Trialrun builds a Desert Dune Metallic Runner

Trialrun

Trialrun

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So I've finally came to my "senses" or hit my breaking point and made the transition from Land Rovers to Toyota and can honestly say I've never felt better :dancin:

I begin scouring the forums to gain as much knowledge and decided a 99-00 minty fresh 3rd gen limited w/ a rear locker was ideal for this build. So off I went around New England looking for this, well let's say unicorn b/c finding such in New England is easier said than done. After coming across many advertised "clean, mint, excellent" condition runners and only inspecting rust buckets was discouraging, so as all car nuts do, I extended my search countrywide and found one in Ft Wayne, Indiana (Yeah, my finance thinks I have a few screws loose, but she's marrying this nut lol)

Here are some photos the PO had advertised and after a few emails / calls, funds were sent and a one way ticket was booked :naughty:

Jeff picked me up at the airport and the 'unicorn' was acquired, man this thing was mint. Jeff kept a list of every maintenance repair done, all up to date, upgraded the stereo, alarm and tint...even had new tires, brakes and shocks, who does that on a truck they are selling. Jeff does, lol...he was actually planning on keeping it before he signed the dotted line for a 2015 Trail

















Drove it back to Connecticut without a hiccup, man those michelins are smooth...too bad they're coming off for trail worthy tires
 
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So the yota purists might want to look away, but I sold my green Land Rover Disco dubbed Drover to a guy out in Cali to make room for the Yota which I've dubbed 'Rumbles' (well the misses thought of the name so I can't take full credit) :laugh: Aka Double Duty as I'll be utilizing this as a daily during our less than ideal winters

The money pits "Drover" green disco, "Chanel" white broken down disco in the background and one of the best cars I've owned, my M edition track Miata (she's staying) hasta la wago land rovers



Off to Cali, drover didn't fit on a conventional car carrier...lowboy it was




Now enough with this LR crap, onto building Rumbles!

Picked up some Sway-a-way race runner coilovers on the cheap for the front, more to come on the rebuild of these but you should have seen the misses face when I told her I was thinking about ordering a nitrogen tank to have in the workshop....priceless




Step one, tires....having been running 35's and getting 9.5 mpg in the past I wanted to retain good mileage and still keep the trails "technical" as opposed to just romping over everything so I went with 265/70/17 BF Goodrich KM2. Ahhh, there's that hum I missed....lol







I got five to have a spare, so if anyone has an extra silver tundra rim...hit me up!

Much better! Now off go the hideous soccer mom running boards (this upset the misses, perfect segway into making an argument to why I need rock sliders)

Before:



During:





After:



Picked up a scan gauge II (coming from LR's, this is a necessity) now I just have to play with mounting locations
 
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Have to say that is a very clean limited for that mileage. How many nick names can you give it though? Ha ha!

Welcome to the forum!

:playball:
 
Man that thing looks pristine. Congrats on the great find. Cool Rover too but I think you'll appreciate the Toyota reliability!
 
Decided to stretch her legs and test the rig, granted it's a non technical trail, I wanted to make sure everything engaged

Nike site: Manchester, CT

Jojo the dog approves of the roll down rear window









 
That thing is mint! Hit me up sometime, I am in CT and we go up to Nepaug every so often, not challenging but some fun to be had there.
 
Trialrun said:
So the yota purists might want to look away, but I sold my green Land Rover Disco dubbed Drover to a guy out in Cali to make room for the Yota which I've dubbed project Double D :laugh: Aka Desert Dune or Double Duty as I'll be utilizing this as a daily during our less than ideal winters

The money pits "Drover" green disco, "Chanel" white broken down disco in the background and one of the best cars I've owned, my M edition track Miata (she's staying) hasta la wago land rovers



Off to Cali, drover didn't fit on a conventional car carrier...lowboy it was




Now enough with this LR crap, onto building Double D!

Picked up some Sway-a-way race runner coilovers on the cheap for the front, more to come on the rebuild of these but you should have seen the misses face when I told her I was thinking about ordering a nitrogen tank to have in the workshop....priceless




Step one, tires....having been running 35's and getting 9.5 mpg in the past I wanted to retain good mileage and still keep the trails "technical" as opposed to just romping over everything so I went with 265/70/17 BF Goodrich KM2. Ahhh, there's that hum I missed....lol







I got five to have a spare, so if anyone has an extra silver tundra rim...hit me up!

Much better! Now off go the hideous soccer mom running boards (this upset the misses, perfect segway into making an argument to why I need rock sliders)

Before:



During:





After:



Picked up a scan gauge II (coming from LR's, this is a necessity) now I just have to play with mounting locations
Click to expand...


I have a '97 toyota that look exactly like that! Im kind of a noob though to all this lifting stuff. Can you tell me what kind of lift i should get? Im on a budget but i dont want something cheap, i want something thats good for off roading too. Can you help me with what kind of lift i should look at?[emoji16]
 
jaimesleo said:
And i would like a full lift kit not just front not rear kit.
Click to expand...

Hey bud, i'm hardly the person to ask as this is my first 4runner/toyota build. Lift kits are really based on what capacity you plan on using the rig for, weight factors (amour, winch, cargo, etc) and what size tires you plan on running. There are quite a few threads on the forum that would be good to reference, but I would start with this one for a basic understanding.

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-gen-t4rs/66976-3rd-gen-4runner-lift-information-faqs.html

Best of luck!
 
That's one clean 4Runner, looks great man and am looking foward to seeing where this goes. Should we expect something along the lines of the Rovers build?
 
I'm usually not a fan of Land Rovers, but your's was really clean. I'm excited to see what you do with the 4Runner. You've got a really clean platform. How are the KM2's? I've got the KM's and they are great so far. They balanced well, drive well, and they aren't really loud, just a slight hum.
 
[MENTION=116387]Unner[/MENTION] digging the raptor grill fab work

Love the km2, ran them in 35's on the disco. Slight hum but that's expected of a M/T, just crank up the radio....only downfall on these is thin ice = no Bueno

The build is going to be much more practical of double duty as opposed to an all out trail truck. We'll I say that now, but we all know how that goes :becky:

Oh and this fell into my lap, guess I'll be running a 'sleeper' winch :jump:

thanks again to [MENTION=89594]gmv4k[/MENTION], pleasure meeting you and can't wait for some trail rides! originally fabbed up by [MENTION=93329]bryanb[/MENTION], made its way to the east coast and to my garage

 
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hidden winch mount

If you get that mounted up I'm going to be soo jealous.

I couldn't figure out a way to mount it on my 1998 (no fat lip). It would have sat 2 inches in front of my bumper.



I should have taken a picture of our trucks together. Your truck is so clean, I was drooling. I have a 2 inch lift but your stock suspension looked higher with tires and no running boards.
 
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