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

Nope, none at all. It's 1:1 in 2wd mode, so wouldn't make any difference. The front still turns, just not under power any longer.

 

INB4 next update (PS I’ve seen the pics. Y’all will like it)

 

I mean, he didn't send those new shocks my way so whatevs

 

Fuckers

 

So yeah, little something finally arrived into my hot hands today.



I was super excited and soooo tired of the overloaded rear FJ springs and Bilstien TRDOR Tacoma shocks that I swapped springs and shocks as soon as I got home. Rear springs and shocks on the 4Runners are actually pretty easy to do.

Got the truck jacked up and started tearing into it.



Rear sway bar finally got ditched while I was at it.



FJ coils came out next, along with the spring isolators. New coils have new OEM isolators. Helluva height difference between them too!



Remember boys and girls, safety 3rd! Because mekanik...



Coils in and onto the shocks.



And then I finished it up and set her back down on all four again.



Verified everything was torqued properly and immediately took it for a spin! 15 minutes to miles of trails near me. Highway drive felt great. Offroad is sooo much better now!

She flexes properly finally.



Stopped for some glamor shots.







Tucked the reservoirs inside the frame rails. Bonus of having the 1" body lift. This is the drivers side.





Passenger side is actually bolted to the underside of the body. Couldn't so that on the driver side because of the fuel fill hoses there.



@eimkeith PHCK will be getting installed this weekend.





More flex shots. This is as droopy as it gets right now. Wheel had air under it.





Passenger side stuffed. Looks like I need to do some trimming of my bumper winglet. And I just realized, I did not install extended bump stops, so I'll have to address that this weekend as well.



Front mid-travel setup looking good too.



And finally, as I have done after each suspension and tire change. on flat ground, outside the garage. Gives a good idea of the progression of the truck this way, sitting in the same spot and taking similar pics.







And for those that might not have noticed, this has also been a sneak peak at the new wheel color. I picked up a 2nd set of Sequoia rims last weekend and am painting them. More to come.

 

It's got the stink bug look back too, so I'm probably going to add some turns to the front springs this weekend as well. Not too much tho.

 

Looks good, those springs are definitely sketch to get in, I have a daystar spacer on the driver side too which made it even more of a PITA. Give the rear a bit too settle before adjusting the front, also think about if you plan to have stuff in the back on the regular that would weigh it down a bit.

 

@BartMaster1234 flash backs

 

It’s not stinkbug anymore because I know how to finish projects.

 

Good points, thanks. I do carry a bunch of shit when camping. But, even with the spare mounted, it measure 38" floor to fender lip in the front and 41" for the same in the rear. So if I can add another 1" up front, that would help and still leave rake. As long as it isn't adding too much preload up front and causing CV angle issues. Gotta play with it.

 

Oh yeah I'd still give it a bit to settle as suggested.

Why not throw the spare back on?

I bet they'll settle within a half inch from where you're at, then it'll look really good.

 

Fixed the panhard this morning with the @eimkeith Panhard Correction Kit - https://eimkeith.com/buystuff/pck/#5th







Then I popped out the OEM bushings from the OEM bar and replaced them with Energy Suspension bushings. Used my little 12 ton press and a 27mm socket. Fit perfect for pressing them out and no heat needed since I don't have corrosion to deal with.

$22 Energy Suspension 8.7105G Track Arm Bushing Set

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004IZ9DEW









I stopped over at ADS yesterday after work to have Tyler there look over the placement of the reservoir and make sure they were OK. He liked how I placed them so I was happy with that. I also asked about adding turns to the front coils. He said that for every 1/4" down on the collar, it will add about 1/2". No counting threads or anything, much easier. So, once I finished the panhard, I added a 1/4" to each side on the front coils. Worked perfectly and gave the front an additional 1/2" of lift. Less stick bug look now and CV angles are still good. Hard to tell this close up but it helped.



And there is no way that my RTT will fit through the garage opening on the roof rack. If I use it on the 4Runner even, I'm going to have to install it outside and leave the truck outside. The RTT without the ladder is about 10" and there is less than that, maybe 6", from the roof rack to the bottom of the header.



