Warthog Build and Adventure Thread

[2014 Warthog]

Sequoia Trip!

Had a very short trip to Sequoia and Kings Canyon last weekend. First multi day trip for the new runner.

Despite several issues like work screwing over the first day, worrying about the house burning down all weekend and then THIS happening on the way home, it was a fun trip.

Not a lot of offroading, but we did trundle around several old logging roads and dirt forest service roads which is always fun. Sort of seeing the back side of the parks

Oh and a funny thing. I bought the 47qt ARB fridge. I had it plugged in at home the night before the trip getting it and the contents nice and cold. Then when we left I unplugged the AC from the back, loaded the fridge and plugged in the 12v cord. When we got to sequoia we were staying at the John Muir Lodge which we arrived at without the AC cord!!! ARG! So I had to use the ice machine and use it like a damn cooler the entire weekend getting everything wet which was the entire reason for getting it in the first place.

956 miles
Ave 19.5 MPG
Highest MPG between fill-ups was 20.5
Those mountain roads really suck the life out the mileage but still not too bad, I'm happy.

I'm still working on the full trip photos but here are some pics of the truck anyway

 

[tarpon6]

Love your truck. So jealous that you were in Sequoia! We were there last June. Took some pics under the tunnel tree too. Unfortunately in a rental car as we flew in from Florida. We saw 10 bears in 4 days (pics here: Sequoia National Park Photo Gallery by Dan Rimar at pbase.com )

Your getting pretty good MPG, any tips? I got a lot of ideas from your build thread. Thinking about the Baja rack and Shrockworks sliders. Like the black front too.

 

[2014 Warthog]

Love your truck. So jealous that you were in Sequoia! We were there last June. Took some pics under the tunnel tree too. Unfortunately in a rental car as we flew in from Florida. We saw 10 bears in 4 days (pics here: Sequoia National Park Photo Gallery by Dan Rimar at pbase.com )

Your getting pretty good MPG, any tips? I got a lot of ideas from your build thread. Thinking about the Baja rack and Shrockworks sliders. Like the black front too.

Hi, thanks

We saw NO bears! Tons of deer and tons of marmots. I'd never seen a marmot before...

As for MPG, I guess I'm mostly a softie on the gas pedal. I punch it when I need to, but otherwise I usually cruise along with traffic. The main thing I haven't done yet is put bigger tires on. That'll shave off an MPG or two when I get around to that at some point

My Shrockworks sliders just arrived yesterday and will be installing them this weekend. It was probably exactly three months since I ordered them so if you can wait...

Looking through your pics, we could have been on vacation together hit all the same spots. Though no bears, jealous of the cub pics. And we went to stump meadow but otherwise almost identical Still haven't got my pictures up though...

 

[vail4rnr]

Nice rig! Looking forward to seeing how the shrockworks sliders look. Waiting on a pair myself so will be curious how the install goes on the 14. Imagine its not much different than other 5th gens.

 

[KCcarguy]

Your truck is looking VERY nice, man. Good job! :cheers:

 

[Gabex35]

Going on the first multi day trip with the Warthog in a few days so I bought an ARB fridge today. 47 quart. Spent the day running a permanent 10 gauge wire from the battery to the back and put in a heavy duty socket in the wheel well today.

Are you still happy with the placement of the socket after your trip? I'll be installing the new ARB fridge harness this weekend and have no idea where I should put it.

Do you mind posting a photo of your specific location? Thanks.

 

[2014 Warthog]

Are you still happy with the placement of the socket after your trip? I'll be installing the new ARB fridge harness this weekend and have no idea where I should put it.

Do you mind posting a photo of your specific location? Thanks.

I'll see if I can remember to put a picture up when I get home. The plug for the fridge is long due to it being a 2 in 1 thing (Both a 12v lighter plug and a screw on two prong plug). They recommend getting the custom socket which makes it half the length and so less likely to get struck by something and breaking it. ANd has the ability to be screwed into place so it doesn't accidentally get pulled out. I may order the screw in socket and mount that next to it at some point in the future...

