Unner's Build, 2001 T4R 4x4

[Scramble]

Cool trip! The furthest north I've been is Montreal. Nice clean city.

 

[Road Bull]

Thanks Ryder! Having a good copilot makes things much more fun. Your side of Canada looks like some really pretty terrain.

Already went to California haha. Spent almost 2 weeks on that trip in early-mid December. The big things we did were: Pismo, PCH, Mojave desert, Death Valley, Alabama Hills, and the Grand Canyon. Plus a night I spent at Alstrom Point in Utah by myself on the way to pick up my girlfriend at the airport in California. It was a pretty awesome trip.

Also, GO EAGLES!!!

Go Eagles indeed!

I may have bought some fun stuff for the 4Runner today. :spy:

What, what? Spill the beans! :snacker:

 

[Scramble]

Go Eagles indeed!

What, what? Spill the beans! :snacker:

Dont get that excited, it's 22" spinners.

 

[Road Bull]

Dont get that excited, it's 22" spinners.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Chaaaaanges! Turn and face the strange.:guitar2:

 

[BoarderDave]

I may have bought some fun stuff for the 4Runner today. :spy:

Do tell.... [emoji16]

 

[Unner]

Cool trip! The furthest north I've been is Montreal. Nice clean city.

Thanks! Montreal was nice, as was Quebec City. Tadoussac is definitely the furthest north I've ever been.

Dont get that excited, it's 22" spinners.

Wrong. If I'm gonna do something, I'm gonna do it right. 31" light up spinners or bust

Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Chaaaaanges! Turn and face the strange.:guitar2:

How did you get a picture of my truck so fast?

Do tell.... [emoji16]

It starts with a K, and it's not a kiss...

 

[theesotericone]

Nice TR man.

I'm looking forward to some of them Cali photo's when they pop up in six months. lol

 

[Unner]

Nice TR man.

I'm looking forward to some of them Cali photo's when they pop up in six months. lol

Thanks!

Shooting for less than 3 months on the California pictures. That'll be a solid improvement.

 

[JohnTheLuck]

Awesome trip report directly from my backyard!!! As you saw, there is not many off-road possibilities around here. Most of the land is either forest or private property. Sadly, this is why I travel south of the border for my trips with the 4Runner. And this is probably why, as well as the gas price, which explain why you don't see many 4Runners around here.

As you probably found out, in the cities, almost everybody speaks english (probably better than me...) so the shouldn't be a language barrier. But in smallest cities, this may be a bit different.

Just an advice to speed limit here. Rule of thumb, +20kph is the usual acceptable limit. Keep it to +15kph to be safe in case you encounter a bad officer.

Tadoussac is an excellent destination. The boardwalk and trails around the hills is awesome. QC 138 continue a lot more past Tadoussac. For those not afraid of long driving time, it gets much less populated and the scenery gets even better. Near the end is Iles Mingan National Park, with its awesome monoliths. A must!

BTW, if any of you plan to come around here, get in touch with me and I will be glad to indicate some good place to see and eat.

And yes, the poutine is good!!!

I can't wait to see your California trip report since this will be my next trip in the fall.
.

 

[Unner]

Awesome trip report directly from my backyard!!! As you saw, there is not many off-road possibilities around here. Most of the land is either forest or private property. Sadly, this is why I travel south of the border for my trips with the 4Runner. And this is probably why, as well as the gas price, which explain why you don't see many 4Runners around here.

As you probably found out, in the cities, almost everybody speaks english (probably better than me...) so the shouldn't be a language barrier. But in smallest cities, this may be a bit different.

Just an advice to speed limit here. Rule of thumb, +20kph is the usual acceptable limit. Keep it to +15kph to be safe in case you encounter a bad officer.

Tadoussac is an excellent destination. The boardwalk and trails around the hills is awesome. QC 138 continue a lot more past Tadoussac. For those not afraid of long driving time, it gets much less populated and the scenery gets even better. Near the end is Iles Mingan National Park, with its awesome monoliths. A must!

BTW, if any of you plan to come around here, get in touch with me and I will be glad to indicate some good place to see and eat.

And yes, the poutine is good!!!

I can't wait to see your California trip report since this will be my next trip in the fall.
.

Thanks! I just realized I read your trip report from when you went to Utah. It was very pretty up there, but you're right. I didn't see much for offroading.

Even where people didn't speak English we made it just fine. I'm sure several words were pronounced very poorly, but we were able to get our point across. Your English is very good too, by the way.

