Saturday, July 25, 2009
Thursday, July 9, 2009
The Super Turtle... Aka Project 4 Rescue
So I thought I'd put up some pics and a little more info on my pride and joy... my 4 Runner!!!!!
She's a 1989 Toyota 4Runner. base model 22RE (with 5k or so on a new long block) 5spd and I bought her from a budy of mine a few years back with 230k on the odo.
[Back-story -] I got REAL into Toyotas after I lived in Australia for awhile and drove a bunch of 70 Series Landcruisers (IMO the best 4x4 money can buy... sadly not sold in the USA... LAME) and Solid Axle Hillux's. Down in Australia they are litterlay the benchmark for a durable, capable 4wd and people use thise things like folks here use an F350 (exept they actualy do work out of their trucks unlike all the poser contractors here in the US...) I got out to the ranch I would be spending 6 onths living at and the first question they asked me is "can you drive stick???" followed by "do you know how to drive a 4wd off-rpoad???" and I quickly answered HELL YES!!!!!!!! So they tossed me the keys to this beaut: a 1991 HJ75 "Ute" that had all the ARB goodies you could name, F/R Lockers, Bull Bar, Snorkle etc.
Over there ARB is sold in the little farm supply stores everywhere... God I love Australia, it really is a wheelers paradise. To say I loved this truck would be an understatement. The Troupy's that had Turbo's were alot of fun too and I'd probably opt for one of those if I were able to buy one here as they really are the best 4wd for Overland Touring (besides things like Mogs etc of that size/capacity...)
Anyway, enough reminiscing over a truck I no longer have. back to the 4Runner. from 1984-1989 Toyota made what is refered to as the 1st Gen 4Runner. These trucks are more like a standard pick-up with a removed rear wall and an added, removable fiberglass hard-top. Tey're far more unique then any following 4Runners and I just LOVE them. I've always wanted one of these trucks and I just happened to be talking to my friend one night and mentioned that I wanted on of these trucks...much to my suprise and joy HE HAD ONE. AS it turned out I actually bought it out from under another friend who wasn't too happy with me but he got over it. 1500bux later and i was driving her to the shop to have a new clutch put in. 80 bux after that and she was on the road
So here she is after one of her first outings to some local trails to get a feel for her.
As soon as I shifted into 4wd I knew this would be a long time lover affair and she litteraly crawled right over things that used to throw my XJ (Jeep Cherokee's) for a loop. Older Toyotas have SO much ground clearence right out of the box and this helps alot.
she was mostly stock except for a brand-new set of 31x10.50's and like all old Toyotas had the dreaded "butt sag" Luckily my time in Australia had aquainted me with ARB like I said earlier and they make a line of suspension compnnents called Old Man Emu. The name alone had me, but instead of those lame huge lifts that are mostly for lifts, OME gives you 0-about 2.5in of lift depending on the capacity of the springs you go with and is intended to make the truck ride better and increase the load capacity of these little over built beasts. If you need Toyota parts, go to TRDParts4U.com. they're great guys and they have amazing prices. I can't say enough good stuff about these guy's ('n Gals???) SO I got online and ordered up a set of OME Dakar rear leafs that would net me 2.5 or so in. of lift, some Bj spacers and some long travel OME shocks and steering stabilizer.
This is before:
And here's what all that money I spent did. (boy did it make it ride better too... I think OME wins in the value dept. for sure.)
One of the best parts was just getting to work in the shop with my dad. He's the best adn I think he has a ton of fun too.
Here are the springs before I installed them. These are REAL nice springs to say the least. Double Millitary wraps, Teflon pads between the leafs, zirc fittings to allow you to grease the bushings... Nice stuff.
I think the hardest part of it all was getting the old Steering Stabilizer off... My dad took it on like it was a personal vendetta. When it finaly let go the pin ityself flew out into the driveway/field and it took us about 2 hours to fiund it HAHAHAHAHA
Bj Spacers installed. This was a nice, easy neat little mod that netted 1.5" up front. I left my T-Bars alone so I didn't lose any of the limited flex the IFS has...
Oh and I also got myself a Marlin Crawler rear Bumper (in DOM flavor) to protect those delicate corners and give me a better departure angle
(if there's ONE weak point in the dimensions of these trucks it's the rear over-hang. they've got about a perfect wheel-base, they're tall so they have good break-over angles and they have a poretty good approach angle, but the butt hangs out there and can get snagged on things.) Enter the Marlin bumper... This thing alone netted me about 6 more inches (I could hardly belive it either) of ground clearence over my stock bumper and drop down class 3 reciever... Between this bumper and the rear suspension I got alot better departure angle after it was all done...
