84 4Runner Buildup - Last minute summer mods

[Volcom]

how far forward from stock is the axle right now?

I'm not sure but I'm guessing 2 inches. 

[Loki]

let me know how those axles work...i made a couple today and one yesterday, they haven't been trail tested yet, but i just barely finished them. they've seen the block. i'm still happy that i can ghost ride my truck while barely walking

[Volcom]

I stayed up late last night working on the truck.  I got the whole frontend painted, axle, spring hanger, inside of frame, shock hoops, inner fenders, most of the grill area.

I also got the radiator installed but was missing a hose clamp so I couldn't fill up the engine with coolant.  I also got the locking hubs installed so the front axle is completely done!  I also got the front brake calipers loaded and installed. 

My dad is going to work on installing the master brake cylinder and clutch master cylinder.  He is also going to try and get the radiator finished up.  We have to modify the stock power steering reservoir to fit since the inner fender had to be cut for the tall shock hoops.  Once that is done, the power steering system can be bled.

[Volcom]

let me know how those axles work...i made a couple today and one yesterday, they haven't been trail tested yet, but i just barely finished them. they've seen the block. i'm still happy that i can ghost ride my truck while barely walking

Axles or driveshafts? 

[Loki]

oops...meant driveshafts...i was a little braintarded when i wrote that. too much wrenching for long periods of time does that to me

[Volcom]

This the update everybody has been waiting to see!!!!!!!!!!! 

Saturday 3/17/07
This is the way or break weekend to see if I even had a shot at getting to Moab on the 23rd.

Big thanks to my brother and bro-in-law for the help!  We got the brakes bled, clutch bled, power steering system bled, and coolant in the truck.

EROCK made a square front driveshaft, he's getting good at fab'ing them.


This is how she sat Saturday morning.



My brother made me a sweet square front shaft.  There is a total of 16" of slip.



Front shocks are in.  Bilsteins are hard to install since they are gas pressurized.



We had to redrill the flange off of the back of the rear t-case to accept the larger bolt pattern of the CV'ed rear shaft.

In the process of impacting the flange nut off, the speedo gear slipped on the rear main shaft of the t-case.  It sliped pass the detent ball and then somehow rotated 1/20 of a turn.  When I went to install the flange after being drilled, it didn't fit.  I tried everything and even put the flange on and got a large socket and tried to tighten it on. 

Well, I had to take a small cover off of the rear of the t-case and see what was up.  Sure enough, the speedo gear was turned and not lined up with the detent ball and was jammed on it.  I pryed and pryed.  It ended up taking my dad to pound it off the next day.





Rear brake proportioning valve is on!



Engine bay back together!

[Volcom]

Sunday 3/18/07

Thanks to my dad and brother for the huge help this weekend!  I wouldn't have made the Moab trip without them.

We were still jacking around with the t-case trying to get that speedo gear unstuck.  I buttoned the t-case back up, and installed the rear driveline.  Went to install the front and the 4wheel drive flange on the rear t-case is wrong      It's setup for a CV and I was bolting a regular yoke to it.  I ended up having to take that flange off and switch it with an extra one I had lying around.

We filled all the diff's, t-cases, and installed the front d-shaft.

The moment of truth!!!



Backing it out of the garage for the first time in months!



My dad backing it up a dirt pile next to my house! 



Flexing it out and measuring for front bumpstops.



How it sits after the full day of work













I got the stock roll bar installed.


First impressons of the double low.  Holy #$!#$%, it's slow.  The dang thing just crept up the dirt pipe with the clutch out in idle!!!!

It's the first time I've ever really driven a locked truck, it's soooooooo badass.

We made some adjustable bumpstops for the front, big thanks to my brother and dad for them, they worked on them all day.

[Talon84x4]

Congrats on getting it all finished up and ready to go 

Looks great, I like the stance it has, will be waiting for some new wheeling pics 

[46&2]

Badass! Looks good man. Feels good to finally put it in 4wd and go! Beautiful stance too. My 4runner ended up a little lower than I had hoped after my springs settled, so i have to modify a few things. im going to swap out my front springs and shackles ad add a 1 inch block to my chevys, hoping that will make it look a little closer to your stance. Do you have a body lift at all?

Congratulations! 

[Loki]

nice Volcom...good to see everything's coming together. we did our doubler ghost ride this week, it's nice to be able to start out in 5th gear in LOW LOW and wrap it out in 2 seconds while still only going about 3mph.

Good luck at moab bro

[Matty]

   awesome work.  glad to see that thing movin.  moabs gonna be a blast. 

[Volcom]

Thanks for all the replies!  Lift wise, I hope it settles at least an inch.  It sits too high for my taste.  I do have room to run the 36" Iroks with some trimming.  I love how wide it is.  It felt great, nice and stable when climbing that dirt pile.

It feels so good to get it done in time.  I honestly didn't think I was going to make it.  I thought I took on too big of a project in a too short amount of time.  But the best part is the major part of it is done!  Bumpers, fender trimming, and some kind of cage are next (next winter  ) and it should be good for awhile!

Moab is going to be a blast, I can't wait.  This week is going to creep by 

Now I know how Texas people feel the week before coming to Colorado to ski 

[topar]

Looks good!

[Matty]

  i just watched the video over on rockfrogs that was great.


its gonna be at the perfect height when it settles with the 36s.  you have the 1.5" spacers in the front for that width, but what else?  backspacing on those rims im assuming?

[Volcom]

  i just watched the video over on rockfrogs that was great.


its gonna be at the perfect height when it settles with the 36s.  you have the 1.5" spacers in the front for that width, but what else?  backspacing on those rims im assuming?

