willhaman21's 3rd Gen Build Thread

This build is gay

 

That would be a killer combo with the Kings up front and Fox in back. Just a heads up, that lower mount for the Tacoma is different compared to our 4Runners, so you'll have to replace the bushings with those. My roommate's had a sleeve when we installed Fox in the rear of his taco, and they mount with a through bolt instead of onto a stud like the 4runners. IIRC I didn't have to change out anything when I installed them, just trimmed down the bushings a bit to fit better. I love the combo in back though.

Thank you! This thing is a labor of love... it's my baby.

You already know that's the only way I roll.

 

mine?

 

@ramonortiz55 Making some edits, see below.

Going on week 4 in the garage, and still haven't gotten to reinstalling the front end parts. With midterms the last two weeks in a row, it's been pretty slow going. However, I did get the Icon's rebuilt, and took a ton of pictures, so I'll post up my writeup on the whole ordeal:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/icon-vehicle-dynamics-2-5-coilover-rebuild.515362/#post-16262719

I had originally posted this in my build thread, but it was just wayyy too much clutter for this thread, and not really what I wanted in my build. For those of you that are interested, head on over and check it out! Disclaimer, I am not a professional, and I do not guarantee that everything I did was proper or perfect. However, this works well for me.

Now to go slave away on the damn 4Runner and hopefully getter done before this weekend hits!

 

I guess I haven't been on TW in a while! I wrapped up the front end rebuild on November 23, I want to say the mileage was damn near 233,400 miles. Here's a list of everything that was done during the rebuild:

• Steering rack (AAE)
• Steering rack bushings (Energy Suspension)
• Inner tie rods (AAE)
• Outer tie rods (OEM)
• Lower ball joints (OEM)
• Lower control arm bushings (Whiteline)
• Alignment cams (OEM)
• CV axles (Napa)
• SPC Light Racing upper control arms
• Toytec extended brake lines
• Rebuilt Icon coilovers to extended travel
• Front axle drained and refilled with Mobil 1
  $29 75W-90 Synthetic Gear Lube - 1 Quart (Pack of 2)
  75W-90
• Brakes power bled by Toyota of Butte

Some other miscellaneous while in the garage:

• Removed Spidertrax 1.25" wheel spacers
• Installed Fat Pat's 0.5" body lift
• Gray wire mod
• Removed the light bar, replaced it with some Baja Designs XL Sport

Still on the to do list:

• Replace fender flare clips
• Trim fenders and flares
• Paint the flares with Monstaliner
• Paint and install Stubbs Welding rock sliders

I also bought a new camera around the same time, so enjoy some of the nice new pictures.

 

Holy cow, looks like I haven't updated this thread in over a year... Time to play lots of catch up!

Not much happened last spring, but we did take the rig for a trip to Moab in March. We were crunched for time, so I only got to spend one day wheeling and the other two days were spent exploring Arches and Canyonlands park. We only ran Hell's Revenge and Fins n Things, but it was a total blast, and the 4Runner did great!

20180402_103154 by Will Haman, on Flickr

20180329_075337 by Will Haman, on Flickr

The rest of the school year was an absolute blur due to SAE Baja. We scrambled, and somehow managed to get an awesome buggy out the door for competition. We fell short in a couple of events, but we were in the top half in the endurance race, and even placed 2nd in sled pull. We all learned a lot and had a ton of fun.

20180426_094926 by Will Haman, on Flickr

In May, I packed up my life into the 4Runner and a 6'x12' U-Haul trailer, and moved from Butte, MT to Boise, ID. Tossed a B&M transmission cooler on just to be safe before I hit the road, and everything went really smoothly. I was able to cruise at 70-72 in 4th gear on some flat sections, with steady transmission temperatures. I was pleasantly surprised.

20180531_125629 by Will Haman, on Flickr

I started work in June, so not much to update over the early summer. At this point, I was commuting back and forth to Butte every other week to visit my girlfriend/family and fly out for work training. The 4Runner saw lots of miles this summer.

In July, I found my rear shocks were leaking like crazy, so I ordered the seal kits and knocked out another rebuild. They're getting easier every time I do them now! Also managed to sneak away for along weekend trip to go hit the Beartooth Highway & Yellowstone on my way back to Idaho.

