Alex Fleming

Owner at Sherpa Equipment Co.
Joined
Oct 7, 2018
Messages
159
Age
25
Location
Fort Collins, CO
The dmz kit is pretty low profile and shores up exactly where it tends to crack.
I am surprised to see those mounts sink in the frame. We beat the heck out of our truck and no sign of any overstress on the factory mount.
I do want to add some more beef but hoping to switch to a solid motor mount and the less I have to cut off when we do the better!

You have to notch the perch for the steering column to clear the motor mount perch. Those plates are on the area that needs to be cut out. Great kit but won’t work on the MCLT kit.
Yea, with a new setup I'd ideally want it to cant forward and just clear the steering shaft altogether! The proper fix is probably just a custom motor mount with a poly bushing.
 

4runner DOA

Hold my beer
Staff member
Joined
Oct 2, 2018
Messages
15,882
Location
OC
I am surprised to see those mounts sink in the frame. We beat the heck out of our truck and no sign of any overstress on the factory mount.
I do want to add some more beef but hoping to switch to a solid motor mount and the less I have to cut off when we do the better!


Yea, with a new setup I'd ideally want it to cant forward and just clear the steering shaft altogether! The proper fix is probably just a custom motor mount with a poly bushing.

I've been beating on this thing for 5 years haha. Might be a difference between the V8 and V6. I've only seen two other cases on the 4th gen and I believe both were V6.
 

Alex Fleming

Owner at Sherpa Equipment Co.
Joined
Oct 7, 2018
Messages
159
Age
25
Location
Fort Collins, CO
Wild West 100 Race Recap.

This years YORR Wild West 100 was a good time, gnarly course but a great break-in for the new RCLT HD kit.

We showed up Thursday night with friday as a pre-running day. We had a very small amount of work on the car to button up when we got there, check fluids, reinstall front diff skid and just go over everything to make sure we didn't miss anything on final assembly.

wol_error.gif
This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized %1%2.
51501775200_0084fe0c97_c.jpg


We got everything buttoned up and headed out for some laps around the 10ish mile course.

This year we ran reverse of last year so the first part of the course is a fairly fun but slick hill climb that has some blind crests. No big deal, just need to remember course directly over the rises to carry good speed through it. This would prove to be a bottleneck on race day.

The course winds up the hill and opens up on the top. It was much rougher than it was the previous year, but the new front end and most recent tune on the Locked Offroad shocks were handling it very well. The main thing we were noticing as we made our way around the course was how deep all the ruts were and noticing where all the solid axle vehicles were dragging their axles and plowing dirt. We were able to ride the tracked out ruts and have good traction while you could see a few vehicles were having to push through the deep sand and silt to keep their axles from dragging and spinning tires. IFS advantage for sure, and the clearance on the RCLT surely helped here.

We made a good clean lap and rolled into pits to check everything over as this was the first good miles since the rebuild. Only finding a couple of small things, we snacked a bit and headed back out for some final course marking and testing with a more aggressive pace to find g outs, corners, obstacles of importance. We were making a really good time until we noticed a clunk coming from the rear end. It was in sync with drivetrain rotation so we jumped out and inspected the driveshaft, ujoints, felt the axle housing to see if it was in the axle. We noticed the passenger side rotor hat had separated from the rotor. The trail gear breaks we run have a two-piece design which is kind of a bummer and the bolts had backed out/sheared off. We pulled the rotor, shut off the line to that caliper and made it back to pits.

We didn't have a spare rotor so we kept the line clamped and just used the left break to run the whole rear axle, which worked well with the spooled rear end. The disc brakes had no issue stopping the car. So we ran without it!

The night before race day.
wol_error.gif
This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized %1%2.
51500850946_8be5cbdc18_c.jpg


I have been waiting on some photos from race day but the photographer there ended up working a forest fire so I haven't been able to get them yet. Will update this with them when I can.

We shot off the line in 7th place and set into a pretty aggressive pace to make time on the leaders. This course has very little opportunity to pass so moving quickly and getting up behind people to find your opportunity is a must. We made a really fast time on the car in front of us. They ended up getting stuck on a sandy climb with no way around them and had to push them through it and they let us pass right after. The next few cars were making good time and had a good pace. The majority of the lap was cruising by and all we were seeing was residual dust from those in front. Till we suddenly round a corner and the next 3 cars were right in front of us. One stuck on a sandy climb and the others working their way around them. We made time on the two who got past and past the one who was stuck. That means we are in 5th before lap 1 was even over. We kept our pace and pushed on.

