Forest5speed

[JK13]

Howdy Yall,
For years I’ve been trying to lock down what in my mind is prime adventure-mobile and think I’ve got a good rig to pick this saga back up. Good a time as any to start a build thread, have somewhere to ask some questions and maaayyyybbeeee add some tech

But here’s how she sits
2000 4Runner
3.4 5-Speed 4x4
Elocker Rear
King coilovers up front, no idea the spring rates unfortunately. Adjustable king resis in the back. Mystery (stock late model 4runner possibly?) rear coils
305/70r16 Falken AT3dubbayas

Future plans:
Fj80 front axle
Front elocker
4.88s or 5.29s
Crawl box
Armor and f150 tank swap

 

[JK13]

The backstory:
Found Pirate4x4 back in highschool around ‘07-08 when I got my first vehicle, a stock ‘86 4Runner. 22re, auto…built that up over the next decade with knowledge from P4x4 and bought my w56/dual case setup from a member there. SAS, spartans f&r and 5.71s. Didn’t wheel it enough and couldn’t get it to pass smog after swapping in a rebuilt 22re and ended up trading it away

Always regretted selling it but scored a sweet green ‘98 a couple years later that I imagined being the perfect family rig, 3.4, 5 speed, 265’s and a solid platform to build off of.

Since I’m a millennial and like to take car pics I started an insta that was supposed to be like a photo album of family adventures with the rig and such and so started 4est5speed (cause its green, I like to cruise the forest and its a manual, I thought it was clever)

 

[JK13]

Well that 4Runner got totaled (twice actually) by my (ex)wife, so much for that plan…

Got a clean green ‘92 Cherokee that could continue the dream. 2wd 4.0 5speed, it was pretty cool

But it started having electrical issue and off it went.

Few years go by then I “stumbled” across this ‘99

Which admittedly was a bit of a hooptie, but it was pretty fun and fit the criteria (green, manual lol)
3.4, 5 speed from a 3.0 so pass drop case to a mini truck front axle on some low leafs. 4.30 and rear elocker.

Played around for a summer till I realized I didn’t wanna fix all the half ass shit on it and traded it off.

(Dat booty tho)

Last summer I ended up being able to pick up a super clean ‘99

Green, check
3.4, auto but whatever, solid platform to build off of and do trips with my boys

 

[JK13]

Till I got t-boned

But insurance paid me out hella good and I found the current rig in Wyoming. 2000, 3.4 w/ factory 5 speed, Kings all around w/ some dobinsons lexus LC coils or something like that, fresh clutch/timing belt/water pump, etc…dude put a lot of money into this thing but his wife went on a SxS ride and the rest was history

 

[RascoBuilt]

Did you have a write up on the first gen on pirate? I vaguely remember somebody swapping an engine in the street haha

 

[JK13]

Not me, but mighta used it for reference lol

Built a winch plate out of some beefy 6x6 angle drop from work

Survived the accident at least lol

 

[JK13]

 

[JK13]

Prior owner had this thing set up for a ton of extra weight so it honestly kinda rode like shit. Kinda wanted to lower it a bit cause the front CVs were hating life

Scored a bunch of mystery parts from a local 4x4 shop. Swung by to see if they had any stock coils laying around and dude said I could go dumpster diving in their scrap bin

Swapped some coils in the back that best I can tell off the paint marks are off a current gen 4runner. Supposedly net around an inch of lift, worked with the isolators/bumps in the back and fit in the buckets so they work!

Adjusted the kings to level it some and take the edge off those front cv’s. Found out unbolting the upper BJ from the UCA (SPC uppers) was a super quick way to get room to adjust the collars

Did that a half dozen times till I ended up with this

Which settled to this

Rides like a frickin dream now

 

[JK13]

Winch mounted up to new yota

Cut a little too much this time around, but oh well better access

Now I wish I cleaned up this part more, it was hidden before

Pounded down the pinch weld and trimmed the front enough for spirited around town driving.

Will have to check for clearance at stuff later

Rear needs some trimming for full stuff also but nothing too crazy.

Definitely dig the lower height though

 

[Penetrode Offroad]

Remind me to never ride in anything with you.

 

[JK13]

Starting a new job Monday, so figured I’d whip up a last little project for the yota

Only did one hot pass, the whole bumper is bolted all stock so figured close to same strength? We’ll see lol

Painted OD green

Tucks into the stock bumper cover nicely

 

[JK13]

Did some exploring

There’s potential for some gnarly shit on some of these dirtbike offshoots but being alone and out of cell service keeps me on the tame stuff for now. Super pleased with how it performs, though the elocker switch is temperamental so I gotta take a look at that

Edit: elocker switch just needs to be held longer

 

[JK13]

Hit up some dirt trails outside of Kuna

Let my oldest steer off and on for a little bit, his first time “driving” should be out wheeling

He loved it, says wheelin is much better when you’re the one driving lol he’s not wrong

Blew a brake line on my 3rd time hitting these little rocks (but the biggest ones on a trail here) so round 4 (back down again) was sans brakes

Its way gnarlier than it looks

Limped it just down shifting and using the ebrake into Kuna where the autozone didn’t have any toyota lines but the local Ace Hardware has m10 1.0 bolts

So running on 3/4 brakes for the time being, which honestly isn’t that bad with the 5 speed. Grabbed a stock replacement from a autozone in boise but I’m going to tryn get another longer braided line and keep the stock+bolt as trail spares. Probably swap out the line on my lunch at work this week but need to find someone to help me bleed the system.

