4x4Mike's 2007 4Runner

[4x4mike]

I finally got around to uploading some pictures so I thought I'd share the progress on the 4th gen. So far it's been a perfect vehicle and I'm having a lot of fun with it. It's got a lot of power and torque for the mountains and has done great on snowy roads and trails. Miles per tank is about the same if not slightly better than the 3rd gen and the added weight, what ever it may be (don't care), hasn't hampered it offroad. I did have a width issue on one trail but the 3rd gen wouldn't have made it either.

This first pic was the day after the lift. I didn't take any pre-lift measurements but the lift made it higher. Prior to the lift I had some rubbing in the front but that was taken care of with some fender liner realigning. Shown also are the Stubbs HD-SKO sliders I welded on.

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Another welding project was a bracket for my ARB compressor. I've had York OBA on my past two vehicles (17+ years) and it's great and hard to be without. I chose the dual compressor as it had the highest output and seemed reasonable from a size perspective. I wanted it under hood and had seen it mounted on the driver side online so I went at it. There is a larger pocket on the passenger side but I wanted to leave that spot open in case I decide to put a second battery or winch solenoid in that location.

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After the lift I received my CBI order of a front skid. No pictures here but it's a heavy piece of bent metal and it's on. It covers from just behind the bumper to the first cross member. I'm still running the stock transmission/transfer case skid but will make a new one out of the 3rd gen belly pan I kept.

[4x4mike]

In front of the CBI skid is my C4Fabrication low profile bumper. I went this route because I plan to run a winch in the future and I wanted another light bar. After having one on the 3rd gen I couldn't be without. Theft protection is as important as the light and this bumper does it all while retaining most of the factory bumper and aerodynamics. The bar is from ExtremeLED and is a 30" single row combo bar. C4Fab sells the bar and the cut out is especially for this model. Fit and craftsmanship is top notch on the bumper. It's very stout and just clean. I'm still working on a permanent license plate mount and hopefully what I have will keep me out of a ticket. Hopefully the red DMV paper in the window does the same. It showed up in the mail one day as DMV just recently found out the title changed hands.


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Another item on the list to take care of was a rear cargo shelf. I had built one for the 3rd gen and it ended up being a vital piece to our travel. I decided to build one out of 80/20 and while I have mixed feelings about working with the product it turned out pretty nice. In short it's just overkill for an item such as a shelf.
I covered the top of the 80/20 with sanded 1/2" maple ply and covered that wood with spray can bedliner for a tough less-slip surface. I also stuck on some LED strip lighting that plugs into the new dedicated rear USB outlets. The fridge slide is mounted to the floor and I utilized threaded holes that hold down the 3rd row seats. Fridge is plugged into a new dedicated 12v socket. Future additions to the shelf may include a pull out cutting board/work surface but I'm afraid it will be too high to use comfortably. I've got a cool idea in my head but might also see about connecting something to the fridge slide to work on.

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[paddlenbike]

Shelf and bumper look awesome!

[4x4mike]

Thanks. Thanks for the help with the 80/20 as well.

[RobG]

Looks Great Mike!

Is the fridge new? I don't remember seeing that before. Do you leave it in the truck all the time?

[4x4mike]

I've had the fridge for about a year and had a similar set up with the shelf in the 3rd gen. It's much taller and a bit wider and longer than the ice chest I used to carry so I had to make provisions. My shelf in the 3rd gen had two height settings and neither was tall enough for the fridge so I had to make new support arms. Now in the 4th gen I built the new shelf around the height of the fridge and I am getting used to the new storage space/area.

I should do a post about the fridge. I've talked myself in and out of one for something like 8 years and always sided with no. For no good reason I changed my mind and of course all of my concerns became real life but it only took a short time and a bunch of money to get used to. The fridge "just kind of showed up" and while my wife knows all about them I didn't really bother to try to sell her on one. One day into our first trip with it she told me she loved it which was awesome but little did she know there was a lot on my end to keep it powered, etc. It lives in the garage unplugged but gets used in both of our vehicles for day trips, tail gating and the kids sports, outside of longer trips (camping or not). It's been used in the house a couple of times, because I can, as well as in cabins and bear boxes. As such I've built in some portability to my system and it's been working out well.

