Calimobber's Expedition 4Runner

[CaliMobber]

Neat. I am concerned about the lack of fusing on the wires coming from each battery to the relay. Everyone seems to want to skip that step; it's a potential fire hazard.

Good eye, Yea I have my 6 gage fused that goes into the cab to the blue sea fuse. I dont think a fuse is really necessary for the 2gage connecting battery's but I guess it would not hurt to throw in a fuse at the battery. would need to be a beast of a fuse with 2gage though. what would you think would be sufficient?

 

[CaliMobber]

So I finally got around to installing the 1000w inverter. I pulled the #6 wire and ran a #4 from the second battery. So the inverter and blue sea fuse box is running off the second battery :banana:


This is whats under my seat now

 

[CaliMobber]

So I had the afternoon off and I decided i might as well get the Rear Diff Breather mod done and out of the way. after reading a few others post I ordered the parts i needed last week.

I used this as my example to copy. Thanks Bob_98SR5

4Runners.org - Type R Rear Differential

Parts
Toyota Union Fitting- #90404-51319
Toyota Breather Plug- # 90930-03136
Just picked up 6' vacuum line from Autozone
2 hose clamps

Tools/Supplies Needed
14mm rachet socket
12mm rachet socket
Flat-bladed screwdriver
Xacto knife
a few zip ties



Others have lowered the spare tire for more room but I was able to get it done with out it. I just jacked up the rear by the tow hitch and put some jack stands under the hitch.

So I just laid on my back and unscrewed the stock breather. The hardest part was getting the new adapter screwed in. It was a pain in the *** from my back to get the threads to line up since i was going on feel only.

Then i just cut a hole in the rubber around the gas cap and slid in my hose til it came out the bottom. Maneuvered it to the diff adapter and hose clamped it on.cut the extra hose sticking out the gas door and put on my breather and hose clamped it. cleaned it up with a few zip ties and I was done. cost was prob around $30. Parts are only like $10 but it was $10 shipping. then hose and camps was around $5.

Its good insurance since my last truck I filled the tranny and diff with water a few times lol

As you can see the hole clamp keeps the hose from sliding back through the rubber. No other modifications are needed for that

 

[CaliMobber]

So my smittybuilt 2.5 gal tank and pressure relay arrived last week. Ive been super busy with finals for school but I should get eveything finished up soon. Its a little harder than I though it would be finding the proper fittings needed for the install. I will be tapping out my MV-50 pump for 1/4" fitting as I cant find the proper 1/8" to 1/4" adapter needed.

 

[CaliMobber]

Its been a minute since ive updated this post, but I Installed a solar panel a few days back to help the batteries with the fridge since it lives in the vehicle. I found that solar panels have really came down in the last few years and ebay has tons of panels for under $2 a watt. I bought a 30w panel and got it all wired up. I just ran the wire back to the rear cigarette plug for the fridge since It is a 6gauge wire.

 

[CaliMobber]

I will be most likely buying another one and mounting it right next to it just to have more power on cloudy days.

 

[CaliMobber]

I have also purchased a wilson cellphone booster. You can see the antenna in the solar picture. The wire run into the car from the brake light wiring boot and runs under the headliner and down the back seat pillar. I just glued the Amp under the carpet as seen in the picture. As of now it still plugs into cigarette plug but I will be hard wiring it with a switch to turn on and off as needed. the phone cradle just sits next to my seat and I use it when needed.

 

[CaliMobber]

Well its been a while I guess I better give yall an update. continuing with the way my project has been going im still doing mods for fancier living in the back country vs off road capabilities.

In no real order Ill just start talking.

So my square wave inver died and I really wanted a heated blanket for camping and they can not run on modified sine wave so I decided to buy a sine wave inverter. I ened up getting this one

http://www.amazon.com/Xantrex-806-1...id=1419652819&sr=8-4&keywords=1000w+sine+wave


So far its great, I can run my heated blanket fine. Its nice having the car more like a bed with blankets and not tied up in a mummy sleeping bag. Sorry no pictures of it installed buts its in the same place as the other inverter so you can revert back to the old post.



