I've been pretty occupied by the car... I've had to spend a lot of time fixing/replacing things. I'm still dealing with issues. (Rear diff leak issues, and it keeps eating fuel pumps. I think I need to flush out the gas tank... it must be rusted inside.)


My friends are planning a wheeling trip out to Hidden Falls in almost exactly one month, so I've got to turn some attention back on the 4Runner!

I want to get the sliders (finally!) installed.

I was also just looking under it, and it looks like I need to address my power steering leak. I think the pump is leaking, but I'm not sure. I AM sure that the driver's side frame rail is pretty soaked in fluid. I'll probably take a look and decide to just keep topping it off, but I should at least take a look.


I'm considering adding a Budbuilt skid plate to the front. On my last trip out I nailed a rock pretty hard with my front cross member. It put a decent dent in the cross member. Looking at how my Addicted Bumper is mounted, I think I can just sandwich the skid plate between the frame and the bumper, right? It mounts up to the same holes. Though, I think that would put the bumper at an angle. Maybe I can get some plate steel to make a spacer for the upper bumper mounts.

Of course, that's if I'm sure I'm not going to SAS any time soon. I'm pretty sure I won't...

This trip to HF next month will be with a group of 1-ton trucks. It will be interesting.

 

Hey buddy, keep killing it... & I hope you kill it on the trails 2 on this coming trip! in my humble opinion? Always best 2 address the most attention toward armor, even before clearance mods, etcetera. As far as I know, on the recent trip to Big Bear with Mr & Mrs Andrew and Richard,... We all hit the sliders hard on several occasions... On 35 inch tires..... With 4 inch lifts... Obviously some of the rocks and so forth might be a little more aggressive there, and maybe, at Hidden Falls, you can take off on a byroute and so forth... But one nasty smack without sliders and your entire door frame/chassis could cave in..... Plus, especially regarding sliders with a kick out, they are very helpful as a tool to get around rocks and get help spinning you around in the right direction.....

I think its a good plan to focus on your sliders and crossmember next. I love your rig, C! Once again,... I am sorry about the car. Glad you're alright though. Have fun on that trip homie!

 

Hey Mark, thanks for the feedback. The sliders are top priority, for sure. They've been sitting in my garage rusting away for too long.

 

I'll be doing an oil change (I'm way over do) and I also ordered some Redline Shockproof gear oil for the rear diff. I'm hoping it will help the Spartan locker work a bit smoother. I'm leaving the front diff alone since it sees so little use.

 

No problem buddy!... And as to the quote above, is that sucker poppin like a maniac? Its funny, in town at standard 74 or so degree temperatures, I seem to never have any issues... Very rarely. When I get up on the trails at 8,000 feet elevation and around 40 degrees Fahrenheit temperature... Holy crap! Lol. Thanks for popping like a high school band snare drummer! Hehe. I'm not exactly sure which route I'm going to go but eventually I will grab an ARB for the rear, most likely. I don't use the front enough to worry about it, and it hardly ever makes noise. It sees about 30 miles of use every trip.... I already have onboard air so I figured that's probably the most logical way to go. I do like the e locker, however, so its still up in the air... As long as its not causing any damage I guess I don't really care, but what I do care about is the high and freaking tires that I have on here... They just chew up tires dude....

I gotta say though, the Spartans work! Go on any trip with me and I'll show you, haha. Obviously you know for yourself, what I'm talking about really pushing it over free foot rocks and hard traversing angles front and rear, etcetera. But, the funny thing is that it doesn't seem to pop or go crazy like that until I'm just going around the corner on the trail, hahaha. Sometimes just heading up the hill. For the price? Good grief do I feel it's a good deal! Solid product man... Just not something at this point that I would recommend people who are going to daily drive it for hundreds of miles a week. If they do, I just tell them to keep it really slow around the turns but always on the gas... And, try not to spool up the drive train and then let out the clutch, or take for ever letting out the clutch... But in all honesty? It seems to just do it whenever the freaking heck it wants! Haha.

