Blackdiamond (Gup-C build-up)

[blackdiamond]

I think you're pretty much done man.  I love the 4Runner and unfortunately have not been able to go wheeling with you yet.  When you're ready for a family cage let me know.  I think its really the only thing I could see you "needing/wanting" in the future.  After a few rolls I am a firm believer in cages and I don't see any reason not to have one in any rig especially when kids come into the picture.

BTW on the 3.4 swap you guys keep saying.  Correct me if I'm wrong bd but I think he is plenty happy with the 22re in the Runner.  It has decent milage and power. Not to mention that I just rebuilt it, and there's no reason to replace it at least for a long long time.

A cage would be on the dream list, but at this point not part of any plans.

The 22RE is adequate to cruise 60-70 mph on the highway and gets around 18 mpg so it wouldn't make sense to spend money on an engine swap.  I'd probably go for 5.29 gears first.

The hub gears arrived today. 

[blackdiamond]

The ARP studs and Longfield Hub gears are now installed.

Black lug nuts are way as well so I'll have a matching set.  I lost my locking lug keys so I had Discount remove them.  I was surprised that they would let me leave with a missing lug nut, but I'm glad they did so I wouldn't have to purchase four odd lug nuts to hold me over until the order comes through.

The build can't officially be complete until I get bump stops installed.  I think gotrocks has a set slated for the bdrunner at some point in the future, but I don't remember for sure.  He may also still have my fan shroud from the build days.

30 days until I'm going to Moab!

[blackdiamond]

Today I stopped by Discount Tire to have my tires balanced after my Moab trip.  I was convinced that my passenger rear tire had something wrong with it so I looked at getting another tire to match my new spare, but there was only one tire in the system on the east coast and the prices wasn't good enough to do.  I had them compare the old tire with the new one and the wear was minimal enough that I just swapped it out and so far it seems to have solved the problem.  BFG makes great tires, but I think I got an egg.  It'll be a while before the new tire looks like the other three that have done the Rubicon and Moab twice.

[LilChief87]

 

[blackdiamond]

I'm still collecting pictures from the trip and then I'll make a trip report thread and tell the story.  It was the usual cross country drive down, six days on the trails, and a cross country drive home.  No tow rig, did a trail with three winch anchors (only used one) and drove straight through on the way home (1,110 miles in 18.5 hours).

[blackdiamond]

As it turns out, another Washington State Patrol officer thought that I should have mud flaps.  She pulled me over in a crowd to tell me that I should have both mud flaps and fender flares.  She seemed surprised that I hadn't been pulled over for it previously.  I've had one officer mention it to me in a parking lot and another told me about the law when he pulled me over for speeding, but said he wouldn't ticket me for it.  He didn't even give me an official warning for going 12 over in a 40 mph.  I think he realized that I was tired and just needed to get home since I was just arriving home from Moab a year ago.

Today I finally finished the installation using factory mud flaps that I mounted to the Marlin Crawler bumper.  I drilled and tapped holes into the support that connect to the frame.  They hang long enough, but technially they don't cover the full width of the tires.  I'm fairly sure it will be enough to keep the officers happily eating their donuts when I drive by.

[89sastoyo]

those look good, I think the stock mudflaps always look better then any boughten ones on a toyota

[blackdiamond]

I guess it's time for the somewhat sad update on the bdrunner.  I drove it less than 500 miles in the last year so it's spent the vast majority of the time sitting in the garage.  With two small kids it was "replaced" with a Civic to go with the Sequoia for family friendly rides.

Simon, my son, did get to go wheeling for part of day in it and was happy the entire day that included a broken tie-rod on the Jeep and a couple of hours of fiddling with it.  He was about 18 months old at the time and spent a lot of the time standing in the back seat watching the poorly executed repairs.  It was impressive how much he seemed to enjoy it when he wasn't sleeping.

I am trying to at least drive the bdrunner more and did take it to dinner on Father's Day, it has been more than a year since my wife rode in it.

[blackdiamond]

Well, I am in the process of changing fluids and such to get ready for the long trip to Moab in March.

The only mods since the last update are the upgraded headlight housing and bulbs that Marlin sells. I also adjusted them better so the end result is a nice improvement. I did recently swap out the stereo, but it was just to get a basic working unit as the other one died.

[blackdiamond]

I got curious about my Moab trips so pulled out my video disks. I think everything is accounted for:

March 2001 - mostly stock 85 truck with 32 inch tires and a Pro Comp 3-1/2 inch lift
March 2002 - added 4.70 transfer case, 4 inch Superlift, bobbed bed, 33 inch tires, Detroit rear locker, Trutrac front limited slip
March 2003- was working in San Diego
March 2004 - no new mods that I can remember
September 2004 - Got married and did Jamaica honeymoon trip
March 2005 - see above
March 2006 -added Long Field front axles, hub gears, Aussie locker front
September 2006 -back to Jamaica
March 2007 - see above
March 2008 - debut of the 4Runner with inchworm crawl box, Alcan springs all around, 35 inch tires, twin sticks
September 2008 -Marlin Crawler Roundup
March 2009 - no new mods that I can remember
2010 - trip to St. Lucia
March 2011 - no new mods that I can remember
June 2011 - my son was born on Father's Day
December 2012 - my daughter was born
March 2015 - trip #9 planned!

All of the trips originated in Washington State and only the 2011 trip was on a trailer.  I have been wheeling my whole life, but this is the big history of my rigs.

[Cheesemaker]

Jealous!! 


Did you upgrade your wiring when you swapped out the lights? 

[blackdiamond]

Jealous!! 


Did you upgrade your wiring when you swapped out the lights? 

