StormRunner Build & Adventure Thread

[kcSNOWrunner]

love your photography, and this build thread is 100!!!!!!!

 

[mv7007007]

Haha thanks. That's what they said on Instagram as well. I didn't even see it at first but now it's all I see

This thread is phenomenal, thanks for taking us along for the ride! Between the build and the scenic pics, I'm pumped to get my '16 SR5 up to Sedona, Flag and everywhere with a bike trail.

Your build has given me a lot of ideas. Pumped to get the lift and off-road tires on this week.

 

[Georgie]

Your truck looks amazing! Great build and im sure you love it. Im trying to get into a 2018 4runner off-road this week!

 

[rnic24]

Amazing! Thank you so much for the good inspiration!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Dometic]

Such a clean rig! One of our favorites on instagram

 

[jdtaylor42]

No 4Runner pics since I flew but just a few pics from my trip to Florida

Everglades National Park

Miami Beach

Biscayne National Park

Dry Tortugas National Park

Key West

 

[Ron4RNevada]

Love your photograhy.

 

[jdtaylor42]

Love your photograhy.

Thanks I appreciate that!

 

[DarkSideGTI]

Seems like you have been to Moab a few times. What trails have you done there? I've been a couple times but with my buddies and their Rubi's. We just picked up an '18 TRD ORP and will be doing similar lift/tires as you. I am pretty sure I can do most of fins and things without getting any bumper damage, but not sure on the other trails there.

BTW, nice photography as well. I have a D750 and love shooting down in Moab as well. Looking forward to more adventures now that we have a T4R.

 

[jdtaylor42]

Seems like you have been to Moab a few times. What trails have you done there? I've been a couple times but with my buddies and their Rubi's. We just picked up an '18 TRD ORP and will be doing similar lift/tires as you. I am pretty sure I can do most of fins and things without getting any bumper damage, but not sure on the other trails there.

BTW, nice photography as well. I have a D750 and love shooting down in Moab as well. Looking forward to more adventures now that we have a T4R.

Thanks! I love the D750 and so glad I finally pulled the trigger and upgraded to it.

I have been to Moab like 4-5 times but only off-roaded two of those times. I have run Fins & Things multiple times and run Top of the World. I really want to run Hell’s Revenge but haven’t had time on my vacations yet. Fins & Things can absolutely be run with no damage at all. Top of the World will scrape your skid plates a lot unless you are very slow and use a spotter. I was alone and got out a LOT to choose lines and still scraped a lot on that trail but it is really fun and has an awesome payoff

 

[DarkSideGTI]

Thanks! I love the D750 and so glad I finally pulled the trigger and upgraded to it.

I have been to Moab like 4-5 times but only off-roaded two of those times. I have run Fins & Things multiple times and run Top of the World. I really want to run Hell’s Revenge but haven’t had time on my vacations yet. Fins & Things can absolutely be run with no damage at all. Top of the World will scrape your skid plates a lot unless you are very slow and use a spotter. I was alone and got out a LOT to choose lines and still scraped a lot on that trail but it is really fun and has an awesome payoff

I'm ok with scraping skids, it's the bumpers I'm afraid of. I have ran Hells with my friends as a passenger in a Rubi and it was a blast. We had a friend bring a mildly modded F150 and he got his rear bumper hung up at one point and we had to push him off.


DSC_4501-2 by Nick Larson, on Flickr

He opted to not do the Moab Rim trail, as you can see it is pretty gnarly.


DSC_4563-2 by

Nick Larson, on Flickr

This was on Gold Spike and would be a bumper banger for sure on a 4Runner.

 

[jdtaylor42]

I'm ok with scraping skids, it's the bumpers I'm afraid of. I have ran Hells with my friends as a passenger in a Rubi and it was a blast. We had a friend bring a mildly modded F150 and he got his rear bumper hung up at one point and we had to push him off.

Nice! Yeah I can imagine a long wheelbase like an F150 would have a tough time on most of the Moab trails. I really hope to get back and run some more trails soon though

 

[T4 Leaf]

So I decided to have my bumper valences actually painted at a body shop rather than having them plasti-dipped since it's a lot of work to keep plasti-dip looking good in an off-road rig.

The rear valence was replaced and painted black during my body shop repair a couple weeks ago (thread here). I really liked the way it turned out so I decided to pull the front valence off and have it painted as well.

I have never done a "write-up" before but I have used hundreds of them in the years I have been working on cars. Since I couldn't find a "removing the front bumper" write-up that had working, active pictures I decided to make one. So here it is and let me know if I should add/remove/change anything since this is my first.

So first thing is to open the hood and remove the radiator top cover. There are 13 pop retainers that hold this piece on. Just push down on the center and then they are loose and ready to be removed. I pop all 13 and then pull up on the cover to remove the retainers.

Now you need to remove two retainers and a 10mm bolt seen here. For these clips you need to raise the center portion rather than pushing it down. I use a small blade screwdriver to pop it up and then they can be pulled out.

