Tom's overland build

T

tom5191

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I had been searching for a Tacoma or 4Runner for a while, and finally decided a 4Runner would be a better choice. Finally found a 2004 T4R Limited V8 about 3 hours away in Champaign, Il. Went with a few friends and checked it out and ended up going home with it June 13th, 2015. Has a few cosmetic issues, but nothing major. I figured if I'm going to off road it I shouldn't be too worried about the outside appearance. It just has to be mechanically sound. It has a few scratches the buffing won't take out, and the front bumper is cracked, but that's it. Everything else is pretty much perfect.

Day it actually became mine (Got plates)
0626151911 by Thomas Horner, on Flickr

Day after I got plates I ordered OME lift from ToyTec. 885 front 896 rear. Also got Light Racing UCA.
They came in a few days later
IMG_20150630_175830 by Thomas Horner, on Flickr


They sat almost all summer and I finally put it on at the beginning of October. Then started my long fight with trying to figure out all my issues the lift caused.

Tried to get an alignment and found out my alignment cams were seized. Ended up buying new cams, lower control arms, tie rod assemblies, and CVJ reman axles.

Replaced everything and got an alignment, but still had a bad vibration. Started taking the suspension apart and retightening everything. Triple checking my work cause something wasn't right. Replaced one U joint cause it was getting kinda bad, thinking that was my problem. Nope. Ended up being the top plate spacer that can be an add on to the lift. Took that out and It drove fantastic. The spacer was making me max out the CV axle angle.

About a week after I got the suspension figured out I ordered Trail Gear rock sliders and BFGoodrich 275/70/17 tires.
1208151737 by Thomas Horner, on Flickr

Got the tires installed Saturday. They were a bit too close to the UCA and were rubbing on corners. Ordered Spidertrax the same day.

After getting the tires on
1212151018 by Thomas Horner, on Flickr

I got my Spidertrax in last night so I put them on.
Before:
1215151910 by Thomas Horner, on Flickr

After:

1215151948 by Thomas Horner, on Flickr

Dang spacers make it sit so nice.


Full shots of how it looks currently
1216151032 by Thomas Horner, on Flickr

1216151032a by Thomas Horner, on Flickr


Next week I'm getting the sliders welded on, and I might start looking into mounting my CB next week too. My dad gave me his old Cobra 25 LTD Classic CB, mic, external speaker, and a magnetic antenna. Looking into hard wiring the cb, trying to find a good place for the speaker. Might have to get a different one because of the size. It's a bit much. Also looking into a mount firestik instead of the magnetic antenna.



Current Mods:
Suspension/steering:
Light Racing Upper Control arms
885 front springs with 90000 Nitrocharger Sport shocks and trim packer
896 rear spring with 60004 rear shocks
Moog lower control arms
Moog alignment cams
Moog tie rod assemblies
CVJ reman axles
275/70/17 BFG K02

Exterior:
Trail Gear rock sliders
LC80 Snorkel




Future plans:
Demello single hoop front bumper
Smittybilt winch
CBI rear bumper with tire carrier and jerry can holder
Budbuilt skid plates
Roof rack (Undecided on who. Need something to hold a roof top tent)
Roof top tent
ARB 2500 awning
ARB awning room
Storage organization
High lift jack
Recovery gear
ARB fridge (maybe)
Might make a portable kitchen in back for camping
Air Compressor
Light bars
Debating between SPOD with digital screen or just running a relay panel and switches. Kinda worried about the screen attracting people to break into the truck thinking it's a GPS or some shit.
 
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[MENTION=126652]tom5191[/MENTION]

since you went with larger tires, are you going to correct the speedo or just ignore it? Does anyone make an aux gas tank for the space where the spare tire resides? Since the tire is going on the bumper, that'd be a nice way carry extra fuel. My 80 series has a factory aux tank in the same location and it's very useful.
 