No, I made sure I got the OEM approved lights.  There are two levels of the VisionX lights and the ones I got were the OEM part numbers.  They should be fine.  There is a brighter option would warrant a wiring upgrade.

[SqWADoosh]

No, I made sure I got the OEM approved lights.  There are two levels of the VisionX lights and the ones I got were the OEM part numbers.  They should be fine.  There is a brighter option would warrant a wiring upgrade.

Just read the whole build Black. Quite the roller coaster buddy. I too got the VisionX lights from Marlin. I sprung for the super white bulbs to go with them. I've been pretty happy with them.

[79coyotefrg]

[blackdiamond]

Howdy.

[blackdiamond]

Just read the whole build Black. Quite the roller coaster buddy. I too got the VisionX lights from Marlin. I sprung for the super white bulbs to go with them. I've been pretty happy with them.

I have to admit that I had forgotten most of the challenges outside of the transfer case issues. The 2008 Moab trip was the final shakedown as I have not had a mechanical issue since that trip.  Most of the issues were either bad luck or something that was only an issue for a daily driver that is driven cross country.  It was an adventure.

[blackdiamond]

Looking at my service records, the motor in the 4Runner has about 24,000 miles on it so far.  Once we got the a few things ironed out right after the rebuild it has performed flawlessly since.  Right now it has a fresh oil change of Mobil 1 Extended Performance in it.  I love this oil and am running it in everything currently.

I had my Civic in for service today and the mechanic asked me to show one of their new mechanics pictures of the 4Runner.  They don't do much work on it, but they all love my truck and remember me in large part because of it.

[blackdiamond]

Last night I pulled the hard top and installed my soft top made by <http://www.killertoytops.com/>.  I had almost forgotten how much I like the soft top, especially when the sides and back are removed.  I really like the full extension to the back compared to the bikini top look, plus it allows me to close everything up for the highway.

The picture isn't current, but showed up on a yahoo search for Killer Toy Tops.  It was likely taken the first time I installed the top which would have been about 6 years ago.  It hasn't been on the truck since the last Moab trip about four years ago.  I drive it just enough to be concerned about the security of the soft top for normal use.  It's not like Moab where I park it all the time with the doors and top off.

[CrankyCrawler]

That thing is clean! Do you ever wheel it? 

[blackdiamond]

That thing is clean! Do you ever wheel it? 

I seem to get at least once per presidential term.

[blackdiamond]

Today, I spent a few minutes with the 4Runner getting all the hard top bolts back in after the Moab trip and getting everything square for the rear glass.

I also did a trail fit with our good Diono carseats in the back to make sure that I could tighten one down.  The extended non adjustable end on the belts seems to line up just wrong on some of our other seats, but the Diono fit snug with some effort.  I ended up sitting in the carseat to compress it into the rear seat and was able to snug it down.

Now we don't have to keep our two extra seats that fit in the 4Runner and were our travel seats.  My son has really gotten uncomfortable in the extra seat anyways so this works out great.  After our next flight in August we can off load the one for my daughter and be down to just two for each car.

[blackdiamond]

I ordered what I hope is all of the gear necessary to get a CB radio installed in the 4Runner.

Cobra 18WXSTII CB Radio
Firestik MK-204R Adjustable SS Door Jamb Antenna Mini-Kit (includes 18 foot cable)
Firestik FL3-B Three Foot FireFly Antenna with Tuneable Tip
PL-259 Right Angle "L" Connector
Firestik SS-3H Heavy Duty Stainless Steel Antenna Spring

Amazon Prime should give me a chance to get it installed next week if family life permits.

[SqWADoosh]

I ordered what I hope is all of the gear necessary to get a CD radio installed in the 4Runner.

Cobra 18WXSTII CB Radio
Firestik MK-204R Adjustable SS Door Jamb Antenna Mini-Kit (includes 18 foot cable)
Firestik FL3-B Three Foot FireFly Antenna with Tuneable Tip
PL-259 Right Angle "L" Connector
Firestik SS-3H Heavy Duty Stainless Steel Antenna Spring

Amazon Prime should give me a chance to get it installed next week if family life permits.

"CD" radio is a little behind the times buddy 

[blackdiamond]

"CD" radio is a little behind the times buddy 

Fixed.

[Rockcrawlintoy]

dont forget an SWR meter to dial in everything

[SqWADoosh]

dont forget an SWR meter to dial in everything

I have one. We will dial it in at Naches. You won't use it before then. Don't waste the money on one.

[blackdiamond]

I have one. We will dial it in at Naches. You won't use it before then. Don't waste the money on one.

Ok, but I never dialed the one in on my 85 and it outperformed most of the radios around me.  I'm guessing that it'll work sufficiently without any extra tuning, but I'm happy to play with it if the time or need presents itself.

[blackdiamond]

Here's a link to the CB install project thread:

http://board.marlincrawler.com/index.php?topic=99211.0

[blackdiamond]

Today is the day the official name of the 4Runner changes from bdrunner to the Gup-C.

My son is currently 4 years old and his absolute favorite show is Octonauts.  He has assigned a character to pretty much everyone in the family.  I am Kwazii.  He has also dubbed our cars to be Gups.  The Sequoia is the Gup-A, the Civic is the Gup-B, and the 4Runner is the Gup-C because it has a tow hook.

Since the 4Runner will likely be around for a long time it seems only reasonable to go with what he named it since the previous name of bdrunner was just based on me being blackdiamond that will stick.

[blackdiamond]

I guess if you get the 120 days no post warning on your build thread that can be a good or a bad sign.

The new bolt-on Budbuilt Traction Bar was delivered this afternoon. Seems to be a pretty solid piece. There is almost enough weight in the differential bracket to lower my CG and shift the weight distribution to the rear.