Trixx and Bean's 2017 MGM Build Thread

[Trixx]

I have modified many vehicles over the years, but never created an official build thread. I spend a lot of time scouring the forums and nearly always finding the information I am looking for, however I think this will be a good, centralized location to ask various opinions, questions, and document the build. In some of the pics you'll also see my lovely wife Bean who accompanies me in all the modifications and adventures. Often she does more of the install than me.

In addition to a build thread, I will also aim to share new and upcoming trips in the 4Runner as well as a few recent adventures through Baja and SE Asia (pre 4Runner).

Here's a pic of the day I took it home. It actually came with side steps, I just didn't care for them and removed them they day it came home. I purchased this TRD Off Road on April 29th.

 

[Trixx]

The first thing I did was order wheels and tires.

Throughout the thread I am going to try and be as detailed as possible, as through my search finding posts with tons of details were all the help in the world, while threads without details really left me hanging, especially when looking for things like wheels, tires, etc. I went back and forth a million times with what I wanted for backspacing/offset, and it sucks when you find a pic that's several years old and someone doesn't list any details about it..

For wheels I went with 17" Method NV Wheels. These wheels have 4.75" backspacing and 0mm offset. When doing the math, I believe these stick out about .6" more than the factory wheels. I really like these wheels, a little indifferent about the faux beadlocks/bolts, but I can paint them if they bother me. So far so good. I knew that I didn't want Fuel's as I had two crack with zero offroading on my previous truck.

For tires I went with 285/70r17 Toyo RT tires. On my previous vehicle, a 2013 F250 Lariat, I had over 55k miles on my 35" Toyo MT tires without a single hiccup. I probably could have got another 5k-10k miles out of them as well. Because the 4runner is smaller and the engine is a dog, I wanted something a bit less mild that still had an aggressive tread pattern. I felt like I made a solid choice in the Toyo's.

Once these arrived and were installed I had to do the fender liner mod and trim a small sliver off the front bumper. I also removed the front mud flaps, but may trim them and reinstall at some point. I now have zero rubbing with any driving on the stock suspension.

 

[Trixx]

One of the next must-do's I felt was blacking out the emblems and front and rear bumper valences.

I ordered the TRD Pro front and rear bumper valences. The install was a bit of a pain, as it seems it was for most people, but with a good "how to" I found on the forum, we knocked it out in around an hour and a half. For the emblems I ordered the black plastic emblem covers for the front and rear. They don't have them yet for the "TRD Off Road" on the sides, so I plasti dipped those. It was my first time and I did around 5-6 coats spaced about 20-30 mins apart. The only picture I have of them is at night because that's when I finished it. I thought about ordering a black "TRD" emblem from the TRD pro so it's of high quality, but I figure that might be kind of poserish.

 

[Trixx]

The next mod we did was sliders. I spent countless hours looking over pics of every single slider imaginable. I really am not a fan of door dings, and knew these would help give a little protection. My last truck had N-Fabs, but the coating on those sucked so I vowed not to get them again.

So that led me to the million slider options and the million great threads discussing them. My patience isn't the best and even though I loved Shrockworks step sliders, their notorious 8-12 week wait just wasn't going to cut it for me. I called around to some of the other various common slider companies and 6-8ish weeks was seeming like a pretty common theme. I also did not really care for the kickout in the rear. I absolutely understand the practicality of it, I just don't care for the look, and honestly I doubt I'll be wheeling extreme enough that it will make a huge difference to me. We'll see.

All that aside, I decided to go with BudBuilt sliders. I called them up and they said about a two week lead time to build and powdercoat the ones I wanted. Awesome! I put in an order on 5/8, and they arrived 5/19! It does help that they are just a state away, so shipping was fast and cheap.

When these arrived, the quality of them was great. The packaging was unreal and coating looked to be very well done. The welds were plenty durable, but not the most beautiful looking, but I'm sure they'll hold up. I have a degree in welding technology and am a Certified Weld Inspector, so my standards are a bit high, but still no complaints and I'd order them 10x over.