The track opens up for a bit and we pushed harder. This is when I noticed on full droop in the front right I could hear a binding/clicking and feel it a bit in the wheel. First thought was a broken limit strap and the CV axle was binding up. Thankfully it didnt seem terrible and we were able to baby it the next 3 miles and get into pits.

They found a broken clevis mount and had it swapped out in about 5 minutes and we were back on course running hard. We had to pace up a good bit to make time on the leaders. We were blazing through the course and the car was handling it very well. We were feeling good about our pace and hearing about a lot of other vehicles that were dropping pace or having mechanical issues. This race had high attrition last year and I expected it to be the same. So we decided to pace down a bit and find a groove.

About 2/3rds through the second lap we were hearing a metallic light clunking sound on the rear of the car. It sounded light enough to not be a major component so we kept pushing on. Till I started to feel like the rear of the truck was getting sloppy. First thought was a flat tire. It was walking side to side a bit but no sounds. We pulled off and Will jumped out to check. No flats. So I told him to start crawling around the rear end and look for anything weird. I shifted into reverse and the whole body shifted. I knew immediately the upper link or mount had broken or had play. Will saw then that the whole upper mount had ripped out of the frame.

At this point, we did a quick inventory of what we had and deemed it stupid to keep racing so that we could keep the car in better shape and do less damage before Ultra4 Nationals.

We called it there and started working up a recovery strategy.

We ended up using our spare tire strap and some other straps we had to center the rear axle and we were able to limp it off the course.

Here is where we sat and watched the rest of our race!
51560542639_1f6eb5b8f9_c.jpg


Here is the hole in the frame and the fix we did. This was also replicated on the other side as well.

51560012973_baaeafd3ae_c.jpg

51560699630_585b5deae8_c.jpg

51559777036_8e868785bc_c.jpg

51558985157_a89fe8448f_c.jpg

51558985077_7eaceb4de8_c.jpg


Vs what it used to be
51559776681_39fd1bd297_c.jpg


Always build stronger than you think you need to was the lesson learned here haha!
 

Dukestaco

Stirring the pot 24/7
Joined
Oct 3, 2018
Messages
7,472
Location
Tucson
Wild West 100 Race Recap.

This years YORR Wild West 100 was a good time, gnarly course but a great break-in for the new RCLT HD kit.

We showed up Thursday night with friday as a pre-running day. We had a very small amount of work on the car to button up when we got there, check fluids, reinstall front diff skid and just go over everything to make sure we didn't miss anything on final assembly.

wol_error.gif
This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized %1%2.
51501775200_0084fe0c97_c.jpg


We got everything buttoned up and headed out for some laps around the 10ish mile course.

This year we ran reverse of last year so the first part of the course is a fairly fun but slick hill climb that has some blind crests. No big deal, just need to remember course directly over the rises to carry good speed through it. This would prove to be a bottleneck on race day.

The course winds up the hill and opens up on the top. It was much rougher than it was the previous year, but the new front end and most recent tune on the Locked Offroad shocks were handling it very well. The main thing we were noticing as we made our way around the course was how deep all the ruts were and noticing where all the solid axle vehicles were dragging their axles and plowing dirt. We were able to ride the tracked out ruts and have good traction while you could see a few vehicles were having to push through the deep sand and silt to keep their axles from dragging and spinning tires. IFS advantage for sure, and the clearance on the RCLT surely helped here.

We made a good clean lap and rolled into pits to check everything over as this was the first good miles since the rebuild. Only finding a couple of small things, we snacked a bit and headed back out for some final course marking and testing with a more aggressive pace to find g outs, corners, obstacles of importance. We were making a really good time until we noticed a clunk coming from the rear end. It was in sync with drivetrain rotation so we jumped out and inspected the driveshaft, ujoints, felt the axle housing to see if it was in the axle. We noticed the passenger side rotor hat had separated from the rotor. The trail gear breaks we run have a two-piece design which is kind of a bummer and the bolts had backed out/sheared off. We pulled the rotor, shut off the line to that caliper and made it back to pits.

We didn't have a spare rotor so we kept the line clamped and just used the left break to run the whole rear axle, which worked well with the spooled rear end. The disc brakes had no issue stopping the car. So we ran without it!

