Fbksurferjoe's new 5th gen 4Runner build thread

[fbksurferjoe]

Well I took a long vacation from 4wheeling. I retired my 96 taco due to having a daughter and getting married. Ie no room for a car seat. Wife hated seeing the 2 tone off-road vehicle in the front yard so I gave it to my parents for their ranch. Have been driving a sedan for the last few years...... . Wife and I decided to purchase a 4Runner to get back into it. Now I own a 14 sr5 4x4 4Runner and love it! They have come a long way.

 

[fbksurferjoe]

It's a month old and already have 255 75r17 st maxx. Ordered 2884 ome and 2895e springs which gets me to where I require the help of my old friends expeditionportal. I have been reading and searching until my eyes have gone crossed for the last 2 weeks. I was initially going to do a full ome setup however I have read some bad reviews on the nitro charger sports saying they ride rough. Specifically the 90010 Even with weight which I don't have. This is a bone stock 4Runner. I have searched and searched and can't seem to find if the old n140s struts work on the 5th gens? I want a level rig I am not looking to do a full blown icon kit..... Yet.

Here are my thoughts after much research

1. Run stock struts until they blow with ome springs....not ideal but there are a few people that say it rides fine.

2. Run 5100s set at 0 with ome springs. Many people have said they ride nice, however the bilsteins are valved for progressive springs i.e.. Not ome.

3. Run ome and find out for myself potentially throwing money away when I don't like them.

Input would be appreciated, maybe someone was in my same situation.

Mods in the future will be
Roof rack stolen off Tacoma
Gobi ladder
Dual battery
Led light

Thanks!!

 

[Jorge3098]

Congratulations on your new 4Runner!

How are you liking the 255/75r17 size? That's the size I'm looking for as well as I don't want to go 285/70r17 (33"). Do you have a picture of your rig?

I traded my 2014 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon (2 door) for a 2015 Toyota 4Runner Trail. In the end, the Jeep was great off-road, but a terrible everyday vehicle for me. Plus, I learned that I really was looking for an expedition platform vs a rock crawler. Below is a picture of the day I traded in the Jeep and picked up my 4Runner.

 

[fbksurferjoe]

Ok sorry for the delay. Jorge, I like them a lot, they are a 32 but have the tall skinny look with 0 rubbing. Road noise is non existent. I looked at the duratrac and liked the price but could not find them anywhere. I didn't want to pay the extra for the cooper's but am glad I did.

An update, just installed my lift.

Front
Ome 884 front springs
Bilstein 5100 adjustable shocks set to 0

Ome 2895e rear springs
Bilstein 5100 shocks

Install,

Pain in the *** to install fronts. A lot of linkage in the way. I used another forum members post to guide me through it and it went like he said up to removal of the old coil over. He downplayed the difficulty.
The way I was able to do it was insert the pry bar into the a arm and sit on it. Push the brake assembly to the rear of the vehicle and remove shock first followed by the spring. Insert in reverse order. Impossible to insert fully assembled coil over without removing a lot of stuff beforehand.

Ride,
It rides firmer but in a good way. I feel like it rides like it should. It corners better. No nose dive. I feel the road more but when I go over speed bumps i feel more in control and it soaks them up with no problem. I would say a 10% increase in firmness. No offroad test yet but don't forsee any problems. Pictures to follow.

 

[fbksurferjoe]

Just purchased, home from dealer.


New Tires installed


lift installed

 

[fbksurferjoe]

Dual battery and a fridge

This last weekend I was working with some guys that just got back from moab. Every one of them either swore by their refrigerators or wished they had one. So I went hunting, after looking for a few days I found a deal on a brand new Whynter that an individual had purchased to fit in his prius. Turns out a 65qt doesnt fit very well so he sold it to me. I could not be happier cools down to 28 degrees or so within 30-45 minutes and stays cold just like it should.

Due to the draw of the fridge and the future electrical mods I decided to tackle the dual battery setup. I went ahead with the assitance of a good friend, coworker and great fabricator "BajaDent." We geeked out and fabricated for most of the day and I couldnt be happier with the outcome. Pictures below.





Initial rerouting of wires we decided to mount the battery on the wheel well behind the airbox. Anyone who has a 5th gen will understand the rerouting of the factory wiring and mounts that I did here.





Mock up of battery tray






Tabs for mounting to factory holes



J hooks for holding down battery



Top plate



Painted



Milling a ************ fuse/isolator/relay plate to mount stuff to



Test Fit



Mounted



Battery tray mounted

Thanks again BajaDent!!

 

[fbksurferjoe]

Will finish up the wiring in a few days and post some pictures.

 

[BajaDent]

95% over built...
100% bad ***!

Thats the sound of me dropping the mic... Dent out!

Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk

 

[fbksurferjoe]

https://youtu.be/a16Kgh7j8zk

 

[fbksurferjoe]

Finished wiring up the dual battery isolator, circuit breaker and fuse panel

 

[fbksurferjoe]

Decided to use the factory cigarette lighter and hard solder a 10gauge wire to the aux battery for fridge power. Thinking about adding another fuse block in the back for additional 12v power addons.
Here is the 10g wire I ran to the back. I didnt see any writeups on how to do this so I will do it in case it hasnt been done. Ill post a detailed picture/ write up soon.

 

[fbksurferjoe]

So after several days of work, I finished the rear wiring. I hard soldered the second battery to the factory cigarette lighter. Added a voltage gauge and opted for a powercon connector for my refrigerator connection which required a rewire of my fridge with heavier gauge wire for less voltage drop.



I then wired up another speakon connector under the hood for my renogy 100w solar panel. It has a 4 inch length of wire that connects direct to the battery.
Here it is in action.

 

[fbksurferjoe]

Due to my OCD when it comes to electrical, i couldnt stand seeing something out of place so I painted the mount for the speakon connector and addressed the wiring that was uncovered. Additionally it turns out they make waterproof boots for speakon connectors so now I wont get water inside of it.

 

[AaronK]

Huh speakon for power connectors...never would have thought of that but it's clever

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[fbksurferjoe]

Huh speakon for power connectors...never would have thought of that but it's clever

Sent from my OnePlus One using Tapatalk.

Yeah I was looking all over for a good panel mount type connector and was using my guitar amplifier the other day. I thought they are rated for up to 1000watt amplifiers why not use them for this project. Couldn't be happier, they snap in and lock, have very low resistance and apparently have complete water proof covers for them.