But anyway, with that in mind, I decided to mount the socket vertically in the corner of the tray in the right wheel well. It has a rubber cap when not in use, this way the plug is pointing up rather than sticking out horizontally. But it is still a big long plug sticking out and could get whacked off by something flying around the back

 

[Gabex35]

Cool, I understand where you put it. I wanted to go with a dual purpose plug too but had heard that they standard DC plugs can be be knocked out of circuit fairly easy so I decided to hurt use their new two prong connection. I guess I'll see how that goes. Thanks for the info.

 

[2014 Warthog]

Fridge Socket Location

Here is where I mounted the ARB refrigerator dedicated socket:



So the plug is somewhat protected from being knocked out this way...

 

[2014 Warthog]

Sliders finally!!!

Finally got my sliders on after 3 months of waiting

Hope they work as good as they look






Since I have an SR5, I had to buy the new rocker panels which were some $$$. Well I could have just plastidipped the areas where the SR5 rocker panels were removed to accommodate the sliders, but it does look better having some filler in there.

 

[2014 Warthog]

Rock Therapy Moab May 28-June 2

Adventure time!

Made a rather adventurous decision (For me anyway) to drive out to Utah and join the Tacoma Rock Therapy group. Yup, just drive across 4 states for 11 hours to meet a bunch of people I've never seen before and take my new truck out on trails I've never done, a lot of which have well deserved names like "Metal Masher" and so forth

I did know a small number of people that were planning on going from this forum, and even met one in person the week before at a local meet up.

Drive was about 760 miles one way, 11 hours (12 with time zone change) and I got an average of about 19 mpg going out, 20 mpg on the way back.

We stayed at Area BFE which is a pretty extreme rock crawling area, I couldn't do anything there in my truck

My camp site. Not seen, tons of blackflies which I didn't realize bite and leave some amazingly long lasting itchy welts!


Random view through sunroof. In long canyon I think?


Hiked up to see Corona Arch in 90 degree heat! Was otherwise a fun and interesting hike. People were rappelling off of it.


Petroglyphs along highway 291


After driving to the end of Bull Canyon, [MENTION=65101]BrianSD_42[/MENTION] and friend, [MENTION=92010]MattAK[/MENTION] and I hiking to the bottom of the Gemini Bridges


Brian in my shot!


On the way out of Bull Canyon, we found "Surprise Overlook" where you could get some nice pictures of your rid on the edge of a cliff. Not quite as nice as top of the world but it was decent

 

[2014 Warthog]

Rock Therapy Moab May 28-June 2 (Part 2)

In Bull Canyon there was a small rock challenge. BrianSD_42 went right up, Matt AK went up but scraped something. Then I went up! Slowly... my rear end is sagging as I still have no lift at all and the stock springs sag with any load including just putting the nose in the air like this!

Only drug the mud flap some, was fun


Evening time Rock Therapy Lineup. Was 50 trucks total. mostly tacomas, maybe 12 4runners and one Jeep!


After 3 days of offroading, the entire inside of the car looked like this:


Couple more poser shots...




This was the only real damage then entire trip (Thankfully!) Well this and some new plant scratches in the paint.


Aaaaaand, Fixed!


One of the things that came in SUPER handy was the Nexus 7 I installed earlier in this thread. Mainly for the offline Orux map program and it's track recording.

There are SO many trails out there and the trails listed in books have tons of offshoots and sometimes important instructions to stay ON trail are not there. I ended up on a 10 mile or so side trip down the rim of the Kane Creek canyon because of one such situation. With the tracking, no matter how far off the main trail you get, you can always backtrack using the map tracks!

