The Onyx build

a·byss:
noun
a deep or seemingly bottomless chasm.


Meh why not. A record to keep up with the endless amount of financial irresponsibilities that will go into this rig


https://youtu.be/wOGnd5u2V7c
Current mods :


Suspension:

Dobinsons ims with c59-352 springs set at 2.5” passenger 2.75 driver for lean
Dobinsons ims 3” long travel shocks with 749 super ridiculous heavy duty springs
Dobinsons adjustable pan hard
Dobinsons adjustable lower links
Dobinsons adjustable upper links (on order)
Jba high caster uca


Wheels and tires:
Icon compression 17x9 wrapped with Nitto ridge grapplers 285/70/17


Roof rack:
Front runner extended length by apex overland


Comms:
Midland mxt 275 gmrs radio with midland 6db gain antenna
Baeofang uv5r ham (not looking for a dedicated mobile anymore.
iPad Pro 12.5 on ram mount with cellular for off road maps
Garmin in reach for emergency communications in remote situation with no cell signal.


Interior :
15% tint all the way around windshield at 50%
Rago fab rear molle panels
Rago fab front consol panel
Victory rear hatch molle
Dobinsons drawer system
DFG fridge tilt slide


Armor:
Warn winch plate low pro bumper with factor 55 fair lead.
TRD skid
SSO bolt on sliders with top plates
Victory 4x4 strike rear with dual swing outs
4x innovations mid skid.
Victory aluminum gas skid (ordered)
Goat magnetic armor in custom pattern

Recovery:
Apex badlands 12k winch


Electrical :
Custom dual battery setup :
Duracell ultra 30 agm battery
Redarc bcdc1240d
Redarc manager 30 coming soon *


Future most immediate upgrades:
Done for now. The attention is turning to the wife’s 4R ruby

 

Brand new never installed deal couldn’t turn away. Had to use my wife’s 4 runner to go get it since mine is full of stuff

 

Batteries are ordered and expected delivery Sunday.

Friday I am going to install the bumper and winch. Given the fact that getting my hands on a winch anywhere that was worth a damn locally was not possible I picked up the apex badlands winch from harbor freight today for 479.

I wasn’t going to put a winch on the 4 runner since I’ve had two previous winches on the Tacoma and never used them for their intended purposes but winch bumper needs a winch. And since this winch will probably meet the same fate I didn’t want to spend another grand or more on another warn.

 

So you’re like me, two 4Runners

 

Yep.

 

Got started on the dual battery setup.

Starting off with a passenger side battery tray from c4 fab. Super easy to install after painting it, I had it installed in about 20 minutes. For the battery I went with a Duracell ultra 30 agm battery size 24m 78 ah battery. I went back and forth with an x2 or odyssey 34m but at half the cost and more amp hours with the same weight and warranty the Duracell won out.

I then ran installed the redarc bcdc1240d as my battery charger to run the dual battery off of. Because our smart alternator system if I had used the blue sea ml acr I would still need a way to trick the alternator to boosting the secondary battery and primary battery to 14.6v of charge vs 13.8. Also by using the redarc system I was able to keep my main starting battery that came with the truck and pair with any type of other battery of my choosing. This not only saved money but also saved waste as I wouldn’t have had the other battery just laying around or giving it away as a core charge.

For wiring redarc suggested 6g for a small run or 4 gauge for anything over 5’ I used 4g as I ended up using 7.5’ of cable to go from the the main starting battery to the redarc after carefully running the wires along the fender across the back firewall and to the new auxiliary battery. I also am using 4 gauge in a 17 ft run to the rear of the truck. Copper tinned terminal connectors and Marine grade shrink tubing was utilized to make sure there were no issues down the line.

I am running a 60amp breaker at the starting battery to the redarc for any faults. This may change as time goes by but from reading the red arc suggestions this is the highest size the recommend. This helps keep everything safe in the event of a power surge.

For the battery hold down I tried to recreate a design that @WanderlostOverland had made. Actually most of my inspiration came from their super simple install video. I used a sheet of 1/2 hdpe plastic. Cut to shape and drilled in the appropriate spots for an as clean installation as I could manage.

For auxiliary charging while the truck is not running I am running a permanent mounted 70w slim solar panel mounted to the top of a Plano box at the rear of the truck. This will be the primary power source for the secondary battery charge when we are just sitting and ensure the dometic and other electronics are still running properly. In addition to the roof mounted solar we will also have the additional briefcase solar panel from renogy that can be clamped onto the battery and positioned wherever the sun is.

