Well I sold some stuff. Which means I should be able to order all my suspension bits ,OME 2.25 rear springs OME-CS010R with new bushings and new U bolts, Front BJ spacers and accompannying pieces. And I think I'm gonna sneak a new cam into the budget this month as well. Im thinking the Engnbldr 261. Lots of folks reccomended it and its extemely affordable.

Thats all for now. Looking into some tires and gears next. Locker in the rear is going to be a ways down the road. Any suggestions for tires? I have Goodyear Wrangler Duratracs now, I like them alot. But I like the Cooper STT's and even the BFG ATs as well. Dunno yet. Im thinking 32's...maybe 33's.

 

Word of advice on tires . If your gonna look at used it'll be hard to find a decent set at a good $$ if your running at 15" wheel. Took me a year to find 1-31x10.5r15. I'm looking at going to a 17". Guys at big o told me that 15" tires are getting rarer now that the all trucks/SUV run 16" stock. They said 17" tires are easier to get . Set of 285/70r17 a/t for like $160 to $200 mounted and balanced. Depending on brand and tread. Just food for thought

 

I'll keep that in mind. Im not going to get used tires, I only buy new. I don't trust what other people have done to something so vital to a vehicles performance. All the tires Im looking at Ive found in 15" and the size I want. Maybe next summer I'll upgrade to 16's.

 

So I am an avid flyfisher. Its my jam, love it. I took a nice trip to Leadville last sunday to fish the Arkansas river. The 4runner ran great, even up the pass between Copper Mtn and Leadville, which tops out at 11,xxx ft! After that trip I hit my 500 mile mark on the new engine and finally got to dump the break in oil and put in some regular oil. FIRST OIL CHANGE!! Woohoo! Im still super pumped on succesfully putting that engine in.



Anyway, Im ordering my cam, decided to go with the Engnbldr 261C. Also Im going to order a few suspension pieces, prolly my bj spacers and diff drop kit. Next will be the rear OME springs and supporting pieces, bushings, ubolts etc.

 

I ordered my Engnbldr 261c cam today! You just can't beat $120! Also RAD4Runner is selling my some BJ spacers and diff drop kit for a very reasonable price! And hopefully next week I'll have enough to order up my rear OME springs along with the bushing and ubolts, maybe shackles as well.

So my lift is coming along quicker than I anticipated which means my next step in my build wil;l come sooner as well. Im thinking gears next. 4.88's is what I want to go with. We'll see.

 

I would recommend passing on the diff drop.

It's a plow, adds more leverage to break stuff and messes with your CV angles helping you break them more I imagine.


Having a skid plate you can score off stock Yota at the wrecker is better than that bit of lift. Loads of dents in mine from rocks that didn't smash into my IFS cross member and diff. It also helps in mud.

 

I thought it was needed (not entirely necesarry) to correct the cv angle. Either way I got one. If I choose not to use it oh well. Atleast if I do need it I'll have it on hand.

And I already have one of those skids on my runner, I love it. Painted it highlighter yellow haha, sticks out like a sore thumb!

 

The diff drop will force you to get a custom plate I'm pretty sure.

Mine is also painted bright yellow. Now its yellow with red dirt, oil, dents and rust.



Stuck out like a sore thumb, the Australian version of that saying is it sticks out like dogs balls........

They have some good ones down there. A personal favorite would be to say (about an ugly woman) "she has a face like a smashed crab".


gold

 

Ahh I see how that would work to correct a torsion bar crank lift. Another not so good idea.


If you like the IFS at some point maybe a Blazeland kit might work. I have had a lot of fun with mine. I'm going to miss it. Especially on logging roads.

 

I fabricated my own diff drop, but it still may be a good idea to use it. It won't make your diff hang below the crossmember or anything, it'll pivot the rear of the diff down is all. If you have aftermarket(autozone/O'reilly/etc) cv axles you'll probably get binding at full droop after the bj spacer install without the diff drop, but higher quality and OEM cv's don't tend to have as much problems with the angles, I've heard.

 

I had 1.5" BJ spacers and no diff drop. Worked fine and I was able to retain factory skid plate and not add more leverage to break stuff on impact with trail objects. I never bought OEM CV's either. Napa CV's took me a long way. I've never even broken a CV and I wheel the piss out of my 4Runner. PErhaps if I had a front locker I may have.

The gains are really so minor that I wish I had saved money and just went either straight to a LT or SAS. Each of those little parts is a good dent in buying a BLazeland kit and that thing will help get you places. I wouldn't know what I know if I did that though so still worth doing.

