Kwik's BS Thread FEAT. BRONX!

I'm hoping mid-year 2022; trying to finish up the high clearance trans cross-member right now - so as to verify it doesn't land where I need the forward link mounts to be (or hopefully it does? - we'll see).

the 4link is also what my 4Runner is waiting on before I can put it back into service. :sigh:

 

By then I would almost be finished with welding school; hell yeah I can't wait to see it.

 

Well, not so much an update for the 4Runner but more like one for myself; put in my 2 weeks at work yesterday which will end 10 years in the car business!

Will be going to school for welding, actually 2 possibly and I'll be using my GI Benefits to pay for schooling.

With a new house being built as well, the 4Runner will be neglected for quite some time.

Least she got new floor mats this morning!



With new seat bottoms, if I replace the front seat backs, the interior will look way nicer.

(excuse the dirty interior)

 

To think, I wasn't going to be updating this thread for awhile.

Had the chance to head down to So Cal, where @eon_blue patiently held onto a skid plate he was letting me have.

Bud Bilt skid, which replaces the 2 piece factory setup -



Was fortunate enough to find out that 1st Gen Tacomas and 3rd Gen 4Runners share the same skid mounting points, allowing me to use it without any modifications.

First things first, there's this little cross member looking thing that mounts up rear of the steering rack -



Once that's done, it's as easy as just bolting it up



It is thick as hell, and I have no doubt it'll keep me from damaging something important knowing how I drive -

 

Was able to get another get-together for Hollister Hills where I met up with some friends but also got to meet some new people -



Left to right it's @Toki @Impoy47 @tacoandsons @Taco-Obsessed Me, @Nessal and @warmingupmymind

Great turn out, and definitely had some fun! Hollister Hills thread has a ton of pics of all of us.

After watching these 35's every time Shawn or Jon come out, I want them more and more -



Stupid hill at the Upper Quarry kicked everyone's ass -



Wheel's up; why is it I do it on every outing no matter where I go -



This time around though, my spare tire betrayed me holy shit -



Enjoying the view -



Not included in the first pic, but here's Mike who might slowly join the forum -

 

As several of you know, I put in my 2 weeks about 12 days ago.

This means, I will no longer have access to my lift at work

Decided to finally take care of my damn CV axle seal that's been leaking for god knows how long. I will say, it gave me an opportunity to check out my CV axles as well.

I've run well over +12k miles on these and have to say, I've really put them through some paces. Nowhere near as hard as some of you guys with your crawlers, but I definitely would've broken a cheap store brand axle for sure. I do so because 1. these CV axles have a lifetime warranty and 2. I have 3 OEM CV axles on standby.

Anyway, here she is coming apart -



CV axle seal pulled, you can see the clear fluid dripping -



And the CV axle itself -



What had intrigued me was not only are they marketed as "extended travel" CV axles, but what I later found out about their design -



And last but not least, the CV axle itself. Awesome to see the assembly actually extend and collapse -

https://youtu.be/oKcnKuKpPOg

Their only weakness it seems is, the quality of boot provided.

I intend to, install OEM CV axles on both ends and getting my O'Reilly's replaced. Before using the new axle however, I will replace the boots with a higher quality variant.

 

Well, as it turns out...the Fresno area just happens to have a strong Yota presence.

In the midst of running errands, plus enrolling in trade school 2 weeks earlier than expected (more on that later), I happened across a member on here and got some parts -



As some of you know, I hate the wood interior in my Limited. I was able to score not just the stereo bezel, but all the window switches as well from a non-Limited for cheap!

Seeing as how I've got 3 days left to move, I'll work on swapping interior trim pieces at a later point.

 

Just when I thought the 4R wouldn't get any mods for awhile, my in-laws bought me a Waterport for my Bday!

Forgot to post about it as I've been busy in welding school, otherwise my Bday was over 3 weeks ago

As per tradition...

FUCKING MINT -

 

Let there be pressurized water!



FUCKING MINT -

 

What happened to your spare?