All in all I’m very happy with the end result that left we with a somewhat clean oem look (as far as wiring went) that should serve us pretty well.

 

So this weekends project pending weather is pulling apart the dash and installing the stech system I ordered.

A little brief overview here. I contacted Scott Bove over at sTech and explained the situation I was in and how we are planning our trips this year. I originally had ideas of using another persons s tech they never installed and just ordering the 4 runner plate from Scott but after a few emails back and forth over what I would need vs what I had the potential to have we decided a whole new system would be better suited so they could build it the exact way I wanted. Not only are the guys there very easy to talk to but everything is built right there at their shop in Colorado.

After a few back and forth emails and about three phone calls we had narrowed down what I wanted and how to wire it all up and make it look as if the truck came that way from the factory. I will update this once I have the product in hand with feel and appearance as well as ease of install. (Please don’t expect a write up I do not have the patience for that. I have just the right amount for my kids not for making how to’s lol).

But one thing that really stood out to me about stech was I reached out to them after hours last Friday. Scott emailed me back personally that night to address my initial questions and how he could help. Scott took time after hours to help someone that wasn’t even committed to their product yet and really showed me man this is customer service. I can almost guarantee with some of the competitors that haven’t gotten so big they wont answer your email at 10:00 on a Friday night the weekend of a holiday especially to someone who may or may not have or be committed to their products.

 

Looking good Adam. I hope to one day (upon retirement) travel through Alaska.

 

Ooohhhhh boy.

 

Got the arb installed now to wire it up.

 

Ran power to the rear of the 4Runner via the passenger side firewall grommet from the secondary battery through the door sills, across the back of the 4Runner into the jack compartment. I ran a 6awg positive wire the entire length about 21’ foot total. Encased in loom and to a blue sea fuse panel 6 gang. From there I ran a 6.5’ length of 10 awg back over to the passenger side (probably overkill but I had a piece that was just the right length laying over from a previous project. Now the fridge is powered 24/7.





Prior to install I pulled the jack and the tool bag. After install I reinstalled the jack and it comes out without a problem. It looks like it is hitting the 6awg hot wire but it actually clears it just fine. As you can see the tool roll is not pictured as I used that area as my ground. However you can’t really see it but if you look to the left inside your compartment there’s two more holes behind the main panel and I relocated my tool roll there. However I highly doubt I’ll ever use. I keep a collapsible 4way in my recovery tools wrapped up in a tire patch kit tool roll and my hi lift is normally up top. However I left it in there for those what if’s and if you’ve never used the Toyota jack on a trail it’s a beast.

 

Question for you- I’m installing a C4 battery tray to use with a Smittybilt compressor. In your first photo on the left there is a wiring harness mounted to the side. Did you need to relocate this? It looks like I’m going to need to and I can’t see a way to detach the mounting clip short of breaking it. Any ideas?

 

So I actually did pull it off the firewall and was just really careful about it so I didn’t break it. A lot of back and forth side to side to get the clips to release. However after I got it un clipped I put the battery tray in realized if I had angled the tray more I could have slid it in place without doing that and gotten then bolts in just fine.

 

Good to know it is possible to get off without breaking, and even better the tray will fit without taking it off. Thanks!

 

Stech finally finished. Only took 6 1/2 hours to get it fully installed and working the way I needed it to. Wiring the arb was effortless getting everything done but mounting it was a pain in the ass. I was only able to get 2 bolts in the bottom leg tray and the two on the side hopefully that doesn’t pose a problem in the future. I may see if I can get someone with smaller hands in there to to get a nut on there.

 

Rear bumper is ordered !!!

 

Some quick adventures off 1-40 near Waynesville NC

 

Not very much in the ways of updates since almost everything major is on hold for the rear bumper to be delivered.

main things to note. Ordered the dobinsons ims kit for the front from @Crikeymike today so the 6112’s and king springs will be coming off.



Ordered the dobinsons snorkel Monday and plan to install tomorrow (be on the lookout for the install pics)

Picked up the OVS 180 awning a few weeks ago and still haven’t had good enough weather to really get to use it.


Added the midland gmrs mxt275 inside the empty cavity of the center console and put a rj45 plug in the front to be able to keep things clean and out of the way when daily driving.


started working on the shower port and making some dividers for the dobinsons drawers earlier this week. And tomorrow the dfg tilt slide should be here. (Can’t install until the bumper is here and on since I don’t know if the fold down tables will interfere with the fridge sliding out. Other than that I think that’s a wrap for now.
Here’s how she’s sitting currently.

 

There’s nothing more exillerating than punching a huge ass hole in a brand new truck with less than 8k miles.




purposely stopped here to ask myself what the hell was I thinking.




All finished and buttoned up.



All in all not a bad to do mod. I took my time with the dremel and made sure to go nice and slow letting the dremel work so I didn’t explode a disk or have it skip over the fender. I did end up scratching my a pillar pretty nicely with that mounting bracket (had it on backward and couldn’t figure out why did wouldn’t line up). I ended up using 3m vhb on the bracket rather than drilling into the a pillar. A fender is and easy 2-3 hour job an a pillar is not so there’s that. And I ran the vhb on the Tacoma snorkel for close to 6 years and never had an issue.

 

And the final sorry I haven’t gotta an actual pic of it yet I was fighting the weather https://youtu.be/VYC5cwy77RU

 

Excellent write up and pictures! I'm just curious about the brown bottle behind the Ryobi a couple of pictures up. Some sort of lube??

 

100% lube for my feelings cutting my bumper off lol.

 

Had an absolute blast today playing nemos tunnel

 

Quick stop in Kentucky on our way to Yellowstone

 

https://youtu.be/s5GE8KE5wq8 A small highlight reel from our trip. Still learning how to video edit and all that.

 

We had the dobinsons drawer kit in the back of our 4Runner for roughly 4-6 months. While the dobinsons drawer system is great and it functions perfectly it left some desirability. One of the biggest things was any fridge of decent size would cause the entire back area to be completely blocked off and very limited access to the back window viewing area. So we set out to build a new system.

First we wanted the fridge lower and that meant the drawers would have to be on the side of the fridge. Second we wanted slightly longer drawers and a full extension setup. So with a plan in mind we started working on it. We started by building a base plate that is permanently mounted to the floor of the 4Runner using the 4 existing holes from the factory. This would make taking the drawers in and out a relatively easy task should we need to. Making the drawer system was relatively easy and took only a weekend to knock out the initial design.

With the help of our neighbor he was able to cut and bring to life our simple drawers with the measurements we gave him and the drawer slides we had purchased. Unfortunately one of the three slides we purchased were doa and had to be returned for a replacement.

We designed the drawer system to have an empty shelf underneath the drawer system where we could store long items or even our folding table below the drawers as you can see above we are able to squeeze in roughly 4 camping chairs if we have them. This idea came from our 4700+ overlanding adventure from Tennessee to Wyoming and everything in between. During that time we had gotten trapped in a rain storm that left our chairs soaked and wind torn for two days of our trip.

Next up we painted the entire enclosure in flat black to give it a more finished look and covered the tops, and exterior sides with black automotive carpet. And added the replacement drawer slides and the the fridge slide. We also added in some air reliefs to allow air flow for the fridge since we would be putting it in backwards. With the vents facing the back of the unit. I was also concerned about air being moved around the fridge so we added to surface mount 12v pc fans to move the air around before adding the backing to the boxes.

The final stage was adding the drawer facings we decided on an exotic leopard wood just to give it a touch of class and to really set off the look of the all stainless fridge and aluminum fridge slide. We hope to have the drawer facings on within the next three days but the sealer we are using does require a full 72 hour cure time.

All in all we couldn’t be happier how this design turned out and have just enough room to be able to store our longer items across the top of the new drawer system. And should we need to pull the drawers for any reason we are able to do so by removing the four bolts holding each cabinet in.

 

Very nice Adam! The pictures are certainly good enough to use as a pattern.

 

If you need measurements it’s easy. The base is 33 3/4 x 41x 1/4. The boxes you’ll want 33x however wide for the bottom and 31x whatever width for the top. The reason for the shorter top is so that it doesn’t hit the seat tops and still be able to recline the seats if you’re into that.

for the sides each side piece is cut at 21” x 31

 

Nice looking and well setup rig Adam. Some of the modifications such as the dual battery and onboard air is something I would like to do in the future when I get my 4 Runner. My plan is to have mine a fairly lightweight build. It's amazing at how customizable these are.

I'm running with a Viar portable compressor and dual battery in my current vehicle. It blows me away on just how much I utilize my aux battery when ever going camping or to the cabin.

Thank you for sharing your build and detailed pics here. Much appreciated.