Video was too cheesy to post here

Height-wise, it should be perfect for the 36" Iroks.  I will have to trim quite a bit of sheetmetal in the rear since I extended the wheelbase.  The front rub is typical Toyota rubbing that some fender trimming and firewall clearancing can solve.

I have 1.5" spacers along with 15x10 2.5" backspaced wheels.

[Fearofrunner]

are you going to put a rear bumper on there volcom?

[Volcom]

Badass! Looks good man. Feels good to finally put it in 4wd and go! Beautiful stance too. My 4runner ended up a little lower than I had hoped after my springs settled, so i have to modify a few things. im going to swap out my front springs and shackles ad add a 1 inch block to my chevys, hoping that will make it look a little closer to your stance. Do you have a body lift at all?

Congratulations! 

Thanks bro!  If I run into clearnace problems, I'm going to trim sheetmetal.  I'm hoping to keep it fairly low.

I don't have any kind of body lift.  I was thinking about a 2 inch lift when I very first got the truck but didn't do it.  It would have made some things much easier to do like installing the sliders and raising the gas tank.  But I didn't want it too high.

[Volcom]

nice Volcom...good to see everything's coming together. we did our doubler ghost ride this week, it's nice to be able to start out in 5th gear in LOW LOW and wrap it out in 2 seconds while still only going about 3mph.

Good luck at moab bro

I haven't gotten to drive it much so I didn't really try starting in 5th gear double low.  I'm pretty sure I'll be trying it in Moab.  The group I'm going with takes a ton of pictures and video so I should have some nice pictures of the trip!

[Volcom]

are you going to put a rear bumper on there volcom?

One of these days.  I won't have a chance to get anything on there before the trip though.  I will have to be careful dragging my tailgate on the rocks

I keep telling everyone that has come over to see it to take a good look at it and it's semi straight body and sheetmetal.  It's going to be wheeled hard and since I'm locked and dual cased, the only thing holding me back are small tires and some sheetmetal

[Loki]

I haven't gotten to drive it much so I didn't really try starting in 5th gear double low.  I'm pretty sure I'll be trying it in Moab.  The group I'm going with takes a ton of pictures and video so I should have some nice pictures of the trip!

I'm sure you'll have time to play around, but if you need the muscle, you know 1st gear with that setup is the only way to get to 223:1 on the trail the other gear ratio's should be higher, so crawl low in first since your first gear ration is 3.93...just my opinion.

[Fearofrunner]

Hey you got any picturs of your rear shocks bolted up yet? 

[Volcom]

Hey you got any picturs of your rear shocks bolted up yet? 

No but I can take some.  The 12" shocks are long and I have them angled in pretty far.  I don't really like running shocks that way but I don't have any other way to do it besides cutting holes in the cab and making a shock hoop in there.  Maybe one of these days but not now.

[Fearofrunner]

that would help me out man if you could sometime, i'm still trying to decide on what to do with my rear shocks, i like how u used that square tubing and the multiple holes  but if you cant move the shocks out any more i wont put that many in.

[Loki]

have no fear bro...i did that and my 14" shocks run great nice and smooth in the rear

[Gewehr43]

man that is a nice Garage setup there.  I am stuck doing all of the same stuff in my gravel driveway outside.  It sucks to have to cater to the weather.    Nice buildup!!

[Matty]

i think i caught a picture of this thing flexin in Moab over on rockfrogs, but how did the trip go?  truck work flawlessly?

[Volcom]

i think i caught a picture of this thing flexin in Moab over on rockfrogs, but how did the trip go?  truck work flawlessly?

Truck performed flawlessly!  I lost a nut on the front driver's side shock mount on the knuckle gusset.  Lowes only had one locking nut left so I bought it along with a lock washer and regular nut.  Well, guess which one I lost.  Very minor setback, just unbolted the shock and ran the rest of the trail without a shock.  I also lost two of the three nuts holding the exhaust manifold together.  So I had a minor exhaust leak.  Other than that, the truck was perfect.  Everyone couldn't believe I didn't have any trouble.  The week in Moab was the first time the truck had been on a trail.

I will get some pictures posted soon.  I've been busy with other things and haven't went through the 9GB's of pictures and video from the trip

[46&2]

What are you impressions on the aussie lockers? Are you happy with that setup? Im mainly curious about the rear and driving around without the front hubs engaged. I might get one just for the rear just curious what you think

[blackdiamond]

I haven't gotten to drive it much so I didn't really try starting in 5th gear double low.  I'm pretty sure I'll be trying it in Moab.  The group I'm going with takes a ton of pictures and video so I should have some nice pictures of the trip!

I could easily start in 4th gear with my single 4.70 gears so with duals 5th should be a cake walk.

I'm sure you'll have time to play around, but if you need the muscle, you know 1st gear with that setup is the only way to get to 223:1 on the trail the other gear ratio's should be higher, so crawl low in first since your first gear ration is 3.93...just my opinion.

1st gear in high should be 3.93x1x1x5.29= 20.8:1

5th gear in double low should be 0.83x2.28x4.7x5.29= 47.1:1 so twice as low

5th gear in 4.70:1 should be 0.83x1x4.7x5.29= 20.6:1 so about the same as stock 1st

[Volcom]

What are you impressions on the aussie lockers? Are you happy with that setup? Im mainly curious about the rear and driving around without the front hubs engaged. I might get one just for the rear just curious what you think

Aussie's front and rear worked out well!  The rear would pop and ratchet every once in a while but it doesn't bother me.  I drove around on the trail all day with the front hubs locked.  The only time it was really hard to steer was when I was headed downhill (most of the weight of the truck on the front axle) and trying to make a turn on the slickrock.  Those were arm workouts.  Hydro assist will take care of that in the future for me