Chris in Milwaukee's "CheeseRunner" build

First try. Cutting and drilling were easy. The air box condom was the most troublesome. Actually, no. Those clips that hold the wheel well liner were. Once I figured out the secret to them, it was just *mostly* a PITA. Looks fantastic!

 

Looks great! Now we'll be able to tell them apart again.

 

Added a couple of soft shackles to the toolbox today. $20 each on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/Ranger-Synthetic-Shackle-Breaking-Strength/dp/B071JDFWL1

 

But, how are you supposed to hang them on your bumper so everyone knows you wheel?

I have used mine once. It's a great tool to have!

 

Did I make the wrong choice? I was on the fence between these and the 12-pound red powder coated beasts that rattle when I hit the curb at the Piggly Wiggly. I’ll never make it as a legitimate poser at this rate!

 

LMAO!

I see pros and cons to soft shackles and regular shackles. Now you need a snatch block, and a tree saver.

 

Could you rotate the bracket so the plate flips down instead of up?

 

I imagine that would put the plate in greater danger, but I reckon it’s an option. There’s another set of holes I noticed on the plate bracket. It would position the hinge point in a different location which would allow for more movement. It would still probably be bent in the car wash, though.

I moved it to the grill and now it’s completely out of the way (and still legal for all the people who told me just to take it off).

 

Wife went to Subway in my truck to grab sandwiches for dinner. Kid and mom were sitting in the dining room.

Kid: What’s that thing on your truck? (Pointing to the snorkel)
Wife: That’s my husband’s mid-life crisis
Mom: (Soda shoots out her nose)

 

Just screw some traction boards to your hood for max bro-verland street cred!

 

Truck looks really good Chris!

 

Thank you! I have a Sherpa roof rack on order. Stand by for that install.

 

Saw these, they were priced right, and I didn’t have traction boards. Now I do!

Could have used them last winter, although not for me. Neighbor got stuck in the snow but I didn’t have a winch yet. Now I have both.

 

But bro!

How do you attach those to your hood or roof rack so everyone knows you "overland"?

 

Maybe I could zip tie them to the bar work up front? Still waiting for my roof rack to arrive, so may have to improvise.

 

It just has to snow now so I can take the stickers off of them.

 

Please don't wish for that. I have work in that crap!

 

Take the stickers off Chris.... forget the snow!

Plowing snow gets real old after.. let's see......1/2 hr.

 

Can’t say that I’m too sad at the lack of snow so far this year.

 

Installed the @Sherpa Equipment Co. rack this afternoon by myself in 2-3 hours. Nothing spectacular to report. I followed the directions and all was well. The quality of the side bars was great, the finish was very good, the cross bars appear to be standard extrusions, and they were finished nicely as well. Mounting hardware was perfect and fit great. I appreciate that no adhesive/caulk is needed for this rack and no holes to drill for the front standoffs.

Two observations: First, the forward mounting arrangement is different from the method called out in the installation instructions. No big deal. Anyone can see what changed and account for it.

Second, the two forward crossbar slots are some amount shorter than the aft ones. Getting the screws into the slots is a bit challenging, but not impossible.

Otherwise it’s solid and ready for lumberyard duties.

 

Looks very nice! Standing by for a report on wind noise and any fuel economy loss.

 

Me too!

 

With the usual in-town and back-road driving around my neck of the woods, at about 45mph I can hear a bit more noise, but it's not particularly distracting. But it is there. I haven't had any interstate trips to speak of yet to see how it is above that. I'll reset the trip computer then and get a mileage report when I head up to the cabin again. Right now, my baseline empty value is roughly 18mpg with stock-sized KO2s at 42psi.

More importantly, I should be able to install the roof box in a more favorable position so I can open the back hatch.

 

Took a trip to the dog park this weekend which had me on the interstate for a short bit of it. Well, you definitely know the roof rack is there. The noise is quite pronounced. Might be time for some sound deadening! It was so noisy that I think it made the dog nervous. She crawled out of the back seat into the front and into my wife’s lap. And she’s a 100-pound dog! As a side effect, she knocked the gear shift out of drive and into park. At 70mph! That could have ended in a not-so-happy way! Thankfully the 4Runner was either too smart or completely incapable of going into park at that speed. Once I got her big butt off the shifter (the dog, ya weirdos), I was able to put it back in drive without incident. Whew!

 

Put some stuff on the roof rack and the noise from that will cover up the noise from the rack.

I think Toyota must engineer in some sort of safeguard against the parking pin engaging at speed.

 

I'll just have to wear that roof box I got from you all the time.

 

Past Reverse?? Yikes!! Go 4Runner!

 

I must say, the new roof rack made the lumber yard run 150% more tolerable. The factory roof rack is horrible to tie long stock to. This is down right pleasurable.

 

It's responses like these that make me like this forum more and more. Not many places where you will find people to watch your back and point out things like this to the socially unaware group members. I hope to benefit from this one day

I've been on a Camel Trophy internet bender and noticed that back in the day, they didn't have maxtrax in all our favorite colors. Instead they used the metal slabs they used make jungle runways out of. Maybe this is a new opportunity for a instagram trend?

On a side note, just noticing that back then the tall/skinny tires were actually just skinny lol

 

When I show up to the Toyota spring gathering with @Thatbassguy and I have my traction boards zip-ties to my grill, I’ll be the talk of the community, for sure!