Burzon's 2004 4Runner SE (V6) Overland Build

MBurzon

Photo/Video, Mechanic, Cook, Driver, First Aid
I found some unimproved roads in Danby, Dorset, Manchester, and Sandgate, VT today and introduced my mom to wheeling. She had a bottle of water with her, and after a particularly difficult rock ledge climb said, "I should have brought something stronger to drink." Great sense of humor! She had a great time and loved the back-country scenery.

With the help of Rodney at Performance Unlimited (Woodstock, VT), I finished a ton of work on the truck this week. Because of time and tool constraints, I had Rodney replace a leaking front diff seal and worn front left CV, reposition my Shrockworks bumper and add a few welds to lock in place, and pop in my new rear LCA's from Toy Outfitters.

Once I got the truck home, I reinstalled my rear sway bar, mounted a fire extinguisher, and added a beer bottle opener to my rear bumper. I also applied some electrical cleaner to the winch remote connections and spread the pins for better contact...no more malfunctioning winch remote. For fun, I threw on my Trasharoo because, well, why not?

Stainless Steel Bottle Opener from Lake Front Brewery, Milwaukee, WI
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5lb. ABC Fire Extinguisher (Temporary Mount)
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The white steelies and new shoes should be on in less than two weeks. That should wrap up truck projects for a little while - I finished all of my shakedown projects and it is running beautifully. Time to get out and wheel; looking forward to meeting some new folks at the Yankee Toys Fall Gathering.
 
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Barrows

Adventurer
Do you have any friends with the treadwrights? I wheel with a few guy's that have them and they have found the compound to very stiff and not conform to rocks or clear mud well. My co-pilot on the VOT has them on his rubicon and he said my worn out Hankook mud tires worked way better then his treadrights. I personally don't have any experience with them but figured I would give you a heads up.
 

MBurzon

Photo/Video, Mechanic, Cook, Driver, First Aid
The Treadwright is an aggressive all-terrain. Lazz runs them on his Rover and would buy them again. I ran the VOT with Nitto Terra Grapplers at 6/32" tread and had a blast - they were damn near racing slicks. Even with a hard compound, the Guard Dogs will provide 500% more traction than what I currently have.

That said, I am aware they have a tendency to pack up with mud - the lugs are closer together than a true mud-terrain. I daily drive my truck so a full soft-compund MT at close to $300 a tire is not ideal. I'm sure I would see better off-road performance but on my scale there is no value.
 

Barrows

Adventurer
I figured you had looked into the tires, but I wanted to give a little feedback on the northeast use if you didn't know. I am looking forward to seeing them mounted on the white steel wheels.
 

MBurzon

Photo/Video, Mechanic, Cook, Driver, First Aid
Made a last minute tire change after much debate. Going with the 255 80 17 KM2's after all. Nothing against TreadWright...I just want to try the KM2's. Hopefully going on this weekend.
 
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MBurzon

Photo/Video, Mechanic, Cook, Driver, First Aid
My baby got her new shoes this morning. Refinished FJ Steelies with 1.25" spidertrax spacers and 255 80 17 KM2's. No rubbing yet and I really dig the look, but haven't had the truck on the trails yet. Gas mileage immediately went up about .7-1MPG and the thinner tire makes my truck's power steering feel similar to a Cadillac. :wings:

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MBurzon

Photo/Video, Mechanic, Cook, Driver, First Aid
Trouble in paradise. My factory skids are toast - they were in rough shape before last weekend but now they are mangled, torn, and hanging off my truck on one side. I just ordered up a full set of RCI Metalworks skids in 3/16" steel sans gas tank skid to solve the issue...I'm very excited. Here is a picture of the factory skid carnage - you can see the rear mount on the front skid tore clean off!

My factory skid gave up - the mounting bracket has ripped off!
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In other bad news, my recent CV joint seal repair is leaking again so it's back to the shop we go...that kind of pisses me off.

I have a little bit of rubbing on my front tires I need to work through from the 255 80 17 KM2's. More on that later.
 
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