The shelf has been great in both 4runners but ultimately its part of a system. This picture is from a trip we took to Corral Hollow and Slick Rock where we stayed in a friends cabin. Because we weren't camping we didn't have a lot of extra gear but I also didn't have what we did bring in bins or Action Packers. I'm not a fan of drawers for my use but the bins obviously contain and keep all of our crap organized. While this is far from ideal the shelf made things easier.

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[DHC6twinotter]

The 4Runner looks great, Mike! Does the 4th gen have considerably more interior space than the 3rd?

It's interesting to see no V8 emblem on the grill. I thought all V8 4Runners had a V8 emblem. Maybe I'm mistaken, or did you swap out the grill?

[RobG]

Never tough about a fridge in a bear box but we don't get up to bear country all too often. Love to see how that works, I'm thinking long extension cord?

So you are saying the fridge is well worth the money? I've been on the fence since my big trip last year, your opinion might just swing me.

Truck looks great!

[4x4mike]

The 4Runner looks great, Mike! Does the 4th gen have considerably more interior space than the 3rd?

It's interesting to see no V8 emblem on the grill. I thought all V8 4Runners had a V8 emblem. Maybe I'm mistaken, or did you swap out the grill?

The 4th gen is bigger in every dimension but not huge. My wife's 2012 Honda Pilot feels larger (wider and more interior room) but I'm enjoying the extra room in the 4th gen. The 3rd gen always felt crammed. I'd say I'm of average size but if I were any larger in any direction it would be very uncomfortable (that's what she said). The passenger area in the 4th gen is considerably larger (leg room, width, and height) which is so nice. When all 4 of us were in the 3rd gen it felt like a clown car and the first comment from anyone who rode in it that didn't have a 3rd gen would be about it's size. In short, the 4th gen is many many times more comfortable to sit in and drive. The seats are more comfortable and the increased width of the vehicle gives more room towards the door and a wider center console is nice for both front seat passengers.

The cargo area is also larger. I have the 3rd row option but have the two seats removed. The 3rd row option has a different floor and rear interior plastic but I don't think it cuts down on space. The largest difference is the floor as a portion of the seat mount to it. The rear (middle) seats are also different since they have to tilt forward for passengers to get in the back. The major bonus to this is that the rear (middle) seats recline. This is almost standard in vehicles now and my kids like it. The 3rd gen middle row had very upright seating and the few times I was a rear passenger was less than desirable.

The emblem. It's supposed to have the emblem but it wasn't there when I bought it. The grill is stock for the '07 SR5 trim. I can see where it goes (or was) and I figure someone swiped it prior to me owning it. I might pick one up but it hasn't been high on the list. Before too long I'll do plugs, wires, and filters so I'll probably poke around Camelback and see if it's worth it to throw it in the cart. The extra 10 hp would be fun.

[4x4mike]

Never tough about a fridge in a bear box but we don't get up to bear country all too often. Love to see how that works, I'm thinking long extension cord?

So you are saying the fridge is well worth the money? I've been on the fence since my big trip last year, your opinion might just swing me.

Truck looks great!

Man, I looked everywhere for the picture of it in the bear box but couldn't find it. Picture a brown bear box with an ARB fridge in it and you'll get the idea. On that trip we were staying in brand new Forest Service cabins and they only had heat. No water or power. I didn't want the car cut open like a tuna can, or be THAT guy, so I played by the rules. I never used a huge ice chest and I'd say the fridge, while tall, is about the size of ice chests most people use.

You'd have the weigh the benefits between an ice chest and a fridge to determine if it's worth the money. I'm not made of it so for me it was expensive, as were the items I chose to buy to support it. Sure it's nice but I never had issues with an ice chest for up to 5 days, even in the summer. The fridge does add convenience in some areas but takes away in others but again it's personal.

Off the top, cons. They are large, they are heavy, they are expensive, they require power and they create heat.
Pros. No ice or soggy food.

I had a good system with regular ice chests without soggy food and for trips less than 5 days I never really needed to find ice. If the above cons aren't an issue they might be a good choice. I will add that I did purchase additional items to support the fridge for my use. In the end I paid about as much for these items as I did the fridge.

