Well, I had three girls in the house baking cookies so I had to get out of there for a few hours. Got all the polishing and waxing done and I was still wanting to work (sunny and warm out today). Asked one daughter if I should do it and she wanted to help so why the heck not!!!

Reasons why to do it, the famous dirty calf everyone knows about for starters. Also, due to age they really started to look like poo. And three, the plastic caps rubbed the paint and there was rust (I'll work on that issue another day).

So here's some new pics (girls will just have to learn to get in without them!)







Also, I reworked my lightforce and mounted them in the grill.


I have to say, out of all the 4Runners around here, mine truely stands out. It was funny, I had to run to Home Depot today and they were having a car show in the parking lot. On the way back out I saw people looking at my 4Runner instead of the cars in the show! LOLOL

 

Yeah I tend to take off stuff like running boards. What stands out to me other than the lighting and the all-black is the bumpers. Obviously some sort of spray-on bedliner stuff?
Nice man.

 

I started with Herculiner on the bumpers (rolled on). But it was very rough and a matte black. It was so rough that I ended up with bloody knuckles a few times just from washing my truck. So I brushed on a couple of layers of Dupli-Color bedliner to smooth it out. It worked great and it's a Gloss Black now. It looks great. Still textured but not nearly as rough.

 

What about the body paint? That isn't stock is it? And how did you black out the grille, etc.?

 

Body Paint is still stock Black. 11 years old and besides rock chips it looks new.

VHT Nightshade on the blinkers and corner lights (and third brake light).

Black headlights from ebay (Don't recommend buying them).

Grill... Remove and clean all the dirt off. Sand to rough up the chrome. Primer and paint. (samething with the trim around the fenders). I just use a good spray paint and I haven't had any issues with it.

I do have a few chips on the plactic on the rear bumper but that's because I dropped and slid a table acrossed it.

 

I thought you had four LightForce lights. How did you mount them in the grill?

 

I did have four. If you look real close you can see I filled the old holes in the bumper with painted carrage bolts. As for mounting them farther back into the grill... I stole the idea from 02Limited.

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f2/f...-grill-208137/

It looks much better now (I think) then when I had four lights on the bumper. And to tell you the truth, I never used the second pair. One pair is more then enough and this way I get more air through the grill again.

 

Thanks for sharing psraff. 4runners are nice looking to start out with but yours is exceptional. Nice work.

 

Many Thanks! Just noticed you're from Missoula. I was raised for the most part in Thompson Falls (couple of years in Kalispell before that).

 

One thing I noticed after taking off the running boards is how much of under the truck is exposed (yeah, I know stupid of being surprised that that...) But I wouldn't mind cleaning it up a bit. Of course you clean all the dirt off and sand all the loose paint \ rust off.

But after that I was thinking of spraying a rust converter over it, then primer and then paint. Is that overkill for something that's going to get sandblasted with road material anyway? Should I just knock off the big stuff and hit it with paint? If I paint over dirt, rust and such that has a chance to speed up any rusting, correct?

 

Great looking rig. Makes me want to take off my boards too.

 

Looks very nice, and paint still looks amazing after 11 years! Gotta love the red D-rings too. I've thought about when I get mine to powder coat them red, but I think it would mess up the whole color scheme I have going. Then again things could change, so I don't know. Great looking Runner!

 

Thanks guys. I'm not going to over do it with the red. I'm still keeping the whole blacked out look. Only things red are my shackles, my shovel, and I did my calipers when I did my brake upgrade. Only other thing I could think of being red is a hi-lift when that time comes.

 

looks great you should sell me one of those lightforce's jk the shipping cost alone would kill it

 

Love the blacked out look. Then again I'm partial to it.

 

I dont know what Im more jealous of, your Runner or the fact that you live in Alaska, been trying to get up there for a few years now. My wife is from Homer.

 

Not really... Shipping prices are over inflated really. I could get them to you for under $20 I bet. But sorry I gave them to my brother in law. You wouldn't have wanted these. They were pretty old and the lenses were yellowing a bit. If they weren't old, I would've passed them on to you...

 

LOL Many Thanks Man... I've been back to Alaska for 5 years now. Never felt like home anywhere else. I like Homer and my daughters and I get down there several times a year just to hang out. My Dad lives down in Seldovia (South of Homer) and we go out fishing with him. We're still eating the 175 lbs of Halibut we caught!!!! LOL

 

Pics of that, not of the 4Runner. Please and thanks.

 

Sorry man.... not this time.