In the end it was sad packing up at 5 in the morning on Sunday to head back to San Diego. Was great meeting tons of people and seeing all their awesome rigs. Though the number of broken parts and flopped rigs was.. sobering! I'm pretty sure everyone made it out of Moab under their own power in the end.

Thanks to everyone that put the entire trip together and to [MENTION=65101]BrianSD_42[/MENTION] for starting the T4R thread that convinced me to go

 

[oscarr]

nice rig :reddance:

 

[MadeInMaine]

Blasphemy!!

Since I have an SR5, I had to buy the new rocker panels which were some $$$. Well I could have just plastidipped the areas where the SR5 rocker panels were removed to accommodate the sliders, but it does look better having some filler in there.

QUESTION:
What is this business about SR5 having to get new rocker panels to accommodate sliders? This sounds like the devils work....

If you have pictures, or a thread about this, I would like to know.

Thanks

PS. your runner is looking good!

 

[DigableKid]

That looked like an amazing trip!

 

[Omar RVA]

QUESTION:
What is this business about SR5 having to get new rocker panels to accommodate sliders? This sounds like the devils work....

If you have pictures, or a thread about this, I would like to know.

Thanks

PS. your runner is looking good!

I missed Warthog's post about the sliders until now - and I was going to wait for a 2014 owner to answer this one but...from what I've seen on dealer lots, and from a few discussions on this forum (http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/160000-2014-sr5-sliders.html), the 2014 SR5 and 2014 Trail have the same exact rocker trim, which does not need to be replaced for shrockworks sliders.

As a matter of fact a few members used the trim on their 2010-2013 SR5s/Limiteds to fit N-Fab steps (which do not fit on the 2010-2013 SR5/Limited without spacers or trimming the rocker panel). Source: http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/150296-2014-trail-rocker-trim-4.html#post1621963

Love this build though - jealous.

OA

 

[Hellamatic]

SO last Friday I got my front side windows tinted and the hood wrapped with black vinyl. Hood wrap looks awesome, hope it lasts a while!

Then on Saturday I took a trip to Borrego with some friends to do some slot canyon hiking and of course as much offroading in between as we could.

We hiked The Slot and the south fork of Palm Wash near the calcite mine. I was planning on going down the Drop Off (The big one, not the Diablo Drop Off). But I er.. chickened out I had a couple of noob offroaders with me and I didn't want to lead them down something I hadent even been on myself yet.

Anyone want to go out there sometime and show me how it's done?

The slot canyon hikes were awesome, Truickhaven trail was fun, Basin wash too. MASSIVE winds though, crap gass milage on the way home. But a great day overall.

Then on sunday I spent 3 hours cleaning the runner. Yow! I am really not font of black interiors :/ After cleaning the outside and tires/wheels and glass and vacuuming the inside, have to take a damp cloth over the entire inside of the car to get the rest of the plastic and vinyl clean.

Some pics:

Truck still clean!

View attachment 116442

An example slot

View attachment 116443

"The Drop Off"

View attachment 116444

Truck not so clean any more

View attachment 116445

Here is a map of sorts of where we went...

View attachment 116446

My web site has more pics and KMZ files for use on Google earth etc...

Borrego Slot Canyons

The black hood looks great - I'm generally not a fan of red vehicles, but they look great with lots of blacked out parts.

 

[IronManKansas]

I thought the 2014 rockers were the same on the trail and sr5 so didn't require modifications for sliders. Also what sliders did you get?
Thanks,

Finally got my sliders on after 3 months of waiting

Hope they work as good as they look

View attachment 120326


View attachment 120327

Since I have an SR5, I had to buy the new rocker panels which were some $$$. Well I could have just plastidipped the areas where the SR5 rocker panels were removed to accommodate the sliders, but it does look better having some filler in there.

 

[2014 Warthog]

Woah! Thread blew up all of a sudden

nice rig :reddance:

THanks!

QUESTION:
What is this business about SR5 having to get new rocker panels to accommodate sliders? This sounds like the devils work....