For one I had to reconfigure the cargo area. This required the building of new shelf legs. I bought a slider as well as heavy duty 12v sockets and 8g wiring for each of our vehicles. To supplement the vehicle power I built a new solar charged battery box. There is an old post on UY about these. This one is my 4th and it contains a 55ah AGM battery and Victron charge controller with Bluetooth. It can be powered with any of my mobile solar panels but I mostly use my 100w flexible panel that I attach to the roof or roof basket with large magnets. The magnets are mounted in the corners and allow easy on and off between our two vehicles, attaching to bear boxes or removal to catch the sun on the horizon. The nice thing about the flexible panel is that it is super thin and you can't see it from standing on the ground on either vehicle. The magnets also hold it in place while driving. The battery allows me to operate with the vehicle off, without fear of draining the starting battery, or away from the vehicle.

Again I should do a post about the fridge and how I run it. When I got it I did a bunch of research and everyone has their own method.

[RobG]

Thanks Mike. My cooler is working OK right now so I think I can postpone the fridge. I didn't realize all the support elements needed.

[4x4mike]

In a quest to get the 4th gen setup similar to how the 3rd gen was I had to get a hatch light installed. The 3rd gen had a home brew CREE LED powered by a 700ma current limiting driver. These LEDs were mounted on a heatsink and installed in a housing out of an old S-10 Blazer that had an integrated switch. One thing I never liked about the housing was that the lens was very diffused.

Fast forward to the 4th gen. A hatch light is very useful as it not only lights up the cargo area of the 4Runner but also the area behind it. This is useful when working out of the back of the vehicle but also for loading and unloading. I decided to use a KC Cyclone light. They are self contained, bright and very tough. The form factor is small and slim which is nice as there is a lot going on in the hatch behind the plastic.

KC states these lights put out 516 lumens and pull a max of 0.42A (input is 6V-16V so I'm sure 516 and 0.42 came from 16v). I metered mine at 0.28A with the engine off. Overall I'm really happy with the light output and the install was very simple. Vintage UY user RunAmok runs his own company, Adventure Wired, and made the switch from a 3rd gen to 4th gen like me. We exchanged emails and he sent me some wiring info that made powering this light very easy, almost plug and play after I cut the plastic.

I counter sunk the light and mounted switch in the access door located in the hatch. This allows for easy in and out if need be and keeps me from botching a larger piece of interior plastic. Final price is about the same if not less than a home brew model if I went that route. These lights are less than $30 on Amazon which makes them reasonable for their output and use. I want to do rock lights on the 4th gen and may consider the Cyclones. The cost will be a bit high but the output will be amazing. I just need to figure out if I need that much light.

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[Seanz0rz]

Love the light! I really like those Cyclone lights but the price has kept me from going for it. I guess I'll just have to save up my pennies.

[4x4mike]

Yes they are expensive for what they are but also they are also a very well built, small and weather proof light that is cheaper and more robust than something than I could put together. This was a selling point for me knowing I was going to put something there anyway. Plus it was only one light. Now I know I'll only have to do it once and never have to deal with it. That hasn't been the case with my other lights. My 3rd gen had a driver go out on a dome a long time ago and the first version of the 3rd gen hatch light over heated and turned orange so I had to rebuild.

If I use these for under body lights it will be after other more needed mods and maintenance. I'll also have to fully consider all my other options. I've looked into some but haven't been impressed. Building a set is just barely beating out the cyclones.

[Seanz0rz]

That's pretty much the conclusion I have come to. I think I will probably do rock lights on the LX first, as they are super nice when camping and we take that camping much more than the 4Runner. I don't do much night wheeling anymore (for obvious reasons), so the "rock" lights are really more "camp" lights.

I would also probably build some Lexan shields for whatever I put underneith, if nothing else than to protect the lenses from being sand blasted. Lexan can be replaced fairly easily and inexpensively, especially compared to replacing an entire light.

[4x4mike]

In a quest to outfit the 4th gen like I had the 3rd gen I needed to build a roof rack/basket. I sketched up an idea in my head and bought some steel a month or so ago. Here and there I had some time to cut and stick it together and finally got it up and on.

