Nautical Blue Build Thread (Big Blue) - 60K mile review - lessons, regrets, etc.

I think it is fair to say that Big Blue is not a mall crawler anymore. We got her graduated from Moab after this trip and in another league now.

Ok, my take on Hells Gate is just take your time, throtle is your enemy on this obstable. Get in tune with the vehicle and feel the tires at all time. Listen to your spoter, don't rush anything, if you get in trouble, backup and reset. Your rig will get thru this and just take your time.


At the bottom - everybody ready.

Rear Locker on, ATRAC on. Going slow no issues.....

Right at the middle almost, I was cool and just keeping the hood level.

Going ok....

And then at the flexy section --- I got in trouble.


No problem though, I couldn't see crap at the top but knew my passenger was up. My poor wife freaked out and stop the pictures so focused on the spotting, which was the right thing to do. I have a video from the GoPro inside the 4R that I might upload later.

We corrected and went back and no issues - I wish...I really wish I had the damn swaybar disconnected , this would have been so much easier. Oh well, live and learn.

Blue got thru it, no issues.

At the of the trail, I was tired and exhausted from the long day, the heat. Blue took it in all directions on the first day . Here it is at the end of the day. The tires were beat and abused but held really well. Kudos to the Mickey Thompson Baja Boss, I can say these are better than the K02's and the Wildpeak.

 

On lessons learned - and super important to me and hope to many of you as well. SAFETY should be a priority when off-roading. Be prepared, overly prepared if you can. The idea is to have fun but being responsible and with the skills and knowledge to do so. Take a class, get input from others, and just ask as many questions as possible.

In my recent Moab trip, I offroaded with a local friend/expert, and he was able to show me some of the most critical areas and give me warnings and advice. I didn't want to mess up my rig, my trip and/or comprimise my safety and the one of my boss (wife) and others so was always be super careful. I know I will get a little grief for this picture but here is the local with his Jeep - 39's all-around, ready for battle with all that suspension/axle combo. This thing crawl up Hells Gate like nothing.



I had it in my head that the last thing i wanted to do in my vacation was to winch out my rig out of nasty trail and mess up the week.


I did get some minor damage which I will post separately shortly, but nothing bad at all. But the biggest lesson is: Don't put your safety at others at risk if you don't feel confident out in the trail. Not worth it all. Skip the difficult obstacle and keep going, nobody will say anything.

 

This post is related to the "Damage Report" and Lessons Learned from my Trip to Moab. In the grand scheme of things, the damage was minor but here are the pics and the lessons.

1. The rear bumper and muffler exit - this one is really on me. Departure angle my friend. I knew better going in that both the spare tire and the exhaust tip were going to be in the way. Lesson learned - deflate the spare tire as much as you can - if you want to run the spare underneath, and get rid of any exhaust tips or be ready to pay later.
2. The hitch cover took it hard as well. This was gone in no time. I thought of my friend @Borracho Loco - if I only had his hitch on my trip, man I would have conquer those rocks.
3. Tire damage and the protections rings. This was expected - I mean, we are in the middle of hard rocks / boulders, deep ditches etc. There was one time that I got out of the vehicle and I smelled rubber really bad. I thought I was doing burnouts for a while. But look, the equipment did its job so no issues there
4. The front bumper and the winch section took it hard as well. The factor55 lead piece got dislodge as I went straight into an obsticle without going at an angle. Oh well, this was then fixed later on with no issues I also got the tag all messed up. Later I was stopped by a state trooper outside El Paso saying I had no front tag. I got out and showed him. He let me go easy - He actually gave ma compliment on the 4R! Nice fellow that day.
5. The Skid Plates - These things really did their job. I got the middle pretty good and I lost one screw on one side, and got them reposition correctly later on. This is a must if you intend to run your 4R thru rocks and difficult terrain.
6. The BMC relocate kit that installed before the rig also came lose. But this was really more on bad installation on my part. The bushings inside the BMC were stacked up incorrectly and the rubber piece was hitting the metal washer constantly, this was creating and "Cracking" type noise. I was really worried that I had messed up an engine mount or some coil in the suspension but it turned out it was a washer chewing thru the rubber and hitting the metal every time.

In conclusion, I don't think the damages were that bad. We drove from Moab down to Scottsdale for about 6hrs, no major issues, but I didn't want to drive back to Houston from AZ with noises, and squeaky things, so I found me a special shop in Mesa, AZ while there and they took care of it. I will post this in a different post.

P.S. The feeling of driving the 4R back on the HWY - like nothing happened, especially after running the hell out of the poor unit thru rocks and difficult areas, really makes this unit so wonderful and reliable IMO. Kudos to the 4R.

 

So I closed the week in Moab by hitting this trail at Monitor and Merrimac - and headed down to Scottsdale.