Plus it looks great ;)
So now that I had all the suspension I would need (it performs amazing when loaded down btw) those 31's were just looking kinda small... BUT I still had alot of fun with the old gal: Yeah these are poser shots, but frankly I was alone so it was kind of hard to get any action shots ya know ;)
Wow... look at that FLEX!!!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHA This was with the Sway bar on though, it actualy get's alot better with-out.
Gotta love a Toyota in a roack garden...
So On a recent trip out east we were prematurely turned around when my tires finnaly gave up the ghost... the sharp rocks of the central volcanic planers of Oregon were just too much and I had to limp back to Prineville OR with my tail between my legs and my spare tire on my truck...But not before I got to spend an hour or two playing "Explitive deleted...expletive deleted... explitive deleted stupid expletive deleted!!!!!!!"
After I bought ONE 31x10.50 for $187 out the door to get home (yeah I got hosed...) I finaly just broke down and bit the bullett... FINALY I had the 33x10.50's I've always wanted for this truck. They just LOOK perfect and really make this truck look like a Tonka truck or something that well, something like my drawings/day-dreams...
I even dreamed up a trailer. I have the frame, but I think it's going to end up being more of a rafting trailer then a compact overland set-up.
But like I said... The 33's look great IMO. (the first one is right before the new tires went on, like 20 min before... you can see how worn these suckers had gotten over the last few years eh)
I'm already thinking about getting a set of BFG KM2's on some black steelies (or if I can scrounge the cash some Mojave's... I love those rims...) for trail tires and keep these BFG's as my long range, do it all tires...
Other things I've added are a Yakima Basket rack with a Shovel mount.
---Huh don't know where those pics are ????---
While I wish I had a real nice ARB roack and an RTT (and I may here ina few months...) this Yak basket has been an AWESOME addition to the truck. For me, being a rafter, it's really nice to throw my wet stuff up there in my mesh duffle and let it drip and get some air. It's also great to not take up space in the back of the truck with crap like chairs and cots... Plus it was far less then half the cost of a real nice one and it still does everything I want it to.
The interior of my truck may not be the sweetly organized unit that some of us folks have...
...but I get giddy when ever I get in the saddle and fire up the GPS and the Valentine one... Mainly cause it means I'm heading out. I keep thinking I need to swap out the seats, but frankly, they work and I'm never really hurting after even the longest days drive so they stay for now.
Mods to come???
-4.88's to match the new 33's (I really need to do this soon to get my milage back and to be able to use 4th going up hill)
-F/R LSD's from a Celica Supra and a Supra.
-Safari Snorkle... yeah well I want one... ;)
Anything else I'll add in when I think of it.
Cheers
DAve King
She's a 1989 Toyota 4Runner. base model 22RE (with 5k or so on a new long block) 5spd and I bought her from a budy of mine a few years back with 230k on the odo.
[Back-story -] I got REAL into Toyotas after I lived in Australia for awhile and drove a bunch of 70 Series Landcruisers (IMO the best 4x4 money can buy... sadly not sold in the USA... LAME) and Solid Axle Hillux's. Down in Australia they are litterlay the benchmark for a durable, capable 4wd and people use thise things like folks here use an F350 (exept they actualy do work out of their trucks unlike all the poser contractors here in the US...) I got out to the ranch I would be spending 6 onths living at and the first question they asked me is "can you drive stick???" followed by "do you know how to drive a 4wd off-rpoad???" and I quickly answered HELL YES!!!!!!!! So they tossed me the keys to this beaut: a 1991 HJ75 "Ute" that had all the ARB goodies you could name, F/R Lockers, Bull Bar, Snorkle etc.
Over there ARB is sold in the little farm supply stores everywhere... God I love Australia, it really is a wheelers paradise. To say I loved this truck would be an understatement. The Troupy's that had Turbo's were alot of fun too and I'd probably opt for one of those if I were able to buy one here as they really are the best 4wd for Overland Touring (besides things like Mogs etc of that size/capacity...)
Anyway, enough reminiscing over a truck I no longer have. back to the 4Runner. from 1984-1989 Toyota made what is refered to as the 1st Gen 4Runner. These trucks are more like a standard pick-up with a removed rear wall and an added, removable fiberglass hard-top. Tey're far more unique then any following 4Runners and I just LOVE them. I've always wanted one of these trucks and I just happened to be talking to my friend one night and mentioned that I wanted on of these trucks...much to my suprise and joy HE HAD ONE. AS it turned out I actually bought it out from under another friend who wasn't too happy with me but he got over it. 1500bux later and i was driving her to the shop to have a new clutch put in. 80 bux after that and she was on the road
So here she is after one of her first outings to some local trails to get a feel for her.
