Ninja Turtle Crawler

[Rocksurfer]

No been working too much lately, actually I did install a new stereo with usb ports last week but that's about it. I did find out that I have 4.3 geared axles since it is an auto trans and since I am looking for a spare 3rd has messed with that for now. I will get one and then it's locker time, I need the extra 3rd so that I can set it  up and pop it in thus keeping the down time to a minimum.

[Rocksurfer]

Since there have been some people having issues with the dreaded death wobble I thought that I might share my recent experiences with this issue, what seemed to cause it and what my cure was. What it showed me was that even a minor alteration or geometry or position of the axle itself can cause this condition and not just worn parts and my parts usually don’t get to be worn out before I replace them so it was even more baffling that it happened.

Recently I did a minor suspension lift to my 4Runner, this was off of stock springs and I was looking at an off-road trip to Arizona and didn’t have enough time to build my Frankensprings that were still in the research and acquisition stages. So to get a little lift from stock I decided to just throw on two inches of lift with some shackles. All bushings were replaced and new front shocks were added since the stock shocks ran out of talent. The rear shocks were already aftermarket and were also coilovers to help with the typical 4Runner sag.

As always I do any changes to my rigs in stages so one night at work I put the rears on and the next night I put the fronts on. After putting the rears on I had no issues, got the desired 2 inches and got the same with the fronts, though I did notice that my axle did pivot down a little. As I drove it for the next few days I noted that I now had a slight shimmy in the steering wheel but got a shocker one day under hard braking, major death wobble.

I checked my alignment and though it was not perfect it would have been within specs so I was stumped. The one thing I did notice was that the more gear I put in the rear of my truck the more pronounced and frequent the wobble would become and my truck would sit down in the rear making the front lighter. This made me scratch my head even more so I set out to put my Frankensprings for the rear in high gear, this would allow me to remove the coilover springs and give me a better ride since they are stiff and never really did much for the sag that they advertised.

Last night I finished building my springs for the rear and installed them, pulled off the coilovers from the shocks and gained around 2 inches of lift in the rear. Since I do this at work I was carrying a full load of tools and related Toyota parts so I could feel the wobble going to work. Once I finished the install I put all my stuff back in the bed and instantly noted that the springs supported the load much better since the old ones with the coilovers sagged as much as 3 inches and the new set settled in at around 1 inch so even with all my junk at around 500 pounds I still had a lift that would translate to around 4 inches over the other even with it being loaded.

As to the wobble, it is gone even the shimmy in the steering went away. This had made me realize that I may not build Frankensprings so quickly but in but to put the geometry  back to what it was by moving the front down a couple inches with the front portion of a SAS kit or build one myself and include a receiver in the front. Hopefully by doing this it will completely fix the death wobble.

This is the main reason I tend to build in slow stages, one thing at a time and then test it. It allowed me the opportunity to diagnose and isolate what was causing the problem. If I had just thrown a bunch of parts at my truck it would have taken forever and a lot of wasted $ on parts to figure it out.

Now if I could just speed up my timeline.

Oh, and for those that are wondering, my Frankensprings total cost was eighty bucks. Currently it is a five leaf set up from various sources, I may add one more once I level out the front, and it rides 100% softer over the crappy coilovers.

I'll throw up a couple pics later.

Stay tuned

[Rocksurfer]

Before and after.

[Rocksurfer]

Not much done lately but I did have an issue with my exhaust tip hitting my rear shackle during spring travel mostly offroad. I cut it off at the end of the Cat and tossed that stuff in the junk pile. Went pretty simple with a Cherry Bomb glasspack so that I could dump out at the front of my rear tire instead of running it up and over my axle. You have to use something slender since a crossmember will not allow for a big muffler. Worked out really well the tail pipe now comes out just in front of my rear spring hanger in that natural indentation between the frame and hanger. It has been bugging me for a while but I haven't been out and it wasn't hitting too bad. My club is doing a weekday run for the Weekday Warriors of our group to Big Bear and I will be taking it out. I don't get the logic but we are planning on camping at Soggy Dry Lake and running some of the trails from that side like Rattlesnake Canyon.

