T-man's '05 Sport Build Thread

t-man · Dec 1, 2016

First real drive with new shocks. I can see why jeep guys said they are valved to rough. They do great at sucking up bumps, but when I went over speedbumps at my kids' school it soaks up the bump, but doesn't extend fast enough and is jarring coming back down. Not sure if I'm explaining that correctly, but that's what it feels like. Don't feel the bump, feel the landing after the bump. Overall highway ride was excellent and firm. Very controlled and seems to have minimized some body roll. After I get new wheel bearings I'll be able to play offroad a bit and test it there. Maybe softer after heating up? Not sure.
I really need to sas! Lol

Sent from the drivers seat of my 05 4runner.

t-man · Dec 5, 2016

Replaced both front wheel bearings today. Drivers side was a whole spindle w/ hub assembly off a GX470 to rule out a bent spindle destroying my bearings. I didn't know my passenger side was bad until Friday so I bought a used one from the scrap yard to get me by. Something is still making a little noise though and I suspect the passenger side although it looked and felt fine before install.
Broke a caliper bolt on the old spindle, and they came in packs of 2 at the parts store so I just bought 4 new ones for less than $10. Replaced inner wheel seals after cleaning surfaces as good as possible to rule out that factor too.

I need a new passenger side cv as the boots are failing. Not bad, Cordone HD unit I bought off rockauto lasted 3 years. So I'll be replacing that soon. Also found my passenger side caliper is froze right up, and that's under warranty, thank you autozone! So I'll be swapping that out real soon. Need rotors and pads too as I have warped rotors... Summer towing in heavy traffic did a number on the rotors.
Passenger wheel bearing was crusty!

Drivers side didn't look as bad but water ran out if it...

New caliper bolts

Old caliper bolts

Snapped off in old spindle

Torn cv boots

Used passenger side wheel bearing

Sent from the drivers seat of my 05 4runner.

t-man · Dec 6, 2016

Ok, so I took a little trip down some trails today to test everything, feel the new rear shocks. Night and day difference off the road! With the Bilsteins over multiple bumps/whoops in a row the ass end jumped all over the place, bottomed out, and just never felt right. It also wheel hopped in deep sand. Now with the doetsch techs it soaks up the bump and stays planted! I hit some hard enough that I was bouncing off my front superbumps but the rear just soaked it up. What I thought was good handling on the front now feels wallowy and I feel like the only thing saving it is the superbumps....
Now, for an honest review of the doetsch tech. If you go slow, rock crawl, do less than 20mph over bumps then these AREN'T for you! On the road they are great, off the road traveling they are great, fast speed over bumps they are awesome! Slow speed crawling over something and a tire drops off a log, or rock, or ledge and its like bottoming out! Very rough.
As most of the people on here do a lot of go slow, I wouldn't recommend for them. But the other guys that get buck wild and want some cheap rear shocks that have a full 10" of travel, valved to handle big hits, built in bumpstops, massive shafts and shock body, that would go great with a good higher spring rate front shock setup than give these a try! I'll be loading some weight in the truck this week to see how they handle that too. There are longer shocks too, but you would need to either limit uptravel or move the upper shock mount up. I may do that in the future with metal tech long travel coils and 12" travel shocks.

Sent from the drivers seat of my 05 4runner.

t-man · Dec 6, 2016

So a couple people on here (sorry, I forget who to tag them) mentioned that my spindle may be bent, and this could be causing my wheel bearings to be going bad prematurely, which was why I replaced it. Well I know it's hard to see in the pics but the drivers tire is cambered over quite a bit now with the new one in. No alignment tabs were touched, and I had an alignment not to long ago, also the tire looked like the other side before the swap. It is now also rubbing on the uca at full right turn and under compression. I'm going to loosen the balljoint and pull it over a little until I can replace the bushings in the uca's and get a new alignment.
Also, I think the passenger side wheel bearing I got from the salvage yard is bad. Trying to determine if it's the drivers side tire digging in cause the camber is so high, or noise from the passenger side caliper that is half frozen, dragging and getting replaced in a few days, or the wheel bearing. Need to jack the front up and see if there's any play.

