MStudt's 01 SR5 Build

We've been lurking around for awhile, but never had a reason to start a thread until now. Our hopes are to build our new (used) 01 4runner into something that is more camper and forest road friendly then our old vehicle.

As it sits now:


The 4runner needs some work from the get go. For starters it needs new exhaust since the tail pipe rusted off at the muffler. The brakes are pretty well toast, along with the stock suspension. The radio does not work since the antenna seems to have been ripped off, cd portion cuts out, and we don't own any cassettes. It through a couple codes on the way as well, P0440 & P0442. The 4runner is an 01 with close to 115k on it; we're the second owner.

This information is being copied from another forum.

 

Project for the weekend, hopefully everything goes smoothly.

 

First things first, band clamps absolutely suck! Now I know, save time and weld it the first time. All in all things went pretty smooth with the install. I still have some tweaking that I'd like to do. I was thinking about ditching the tail pipe and just dumping it. Any of you have experience with this, is it something you're glad you did?

On to the install:
I started by cutting the inlet fitting off the muffler since the outlet had already fallen off.



Cleaned up


Welded up



Had some extra day light left, so I decided to go ahead and remove the running boards. Looks a lot better without them!

 

Lets more on to the next project. I know it's not the best head unit in the world, but it's better then the non-working one we currently have. I'll start on this tonight, and hopefully finish it tonight. There is nothing to installing these, pretty straight forward.

 

Started getting some interior work done today. The is to order our suspension this coming Friday and install it the first weekend in October.

I was able to get some work done on the beginning stages of the sleeping platform. I'm building two individual drawers with a small opening in between for something (don't know what yet).

Started by removing the backing on the seats.


Seat backs are out, and so are the cushions (just no picture).


We took the rear seat completely out since this is going to be a dedicated camping car. We also doubt there will ever be a passenger riding along with us, and if by chance there we'll figure that part out.

Two pieces of wood the same size, one for each side.


We started by using the cargo mat as a template for the wheel well opens.


Four side were cut to the same length and pocket drilled with a Kreg Jig.


Both bottoms cut and fitting the sides to them, as well as the back.


Both compartment in place. I plan on building a small box in between the two halves.


The overall height of the platform is going to be roughly 5-3/4" with 4-1/4" drawers. With the drawer roughly being 16" wide and 40" deep. The trick is going to find drawer slide long enough to support drawers that long. Hopefully I get some more done this week.

 

Not as much progress as I hoped for from today. Still though, I was able to get more done, and will be back at it tomorrow.

I have no pictures of this, but I added an extra 1/2" of sheathing to the bottom of my drawers. With as long as they are, they sat on the lip just behind where the back seats were. Without the extra 1/2" there was a nice gap under the drawers and the carpet. After adding the extra sheathing, it pretty much leveled out the back end.

Fitting the drawer slides, both sides were the same so I'll just show one of them.


First drawer is done, both are the same as well.


First drawer in place.


First drawer opened.


Drivers side in place.


Both in place, and open they open just about the right distance.


Tomorrow I'm hoping to install two PVC tubes between the drawers and work on the section where the back seats were. At this point I have spend $0 on the entire platform. Hoping to complete the entire at no cost to me, with the exception of carpeting for the top.

 

The next section is finished and in place. Now I'm ready to start the last section behind the front seats. The section I just did is cut to fit snugly against the drawer boxes in the rear. This box is most likely going to store our trekking poles or some other longer items.

The finished box.


Test fit.


Test fit, with the next bottom section in place.

 

The final section is almost done. I decided to go with driver and passenger side boxes on this one. Both of these will most likely be hinged, but still not 100% sure. I'll skid the box building part since this is starting to get picture heavy.

The finished box. Two boxes, but only one platform.



Section in place.



I was really hoping to get 72" out of the platform but oh well. I'll have to make a removable piece to cover the last few inches.


I want to make a support section that goes under the lip on the box. It'll add support between the box and the floor behind the front seats. If anyone needs measurements or more information on what I've done feel free to ask.

 

So I made the main support going across the front of the box, and two small pieces for the sides. I need to do some leveling and shimming on the front. Everything seems to be pretty close from front to back, but I'm going to give it a once over to double check.

Made a template from some old cardboard I had.


Copied the template, started cutting, and ended up with this.