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alia176 said:
[MENTION=126652]tom5191[/MENTION]

since you went with larger tires, are you going to correct the speedo or just ignore it? Does anyone make an aux gas tank for the space where the spare tire resides? Since the tire is going on the bumper, that'd be a nice way carry extra fuel. My 80 series has a factory aux tank in the same location and it's very useful.
Click to expand...

I'm just going to ignore it. It's only ~5mph difference at 60mph, and it reads I'm going faster than I actually am, so I'm not worried about it.

I'm not sure about the aux gas tank. I haven't seen anything about them for the 4Runner.
 
tom5191 said:
... it reads I'm going faster than I actually am, so I'm not worried about it.
Click to expand...

Just so you don't get any surprises from the po po ... larger tires actually result the speedo reading SLOWER than you are actually traveling. When your speedo indicates 60mph, you'll actually be traveling 63.25mph. Not a huge difference if you're running the speed limit but, if you're like me and tend to push it a bit beyond the posted speed limit at times, that extra 5.41% may mean the difference between a cop letting you slide and a speeding ticket.
 
MrEMan said:
Just so you don't get any surprises from the po po ... larger tires actually result the speedo reading SLOWER than you are actually traveling. When your speedo indicates 60mph, you'll actually be traveling 63.25mph. Not a huge difference if you're running the speed limit but, if you're like me and tend to push it a bit beyond the posted speed limit at times, that extra 5.41% may mean the difference between a cop letting you slide and a speeding ticket.
Click to expand...

Larger rolling diameter would result in a higher reading than you're actually going I thought. Tire calculator says the same thing. In this case it's -8.05% different. 60mph would be 55.17mph

Online Wheel and Tyre Fitment Calculator. Offset, Tyre Stretch and Speedo Error | Will They Fit

Edit: Just checked a few other calculators, and it appears this one was wrong. Glad you said something I would probably have been speeding past cops then and not realized it lol.
 
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You pretty much have the same shopping list I do, just ordered my tires this morning. Looking good so far. :hatsoff:
 
Went to my friend's shop and got my sliders put on. Now I just need to spray some bed liner on the sliders

DSC_9695-Edit by Thomas Horner, on Flickr

DSC_9700-Edit by Thomas Horner, on Flickr

DSC_9698-Edit by Thomas Horner, on Flickr

DSC_9696-Edit by Thomas Horner, on Flickr




Gotta say, I'm loving the way the truck is coming along.

DSC_9702-Edit by Thomas Horner, on Flickr


Think my next project is to put heated seats in the rear. I want this to be a nice winter mobile and also not have people fight over who gets the front passenger seat since it's heated.
 
After like 9 months of buying it, I finally put my LC80 snorkel on the 4runner. I used 3.5" brake duct hose to connect the air box to the snorkel. I think it fits pretty damn well.

Mocking it up
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thomashorner/34822195271/in/dateposted/" title="20170521_162616"><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4228/34822195271_a214e7781a_b.jpg" width="576" height="1024" alt="20170521_162616"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Mounted <a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thomashorner/34110878974/in/photostream/" title="20170521_183841"><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4248/34110878974_8d5a240a37_b.jpg" width="1024" height="576" alt="20170521_183841"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

You need about 1' of hose to get it to fit.

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thomashorner/34790395332/in/photostream/" title="20170528_154214"><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4228/34790395332_42d22ba5ba_b.jpg" width="576" height="1024" alt="20170528_154214"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Since the brake duct hose was 3.5" ID, I had to heat it up and stretch it onto the inlet for the airbox. Worked out pretty well, IMO. There's a bit of a lip on the airbox, so the duct wouldn't sit flush. I used clear RTV to seal that up.
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thomashorner/34143569913/in/photostream/" title="20170528_143232"><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4245/34143569913_607ee5b399_b.jpg" width="1024" height="576" alt="20170528_143232"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