[Rocksurfer]

Not much done lately but I did have an issue with my exhaust tip hitting my rear shackle during spring travel mostly offroad. I cut it off at the end of the Cat and tossed that stuff in the junk pile. Went pretty simple with a Cherry Bomb glasspack so that I could dump out at the front of my rear tire instead of running it up and over my axle. You have to use something slender since a crossmember will not allow for a big muffler. Worked out really well the tail pipe now comes out just in front of my rear spring hanger in that natural indentation between the frame and hanger. It has been bugging me for a while but I haven't been out and it wasn't hitting too bad. My club is doing a weekday run for the Weekday Warriors of our group to Big Bear and I will be taking it out. I don't get the logic but we are planning on camping at Soggy Dry Lake and running some of the trails from that side like Rattlesnake Canyon.

Well the fix was a fail, didn't last long before it got bent.

[Rocksurfer]

Well why is not painted like the old turtle van yet ? it's called a ninja turtle for a reason no ?

it's a secret.

Maybe these pics will explain why a white stock looking 4Runner might be considered a Ninja Turtle, very stealthy indeed. Took her up the side trail to Rattlesnake and 2N61Y which is a trail adopted by the Riverside 4Wheelers, I think I need bigger tires.

First set are from yesterday on Rattlesnake.

[Rocksurfer]

And 2n61y, I did ding up the underside and the top not that you'd really notice.

[Rockdad]

Looks like a fun trail. How long did it take? I want to do it before the snow hits the mountains.

[Rocksurfer]

The side trail to Rattlesnake took about 2hrs. and there was 7 rigs one of them (mine) was stock and was the only real struggle to get through. It also took about 30 min. to get to the trailhead from hwy 247. 2N61Y took a little more than an hour and there were 4 rigs, again mine was the only struggle. We came from the top of Rattlesnake where we had camped but if you go in from 2N01 from Hwy 38 it is a 15 to 20 minute trip to the trail head. You can also hit it from 2N02 (Burns Canyon Rd.) in Big Bear off of Vale and Baldwin Lake Rd. but that is a long haul. For the most part the only technical section on 2N61Y is in the photos but Rattlesnake had a lot more and did the all the damage. Since I was the photographer there weren't very many pics taken of my truck, only when I handed my camera to someone and made them take them, if you want to see the complete set with everyone here's a few links to them so you can see how tough Rattlesnake is.

https://www.facebook.com/Spinnin4s?ref=hl

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.392498070821490.91688.142698029134830&type=3

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.392503757487588.91689.142698029134830&type=3

Of course you will need a Facebook account to see them.

[Rocksurfer]

Well been sleeping on the Ninja I've been wheeling with a good friend who has major disabilities that has a very well set up 4Runner like mine. He recently has been admitted to the hospital unable to walk and is having mini strokes which will lead to a major stroke. Wish him well and the hope that I don't need to resurrect the Ninja, I'd much rather continue to drive his rig than mine since it means he has gotten well enough to continue wheeling in the limited capacity that he has in the past year. Just thought I'd update what is up with the Ninja.

[LiLredYOTA]

So clean!

[Rocksurfer]

Thanks

[Rocksurfer]

Getting the urge to get back into my 4Runner, my buddy is getting worse so it is inevitable that he will soon be unable to wheel even with me driving his rig to and from the trail for him so I've started collecting parts and lifting the Ninja. Since the rear has been saggin' and draggin' I decided to take care of that 1st, makes my little tires look even smaller now. Took a few crappy shots of before and after, but now I have a vibration in the drive-shaft. Tried a shim but it didn't help so I removed a leaf and it helped a little so it is now drivable. I was going to have my son drive it up to Big Bear but didn't want to chance the ds taking off on me, but they still had a great time hitching a ride with other club members while I was with my friend.

[daniresch]

what rear springs are you running? I looked but couldn't find the info

[Rocksurfer]

I go with stock style Frankenstein, start with a stock length main and build from there. I already have removed a leaf and am still working on that vibration, Sits about a 1/2 lower now. 

[throttle]

VERY Clean.. I would love to have it

[Rocksurfer]

Even though I have picked up another well equipped 1985 4Runner the Ninja is going nowhere, I won't be doing much to her anymore but with that said it doesn't mean Rocks For Brains won't. We'll keep you all posted if when he gets on it.

See my new rig here: The Ghost-Rider/Ghost Runner