The idea was to build another low profile platform to hold a bunch of different things. Honestly most of my rack usage is for bringing things home from Home Depot but I also carry bikes, skis, firewood, Rotopax, TredPros and a solar panel. With the 4th gen being larger than the 3rd gen I had the opportunity to make the rack a little longer and able to carry all my stuff a little easier without stacking it on top of itself.

I copied an idea I found online for the platform and feet. I never saw his stuff in person but it wasn't hard to get the pieces to fit together. Keenan Offroad Fab (http://www.keenanoffroadfab.com/product/coming-soon-low-profile-roof-rack-4th-gen-4runner-03-09) makes a platform but at $400 plus shipping I thought I could do better and make it the size I want. Material wise I'm into my platform for $200 and that includes paint and hardware.

I bought all my stock in 10 foot pieces which kept my waste to a minimum. The outer frame is 6' by 4' and the three runners (C-channel) are each 1/3 of 10'.

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The idea was to make mounting pads so that I could mount some left over Yakima feet and cross bars to the rack, similar to the cross bars I had made for my last rack. This would allow me to mount all of my Yakima accessories to the rack but also give me cross bars for for lumber, boats and even an RTT if that were to happen down the road. Being removable I only need to mount the crossbars when I need them. I welded tabs onto the runners for the Yakima feet and closed in the bottom of the platform with expanded steel.

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Before I painted everything I added tie down points, NMO antenna mounts and spots to mount my lighted whip and sand flag if I need them down the road. I'll probably make a small wind deflector as I get a little noise at 70+ on the freeway but I'm just happy this is on the 4Runner and out of my garage.

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Another reason for the rack is that it acts as a mounting point for my awning. I made some brackets but need to burn them in and toss some paint on them before I get final pictures. These should keep the awning high and tight which I prefer to hanging out too far.

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[4x4mike]

Brackets are done and painted. I think they turned out really nice considering they were drop cuts from the steel supply shop.

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[YotaFun]

Been lingering watching the build Mike, its turning out fantastic!

[4x4mike]

Thanks. 4th gens were never my thing but I'm liking this one a lot. I've all but forgotten the 3rd gen although she was good to me.

Actually she pops up every once in awhile. About once a week I'll park and try to take the key out without putting the transmission in park by habit after driving the 5 speed.

[4x4mike]

Welp, poop.

We had a fantastic four days in Yosemite last weekend. Fun little trip to see the sights and the fall colors. The 4Runner did great although most of our travel was on paved roads. Things were running great and as always I was happy to make it home in one piece. Fast forward to yesterday and my couple mile trip home from the park and ride.

About a 1/2 mile from the house I got a whiff of coolant and at the same time heard my Ultra Gauge (which lives under the front seat) beep. My first thought was, "Sucks for someone next to me, they smell hot." That was until I scanned the instrument cluster real quick and saw the temp needle pointing at a red H. I rolled into my driveway, checked the Ultra Gauge and shut her down.

Default max temp for the UG is 235*. I need to look through all the instructions for that thing because as far as I know it's still configured for the 3rd gen. Either way I was unaware of the max temp setting but I'm glad it was there to alert me. My temp hit 237* on the UG in my driveway just before shutting it off. When I climbed out there was coolant pouring out the bottom of the truck at a good rate. I popped the hood and went inside to change out of my bike clothes as this had the makings of a long night.

The wife took the kids to soccer while I stayed home and filled my eye sockets and hair with hot coolant. I looked and looked and couldn't really tell where it was coming from. The overflow reservoir was about empty with no broken hoses. The upper and lower radiator hoses were intact as were the coolant lines that run through the oil filter adapter. Even after pulling the skid plate I couldn't get my seemingly giant head where I needed it nor an inspection mirror. I filled the radiator with water and the gushing continued. Coolant/water was spilling out above the oil filter from what seemed the block under the driver side head.

Looking up the oil filter onto where it attaches to the block. Coolant was flowing down from above this point.
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While things cooled down and I put some food in my face I called Slimscherer as he had recently had some dealings with a thermostat on his 4.7. I caught him on a bike ride sporting lycra and shaved legs but he pointed me in some helpful directions. I also jumped on the internet and phone only to find shops closing up for the day. I've racked my brain and I can't remember a time I had the 3rd gen in a shop other than a tire shop. I spent a lot of time and money on that thing but I was able to tackle all the projects, with the exception of some machine shop work for the rear axle bearings, by myself. As such I called Adam for a Toyota shop as he's had his 4th gen and 3rd gen in for larger services. These are services I never did on the 3rd gen and I feel I was lucky I didn't strand myself as there were some high ticket items that were due to be replaced. They were also the reasons I sold the 3rd gen as I didn't want to put money into a vehicle I was potentially going to replace.