And as we drove down to AZ, I started looking for Offroad shops in the Scottsdale/Mesa area and to my luck I found a good one which was also recommended by a friend of mine from CO. I ended up at Arizona Toy Pros in Mesa. Both Ben and Erick were able to inspect Blue and give me their feedback as to what I had messed up during my Moab outing. I thought initially that I had messed up one of the coils or the UCA's or something, but no, the cracking noise I was hearing was from the bushings on the BMC and the washers being out of place. They also gave me a new alignment, the rear passenger shock was very low on Nitrogen and they were able to fill that up. They also re-installed the skid plates and greased the SPC's and checked everything else, Oh, they adjusted the height on the front driver side and the truck was all level up front again. I was super pleased with their service and Blue was super happy and ready to drive back to Texas!

Highly recommend AZ Toy Pros.



My only and shouldn't complaint anymore really, is that my MPG throughout was 12.6 . But you know, the 4R got me thru the trails, got me back to Texas safe and sound. This might be a forever truck for me. Haven't decided yet but thinking that way for now. What you all think?

 

What do I think? That you should have let me know that you were going to Moab. I'd have kept you company. Would be cool to see 2 Nauti Blue 4R's running together.

Video of my 1st time up Hell's Gate. SR5, no locker on 275's. Of course the magic of A-TRAC was on.

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipM-SMtyoL1eN6Wngk-mJae_tFR8kee4TnF9G3Ic

 

Next year for sure! I really wanted to go to Top of the World but I just ran out of gas really. But for sure, if I go back, I will let you know!

 

Cool. The Mrs. retires next spring and wants to do some sight seeing. Whether she goes to Moab will be up to her. But I'm in.

 

Love those Moab trail pics . Did you ever use MTS on the trail ?

 

Thank you!

No, I didn't use any of the MTS features or the auto crawl control thing. I was at all times on 4Lo and had ATRAC on. I only used the locker when I couldn't get thru an obstacle. I'm on the old school of turning off the locker and just leaving it off as soon as the obstacle is done and just keep going thru the trail.

 

Blues' driver is learning the hard way what departure angle is all about when offroading. I got this thing so smashed up against the bumper that I got two holes in it.
I cut it
And here is where we are...

Good news is....my excuse for the rear bumper is finally getting support and traction.

 

Blue is going to get a bumper for Xmas. We are in the process of "specifying" and designing this system. In the meantime, I got a little piece welded on whatever was left of the exhaust.

 

Speaking of exhaust locations, I’ve been thinking of something like this.

only on my bumper’s side skirt so maybe not as high up as this one but certainly out of harms way!

 

This system looks serious! What's the name of it? Never seen it before.

 

Badass Right?! I saw it in this article - Feature Friday: Aftermarket Exhaust Setups For The 5th Gen 4Runner.

 

Blue is getting ready for an oil change that I will perform this weekend or maybe next. ODO hitting 65k. As shown before, Blue was put thru a lot of trails and Hwy's recently, and I just decided to gently clean the engine bay and just check hoses and things around.
We started from this:

And got to something like this:


I know, I might get some from some of you by saying why bother to clean it this much? but I take this opportunity to check hoses and just make sure Blue can get comfortably to Walmart/Lowe's since I have been told I got a mall crawler.
I used a little bit of high pressure air to remove dust and debris and then a wet rag with a little bit of true green and just go over gently. I am not a fan of pressure washing and soap in the engine bay, just dont like that .

I touched the suspension and the SPC as well. Greased the SPC as well, they seem to be holding ok even with some of the bad reputation they have from others.
I'll be posting pics of the oil change soon and see what that looks like .

 

Blue runs the Big Break Kit from Powerbrake and so far we are very pleased with this upgrade. .

Blue has put in about 35K on these rotors and calipers, the pads look still new to me. However, I have noticed a bit of vibration when breaking and decided to troubleshoot and ended up changing to new rotors without the internal curve vanes which they are supposed to provide cooling.


I worked with the supplier and no issues there, they sent me a new set of rotors with the condition that I provide evidence of cleaning the hubs and maintain the specification they like to have an "Hub Runout" of at less than or at a maximum of 0.001 inches / 0.03mm.

I ended up doing the cleaning and installation today and got the numbers the manufacturer was looking for and here is my evidence of the "workmanship".


This is the hub as I removed the old rotor. You can see rust and debris around it, I used the 3M scotch products to clean the studs and a regular brush. Got the instrument on it and got the spec of what they require prior to mounting the rotor.


I mounted the new rotor back in - forgot to take pictures - as I was running late but it is essentially the same rotor above without the cooling vanes and curves, just like a regular rotor but of course the larger size. The calipers look good, the pads look great, no issues. I took it for a quick spin and no issues. I will post pics later at my next rotation to show the difference. I am still very pleased with this big break kit from Powerbreak, I can tell a big difference in performance.

