New Builds and Teaming up at Anarchy Expeditions

So lately I have really been slacking on this whole blogging thing. I have a bunch of major updates and kinda want to bring this blog back up to speed. As many of you guys who have seen my blog will know I have ongoing build threads on my 2 toyota trucks on Expedition Portal, toyota-4runner.org, ttora, tacomaworld, etc, since you guys have probably followed the to this blog here.

For beginners the shop is starting to look like a full shop. Made a bunch of recent purchases regarding tools and have most of everything currently needed to build up and keep the trucks in tip top shape. Bought a new plasma cutter, argon tank for the mig welder, 35 gal air compressor, tons of air tools, and a new shop press aswell as a new floor jack.

Also I am happy to announce that instead of a solo venture by myself, I now have 2 more friends who have joined the Anarchy Expedition crew, which brings out truck count to 4. Each vehicle will be outfitted with its own individual gear. We plan to do a lot of custom work to the newest addition a 2001 double cab Tacoma Prerunner that was involved in a front end collision. Here is a teaser picture of whats to come on this truck. More updates to follow.

Starting off The New Years Right

So I have been slacking quite a bit on my updates for this blog. In fact I haven't posted anything on here for over a month maybe two I'm not even quite sure to be honest. Anyways I told myself I would try to keep this blog up to date this year so this is how I will be starting the new year off.

So I guess I never really posted anything about my newly acquired 4runner. Although I bought it over 2 months ago before I sold my jeep I never posted anything about it. Since I will be building the 4runner up quite a bit I figured I'd throw it on here aswell. The 4runenr actually sits a tad taller than I'd ideally like it to sit, but the purchase price was right and it was clean with all documented work. So I opted to buy the cleaner well taken care of rig instead of another project. The truck was rust free and easily the cleanest one I could find without breaking the bank.

 Some specs of the day of purchase:
-7.5 inch lift
-35 BFG MTRs
-ARB front and rear lockers
-3.0 V6 new gaskets and 5 speed manual
-ARB air compressor
-Dick Cepek DCs
-Full Size matching spare and highlift
-Sliders welded to frame
-front skid plate
-H4 conversion on headlights
-reupholstered interior
-new head unit

 So here she is the first day I purchased it.I plan on making a lot of changes soon to come.

 

Random pics from past URE trips

Just a post to throw up pics of a couple past trips out to URE in my Pickup. Pics are in random order of past 3 trips out to URE. Just havent had a chance to post them up yet.

Selling the old Jeep

Well its been a long time since I've had anything to contribute to this blog. Mostly out of laziness than anything. I figured with my insomnia tonight I'd update this blog a bit and maybe get my mind off some things. Never realized school could be soo damn stressful. Anyways as the title says I finally sold the old jeep about 3 weeks ago. The jeep had it coming, and I kind of regret selling the old truck thinking about it now while I type this. I always had envisioned turning the jeep into some badass rock crawling machine that would conquer any obstacle I threw at it, but alas, life, lack of funds, and my sheer laziness to work on a never ending money pit of a vehicle got in the way. The jeep was exactly that, a damn money pit that swallowed every dime and nickel that I would throw at it. It was definitely time to let the old girl go. So this blog post will be dedicated to my old truck, one of the first vehicles I ever owned, and the first vehicle I single handedly bought with money I made.