20180725_181339 by Will Haman, on Flickr

DSC_1658 by Will Haman, on Flickr

The next weekend, my buddy Miles convinced me to head out on another trip to Utah for some wheeling at Snowbasin, and camping outside of Logan. Had a good time as always!

20190111_081321698 by Will Haman, on Flickr

20190108_184343858 by Will Haman, on Flickr

SRQ Fabrications ran a big group buy on TheRetrofitSource headlight kits in August which I couldn't resist. Ordered Morimoto D2S 4.0 with Apollo 3.0 shrouds, 110mm LED switchback, and 50W ballasts. Knocked out my new headlights and hit the road the next day for Ouray with some buddies from college. We ran a bunch of trails over the weekend, but the big ones for me were Imogene and Blackbear. That trip was pretty amazing despite the 12 hour drive, and I can't wait to go back.

DSC_2209 by Will Haman, on Flickr

DSC_2335 by Will Haman, on Flickr

In September, I picked up a new daily and a new bike finally. 2006 Nissan Altima 3.5, and a 2010 Specialized Enduro. The bike has been awesome, I ride it weekly at least. The Nissan is another story... The PO didn't disclose broken timing chain guides, and I never heard it start cold before I bought it... So needless to say, it needs work.

2019-01-31_08-59-54 by Will Haman, on Flickr

DSC_3251 by Will Haman, on Flickr

November was a pretty big month for me. I graduated my work training program, and got to fly home for Thanksgiving with my girlfriends family. I finally got up the nerve to ask her to marry me, and she said YES! So I got my full time adventure partner position locked down.

20181123_085325498 by Will Haman, on Flickr

I guess I didn't do anything in October, because I don't have a single picture in my phone from that month... Weird. In December, I finally got to meet up with the legendary @m3bassman for the annual Boise ID Christmas Tree Run. Besides a couple of guys getting lost for hours, and having to recover multiple trucks from the icy snowpack, we had a great time. It was awesome meeting everyone.

20181202_145103557 by Will Haman, on Flickr

My now fiance graduated college in December as well, so I ran back to Butte to catch the show and meet up with our friends once again. On the way back, I developed a nasty vibration. It was teeth jarrring. I got home and drained all the diffs and transfer case just to be sure, and all looked fine. Of course one of the rear shocks was leaking again...

Anyways, pulled the driveshaft the next day, and sure as hell the rear U-joint was absolutely toast. Took it to Jim's Drivetrain Specialties in Boise, and they had it buttoned up for me all in a day. Awesome! Got it reinstalled and had the shock rebuilt that same evening.

20181209_194406 by Will Haman, on Flickr

2019-01-31_08-47-37 by Will Haman, on Flickr

Headed back to Red Lodge for Christmas with my family, and got to run Hellroaring Road while we were back. There was a surprising lack of snow, which was fine by us. I've never dreamed of making it this far up the road in December!

DSC_4306 by Will Haman, on Flickr

20190105_093035890 by Will Haman, on Flickr

January has been a long month so far. The 2nd weekend of the month, Ben @m3bassman had me over to finally do the timing belt and water pump jump on my rig. It was 30k overdue, but overall in great shape. Replaced with an aircabinman kit, plus OEM thermostat (way nicer than the kit one), OEM radiator hoses, and a Denso radiator (what a d*ck to install). Thanks for all who helped out on this one!

The next weekend we ran home for a long weekend to pick a wedding venue... another lovely 10 hour drive each way. Yay!

The following weekend, we got to go wheeling with the Boise crew once again, to the Owyhee reservoir this time. What a blast! My rig did awesome, and the trip went great all thanks to our fearless leader @m3bassman. I threw together a quick CB radio setup the night before we headed out with Ben's help, and @nateshrum offered plenty of critiques. Overall came out great.

20190128_082156285 by Will Haman, on Flickr

20190129_081152206 by Will Haman, on Flickr

So what's next for the truck? I have an ARB knockoff snorkel in the mail right now, I'm tired of the open intake after packing the airbox with mud last weekend... Hopefully redoing my entiring auxiliary wiring setup soon. Also looking to snag a winch and a hardshell RTT with my tax return $$ in the next couple of weeks!

Hopefully you all enjoyed the update, I promise I'll try to keep this thing updated now on a regular basis...

 

aliiive!!!

 

It's been a hot minute! I guess I should finally start updating this thing on a regular basis.