The night before race day.
wol_error.gif
This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized %1%2.
51500850946_8be5cbdc18_c.jpg


I have been waiting on some photos from race day but the photographer there ended up working a forest fire so I haven't been able to get them yet. Will update this with them when I can.

We shot off the line in 7th place and set into a pretty aggressive pace to make time on the leaders. This course has very little opportunity to pass so moving quickly and getting up behind people to find your opportunity is a must. We made a really fast time on the car in front of us. They ended up getting stuck on a sandy climb with no way around them and had to push them through it and they let us pass right after. The next few cars were making good time and had a good pace. The majority of the lap was cruising by and all we were seeing was residual dust from those in front. Till we suddenly round a corner and the next 3 cars were right in front of us. One stuck on a sandy climb and the others working their way around them. We made time on the two who got past and past the one who was stuck. That means we are in 5th before lap 1 was even over. We kept our pace and pushed on.

The track opens up for a bit and we pushed harder. This is when I noticed on full droop in the front right I could hear a binding/clicking and feel it a bit in the wheel. First thought was a broken limit strap and the CV axle was binding up. Thankfully it didnt seem terrible and we were able to baby it the next 3 miles and get into pits.

They found a broken clevis mount and had it swapped out in about 5 minutes and we were back on course running hard. We had to pace up a good bit to make time on the leaders. We were blazing through the course and the car was handling it very well. We were feeling good about our pace and hearing about a lot of other vehicles that were dropping pace or having mechanical issues. This race had high attrition last year and I expected it to be the same. So we decided to pace down a bit and find a groove.

About 2/3rds through the second lap we were hearing a metallic light clunking sound on the rear of the car. It sounded light enough to not be a major component so we kept pushing on. Till I started to feel like the rear of the truck was getting sloppy. First thought was a flat tire. It was walking side to side a bit but no sounds. We pulled off and Will jumped out to check. No flats. So I told him to start crawling around the rear end and look for anything weird. I shifted into reverse and the whole body shifted. I knew immediately the upper link or mount had broken or had play. Will saw then that the whole upper mount had ripped out of the frame.

At this point, we did a quick inventory of what we had and deemed it stupid to keep racing so that we could keep the car in better shape and do less damage before Ultra4 Nationals.

We called it there and started working up a recovery strategy.

We ended up using our spare tire strap and some other straps we had to center the rear axle and we were able to limp it off the course.

Here is where we sat and watched the rest of our race!
51560542639_1f6eb5b8f9_c.jpg


Here is the hole in the frame and the fix we did. This was also replicated on the other side as well.

51560012973_baaeafd3ae_c.jpg

51560699630_585b5deae8_c.jpg

51559777036_8e868785bc_c.jpg

51558985157_a89fe8448f_c.jpg

51558985077_7eaceb4de8_c.jpg


Vs what it used to be
51559776681_39fd1bd297_c.jpg


Always build stronger than you think you need to was the lesson learned here haha!
Nice job guys. Keep at it. That podium finish is getting closer and closer.
 

Stairgod

Two bad decisions away from buying a bulldozer
Joined
Apr 22, 2019
Messages
2,438
Wild West 100 Race Recap.

This years YORR Wild West 100 was a good time, gnarly course but a great break-in for the new RCLT HD kit.

We showed up Thursday night with friday as a pre-running day. We had a very small amount of work on the car to button up when we got there, check fluids, reinstall front diff skid and just go over everything to make sure we didn't miss anything on final assembly.

wol_error.gif
This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized %1%2.
51501775200_0084fe0c97_c.jpg


We got everything buttoned up and headed out for some laps around the 10ish mile course.

This year we ran reverse of last year so the first part of the course is a fairly fun but slick hill climb that has some blind crests. No big deal, just need to remember course directly over the rises to carry good speed through it. This would prove to be a bottleneck on race day.

The course winds up the hill and opens up on the top. It was much rougher than it was the previous year, but the new front end and most recent tune on the Locked Offroad shocks were handling it very well. The main thing we were noticing as we made our way around the course was how deep all the ruts were and noticing where all the solid axle vehicles were dragging their axles and plowing dirt. We were able to ride the tracked out ruts and have good traction while you could see a few vehicles were having to push through the deep sand and silt to keep their axles from dragging and spinning tires. IFS advantage for sure, and the clearance on the RCLT surely helped here.