As soon as I shifted into 4wd I knew this would be a long time lover affair and she litteraly crawled right over things that used to throw my XJ (Jeep Cherokee's) for a loop. Older Toyotas have SO much ground clearence right out of the box and this helps alot.
she was mostly stock except for a brand-new set of 31x10.50's and like all old Toyotas had the dreaded "butt sag" Luckily my time in Australia had aquainted me with ARB like I said earlier and they make a line of suspension compnnents called Old Man Emu. The name alone had me, but instead of those lame huge lifts that are mostly for lifts, OME gives you 0-about 2.5in of lift depending on the capacity of the springs you go with and is intended to make the truck ride better and increase the load capacity of these little over built beasts. If you need Toyota parts, go to TRDParts4U.com. they're great guys and they have amazing prices. I can't say enough good stuff about these guy's ('n Gals???) SO I got online and ordered up a set of OME Dakar rear leafs that would net me 2.5 or so in. of lift, some Bj spacers and some long travel OME shocks and steering stabilizer.
This is before:
And here's what all that money I spent did. (boy did it make it ride better too... I think OME wins in the value dept. for sure.)
One of the best parts was just getting to work in the shop with my dad. He's the best adn I think he has a ton of fun too.
Here are the springs before I installed them. These are REAL nice springs to say the least. Double Millitary wraps, Teflon pads between the leafs, zirc fittings to allow you to grease the bushings... Nice stuff.
I think the hardest part of it all was getting the old Steering Stabilizer off... My dad took it on like it was a personal vendetta. When it finaly let go the pin ityself flew out into the driveway/field and it took us about 2 hours to fiund it HAHAHAHAHA
Bj Spacers installed. This was a nice, easy neat little mod that netted 1.5" up front. I left my T-Bars alone so I didn't lose any of the limited flex the IFS has...
Oh and I also got myself a Marlin Crawler rear Bumper (in DOM flavor) to protect those delicate corners and give me a better departure angle
(if there's ONE weak point in the dimensions of these trucks it's the rear over-hang. they've got about a perfect wheel-base, they're tall so they have good break-over angles and they have a poretty good approach angle, but the butt hangs out there and can get snagged on things.) Enter the Marlin bumper... This thing alone netted me about 6 more inches (I could hardly belive it either) of ground clearence over my stock bumper and drop down class 3 reciever... Between this bumper and the rear suspension I got alot better departure angle after it was all done...
Plus it looks great ;)
So now that I had all the suspension I would need (it performs amazing when loaded down btw) those 31's were just looking kinda small... BUT I still had alot of fun with the old gal: Yeah these are poser shots, but frankly I was alone so it was kind of hard to get any action shots ya know ;)
Wow... look at that FLEX!!!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHA This was with the Sway bar on though, it actualy get's alot better with-out.
Gotta love a Toyota in a roack garden...
So On a recent trip out east we were prematurely turned around when my tires finnaly gave up the ghost... the sharp rocks of the central volcanic planers of Oregon were just too much and I had to limp back to Prineville OR with my tail between my legs and my spare tire on my truck...But not before I got to spend an hour or two playing "Explitive deleted...expletive deleted... explitive deleted stupid expletive deleted!!!!!!!"
After I bought ONE 31x10.50 for $187 out the door to get home (yeah I got hosed...) I finaly just broke down and bit the bullett... FINALY I had the 33x10.50's I've always wanted for this truck. They just LOOK perfect and really make this truck look like a Tonka truck or something that well, something like my drawings/day-dreams...
I even dreamed up a trailer. I have the frame, but I think it's going to end up being more of a rafting trailer then a compact overland set-up.
But like I said... The 33's look great IMO. (the first one is right before the new tires went on, like 20 min before... you can see how worn these suckers had gotten over the last few years eh)
I'm already thinking about getting a set of BFG KM2's on some black steelies (or if I can scrounge the cash some Mojave's... I love those rims...) for trail tires and keep these BFG's as my long range, do it all tires...
Other things I've added are a Yakima Basket rack with a Shovel mount.
---Huh don't know where those pics are ????---
While I wish I had a real nice ARB roack and an RTT (and I may here ina few months...) this Yak basket has been an AWESOME addition to the truck. For me, being a rafter, it's really nice to throw my wet stuff up there in my mesh duffle and let it drip and get some air. It's also great to not take up space in the back of the truck with crap like chairs and cots... Plus it was far less then half the cost of a real nice one and it still does everything I want it to.
The interior of my truck may not be the sweetly organized unit that some of us folks have...