Tadoussac was awesome! I really wish we had been able to drive further north, but unfortunately we didn't have the time to do that. One day I'll make it back there. The scenery along the St. Lawrence is fantastic.

The poutine was delicious, unfortunately you can't get it down here.

California was amazing, so much to see and so many varying landscapes. I'm sure you'll love it. I've been typing the written portion of the trip report, but haven't edited any of the pictures. I've just looked through some of them.

 

[Unner]

Today my fun things were delivered. They should match the front nicely. Shouldn't have any issues with my shocks not keeping up anymore...

20180212_202128 by Unner Unner, on Flickr
20180212_202603 by Unner Unner, on Flickr

 

[Black798]

That oughta fix you up nicely! Did you have them built custom length? And do you still have your rear sway bar? I've seen a few people have issues with the resis rubbing on that

 

[Unner]

That oughta fix you up nicely! Did you have them built custom length? And do you still have your rear sway bar? I've seen a few people have issues with the resis rubbing on that

Yeah, I really want to get these on the truck right now!

I got them second hand from a member here so they're normal length, but they're in essentially new condition. Only ran for a couple months. I got a good deal on them so I figured I'll try them out and see how I like it. If I want to go a different route I can sell these and get my money back out of them I'm sure.

I do run a rear sway bar. I've seen those rubbing issues, but I've also seen people run them with no rubbing. If they rub I would think I can loosen the mounting clamp for the piggyback and rotate them a tad so the reservoir sits further away. I don't see why this isn't doable.

I emailed King about getting some install instructions just to make sure I do everything the way they say to do it.

If these don't completely satisfy me I'll be in touch about a set of those shock mounting brackets. Hopefully these work out because I don't think I'll have the time to do any custom mounts/welding anytime in the near future.

And I was playing with the compression adjusters, mine seem to have 26 clicks. Maybe the first and last ones don't count?

 

[Road Bull]

Holy cow man! You are ALL IN! That is a pretty nice piece of kit you got there. Get those bad boys mounted up! I can't wait to see some pics and hear how you like them. I will live vicariously through you on this one. LOL. They look bad ass though. I hope everything clears and there are no issues. Do you know if their stroke is similar to the LC Tociko shocks? I am interested to see how they pair up with 861's and the 4X Innovations rear bumper as we have similar builds.

 

[Unner]

Holy cow man! You are ALL IN! That is a pretty nice piece of kit you got there. Get those bad boys mounted up! I can't wait to see some pics and hear how you like them. I will live vicariously through you on this one. LOL. They look bad ass though. I hope everything clears and there are no issues. Do you know if their stroke is similar to the LC Tociko shocks? I am interested to see how they pair up with 861's and the 4X Innovations rear bumper as we have similar builds.

Go big or go home! I'm hoping to mount them Friday, if the weather cooperates. I think it's supposed to rain all weekend...

They are nice to look at. They don't look as big as they really are in the pictures.

The compressed length is about an inch shorter than the LC shocks, so it should stuff the tires more, and the extended length is about an inch shorter than the LC shocks, so I'll lose about an inch of droop. I'll probably have to change up my bumpstops. We'll see how they work out. I'm excited!

 

[Black798]

And I was playing with the compression adjusters, mine seem to have 26 clicks. Maybe the first and last ones don't count?

I could see how those have more adjuster clicks since they're from a different shock series and they are a 2.5 body shock instead of 2. Not sure how much of a difference those extra 2 clicks make but better to have it not need it than need it not have it. That's why I got the compression adjusters in the first place

 

[Unner]

I could see how those have more adjuster clicks since they're from a different shock series and they are a 2.5 body shock instead of 2. Not sure how much of a difference those extra 2 clicks make but better to have it not need it than need it not have it. That's why I got the compression adjusters in the first place

Exactly. I'm hoping I can make them softer for my daily drive, which consists of the worst roads in the area, and then stiffen them up when I'm loaded down with gear.

I got King to send me the install instructions today, and looked them over and compared them to the few install pictures I've seen around here. It seems like almost everyone installs them on the wrong side, which I think contributes to the rubbing problem some people have. They should be mounted with the hose side towards the driveshaft, rather than the outside of the truck, according to King. I think people don't realize the shaft eyelet can be turned from the position it is in from the factory.

If you were to install them the way they come from King they "only fit" on the wrong side of the truck. If you rotate the shaft 90* or so they fit just like King says they should, which should hopefully prevent any rubbing issues.