So a little background on the old Cherokee: I bought the truck perhaps three or maybe four years ago? Somewhere around that time frame, and if I look at some of my pictures I could probably pinpoint it. Its not quite important, what was important to me about this truck was, that it was my first true vehicle. Sure I have had other cars my parents had bought for me, but this one was special, it was mines, one that I paid for out of pocket. The story begins with me having just blown the engine in my Jeep Wrangler. It was time time go find a new vehicle to drive especially with my firebird in disrepair and wrangle out of commission. Knowing my parents have had it with my ratty old cars, I went scouring the net to find a replacement vehicle. At first I wasn't particularly fond of purchasing a Jeep Cherokee, I mean what high school kid would be? All high school kids want the newest coolest sports car or biggest baddest truck off the showroom floor. And here I am looking at this junky old 1990 Jeep Cherokee, that had faded paint, stock suspension, basic model without even working AC. Its saving grace however was the fact it had a new engine in it with the proper documentation for it. I finally agreed on purchasing the truck for a low price of $1500, every penny to my name gone and dumped into this ugly mess. I drove it relatively stock and untouched besides the normal maintenance for the next year. After doing a bit of research and talking to a friend of mines in HS, I decided to do something with my truck. By this time I had saved up a bit more cash and decided to do a lift, new tires, and convert the truck to 4wd. Yes the jeep was 2wd *gasp*. I eventually ended up repainted the jeep, added bumpers, lights, sliders, skids, etc. Beat the snot out of it and parked it when I bought my Toyota. Plans after that were to throw an exo cage on it, rewire some things, lift it on 35inch tires, and make custom new bumpers, but by then the jeep started developing a horrible case of deathwobble. After trying to diagnose the problem and throwing countless amounts of money at it, I lost interest and the jeep sat dormant for 6 months or so. I finally decided to sell off the jeep about 3 weeks ago and well its finally gone now.

The day I brought it home:

 

After doing some work on it:

 

New Tcase! and a shakedown run at URE once again.

So I recently picked up a 4.7:1 ratio transfer case for my Toyota pickup. Offroading with the factory Tcase is fine but for major obstacles I found myself burning up the clutch more than I wanted to. It basically came down to either doing a doubler Tcase setup or regearing my existing case. I saw a modded Tcase from a Toyota that appeared on NC4x4 about a week ago and knew I had to have it. It saved me the trouble of actually tearing apart my factory Tcase and swapping gears. It also costed me a whole whooping $280. The gear set itself is close to the $500 range and an added bonus TWIN STICKS! came with it which would have been an additional $150. Now for those who are unaware, twin sticks refer to the shifting mechanism on the Tcase. The factory J-shifter on my Tcase controls both the 4wd and high/low range. Basically disabling 2WD Low range. With twinsticks I can select the 4wd independent from the low/high ranges. So I can effectively run 2wd low if I wanted to. The factory Tcase has a gear ratio of 2.3:1 whereas my new case has a ratio of 4.7:1 in low range. This allows me to use the clutch less since there is more torque produced and the truck is moving at a much slower pace compared to the factory setup.

Anyways enough ranting, I kinda decided on a last minute URE trip tomorrow since my class was cancelled today. I originally had planned on tackling the swap myself on Saturday "tomorrow" but a friend of mines convinced me to go to a trail ride with the Carolina Trailblazers. With that being said 2 friends and I scrambled to get the case in today so I could do a shakedown run out at URE and test her out. The swap went pretty smooth but there were a few issues. My factory tcase/tranny option was a forward shift whereas the new case was a top shift. Basically the shifter was in a different position than factory. Installing the case would require me to cut into my precious factory sheet metal, a fate I hated to dowel out on my beloved truck. This made for a pretty uncomfortable time for me and a cutoff-wheel in the cab of the pickup. But the deed had to be done. After clearancing the tunnel for the new shifters, we installed the new tcase and jacked it into place with my tranny jack. Everything else installed without a hitch.

So tomorrow I am taking the old yota out to URE again for a shakedown run and to test the new case.

New Tires for my Toyota

So unfortunately I had planned another beach trip before summer was over, but due to some unforeseen circumstances and lack of funds I had to abandon the trip last minute. Now with school starting any roadtrips will be on hold so that I can focus on my studies. I will still be working on the 2 vehicles here and there and updating this blog. Anyhow enough chitchat, my Toyota has been running some pretty worn out 32inch tires for wayy too long that came off of another jeep so the wear pattern was very uneven. Last minute before school started I decided it was time to get new tires, and with that I got new wheels and lugnuts. Kudos to the guys at Discount Tire here in Matthews as they did a great job and gave me an amazing deal on tires, wheels, lugnuts, the whole shebang. I ended up putting 33x12.50x15 Goodyear Wrangler Duratracs on it, with 15x10 Ion Alloy wheels. They also installed a set of black gorilla lugnuts with the special spline on it. Got the whole thing out the door with certificates, balancing, and lifetime rotation for a cool $1300.

