Superman3043's Build Thread

[superman3043]

haha, I'd like to get one of those go pros there pretty slick. The more I see them come out with us the more I think of getting one.

Do it!!

While this build thread has got some life, I guess I'll provide a little update slash sneak preview.

What I've been up to lately:

Been experiencing some ride symptoms that I can only attribute to a blown shock. I'm pretty sure they were due for a re-build anyway. Ordered a re-build kit from Poly-Performance. A special thanks to Alex Reed of Carolina Truggies for helping me with the re-build. I'm going to try to get them back on the truck this evening. Hopefully it helps. It could have been something as simple as needing a recharge, but I like the piece of mind of having freshly re-built units.

The ole' spring compressor:

I've also got a set of lower ball joints in-bound. Mine appear to be pretty shot. Was hoping to do them at the same time as the coil-overs going back in, but they didn't make it in time. I ordered these, which by the way, the Raybestos and AC Delco parts appear to be identical. You'll just pay a little more for the Delcos:

ACDelco 45D2426 Professional Suspension Ball Joint : Amazon.com : Automotive

Ordered my 4th Gen Raingle Net:

www.raingler.com

For those that don't know, they have developed a 4th gen specific instead of us having to buy the FJ one. Thanks to [MENTION=73750]Dusty Driftwood[/MENTION] and [MENTION=47269]Darklight[/MENTION] for the info on these.

And it looks like I've got the inside track on an a Toyota E-Locker from an FJ Cruiser thanks to a really awesome friend! So a retrofit will be in the works in the next couple of weeks. I ordered all the parts I needed from Chase at East Coast Gear Supply which was the master install kit, a solid pinion spacer, a gasket and some studs. Thanks to Chase! He's always great to deal with.

So yeah, there's been a little "build" traction here. I'm mainly just trying to have the truck right before the baby arrives late this month, since her mother will be hauling her around in it until we buy her a new baby hauler. That's all folks!

 

[Darklight]

Thanks for posting up the vid's. Those darn links are embarrassingly loud :mad2:

I hope the coilovers ride better then new for you now,

lane:

 

[Alex T4R]

PD, awesome videos looks like you had bunch of fun. What kind notice you had from blown shocks?

 

[superman3043]

What kind notice you had from blown shocks?

Hey Alex! Well after putting my freshly re-built shocks in, it definitely was a shock issue. She rides like a dream now. At the end of it, I'm still not convinced that the shock was actually blown. I'll get in to that in a second.

So, to understand the symptoms of a failing shock, I guess you need to understand the function of the actual part. You don't really need to look any further than the name as these are called "shock absorbers" or "dampers". Their primary function is to dampen or absorb the shocks from the road surface by pushing fluid through valves. They in turn, are designed to keep your tires in contact with the ground.

Now what I was experiencing was indicative of a shock issue. I describe it as loose and floaty, sort of like the front end was riding off of the ground. It seemed to wander a little almost like when you don't have enough caster, but I knew that wasn't the issue because the wheel seemed to center itself fine and my caster numbers where good on a recent alignment. Also the road vibrations got a lot worse, especially when going around curves and one side of the suspension was loaded. It also felt like it was over-steering when loading up on one side. It was very unnerving and I found myself driving pretty cautiously, especially at high speed. Just think about striking a coil that was just sitting on the ground with a hammer. Picture how that spring steel would resonate. Now do the same thing with you hand pushing down on the coil. Hand acting as a damper. Now figure how that experiment would translate into chassis vibration. Hopefully that explains it a little.

Some test and experiments that can be performed to diagnose shock issues are.:

The bounce test: Basically bounce on the corner you think is bad and let go. If the shock is doing it's job, it should settle back to it's resting position almost immediately. If a shock is bad, it would continue to bounce a few times. This test was inconclusive for me.

fluid loss: Physically examine for hydraulic fluid that has seeped passed the seals. I had no visual signs of fluid loss.

rough ride: This is really the only symptom I had.

After I removed the coil from the assembly, I compressed the piston to see if it would return, and it did. It also felt like there was plenty of pressure (damping) on it. Again, no visual signs of fluid leakage. Also, at dissassembly and rebuild of the shock body, there were actually no visible signs of seal failure. The only tell tale evidence of what happened was that the nitrogen charge was low, and the fluid was absolutely cooked (even smelled burnt). So while it was definitely a shock issue, it's hard to point to an exact culprit. My guess is it might have been fine with a nitrogen recharge, but I'm happy to have the piece of mind of a fresh rebuild with fresh fluids. They should last me a long time now. Hope that can help someone down the road. I'm new to this whole rebuild-able coil-over thing, so it was a great learning experience for me, if not a little ill-timed. But I guess these type issues usually are. Sorry for rambling, but I wanted to get all these thoughts on "paper".

