nevermore1701

I have a fairly short list of things I'd like to add to my 4Runner, but my weekly budget for fun stuff is quite small. I can do one of these a week:

A. Downey idler arm brace and IFS truss.
B. Build snorkel.
C. Replace CD player/radio (my radio works, but the CD player does not, and I'd like to be able to plug my iPhone into the speakers).
D. Replace speakers (they work, but crackle if I play them loud enough to hear with the windows down).
E. Get my Aisin hubs rebuilt.

What order would you do them in?

yoterr

well if you offroad alot and would rather do that ide go E,A,B,D,C and if you drive alot more on road ide go D,C,E,A,B

abecedarian

lol...
I'd go D, C, A, B, E
Justification:
D: Good speakers first! Good speakers ready for the radio.
C: Good speakers? Need a good radio!
A: Idler / truss.... well, now it sounds good so you have to go out and show it off, but don't want it to break.
B: Snorkle... a rig with a snorkle suggests you mean business.
E: They are Aisin hubs- not Warn (sounds suspiciously similar to "worn").

nevermore1701

About the Aisins, they'll not be getting put on until they've been rebuilt. They're sitting forlornly in a box in the back seat

abecedarian

okay, so D, C, E, A then B.
speakers, radio, hubs, idler/truss, snorkle.

scuba

Have fun buying the Downey stuff.. They're deff out of business

abecedarian

http://www.tundrasolutions.com/forum.../?nojs=1#links

D, C, E, B then prAy.

toyNG

There are a bunch of mods I can think of that would be more useful than a snorkel. Such as... a locker, sliders, bumper, or new tires.

From my experience, 90% of people with snorkels have no need for them. just my two cents

OutlawMike

But, when I cruise the mall, all of the cute girls look at my rig and are in awe of my big snorkel....

The hubs are easy to rebuild, you can do them yourself in one night in front of the TV. Unless you have a better half, then, no way will they let you rebuild the hubs on the coffee table.

If you drive it a lot, but not a lot offroad, I would do:


D
C
E
A (look for used stuff, Downey is no more)
Never do the snorkel, unless you know girls who like big snorkels.

NYChopshop

I say go for a set of MB Quart PVI-210 4" component speakers for the front, if your stock rear amplifier is still working move on to a new head unit. I suggest you get one with a flash drive accepting USB jack so you can play music offroad with zero moving parts required except the speakers themselves. You won't have to worry about more broken CD players in the future that way. Then replace the rear speakers with more components if the sound isnt good enough for you - with whichever make you happy.

As far as the IFS brace goes, I like Sonoran Steel's much better because it looks like it could take more real world pounding than any of the others I've seen out there. It also bolts in instead of welding in so you can remove it if you need to do so later. I don't think its totally necessary until you really start thrashing on or jumping your truck, but it couldn't hurt and its a great place to mount part of a custom skidplate in the future.

Fix them hubs! Chop chop! If you can do it yourself, do it. In fact, I suggest you do this first if they arent functioning. Wabfab does aisin hub referbs too if you wish. Give a look for his stuff.

Downey may be closed, but as far as I can tell NWOR still sells their brace. Most people just choose to buy a new warrantied idler arm and if they bust it, swap it out under warranty. If you really want to go hardcore, Total Chaos makes a really strong albeit really pricey idler arm.

Snorkel could not be necessary, true, but it's one of those mods where if you do it smart, its all about craftiness, care, and thought instead of expensive parts. A locker may give you the biggest bang for the buck, but that's still a lotta bucks. If you don't offroad much, but feel you want a snorkel, be smart and build it yourself (or with some help from your friendly neighborhood muffler shop for a better result, do some searching on the matter). Take your time to do it right. Measure 50x and cut once.

On my personal list for my 4runner is a trail gear rear axle housing that will accept a newer style OEM Toyota electric locker and a matching rear leaf spring type suspension. Total Chaos front suspension, gas tank relocation, and a holy mess of armor. Where I sit now, my stereo is fixed, my idler arm is good, I went the cold air intake route (see build thread in signature) for now, and I'm eyeing that same IFS brace along with their front bumper filler plate so I can remove my lower bumper valance without showing all that ugly inderneath

nevermore1701

Did not know that about Downey. Crap. Their brace looks good enough, at half the price of the very nice Sonoran Steel version.

I managed to sell my old set of tires for a little cash, which will enable me to get both the CD/MP3/radio and speakers at the same time.

