Is it just me or are your tires skinner? They look great. What I have heard from some people is that the tread is like slicks on packed snow but what mud terrain isn't!

 

Thanks man! That's really why I post all this stuff, I have learned a ton from other peoples builds/threads and I like to return the favor. There's a wealth of knowledge on these boards.

Good eye! Yes they are; when I first ordered them i was worried about the height, I heard they were small but after measuring them there wasn't much of a difference at all. They did look more narrow than the MTR's, I measured the tread section width and they are a full inch narrower. This might be a disadvantage when it comes to deep snow wheeling, but it also might help the rear tires tuck a little bit better into the rear fenders. At this point it's a toss-up, until I get a few runs on the tires. I do feel thats part of the reason they feel better on the street.

Ice and snow packed roads seem to be the one huge downfall of this tire. I thought about siping them but I didn't feel confident enough in any of my local tire shops, I've seen a couple jobs they have done and there is no way they get anywhere near my tires. The other issue is that the mag-cloride they put on the roads is starting to kill the finish on my wheels, it's not too bad yet but it's been a very mild winter, a couple hard winters wouldn't be pretty. And, water collects in the wheel and freezes, throwing off the balance of the tires. Because of that I'm going to get a set of winter tires and wheels this fall, I'm guessing a nice set of all-terrains. Once the snow gets too deep for practical snow wheeling, and they shut all the gates, I'll take the KM2's off. They might see a few snow storms but not the middle of winter, super cold, icy roads that seem to be their downfall. I can always throw the KM2's back on a couple times for some deep snow wheeling, if the conditions are right.

 

I can totally vouch for the km2's in snow. They did amazing and cleaned out great. Favorite tire design yet!

 

I want KM2's for my Runner...

 

DAYUMMMMM! That thing is sick! REALLY love the color, Dirtco... Very rarely see that shade/combo.

Now off to the trailer thread! lol. Quite a before and after here, man!

 

I really like them so far!

 

Thanks man! It's been a lot of work!

 

I finally got around to doing the Tundra brake swap! A big thanks goes out to BigFishAllDay for his write up, it defiantly took all the mystery out of the process.

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-ge...rs-rotors.html

Before –



After –



My old stock brakes were shot (35’s and heavy beadlock wheels will do that), the rotors had started to warp, and even before that I felt uneasy coming down a big hill toward a stoplight. There just wasn’t enough braking power for the wheels and tires.

Everything went smooth for the most part, but I did run into one problem. I bought two calipers from Napa and I started on the passenger side. It went great, no issue’s, just your typical brake job with a little trimming. I moved over to the driver side, attached the brake line to the caliper, and what would you know, big problem. I tightened the brake line down and it bottomed out on the caliper, but the flared end of the hard line still had 1/8”+ of play inside the caliper. For the hell of it I unclamped the brake line and it leaked brake fluid like crazy (big surprise ). I took it all apart and measured the thread depth to the flared surface inside the caliper, and it was way too deep.

It took me a week to get these calipers, so exchanging it for another one wasn’t much of an option unless I downed the 4Runner for a week, or reinstalled all the stock stuff and re-bled the brakes. I figured it was worth a shot to fix this one; so plugged the hole, took a good 1/8” (or more) off the caliper, reamed it, and chased the threads. The fix worked great and it’s not leaking. So far the brakes feel great; the 4Runner actually wants to stop and I don’t get that horrible feeling when I see a stop light change red in front of me. The brake pedal does have more travel to it, but once they start working they work good. I’m going to re-bleed them and see if that helps at all, along with checking the adjustment of the rear shoes.

Passenger side (The way it should look) –



Driver side –

 

There is one thing that has been bothering me about the rear bumper…



I hated how visible the “Interior pressure equalization vent” (or whatever it’s called) was, and when I had the old Turbo 4Runner there was a few times when rocks, sticks, etc worked their way into the opening. I decided to cap off the main opening with some 1/8” plate, but it looked out of place once I had it welded in place. It was the only section of flat plate steel on the truck, and the color didn’t match the body. I could have drilled some holes in it, but that would have defeated the purpose of the plate. I found a couple Ballistic Fab weld-on skulls that I had in my toolbox, so I figured I would give them a shot; I hit them with a Roloc disc and then clear coated them. They help to break up the panel and they are easy to remove if I don’t like them.

 

And I made it all the way to the top of Georgia Pass this weekend, that’s nuts for this time of year! The snow was still packed down from all the snowmobiles and the sun had melted the snow just enough to get traction. It get’s really steep towards the top and I didn’t think I was going to make it, but the KM2’s hooked up great and I made it all the way to the top!

