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Episode Transcript

(Jimmy)>> You're watching Powernation!

(Jeremy)>> Today on Carcass we add a few performance accessories to our Overlander to get the best out of our 4Runner.

(Jimmy)>> Plus show you some tips on how to remove the trail rash from your offroad vehicle. Then we head to a new o-h-v park to evaluate how well our new parts handle the trails. [ Music ] [ engine revving ] [ Music ]

(Jimmy)>> What's up everybody. Welcome to Carcass. Jeremy and I are almost done with our Toyota 4Runner Overlander project, and if you haven't seen what we've done so far here's the rundown.

(Jeremy)>> To get started we began with a 2016 Toyota 4runner. Underneath we removed all the original suspension and put in a two and a half inch lift kit. That included front coil overs, a set of upper control arms, and in the back a longer set of springs and shocks. For the brakes we got rid of the stock Toyota setup and went with a set of Powerstop drilled and slotted rotors on the front and the rear. Plus, we upgraded the pads. For wheels and tires we went with 17-inch Black Rhinos wrapped with General Grabber AT's.

(Jimmy)>> For the top and outside of our truck we fabricated a front bumper with a hidden winch, a rear bumper with a spare tire carrier, and some rock sliders to protect the body. Then we finished it off with some off-road lights, replaced the stock roof rack with a bigger one to support the iKamper tent.

(Jeremy)>> And that brings us to where we are today. There are a couple of things that we want to do on the performance side of things before we go out and hit the trails. We're gonna end up getting rid of this stock exhaust system because we're gonna do an upgraded. [ drill humming ] [ saw buzzing ]

(Jeremy)>> Alright, to get the hangers off here's a little tip. If you spray down the rubber and stuff with some penetrating oil or some Deep Creep like Seafoam has it just helps everything come off a little bit easier. So, I'll go ahead and spray down all the hangers, and then we'll use a pry bar and pry all of them off. [ Music ]

Now as far as our new exhaust goes, we went with a Flowmaster kit. We got this one from Holley Performance, and it comes with their FlowFX muffler. This is a straight through design, and it'll give us a nice, deep, mellow tone. As far as the rest of the kit goes this is 409 stainless steel. It's two and a half inches in diameter and it is mandrel bent. This is a direct fit system. There's no welding involved, and it does come with its own clamps. So, all we've got to do is get this up into our 4Runner. [ Music ] [ drill humming ] [ Music ]

(Jeremy)>> Okay, so we're gonna move on to the next piece. I'm not gonna tighten any of the clamps down. We'll save that to the very, very end. That way we can get this all kinda set into position before we tighten anything else. A couple more pieces here and we'll be out the back. [ Music ] [ drill humming ]

(Jeremy)>> Alright, that wraps up the exhaust system. There's a couple of things we want to do underneath the hood and in the cab. So, let's get this thing on the ground.

(Jimmy)>> With the exhaust wrapped up we're gonna move on to the front and install this air intake kit. I'll unplug some sensors and remove the old intake. Get the old stuff out of the way. Also getting rid of the old filter. [ Music ] [ drill humming ] [ Music ]

(Jimmy)>> I'll be replacing it with an S&B intake kit that we got from Summit Racing, starting with the air box. Then I'll drop in the filter, install the intake tube, and tighten down the clamps. [ Music ]

(Jeremy)>> Alright, so the last thing we're gonna be doing on the performance side of things is we're gonna be installing this Bully Dog Thrust throttle enhancement device. Now what this does is go in between the connections on your throttle pedal and it gives you a little extra throttle response. So, if we have to merge into traffic, now that we have all this extra weight hanging on the 4Runner, or if we're out on a trail and we need a little boost to get over and obstacle, this is gonna help out with that. They are extremely simple to install. Just a couple connections right under the dash. [ Music ] Alright, so we just take this harness and we plug this in between the throttle pedal connection itself. It's pretty simple. This in! [ Music ] Then we'll just put the actual device mark on there. And the cool part is in here this little... There we go! Put that back on there and I can click it here, and then we just connect the little dial to this port right here, and we'll run that dial to the dash. Just plug this in under the dash here. Now this little dial right here's got a bunch of different numbers on it from zero all the way up to 100. That means you can dial in the amount of throttle response that you want. You can do this on the fly. So, you can do it any time. It's designed for off road use. All of the connections are waterproof. We're gonna go ahead and stick this right down here, bottom of the dash. We're gonna call that a very simple install. Up next, we show you how to get rid of those pesky tree scratches from your off-road rig.

