Lost my baby on Wednesday, December 20th from the train station at Old Town. I know it's not in Mexico (yet) and is somewhere in San Diego near and around National City or maybe Downtown SD. The truck is a Black 4runner with a 3.4L swap, Rear locking differential, Manual locking hubs with an LSD front, 31" Falken Wildpeak A/T, Square tube rocksliders covered with the original chrome foot rail, and a Smittybilt Winch up front, nested into the stock front bumper. There's also a "bulge" on the hood where I hammered out space for the 3.4L, instead of making a hole and a hood scoop. The whole thing looks like a "stock 4runner, but more". It's an incredible truck. If anyone sees it, please call 911 and report it's location. Too many memories to lose it without a fight. I know this is a longshot, but anything can help. I've already posted to Instagram (@imoutsidecamping) and the police are informed. So please if you see it, call 911 report it and maybe I'll be able to recover this ongoing project.

 

Man I feel for you, I’m to far away to help you but I hope you get it back soon with no problems. These scumbags that steal from others should be shot on sight. Good luck and let us all know how it goes.

 

Thank you. I appreciate the kind words. Quite the Christmas Present.

 

Merry Christmas anyway

 

I got a few buds there in the Southland. I will send them a link for your post.
Good luck.

 

Dang, sorry to hear it! I live in North Park and also drive a 2nd gen, so I’m always keeping an eye out to see what people have done with their old 4Runners. Yours sounds pretty distinctive, I’m sure I’d recognize if I see it. I’ll keep an eye out. You might also want to cross-post to /r/sandiego if you are a Reddit user, I have actually heard of people getting their vehicles back from that forum.

 

My son got out of the Airforce after four years, pulled his 4Runner out of storage, went down to SD for a couple weeks to get organized with some schooling, was working on his CA registration of his 4Runner and a towing outfit impounded it. Fortunately he had an Apple AirTag hidden in it. So, he located the physical location where it was impounded. They claimed it was unregistered and they can tow it and keep it until paperwork is resolved. They picked it up at a laundromat and basically held it hostage for a week. When he walked in with DMV paperwork indicating he was paid in full. They still did not release it. So, he involved four police officers and asked they accompany him to the yard. Still they could not force the issue with the release of his vehicle. Fortunately he went back when the dope smoking manager was gone and a nice lady gave him the keys and he drove it out of the lot. Weirrd deal but I'd suggest checking those impound lots, because we were led to believe that once it's impounded for a few weeks and wear down the owner, they just sell them down in Mexico.

 

Crazy.
I'm not a doctor, but I'm surprised somebody did not prescribe 12ga therapy. Because violence is never the answer.

Hey wonkainc, I was also wondering about your front winch and bumper setup. You happen to have pics or details? That looks really clean.
Been thinking about that for a few days now.

 

I appreciate everyone looking out. No news yet.

As for the winch setup, I had it custom-built by a shop down here in San Diego. (Rock Solid Designs) I snagged the style from photos from an Instagram user (madeinjapanoverland). I don't think I took any documentation photos for it, but below is a pretty straightforward image. The lights are mounted to the winch plate using some 5in metal strips that I added later.