...but I get giddy when ever I get in the saddle and fire up the GPS and the Valentine one... Mainly cause it means I'm heading out. I keep thinking I need to swap out the seats, but frankly, they work and I'm never really hurting after even the longest days drive so they stay for now.
Mods to come???
-4.88's to match the new 33's (I really need to do this soon to get my milage back and to be able to use 4th going up hill)
-F/R LSD's from a Celica Supra and a Supra.
-Safari Snorkle... yeah well I want one... ;)
Anything else I'll add in when I think of it.
Cheers
DAve King
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Into... It begins.
SO this is a new thing for me, but seeing as my better half and I are getting to go out more and more I thought I just might start keeping a record of all of she and I's adventures. Well I also got the idea from a web compatriot of mine Dave and Yoshi of Adventureduo fame.
So a little bit about me.
My name is Dave King, I'm from portland OR, where I work in a local ER as an ER tech and hope to be heading to Nursing school here in the near future. My passion is emergency medecine and wilderness medecine. I'm an Oregon EMT-B, I have several other Emergency responce certs including High-angle rescue and Swiftwater, as well as an Oregon Fire Fighter 1 Cert (but no affilliate org. as of now). I got my initial EMS (EMT-I... Yeah In was pretty pissed when I lost the Intermediate in resciprocity coming back to Oregon!!!!!!!) cert through Wilderness Medecines Institute (Best Wilderness EMS training in the world IMO) I originaly wanted to be a firefighter but I've found that the political hurdles are a bit much to swallow so for the time being I'm enjoying all of the learning I'm doing working in the ER. I really have learned more in 3 years here then I would going on to Medic school. There's definatly somethig to be said for experience being the best teacher... On average, I perform CPR on patients at least 3-4 times a month. All in all that's more then ost CPR instructors witch is why I plan on starting to teach EMS/CPR in the near future.
I'm a very avid outdoorsman and more specificaly I'm a rafter at the core of it all. Once a year my best friends and I take off to some far away river and spend at least a week or so rafting then if we're lucky we take off fromt hat river for soem mroe exploring of whatever are we happen to be in. To date I've run a good number of rivers in the Lower 48 including but not limited to:
-The White Salmon (WA) (day trips on this local Gem are a summer ritual)
-The Deschutes(OR) (not really much to barg about but I've run it a bunch)
-The Clackamas (OR) (this one's in our back yard and is a fun day run if you just need to get on the water... Course spring of 08 we ran it at a record 11,000 CFS and I took the swim of my life. I was still gun-shy a few months later when we ran the Owyhee)
-The Lochsa (ID) (This is Big Idaho Whitewater at it's finest... God I love this river)
-The Middle Fork Salmon (ID) (just did 7 days on this river at flood stages - 7+ft on the guage- wow, what a ride...)
- The Payette (ID) (yet another of Idaho's gems)
- The Toulmne (CA) (got lucky and ran this one while attending
- The Merced (CA) (again, I ran this one while in Cali. at W-EMT school)
- The Snake (OR WA ID) This was our first big overnighter about 15 years ago and it was a real eye opener)
- The John Day (OR) not much to write home about... this ones pretty mellow)
- The Green (UT)
- The Yampa (UT)
- The Clearwater (ID) (the Selway and the Lochsa combine to form the Clearwater, but the clearwater itself is alot mroe tame then any of those)
- The Yuba (CA)
- The Owyhee (OR) (ran this one in 08 and it was a fun one. talk about REMOTE)
- The Cal Salmon (CA) (WHat an amazing area this one is in and waht a great river... SO beautiful)
- The Trinity (CA) (SCARRY RUN!!!!!!!)
- The Smith (CA) (well we ran a small bit of this but there wasn't much water)
- The Illinois (OR) (This one was great but I ehar it can get pretty gnarly, guess it all matter what time of year you hit it like any river)
... Phew, there are more but I'm frazzled to think of them all right now.
SO anyway, I'm also VERY into overland touring using the best 4wd's there are: Toyotas... I was fortuate enough to live in Australia for about 8 months a few years back and while there I was introduced to the Toyota Hillux and the Toyota HZJ75 Land Cruiser... Let me just say that while there may be Jeep guys and there may be ROver guy's, nothign compares to a Toyota when it comes to getting out AND GETTING BACK... THey truly are amazing machines.
My current exploration rig is a 1989 Toyota 4Runner: Currently I have replaced the old tired 22RE with a brand new long block (the old one went 238K of hard life under the PO) that now has about 6500 miles on it. Additions include a Marlin Crawler Rear DOM bumper, 33x10.50 BFG AT's on 15" Alu. rims. A new Centerforce HP clutch. Soon it will also have F/R LSD's and 4.88 Gears to match the new tires... I also run a Yak Basket rack and have a full kit of recovery and emergency tools/supplies.