Install was fairly straight forward, unscrew half the gas tank skid and a clip holding a brake line on the drivers side and we were good - just the brake line clip on the passengers side. Drivers side had a few more threaded holes, and thus took a few more bolts. Both sides are very secure and they look great. Total install time was less than 2 hours.

 

[DeepSea88]

Everything looks great so far!!! I'm excited to see what you do next! Do you have a list of "future mods"?

Also...are we all witnesses to a crime or is she helping out under there?

:hiding:

 

[Trixx]

Everything looks great so far!!! I'm excited to see what you do next! Do you have a list of "future mods"?

Also...are we all witnesses to a crime or is she helping out under there?

:hiding:

Lol, she is helping out under there. I'm at work at the moment and just got a text from her that said, "I'm excited to do the suspension this weekend, I hope it goes smooth." So.. I think she enjoys helping!

That being said, the next mod is the suspension that we are hopefully installing this weekend. As you can see form the last pic, we live full time in a 42' Toy Hauler as we travel all over for work. So no garage to do the installs, but you can get quite a bit done in the grass. For the suspension I plan to pull it up on our concrete patio so we have a good level service.

Here's a pic of the suspension going on this weekend, I'll do a post more about it after we do the install.

 

[Trixx]

Need opinions on the Spidertrax 1.25" spacers.. I've done a ton of searching and reliability wise - it seems as if there's really zero concerns.

I'm just wondering from an aesthetic point of view. I have a bit more stick out than OEM with my wheels, but once it's lifted I'm not sure if I might want a bit more. I feel like .75" would be perfect, but 1.25" might be a bit much. I already have a set to install, just undecided between installing them or returning them. I have until next Wednesday to decide as that's my cutoff date for returning them.

I don't currently have any rubbing, and lifting will make it even better, but the spacers will also throw me back into "maybe" needing to do the BMC, which I would rather avoid..

My current plan is to lift it this weekend and then decide.. Worse case scenario I can put them on, and if I don't care for them I can just sell them to someone else and lose some $$.

Thoughts?

 

[DeepSea88]

Looks good!

Need opinions on the Spidertrax 1.25" spacers.. I've done a ton of searching and reliability wise - it seems as if there's really zero concerns.

I'm just wondering from an aesthetic point of view. I have a bit more stick out than OEM with my wheels, but once it's lifted I'm not sure if I might want a bit more. I feel like .75" would be perfect, but 1.25" might be a bit much. I already have a set to install, just undecided between installing them or returning them. I have until next Wednesday to decide as that's my cutoff date for returning them.

I don't currently have any rubbing, and lifting will make it even better, but the spacers will also throw me back into "maybe" needing to do the BMC, which I would rather avoid..

My current plan is to lift it this weekend and then decide.. Worse case scenario I can put them on, and if I don't care for them I can just sell them to someone else and lose some $$.

Thoughts?

Haha! I'm glad I don't have to worry about reporting any wrong doings! I'm a little sad you aren't running Kings though...mine will be in sometime in June. The setup looks good and I assume it will make the stance of you rig look even stronger than what it is currently. How is the toy hauler life working? Pretty rad lifestyle.

 

[Trixx]

Haha! I'm glad I don't have to worry about reporting any wrong doings! I'm a little sad you aren't running Kings though...mine will be in sometime in June. The setup looks good and I assume it will make the stance of you rig look even stronger than what it is currently. How is the toy hauler life working? Pretty rad lifestyle.

Yeah I honestly probably could have ended up with a higher end King or Icon but it was a weird situation how it got to where it was at.. The 650 lb springs on the base level Toytec coilovers had been on backorder for over a month and it was looking like another week or two still at least. I ordered the suspension when I ordered the wheels and tires originally - a couple days after buying the 4runner.

Finally, with the 3 day weekend coming up I decided to just bite the bullet and upgrade to the 2.5" performance coilovers with the reservoir from Toytec instead as they were in stock and got them to me prior to this weekend so I have extra time to install if needed.

