SteveO

I did some searching on this, and found that quite a few people do have FF D60 in the rear, and its not too bad on the price either. Being that this rig is a PIG, and even more so when loaded on the trail, I'm concerned about the breakage, and being stranded. The semi-floater, when broken, pretty much leaves you high-an-dry in the sticks. Having a full floater means the front can drag the rear home. More peace of mind on the trail.......

justinh

are you planny to swap in the entire 4th gen rearend since you have the additional width in the front or are you planning to retrofit the brakes to your housing?

SteveO

I dunno yet. I'll have to see what drops out of heaven....

Flygtenstein

We missed you Steve.

A 44 rear is not at all a strength upgrade on what you have.

Full floating chromo shafts would be.

Building a custom Diamond axle with a 8.8" Toy third and chromo full float would be bombproof in this application. You would still have clearance, comparable cost, etc.

SteveO

Well folks, I guess I should give you all some update info.



The 4Runner is up on wheels now, but not running under its own power. In true 4Wheeler tradition, I'm working right up to the day I leave for Moab.

He is kinda what has been done.

Rear has been converted to the FROR Full Floater with Supra Disc Brakes and Moser Chromoly shafts.
I just finished the ghetto tire carrier, temp for now, until I have time to build a better carrier, but it'll work and its beefy.
Dual batteries are in, and appear to be working.
Remote Winch setup is in, and working with a very nice ARB style rocker switch.
In Dash MP3/CD player is in and working.
Cobra CB, mounted in DASH, pumping 42W, and tied into a dash mounted SWR meter.
Jeggs Brake Line Lock is almost in, the switch is down by the shifter

There is plenty more, I just can't think right now; just got in from the garage.

r0cky

<---- so jealous.

ravencr

So, is the SAS complete then?

Chris

SteveO

complete?......


for the most part (of course that is what I have been saying for sometime now). I have to mount some front bump stops, a sway bar at some time in the near future, and then I think I can say the SAS will be complete.

But, really now, how complete is complete? I'm sure I'll have to do some fender trimming, hopefully before I completely rip them off with the big tires......

I have been working on this thing since June 1st. Between School, work, working on a local church server and all their computers, being married (gotta give cuddle time if you want the SAS ).

Its been a long haul. This Thursday I have a final, and then my dad flys in on Friday, and we are supposed to head out to Moab on Saturday.


tight schedule.

ravencr

That's awesome Steve! How long you gonna be in Moab? I wish I could join you, but I'm about 3-4 weeks out getting some stuff done on mine.

Chris

SteveO

You wouldn't have the slightest hint of jealously if you knew the amount of time, blood (literally) sweat and tears (literally, almost broke a knuckle) that went into this thing. So many late nights and moths flying out of the wallet....

*sigh*

ravencr

But, now it's all fun and you don't have to worry about breaking anymore!

Chris

SteveO

I'm planning on being in Moab for a week. We are heading into the Backcountry; the "Island in the Sky" district, and then onto the the "Maze" district. We both play guitar, so we are going to plug the guitars into a small pocket amp, and then plug that into the Car stereo. In the interior pic, I installed a auxiliary stereo input, so we could jam while in the outback. Plus, the Dual Optima batteries are a welcome comfort when out in the boonies.

SteveO

Yeah, thats true. I have broken plenty of IFS parts to make a collection, and rear coil parts to boot.

With chromoly shafts front and back, I should be set.

99_Runner

That looks really good. Although I do agree that it's a little to high. But I'm sure you can take care of that sometime in the future.

SteveO

Yeah, somtime in the future, I'd like to bring it back down about 4 inches.

I would have to go to 12" coil-overs and do a lot of fender triming, which can be done.

I'm really interested in seing how it flexes. Next week I'll have some flex shots in Moab...

waskillywabbit

iTrader: (-1)

Where's the boom lift so you can get in it to drive?

Dobi

I'd like to get that for my yota. Did you just tell them the length of what you had and they custom made one? If so, do you mind sharing the cost?

SteveO

The boom, yeah, I have to climb in and out right now. In the future, I hope to get some of thos Kodiak Side Kick swing down steps.

As for the steering shaft, that is an off the shelf item from Flamming River, for about $280. Even though it was off the shelf, I still had to modify it to "key" it for the Toyota Steering shaft. It will fit the Toyota steerin box, no problem there, but it will not fit the steering shaft on the steering wheel side. Stock, they come with one section of the U-joint splind all the way around. On the Toyota steering shaft, there is a smooth spot, where it is keyed. So, I had to very carefully file down the spines that would go over this keyed spot. After some time, it all fit in just perfect, and it is a very tight fit. Very happy with this setup. After I have seen many others go through this version, and that varation, I decided to make my life a little easier and just get it done right the 1st time.

Here are a few pics.







Keyed Toyota Shaft

SteveO

Well, the Beast is driveable again. My dad came in last Friday night, and we continued to work on the 4Runner until Saturday night. We finally left for our Moab adventure Sunday morning.

On the drive out to Moab, the Beast drove great. No death wobble, even at 75mph, it tracked straight (so our ghetto alignment worked great), the 37 tires were smooth as glass, thanks to the Centramatic balancers, and most of all, it flexes great. In the following pictures, it shows a little bit of flex. I couldn't find a place to really flex it out to the limit straps.

Thanks to FROR for the Full Floater kit. This kit is great! We, again, overloaded the 4Runner for the springs, and pretty much road the beast the entire back country route on the bump stops.

The Dual battery setup worked great. FYI, when using a DC - AC convertor, be sure to charge your main battery. I have an optima deep cycle as my main battery, and then a Red top for the backup. I charged my laptop battery for a while with no engine juice, which brought the battery down low enough where it would not start the rig. No problem, flip the switch join the two batteries, and the engine fires right up. This saved our bacon once during this trip. We often like to kill the engine, and listen to XM radio as we are setting up camp or just hanging out. Having a second battery is, IMHO, a necessity when in the outback.

Lets see, what else......Well, what can I say. This thing flexes with ease, drives straight, has a great return to center coming out of a turn, its just plain awesome!



Sitting level on the ground. No bump steer on the road. I need a professional alignment, but it works for now.




stretching its legs





Here you can see the top tender coil at work, keeping tension on the coil pack




I found a stock 2000 4Runner Limited. This is the stock height of a 3rd gen 4Runner....where mine used to sit.


More pics at:
http://www.hunt4steve.com/miscpics.htm


Also, I wanted to send out a heartfelt thanks to the folks who came over and gave me a hand to get this thing done.

Jim Hughs, Jayson Blanchard, Terry Rust, Chris Steller, Rich Capener. I'll have some pic up soon of this deal. At one point, we had my entire parking lot full, and lots of guys peering into the engine bay, pretty cool deal.

All of these guys came up with some great ideas on how to do this and that, which ended up being the final result on some items. Its always great to get other peoples input when working on such a large project.

waskillywabbit

iTrader: (-1)

From his signature...


Ri ruv rit rall. (except the red )

Ri runt rum rooby racks.