PHEW... THat was alot, more pics and updates to follow...
Oh and thanks to Dave (adventureduo) for giving me the idea and inspitation to do this...
Cheers
Dave King
So a little bit about me.
My name is Dave King, I'm from portland OR, where I work in a local ER as an ER tech and hope to be heading to Nursing school here in the near future. My passion is emergency medecine and wilderness medecine. I'm an Oregon EMT-B, I have several other Emergency responce certs including High-angle rescue and Swiftwater, as well as an Oregon Fire Fighter 1 Cert (but no affilliate org. as of now). I got my initial EMS (EMT-I... Yeah In was pretty pissed when I lost the Intermediate in resciprocity coming back to Oregon!!!!!!!) cert through Wilderness Medecines Institute (Best Wilderness EMS training in the world IMO) I originaly wanted to be a firefighter but I've found that the political hurdles are a bit much to swallow so for the time being I'm enjoying all of the learning I'm doing working in the ER. I really have learned more in 3 years here then I would going on to Medic school. There's definatly somethig to be said for experience being the best teacher... On average, I perform CPR on patients at least 3-4 times a month. All in all that's more then ost CPR instructors witch is why I plan on starting to teach EMS/CPR in the near future.
I'm a very avid outdoorsman and more specificaly I'm a rafter at the core of it all. Once a year my best friends and I take off to some far away river and spend at least a week or so rafting then if we're lucky we take off fromt hat river for soem mroe exploring of whatever are we happen to be in. To date I've run a good number of rivers in the Lower 48 including but not limited to:
-The White Salmon (WA) (day trips on this local Gem are a summer ritual)
-The Deschutes(OR) (not really much to barg about but I've run it a bunch)
-The Clackamas (OR) (this one's in our back yard and is a fun day run if you just need to get on the water... Course spring of 08 we ran it at a record 11,000 CFS and I took the swim of my life. I was still gun-shy a few months later when we ran the Owyhee)
-The Lochsa (ID) (This is Big Idaho Whitewater at it's finest... God I love this river)
-The Middle Fork Salmon (ID) (just did 7 days on this river at flood stages - 7+ft on the guage- wow, what a ride...)
- The Payette (ID) (yet another of Idaho's gems)
- The Toulmne (CA) (got lucky and ran this one while attending
- The Merced (CA) (again, I ran this one while in Cali. at W-EMT school)
- The Snake (OR WA ID) This was our first big overnighter about 15 years ago and it was a real eye opener)
- The John Day (OR) not much to write home about... this ones pretty mellow)
- The Green (UT)
- The Yampa (UT)
- The Clearwater (ID) (the Selway and the Lochsa combine to form the Clearwater, but the clearwater itself is alot mroe tame then any of those)
- The Yuba (CA)
- The Owyhee (OR) (ran this one in 08 and it was a fun one. talk about REMOTE)
- The Cal Salmon (CA) (WHat an amazing area this one is in and waht a great river... SO beautiful)
- The Trinity (CA) (SCARRY RUN!!!!!!!)
- The Smith (CA) (well we ran a small bit of this but there wasn't much water)
- The Illinois (OR) (This one was great but I ehar it can get pretty gnarly, guess it all matter what time of year you hit it like any river)
... Phew, there are more but I'm frazzled to think of them all right now.
SO anyway, I'm also VERY into overland touring using the best 4wd's there are: Toyotas... I was fortuate enough to live in Australia for about 8 months a few years back and while there I was introduced to the Toyota Hillux and the Toyota HZJ75 Land Cruiser... Let me just say that while there may be Jeep guys and there may be ROver guy's, nothign compares to a Toyota when it comes to getting out AND GETTING BACK... THey truly are amazing machines.
My current exploration rig is a 1989 Toyota 4Runner: Currently I have replaced the old tired 22RE with a brand new long block (the old one went 238K of hard life under the PO) that now has about 6500 miles on it. Additions include a Marlin Crawler Rear DOM bumper, 33x10.50 BFG AT's on 15" Alu. rims. A new Centerforce HP clutch. Soon it will also have F/R LSD's and 4.88 Gears to match the new tires... I also run a Yak Basket rack and have a full kit of recovery and emergency tools/supplies.
PHEW... THat was alot, more pics and updates to follow...
Oh and thanks to Dave (adventureduo) for giving me the idea and inspitation to do this...
Cheers
Dave King
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