Sent from the drivers seat of my 05 4runner.

t-man · Dec 6, 2016

Also, I replaced the broken wheel speed abs sensor and pulled the battery cable for 30 minutes or so, but I still have all the lights on. Not sure what's going on there, need to see if a wire is messed up I guess.

Sent from the drivers seat of my 05 4runner.

Mytoy4 · Dec 6, 2016

Wish I knew this before buying bilstein again for my newest 4Runner. They did seem good with the white one, but for some reason I'm experiencing what you're mentioning with the black one.

t-man said:
Ok, so I took a little trip down some trails today to test everything, feel the new rear shocks. Night and day difference off the road! With the Bilsteins over multiple bumps/whoops in a row the ass end jumped all over the place, bottomed out, and just never felt right. It also wheel hopped in deep sand. Now with the doetsch techs it soaks up the bump and stays planted!

t-man · Dec 6, 2016

Mytoy4 said:
Wish I knew this before buying bilstein again for my newest 4Runner. They did seem good with the white one, but for some reason I'm experiencing what you're mentioning with the black one.

Ya I don't know if the quality went down in the last couple years or what's going on. I read people that think they are the best thing since sliced bread, and they are OK for DD duty usually, but they just seem cheap now. My new shocks have a smaller lower bushing that I had to finagle but they are so much better. I also like that the shaft is at the top now not getting hit as much by rocks and such.

Sent from the drivers seat of my 05 4runner.

t-man · Dec 7, 2016

couple videos of testing the new shocks. Typical trails local to me. couple spots were really soft!
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/132186222@N08/30665102013/in/dateposted/" title="VDO_1604"><img src="https://c6.staticflickr.com/6/5691/30665102013_ca6d5478de_z.jpg" width="640" height="360" alt="VDO_1604"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/132186222@N08/31326819682/in/photostream/" title="VDO_1603"><img src="https://c3.staticflickr.com/6/5622/31326819682_f04bebb648_z.jpg" width="640" height="360" alt="VDO_1603"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/132186222@N08/31326664412/in/photostream/" title="VDO_1598"><img src="https://c5.staticflickr.com/6/5827/31326664412_9a973e80fa_z.jpg" width="640" height="360" alt="VDO_1598"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

camp332 · Dec 7, 2016

I went through each page of this build thread. It was like an awesome Gas Monkey TV show, but in a cooler T4R flavor. Kudos to you, Tony on being a complete savage!

t-man · Dec 7, 2016

camp332 said:
I went through each page of this build thread. It was like an awesome Gas Monkey TV show, but in a cooler T4R flavor. Kudos to you, Tony on being a complete savage!

Oh you poor guy, you must be bored to tears!!! Lol
Thanks man! I need to start advertising for some sponsors! Lol

Sent from the drivers seat of my 05 4runner.

t-man · Dec 8, 2016

Pulled into a jobsite to drop a guy off and after putting it in reverse and turning the wheel I heard a clunk. Got out to look and one of the 2 bolts holding the lower balljoint cage had fallen out completely letting the cage move!!

now, I remember specifically torquing that bolt too... Had 2 spare bolts at home, 25 miles away, and the wife brought it to me. Installed, torqued, checked other side and they were loose too!! Stopping on my way home tonight and buying some more loctite... This would have been really bad going down the slippery, snowy road at 60mph and the tire decides to turn like the tie rod is broke. Ugh.

Sent from the drivers seat of my 05 4runner.

vandert · Dec 8, 2016

t-man said:
Pulled into a jobsite to drop a guy off and after putting it in reverse and turning the wheel I heard a clunk. Got out to look and one of the 2 bolts holding the lower balljoint cage had fallen out completely letting the cage move!! now, I remember specifically torquing that bolt too... Had 2 spare bolts at home, 25 miles away, and the wife brought it to me. Installed, torqued, checked other side and they were loose too!! Stopping on my way home tonight and buying some more loctite... This would have been really bad going down the slippery, snowy road at 60mph and the tire decides to turn like the tie rod is broke. Ugh.