 

[JK13]

Got the stock line on and brakes bled, stops great…but the abs light is on. I’m cool with no abs though, I’m sure its just an illusion but it feels like it stops better than before? Idk…I have an FSM so I can check the codes by jumping the diagnostics port under the hood but I don’t care too much right now.

I have a new clunk though, hopefully a buddy can help shake the car while I crawl around underneath but I’ll probably pull the swaybar first to eliminate that.

Update: yep, swaybar. No big deal 🤘🏼 after driving around with it disconnected the last couple days, it’s going to stay that way. The adjustable end links go on quick if I wanna pull over and put them on but it rides so much smoother this way. Between the cali rake and the extra body lean, its like my own little brophy truck, a brorunner if you will

I want to throw an crawl box in this thing so bad

 

[rattlewagon]

A driveshaft bolt will also work in a pinch to plug a brake line.

 

[Opiebennett]

Sweet ride!

 

[JK13]

A driveshaft bolt will also work in a pinch to plug a brake line.

That’s good to know! Thanks

Sweet ride!

I appreciate it!

 

[Bad Karma]

I keep a handful of these around, they work great.

Brake Plug M10X1.0 Double / Bubble Flare High Pressure Suitable

Bel-Metric sells metric hardware & specialty automotive supplies worldwide. Visit our website to purchase metric fasteners, nuts, bolts, screws, washers & more.

belmetric.com

 

[JK13]

Got the winch wired and spooled for this weekend

 

[JK13]

Went wheeling in Oregon last weekend 🤘🏼
1/2
Roadtripped out there with my boys for a funeral/family reunion outside Portland and took a couple extra days on the front end for some outdoor fun with the kids.

Left Boise late Halloween night after trick or treating and drove through the night to Bend, got there around 3am

Always love seeing this sculpture, dope metalwork

Hit up Cline Butte outside Redmond, OR on friday early afternoon. Didn’t take too many pics and didn’t do anything too crazy since it was just the 3 of us. It was a good warm up for saturday though. Cool spot, had a pretty big playground area with a seemingly endless amount of lines. Lots of easy trails with moto whoops that were fun for bouncing around the kids lol. The “moderate” trails were seemingly so for just having a lot of nuisance rock (like basketball size) on otherwise dirt roads.

Went to back up and accidentally ripped off my driver side rear mudflap/bumper trim

 

[JK13]

2/2
On Saturday, met up with crazybluerider and japerry at Tillamook State Forest

Big thanks to those guys for showing us around. Awesome dudes, definitely hope to wheel with them again sometime 🤘🏼

In true NW fashion, it was wet and muddy and about as much fun as you can have with your pants on.
We ran Happy Meal, University Firepower to Firebreak 5, Saddle Up, Dog Leg, then down Hogs Back to Archers Firebreak before heading back.

 

[JK13]

Key Takeaways:

-Wheeling with others is way more fun. I wouldn’t have tried half the trails we did solo and woulda missed out on a lot. Having two knowledgeable off roaders with us allowed me to push myself and the rig harder (plus having spotters (who know what they’re doing) is great) and I was able to learn a bunch.

-Airing down to 15psi was money. I was blown away by how well the Falken AT3Ws worked in those muddy rock gardens. I really need a way to air up so I can air down more often.

-I need body armor

Wish I woulda had time to weld up some sliders before the trip, but life happens fast. Not worried about the body damage this time, but I got lucky it wasn’t worse. More armor is high on my priority list cause I like functional doors on my DD 😅

 

[JK13]

 

[crazybluerider]

Key Takeaways:

-Wheeling with others is way more fun. I wouldn’t have tried half the trails we did solo and woulda missed out on a lot. Having two knowledgeable off roaders with us allowed me to push myself and the rig harder (plus having spotters (who know what they’re doing) is great) and I was able to learn a bunch.

-Airing down to 15psi was money. I was blown away by how well the Falken AT3Ws worked in those muddy rock gardens. I really need a way to air up so I can air down more often.

-I need body armor

Wish I woulda had time to weld up some sliders before the trip, but life happens fast. Not worried about the body damage this time, but I got lucky it wasn’t worse. More armor is high on my priority list cause I like functional doors on my DD 😅

I'm just glad your fuel tank still holds the correct amount of fuel. The last low 4 runner I ran the upper portion of firebreak 5 with ended up with a tank that held about 5 less gallons than stock.

If the doors still open the rockers are fine...