Enigma8246's 2007 4Runner Limited Build Thread

Well the BX Built saga continues. I don't want to put too much about it on here yet but long story short I received them back from BX Built and have filed a dispute with my credit card company. Oxidized factory lights going back in for the time being, hopefully pending a good resolution with BX Built.

 

BX Built got me taken care of. Crazing fixed and no more pins pulling out of plugs. Got them back on Sat and just finished reinstalling them. Looking good, especially for a 15 year old vehicle.

Need to install the sliders and wire the lights. Hopefully my LFD cross bars will be here soon as well.

 

I finally got a little free time when the weather was nice so I did some prep work for getting the sliders installed. I hunted all over the place for a 4Runner with a relatively rust free frame but this one still has some. Before I put the sliders on I wanted to clean up and repaint the areas that will be covered by the sliders.

Tools for the day.


Driver's side before starting:


On the driver's side two of the three bolts for the gas tank skid plate snapped off inside the frame. I drilled them out, cleaned up as much of the weld nut as possible with a Dremel, and painted the openings with the Rustoleum using a small paintbrush:


Next I cleaned everything up with the wire brush on the drill and wiped it down with brake cleaner until I could make a pass with a rag without anything on the rag. I was very pleased with how little of the apparent rust was actually rust. Most of it was just discoloration from the multiple, tiny spots of rust that it had. I assume most of this was from rock chips but there was some rust around the welds that most likely was not from rock chips. Driver's side prepped:


Then I installed rivnuts in the holes that had been drilled out to replace the broken bolts:


I didn't get pictures of it but I jammed cardboard between the frame and body and held a piece of cardboard behind the bottom of the frame to prevent overspray. Driver's side all painted up:


No broken bolts on the passenger side but the sun made it difficult to get pictures without a flare. Before starting:


Again, on the passenger side I was pleased with just how little of this was actually rust. Brushed and cleaned:


All painted:


Hopefully in the next week or so I can get the sliders installed, then start wiring the step lights.

 

I was able to get the Slee sliders installed today. I had some help getting them in place and getting the first couple of bolts on each slider. After that I did most of the bolts, including all of the 'stick nuts', myself. I had never used stick nuts before and I will say I didn't care for them but they got the job done. I do like the way they look and I love the fact that they retain, but upgrade, the factory running board lights.



Light on bracket:


Light output. My workbench light is on in this picture.


I may adjust the position of the lights some because I don't like being able to see the reflection on the bottom of the doors but other than that the sliders and lights were exactly what I was looking for and exactly what I expected. I was impressed with the design of the sliders and attention to detail for running and managing the wiring.

 

With the nice weather today I took the afternoon off and installed my LFD ruggedized roof rails. They installed in about 45 minutes but I pulled the factory roof rails off a couple of weeks ago. I'm really happy with how they look and can't wait to try them out. Already looking at cases to mount my Hi Lift and other recovery gear in.

 

We need an UPDATE

 

Unfortunately there hasn't been much to update other than a RedArc Tow Pro Elite trailer brake controller.

Daycare is expensive and we've been working really hard on paying off debt.

 

Ain't that the truth lol

 

This is the first update in a long time but it’s a big one. We’re saving to build a house and I’ve been prioritizing that over modifications but my wife (who I think got tired of me taking her 4Runner every time we wanted to go off road) told me to quit stalling and put a lift on mine. I did a lot of research and I really think this will meet my needs. I wound up with an Ironman 4x4 Foam Cell Pro Stage 4 Kit which includes:

- Front Coilovers (+2.5” Heavy 110-220 lb add’l payload because it’s a V8 and I do intend to put a slimline bumper and winch on eventually)
- Rear Coil Springs (+2” Medium 0-660 lb add’l payload)
- Rear Shocks
- Front Sway Bar Spacer Kit
- Front Pro Forge Upper Control Arms
- Rear Adjustable Panhard Bar
- Rear Adjustable Sway Bar End Links
- Rear Adjustable Lower Trailing Arms

I also did a few other things while I was at it:

- OEM Lower Control Arms with Ball Joints and Bushings
- OEM Cam Bolts
- Dr KDSS Bolt on Track/Panhard Bar Correction Kit
- Rear Diff Breather Extension (run up fuel filler cavity)
- Crown Performance Extended (+3”) Brake Lines
- Speed Bleeders (because I’m lazy)

Even though I haven’t noticed any issues with the existing suspension, the vehicle has ~140k miles on it. I didn’t want to do a bunch of work on the suspension now just to do more later or to be told I couldn’t get a proper alignment because the lower ball joints or bushings were worn out. So I went ahead and did them now. At the rate I put miles on this vehicle, if I overhaul the entire suspension now there’s a good chance I won’t have to touch anything for the next 15 years unless I tear something up on a trail. I also got an Ironman diff drop but did not install it. I’m going to monitor my CV angles and will probably wind up installing it long term when I get aftermarket skids made to accommodate a diff drop. I already have CVJ CV axles with high angle boots.

I also switched from the Bridgestone Dueler pull-offs to some Mastercraft Courser Trail pull-offs from an FJ cruiser. I bought these a while ago because I wanted a matching spare wheel and got a set of 5 wheels and 4 tires for a little more than I would have paid for a single refurbished wheel. They’ve been sitting in my shop for 6 months or so. The tires have “meh” reviews but they get me from a street tire to an AT without having to spend a bunch of money and they have a ~2 year newer manufacture date than the Bridgestone tires that were on it. I’ll run them for a while and upgrade when needed.

