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My 4runner came with a "naked roof" so I decided to install a rack for some more gear storage. I scored a factory rack of a 4runner that was the same year as mine for pretty cheap, so I decided to use that to hold my yakima load warrior basket in place.
I did quite a bit of research on the best way to do this, and the rubber nut seemed to be the most widely approved method. The ones I picked up were 1/4 - 20 off eBay for about $10.
The first thing that I did was lay out the rails and measure everything to make sure it was straight. Oddly enough the cross bars made the rails line up right in the rain divets, so I cut them down and made it look right.
Next I marked and center punched where the wholes were going to be.
Drilling a 1/2" hole in the roof is a little unnerving, but silicon fixes this stuff easy enough. After drilling a series of holes up to 1/2" the rubber nut slides in pretty easy.
Using an impact driver to snug up the rubber nuts was a great tip, the rails went on with no problems.
Lining everything up is pretty simple, it's all bolt on from here.
The rack is secured pretty good. I pulled and yanked on it from every angle, it didn't move at all. Since I won't ever put anything but sleeping gear and whatnot up there, I think it'll be ok for what I have planned.
The 4runner is still holding up well. I don't have much in the way of updates just yet, but I will soon. I have a pile of parts waiting for me to find some time, and hopefully I'll get to it soon. I found a w56 tranny and gear driven transfer case to swap in. I also picked up a bud built cross member, a 4.7 gear set, and a twin stick kit. Now all I need is some time.
I have the tranny, tcase with gears, and crossmember all ready to go but I haven't got to it yet. I just moved into a new house with a shop and have been spending money on that lately. Hopefully I'll have it all set up soon so I can get some work done. I also have a bunch of parts to make a spare tire carrier for the bumper ad I hope to start on that soon too.
The LED light bar has actually held up really well. It's plenty bright and hasn't had any issues with leaking in water. I'd buy another one for sure.
Great stuff you've done to this 4Runner. Would you mind posting more info on which headlight harness you bought? Might be interested in grabbing one of those. Also I love the look of that rustoleum hammered paint on your valve cover, I might do the same to mine.
The valve cover was painted by 22r performance, which is who rebuilt the motor. Im not sure exactly which paint they even used. I'd take a picture for you, but my engine compartment is thrashed from a little mud wheeling trip yesterday. After I hose it down I'll snap one for you.
Thank you for the harness information, looks like decent quality and hard to be the price. It's under $20 shipped. I saw your valve cover in one of the earlier pics, looked very nice.
I have the tranny, tcase with gears, and crossmember all ready to go but I haven't got to it yet. I just moved into a new house with a shop and have been spending money on that lately. Hopefully I'll have it all set up soon so I can get some work done. I also have a bunch of parts to make a spare tire carrier for the bumper ad I hope to start on that soon too.
The LED light bar has actually held up really well. It's plenty bright and hasn't had any issues with leaking in water. I'd buy another one for sure.
Good stuff I'll have to pick up one of those after I get my running finally..... Takes me forever.
[QUOTE=atlastrekker;52226181]I had typical rear spring sag so I bought some OME 2900 medium duty coils and bilstein shock
It lifted the back quite a bit, about 4", which is probably 2" over stock. I still need to order a panhard drop bracket, my wheels are a little off. It sure does look better.
First things first this is a solid looking and so far really well put together built not bought rig .!!!
And second do you wish you'd gone with stiffer coils vs medium ?
I'm asking because it's in my future as well and are you happy with the shocks?
The shocks and springs have all held up great. I don't load up a whole lot of weight ever so I wouldn't want the stiffer springs personally. I would say that in most cases the medium duty springs are fine, since they are still a little stiffer than stock.
The shocks are pretty good too, though I don't have much to compare them to. The original ones they replaced were blown and I haven't spent too much time in 4runners set up similarly.
@atlastrekker
I realize I may seem on you're nuts here. But even down to the back window relocation, and the axe mounted in the back I pretty much have had some of those same ideas and now that I've seen yours I'm going to just plagiarize your build hahah
And the funny thing is I paint and spray Gatorhyde "linex" for a living and plan on spraying all or the lower half of my runner .
As Far as the recommendation on the springs. Do you think they will be prone to "sag" as the factory ones have?
I'm in the process of building a spare tire carrier on a swing out off of the rear Trail Gear bumper. My plan is to keep it fairly light and simple. I would like to have a spare tire, a hi-lift jack, and a rack for a couple gas cans when I'm done. So far, I only have the tire part welded up, but I'll add pictures as I go.
That's true, but the next phase of the build will include a way to strengthen the bumper attachments to the frame. I'm going to run some metal in from the forward edge of the bumper at least. Once I started working on this I realized how weak the Trail Gear mounts are, so I'll do some thing to fix that. The hinge is a 4xInnovations double shear and the latch is a De Sta Co version, just for the record.
I'm also thinking about adding a second gas tank in where the spare used to live, if I can do that I might forget about the jerry can mounts or just make a cooler mount instead.
I haven't done too much lately, just the work on the spare tire carrier and I did do the ADD delete on the front axle. I have a w56 tranny and a gear driven transfer case with 4.7 gears and twin sticks ready to go in, but i've been too busy at work to get it done.
I don't have much to update at this time, but I'm collecting parts and will be doing some work soon. She's been holding up well, the only issue I have had was a broken idler arm while crawling up a pretty good hill climb.
I'm interested to see what you come up with for the tire carrier. That is on my list of things to do but I also have the weak TG bumper... I wish I could drop the money on a 4x4Labs!
05-01-2015, 07:05 PM