 

Time for my semi-annual update...

February: Finally wrapped up a project I have been working on since last spring... Rebuilding my Sawtooth Offroad Fab roof rack. This is a prototype that I got from Christian in exchange for my stock wheels, and it definitely needed some work. I don't have a ton of pictures of the progress, but I had a ton of fun learning.

Spent a bit of time back last April/May in CAD making all new brackets and cutting them on the school's plasma table. With new brackets, I built all new cross bars for the rack, with one more than in originally had for extra stability. Got the cross bars mocked in, filled all of the plasma scars on the cross bars and ground them out...

IMG_20180405_153803 by Will Haman, on Flickr

IMG_20180405_153810 by Will Haman, on Flickr

IMG_20180405_154526 by Will Haman, on Flickr

Cross bar tacked up. Never took pictures of it fully welded

MVIMG_20180406_183036 by Will Haman, on Flickr

And then I just kinda forgot about the project for a while. Ended up moving to Idaho after school in June, and it ended up in the shed.

IMG_20190207_112801 by Will Haman, on Flickr

Now that it's Feb, time to revamp. Step one was to finish the front cross bar. Christian was kind enough to let me come borrow his welder and finish the front mounts. Using a coupler nut and a machine foot from McMaster Carr, I had a half decent design... Drilled my holes in the side rail where everything needed to land, and we were set. Made a few adjustment cuts to the side rail and fairing to get a design more to my liking. Sanded off a TON of paint... and repainted.

IMG_20190208_211934 by Will Haman, on Flickr

IMG_20190208_204658 by Will Haman, on Flickr

IMG_20190208_233227 by Will Haman, on Flickr

Tada!

IMG_20190210_150201 by Will Haman, on Flickr

IMG_20190210_150621 by Will Haman, on Flickr

And on the truck...

DSC_4586 by Will Haman, on Flickr

 

Obviously, the next logical step after finishing your roof rack build is to... buy a rooftop tent!! Lol. Drive to Bend, OR to pick up this awesome Mt. Baker tent from the lovely team @CVT (thanks bobby!)

DSC_4624 by Will Haman, on Flickr

Camped outside of town that night, and it was quite eventful... Had some drunk neighbors start firing shots out of a handgun around 3 in the morning. We quick said f*** that, we're out. That's when we realized the beauty of the hardshell, our entire camp was packed and moving in less than 5 minutes, even in 10 degree weather.

Got out a couple more times in Feb and March, but nothing too wild. I did get a solid truck jump in, might have to try finding that video so I can post it up here...

00000IMG_00000_BURST20190303133602225_COVER by Will Haman, on Flickr

We ended up moving to a new house in early March! Yay my own garage space!!

DSC_4636 by Will Haman, on Flickr

Next stop, Moab!!

 

Late March is usually spring break for college kids, and my last year of school, we made the trek down to Moab for some nice weather and wheeling. Met up with Phoenix @blackflag_t4r on IG last year and had a blast; so I decided I had to go back this year... No spring break for me since I'm now a working adult, but I took three days vacation and boot scooted after work on Tuesday night.

Of course, the alternator died hauling a** through Salt Lake at 9:45PM... thank goodness there was an O'Reilly around the corner with an alternator in stock. Replaced in the parking lot, and after an hour or two of fighting it, I was back on the road. Camped out on the side of the road somewhere off Soldier Summit that night, listening to coyotes out running around the truck... Slept all of 4 hours before hitting the road again.

Early morning in camp outside Moab with @GregoryS10, Phoenix, Matthias (@1jzhilux on IG) and Cody (@gen3_limiturd on IG), it was time to rebuild the front axle on Matthias' whale, "Horton", after some spirited jumping in the dunes. Gregory and I caught up while the others put everything together. Once we were up and moving, it was off to Kane Creek to start the trip off right!!

DSC_4755 by Will Haman, on Flickr

DSC_4830 by Will Haman, on Flickr

DSC_4859 by Will Haman, on Flickr

Phoenix's truck is a beast. Makes me really want 35s, gears, and dual lockers... Eventful day on the trail. I was thankful for the snorkel, even though the airbox was cracked... found 2" of standing water in the airbox after the creek crossings, and a giant hole around one of the mounts. Drained the water, threw a rag in it, and made my way through the trail.