So lets talk solar. I always want more. I installed another 30w panel on the roof, still using the same morning star controller.




So Im still not satisfied with my solar since its normally hot and im adding more drinks to the fridge over camping trips. Add my heated blanket use and solar cannot keep up So instead of conserve I will add more solar! haha. I ordered a 85w panel that will replace the 60w now. But sadly it arrived cracked!



Im in the process of returning it and Ill try again. At $125 shipped for the 85w panel it not bad at all.

 

[CaliMobber]

Ok time for shade. I wanted a way for shade but cant handle the super high prices for most premade systems. Yes they look nice and maybe some day ill get one but for now I just wanted a cheap simple option. I bought a camo tarp from walmart for like $15 and some bungie cords. I got 2 poles for either a tent or shade setup idk but they seem to work great.

<

 

[CaliMobber]

Always trying to improve communications. My magnet mount antenna for the cellphone booster works great but it keeps sliding around from car washes and random stuff scratching up my roof. Also I got a few pretty nice NMO antenna's so I figured it was time to install the nmo and cut into the ROOF! Im not happy with the signal as it actually a little worse then my magnet antenna. I think it has to do with the cheap cable my nmo came with so ill be upgrading to nice LMR400 and hope to see better improvements.

 

[CaliMobber]

what next...... OK lets talk Lights!!!! we all know china has been pumping out LED light bars for dirt cheap and I had to bite. Def didnt have the money for $400 on one but I can easily do $150 for 2!! haha

My plan was to set back the light bar on the roof to cast a shadow over the hood since I hate the super bright hood reflections most people have from the light bar being just above the windshield.

Also I wanted one on the bumper to give those whoops more depth when driving at night. It turned out amazing. The roof light is perfect color and the bumper is a little green( cheap LED problem) but its not bad. The light output is SOOOO amazing and I recommend this for anyone, its seriously like driving in day light.

both Light bars are on separate switches so they can be controlled separately.

The top bar is 32" and cost $95 shipped on ebay --- This bar leaked water in a big rain and i had to remove the sides to dry it out. I have since replaced the bolts and added silicone

the bumper is 24" and was $57 shipped on ebay

 

[CaliMobber]

Now more POWER!!! We all know about the cs144 alternator mod-- Is you dont just seach google and there is a ton of write ups so Ill jsut stick to the basics.

I bought mine off amazon open boxed item. $60 shipped ( best price I found by far)

ACDelco 335-1048 Professional Alternator

I found the adaptor on ebay for like $18 shipped, This allowed me to plug the stock alternator plug into the alternator with out splicing or cutting wires.

I also needed 3 3/8 washers so fill the extra room this alternator had, you can see them in the pictures.

It was a pretty straight forward mod, the bottom bracket gave me a little trouble since you need to move it down for it it clear then pull it back up and bolt it up. I was just able to push it down with force and pull it back up hard but not to bad.

This goes from 80amp stock to 140amps and 100amps at idle( ill be testing this tomorrow since I needed to drain the battery down a good amount to push that much amps)









The end large black wire you see is part of my grounding mods

 

[CaliMobber]

So thats it for now i think.... i also added a 12" alpine sub in the back and a new headunit but thats not very exciting.

Feel free to ask any questions.

 

[austintaco]

I didn't realize how inexpensive the LED bars had become. I might have to look into one or two. How different are the readings on your scan gauge and on the other battery gauge?

 

[CaliMobber]

Finally got my 85w panel installed and my new morning star sunsavor. All in all im pretty stoked how it turned out, I copied an idea I saw on here by revmoving the rear storage cubby giving it way more room. I moved all the electronics to that spot and put a blue sea fuse box for everything.

I left made the wiring an extra 10ft so I can pull the panel off and lay against the car for direct sun when camping.