THEIZZARDKING BUILD ,PLANS AND INTRO THREAD **PIC HEAVY**

Theizzardking

New member
HELLO!
Some of you may know me from other 4runner forums but i've been here lurking for sometime now, as i feel my truck is just now getting to a build state that i can start considering overlanding an option and may actually have something intelligent to contribute (we'll see about that) i thought i'd start a build thread here with some of intentions and a little bit of guidance from the people i fell more akin to then the rock crushers on other forums, after all, the solitude i lust after is measured in miles and not feet, i don't care about how big of a rock i went over, i care about how far i made it from that rock on my chest called civilization, i'm sure you guys can relate. So i'll just dive right into it,

i have a 1999 4Runner with factory e locker and 240k on the clock, all standard maintenance is taken care of and almost all running gear is up to snuff.
the modification i have made are as follows

Suspension:

OME 881 front coils with matching nitro shocks
LC 8 wrap coils with OME comfort ride shocks
sway bar drop bracket
energy sus. poly bushings for the complete front end

armor:
ARB Tacoma bumper with hella 5550f's and flashy clear turns

TRIAL EQUIPMENT:
homemade dirt bike hitch carrier
really bad sleeping platform
Yakima roof basket
survival Box

now for some pics:
the day i bought it home:
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After i got hit buy a Bus and the city of seattle bought me a new bumper:
IMG_0432.jpg


first big trip in the 4Runner, yellowstone,Yosemite,moab,arches and zion, all one trip not in that order, lol
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some of the mods i made:
sway bar drop block
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crappy rear sleeping platform, it did work well though for a few weeks, just not pretty....
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screen for the desert, rare earth mag's with felt and sunshade from wall mart $20 total
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DIRT BIKE carrier, again crap but cost $40
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stock switch for fogs
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my lift
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my tires and wheels , the wheels weren't my choice the shop threw them in for free to get me to buy the tires as my stock rims wouldn't clear, wrong backspacing
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Theizzardking

New member
and finally as she sits now
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ok, that's that, this week i plan on picking up some sliders,winch, and a few other toys to help me along my way, later this summer i plan on running the oregon outback discovery trail solo as far as reasonable for such a thing, i haven't fully researched the trail to understand what all is involved but im fairly confident i can do a good portion of it solo,with good maps and a good 2m radio set-up and worse case in central Oregon terrain i feel i can cover around 20 miles a day on foot as the crow flies as i'm used to doing 50 mile circuits in the north cascades with massive elevation gains, i feel like i don't need to defend this decision too much here, as most of you are lone wolves as well and understand the difference between risk vs reward and just plain stupidity , like i said haven't looked into it fully yet and if it gets to hairy i'll either avoid that portion all together and hit pavement or find another safer route around or just not run the trail at all and go somewhere else/backtrack, i'll say this a solo mountain climber and former SAR volunteer as well, solo isn't necessarily bad it's the over confidence that gets ya and having people know where you are and having a check in schedule can be the difference between life and death, among other things. So with that said and if i still have a few of you out there.. you got any suggestions of where i should start and what i should do to my rig to bring in on par with what most of you are getting by with ?that would be great,also if there is some other crucial and piece of kit you guys recommend over the winch and sliders i'm all ears as i was also considering some rear coils and a few other things in lieu
of what i have planned.

thanks a ton guys and love what most of you have done with your rigs, just awesome stuff guys, awesome!

Any PNW guys out there with some good overland trail in our state?
 

Logans91XJ

Dirt Road Anthem
I'm in! gonna follow this and watch should be great. My roommate has a 99 4runner and the thing runs great and great platform for wheeling. If you are gonna buy a winch I would also make a plate for the rear that would allow you to attach the winch to the trailer hitch and let you run it in the rear if need be. I would also pick up several pull straps and a tree saver and some snatch blocks. Nothing wrong with running solo. I do it on my motorcycle all the time.
 