 

[HokieRunner]

Looking great! Mind posting up a few pics when you get the raingler net installed? I've seen installs in a few of the newer 4th gens (that have that grab handle/hook above the C pillar) but my '05 (and I'm guessing yours as well) doesn't have that handle. Just wondering how that impacts the install.

I'm sure it would be easy enough to fab up the mount point but was curious if they've addressed this variation.

Great job on the shock rebuild btw. How hard was the process other than needing a spring compressor to disassemble the coilover? While I don't want to do a rebuild anytime soon, I definitely want to learn how when the need arises.

 

[superman3043]

Looking great! Mind posting up a few pics when you get the raingler net installed? I've seen installs in a few of the newer 4th gens (that have that grab handle/hook above the C pillar) but my '05 (and I'm guessing yours as well) doesn't have that handle. Just wondering how that impacts the install.

I'm sure it would be easy enough to fab up the mount point but was curious if athey've addressed this variation.

Great job on the shock rebuild btw. How hard was the process other than needing a spring compressor to disassemble the coilover? While I don't want to do a rebuild anytime soon, I definitely want to learn how when the need arises.

Thanks man. No problem, of course I'll be posting pics of the Raingler. Holy crap man, I didn't realize that about the handle thing though. Guess we'll see. I haven't received the product yet, and I've asked for some status update, but I've not received any. Maybe because of the holiday. Hopefully it shows up soon.

As far as the shock rebuild goes. It wasn't too bad at all. Now that I've done it, I really wouldn't be afraid of undertaking it again. Fox shocks seem to be very serviceable. Here's some general information I happened upon as I was researching and gearing up for the job:

This youtube video from offroad engineering is good source to give you an idea of the scope of the job.

There's also this write-up from Fox.

Offroad Engineering, Race Ready Products, and Poly Performance are all great sources for rebuild kits and parts.

Rebuild kits run about $15 a piece. The kits for an external reservior and emulsion are the same. You'll just have a couple left over seals for the emulsion.

Fox Shock Oil will run you $22.50 a quart and $50 a gallon. Found out that one quart will do the job on a 2.5" emulsion shock, but you'd probably need 2 to do external reservoir style. I found some Amsoil suppliments for the oil. This one for the blue 10w and this one for the red 5w. I actually just ended up going to the cycle shop down the road and buying Bel Ray 5w fork oil. It worked great!

For my particular coil-overs, they have this low profile valve instead of a typical shrader, that requires a needle adapter in order to charge the shock.

You will would also need a bearing cap spanner wrench like this one or this one to dissassemble the shock.

Fox charges $90 a piece to rebuild them, which isn't too bad since this includes, labor, parts (rebuild kit) and oil. And I even think they clean and polish everything out thoroughly. But you have to pay shipping both ways and with their back log, it was like a 3-4 day turn around on the work. So 5 days for me to ship to Cali and 5 days back after the work was the sticking point for me.

I called a local bike shop that builds race bikes and he said that he'd charge me like $10 a piece to charge the shocks if I rebuilt them and brought them in.

I contacted Performace Offroad, which is a pretty local shop to me that builds buggies and they would have done the service, but they were out of Fox Shock Oil and it would take them a week to get some.

Ended up taking them to Carolina Truggies to get the shock rebuild done. He charged me $60 a piece and I had to supply the rebuild kits, and remove the coils myself. I also ended up having to buy the oil only because he didn't have enough. But he rebuilt them on the spot. Overall, I'm very satisfied.

While I had them apart, I'd considered adding a remote reservoir and maybe some heavier coils, but as you can see, the costs started to add up very quickly. I'd even considered just buying some new coil-overs and just rebuilding these and selling them, so I wouldn't have any down time with the truck, but ultimately, I'm glad I did it the way I did. Overall, I was only without the truck for about 3 days.

Hope this info helps you or somebody one day. As you can see, it was an extreme exercise in knowledge and experience acquisition for me. As I'm sure this 3rd member rebuild/E-locker retro-fit will be this weekend

 

[aha2988]

man Alex reed is a dick for charging you 60 a piece when he didn't even have to take the coils off. That guy really bothers me for some reason. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to recharge a shock body. Glad you got it all sorted out though

 

[superman3043]

man Alex reed is a dick for charging you 60 a piece when he didn't even have to take the coils off. That guy really bothers me for some reason. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to recharge a shock body. Glad you got it all sorted out though

Well I went in expecting him to be a douche-bag, since everyone I've talked to that's dealt with him (yourself included) has an unfavorable disposition. So of course, to my surprise, he was cool as shit! I guess it's this whole thing I've got with "expectations". If somebody tells me a movie is good, it's sure to never live up to the hype. If they tell me it sucks, I come in with low expectations so the movie turns out to be decent. Same applies with food and now I guess dickhead people, lol!