 

Mine is pretty sporadic too. My problem is I'll be trying to turn sharp in to a parking spot, and I can feel that it's all loaded up. The truck will be stuck from everything being bound up, then it sounds like a cannon going off! The whole truck will rock since the tension is let out of the rear axle. It will also make backing up while turning tricky pretty often. People riding with me usually ask, "Was that an okay sound?" as they're looking behind us for spare parts on the road.

Driving downtown the lanes get pretty tight. Even driving straight, modulating the gas will cause the locker to snap in and out, and it will lurch the truck sideways.

I didn't measure everything when I installed it, so maybe things are just a bit out of the operation tolerances for me. I'm hoping the Redline will just make things a bit slippier than the cheap dino oil I've got in there now.

I totally agree, for the money the Spartans are an AMAZING deal. On the trail I'm constantly leaving people slack-jawed even with my IFS and 32" tires. I wouldn't mind an ARB, for sure, but since I don't have an air system on board I think I'll keep my eyes open for a deal on an e-locker unit. It WOULD be nice to be able to switch to open on loose off-camber trail sections. Having the wheels locked up can cause some pretty scary sideways sliding.

I do very little driving, though (around 10 miles a day) so I can put up with the quirks of the Spartan.

 

I think it was around March I said something like, "I'm going to get these sliders on as soon as possible!"

I'm happy to say, I've finally made some progress.

Tonight my buddy Jeff helped me out. We got the sliders positioned, then cut and adjusted the mounting tubes (took forever) and got everything tack welded together. Jeff's going to finish the fully welding everything together, then I'll hit it with paint, and we'll get the plates welded to the frame.

Even after just mocking up the sliders, the truck already looks strange/naked to me without them.

 

Woot! Nice job man! Can't wait for the video where your crack on those suckers a couple times and then put your thumb out the window, and then ask, "Got Sliders?" .... Hehe.....

Good to hear from ya yesterday, as always. Take care!

 

nice sliders!

4xinnovations, trail gear????

 

Sliders look great man!

 

Yeah, 4x Innovations. Thanks, guys!

 

I've been running conventional gear oil (75W90 I'm pretty sure) in my diffs with Spartan lockers. I've had a lot of trouble with the rear locker binding up and being a pain on the road. A few days ago I drained the rear diff and put in Redline Lightweight (75W90) Shockproof synthetic gear oil. I've only driven it a couple times so far, but the difference seems to be night and day! The clicking is much quieter and more consistent, and I haven't had a single explosion from the locker binding up and releasing yet. HIGHLY recommended, and well worth the cost.

 

A little more slider progress.

I decided to try some VHT Rollbar paint this time. So far I'm a huge fan. It feels light and dry as it sprays out of the can, and is extremely forgiving during painting. I've been using Rustoleum enamel so far, and compared to the VHT, it feels like it sprays out very fast and hard.

The sliders had been sitting in my garage for months, so I tried out some rust treatment. I'm very happy with the results from that, too. The package claims that it bonds with the metal and helps paint adhere.

Rust.


Rust treatment.


After rust treatment.


First coat of paint, not fully covered yet.


Photos from this morning after a few coats and time to dry.

 

Woot woot. Nice paint job. Soon they'll be on your rig.

 

Suweeeet. Sliders, C-man! Nice job!

 

We got the sliders done yesterday! (During what will likely be the coldest day in Ausitn for the winter.)

I'm very happy with them. I still need to get a bit more paint on the underside of the sliders, as well as where the legs meet the frame. Jeff did a fantastic job on the welding. These things aren't going to budge, from the looks of it.














Now, the pulsation damper at the end of the fuel rail is losing a lot of gasoline. I've already got what should be the right bolt to delete it... I'm hoping I can get that sorted before Friday.

 

Nice sliders. Like Mark said we all took some good shots in the rocks. I have dented rockers from the PO not putting any on.

 

Thanks! Yeah, You can see in the photo from the bottom I've got a bit of a dent I picked up on a previous trip. I didn't notice it until we started mocking up the slider placement, so I have no clue when it happened.

 

Sweet job. Now you'll be safe from the nasty spots on the offroad trials. My 4xInnovations sliders took some really bad hits on our last trip to Big Bear. And I and definitely happy they did their job.

Its nice to have a friend who knows how to weld. I know I scored with my pops. Lol

 

Hellzzzz yeah! Nice job, Chris!