 

Here she is at the shop getting new wheels and tires. 

Update

So not much has gone on since my last posting really. Did another trip out to URE with some of the cherokeeforum guys from UNCC with a bit of camping. I cut the trip a bit short because I wasn't feeling too well on Friday night and ended up leaving Saturday night. Still got 2 whole days of camping and wheeling in though which was nice. Took the little yota like last time, didnt wheel it much cause of how I felt. Anyways here are some pics of the lastest trip.

Road trip down to Atlanta GA

Well its been a little while since Ive added an update. Thought the trip down to ATL was worth posting so here it is:

So in an effort to completely do a rebuild on my Jeep Cherokee, I began tearing it down, and manage to find a sweet exocage a regional club member was selling. Problem was, the exo cage was in Atlanta a whole 260 miles from my place in Charlotte, NC. At first I not going to pick it up but decided the trip might be a fun way to unwind a bit from all the hardwood flooring my friends and I had installed the previous weekend. Plus it gave me an opportunity to check out the Georgia Aquarium. So Monday morning my friend and I packed the truck, well rather unpacked it of the tools in the back and took the camper top off. We did pack a highlift, spare tire, some basic wrenches, and a sawzall incase we had to cut the cage to fit in the bed. We left right around 5AM and made our way down 85 towards Atlanta. Here's a picture of the yota about a quarter way to ATL at a local Chick-fil-a. Stopped for a bit of breakfast and to top off the tank.

When we arrived in ATL we went to my buddy's place to pick up the exocage, which unfortunately did not get pics of. But it was a huge rollcage basically sticking out the bed of the pickup. Got some pretty funny looks driving down the road. Even had a cop ask me wtf that was. After picking up the cage strapping it down and locking it to the bed of the truck we drove over to the Georgia Aquarium which was pretty much in the heart of Atlanta. Needless to say we were quite skeptical about the toyota clearing the roof of the parking deck once arriving. Didn't exactly plan the whole thing out quite that well haha. Luckily the roof was tall enough, and we cleared it by a few inches. We did mess with the parking attendant a bit though. He asked us what the thing in the back of the bed was, and my buddy told him we were a couple porn producers and that was our bondage cage haha. Of course I explained later what it actually was, but the guy got a good laugh out of it. So here are some pictures of the aquarium, which if you guys haven't been, it is totally worth checking out if you are in the area. They have a huge exhibit with 4 whale sharks in a football stadium sized tank. Pretty marvelous if you ask me. 

After the aquarium we stopped by a part of ATL known as China town and ate lunch there at an asian restaurant. Some of the best food I had on the cheap. Then it was time for us to leave before rush hour hit. And boy did we get out in time. the traffic already started piling up around 3. We saw a few interesting things on the way back so I snapped a couple more pictures and that was that.

Leaving ATL :(

Bigass Chick-fil-a sign












Huge peach water tower we saw.







All in all it was a fun trip except for the 8 hours of driving that I did in a single day. The aquarium was amazing, and the food was good. As for the exocage ill post that in a separate jeep related posting another day. Cheers!

Memorial Day URE Trip (LATE POSTING)

Yea I know its a late post now, but I figured better now than never. So the trip went as planned and I took my little Yota out to URE for the Memorial Day weekend ride. The crew and I woke up bright and Early Saturday morning to do a quick rundown of our checklist. Made sure we packed plenty of food, charcoal, camping gear, firewood, all the paraphernalia needed for a good camping trip, not to mention a rifle and shotgun for the range afterwards. After checking our gear, my buddy in his red Cherokee and I met up with another friend at a BP gas station and convoyed together all the way to the Eldorado Outpost located right beside Uwharrie NF.

There we met up with some more friends who had already camped the night before. All in all we had a total of 4 Cherokees, 2 Xterras, and my lonely little Toyota :(. It was a fun relaxing weekend out there and my sleeping arrangements did not disappoint. I had a cot setup under my truck's canopy with a sleeping bag on top. Probably the best camping setup I ever had to date.

 Now the rest of the pics are just from the wheeling trip taken at various points throughout the weekend.