 

[HokieRunner]

Thanks for the great info on the rebuild. It's always fun learning something new and that's what I love about this forum. Folks take on a new project or learn a new skill and then share what they've learned!

Let me know if you need any pointers on the lower ball joints. Nothing too difficult but it's definitely a workout to press those suckers out...even w/ a 4' cheater bar! Darklights walk through in his build was a nice help.

 

[superman3043]

Thanks for the great info on the rebuild. It's always fun learning something new and that's what I love about this forum. Folks take on a new project or learn a new skill and then share what they've learned!

Let me know if you need any pointers on the lower ball joints. Nothing too difficult but it's definitely a workout to press those suckers out...even w/ a 4' cheater bar! Darklights walk through in his build was a nice help.

Thanks Matt! Yeah, I appreciate it, but [MENTION=47269]Darklight[/MENTION] will actually be doing my LBJ's with me. He may be doing them at the same time Austin and I are working on the diff. I helped darklight do his LR UCA updated pivot insert kit this weekend, so he sort of owes me a fresh solid... Even though he did help me move the weekend prior... Meh, it's a never ending cycle of 4Runner Bro favors around here, lol.

 

[ebg18t]

Looking for your thoughts in the e-locker fitting. Been pondering this myself.

 

[aha2988]

Meh, it's a never ending cycle of 4Runner Bro favors around here, lol.

yeah so whens my steering rack going to make it to the "bro favors" lol

 

[superman3043]

yeah so whens my steering rack going to make it to the "bro favors" lol

well... you know if I had one, it'd be yours. Now if you're talking about help installing one, you know I'm in!

 

[superman3043]

Raingler Net

So sort of a lot has happened since I last posted here. I'll get to those updates later but this post is regarding the Raingler Net.

I finally got to do the install yesterday morning on a blazing 90* day. Not very fun.

So right off the bat, I'll say that it took sort of long for me to receive it. I ordered it on the 1st and did not receive it until the 17th. A little investigation showed that they were shut down the week of the 4th, so my timing was a little bad. It actually only took 2 days to get here (shipped on the 15th), but took very long to place in transit.

Also, there are no instructions. The closest thing to instructions are on the website for the FJC net. And they're not really even close. Fortunately there is a picture of the net installed on the website, so that gives you some idea of what it's supposed to look like. But as [MENTION=46025]HokieRunner[/MENTION] mentioned, there is no upper mounting point on pre-face lift 4th gens. The package comes with one set of anchor points and the problem could be remedied with a second set.

So I looked for an anchor point behind the panel. My objective was to keep the net far enough back as to not impede a rear passengers head room. First tried this spacer that mounts the seat belt, but you don't have enough strap to make this happen:

Then I tried this molded boss that mounts the panel to the truck but didn't like it. Either it was too far forward or still didn't have enough strap:

Thought about relocating one of the tie down D-rings from the floor:

Then just decided to take a trip to Lowes. Got these light duty anchors (4 pack) which are rated for 400 lbs. and some hardware for a little over $7 (the tie down anchors accounted for $5 of it). Planned for fender washers on the back side of the headliner:

Installed:

Close up of the mount:

View from front:

The net seems to be of good quality.

The install wasn't too difficult, but it wasn't super easy either.

I dislike the fact that there is still a pretty significant gap at the top of the net. It's the nature of the straps. I've got them as taught as they'll go up top, but I don't really see a remedy for this without some major modification to the headliner.

Anyway, that's all the time I have. Hope that helps.

 

[Dusty Driftwood]

So sort of a lot has happened since I last posted here. I'll get to those updates later but this post is regarding the Raingler Net.

I finally got to do the install yesterday morning on a blazing 90* day. Not very fun.

So right off the bat, I'll say that it took sort of long for me to receive it. I ordered it on the 1st and did not receive it until the 17th. A little investigation showed that they were shut down the week of the 4th, so my timing was a little bad. It actually only took 2 days to get here (shipped on the 15th), but took very long to place in transit.

Also, there are no instructions. The closest thing to instructions are on the website for the FJC net. And they're not really even close. Fortunately there is a picture of the net installed on the website, so that gives you some idea of what it's supposed to look like. But as [MENTION=46025]HokieRunner[/MENTION] mentioned, there is no upper mounting point on pre-face lift 4th gens. The package comes with one set of anchor points and the problem could be remedied with a second set.