Now with those three things removed you can remove the top grill from the lower IF you want to or have a need to. It is not necessary to separate the two pieces unless you have a specific need to do so. If you do want to separate them though there are eight slide-in clips that hold the two grill pieces together. These were pretty hard to separate on mine so I wouldn't do so unless you needed to.

There are then four more retainers holding the upper portion of the lower bumper to the frame. They are the type you have to raise the center portion to remove

Next you use a 10mm wrench or socket to remove the three screws in each wheel well as seen here

Now you need to crawl under the front bumper and you will see there are six bolts/screws holding the bumper on. This picture is looking towards the drivers side and you can see three of the bolts/screws. They are the exact same on the passenger side. Again they are all 10mm

The bumper is now loose and can be pulled off but keep in mind that on each side where it meets the fender, you need to pull out rather than pulling the entire bumper forward. So start on each side and pull the bumper out towards the sides to get it free before pulling the entire bumper off the truck. Here you can see the ledge that the bumper sits on, on each side of the truck

When pulling the bumper to the sides, another thing to keep in mind is the top wheel well screw, screws into a protrusion that the bumper sits around. So you need to lift the bumper over this protrusion to be able to pull the bumper out to the sides. You can see the protrusion here

With the sides of the bumper pulled out, you can now pull the entire bumper forward and it will come off the vehicle. However, the bumper will only hang as the fog light wiring is still attached. They are simple snap connectors that you need to remove to get the bumper fully removed

Now you have the bumper completely off the vehicle

If you also want to remove the front valence from the bumper, there are 13 retainer clips holding it onto the bumper. You just need to depress the clip and slide each one out the to side as you can see

And this is what my truck will look like for the week while the valence is being painted

Hopefully this helps others

Thx SR....getting a TRD Valance during the Texas Jambo and will be attempting this in the coming weeks!

 

[LockeLamora]

Thx SR....getting a TRD Valance during the Texas Jambo and will be attempting this in the coming weeks!

Just did it, this write up made it super easy! Great looking rig OP, and thanks for the help!

 

[jdtaylor42]

Over Memorial Day weekend I headed out to Death Valley for some off-roading, some hiking, and lots of photography. Been wanting to get back there for a long time and finally made it happen. Was an awesome trip!

Rhyolite Ghost Town

Titus Canyon

Teakettle Junction

Racetrack Playa

Lippencott Pass

Lee Flat Joshua Trees

Father Crowley Point

Darwin Falls

 

[jdtaylor42]

Storm clouds coming in over the dunes

Night Photography at Badwater Basin

Road to Natural Bridge

Artist's Palette

Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes

I also did some fun pics with my Funko Batman

 

[DannyLlama]

Sick.. thanks for sharing

 

[JohnTheLuck]

Over Memorial Day weekend I headed out to Death Valley for some off-roading, some hiking, and lots of photography. Been wanting to get back there for a long time and finally made it happen. Was an awesome trip!

Awesome place indeed. And of course, great pictures again!

 

[Gclark949]

It is an easy install in that there are no modifications necessary to install it. One of the big reasons I chose this rack is it is full-length but does not require any drilling.

It does take some time to install just because it is large and on top of the vehicle. Plus you want to have it positioned correctly so the rear hatch will not make contact when opened and also there is a procedure to tightening everything down so it lays flat and smooth. Since the initial install though I haven't had to touch it as far as adjustments. Nothing but good things to say about this rack.

I read through your whole adventure thread and really enjoyed it. I saved a bunch of "want to go" places in my google maps. Can you elaborate on the roof rack and how it attaches to the truck? Looks like it takes 5 feet per side. Do these feet attach directly to the roof or is there a roof specific rail that gets bolted down? Just trying to understand how it avoids drilling into the roof and cant seem to find any installation instructions online. Thanks!

 

[jdtaylor42]

I read through your whole adventure thread and really enjoyed it. I saved a bunch of "want to go" places in my google maps. Can you elaborate on the roof rack and how it attaches to the truck? Looks like it takes 5 feet per side. Do these feet attach directly to the roof or is there a roof specific rail that gets bolted down? Just trying to understand how it avoids drilling into the roof and cant seem to find any installation instructions online. Thanks!

Thanks! So many amazing places to explore in the US

For the rack, there are four factory bolt down locations and the K9 rack uses only those. It has a rail that bolts into those four location and then the five feet per side attach to that rail.

The tightening procedure I mentioned is so that rail pushes down at the front of the vehicle on that rail. The roof is obviously sloped down at the front and you want the rail to match that slope so it looks smooth. So basically you drop the middle foot all the way down and tighten and then you work your way out tightening the feet. The stiffness of the actual rack applies downward pressure to that rail. So when you are done the middle foot is pretty much as low as it will go and the front feet are pretty much extended as long as they will go. This makes that rail nice and smooth.

Once you have those adjustments done you never have to touch it again and it is very strong. I am 6'4" and 220 and I have stood at the front of the rack and it holds weight with no issues. :thumb3: