2003 4Runner Limited 4wd V8 FJ tcased overlanding rockcrawling do-it-all build

Ah yep. Forgot about the concave part. That'll be tricky.

 

Got side tracked today. I fully intended on swapping brake lines on the front and both rear wheel lines. Going to wait for the Metal Tech rear suspension kit to come in for those since lines are included.

But, I ended up leaving the stock brakes lines for now and swapped in the ADS front shocks...







Figured I might as well throw the Spidertrax 1.25" wheel spacers on while I was at it.





Passenger side is the same, so different pics. Was talking to @Kwikvette about possible binding or contact between the UCA and the shock spring since ADS has proven to have a little more down travel than other brands. Doesn't appear that it will be an issue with the SPC UCAs tho. This is at full droop, with the tire mounted. So it's really not going to go much lower than this.



Definitely gained a few inches in the front! I haven't even played with height adjustment, they are set where they were from ADS. Springs are 700lb as I plan on adding a winch down the line. Front bumper alone weighs 127lbs.



Front CV angles aren't too bad either. This is before even driving it some and having the front settle a little. I probably need to adjust the clamp on that inner boot tho.



Riding a little high in the front since the rear is still basically stock. But not too bad I don't think.







Think my next fabrication project is going to be either a body mount chop or relocation. This is just sitting in the garage, un-flexed.





Most likely, later down the road, I will get the JD Fab LCA pivot relocation kit - https://jdfabrication.com/collections/05-15-6-lug/products/tacoma-05-18-lower-arm-pivots

The plan is to eventually be running 35s on this thing. If I can do that without tubbing the firewall, that would be nice.

 

Looks like as of now, I gained about 1" of lift on the front. Looks like more but I'm measuring to the frame, not the wheel well.

Before the ADS shocks and even before the bumpers, I took these measurements from the floor of the garage to the bottom of the frame at each corner.

Driver side Before:
15 1/8" at the front body mount (rear side of it)
15 1/2" at the rear control arm mount (highest point at the bottom of the actual frame)

Passenger Side Before:
15 1/8" front
15 1/4" rear

Driver after:
16 1/8" front

Passenger after:
16 1/8" front

Rear didn't change since it hasn't been lifted yet.

So 1" lift, measured at the frame, WITH the heavy ass front bumper. Not too shabby. And I can still adjust the preload to get more since I didn't touch them from where they were set by ADS.

 

So, I'm a dumbass. Should have waited before cutting holes in the fender for the snorkel. My Sherpa Rack came in yesterday and the current snorkel isn't going to work with it. Thought I'd be able to modify just the air dam but that's not going to work. I'd have to cut into the passenger side upright of the rack as well and I don't want to mangle the rack that much.

So, now to see if I can find a different snorkel, more traditional, that will fit into the existing fender hole without having to cut too much more of the fender. Or just replace the fender and start over again.

Fuck.

 

Figured it out and was able to make the snorkel work.

Like I said earlier, this showed up yesterday while I was doing the front shocks.



Picked up my favorite bedliner spray paint from Harbor freight and got to painting this morning.



Started the rack install this afternoon. It's fairly easy but takes some time to get everything lined up and bolted together.





Sherpa provides you with more bars than you will probably need but it's nice to have the extras for lots of mounting options.



Chopped part of the L off the snorkel so it would fit. Not ram air but that's fine, I have a V8



Re-used the chicken mesh stuff that was in there originally and riveted it in place. Used bedliner to make it all black.



About 1/4" gap, perfect.



That's it. Took some glamor shots and gave it a quick bath to get the rest of the dirt off it from last weekends dust storm wheeling trip.

 

Got the silcone intercooler tubing this week so I was able to wrap up the dorkel install. Hate having one but after that wheeling trip a couple weekends ago, I determined that it's a necessary evil that I'm going to have to at least try out and deal with.

Only thing remaining is to get a pre-filter sock thing that I will slip over the top of the dorkel to try and filter out some of the finer dust particles off road. Be easy to remove and shake out that way too.

Removed the fender to allow me to better attach the snorkel to it. I also needed to enlarge the opening in the fenderwell for the new silicone elbow to pass thru.



This is the final tubing setup inside the fender. The elbow is a 4" to 3.5" 90. The airbox intake measures just barely under 4" so with the clamp on there, it's a tight seal. That then connects to a 3.5" hose coupler and 8 inches of 3.5" straight pipe to the snorkel.





The silicone tube provides a very air tight seal to the snorkel. I fired up the engine and could feel the air rushing into the snorkel at the top by the rack, just with the engine idling. The opening up there should be plenty big enough to allow more than enough air flow for the engine too. Hopefully this helps with the copious amounts of dust off road.

 

Looks great, coming together nicely!

For 35's, you can get them to fit without a tub, but the cab mount will need to be relocated or hacked significantly, or use the JD kit, maybe with a smaller hack. That's on my list for next winter, I am done messing with the truck til then.

 

35s are still a bit out but in the plans. Once I get the rear suspension in from Metal Tech, I think I'm done with the truck for a while too.

 

Which setup did you get from them?

 

Stage 3 rear with Icon. However, Icon is 10 to 12 week lead time and Radflo, the other option from Metal Tech, is 6 to 8 weeks. Just got email back from Metal Tech saying they will refund me the cost of the shocks, shipping the rest. I'll go talk with ADS and get rear shocks from them for the setup. They are here in Tucson so easy to do and they are great guys.

 

Front brake lines installed. Also messed around with caster settings but I'm not smart enough to realize you have to change the LCA cam bolts too. So it's back to where it was until I replace the LCAs. The new SuperPros with offset bushings come in tomorrow sometime. So probably the weekend after this one.

 

Didn’t even thank your tech support. WTF. Even offered over the phone instructions!

 

Thank you Dan! @Empty_Lord is an outstanding tech support person.

However, he needs to find a professional mechanic to replace the brake rotors on his daily driver Avalon. They are apparently warped or something.

 

They got rusty. I just need to turn them in the lathe.




When I have free time at work:

 

Whole setup is coming together really well!

 

Of course they did. I'm surprised they worked at all and weren't a pile of rust dust.

 

Slowly but surely. Just need that refund from Metal Tech for the shocks and then the rest of the parts. Once I have the refund, I'll go talk to ADS for the rear shocks.

 

Y’all gotta quit throwin shade my way.

 

Had I not bought my Kings long before I got the 4Runner, I would've gone ADS.