 

^shiny for now...new rotor in! Apparently there is some sort of embedding procedure etc, but who has time for this crap .

 

Nice rig, holy shit!

 

Thanks. I came here 5 yrs ago to get help on how to install Kraptor lights and this is where I am now. Mods are addictive. And I feel like I'm about to apply for the Toyota master chief mechanic certification after all the damn research I have done on this unit. Fun stuff indeed, the forum and the gang here have been very good to me. All of this stuff on Blue is a result of the info from here. So go and mod yours too!

 

Nothing special - Oil Change for Blue at 64K. This one was done pretty quick, no issues. I am tempted one of these days and send samples of oil to Blackstone analysis and see what it says.

I have gotten faster and faster as I have done many of these now, I am doing these things in 30 mins and zero spills! Don't ask me how long it took me 5 yrs ago.


The tools - Pennzoil and the K&N filter.


Draining the filter housing - using the little hose tool instead of the plastic thingy is so much better, at least for me. There is a significant amount of oil in the filter housing and the little window on the RCI skid plate is pretty small so I don't want to get oil all over the skids.



This is how much I get out of the filter Housing:

The best part

Blue is ready again for another 5K run. I am avereging almost like 1 oil change a year, Blue only gets a workoutwhen I go on long trips to AZ or UT and that's about it. I drive the Taco as my daily and blue is almost idle as I continue to work from home most of the time and I don't take blue to the "mall" or KROGER to get gas like my buddy @Borracho Loco .

Blue goes every 5K to Discount Tire for tire rotation religously and I can tell this makes a difference on how the MT are wearing so far.

Until the next oil change!.

 

Wait, it takes you a YEAR to rack up 5k miles? Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet. I can accumulate that many miles in about 3 - 4 months.

 

Yeah, the 4R is not seeing city action these days. Just long trips to the either the east or west coast. The MPG on this thing around town is not good and I prefer using the taco instead. Come down to H-Town and I will do an oil change for you at no charge!

 

Blue got a new exhaust system today, I am trying the Magnaflow Overland Series w/ the quiet cap on this time. I tried 4 yrs ago many other systems and wasn't thrilled about any of them but this time the clearance issue really is more of what I am after than the sound or performance. Going from this:

I think that was about 14 to 15in. The tail pipe was an interim thing I did last month since I got the other one all messed up

To something like this:

Got up to 17in - and this seems more flushed up top. The tail pipe ended up looking like this:

It is a bit louder than stock for sure which I am not so thrilled but the clearance is significant IMO. Blue is going to get the Dissent offroad rear bumper for Xmas and so I figured we clean this exhaust thing by then and get this area more clearance. Will see how things go.

 

This one is just feedback and my experience running the so many different lights blue is running right now. In particular, the S8 40" light bar by Baja Designs that goes up in the roof rack. It was a bit of a challange to take it down but eventually I got it down. I think I have used this light bar maybe 2 or 3 times since the past 4 years of ownership, one time in crazy cold & hazy weather up in WY, and another time in AZ. Other than that, I don't seem to use these lights that much. However, the vendor (Baja Desings) is top notch and really stands behind their products. I sent this particular light bar for a small repair and they took no time and send me back the light. If you want to add lights, stick with one vendor throughout the build that way you can troubleshoot from the same camp at all times.


Tomorrow will be mounting this thing again!

 

Blue got the roofrack light bar back on today!

This is the S8 40" from Baja and I can't say enough about the level of refurbishment from the guys at Baja... it might just be new.


This is just amber lights on DRL only. I did tested the entire 4 banks before I bolted and secured all the wires back on. My wife actually hates this light because is too bright and she thinks it is illegal, it probably is on the street. She calls it the sun light.


Anyway, Blue was going to get the rear bumper from Dissent offroad this Xmas but they called last week saying they are one month behind on production ....so we have to wait until Jan. No issues though.

 

Just now seeing your MOAB trip photos, very cool!
Crazy it took you this long to smash that exhaust. Always thought it looked cool but wouldn't survive. Nice recovery though!
Excited to see what's next for you!

 

For those of us early in this journey, it’s super helpful and inspiring to see the care and thought you’ve put into this. Grateful for the time you have invested to share your process.

 

Thank you for you kind words and for looking at the story. Just trying to share with others the good moves and the bad moves I made so far. If you ever in TX, feel free to let me know .

 

Hey bud, merry Xmas! - What's next for me? - Get a better job so that I can keep up with the mods on Blue! In 2026, I need to get to 34s, maybe I need to get yours as hand-me-downs. I want to get the rear bumper thing and do sound deadening. I might upgrade tie rods like yours, always something would love to get up your way and offroad with you! Blessings in the new year and my home your home too in H-town!

 

Jambo is rumored to be held in late April. I’d love to see you out there! Merry Christmas to you and yours!