Maybe I'll get some Hella 500s instead of the idler arm and brace

NYChopshop

Good call on the lights over idler arm brace! Might I suggest kenwood excelon for the head unit, whatever budget and preferences require. I have recently started liking them a lot. I've had Alpines, Pioneers, JVCs and a whole list of junkier head units (that my vehicles typically came with installed) and I must say that the kenwood excelon deck I wound up with is great so far. You could also start considering the armoring requirements and pick up a high lift jack with all the accessories (its much cheaper than a winch, and without, you'll have jack nadda). Make sure whatever you do decide on, your list is ordered in consideration of what you actually do with your truck. Daily driver? do the road comfort, reliability and safety stuff first. Off road beater for weekends only? armor, lift, locker and so on.

sh0kk86

totalchaos idler arm

nevermore1701

It is my DD, so all the important mechanical stuff got done before I started adding toys. CV shafts, leak fixes, fluids, etc. Now that I'm done with that, I got some nice tires on her, and am going from there. I actually picked out a Kenwood head and speakers today, not sure what model. I wanted a head with a USB input for my iPhone though. Seems very decent.

Armor will honestly come last for me, as it is expensive, some of it needs to be welded on (and I don't know anyone who has a welder, so that will cost me), and rocks are honestly the thing I'm least likely to encounter while wheeling. Mud and sand is much more likely. I'd LOVE a locker, but have no idea how to put one in, plus they're expensive and I don't know of any good offroad shops in the area.

nevermore1701

$370?

Downey brace for $50 seems like a worthwhile investment. That.... No.

NYChopshop

total chaos idler arms are super crazy heavy duty. If you're not jumping your truck at the moment or lifting it without correcting steering issues for some reason, you can just get stockers.

You will not be able to control an iphone through any USB connection I've ever heard of, the best you can do is use the 1/8" stereo input jack (headphone plug) and get a male to male cable to run between the two. I wouldnt waste my time with a FM transmitter either, I've never had a good experience with one anywhere within an hours drive of civilization.

The nice thing about our toyotas is that our axle differentials come in a third member, not loaded into the axle like on most other axle housings. This lets you take a fully set up set of gears all the way from the axle shaft inputs to the flange for the driveshaft, all in one greasy heavy metal chunk. Many people get a third member and have a locker installed only to get larger tires in the future and decide to regear. Most of the time, people will have a new third member set up with a better type of locker (electric or air actuated selectable lockers like the TRD or ARB ones) and have the old limited slip or spool rear end available. From what I can see, you have stock tires in size. If you plan on going up in tire size, you can just do a search for the corresponding gear ratio and look for a set up third member with that particular gearing. Do a bunch of searching on yotatech here for information about locker installing so you can see how truly easy it is with the third member style axle housing.

nevermore1701

Got me a nice little Sony head today, came with a pair of 6 1/2" speakers. Took some work to get them up front in place of the little 4" stock set, but they're quite an improvement.

Also, the iPhone does NOT work with the USB input, but I happen to have an extra Sony MP3 player laying around that works great.

Very happy. Next I think I'll do some Hella 500FFs, then get the damn hubs fixed up.

NYChopshop

lets see some pics of that head unit and them speakers! Are you going to be drilling holes in your stock bumper to mount the lights or are you getting either a winch bumper or light bar? I got the procomp light bar. I like it a lot, but I'm not confused into believing it will provide me with any sort of real protection. pics pics pics!

nevermore1701

I'll try to get some pics. The speakers.... Well, they ain't pretty. The drivers side I just cut out the grate thing that the stock speaker was behind, and stuffed as much of the new speaker in there as I could. The passenger side didn't have room to do the same thing and still be able to open the glove box, so... I mounted the speaker in the glove box

Like I said, not pretty, but it works, and sounds a HELL of a lot better! New Sony 6 1/4" speakers > 15 year old stock 4" speakers


As for the Hellas, I'll be mounting them directly to the stock bumper, for now. A long ways down the road I'll move them to an Addicted bumper, when I get it. Pics of that up when I get them on Thursday or Friday.

nevermore1701

Ok, a couple of quick pics.
I ended up with this Sony set because I got a GREAT deal on it (last year's model). Head with USB in and 2 6 1/2" speakers for under $100 OTD, brand new. I was looking at $130 for a Panasonic or Kenwood head with USB in, plus $50 to $70 for 4" speakers, plus tax.

The thing plugged into the USB input running down into the pocket is my little Sony Walkman MP3 player, works GREAT with that head.

Speaking of the pocket, that was WELL worth the $10 or whatever I paid for it. Turns a gaping hole in the console into useable space.

And yes, the speakers are in straight, the angle makes them look a little tilted. Tools used in install: Philips head screwdriver and large pocket knife.


Head, kind of hard to see much with all the glare:



Passenger speaker in glove box (pretty clean install actually, except for the bit at about 2 o'clock where I took out a bit too much material):



Driver side speaker, not flush like the passenger side one, but good enough for me:



Also found a little mud puddle on the way home from work. It was fairly small, but it brought a smile to my face and knocked some of the new off the 33s

Also, the Duplicolor self-etching primer and Rustoleum satin black still looks great after a week and a half, 100*+ temps, a few days driving at highway speeds in heavy rain, and about 250 miles total.