 

[Unner]

So Friday I went to have a chip in windshield repaired, and it ended up cracking. So this Friday I'll be getting a new windshield. At least the new one won't be pitted like the old one, should make driving into the sun in the evening less blinding...

I also noticed I've got a slight oil leak from my oil cooler and dipstick o-rings. I'm hoping to take care of those this weekend. I've had new oil cooler coolant hoses for awhile, I might change them now. I'm also due for a coolant change so I'll probably knock all of that out at once.

This weekend I caught a break in the rain and got a chance to install the Kings. First of all, everyone needs to read the directions on these shocks before installing them. The majority of pictures I've seen of them on this forum they have been installed backwards. Driver on passenger and vice versa.

Install was pretty easy. Remove old leaky LC shocks, hang the new kings from the upper mount, and then put the spacers and bottom shock eyelet on the stud. The only issue I had was slight corrosion, paint, and road grime on the studs meant I had to clean up the bottom studs before I could get the spacers and shock eye to slide over them. A putty knife for the heavy stuff, wire brush, and 500 grit sand paper had everything lining up as it should. I tightened everything up and let it back down onto the ground I drove about 20 miles, and noticed they had rotated quite a bit. Then I realized I tightened the upper mounts while the axle was drooped, so I re-tightened and got them to snug up some.

I went on another test drive and they didn't move at all after 25 miles. I decided to try them out on some dirt/gravel, so I headed down towards the river. After about 7 miles of dirt (I was pushing it pretty hard), they had rotated again, but not as much. I turned them back to where they were, drove 3 more miles of dirt, and then 15 more miles of pavement with no rotation.

I'm going to try tightening the top a little more, but I don't know if there is much more to tighten. I'm also thinking there is a spot the shock wants to be in, and I may let it rotate to that point, and then loosen the piggyback clamp and turn it to where it should be.

Now, for the ride on these things. It's amazing. I started with the compression adjusters set to the softest setting. I hit the worst road in my area, which is the way I drive everyday, and I was floored with how well it rode over the pothole ridden road at 40 mph. It honestly felt rougher in the front end than the back end. And the front end doesn't feel rough... I didn't think the rear suspension on these trucks could ride so good.

I hit the same portion of road with the compression adjusters set to full firm and there was a noticeable difference. It was much bouncier and rougher, but I think it was still better than the ride with the LC shocks.

Around the neighborhood at low speeds it doesn't ride much different, maybe a little smoother, but at faster speeds there is a huge difference. At highway speeds it feels like there is less sway going around corners. I haven't been able to hit bridge junctions or anything like that on the interstate yet.

On my short off road stint it did super well. Holes and rough stuff in the road that used to make me wince, it soaks up now. I pushed it harder than I had before on that road and it had no problems. Just in general it is easy to tell that the Kings control the motion of the vehicle much much better than the old suspension.

I seriously didn't think that the rear suspension on these could ride so well, it didn't ride this well with the stock suspension. I'm very happy and very impressed. It will make my daily commute much more pleasurable without having the rear end bouncing all over the place on that awful road. And off-road the performance is much better too. I just need to solve the slight rotation issue, and it will be perfect.

Here's a few pics.
LC Tokico's vs Kings
20180218_113718 by Unner Unner, on Flickr

That's a lot of shock...
20180218_142950 by Unner Unner, on Flickr
20180218_143001 by Unner Unner, on Flickr
20180218_143028 by Unner Unner, on Flickr

Right before the first offroad miles on the new suspension.
20180218_194426 by Unner Unner, on Flickr

I also respooled my winch this weekend to keep everything functioning properly.
20180218_142935 by Unner Unner, on Flickr

And I saw this beauty over the weekend.
20180218_163904 by Unner Unner, on Flickr
20180218_163944 by Unner Unner, on Flickr

Plus a shot from the parking lot earlier.
20180219_172221 by Unner Unner, on Flickr

 

[theesotericone]

This weekend I caught a break in the rain and got a chance to install the Kings. First of all, everyone needs to read the directions on these shocks before installing them. The majority of pictures I've seen of them on this forum they have been installed backwards. Driver on passenger and vice versa.

Instructions? You read those? llol

All you guys with these nice shock set-ups are gonna end up costing me a ton of cash. Thanks for the feedback on performance so far. Post up when you get them offroad into some rocky stuff. I bet the shine even more.

 

[LittleCaesar]

I love the 1st gen. From Alaska, now that is a drive.

I thought you were going to drop a bomb on us and say you bought the white TRD PRO in the background.

The Kings look great.

Any trips planned for the near future?