4x4x4doors

Explorer
After i got hit buy a Bus and the city of seattle bought me a new bumper:
<snip>
crappy rear sleeping platform, it did work well though for a few weeks, just not pretty....
<snip>
my tires and wheels , the wheels weren't my choice the shop threw them in for free to get me to buy the tires as my stock rims wouldn't clear, wrong backspacing

Nice of Seattle to do that for you. I had to buy my own front bumper. ;)

I generally sleep with my eyes closed so the lack of pretty on the sleeping platform doesn't strike me as a bad thing. You did say you were headed for solitude so the appearance shouldn't be a hindrance. Does it work? Does it do the job?

Free wheels that work would have been my first choice as well. They do appear to be round enough to hold the tires so they qualify as a SCORE to me.

I'm a relative newcomer here as well and while the chatter will definitely wander towards the glammer aspects, you aren't likely to find many serious negative comments on the functional, as long as its functional and by golly, you're out there doing it instead of just talking about it. More of us ought to be following your lead.

I'm tuned in! Be safe, take and share lots of pictures!
 

Theizzardking

New member
I'm in! gonna follow this and watch should be great. My roommate has a 99 4runner and the thing runs great and great platform for wheeling. If you are gonna buy a winch I would also make a plate for the rear that would allow you to attach the winch to the trailer hitch and let you run it in the rear if need be. I would also pick up several pull straps and a tree saver and some snatch blocks. Nothing wrong with running solo. I do it on my motorcycle all the time.


hey that's a good idea, you got any examples i can look at? i'm having a hard time trying to visualize how that would work with the wiring and trying to get the winch out the front and to the back all together?
thanks a lot man, i hope to make this something i can be proud of ,learn a few things along the way and maybe be able to help share that with others who are as lost as i am, whether it be lost out in the great wide open or lost under their truck trying to figure out ****** like we all do, lol,

i'll be doing sliders at the very least in the next week or so thanks to christmas, i plan on going with the stubbs sliders here
http://www.stubbswelding.com/page2.html

and am trying to decide between the hd-sko's ;ultimate-sko's, or the rubicon-sko's
i'm loving the double kick out on the rubi's but don't know if i can justify the extra cost over the other 2, and i'm not sure if the ultimate's would be overkill for someone who is going to have their butt pucker from even using a slider in the first place.
you know? I'd rather not have to use them, i just want to get where i'm going with the least amount of drama possible and enjoy the ride along the way.
 
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OldSven

Explorer
Cool another NW 4runner up here! Rig is looking good too by the way. To tell ya the truth I have done most of what can be done for overlanding on this side of the cascades and am starting to find out there is a lot more to be had over in eastern WA. There are some pretty cool runs out of yakima and ellensberg. Next year after the snow melts we will be making more trips that way. Let me know if there is any 4Runner stuff you have questions about.
 

Theizzardking

New member
Nice of Seattle to do that for you. I had to buy my own front bumper. ;)

I generally sleep with my eyes closed so the lack of pretty on the sleeping platform doesn't strike me as a bad thing. You did say you were headed for solitude so the appearance shouldn't be a hindrance. Does it work? Does it do the job?

Free wheels that work would have been my first choice as well. They do appear to be round enough to hold the tires so they qualify as a SCORE to me.

I'm a relative newcomer here as well and while the chatter will definitely wander towards the glammer aspects, you aren't likely to find many serious negative comments on the functional, as long as its functional and by golly, you're out there doing it instead of just talking about it. More of us ought to be following your lead.

I'm tuned in! Be safe, take and share lots of pictures!

hey, i like your style! that was my kind of logic as well! And believe me i was very excited about being hit by the bus and in the way in which it hit me, i was actually smiling 15 mins after it happened, haha


to be on the level i've never done anything like some of the members of this board have done, it's just amazing-mindblowing-down right inspiring ! Very humbling to say the least..... i'm probably going to just keep quite for a bit and just listen for a while sprinkled with a stupid question every now and again, like do i really need $465 sliders?
 
