A Guy A Girl and a Trail: Adventures in a 4Runner Limited

The springs all the way around are new and will settle. I should be picking up my front bumper this week and getting that and the winch installed so I’ll tweet the front ride height accordingly, plus I have the the dobinsons adjustable rear control arms coming as well. Everything will get adjusted in a couple weeks and then I’ll align it again.

 

Forgot to ask but did you add extended brake lines in the rear or do the stock lines work for 3” of lift?

 

With the milage I was going to replace the flex lines either way but I think the stock lines will work fine for 3” lift. I technically have long travel in the back so I went with extended lines (Toytec +2” stainless). You could bolt in the shocks and cycled the suspension without springs to see if one side fully compressed and one side fully extended was enough length. But that was more effort than it was worth when I was going to replace the lines regardless.

 

Today’s project





Some tin snips, a heat gun, dead blow hammer, and a 2x4 got them cut down and flattened out nicely.

Finished product


Then we hit the dirt


Had a snack in the shade


Then some bags (or cornhole as the hillbillies call it) with my nieces.

 

I need to figure out something for the hyper blink when using the KC cyclones as front turn signals.

 

Headed to the cabin for the weekend.

 

That was a great cut on that front bumper!!!

 

thanks, that was the scariest thing I’ve done to the 4Runner yet lol


I’ve found an oscillating dremel with a drywall jab attachment to be pretty ideal for cutting bumpers

 

Looks good man

 

At first glance(another post) I wasn't a fan of hood mounted traction boards. Was I ever quick to judge, and wrong. Yours blends perfectly with the rest of your Runner. Nice job!

 

Thanks, I’m still not a big fan of the hood rack though. It’s practical but I don’t like the look. My iKamper tent takes up the whole roof rack so there’s no room there but I have to admit I like having a flat surface to put the solar panel on where minions won’t trample it or trip over cables.

 

That front bumper makes me wish I’d bought a used 4 runner vs new so I didn’t have that stupid sensor. And I love that rear but maybe you can answer this. Can you install it without the tailgate? I know that’s a lot of the reason most people get it.

 

The bumper comes with the tailgate. The striker plate for the swing arm is mounted to the tailgate so you can’t have the swing arm mounted without it. However, you just missed your change, I just sold one without the tailgate or any of the attachments.

also I think Hefty has a relocation bracket for the TSS that will make this bumper work.

 

Shrockworks trail rocker panels

 

Fixed the hyperblink of the KC Cyclones that I’m using as turn signals with some Morimoto HD resistor packs.

 

I originally started doing a headlight restoration but there were so many small stress cracks and rock chips that I decided to just replace them. So I got some new trail headlights and aimed back to where the originals were. I didn’t want to spend the money for OEM but I’m a stickler for quality so I went for it.

What a difference with the haze gone.





before you take it apart back up about 20 feet from a wall and mark the top edge of the hot spot. Swap the housing then adjust it to realign the hotspot. New out of the box is always aimed low for safety sake.

 

Last night I was out working in the garage until about 1:30 this morning. If you’ve been following along you’ll remember when I did spark plugs a couple months ago there were a few drops of oil on the top of the spark plug where a small amount had gotten past the seals for the spark plug tube. I pulled the valve covers and replaced the valve cover gaskets, the spark tube seals, the crush washers on the oil feeds, the figure 8 oil control gaskets, the o-ring for the oil squirters, the intake manifold gasket, and the throttle body gasket. Plus I cleaned the throttle body and threw in a PCV valve while I was there.

That engine is so clean inside!

 

Just for reference if anyone is interested
-Purple is where the valve cover gasket goes
-Red is where the spark plug tube seals go
-Yellow is where the crush washers go
-Green is where the rubber figure 8 and o ring gaskets go

 

I got 2 more things done yesterday.

I raised the coilovers to gain back what I lost from the springs settling and the added weight of the bumper/winch.

And I installed the snorkel. I got a really good price it on a while back so I bought it, under the mentality that I **should** be able to resell it brand new in the box for the discounted price I paid for it. It’s just been sitting in my garage because I wasn’t convinced I’d benefit from it. When I installed the plate bumper, the fenders liners needed to be cut way back in the front. The factory air box has a big wide open hole inside the fender that is now significantly more exposed. Driving up to the cabin after installing it the dirt road was snowed in so bad that a neighbor cut his fence in 2 places so the couple people further down could drive the inside of the fence line in the field for 1/4 mile to get past the snow drifts. It was super sloppy mud, about 5” deep based on the ruts left behind. I drove though it to get in, and again to get back out. I was conscious of the new added exposure so I checked the air box after and found a bunch of mud in the bottom of it and about 1/4 of the air filter was caked in mud. That was my motivation to actually install the snorkel.

Mud in the air box.


Marked out and ready.


My friend Jerry gave me a little liquid courage before starting to cut and drill.


Everything cut




Test fit.


I brushed on some clean metal primer, then hit it with some paint to prevent rusting. I also siliconed the shit out of the inserts for the screws in the a-pillar. Did the final install and then took her for test drive with the adjusted ride height, snorkel, valve cover reseal and the new headlights - what a huge difference in visibility at night! I should have replaced those hazy lights a long time ago.

 

Sunday Funday

 

Sweet tailgate!

 

That's living! Goodonya.

 

That tailgate is awesome!

 

It would take a lot! of liquid courage before I could cut a hole in my fender. You have a very nice rig, I like it.

How are your NG's performing? I'm running the same tires.

 

I absolutely love having the tailgate. I like it even more than I thought I would.

 

The fender isn’t to bad, you can always buy a new one and swap it out... it’s drilling 3 holes in the A-Pillar that really gives you pause lol

I really like the Ridge Grapplers, I’ll going to need before next winter. I’m most likely going to go with them again.

 

I got my Dobinsons adjustable upper and lower rear control arms. Sooooo meaty!





One of these things with articulate much better than the other.