Anyways, I had the 4th gen towed from the house to a local Toyota only shop that I had heard about since I was a kid. Adam had spent a lot of money there and had good things to say about them so I had her loaded up.

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When the flat bed pulled up my son was all kinds of interested. It was big, loud, and full of strobing LEDs. Under different circumstances I would be just as excited as he was but I knew this was going to be a costly repair for me. The tow driver saw my sons look and asked him if he liked tow trucks. I asked the driver if he had heard of Ron Pratt on Youtube and he said yes with a big smile. I told the driver that my son and I watch Ron's videos and that we really enjoyed them. My son was embarrassed but the driver said, "Well then of course you must know how to operate a tow truck. Why don't you run that lever right there when I tell you when." After hooking up the chains the driver let my son pull the 4Runner up the ramp of the flat bed. He was pretty excited and proud to say the least.

[4x4mike]

After getting home from dropping the 4Runner off I was able to PM toyotech and do some other research. Everything was pointing to the water pump and I guess if they don't weep they go pretty bad. At least the factory installed ones. It doesn't seem super common but the ones that do this go at about 90k (I'm at 92k) and their factory replacements last at least twice as long. That's good to know, I guess.

A call this morning from the shop confirmed the bad WP. Since they were in there they and I decided to have the timing belt, tensioner, tensioner adjuster damper and idler bearings replaced as they were or would be due very soon. I also had them do the drive belt, belt tensioner, pulleys, thermostat and gasket. Time and resource wise I couldn't pull this off by myself. It was stuff on my to do list but half of it still required research and parts gathering not to mention the 2-4 days, beer, and bashed knuckles. In the end it was expensive, $1000 for labor and $600 for parts (give or take), but it was done in 10 hours. I took the day off as I was on kid duty and they had a minimum day and soccer practice.

Today we had some very heavy, unseasonal thunder showers with lots of rain. It hasn't rained here since the spring so of course the roads were super slippery and traffic was a mess. I was taking it slow as I didn't want to ball up a brand new water pump and belts and I was treated with a bolt in the tire.

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Right now it seems that if it's not one thing it's another. Pulled into the drive way and within a few minutes I had it pulled and plugged. Tomorrow is a new day and I look forward to it.

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[RobG]

Mike,

Sorry about your troubles glad things worked out as well as they did. Never heard of a water pump doing that before.

Your story writing is great had me thinking the worst was about to unfold.

Hopefully the next 100k willl be trouble free.

[Seanz0rz]

Bummer about the WP. My 3rd gen went South in the driveway while parked, or at least right before I parked it. My 100 was weeping, I just replaced it out of an abundance of caution.

[4x4mike]

I'm pretty sure mine never weeped. I gave it a once over before and after Yosemite, mostly because I've got a trail repair going on a cv boot, and never saw or smelled anything.

[YotaFun]

Mike,

Bummer on the water pump.

I have come to blame the newer super long life coolant (pink) that Toyota uses now for the failure water pumps. It is thinner then the Toyota red and I feel lacks what the Toyota red had to keep the seals in check. Theory in my mind, but when my water pump started to weep in the Camry, I put some red into the system till the new pump arrived and the leak stopped...
Some guys at the shop would do that on there personal cars too till they felt to getting around to replacing it.

Glad its all fixed up, don't have to worry about it for another 100k!

[4x4mike]

I'll have to remember that. It's filled now with Toyota Pink but I thought the "pink" and "red" were the same thing. Good to know.

Edit: Can I run "red" now? Will my seals and WP hold up to it or should I stick with the pink?

[YotaFun]

I would just stick with the pink, won't have to worry about changing it out for another 100k unlike the red.

[toyotech]

Red needs to be mixed with water
Pink is already premixed with distilled water

Pink is super long life while red isn't probably because no one uses distilled water for the mix

[4x4mike]

Good to know, thanks.