We made a good clean lap and rolled into pits to check everything over as this was the first good miles since the rebuild. Only finding a couple of small things, we snacked a bit and headed back out for some final course marking and testing with a more aggressive pace to find g outs, corners, obstacles of importance. We were making a really good time until we noticed a clunk coming from the rear end. It was in sync with drivetrain rotation so we jumped out and inspected the driveshaft, ujoints, felt the axle housing to see if it was in the axle. We noticed the passenger side rotor hat had separated from the rotor. The trail gear breaks we run have a two-piece design which is kind of a bummer and the bolts had backed out/sheared off. We pulled the rotor, shut off the line to that caliper and made it back to pits.

We didn't have a spare rotor so we kept the line clamped and just used the left break to run the whole rear axle, which worked well with the spooled rear end. The disc brakes had no issue stopping the car. So we ran without it!

The night before race day.
wol_error.gif
This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized %1%2.
51500850946_8be5cbdc18_c.jpg


I have been waiting on some photos from race day but the photographer there ended up working a forest fire so I haven't been able to get them yet. Will update this with them when I can.

We shot off the line in 7th place and set into a pretty aggressive pace to make time on the leaders. This course has very little opportunity to pass so moving quickly and getting up behind people to find your opportunity is a must. We made a really fast time on the car in front of us. They ended up getting stuck on a sandy climb with no way around them and had to push them through it and they let us pass right after. The next few cars were making good time and had a good pace. The majority of the lap was cruising by and all we were seeing was residual dust from those in front. Till we suddenly round a corner and the next 3 cars were right in front of us. One stuck on a sandy climb and the others working their way around them. We made time on the two who got past and past the one who was stuck. That means we are in 5th before lap 1 was even over. We kept our pace and pushed on.

The track opens up for a bit and we pushed harder. This is when I noticed on full droop in the front right I could hear a binding/clicking and feel it a bit in the wheel. First thought was a broken limit strap and the CV axle was binding up. Thankfully it didnt seem terrible and we were able to baby it the next 3 miles and get into pits.

They found a broken clevis mount and had it swapped out in about 5 minutes and we were back on course running hard. We had to pace up a good bit to make time on the leaders. We were blazing through the course and the car was handling it very well. We were feeling good about our pace and hearing about a lot of other vehicles that were dropping pace or having mechanical issues. This race had high attrition last year and I expected it to be the same. So we decided to pace down a bit and find a groove.

About 2/3rds through the second lap we were hearing a metallic light clunking sound on the rear of the car. It sounded light enough to not be a major component so we kept pushing on. Till I started to feel like the rear of the truck was getting sloppy. First thought was a flat tire. It was walking side to side a bit but no sounds. We pulled off and Will jumped out to check. No flats. So I told him to start crawling around the rear end and look for anything weird. I shifted into reverse and the whole body shifted. I knew immediately the upper link or mount had broken or had play. Will saw then that the whole upper mount had ripped out of the frame.

At this point, we did a quick inventory of what we had and deemed it stupid to keep racing so that we could keep the car in better shape and do less damage before Ultra4 Nationals.

We called it there and started working up a recovery strategy.

We ended up using our spare tire strap and some other straps we had to center the rear axle and we were able to limp it off the course.

Here is where we sat and watched the rest of our race!
51560542639_1f6eb5b8f9_c.jpg


Here is the hole in the frame and the fix we did. This was also replicated on the other side as well.

51560012973_baaeafd3ae_c.jpg

51560699630_585b5deae8_c.jpg

51559777036_8e868785bc_c.jpg

51558985157_a89fe8448f_c.jpg

51558985077_7eaceb4de8_c.jpg


Vs what it used to be
51559776681_39fd1bd297_c.jpg


Always build stronger than you think you need to was the lesson learned here haha!
Gusset the gussets?
 

Alex Fleming

Owner at Sherpa Equipment Co.
Joined
Oct 7, 2018
Messages
159
Age
25
Location
Fort Collins, CO
King of the Hammers 2022 Prep!!!

We have a lot to do and a short time to do it so here we go!

Things on the docket...

-New Spare Tire Mount
-New Custom Mirrors
-Solid Body Mounts
-Engine Cage Repairs
-Longer Rear Coils
-Custom Dash
-New PRP Seats
-New Harnesses for Tech Reason
-Cage to frame Tie In additions
-Rear Tool Box
-Mount Pro Eagle
-Mount 5lb Power Tank
-Hydration
-Air Pumper
-PTT in Steering Wheel
-Lawrences
-Gauges
-Secondary latches for the rear hatch
-Fresh New Roof Rack
-Grease all joints
-Rebuild shocks
-New Shock Hardware
-Dead Pedal
-Move brake pedal
-Front Bumper Caps
-Doug Thorley Headers
-Fluid Change
-Power Steering Reservoir
-Hydro bump rebuild + shorten stroke of front bumps

Easy peasy right...?

