Topic: 84 4Runner Buildup - Last minute summer mods

[blackdiamond]

Jaws 2 isn't the best place to roll your rig. 

I'm planning to make the trip from Washington later in the year to run Blanca.  I've been up the trail, but never in one of my rigs. 

[John Doe]

Any word on if/ when you can market those tail light conversion plates so others can ditch there stock rock magnet tail lights?

[dh1]

Nice rig

[Volcom [OP]]

I don't have much to update since I haven't gotten a chance to work on the 4Runner.  I am almost done with my OBA system using the stock AC compressor.  I still need to wire in a power wire, clutch switch, and a output air line from the tank to a quick coupler.  I also changed out a rear U-joint that was getting pretty rough & loud on the road.

I also have bought a couple of goodies for it as well.  I bought a new Warn M8000 with a wireless remote (isn't install yet), Longfield 5th stud trunion bolt upgrade (not yet installed), Longfield lifetime knuckle wiper seals (not yet installed), new trunion bearings, corner marker lights, and a 22RE to GM alt bracket.

I've got a HUGE list of stuff that I want to get done (actually was hoping to get it done this past winter but didn't ).  I hope to make progress with my list this May & June.

[Volcom [OP]]

Finally got some work done on the 4Runner.

If you remember, this is what my driver's side quarterpanel looked like with the 4Runner tailgate.


And what it looked like after converting to a truck tailgate




After quite a bit of welding, grinding, and laying my first body filler - here's what it looks like now



It still needs more sanding and some primer but it felt good to make it look somewhat better than it did before.


Also worked on the front bumper.  After adding a winch, the front receiver hitch is blocked by the roller fairlead.  I cut the Trail Gear winch mount reciever out and added a new piece of 2.5" x 2.5" under it.  I now can use both the roller fairlead & front reciever hitch at the same time!








With the winch installed

Installed the winch Monday night and realized that warn doesn't supply the M8000 with a solenoid bracket to mount the solenoid control box to the winch  :roll:


I had to cut off the forward facing light tabs to install the winch.  I also had to cut down and pound out one of my front rock light tabs.


Here's the Warn bracket for $12


Here's mine for free (minus about half an hour of labor)


What it will look like installed.  Still needs painted.

Also worked on the rear bumper on Monday.  I decided to cut out the rear crossmember that I had tacked into place 4 years ago.  I didn't feel it was beefy enough to mount a rear bumper to since it was only 1/8" thick 2" x 3" tubing.  The rear tailgate support is now welded to that crossmember.


Tailgate supports welded back onto the 1/4" thick 2" x 3" rear crossmember.  I used some 1/4" plate as spacers after having to cut & grind them off of the old crossmember.


Ready for a rear bumper


Rear crossmember isn't coming out any time soon 


Adding some 2" x 2" .120 wall supports towards the middle of the crossmember to an existing crossmember.  Should help with the heavy pulls from the planned middle reciever hitch in the rear bumper



Adding some corner gussets as well to help with those heavy tugs


Starting the tube work for the rear tube bumper.  Took my dad & I quite awhile to figure out the bender to get these 2 pieces bent.  Hopefully the rest will go faster.

[Volcom [OP]]

Got some more work done on the rear bumper yesterday


Trying to get it sitting where we wanted it.


Reciever hitch for a rear tow point


Sometimes you just have to find the "right" combo of stuff to help hold your stuff level 


Right side tacked, left side getting ready to be tacked


All tacked on


Trimmed the tube in the front to match the rear of the wheelwell.


Here's what the sides will look like.


Here's the rest of the bumper.  I'll need to notch and cut them and they'll be ready to weld in.


Another rear bumper pic


Frame tie-in for the front part of the bumper


Used a 1/4" scab plate on the frame.


The hitch pin hole is close to the rear tube but should work


Bumper support tube to rear crossmember.  No scab plate needed since the crossmember is 1/4" thick.