Did the same thing for the sides.



Of course I still need to make lids and tops for everything. Once that is done I'll be carpeting everything to match the original carpeting that inside.

On a side note, does anyone know if I still need working seat belts in the rear if the seat are removed? I'm only wondering for state inspections. I remember reading somewhere that all original seat belt locations must be working regardless of if there is a seat present or not. Of course that was in PA, and I'm in MO.

 

I have about 2 weeks to get everything finished up on the 4runner before we head to Utah for Christmas. With all the snow on the ground right now, that kind of limits me to what I can do on the exterior. So, I've been working on carpeting the sleeping platform today. I must tell you, that carpeting this platform is really bringing back my speaker box building days.

 

I finished carpeting the platform over the weekend. I think it turned out pretty good, although the color doesn't match as nicely as I was hoping. I'll try ti get some pictures of the platform in the car this week. We had talked about finding a 2" futon mattress that we could cut down to fit, but that was impossible to find on a budget. Next, we thought about finding a couple chaise lounge chair cushions to fit in the back; yeah no. We ended up scoring a couple Everlast Exercise Mats that are 2'x6' and 1-5/8" thick. Someone left these in the back of my wifes Jeep and forgot we had them.:noidea:

 

I also got the platform finished and my new sleeping pads in.

 

Here are a few more pictures from our trip to Grand Staircase-Escalante in southern Utah.

A few poser shots.




And, a few slot canyon pictures.

 

Been collecting parts for a couple months, and haven't had time to do anything with all of it. This weekend I'll be trying to get some of this stuff put in.

Brand new NAPA lower ball joints, $25 on eBay.


Power inverter, wiring kit, and fuse.


Battery powered led light strips on the left. I got a power bank to run them with on the left. The power bank can be used to run these lights, charge iPods, cell phones, and camera.


New 6-3/4" front speakers, and 5-1/4" rear speakers.


New bug guard and window rain guards.


Got some other things going on as well. I still need to build my skids but I can't seem to find anytime to run by to grab the steel I need. I'm also making some new sway bar links that I'm pretty excited about.

 

Toytec doesn't mess around! Ordered my stuff on Saturday and it showed up today. To bad I have to wait until next Saturday for the install though.




Also did a little wheel shopping, and the wife picked out these.

 

The lift and diff drop were finally finished today. I still need to extend the rear brake line later this week.

 

Mr. UPS dropped these off!



Just had to roll one up to the 4runner.


Maybe tomorrow will bring less rain and I can get them put on!

 

Finally the rain stopped and I was able to get the tires on. These are Falken Rocky Mountain ATS II tires (same as WIld Peak), on American Outlaw Buckshot wheels.

 

Tonight I started on my CB install; nothing to hard about this.

Of course pull the center counsel off.


Next I removed the ashtray and cut out the back of the ashtray mount.


This step is what most opt not to do. I removed to the top of the CB housing and drill a couple holes in it. The holes on the housing are matched with the screw holes for the ashtray mount.



Finally, use the ashtray screws to mount the top CB housing. Carefully slide the CB into the open, and screw back together.


I'll have the install done this Sunday and will post up some pictures then. I'm also replacing the stock dash lights with LED's as I do this install.

 

I was able to get some of my LED's done last night. For those of you that are thinking about changing some of your dash lights to LED's, be careful. It seems that a few different years of the 3rd Gen's do not have the same style bulbs as others. My 01 is going to be different then a 99 and 00. I'm starting off with the shifter, rear window, ECT, and climate control buttons for now.

You need to remove the center section of you console. I'm not going to explain how to do this since most of you should already know how.

I didn't take a picture of this but the shifter bulb is on the wire in red, and bulb is located around where the yellow is. Just turn it counter clockwise and pull it out. (#74 LED)


Next, pull the knobs off the climate control, and also remove the cover plate. They both should just pull right off, nothing tricky about it. Take out the 3 screws marked in red and disconnect the 2 plugs in the back.


Remove the three screws in red and remove black cover.


Remove the 3 bulbs marked in yellow. No need to remove the 4 screws marked in red unless you have issues with the bulb to the far left. (NEO4-W)



I then replaced the ECT and rear window LED's. Remove the 2 bulbs marked in yellow (might be difficult to get out). NEO3-WHP



Now just put everything back together. I'll try to get the instrument panel LED's tonight and give another write-up on those.

