went wheeling up at Evans Creek 3 weeks ago and it was AWESOME! Brought a buddy and it was his first time trail riding.

Here are a few pictures on the top of the hill


Then on Friday I went back with my buddy sporting a CJ-5 on 37's locked all around, went everywhere he did

See the tree on the left, I sat my fuel tank on the stump right before it and...

I've got 6 less gallons of space! So i bought LilSkip's Fuel Tank Skid (thanks for finding that DirtCo)
When I got home I ended up replacing both Inner and Outer TRE's and when I pulled it out of the garage I noticed....


The Lift is OME with Heavy Springs 882's and Stiff Shocks. I have Perkins Performance Front Bumper and the SmittyBuilt XRC-8 with Synthetic Line and BudBuilt Full Belly Skids... what could have caused my front lift to "sit" higher all of the sudden? I didn't notice anything unusual up front when i was under the truck (put on energy bushings on steering rack and replaced inner/outer TRE's) help anyone? do I need limiting straps?

 

how do you like your bud built front skid plate? i have a 96 4runner with the old man emu heavy duty lift thats the 2.5 inch when i bought it the guy that did all the work said it had a 1 inch ifs drop, if i get a bud built do i need to get it with special mounts or is the regular skid going to work?

 

Utah Kid... I can do one better than that. I can sell you my front skid plate. But yes, I have a diff drop installed and I'm running the budbuilt full belly skid. I'm SAS'ing the 4Runner with a Diamond Driver Side front axle within the next month. The skid is powdercoated red.

 

How much?

 

Beautiful ride! I really like tone difference between the black hood and the rest of the body, have you been pleased with the short throw shifter? I have been looking at those on and off...

 

I've always wanted to paint the hood to match the truck. I really do like the short throw shifter, but to make it feel good I need to either cut down the shifter or get a 1in body lift because that kit makes the shifter 1in taller than usual. Utah Kid, the only pictures I have of the skid plate are those already in this thread. The skid is a beast, it has minor scratches because I wheel the truck pretty hard. I can't wait to get rid of the thing because that means I'm one step closer to having a finished SAS'ed 4Runner. I'll keep the belly skid and gas tank skid. Bud Built skids are amazing. Oh for everyone's SA... 37x12.50 Goodyear Wranglers, a Diamond Driverside drop axle with Toyota inners and outers, aisin manual hubs, a detroit, 4.88's, a 1979 Ford F-150 steering box, a TRD E-locker and I'm still working on the rest. I'm stoked

 

axle's ordered, tires arrived, T4R will be chopped up for the SAS build!!! STOKED

 

Leafs? links and coils? coilovers??

 

Awesome! Sounds like your doing it right; make sure you upgrade the birfields to Longfields, the last thing you want to do is break a stock one in that pretty Diamond housing. I have a lot of experience with those axles if you want any more advise or input. Build it right the first time, but with that list of parts it looks like your doing just that!

x2?

 

I'm having Diamond build the axle due to me being out of the mix for a little while. They use longfields. it'll have the hi-pinion 8" and a detroit. It'll be a 3-link up front with Fox shocks and some variant of the coilover similar to ScottyC's build. 3 link in the rear using the LC Front Heavy Coils. I'm having Jason at Perkins Performance do everything for a number 9f reasons so alot of the tricks will be me forwarding him threads and suggestions via email as he hasn't had a ton of experience with Toyota persay but has done excellent work and has an extensive knowledge off-roading building
DirtCo... whatever advise you have with the axle send it brother. My knowledge is purely based on what a number of you guys have put up on this and Pirate4x4. I've planned to spend a decent amount of money on this build as I don't wanna have to buy again and again. I'm also selling a mojority of the IFS parts on the back end to gain back some money. As for cosmetics, i think I might get it painted that Toyota Tan and have the inside and lower portion rhinolined. We'll see. Any advise is greatly appreciated.

 

That sounds great, I can't wait to see the progress!

Here are a couple things to think about, some of this stuff might be taken care of already (I've spent way too much time rebuilding these axles):

Are you running high-steer or the stock arms? If your running the high steer arms I would upgrade to the Marlin HD trunion bearing kit or maybe the TG eliminator kit. Whatever you do, do NOT use the trunion bearings that come in the stock TG rebuild kit. They suck and WILL break!

I would upgrade the steering arms with the Longfield 5th bolt kit, and use the ARP hardware sold by TG or FROR. It worked great for me! There is also the TG six-shooter knuckles.

Make sure you get the Longfield hub gears to go with the birfields. I would also upgrade the studs that hold the hub, I broke them a couple times. There's a couple write-ups on the Pirate4x4 FAQ.

I don't know what axle seals come with the Diamond, but the Marlin Crawler seals are great.

If I think of anything else I'll let you know, that's just issue's I've had in the past and really stood out in my mind. Are your going to use the 4Runner's calipers/brakes or the standard IFS conversion?

 

i'm using the IFS manual hubs and putting the tundra brakes on them. Diamond is hooking it up. I'll look into the 5th bolt and stuff. the problem is i'm deployed so I've gotta relay all of this stuff to Jason at Perkins

 

how'd you like your Daystar kit, I was looking into doing the same 1.5" kit on my '02 just thought I'd get some insight on it first, even though it's only $150ish right now through 4wheel parts (they have a local shop here so i can just pick it up)

 

I ran the OME Heavies in the rear... they made the truck sag, and when I put the Daystar 1.5in spacers I had a bunch of problems with them staying seated. I tried to use the boot and i couldn't fit it in. looking back I'd rather of used the LC coils because you get the height. The problem with the spacer is you have to strap or connect the coil to the spacer so it easily seats and seats correctly. in the end I would rather use LC coils. I'm using LC front coils for this SAS too

 

could you give the part or order numbers for the OME setup you have?

 

Don't buy the OME kit. Purchase something else. The shocks went bad after 1x year and ruined a pair of my tires (up front). The springs in the back were too short. I'd go with LC coils in the rear or the SS kit. OME isn't worth it as a package. The only thing I'd suggest is getting heavy coils for all the weight you will add.

 

alright I appreciate the input, i will stay away form OME

 

have you Black Rock wheels treated you well? would you recommend them for my 2000 4runner?

 

yea any steelies are great. I love them for wheeling. I sold them because I have to go to a different rim size, but I like steelies and I like Black Rock. Ideally I'd like to have a winter tire/alloy rim set and a summer tire/steelies set

 

my thoughts exactly.... I think I am going to buy a set of Black Rocks, and save my current steelies for any use in the future