 

Too much weight in the rear haha

 

What Anmol said lol

I just don't need to carry it unless I'm going on some sort of trip that's pretty far. Otherwise, it'd just dry rot in the sun out here while I'm at home or in school.

 

If only I had more finger strength, luckily my winch was a bit stronger

 

You're telling me that's not the correct way to park?

 

Thats why it’s recommended to change your spare tire fluid every 5k miles … duh

 

Been a little while since I've last visited my own thread!

With school and waiting for our new house to be built, I haven't done much in the way of going off-road or camping or anything until this weekend.

Before that though, I had developed a bit of a loud tapping this last Monday. I thought I heard it on the way to school that morning, but it wasn't until I fired her up that it was loud.

Checked under the hood expecting an exhaust leak; nope it was a loose plug wire! Thing is, it was worse than that...it was a bad plug.

So new plugs and wires -



It is absolutely amazing how stupidly quick and easy it is to replace these plugs and wires -







Of course, it wouldn't be as cool of an update without pics of my school progress and our trip!

Stainless steel, which was fun as hell -



And a bunch of ferrous steel which I've been learning on for a week and a half now -



At this rate, I'll be welding on my own sliders and doing my own shock relocation

 

A small peek at our trip.

First up it was Universal Studios -



Followed by setting up camp at Malibu Creek State Park -





As much as we love camping, we were staying a few nights so we took it upon ourselves to explore Santa Monica.

That's when we hit up the museum -





We toured the town, got some good food, and left for camp -





And that fire...FUCKING MINT -

 

Little update to my black beauty; external storage!

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Seeing as how it's 3 of us now as of last year, and sudden trips to go camping are more frequent, I decided to make better use of our little 4R.

When it's my wife and I, we can easily carry -

2 Front Runner Wolf Packs
1 large ice chest
1 dual burner stove
1 folding table
2 chairs
1 pop up tent
1 camping tent
2 bags of misc clothes, etc
1 case with my M18 inverter, batteries, headlamp, flashlights, etc.

That takes up the entire trunk however, trying to keep everything under the retractable sun shade. Even harder if we include 2 full-sized pillows and bag of dry foods/snacks, etc.

Even harder if it's a long trip and we need a 2nd ice chest, which takes up the room of a folded up rear seat.

What really makes the difference is whether Bronx joins us or not; you know the answer...we rather he come with!

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Introducing the Roam Adventure Co 83L case -







Now for those wondering, I've conducted a highly scientific study in a controlled environment to asses just how many IPA's can fit comfortably in the new case.

The answer, 75 with room in between for ice -





Now for those wondering, since I said this will be external storage, I purchased these mounts from Sherpa Equipment Co which allow me to mount this case without any permanent modification to the case. If you look closely at the left and right edges of the case with the lid open, you'll see slots that go through the case. A metal bracket is inserted into the slot, and mounts at the bottom outside the case to the rack itself.

My only gripe is that, everything Sherpa Equipment Co uses is allen head yet this time for their mounts, they went ahead with metric head; why?

Easy remedy with a trip to Home Depot which I'll do tomorrow. Here you can see the metric head next to the allen head -



And, after a nice 6hr drive to my storage to grab a few things, I got home and mounted this bad boy right up -







Fuck yeah, how many #BroverlanderPATAGONIARULESdogdadToyota4RunnerLyfe points do I get?

 

Camping trip has come and gone, and I was able to put the new case to good use!

I posted my initial impressions of my case, and after using it for the week, I'm glad I made the purchase.

My only gripe is that the interior height isn't as tall as I'd like it to be. Really, this isn't surprising considering how low profile it is.

This could also be attributed to things like my old Coleman 2-burner stove, +11 year old tent, and other bulky items I've yet to replace.

Here you can see I was able to stuff my stove, quilt, sleeping pad, Bronx' sleeping bag, and my poncho liner. Pretty much everything needed to sleep sans tent -



I do have an ultralight tent that'd easily fit in my case, but it's not large enough for the 3 of us.

Here's what 5 days camping for 2+1 dog looks like -



Everyone like's pics -









Though there's some stuff I need to take care of, I can't help but take mini-vacations versus getting stuff done on the 4R