Sent from the drivers seat of my 05 4runner.

Oh snap! Guess I need to check mine as well, I have no lock tight on mine and I wanted to say that alignment issue lends itself to your API for being bent before as when you out the straight in on all the overcorrection that was applied would be amplified due to the location of the bend on the spindle!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

t-man · Dec 8, 2016

vandert said:
Oh snap! Guess I need to check mine as well, I have no lock tight on mine and I wanted to say that alignment issue lends itself to your API for being bent before as when you out the straight in on all the overcorrection that was applied would be amplified due to the location of the bend on the spindle!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Ya I've never had them come loose before, but I do believe they call for loctite.
I'm sure my spindle being bent cause all sorts of weird angle and pressure related forces! Now I wish I'd held them up together to see where it's vent and how much...

Sent from the drivers seat of my 05 4runner.

t-man · Dec 9, 2016

Found the bolt issue... I was reading torque specs for a 3rd gen... Dummy!

3rd gen calls for 59ft/lbs
4th Gen..... 166ft/lbs!!
Ugh, also calls for red loctite everytime. [MENTION=1474]vandert[/MENTION]

Sent from the drivers seat of my 05 4runner.

t-man · Dec 9, 2016

So next issue, tried locking the center dif and the light just blinks no matter what I try. Forward, reverse, neutral, stopped, rolling, nothing... It will shift 4hi to 4lo just fine.
I have been trying to figure out for some time now, when parked and I put the truck in gear, or reverse to drive it clunks. Driveshafts and cv's are tight, dif's seem to be tight, and I've been suspecting the transfer case. More motivation for an FJ case I guess, but not sure what's going on.
I also can hear what sounds like a dif whine under acceleration. It's quiet and really hard to hear over my exhaust. I have to barely touch the throttle while rolling down the road to hear it. Let off the throttle and it goes away instantly. Can't tell where it's coming from though. Any ideas from anyone?

Sent from the drivers seat of my 05 4runner.

t-man · Dec 10, 2016

Finally got some snow! Played a little on my private drive, going to hit some trails tomorrow with a buddy. I got 3" at my house, he has over 12".... take that however you'd like! Perverts!

Sent from the drivers seat of my 05 4runner.

Timberland · Dec 10, 2016

Still repping that Bilstein sticker huh :bounce:

t-man · Dec 10, 2016

Timberland said:
Still repping that Bilstein sticker huh :bounce:

Lol Ikr!

Sent from the drivers seat of my 05 4runner.

t-man · Dec 11, 2016

Well we finally got some snow!! I only got about 4" at my house, but my buddy who lives 25 miles away got 2.5 feet! Fresh powder too!
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/132186222@N08/31525793746/in/dateposted/" title="IMG_20161210_215427"><img src="https://c3.staticflickr.com/1/780/31525793746_a3381ba33a_z.jpg" width="640" height="640" alt="IMG_20161210_215427"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/132186222@N08/31447112001/in/dateposted/" title="20161210_161418"><img src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5337/31447112001_1ae5e7c40d_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="20161210_161418"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/132186222@N08/31447123211/in/photostream/" title="20161210_162459"><img src="https://c4.staticflickr.com/1/474/31447123211_8d6d97ed0d_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="20161210_162459"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/132186222@N08/31416006972/in/photostream/" title="20161210_162610"><img src="https://c5.staticflickr.com/1/257/31416006972_01fd9e8749_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="20161210_162610"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/132186222@N08/31525067876/in/photostream/" title="20161210_165936"><img src="https://c5.staticflickr.com/6/5739/31525067876_5fac94b9d9_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="20161210_165936"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/132186222@N08/30721645374/in/photostream/" title="20161210_162053"><img src="https://c7.staticflickr.com/1/540/30721645374_957d501c9f_z.jpg" width="640" height="360" alt="20161210_162053"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

t-man · Dec 11, 2016

T-man's '05 Sport Build Thread

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