Day 2 was a bit worse weather, so we decided to hit a more mild trail that the guys without sliders could join on. Top of the World fit the bill.

DSC_4913 by Will Haman, on Flickr

I hardly took any photos because it was a sloppy mess, and my camera was fogging bad. Not the usual view you get at the end of this trail!! No huge damage, but we all hit skids hard. Gregory lost a tail light. I crunched my rear bumper. All in all a successful trail.

Day 3, the rest of the guys wanted to head back to MT early due to the weather, so Gregory and I stuck it out. Moved camp sites that night and found a great spot that we will hit again next year. Ran the quintessential Moab trails, Hell's Revenge and Fins n' Things that day. Not many pictures here either because my camera was accidentally in manual focus all day, and I missed most of the shots...

DSC_5093 by Will Haman, on Flickr

DSC_5086 by Will Haman, on Flickr

On day 4, we hit Arches and Canyonlands as any good tourists do. One more good night in camp with good food and drinks before waking up early to head home. Until next year!!

 

bish

 

April was a pretty dull month. After Moab, the roof was in pretty rough shape with lots of popping and creaking... I definitely assumed it was the tent, so I pulled it right away when I got home, but all was well. The rack itself just flexed too much, and it wasn't a good combo. So I ended up selling the rack locally for a song, and threw in an order for a Prinsu...

Found this weird April snowstorm while out adventuring one day near Idaho City.

DSC_5184 by Will Haman, on Flickr

First week of May we made the trek back to Montana for the rest of our friends' college graduation, and took a pit stop in Idaho Falls along the way! Added this gem to the truck.

DSC_5254 by Will Haman, on Flickr

Angie had a blast snow wheeling in the slushy spring snow. 10psi FTW!

End of May we decided a trip to City of Rocks was in store. @m3bassman agreed this was a good idea, so we hit the road on Sat morning for a nice relaxing trip.

DSC_5568 by Will Haman, on Flickr

DSC_5553 by Will Haman, on Flickr

DSC_5571 by Will Haman, on Flickr

Hardshell CVT gang.

Had a great day exploring the park, taking hikes, and bouldering on the rocks. This place is so freaking cool. Next morning we attempted to take the long way back to Boise, but found a bit of an obstacle at 7,000'...

DSC_5624 by Will Haman, on Flickr

Guess that means no high elevation for a bit longer... backed down, and only lost one skid plate along the way!! Took forever to air my truck up... I need a better air compressor. Thanks Ben for sharing your nice ARB air with me.

 

End of May and start of June are weird in betweener months... Not much good mountain wheeling or camping really. Desert is the next best option.

@m3bassman and I wanted to wheel, so we ran Lost Trail south of town. Battle of the wheel bases baby!! Note most of these pics are Ben's!

IMG_8202 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr

Ben's truck struggled a bit here since it was so tight. Few minutes of back and forth, he worked himself free. My shorter wheelbase was able to push through with one or two bumps.

DSC_5708 by Will Haman, on Flickr

Getting flexy... Thanks Ben and Kirsten for being my photogs!

IMG_8268 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr

This obstacle was a good test for me. Slippery water fall with loose dirt and some standing water, plus a top heavy truck... I failed at it quite a few times. More skinny pedal it is

IMG_8336 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr

Ben walked right up this one... Stupid long wheel base.

IMG_8359 by Benjamin Springli, on Flickr

All in all a great day. Ready to run this one again and give her hell.

 

Rest of June was mostly short little trips. Hard to beat an after work picnic up the Boise River for some fishing, beers, and good food.

DSC_5788 by Will Haman, on Flickr

Later that month I took a solo trip to the Wallowa Mountains since I had heard so much about them. So cool. I will be back again!!

DSC_5914 by Will Haman, on Flickr

DSC_5932 by Will Haman, on Flickr

July was a better month for wheeling trips...

 

Did that cooling fan work for the transmission cooler?

 

Still haven't finished that install... I've got the Painless harness all wired in, and the fan brackets built, just no time to swap the coolers around and build cooler brackets yet. We sold one of our cars, so 4Runner is back to daily duty, which makes everything a bit more difficult of course.

 

If @m3bassman picture included your 4runner, I would've voided his entry

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...mission-information-winners-in-post-4.634877/

 

Really like the progression of this build. Did you have to modify or cut the frame supports to fit that Shrockworks front bumper?

 

its okayish