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Theizzardking

New member
Cool another NW 4runner up here! Rig is looking good too by the way. To tell ya the truth I have done most of what can be done for overlanding on this side of the cascades and am starting to find out there is a lot more to be had over in eastern WA. There are some pretty cool runs out of yakima and ellensberg. Next year after the snow melts we will be making more trips that way. Let me know if there is any 4Runner stuff you have questions about.

Sweet! i know of a few trail/logging roads/trails that cut from cle elum to wenatchee/mission ridge with some pretty cool stuff on it, it'd be good to meet up and have someone show me the ropes and tell me how crappy my set up is for what im wanting to do, lol

i was just checking out your rig a bit earlier in the pic thread, nice looking ride man, did you do the snorkel install yourself and all of the other relating waterproofing measures yourself? i could probably use a hand with alot of that, i assume it has come in handy a fair few times with all of the water features we have here in the WA? haha

If you care i'm up around mukilteo and stanwood,not to far off.
 

upcountry

Explorer
"After i got hit buy a Bus and the city of seattle bought me a new bumper:"

Now thats why my King COunty Bus Fare went up 25 cents per trip, to pay for that awesome bumper of yours.

I may try to put the nose of my truck in front of a bus!
 

NetDep

Adventurer
Great looking rig - like others have said - great to see another PNW'r here!! Some very ambitious goals and you have done a lot so far!! Working on making mine respectable - but as you know - it's a process....
 

OldSven

Explorer
Yeah I have done all of the work on the runner myself with help from friends and family here and there. I also had a snorkel on my old Tacoma and besides waterproofing the snorkel system that was all I did and I had that rig with water up over my hood a number of times with no issues. The 4runner hasn't quite seen as much water action but is ready if the water crossing arises.

I was reading about a road that goes up from CleElum to Leavonworth on backroads that I would like to do next year. We just did Stampede pass up and over to Greenwater was a very cool run.

If you need help with an install or what not let me know, send me a PM if you have any questions. Oh, I sent you a PM out the drawer system if you are interested.
 

Theizzardking

New member
"After i got hit buy a Bus and the city of seattle bought me a new bumper:"

Now thats why my King COunty Bus Fare went up 25 cents per trip, to pay for that awesome bumper of yours.

I may try to put the nose of my truck in front of a bus!

haha, more like hiring impatient and incompetent bus drivers, the repair work was going to cost 1k and the arb was $600 otd. So i decided to leave the small dent and scratch on my fender and pocketed the rest, pretty cool all of the heavily damaged parts were replaced just by the arb and some cheap fogs from a flaps.
 

Theizzardking

New member
Great looking rig - like others have said - great to see another PNW'r here!! Some very ambitious goals and you have done a lot so far!! Working on making mine respectable - but as you know - it's a process....

right and quite the process it i$$$$.......! i'm hoping to get alot of things dialed in over the winter and doing a few small runs to test it all out before i head off, if you guys are doing any runs drop me a pm!
 

Theizzardking

New member
Yeah I have done all of the work on the runner myself with help from friends and family here and there. I also had a snorkel on my old Tacoma and besides waterproofing the snorkel system that was all I did and I had that rig with water up over my hood a number of times with no issues. The 4runner hasn't quite seen as much water action but is ready if the water crossing arises.

I was reading about a road that goes up from CleElum to Leavonworth on backroads that I would like to do next year. We just did Stampede pass up and over to Greenwater was a very cool run.

If you need help with an install or what not let me know, send me a PM if you have any questions. Oh, I sent you a PM out the drawer system if you are interested.

cool! i'll drop you a message if i need a hand and at the very least get some info on a few runs.

funny enough about the drawer system i saw it on craigslist a few days ago and really thought about it but i really think i need to construct my own, i really need some sort of sleeping platform integrated into it, if you think that would be easy enough drop me another PM, i didn't respond to the first one because i thought the notification was just an auto response for joining the forum , sorry bout that!
 

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