Rocky The 4R - Doer of All, Master of None

[frankentrd]

Rocky the 4Runner​

Got a build thread for the Taco so why not make one for the 4Runner...

I was really missing wheeling due to my main rig being under the knife for so long so In 2024 I bit the bullet an purchased my 2004 Toyota 4Runner for $9250 w/ a 2UZ V8, 4WD, and 217k miles on the odo:


Since I had worked on so many Toyotas at this point I pretty much knew what I wanted out of this thing. An all around daily driver do-everything rig that I could take camping comfortably with the wife and dogs yet still be capable enough to hit some solid trails.

I opted for the V8 for the legendary reliability. If anyone isn't aware this is the only gen 4Runner that offered a V8 and it's the same one available in the Tundra, Sequoia, and some Lexus' at the time. Really the only things you need to worry about on these rigs is the timing belt and transmission oil pumps, both of which can be fixed with proper maintenance. So that was the 1st thing I did: transmission flush, filter, and external cooler along with a new timing belt/water pump and other misc. maintenece items:


I also needed some new tires so I opted for some Falken Wildpeak A/T3W 285/70R17's. This is a rare image of both rigs running at the same time:


1 week into ownership we decided it was time for the maiden voyage. The wife and I took it up the 395 to some of our favorite camping spots. I really wanted to feel it out and start the build where I felt it needed it the most:



And what did we learn? Well 1st off my wife, who was eager to drive the new vehicle, went full prerunner status right into a mud puddle, smashed a rock, and flattened the cam tabs. No biggie, I happen to know a guy who makes the solution to this issue


Most importantly I knew the suspension needed work and I had some ideas on how I could make this a much better camping rig.

I was originally stacking all my gear in crates like I did in the Taco but with the enclosed cab was thinking why not build a drawer system/sleeping platform?


When we got back home I got right to work on the drawer system and fixing those bent cam tabs:


I opted to use 1/2" Birch pre-finished 7-ply plywood as it's strong and quite a bit lighter that 3/4" plywood. I didn't have any plans and designed the whole thing from scratch which worked out because I was able to make it exactly how I wanted. Originally I designed the sleeping platform to unfold like an accordion but I realized I never used the rear seats anyway and I ended up making the bed a bit more permanent later down the line:




The next trip was a solo run up the 395 again (you'll notice a theme here). I was really excited to test out the drawers which worked exactly how I envisioned them:

 

[bullnerd]

Damn! Where do you live? Alps?

 

[frankentrd]

Up to this point I had been cruising around on the absolutely blown out factory suspension. The previous owner put the front on a 1.5" lift block which was causing the upper control arm to slam into the shock when flexing out. The rear was also sagging/riding on bump due to the drawer system. I had plans to go with nicer suspension in the near future but to fix one of the issues I threw in some Bilstein 5100's in the front. And of course to test it out we took it on a trip to the Trona Pinnacles:




I had also realized another issue, with the closed cab it made it really hard to bring spare gas, propane, or firewood. I didn't really want any of that floating around where I was supposed to be sleeping. I ordered myself a Nguyen Works rear bumper and started working on a roof rack which I designed in SolidWorks off a 3D scan of my roof and had laser cut:



At some point around this time I got tired of the black on black wheels and got myself a new set of Reika R40 wheels which I swapped my tires onto. And once again to test out the setup, we went on a cold trip to Bishop with my wife and brother to try to get some climbing in:


I also added some tailgate lights to the setup to make cooking in the dark a bit easier:

 

[frankentrd]

Damn! Where do you live? Alps?

I wish! I'm up in Lake Arrowhead. Most of these pics are from camping trips.