Rear reciever hitch tubing welded to crossmember.  I'll add a gusset to the bottom.


Side profile of the bumper.

[wakkjobb]

Nice nice nice!!! 
Where'd you get the steel for the bumper?

>>Dan

[Volcom [OP]]

Where'd you get the steel for the bumper?

The 2x3 & 2.5x2.5 tubing came from Spekens.  Pueblo is lame, nobody carries round tubing.  The 1.75" HREW .120 wall is from Glaser Steel in CO Springs.

[twistedtoy92]

Lookin good!

[John Doe]

The Runner is looking good. What else do you have planned?

[Volcom [OP]]

The Runner is looking good. What else do you have planned?

Paint and a swing down tire carrier big enough to hold a 40" tire.  It won't be build for another couple of months.  I'm finally getting this thing out of the garage and on the trail this Sunday and 3 days the week after.

[Volcom [OP]]

I finally broke down and bought a truck!  Got the go-ahead from the wife about a month ago after she drove my car around in 95 degree weather with no AC  :mrgreen:

I've been looking for a couple of months and finally pulled the trigger on a 2006 Dodge Ram 3500 Mega Cab 5.9 Cummins Turbo Diesel with 32k miles.  I wanted the 5.9 because of all the emissions regulations placed on the 2007+ diesels.  I also wanted somthing with low miles.  Everything I found was high mileage.  The engines don't mind the high mileage but I wanted a truck that would last me for years to come.

Onto the pics.

These were at the sellers house last Sunday





Wheelbase is the same as a longbed quad cab Dodge Ram












Back seat is huge!  The kids will have a ton of space along with any adult that sits back there.



These were today after I picked it up





Next to my dad's 04 quad cab have I've borrowed for 4 years now  :mrgreen:


Kids wanted to play back there all night












The 4Runner needs to get out sometime.

[twistedtoy92]

very nice choice on the tow rig! that thing isnt even broke in yet!!

[COToy91]

That is awesome Aaron! Looks like a great truck. Now you just need to move your 4runner into the third car part of your garage and you can park inside

[Volcom [OP]]

very nice choice on the tow rig! that thing isnt even broke in yet!!

Yeah, I'm hoping the fuel mileage will go up the more miles the engine gets on it.  Drives like a champ on the highway!

That is awesome Aaron! Looks like a great truck. Now you just need to move your 4runner into the third car part of your garage and you can park inside

Thanks!  The plan is to move the truck into the garage where the 4Runner is sitting now.  Garage is 26' deep, truck is 21' long, and I've got a 30" wide work bench against the back wall.  That give me 2.5' to walk between them

Before the 4Runner can go into the 3rd car bay, I have to build a shed in the back yard and get all the crap out of there to make room for the 4Runner.  Probably next summer.

[COToy91]

Yeah, I'm hoping the fuel mileage will go up the more miles the engine gets on it.  Drives like a champ on the highway!

Getting a programmer would help with this also. Glad you got a manual too, no worries about trans temps

[I.D.G.A.F]

congrats on the oil burner, how is it parking that semi

[HDcruiser]

Hells ya!!!!  thats a sweet ass truck! I have a 05 6spd long box simalar to yours...  Nice Find!!!   

[Volcom [OP]]

Getting a programmer would help with this also. Glad you got a manual too, no worries about trans temps

I don't plan on using a programmer for awhile, at least until the warranty is up.

congrats on the oil burner, how is it parking that semi

Thanks!  I'm not sure.  I haven't driven it to work yet.  I gotta sell my old DD to pay for plates before I can start driving the truck.

Hells ya!!!!  thats a sweet ass truck! I have a 05 6spd long box simalar to yours...  Nice Find!!!   

They are really hard to find with low mileage.  How do you like your 05? 

[toyotaexo]

any updates on ur rig?