Decided to save the GMRS antenna cable for Sunday morning and go do some exploring for the after noon. Found a rock and set up a glamor shot.



Wondered around some more, finding nothing but dead ends. That was a bummer. So more glamor shots.





Drove around even more and found a power line road that I followed towards home. The power line poles are pretty damn big up close.

 

Got the wheels all swapped out now. I like the look much better and these wheels are in better shape.







Going up to Flagstaff for the weekend to do some wheeling and camping. Should be a good time.

 

Went up to Flagstaff, camped out in the Coconino National Forest up there Saturday. Just got home a couple hours ago. Hit a low of 24 overnight. So nice up there.







Lots of deadfall from old fires.

 

Had a little mishap after finishing a trail today. Trail was awesome, truck did great. As did @Kofe513 for his first real wheeling experience!

However, towards the end of it, I was hearing a random clicking from the driver front. Thought maybe the wheel bearing was going bad and was going to check it out when we hit pavement again.

That was until we were back on the main graded road, doing about 25mph and the drivers front collapsed on me! While I'm stopping, I watch the front drivers wheel roll off into the distance...

I thought the wheel bearing failed and was expecting some carnage but it turns out the lug nuts came off! All 6 of them. Threads were all fine on the spacer too. So either my torque wrench is broken or I set it incorrectly. All 3 other wheels had loose lug nuts as well.

Got the wheel bolted back on, took the fender off and drove home without any issues. Drove straight, suspension felt fine and the brakes felt like they always did since the install.

Such an awesome day! Going to get new lug nuts all around tomorrow and see what I can find for a new torque wrench. Don't trust the old one any longer.



Pics for the 'gram!







Glad this happened in the dirt. It slid about 30 feet on just the caliper.



Inside of the wheel got a little beat up but it's still serviceable.





So, after looking at replacement fender prices on ebay, I'm starting to think this might be a good excuse to get fiberglass fenders instead.

Really like the look of these - https://www.mcneilracinginc.com/collections/02-09-toyota-4-runner

This is the OEM style. I'm leaning more towards these.


And this is the Race style.

 

That could have been a whole lot worse.

Glad it wasn’t!

 

Yeah, I had the wheels swapped just over a week ago. Re-torqued all the lug nuts when I got home and then drove it to Flagstaff and back. Then a week of commuting to and from work. Loosing a wheel at 75-80 on the freeway would have really sucked! I think it was a combination of the torque wrench either being broken or set wrong and then driving on the graded road and off road yesterday finally caused the lug nuts to back themselves off.

 

Got a new torque wrench. $30 special from O'Reilly's but it works. I'll order up a good one here soon and throw the cheapy into the 4runner for trail use. or something.

All wheels have 6 lug nuts again. Forgot that the first set of Tundra/Sequoia wheels I bought came with the original lug nuts. Also threw 2 wheels worth of spares into the trucks tool bag just in case.

Pulled the driver wheel to inspect the brake rotor and every thing else. All looks good. Brake rotor took a little damage but it feels fine while braking so it isn't bent and only a small amount was worn off since I was on dirt. Cleaned out the vanes with dirt still in them, took a file to the rough edges and called it good. I can get another rotor later on if needed.



Decided I might as well beat the pinch weld over while I have easy access to it. Don't need to do this for these 285/70s but when I go larger, this might start coming into play.



Then it was on to seeing if I could get the fender straightened out enough to put back on until I can replace it either with a new/used steel one or go with the fiberglass fenders. Leaning towards fiberglass right now.



Beat and bent it into submission enough to be able to bolt it back on.



Even got the flare and splash skirt mostly bolted on. This will work for now.

 

Dang dude, that scary. Glad it happened in a controlled ish environement and you were alright. I rechecked torque on mine right after seeing this

I like the OEM style mcneil fenders, and I think they would compliment the square 03-05 wheel wells nicely with their more squareness. I'll be interested to see how it turns out if you go that route