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

Daughter's truck got the new wheels and tires installed over Christmas. Lots more going to happen with this truck in the near future.

 

Are we going to see both rigs on the trail in Feb?

 

That would be awesome but probably not this year. My daughter lives in San Diego right now and has a hectic work schedule. I also won't have the 4wd conversion done by then.

 

Re: Flex - do you still have front and rear sway bars on? These trucks gain a toooon of flex once you ditch the bars.

 

Front swaybar was ditched when I changed out the XREAS. Still have the rear installed for now as I don't want to gain travel just to loose a rear spring when it falls out from too much down travel. Plan is to eventually install Metal Tech long travel rear springs to resolve that issue.

 

Started piecing the front bumper together today after picking up a fresh gas bottle. Coastal Offroad again, like I had on the Tacoma.





Front foundation plate. Bolts to the frame horns in the stock location that the OEM crash bar goes. Also incorporates an additional M12 bolts on the sides of the lower core support.



Got the center section tacked together and discovered a couple fitment issues. The winch plate is sitting about 1/2" too far back and needs to come forward. This will leave that same 1/2" gap at the rear but that is easier to fix since it's 90 degree angles there. The other problem so far is that even tho I have a 1" body lift and ordered the bumper accordingly, I think maybe the OEM body mounts are squished a little still since everything is sitting about 1/2" too high and the lower headlight filler pieces are in the way for building the wings. I plan on cutting out about 1/2" on each side of the uprights to lower the whole thing and adding plating to give it strength again at the new seams.



More to come tomorrow.

 

Here I did a hybrid battery, full tundra suspension and 85% of a torque converter replacement on a Camry at work... and you couldn’t finish your damn bumper.


I’m sorry Todd. But you just don’t have what it takes to be my idol

 

Center section of the bumper is reconfigured and came out just the way I hoped. Almost all welding on it is complete, just a few spots to finish but I have to remove it for that and I still have the wings to complete.

Cut the top off and removed 1/2".





That 1/2" was perfect. Test fit one of the wings and there is a nice 1/2" gap now instead of the wing hitting the light filler plate. Welded the two halves back together and then plated the outside of each.









Also moved the winch plate forward and used some angle iron to provide support at the rear.



Finished welding everything up and after cutting off some of the front plate since it hung lower, got that welded in place and started some clean up grinding.



Done for now. Going to figure out temporary turn signals tomorrow and that's it until Saturday or Sunday.









Going to have to move some lines to install a winch I think. Hard one will be the AC condenser line.

 

Looking good!

 

Temporary solution for front turn signals. Reinstalled the stockers. Using the headlight bracket that bolts to the fender, drilled a 1/4" hold and bolted the turn signal to that. The zipties are to keep it from vibrating around.

 

Bro, do it like back in the day

 

Obviously, that only works when going in reverse...

 

No work on the bumper today, probably wait until either next weekend or the weekend after.

I did finally extend the rear diff breather today at least.

This is where the driver side cab vent is. Drilled a hole and installed a rubber grommet to run the hose thru.



Camera didn't focus right on my phone.



The line runs up inside where the stock tools and jack are located.

 

Got the front bumper mostly completed today. The hard part of fitting the wings together at least. 4th gen 4Runners have sort of a smile to the body lines going from the center of the grill back and if you leave the plates flat, you get a huge gap at the wheel wells. So it takes some work the get an even(ish) gap on each side. Still have to finish welding the inside of the bumper and then lots of clean up grinding before I can paint.

 

Got some more work in on the front bumper today. Welded the grill hoop in place. Not doing headlight hoops. Spliced in the wiring for the LED turn signals to fit the bumper but need to replace the flasher as I have the rapid flash now. Ordering that up soon. Also did a majority of the grinding to clean it up. Still have some more grinding to do and have to remove the bumper to finish welding all the inside seams that I couldn't reach with the bumper installed.









And it'll sit like this for another week until I have time to work on it again. At least I have a full bumper and working turn signals!









You can just barely see the top of the hoop from the driver seat. Perfect since that is the most forward point on the truck now.

 

Good job

 

Nice work! for the AC lines, I just bent mine around as needed, they are pretty pliable. Do you have a plasma table or did you draw it up and get the pieces cut? Looks much nicer than doing everything with a cutoff wheel like I did!

 

Also, curious about the cut outs in the very from part of the bumper that don't mirror, are they letters? C and . . .?

 

The bumper is a Coastal Offroad WIY (Weld It Yourself) bumper. So it comes all pre-cut. I believe they use a CNC waterjet setup. The front cutouts would be the C for Coastal and O for Offroad.

I still need to get back to work on the rear bumper. Haven't touched that since I welded in the crossbeam.