 

I was just able to finish up the instrument panel area of the install. I'll get some pictures when it's a little darker out.

I started by removing the lower part of the dash. The screws I had to remove are marked in red.



Next I removed the section that's covering the key ring. I gently pulled in te bottom right corner to get it loose.


Once the cover is off there is a small white plastic pin thingy that holds the surround on, pull it out. Once it is removed you can slide the surround off and change the bulb (sorry no picture). (#74 LED)


Remove these two screws to loosen the trim around the instrument panel itself. Pull aside.



Remove the four screws and disconnect plugs to remove the instrument panel.



Now remove these six screws to be able to access the bulbs (bulbs are in yellow). I used #74 bulbs for the 2 blinker bulbs.


The two lower yellow squares are for the blinkers. (#74 LED)
The far left, far right, and upper middle yellow squares are for the speedo, tach, and 4wd. (#24 LED)


Used these for the speedo and tach bulbs.


LED bulb chart I wish I had when I started this swap.


Have any questions feel free to ask.

 

Was a busy weekend to say the least. Did some camping Friday night, 8 mile hike Saturday morning, and working 4R stuff the rest of the weekend. I was able to install my Yakima rack, and I'll get some pictures up later. The only other thing I got done was my skid plate. I've been eyeing the Savage Skids for a long time now, and I decided to make one.

This is what I was going for.


This was the template I made, and made some slight changes to it.




This is what I ended up with. Still need to drill some holes and smooth everything out.





I still need to do all the finishing touches on it, but it looks pretty good.

 

Finally got around to getting the first section mounted last night. I drilled some 1-1/2 holes in the sides, primed it, and sprayed it. I've got the template for the next section finished, and will be working on that section this weekend.

 

The second piece is almost finished. All the welding is done, and now I just need to paint it. Got it finished just in time since I leave in a day for the Lone Star Jamboree. Here's a teaser of it.



And another.


Not sure if I'm going to have enough time to get this painted tonight. I'll probably just run it bare until I get back from Texas. I'll get some pictures of it mounted up tonight.

 

This is just a quick write-up on the Andy MOD 2.0 using a real TRAC Off switch from a Toyota Avalon.

I want to start by thanking four members. Without their help, I would not have been able to make this happen.
[MENTION=59733]98OzarksRunner[/MENTION] [MENTION=60096]sportrunner2001[/MENTION] [MENTION=76627]nor_cal51501[/MENTION] [MENTION=92047]v3bahumut[/MENTION]

Like many other members, I want to keep the stock interior look as much as possible. I started out by using a Toyota Avalon factory TRAC Off switch that I picked up from a fellow member.


This switch is normally open, and needs to have a relay to operate it. I picked up a 5 pin BWD R3074 relay from my local Autozone.



I then cut the red wire with the black trace for the Andy MOD 2.0. From here I used butt connectors on each end of the wires to extend them about 12" to the relay. This is a basic drawing of the wiring outline for the relay. These wires are run to 87A and 30 on the relay.



From here I used 86 as my power and 85 as my ground. My power is coming from an open spot on the fuse block under the dash on the drivers side. With the ground being directly below (picture shows it halfway cut off).



I have the main power from the fuse box running into the TRAC Off switch, and out to the relay (86). You can see the four wires all hooked up here.



I then mounted the relay to one of the screws used to secure the gauge cluster.



Next, I ran the wires to the location on the dash I used.




This is the final result. You can see that I moved the security module to another location. I swapped the security module and the CDL switch. Now I have the TRAC Off and CDL side by side.

 

This past weekend we spent some time at the Lone Star Jamboree in Gilmer Texas, and a night on the Buffalo just outside of Yellville Arkansas. Lone Star was a blast, but that red dust started getting to us, and remote camping was calling. Here are some pictures from the trip.

Lined up and heading to Clyde's Ravine.


One Clyde's Ravine








Buffalo River camping

 

Great thread. Your rig is really turning out nice!

 

damn. im impressed. Great craftsmanship and the 4runner looks great! Nicely done.

 

Thanks

Thank you. Been thinking about redoing the platform since I does weigh a lot.

 

Awesome. Great work!!