Do anything you want though. It's your rig and money. It's fun to see what will work for you and your vehicles evolution to whatever it is you'll end up with. Tinkering is all part of the fun in this sport/hobby/obsession etc.

 

Napa is a little bit higher quality(at least here, compared to Autozone and O'Reilly's), and I had some brand new ones(not rebuilds) made by EMPI, however with bj spacers and shocks that allowed more droop I still did have a bit of binding. For information sake, you can still use the factory skidplate with a diff drop.

I am with Red, kinda wish I hadn't spent the money on my OME/BJ spacer lift and had just gone straight to SAS, but given the same circumstances I've had over the years of owning my Runner, I'd probably do the same steps in building it that I did. I did probably learn more about wheeling with the different steps in capabilities that my rig has had, but also as Red said, it's your truck man!

 

Oh sweet did not know you could keep the skid plate. I never seem to see people run that mod and have a skid plate. So I sorta sneer at the massive mud plow.


Before I scrounged my plate I was stopped cold a few times hitting stuff. Surprise rapid deceleration in a mud hole sucks.

 

I hear what both of you are saying. And my end goal is a LT kit, probably a Blazeland one too. But Im just doing these mods now so I can have some fun with my rig all summer. Im going to start saving for the LT kit and most likely order/install during next winter.

Also Im a rookie in the 4 wheeling world. I come from Subarus and rally. This is my first 4x4 that I plan on wheeling. So this is all new territory and I want to learn how to wheel my rig properly before I really start modding it. You know, get to a point where I "need" to upgrade because i actually understand the necessity of it on the trail. Im not just gonna go straight to a certain expensive mod because I read it somewhere on the web. I plan on finishing this lift and pushing my rig to its fullest potential before I modify it any further. That way i can understand what needs to be improved and why.

I plan on ordering gears but those most likely won't go on until late fall or even winter when I finally buy some new, bigger tires.

 

Rampart,

I hear you man. Every time I "finish" modifying a vehicle I say that I wish I'd gone straight to Z instead of X-Y-Z, but it never fails that I mod in progression on the next vehicle. Probably for the same reasons as you, but subconsciously.

Good build so far!

 

That is a very sensible approach! BJ spacers and Diff drop parts are in the mail. Will be following your build and glad to help with electrical stuff.

Speaking of CV joints, I've heard of possibility to modify the stock CV joint so it works smoothly during articulation- something about shaving material off for clearance, then using a CV boot from a different vehicle to match the new range of travel.

 

Small update.

Recieved my front lift components from Rad4runner. Im still waiting to order my rear lift stuff. Just need to wait a few paychecks to save up some money.

Also I got my Engnbldr 261c cam and I already installed it. Bummer is I installed it now I have developed an oil leak. I think its the headgasket. Its leaking from the driver side behind the headers between cylinders 3 & 4. Im pretty upset about it, this being a new engine, just hit 700 miles and now I may have to already do a headgasket. It leaks quite a bit of oil and it drips right onto the headers so it smokes and smells like burning oil. I haven't even gotten to drive it with the new cam cause Im worried about running it and losing too much oil and ruining my new engine.

Thats it for now. I'll let you guys know when I figure out this oil leak situation.

 

Oh no! I hope you'll solve it with not much trouble. Thanks for the update.

 

Good news! Fixed the oil leak. I just took the valve cover off and re-torqued all the head bolts and it solved the problem. Not sure why that helped because none of them seemed to be loose at all, but it fixed the problem.

Gotta work a baseball tournament tomorrow so I'll be able to put a few miles on it there and back to see if it develops the problem again or if its fixed for good.

Also I get to fish tomorrow after work. Anyone else love fishing or what?

Next up is still my rear OME spring stuffs. Still won't be for a week or two but its in the process.

 

itty bitty update. Ordered the bushing and new Ubolts for my OME rear springs. Still need to order the actual springs... And shackles. Anyone know what size shackles I should go with? Im going to use the OME CS010R Springs, they are the 2.25" lift. Im kind of low on money these days but its coming together slowly, thats way it goes for young broke kids haha.

Also I've been messing with google earth alot trying to locate some high alpine lakes in my area, which I'm learning there are ALOT! If anyone wants to go on some weekend fishing excursions in the Summit County area let me know. Alot of places are still pretty snowed in but Im sure with two of us we could make it pretty far.