So I looked for an anchor point behind the panel. My objective was to keep the net far enough back as to not impede a rear passengers head room. First tried this spacer that mounts the seat belt, but you don't have enough strap to make this happen

The net seems to be of good quality.

The install wasn't too difficult, but it wasn't super easy either.

I dislike the fact that there is still a pretty signifcant gap at the top of the net. It's the nature of the straps. I've got them as taught as they'll go up top, but I don't really see a remedy for this without some major modification to the headliner.

Anyway, that's all the time I have. Hope that helps.

Nice work on the install. I had the same problem, and finally finagled something similar. I was also kind of surprised by the top gap, but I figured it was better than nothing, especially since it really is only for a worst case scenario. I have been meaning to get similar pictures for [MENTION=66389]BlackWorksInc[/MENTION] but never got around to it. These should satisfy his curiosity though.

 

[superman3043]

Nice work on the install. I had the same problem, and finally finagled something similar. I was also kind of surprised by the top gap, but I figured it was better than nothing, especially since it really is only for a worst case scenario. I have been meaning to get similar pictures for [MENTION=66389]BlackWorksInc[/MENTION] but never got around to it. These should satisfy his curiosity though.

Thanks Jeff! So like I mentioned, quite a lot has happened since my last post. We had scheduled to rebuild and install my locking diff this past weekend, but had to postpone it because my wife's water broke Tuesday night. Our beautiful daughter was born Wed July 10th @ 1513 hrs. Presley was a tiny 5 lb 9 oz and 19 inches long. She came 2 weeks and 1 day before her due date. Our world:

Mother and baby are healthy, happy and awesome! So per your (@Dusty Driftwood) recommendation as well as my own research, we installed the Britax car seat in the Stormtrooper. As many have mentioned, most important mod to date! It's a very nicely designed piece and it's nice that their factory is right down the road from the house. I wouldn't mind possibly going to work for them some day. It's a company that I really like what they stand for.

Speaking of jobs, I had an interesting oppurtunity come across my desk the other day. It was said to be a "Manufacturing Engineer" position for Remington Arms. At one of our parenting classes, I met a guy that worked for Para Ordnance which I had no idea was in town. Turns out the job was actually for Para, who is owned by Remington. I passed on that opportunity. Maybe one day. I also had to turn down a job for an offroad bumper company, Fab Fours, which is also local. My friend and first Engineering Manager recently took a position as the director of engineering there. It'd be a dream job for me right now, but they're still a small company with tight purse strings right now, and frankly can't afford me yet. Ah well, now that I'm a family man, I've gotta do what's best for them, instead of chasing crazy dreams... For now

We took our daughter to the pediatrician Monday. Her first time out of the house and it turned out to be a traumatic experience. First the blood draw and shots. Then, as we were loading up in the parking lot, we were side-swiped by a lady trying to park next to us. Mom and baby were in the back seat and I was standing inside the rear passenger door getting ready to buckle the baby in, when the truck lunged forward... basically a 33' mud grappler running over my knee. Woman had no insurance or drivers license andn three young girls in the car unrestrained. Called the cops. Still trying to sort it all out right now. I plan to burn these people to the ground out of sheer principle. People like this make me sick. Imagine if we hadn't have been out there... I doubt there would have been a note left. Truck really wasn't even hurt, just traded a little paint:

Hers:

I'm gonna try to get a rear bumper out of this on these idiots' dime... stay tuned.

 

[HHIRunner]

We had scheduled to rebuild and install my locking diff this past weekend, but had to postpone it

Thanks for the postponing. That got me a nice new suspension installed. And congrats on the baby!

 

[superman3043]

Thanks for the postponing. That got me a nice new suspension installed. And congrats on the baby!

Thanks Jake! Yeah, glad Austin was able to occupy himself and help you out. Looks like he really hooked you up. My boy get's bored when he doesn't have a steering wheel, wrench, welder, beer or wakeboarding tow-line in his hands.

 

[Dusty Driftwood]

Just for clarification, I "liked" the first part of the post, not the last. Glad everyone is doing well & safe after the little incident. She is a beautiful little lady. You'll grow to hate going to the pediatrician for the next couple years though, they have to get a shot almost every time & I just hate to see my little guy in that much pain.

Good luck with the deadbeat that hit your truck

 

[ebg18t]

Congrats to you and mrs superman!

I was hit 2 years ago in a similar situation. Got the cops involved and called a Freind with ICE and BP. I recovered money as the court seized their bank acct and safe box at the bank (contained cash that they illegally held and didn't pay taxes on) . They were jailed and eventually deported.