 

[frankentrd]

I cruised around with that setup for a few months while I waited for a long list of parts to arrive including:

• Nguyen Works rear bumper
• Solo Motorsports upper and lower control arms
• Solo Motorsports UCA double sheers
• DRT Fabrication body mount relocation
• Locked Offroad front shocks
• Dobinson 701 rear springs
• New CV axles
• New front wheel bearings
• Inner and outer tie rods

I was invited to go on a trip through Death Valley with some friends and there is nothing like a deadline to motivate you to get your truck dialed in. I waited until the week before we left to start working on the thing. I don't have many pics of the work as I was cranking to get it done but it was pretty straight forward. The part that took the longest was definitely the Nguyen Works bumper. I also realized with the new springs the factory shocks weren't gonna cut it so I threw in a set of 5100's I had laying around to get me through the trip:





Everything worked great except for the rear 5100's. They were working as both a limit strap and bump stop the whole trip. We went through some whoops around Saline Valley and it was constant bottom out to full extension over and over again. Surprisingly nothing broke and I even sold the shocks to another person who is still using them to this day. You really can't kill a Bilstein.

I kept the rear as it was for a few months while I waited for another long list of things to show up including:

• Dobinson upper/lower rear links
• Locked Offroad 10" smooth bodies
• Locked Offroad hydro bumps
• Front and rear 4.10 gears
• 3rd gen 4Runner elocker 3rd member
• Eimkeith lower link skids and link reinforcements

Once again I was invited on a trip up north to Gold Lake above the Tahoe area and once again I waited until the week before we left to start on the rear. I cranked out the regear and elocker install while my buddy dialed in the suspension. We built a small outboard shock hoop and used his bump stop kit along with a custom panhard bar to get the flex we were after:



We also built some rock sliders for both his truck and mine knowing this trip was gonna involve some crawling:


We made it on the trip and the truck performed beautifully! The elocker came in very handy along with the sliders and all the extra travel from the rear setup (somewhere I have more pics but my failed hard drive hid them somewhere):



I didn't change anything for the rest of summer and did 1 more long trip to the Lost Coast as well as a bunch of smaller trips up the 395:

 

[frankentrd]

We're getting pretty close to the current setup. Last fall I took a trip up the 395 to check out the fall colors with one of my buddies. I didn't have a front bumper as I was working on the new one I ordered:




When we got back I got to work getting my new bumper assembled and installed. I went with a somewhat newer smaller company, Ascend Fabrications, and tried out one of their WIY front bumper kits. We've done lots of Coastal Offroad bumpers in the shop but we were both pretty impressed with Ascend's quality. I also threw in a 10k lb Smittybilt winch with a Diode Dynamics light bar and pod lights. I also finally had the room to go up a tire size to some 35x10.5r17 Kenda Klever RT's. To celebrate the new tires and bumper I, of course, took a trip with the wife. We hit the Mojave trail from Laughlin to Afton Canyon:






And that pretty much brings us to today. The only other thing done to it since Mojave road in February was a full overland exhaust from MagnaFlow. I continue to daily drive and camp with it whenever I can. If you're gonna spot me it will probably be in this thing with my dog:

 

[bullnerd]

I wish! I'm up in Lake Arrowhead. Most of these pics are from camping trips.

Looks nice.

 

[frankentrd]

Next on the list is an FJ Cruiser transfer case swap along with a Northwest Fab crawl box. The 4th gen has one of the worst 4x4 systems in the Toyota ecosystem which is why they tend to not get as much love as the 3rd or 5th gens. Toyota plucked the drive train from the Lexus GX470 so it's full time AWD with an electric center locking transfer case. It sounds cool in theory but it causes more trouble than it's worth. I have all the parts for this swap I'm just waiting for the time to do it.

I've also been cooking in SolidWorks with a +2" LT kit of my own design which when done should have the most travel of any +2" kit on the market with ~13". I have a test kit tacked together which has already been test fitted and cycled with some King 8" shocks we had in the shop. I'm just waiting to pull the trigger on some shocks of my own so I can get this guy installed and start testing its limits:

 

[SaltyMethods]

Killer pics. Keep up the good work!