As for the 5th wheel/toy hauler lifestyle - it has been great. We bought our Crossroads Elevation new in 2013 and have been living in it since. We have a 13 year old chocolate lab (he was my 16th birthday present from my parents, and 8 weeks old back then) so moving a lot and renting apartments was just becoming too much of a pain to find ones that allowed large dogs. We move around once or twice a year. I sold our tow vehicle, the 2013 F250, to buy the 4runner (sold my 4 year old F250 with 77k miles for $500 more than I paid for the 4Runner :banana: ) So now when we move I'll just pay someone to move it for us. It's a huge trailer and only towing it once or twice a year sucked, and that was a very expensive vehicle to maintain with $180 oil changes and $330 oil/fuel filter changes. Going back now I wouldn't have bought a toy hauler and would have bought an extra 5x8 enclosed or something but it is what it is. We have a lot of extra storage back there at least and rooms for two big tool boxes, washer dryer combo, bikes, etc.

 

[DeepSea88]

Yeah I honestly probably could have ended up with a higher end King or Icon but it was a weird situation how it got to where it was at.. The 650 lb springs on the base level Toytec coilovers had been on backorder for over a month and it was looking like another week or two still at least. I ordered the suspension when I ordered the wheels and tires originally - a couple days after buying the 4runner.

Finally, with the 3 day weekend coming up I decided to just bite the bullet and upgrade to the 2.5" performance coilovers with the reservoir from Toytec instead as they were in stock and got them to me prior to this weekend so I have extra time to install if needed.

As for the 5th wheel/toy hauler lifestyle - it has been great. We bought our Crossroads Elevation new in 2013 and have been living in it since. We have a 13 year old chocolate lab (he was my 16th birthday present from my parents, and 8 weeks old back then) so moving a lot and renting apartments was just becoming too much of a pain to find ones that allowed large dogs. We move around once or twice a year. I sold our tow vehicle, the 2013 F250, to buy the 4runner (sold my 4 year old F250 with 77k miles for $500 more than I paid for the 4Runner :banana: ) So now when we move I'll just pay someone to move it for us. It's a huge trailer and only towing it once or twice a year sucked, and that was a very expensive vehicle to maintain with $180 oil changes and $330 oil/fuel filter changes. Going back now I wouldn't have bought a toy hauler and would have bought an extra 5x8 enclosed or something but it is what it is. We have a lot of extra storage back there at least and rooms for two big tool boxes, washer dryer combo, bikes, etc.

I'm active duty navy and the idea of living in a hauler or even has crossed my mind about a million times. I could easily rent out my condo here in San Diego and just travel the region. Very appealing. How often do you leave the east coast? And no worries about the suspension, yours is killer! I've got a cousin who works at the Yuma Proving grounds and he swears by the King brand so I went with them. That's honestly a big reason why I did. And a 13 year old lab?! Amazing! Glad to see a fellow dog lover on the forum.

 

[Trixx]

I'm active duty navy and the idea of living in a hauler or even has crossed my mind about a million times. I could easily rent out my condo here in San Diego and just travel the region. Very appealing. How often do you leave the east coast? And no worries about the suspension, yours is killer! I've got a cousin who works at the Yuma Proving grounds and he swears by the King brand so I went with them. That's honestly a big reason why I did. And a 13 year old lab?! Amazing! Glad to see a fellow dog lover on the forum.

It has it's perks, definitely makes travel easier. In the last 4 years we've lived in:

Corpus Christi, Tx
Houston, Tx
Lake Jackson, Tx
New Orleans, LA
Mobile, AL
Omaha, NE
Williamsport, PA
Columbia, SC


We just got to Columbia a couple months ago. Unsure how long it will be. It's "supposed" to be about 4 years, but my project I came for is having struggles so I may not be here that long. We'll see.

Just noticed your dog in your profile, very cool. I'm 29 now, so the 13 years with my dog has been fun. He's been by my side for a lot of crazy parts of my life, but his age is definitely starting to show.

Leads me back to my 4Runner.. We picked up this protector for the rear off Amazon for $50 until we get some shelves built, he seems to like it, however it seems like it gets really hot in the back, so not quite sure what to do there.

 

[CRFofiddyF]

exhaust mod

great start! I suggest you either mcgyver the exhaust to get out at a 90degree angle to the right or get it done for less than $50. One of the best mods I did because the fumes got sucked back in when I had the hatch open and I didn't me nor the kiddos breathing that.
pm if you need pics but I believe there are a couple floating on here.
Hope this helps.