You can see I had to cut some metal out to get the duct to work because of the location of the snorkel. It was way too close to the fender to be able to bend the duct to get it on the snorkel and through the factory hole. I pretty much just followed the widest part of the circle and cut upwards.
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thomashorner/34566465670/in/photostream/" title="20170528_154346"><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4221/34566465670_cb6be6759b_b.jpg" width="1024" height="576" alt="20170528_154346"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

From between the snorkel.
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thomashorner/34566462330/in/photostream/" title="20170528_155004"><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4223/34566462330_2c6df4a7a8_b.jpg" width="1024" height="576" alt="20170528_155004"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Overall I'm pretty happy with it. Less than $100 and I have a working snorkel. I'm ready to explore the deserts and some water crossings.

Now I just need to finally drill out one of the bolts for the skid plate and I can actually mount the RCI front skid plate that I've had for over a year... lol
 
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I haven't updated this in a long time. Figure it's time. In July I got my Demello single hoop bumper in. (Along with a Smittybilt XRC9.5k winch)

20170720_213748 by Thomas Horner, on Flickr

Few weeks later I went over to a friend's house to got it all put together.

I changed out the turn signals for a different set of LED turns from Amazon. Also finally got my RCI skid plate mounted. Drilling out the rear mounting holes that were rusted and what not was not fun.

IMG_20171015_114623 by Thomas Horner, on Flickr


At the end of October I went to Rendezvous in the Ozarks in Arkansas with a few local MO4WD members, and met up with some Tornado Alley Land Cruiser members. That was a pretty good weekend even if the 4runner was making some uncomfortable noises for me to push it off road too much.

20171020_115901 by Thomas Horner, on Flickr

20171020_102924 by Thomas Horner, on Flickr

20171020_102004 by Thomas Horner, on Flickr

20171020_105139 by Thomas Horner, on Flickr

20171020_115518 by Thomas Horner, on Flickr

20171020_115548 by Thomas Horner, on Flickr

Messing around at camp

20171021_094721 by Thomas Horner, on Flickr

I'm not LC status, but it still works.

20171021_100937 by Thomas Horner, on Flickr

20171021_100950 by Thomas Horner, on Flickr


I was hanging out at a friend of mine's booth while I was down there and got talked into a 30" Diode Dynamic light bar. I wasn't planning on buying it that soon, but we were talking about it, then we tested fitted it, then next thing I know we're finding a drill to mount the thing to my bumper. It all happened to fast :laugh:. It looks good and fits perfect though. This is basically where it sits for not. I still need to wire the light bar to an actual switch, and not the cheap one it comes with. I still need to wire the winch to a switch too.

20171113_145301 by Thomas Horner, on Flickr

Edit:
Forgot I also picked up some LED fogs from Amazon too. Once I do the fog light mod I'll get some pictures of the fogs actually on the rig.

MVIMG_20171118_160107 by Thomas Horner, on Flickr
 
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HIMILESV8SPORT said:
What size spacers? Have the same tires on mine and love them, just wish it had a better stance without sticking out too far.
Click to expand...

When I talked to a guy at Spidertrax he informed me that the small size you can do is 1.25." Anything smaller and the studs on the hub would hit the wheel.

I put the 1.25" on mine and I thought it would be too much but it is perfect.
 
Been a while since I've done anything with my 4Runner.

Decided to drown the 4runner while crossing a creek.

83308246_4496985145105_3929912899954278400_o by Thomas Horner, on Flickr

Cleaned it out and then the following weekend went out to Shawnee National Forest last weekend with a few people. Mostly just gravel/dirt roads since a lot of the trails were blocked off by private land, and they had their gates closed at the time.

83129516_4506988835191_2495278425908969472_n by Thomas Horner, on Flickr

Still managed to find some mud to play in and get stuck. Finally got to test out my winch.
83931073_10158326268893487_9095626498152333312_o by Thomas Horner, on Flickr

After this weekend I need to rethink my storage situation (I have none), and start planning on getting 315/70/17s. After that I'll see if I need to re-gear, and do that while I'm putting in lockers later this year.
 
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