Towards the top In places the snow was even deeper (maybe 10’-15’), but for the most part it was a couple feet deep. We should really have two or three times that, it’s been a horrible year.







At the top, nothing but snowmobile tracks









I hate mud

 

Lucky you...they are trying to keep us out of CA trails right now because of all these lawsuits. I would love to hit some snowy trails right now.

For some reason I never noticed your wheels before. I love those things! Seems like everyone is going too blingy on wheels nowadays, those are just perfect. Look good on KM2's too.

 

Looks good man! Those ballistic skulls do the trick!

 

Plate looks good honestly i thought that was a exhaust port lol....

 

I love snow wheeling, but like you, it's getting harder and harder to access the trail every year.

I really like how the wheels look, there's not a whole lot of options when it comes to beadlocks. It was between these and the Allied Monster's, these had a cleaner, more simple look.

Thanks man! I feel the same way, the rear bumper panels needed something to break them up.

On the old green truck I did run the exhaust through the body!

 

I have taken the 4Runner rock crawling once; and on that one trip the Budbuilt belly pan, along with the Lil’ Skip gas tank skid plate, saw their fair share of rocks. The gas tank skid plate held up great, but I noticed that the belly pan had started to deform a little. This is a fairly common issue and I had thought about bracing it before I ever installed it, but I gave it a chance. It was obvious the belly pan skid plate needed to come back off and get some additional bracing before I really bent it up.

While I had the skid plates off I decided to take care of a couple other things. First, I changed the oil. It was time, and I would rather not make a mess in the skid plates if I didn’t have to.

Next, I was reading through another 3rd Gen. build thread and saw he bent the tabs for his front alignment cams. I’ve seen this before (especially on long travel trucks, I think Total Chaos even has a repair kit), but I spaced it out. While the skid plates were out of the way I decided to weld them up and prevent any future damage. I welded three of the four cams per side, the only ones I didn’t weld were back behind the steering rack tie rod boots (there wasn’t much room, and I didn’t want to burn a hole in the boots). If three of them are welded I don’t see the forth bending.

Damaged tabs (not mine)



Here is a picture after I welded mine



The back side of the front mount was a little tricky. I couldn’t get a good weld the way it was positioned, so I welded in a small section of ¼” round rod to prevent the tab from bending. It should do the same thing as welding it solid.

 

Next, I replaced the transmission mount; the old one was getting soft, saggy and was showing stress cracks everywhere. I’ve had issues with these on my old 4Runners so I decided to replace it and save the old one as a trail spare. The picture also shows the 3/16” spacers I made to gain a little room between the t-case and skid plate, they have holes drilled in them, and I used longer bolts to get full thread engagement. The spacer gives me a little over an extra ¼” of room under the t-case. (The grease is from my driveshaft slip).



Then it was time to take care of that skid plate. I welded three strips of ½” x ½” solid steel to the long t-case section of the skid plate, it’s the longest unsupported section of the skid plate and the area that had the most rock rash. If I hit it hard enough it will still bend, but the cross members that hold it are only stamped sheet metal (maybe 1/8”?). I would rather bend the skid plate a little than smash the cross members apart; this should be a good compromise.





The rubber pad on the skid plate is the original isolator that was under the stock mini skid plate. It’s soft rubber, and will keep the t-case from hitting the skid plate when the drivetrain is bouncing around. I used weatherstrip adhesive to glue it in place, so far it has held up great and done its job.

 

I also adjusted the the rear brakes. I had a soft brake pedal after the Tundra swap, and I've had past experiences with the rear brakes being out of adjustment. It took 12 "Clicks" today (each step on the star wheel) to get them in adjustment (and I adjusted them 8 clicks when I installed the brakes), but the brakes feel great now! I figured Toyota would have worked that out between 85' and 99', but I guess not . I will now be adjusting them manually on a normal basis; the vehicle stops much better and the pedal feels great. I'm sure it will wear through the shoe's faster but I'll take that trade off any day!

 

How heavy is that belly pan now?

 

Dirtco I went through a similar thing with my brakes, if I looked at it correctly the e/parking brake adjusts the brakes up, I don't use my parking brake much but I do just pull the handle up a few times every so often it seems to have helped on mine just a suggestion.
The plates on your bumper look good I'm happy with how mine turned out as well but man trying to bend that 1/8th inch plate was a pain. Rig is looking great.

 

Awesome rig man...I'm partial to the older trucks and enjoyed seeing your progress on the '86 turbo runner. But this one is turning out to be just as cool, if not more so. Seems very functional but still has great aesthetic appeal. I'll have to point my 3rd-gen buddy towards this thread for ideas!