 

[DeepSea88]

Wow! What a great dog! I'm sure with the window down there is enough air movement to keep the pooch nice and cool. Maybe the fabric isn't meant to breath as well as other stuff. Jake has a "seat hammock" in the middle row of seating in Fionna (my rig). Loves having the windows and so he can add to the dirtiness of the exterior. No bigs though.

Any plans for armor on that rig of yours? I'm currently between a rock and a hard place trying to figure out which winch to buy for my Shrockworks front bumper. Warn 9.5xp or the Warn Zeon 10-S Platinum... Thoughts?

 

[Trixx]

great start! I suggest you either mcgyver the exhaust to get out at a 90degree angle to the right or get it done for less than $50. One of the best mods I did because the fumes got sucked back in when I had the hatch open and I didn't me nor the kiddos breathing that.
pm if you need pics but I believe there are a couple floating on here.
Hope this helps.

Ah I didn't even think of that. Thanks for the suggestion! Will definitely add that to the "to do" list!

Wow! What a great dog! I'm sure with the window down there is enough air movement to keep the pooch nice and cool. Maybe the fabric isn't meant to breath as well as other stuff. Jake has a "seat hammock" in the middle row of seating in Fionna (my rig). Loves having the windows and so he can add to the dirtiness of the exterior. No bigs though.

Any plans for armor on that rig of yours? I'm currently between a rock and a hard place trying to figure out which winch to buy for my Shrockworks front bumper. Warn 9.5xp or the Warn Zeon 10-S Platinum... Thoughts?

Oh yeah, I'm very familiar with the seat hammocks. My wife made the one below about four years ago for my old F250, it'll work in the 4Runner as well. Was just hoping to maybe keep the back seat a little less full of dog fur, but once I get an ARB fridge and such, that'll likely be his next move anyways.

I plan to do full skids underneath eventually, pelfrey or SSO front bumper, CBI rear, etc. etc. That stuff is all a bit further down the list. Now that I have most of the cosmetic and basic things out of the way that drove me crazy on the stock vehicles, my next mods will be getting it ready for weekend camping trips. Next month I plan on a roof rack (maybe) and ARB fridge, ARB awning, some sort of small grill, and maybe one of the water port showers or something similar. I want to build a drawer system soon as well, but will use the sliding cargo tray until that point.

As for the winch, I haven't done any research that far yet, have a long list of mods on my phone and haven't narrowed down a winch yet, as that will likely be 6+ months out still.

 

[DeepSea88]

Ya my goal is to have the winch before my bumper shows up. Install the winch on the bumper and then bumper on the rig.

My ARB fridge was a Craigslist come up that I couldn't pass up. 63 qt ith the travel bag for $750! I mean...come on!

As for the need for an awning...if you drive fast enough you can get away from the sun!!!

 

[Trixx]

My wife and I spent the better part of this weekend getting the full lift/UCA's installed. We ran into a few hiccups but other than waiting on a new abs wire, everything is driving beautifully and good to go. 22.75" in front and about 24.25" in the rear. Big thanks to 2016_4_runner_SR5 for helping me through a few challenging spots as I'm not the most mechanically inclined. Had it aligned today after putting some miles on it and that Turned out great.

Suspension is:
2.5 toytec front coilover with reservoir
Total Chaos UCA's
Bilstein rear with Toytec spring.

Drives and feels great. I'll get more pics soon but been a busy weekend.

 

[CF_Machete]

My wife and I spent the better part of this weekend getting the full lift/UCA's installed. We ran into a few hiccups but other than waiting on a new abs wire, everything is driving beautifully and good to go

That sucks about the ABS wire. Btw, did your abs light on the dash light up? asking b/c mine never did, however my abs has not engaged since I did my lift.

Btw, awesome rig you've got there. Must be nice to have a wife that will help you out rather than break your balls every time there is a set back or mock you for looking at "truck porn".

 

[Paulst2419]

Need opinions on the Spidertrax 1.25" spacers.. I've done a ton of searching and reliability wise - it seems as if there's really zero concerns.