So far...
51798336317_99c6d79a45.jpg

51798213732_846569307a.jpg

51798213727_f06d8beecd.jpg

51798213687_70bab03c7b.jpg

51798209477_f9832cb99e.jpg

51800016395_c0ffe4cfa0.jpg

51799409113_509e43ba5a.jpg

51798213752_5e9484305c.jpg

51799281033_a605822121.jpg


Lots to do! More updates to come!
 

PNW Pineapple

Slim-Whitey Official Fact Checker
Joined
Apr 23, 2019
Messages
3,875
Location
PNW
King of the Hammers 2022 Prep!!!

We have a lot to do and a short time to do it so here we go!

Things on the docket...

-New Spare Tire Mount
-New Custom Mirrors
-Solid Body Mounts
-Engine Cage Repairs
-Longer Rear Coils
-Custom Dash
-New PRP Seats
-New Harnesses for Tech Reason
-Cage to frame Tie In additions
-Rear Tool Box
-Mount Pro Eagle
-Mount 5lb Power Tank
-Hydration
-Air Pumper
-PTT in Steering Wheel
-Lawrences
-Gauges
-Secondary latches for the rear hatch
-Fresh New Roof Rack
-Grease all joints
-Rebuild shocks
-New Shock Hardware
-Dead Pedal
-Move brake pedal
-Front Bumper Caps
-Doug Thorley Headers
-Fluid Change
-Power Steering Reservoir
-Hydro bump rebuild + shorten stroke of front bumps

Easy peasy right...?

So far...
51798336317_99c6d79a45.jpg

51798213732_846569307a.jpg

51798213727_f06d8beecd.jpg

51798213687_70bab03c7b.jpg

51798209477_f9832cb99e.jpg

51800016395_c0ffe4cfa0.jpg

51799409113_509e43ba5a.jpg

51798213752_5e9484305c.jpg

51799281033_a605822121.jpg


Lots to do! More updates to come!
Get plenty time but it will still take up to the last minute.
 

Alex Fleming

Owner at Sherpa Equipment Co.
Joined
Oct 7, 2018
Messages
159
Age
25
Location
Fort Collins, CO
We laid some tubes today! Finished up the spare tire/rear nerf bar and tied it into the roll cage.

51802485404_f0d769431f.jpg


51802848445_7c2bde517e.jpg


51802485419_9d3086dfdf.jpg


51802485329_f79841ee77.jpg


51802117156_b18d43141f.jpg


Wanted to keep the tubes as low as possible that way if we do get a rear impact it hits the base of the tube on the cage and hopefully won't bend at all. I also wanted them as out of the way as possible as we load the 4Runner up with pit supplies etc when traveling.

On to the next project.
 

Alex Fleming

Owner at Sherpa Equipment Co.
Joined
Oct 7, 2018
Messages
159
Age
25
Location
Fort Collins, CO
The motor is back in with the Doug Thorley Headers. This was a major squeeze with the engine cage but we made it work!

51812065862_3e3cae0874.jpg


We also knocked out some more cage tie-ins, all custom solid body mounts, reinforced the front clip, did some major interior work, some minor bodywork, custom spacers for our bump stops to now only be 1" stroke on the front. Then, some other odds and ends. The motor should be running by tomorrow, then onto some suspension refreshing, CV rebuilds, diff services, and more.

51813132903_800204dd7a.jpg


51812065887_ea48fed33b.jpg


51813132918_72e20df262.jpg
 

Alex Fleming

Owner at Sherpa Equipment Co.
Joined
Oct 7, 2018
Messages
159
Age
25
Location
Fort Collins, CO
Made some more progress! We leave in a couple of days so a lot of loose ends are getting tied up. We made great progress on the dash! The bump stops and shocks have all been rebuilt as well.

51830555979_b160185031.jpg


51829257722_6702ae4c18.jpg


51830212391_6f7d7637d9.jpg


Going to make some major progress on that today, then finish up a new transmission skid, assemble the front end with new CVs, top fluids, and it's on onto the trailer. Nothing like finishing the car last minute as usual.
 
Top Bottom