[Volcom [OP]]

Just to start off, this trip was by far one of the funnest things I've ever done

DIRTCO lives in Frisco (just outside of Breckenridge) and has been inviting me to go snow wheeling for years.  I've never been able to make it up (rig is usually torn apart during the winter) but finally had the chance to see what this snow wheeling thing is all about.  I'm hooked  8)

DIRTCO knows of a great place to snow wheel.  It doesn't see much traffic and doesn't have many off-camber or super steep climbs.  Perfect for snow wheeling.  His 4Runner is on fresh 35" MTR's and my sits on 39.5" Iroks (bald fronts and 75% rears).  He's also got a turbo   

My winch was only used 3 times, twice on myself and once on Jeremiah.  The shovel was only brought out once.  Crazy considering we wheeled for 5 hours.  The snow wasn't fresh.  It had a 1-2" hard crust and the rest was 1 to 3 feet of sugar snow.  Not the most ideal snow to wheel it but whatever.

DIRTCO lead the way at the start of the day while I tried to figure out how to wheel the white stuff.  Once he was having a hard time breaking trail, I tried my hand at breaking trail.  Just the couple extra inches of tire and bald front tires (didn't dig down as bad) allowed me to break several miles of trail that we didn't think we were going to even have a shot at.

The 22RE ran at redline for several hours    Didn't bother it at all.



First stuck of the day.  This was about 5 minutes onto the trail     This took a winch pull and some shovel to get out.


DIRTCO breaking trail



Letting the rigs cool off. You can see some Keystone resort runs on the mtn behind.


This is what we were breaking though most of the day.  Since it was sugar snow, it took everything we had to break.  If it would have been fresh or wet spring snow, we could have driven through snow twice as deep.







This was where we stopped and turned around.  I could have bashed it but would have taken us hours to get 100 more feet up the trail.  It was a solid 2-3 feet deep with some of the drifts even taller.



Trying to turn around. 



2nd big stuck for me of the day. Glad I have a winch.






Where we stopped for lunch.  After coming down, we drove up 2 more times and bombed down our tracks.  It was a blast.

Here's some footage of Jeremiah bashing some snow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdbalfTMihU

We both got quite a bit of footage, he's going to send it to me and I'll get it edited up and will post up the video.

[Volcom [OP]]

Pictures from DIRTCO!






I was almost stuck in that pic but managed to back out, hahahahaha!

[CaptainRedbeard]

Please tell me DIRTCO has a build thread somewhere! Cuz that is one gorgeous 4runner

[John Doe]

http://www.yotatech.com/f199/dirtcos-1986-4runner-build-up-thread-155840/

[46&2]

Snow wheeling is the . Love it. Two very nice rigs man.

[Volcom [OP]]

Finally broke down and bought some soft bumpstops to get rid of the rock hard TG ones I've been running for 4 years now.  Marlin had these Daystar poly bumpstops on sale a couple of weeks ago for $45. 



They are huge but should compress quite a bit and be soft and progressive.  Not quite an air bump ($$$) but they should work out great.

[COToy91]

I have been looking at buying those for years. Do you know what they compress down to yet

[twistedtoy92]

I bought a set of those for my runner too... I hated slammin the solid bumps!

[awhotrods]

Nice build & wheeling pics!  So no drivetrain breakage with the 40's? Just put a set on my 82, heading out to KOH in a couple weeks.

[Volcom [OP]]

I have been looking at buying those for years. Do you know what they compress down to yet

I don't.  I can't find anything on the internet either.  I'm guessing at least half so 2.5" of compression

I bought a set of those for my runner too... I hated slammin the solid bumps!

My ride is soooooo rough with those solid bumps.  Can't really get crazy with the speed. 

Nice build & wheeling pics!  So no drivetrain breakage with the 40's? Just put a set on my 82, heading out to KOH in a couple weeks.

No breakage on the 3 years of wheeling the 40's.  You're going to love them.  Have fun at KOH!