I'm just wondering from an aesthetic point of view. I have a bit more stick out than OEM with my wheels, but once it's lifted I'm not sure if I might want a bit more. I feel like .75" would be perfect, but 1.25" might be a bit much. I already have a set to install, just undecided between installing them or returning them. I have until next Wednesday to decide as that's my cutoff date for returning them.

I don't currently have any rubbing, and lifting will make it even better, but the spacers will also throw me back into "maybe" needing to do the BMC, which I would rather avoid..

My current plan is to lift it this weekend and then decide.. Worse case scenario I can put them on, and if I don't care for them I can just sell them to someone else and lose some $$.

Thoughts?

I'm currently running 285/70/17 KO2's, Icon wheels with 0 offset and 4.75" backspacing, Icon stage 2 lift, 1.25" spacers. I get some rubbing on the fender liner and lip on the front bumper. Most during reverse with the wheel turned, or going forward when suspension is compressed. I just took it on some trails in Sedona and will definitely be trimming the bumper if my tire doesn't do it for me before I get home. Moab tomorrow...

I think my spacers have alot to do with the rubbing. With the 4.75" backspacing of my new wheels, I will likely be taking the spacers off when I return to Texas. It looks amazing with the spacers but sometimes, very rarely, I get rubbing on the body mount. I think if I ditch them all my pain will go away.

Good luck with the build. I plan on finishing mine out with full Shrockworks products since I live in Houston part-time and will try to work out a package deal with them. We'll see...

 

[DeepSea88]

Amazing!

My wife and I spent the better part of this weekend getting the full lift/UCA's installed. We ran into a few hiccups but other than waiting on a new abs wire, everything is driving beautifully and good to go. 22.75" in front and about 24.25" in the rear. Big thanks to 2016_4_runner_SR5 for helping me through a few challenging spots as I'm not the most mechanically inclined. Had it aligned today after putting some miles on it and that Turned out great.

Suspension is:
2.5 toytec front coilover with reservoir
Total Chaos UCA's
Bilstein rear with Toytec spring.

Drives and feels great. I'll get more pics soon but been a busy weekend.

Looks great you two! I'm excited to see more pics! Nothing better than a productive weekend. Well done

 

[Trixx]

That sucks about the ABS wire. Btw, did your abs light on the dash light up? asking b/c mine never did, however my abs has not engaged since I did my lift.

Btw, awesome rig you've got there. Must be nice to have a wife that will help you out rather than break your balls every time there is a set back or mock you for looking at "truck porn".

My dash board is lit up like a Christmas light. Like 3-4 lights on, all which seem common for a broken abs wire. My wife is definitely great. She was out there with me all weekend and probably did half of it, constantly asking questions and wanting to do certain parts. She could probably be a little harder on me with all the $ spent on mods but I can't complain cause too hard would be even worse. One day I'll make a post about our recent 3000 mile motorcycle trip through Baja we did together this spring.

I'm currently running 285/70/17 KO2's, Icon wheels with 0 offset and 4.75" backspacing, Icon stage 2 lift, 1.25" spacers. I get some rubbing on the fender liner and lip on the front bumper. Most during reverse with the wheel turned, or going forward when suspension is compressed. I just took it on some trails in Sedona and will definitely be trimming the bumper if my tire doesn't do it for me before I get home. Moab tomorrow...

I think my spacers have alot to do with the rubbing. With the 4.75" backspacing of my new wheels, I will likely be taking the spacers off when I return to Texas. It looks amazing with the spacers but sometimes, very rarely, I get rubbing on the body mount. I think if I ditch them all my pain will go away.

Good luck with the build. I plan on finishing mine out with full Shrockworks products since I live in Houston part-time and will try to work out a package deal with them. We'll see...

I would say with 90% certainty that it's your spacers causing the rubbing. Everything I've read says they definitely increase the chance. Sounds like otherwise we have basically the same configuration wheel and backspacing size.

After getting it lifted, at this point I feel like 1.25" is slightly more than I want so I'll return them. If there was like a .5" or .75" I would've gone that route.

Being in Houston makes Shrockworks a good choice. I have just read too many negative things about their lead times that turned me off. Hopefully being local you can make something work in person, plus no shipping.