I didn’t get a lot of photos because I did a good portion of this work alone, it was hot, and I was trying to do A LOT of work over a weekend when my wife and son were out of town. My biggest frustration on this process was the top nut on the rear shocks. It was easy but time consuming to get the factory shocks off with a 17 mm open-ended wrench and using a strap wrench to hold the metal rock guard on the shock. HOWEVER, installation of the new shocks which had a plastic rock guard that wasn’t attached to the upper threaded rod was a pain. I had to hold the top of the threaded rod with a 1/4" open-ended wrench and tighten the nut with a 19mm open-ended wrench. Because of the tight clearances, bushing thicknesses, and the length of the threaded rod it really wasn’t possible to fit the 1/4" wrench and a standard thickness 19 mm wrench in the available space. Fortunately Amazon had a thin wrench for $7.50 and overnight shipping for $2.99. I placed the order around 9 pm Saturday and it was delivered at 8 am Sunday. That was a lifesaver but even with the thin wrench it was a long, tedious process due to a very limited range of motion.

The second biggest headache of this job was separating the upper and lower ball joints. For the uppers we pounded and pounded on the spindles and they just WOULD NOT separate, even with the load taken off of them. A carefully positioned pitman arm puller solved this issue. I watched multiple videos on YouTube of people driving out the bottom ball joints with a pickle fork but this method didn’t work for us. We wound up removing the LCA and control arm bracket from the vehicle and using a two-jaw puller to separate them. I’m pretty sure separating ball joints is 99% of what I’ve done with that two-jaw puller.

Overall the install took me Saturday about 8 hrs by myself, Sunday about 8 hrs with my Dad, and Monday evening about 2 hrs going over everything to check torque and button up before putting the wheels back on. I’m glad to have it done and looking forward to enjoying it. I do hope it settles a little on all 4 corners.

















Here are before and after numbers from the lift. It was supposed to be a 2.5" lift in the front and a 2" lift in the back. It wound up being more like 4-5" in the front and about 3" in the back. I think this is because the old suspension was so worn out. It's sitting pretty level right now but I'll see how it settles. I would like the front just slightly lower than the rear so I can adjust the front if needed. Ironman also makes a 20mm polyurethane spacer for the rear coils so if the rear still has lean after it settles I'll probably pick one up for the left side.

 

My cut-in Lost Trails bumper arrived exactly when they said it would, which was refreshing considering it had to be fabricated and I haven't had good luck with companies hitting lead times in the past. The fit and finish on it look great but it was clearly dropped during shipping. Even though it was packaged pretty well, the drop bent the mounting plate on the driver's side but when I bolted it on the mounting plate flattened back out.



Everything mounted up. I wanted something to protect and somewhat hide the FlatLink so I got a folding license plate mount.



I actually kinda like how it looks without a bumper but radiators are important so I pressed on.



I'll have to get some better pictures after I bush hog but I wanted a low profile look so mission accomplished I guess.





I have a couple of minor adjustments I want to make to the OEM bumper cover when I pull it off in the future to install a light bar but overall I'm very happy with the build quality, fit, and finish of the Lost Trails bumper. I haven't winched with it yet other than to tension the cable but I do have a trip coming up so maybe I'll be able to report back with some impressions after winching soon.

 

My dad is retired now, has bought a Tacoma, done some minor modifications, and now wants to use it. He got interested in the Trans America Trail a while back and wanted to do it on his motorcycle but he sold the bike because he was getting older and didn't feel like he could do the long rides that he really enjoyed anymore. So on the 19th we drove to Chattanooga, TN to meet my sister and do a section of the TAT. I was being cheap and rode with him. We started in Whiteside, TN and followed the trail to the AR/OK border. We were pretty true to the route with three exceptions. We encountered a bridge that was out and had to do a ~3 mile detour, there was a road closure that required a ~6 mile detour, and we bypassed a section of eastern AR that looked like farm fields. We had been driving farm fields in MS for a day and we have both spent plenty of time in eastern AR.

Route:



Bluffs at Pickwick Lake driving from Guild, TN:



Low water crossing near Mount Zion Methodist Episcopal in Leoma, TN:



Boat landing on Pickwick Lake in Lauderdale WMA:



Enid Lake in MS which (according to the guy at the campsite next to us) has world class crappie fishing:



Sunrise at Lake Enid:



After camping Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night we spent Monday and Tuesday nights at home doing laundry and restocking. I picked up my 4Runner for the Quitman, AR to OK section:



Dover Lights:





Campsite at Long Pool Recreation Area:



Union School was a cool stop. I've been before but they've done a lot of work on it since the last time I was there. It' been repainted and had a lot of historical information inside now. It was my dad's first time there and he said it reminded him a lot of the school his dad went to as a kid.





Of course we had to stop in Oark for lunch Thurs:



We also took a brief detour to see the Mountain Crest Academy. It's been on my list for a while. I was surprised how small it was. For some reason it has always looked bigger in the photos I've seen.



This one was either near Elkins or Winslow, AR:



Dad's Tacoma at an old dairy barn in Summers, AR:



My 4Runner at the barn:



This was a great trip and a good way to spend time with my dad and sister. Having said that, by the end of it I was ready to be home to my family and my own bed. I'd also appreciate it if gas prices came down a little bit.

 

I had a three day weekend so decided to take the family to Tyler Bend for a couple of nights. We stayed at the same campsite my family and I used to go to every year when I was little. It was a a touch too cool at night and a touch too warm during the day but we had a great time. I hope to continue this tradition with my son because it's one I enjoyed as a kid.

Saturday morning breakfast:



Bluffs at Tyler Bend. This is the lowest I've ever seen the river:



Spent a little time at Grinder's Ferry Saturday:



Drove over to Gilbert to check out the Gilbert General Store. Still low but you could see from the rapids that the water was moving a little bit:



Also, definitely check out Big Springs Trading Company if you're in the area. The Jezebel burger and brisket sliders are delicious.