If you have pictures, or a thread about this, I would like to know.

Thanks

PS. your runner is looking good!

Well that's the story from Shrokworks, and they didn't bother to correct my ordering when I told them it was a 2014 trail, I hope I didn't pay for the extra rocker panel pieces for nothing I'll see if I can get a decent picture from the underside...

But the general problem is that the plastic rocker panel pieces hang too low and get in the way of the rocker supports. However, taking them off exposes the rubber seal on the bottom of the door directly to the elements. I'm actually thinking of refitting the original rocker panels and cutting out notches to allow plenty of room for the mounts. Would be better to keep the lower door seals away from water, dust and rocks thrown up...

That looked like an amazing trip!

It was fun, though being a noob and with no rear end lift I generally stayed away from the really big runs that most others were doing. Got that fixed now! And with a new bumper soon I'll be headed back in Sept maybe

I missed Warthog's post about the sliders until now - and I was going to wait for a 2014 owner to answer this one but...from what I've seen on dealer lots, and from a few discussions on this forum (http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/160000-2014-sr5-sliders.html), the 2014 SR5 and 2014 Trail have the same exact rocker trim, which does not need to be replaced for shrockworks sliders.

As a matter of fact a few members used the trim on their 2010-2013 SR5s/Limiteds to fit N-Fab steps (which do not fit on the 2010-2013 SR5/Limited without spacers or trimming the rocker panel). Source: http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/150296-2014-trail-rocker-trim-4.html#post1621963

Love this build though - jealous.

OA

It's coming together. Just a couple more items on my stage one list. Then I'll give the building a rest for a while and see how she goes.

The black hood looks great - I'm generally not a fan of red vehicles, but they look great with lots of blacked out parts.

My third red Toyota truck. I like the color for some reason, but yeah the red and black combo is nice. I couldn't decide on a partial hood pattern for the matt black which was my first thought. (I really did get it for the glare reduction!) I finally told them to do the entire thing. The black coming down to the headlights accented them unexpectedly so it came out better than expected I think.

I thought the 2014 rockers were the same on the trail and sr5 so didn't require modifications for sliders. Also what sliders did you get?
Thanks,

I should go by the dealership and see if I can check out a trail in person and see... THe local dealership is always thin on 4runner stock though.

 

[Ducmonsta]

Woah! Thread blew up all of a sudden



THanks!



Well that's the story from Shrokworks, and they didn't bother to correct my ordering when I told them it was a 2014 trail, I hope I didn't pay for the extra rocker panel pieces for nothing I'll see if I can get a decent picture from the underside...

But the general problem is that the plastic rocker panel pieces hang too low and get in the way of the rocker supports. However, taking them off exposes the rubber seal on the bottom of the door directly to the elements. I'm actually thinking of refitting the original rocker panels and cutting out notches to allow plenty of room for the mounts. Would be better to keep the lower door seals away from water, dust and rocks thrown up...



It was fun, though being a noob and with no rear end lift I generally stayed away from the really big runs that most others were doing. Got that fixed now! And with a new bumper soon I'll be headed back in Sept maybe



It's coming together. Just a couple more items on my stage one list. Then I'll give the building a rest for a while and see how she goes.



My third red Toyota truck. I like the color for some reason, but yeah the red and black combo is nice. I couldn't decide on a partial hood pattern for the matt black which was my first thought. (I really did get it for the glare reduction!) I finally told them to do the entire thing. The black coming down to the headlights accented them unexpectedly so it came out better than expected I think.



I should go by the dealership and see if I can check out a trail in person and see... THe local dealership is always thin on 4runner stock though.

I think you may have been misinformed by Shrockworks. The 2014 SR5 now has the same rocker panel as the TEs. I'm sure it was an oversight. But, I'd be happy to buy your OE rocker panels to help recoup some of your cost in the Shrockworks rockers. PM me if you're interested.