a little more...I should be painting by this weekend.







And about got all the expanded metal in place.




Now I have paint on, I should be getting it mounted soon...I was kinda waiting until I got my truck washed one good time since the paint is new.



 
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slides said:
85 is cheap I priced mine out and was at 150$.....need to find another steel yard
Click to expand...

Yea we pay 9.50/20' stick!!

I would say though, that some probably use 1" and maybe even a thicker wall, which would increase the price. I figured that would be over-kill considering that have built a couple roof racks out of EMT that were easily strong enough to hold 200+ lbs.
 
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JB_Runner said:
Love the rack!

Interested in taking a commission on building the same kind of rack?
Click to expand...

Might not be cost effective for the buyer...so much time involved. I would consider it though.

The cost in supplies is relatively cheap, but I literally have about 18-20 hours in this. Obviously it would take far less for the second, as a lot of the time was spend thinking how I want it to look, trying something and then redoing it.

I can say this, I think anyone can do this with access to the right tools. My plans are to write-up a brief description of dimensions and what-not so others can do it if they want.
 
slides said:
How are you mounting it to the roof, and are you just going to leave the front over hung?
Click to expand...

I have a couple ideas...once I land on one I'll post it up. I'm kicking around the idea of adjustable feet.

I've had to take some time off from this project between my truck getting painted and some personal stuff.
 
Body Paint!!!

Well, I decided that I was sick of the crappy fading Toyota paint. Honestly it seems like it was cancerous, it started on the hood and spread on up to the doors. By the time it reached the doors, I gave up. I love my truck and it started to look like I gave no craps about it. All the cool armor and lights and roof racks meant nothing to me with the paint the way it was ;)

So, I got it painted. I will provide some better photos soon but here are some comparison photos:




After ;)




Might soon be named MurderRunner at least thats what [MENTION=96608]MandAtaco[/MENTION] thinks.
 
UCA Install

OK, I took on the risk of the eBay UCA's. I did a full write-up on them that might be useful for anyone willing to try them out.

So, far (almost 2 months) I have had no problems with them. The balls are in great shape, the bushings are holding up very well, and haven't affected my alignment at all.

Here are a couple photos, the meat is in the write-up:

First thing I knew needed to be done was to clean out all this ridiculous grease and get some dry lube in there:




After Install*:


*Please read the write-up if you ever consider these.
 
ARB Prado Land Cruiser Bumper

I found a ridiculous deal on an ARB bumper for a Toyota (Land Cruiser) Prado that I could not pass up.

A guy had this bolted up to his Tacoma. If found real quick the bodies on Prado's are wider than 4Runners and to leave it as is would be fine if I had a Limited, but looked silly with the SR5 flares, so I fixed it :) Of course I needed help so [MENTION=96608]MandAtaco[/MENTION] and I knocked it out.

First we had to oblong the mount holes so it would kine up with the 4Runner body line.
Test fit for amount of adjustment needed


Oblonging:


The next major step was to bring in the sides, so I didn't have wings:




Finally the last major hurdle was the ends of the bumper. They were far longer than the truck lines, so those were then cut and capped:




<----Also a glamor shot for [MENTION=96608]MandAtaco[/MENTION]



Final lines and placement:




All-in-all, Im glad we did this. It made it worth running, but I ended up selling it for the cost to buy my buddies ARB from his Taco. The Taco ones are a tighter feel, width, and light-hoop wise.
 
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