StevenP’s 37s + IFS ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ build

Selling the camper shell tonight, so I pulled it off with the help of a neighbor and set up the RTT on the @turbodb rack, I reckon this will probably be how it’ll look for a while. I dig it.

Now I just have to muster up enough drive to get over my subconscious fear of cutting and welding so I can finish this damn thing and take it out!



I also picked up a 2008 4runner last weekend to use as a daily driver! I want to believe the taco will be tame enough to daily (I’m fairly confident it will be), but in the event it gets all wrapped up and it’s no longer a daily I need wheels. I’ve been borrowing my dads F150 pretty much all year, and there’s a high likelihood of my girlfriend and I moving back up to the sierras very soon, I didn’t want to assume I could just take his truck up there and keep using it. I also needed something capable of moving my trailer and possibly the truck if its not up and running by that time. I didn’t really want to pick up another truck (although you could argue the 4runner is a truck..), and I knew that the 4th gen 4runners came with a v8 option so I looked into it and I think it’ll be a perfect vehicle; capable of handling 4 seasons, plenty roomy and comfortable for me and the girl and our dogs, with the 7000lb towing capacity it should be fine moving my 6300lb trailer up to the new property, and it’ll be able to carry the taco up there too if needed. Of course, I can’t let well enough alone, so I’ve already done a ton of research and am planning on a nice dobinsons suspension, bumpers, sliders, and roof rack for the RTT. I don’t think I’ll take it as far as the taco, but I’ll set it up pretty nice to have the option of at least overlanding in it. Trying to tell myself to only move tire sizes up to 285s, but 35s are calling my name, and god forbid I toss my spare 37” on there and it’s even somewhat close to working



Ps. I swear I never planned on having all my vehicles some shade of “old-man-tan”, but here I am!

 

Racing stripes especially Ivan Stewart style, solves the "old-man-tan Camry" color...

 

Thats sick bro. I tried doing all my vehicles silver too. But the damn civic was a good deal and i couldnt pass it up. Lol. Truck looks sexy as always. Get up here already so we can go play in the snow. runner looks good steve

 

@Fernando thanks man, and yeah, seriously need to wrap the taco up! Let alone get up there for the spare haha

@Yetimetchkangmi Yes, that would be cool.. I’ve thought about playing around with some vinyl designs.. I need to learn to photo shop! I downloaded it the other day to play around for some off beat Xmas cards, but I have a long way to go. Anyways, happy holidays TW

 

You cut this thing yet?!! I gotta get at mine this week. Thankfully I do have .023 wire and gas, it’s still Shitty welding this body metal tho!

 

Don't forget the really wet towels on the floor board behind where your welding. lol

 

Absolutely! And I have some fire blanket to use as well, it’s a rubberized fibreglass blanket we use for welding in live plants.

 

Spray bottle with water as well, I set something behind my dash on fire when welding up the fender well. Luckly nothing important was damaged.

 

Respirator

 

Believe it or not, my front tub was the first thing I ever welded. So I had a fire extinguisher ready and a garden hose as backup. lol

 

Sorry for the lack of action here everyone! I’ve been busy sorting out plans to build a house and working on cleaning up the property. Very exciting stuff, but it’s a completely new process to me and very involved, so I haven’t had much time for other projects. Here’s a rendering of the place we’ll be putting up.

Ps. I will also be building a nice shop on the property, but haven’t decided how I want to go about that yet.. in time.


To answer @POSTacoMike I haven’t done much to the taco other than move it up to my fathers property which is next to my parcel where I will continue to work on it when I’m up there and the weather is too poor to work the land. With winter upon us and temps getting colder I imagine the snow will be down to my elevation soon, so I should have ample time while my SO snowboards to fiddle with the taco. Luckily, my fathers spot has a nice big garage I can move it inside to work on while the weather sucks.

Sorry for the TERRIBLE picture, it was late and I had to turn and burn back to the Bay Area for work the next morning.


The v8 4runner I picked up has been a great addition! I’ve been putting it through its paces, towed all my tools and stored items from the Bay Area to the Sierras in an enclosed trailer, and then came back down and towed the taco up (that was one hell of a weekend). The enclosed trailer probably weighed about 4000lbs and the 4runner moved it with ease, only dropped down a gear once on the largest climb. The taco and auto trailer was probably nearing the 7000lb tow rating of the 4runner, but it towed like a dream, it did drop down a gear a few times on the climb, but had no issues maintaining speed. I was very impressed with the 4runner as a tow vehicle. I’d say it tows just as well as my fathers F150 I used to bring my travel trailer out from Indiana, seriously impressive.




After that weekend we put the 4runner to use working on the property as well. Again, it kicked ass, Toyota for the win! Ps. Chainsaws are way too much fun (fun you must respect of course), and the Milwaukee chainsaw RIPS, punches well above its’ weight, seriously impressed with this electric unit.


The 4runners suspension is original and has about 146k miles on it, so it was pretty tired from all that work. So since it was on my good list I decided to play Santa and order some new suspension and a few other goodies for it. It’ll be a much more mild build than the taco (so I tell myself now.. god forbid my spare 37 comes remotely close to fitting after the new suspension...) but it should make for a fun overland type vehicle that can still tow and work and be DD’d. Here’s a high quality photoshop of the wheels I’m considering picking up for it lol.



So that’s the long winded catch-up for the last couple of weeks and explanation of my absence since before then and lack of work on the Taco. Hopefully I can wrap things up on it over the course of winter and have it ready for wheeling next year, but we’ll see.

 

Those 4Runners are pretty damn capable; @xtremewlr has one and he takes it everywhere.

Brought it to the Moab meet a few months ago as well.

 

It didn’t come cheap, but so far it has earned its’ ticket price lol

 

Build thread in my sig. Mines a Limited V8 as well. Congrats on the 4Runner, the 4th gens are great with the V8 in them.

 

neat thread so subd

did you also give up on the trailer idea? just wondering if i missed it or something lol

 

Have to get ready to head back to work, but I took a quick peak in your 4runner build thread, I’ll be going through the rest of later for sure! Looking good!

Thanks for stopping by and subbing. You didn’t miss anything, I’ve just moved it WAYYYYY down on my priority list. I still want one, wether or not I’ll buy it or build it myself I’m not sure, but I likely won’t be taking any action on it for a while.. that is unless a really killer deal pops up that I can’t pass on haha.

 

i feel you on that lol.

i got my m100 for 800bucks and it was in really great shape i just had to replace the tongue on it then go from there!

just keep an eye on facebook and craigslist you will eventually find someone that isnt into the overlanding fade and get one hell of a deal.

 

Thats what I’m talking about! Nice find. Yeah, everyone seems to want 3k and up, a lot of rust or built differently than I would have it. I’ve found some cheaper but they’re pretty far out to go fetch in a weekend. Eyes are always peeled and checking craigslist (probably why my wallet always hates me).

 

try also looking for either a
m100
m416
or a bantum
there is also a canadian version but i cant remember its model number atm
edit: the canadian military one is called m101CDN

all these trailers are basically the same the only difference is the m100 has round fenders and is slightly smaller while the m416 has box fenders and is slightly larger (not by much we are talking an inch here or there) and a bantum is a civilian version of the m100 and it had a tailgate on the back! but those are really hard to find because they were used as farm trailers

 

Awesome to see! I like the house with the garage under it. But do contemplate a shop separate from it, if only to give you room for a lift, and if you plan to weld at all, it's nice not doing it in an attached garage. Keeps it cleaner.

If you get a chance, could you get me a height on those milestars? I'm curious how they compare to a mickey thompson. Cheers!!