(Jeremy)>> Alright, one of the last things we're gonna take care of before we head out onto the trails is we're gonna take care of some of the trail rash, or scratches, that are alongside of the 4Runner. Now prior to Jimmy and I getting our hands on this thing this was a support vehicle for our production crew. So, they would use this to follow us around when we were out driving other things. Plus, when Jimmy and I took this thing out in its stock form we kinda added to some of the scratches alongside of the 4Runner. Now the biggest thing here is if you can feel them with your fingernail you may not get those out. That might be something that you'll have to actually wet sand and do a little more work to, but for what we have on the side of the truck now we really can't feel them. So, we should be able to buff these out. What I'm gonna do to start here is actually just wipe the side of the door down. We'll work on the entire vehicle eventually. We'll get this all clean. We'll grab the buffer, a little bit of compound, and we'll start cleaning all this up. [ Music ] [ buffer buzzing ] [ Music ] [ buffer buzzing ]

(Jeremy)>> Alright, that should take care of most of it. We are gonna wipe it down with a microfiber towel. Take a peek here and see what it looks like.

Okay that took out all of the scratches on this part of the panel. Now what I'm using to do this is a dual action forced rotation polisher. That means that I can actually put some pretty moderate pressure onto the back of the polisher and the panel here to help this thing cut. The product that we are using is Sonax's Ultimate Cut. This is their 6 + /3, which means that it's 6 on the cut side but 3 on the polish side. Now we are gonna be doing another step. So that's just fine for now. Now when we're working on the door, or whenever you're working on your fender or whatever panel, you want to work in small sections. Something like six by six, maybe up to one foot square, but that's all. What you don't want to do is try to do the entire door because by the time you start working here and get to this end the polish is already gonna be dry. So, you can't go back over it. So, you've got to work in small areas. So, I've got a couple, three, four more areas to do here. So, I'm just gonna keep rolling. [ Music ] [ polisher buzzing ]

(Jeremy)>> You don't have to use this exact polisher. Do your research and you can pick up tools like this at your local parts store or online. [ Music ] Okay, so that's step one. Now we're gonna move on to step two and we've got a couple of different things. We're gonna end up using more of a polisher to do this step. Plus, we're gonna be using their four on the cut side and the six on the gloss side. So, this is really gonna bring the shine out of the panel. We're gonna do the exact same thing. We're gonna work in small areas, kinda jump around, try not to let anything dry, and on this step the biggest thing is the more time you spend on it the shinier it's gonna be. So, it's gonna have more gloss the longer you spend on your door. So, depending on how much damage you have, or what you're trying to take care of, or the project you're working on that'll just kinda just tell you how much time you want to spend on it. This is gonna go out and get trail rash again, but we still want it to look good. [ polisher humming ]

(Jeremy)>> For this step you want to use light pressure. You want to make sure you don't overheat the panel by working an area too much, or by putting too much pressure on the back of the polisher. [ Music ] Okay, one thing to note here is you don't need big fancy tools to do something like this. All you need is a rag and a good compound that can do some cutting. Put some of that compound on the rag. Use good ole fashioned elbow grease and you can take care of these scratches that way too. [ Music ] Okay now there's two big pluses in doing something like this. Not only are we taking the scratches out of the panel but we're also doing some paint correction or paint restoration. By buffing out our clear coat we're actually taking all of the junk that may be sitting on top of the clear off of it. So, if you listen to the panel that we haven't buffed you can hear there's a lot of junk in it, versus over to the panel that we did buff there's no junk in it. That's just gonna help our 4Runner's paint last a lot longer, and it's just gonna look a lot better. Now I've got a bunch of panels yet to do. I've actually got to do the whole side of our 4Runner yet. Then we're gonna take our Overlander out and we're gonna run this thing down the trails.

(Jeremy)>> We head out to a new off-road park with some amazing views.

[ Music ]

(Jeremy)>> In the picturesque mountains of Grundy County lies a hidden gem for those who love the great outdoors and have a passion for off-roading. Coalmont OHV Park is the only city owned off road recreational area in Tennessee. It's located about an hour northeast of Chattanooga in a tiny old coal mining town of Coalmont. It all started when the city purchased some old logging and rock harvesting acreage in the bluffs of southeast Tennessee. In 2016 a grant for construction was approved and the planning began. The now 1,300 plus acres of rolling hills and cascading creeks is home to new adventures for the off-road enthusiasts.

(Wade)>> Well really what we designed was a two or three day park for people to vacation, or the weekend warriors, that type crowd. We have anywhere from motorcycles, to four wheelers, to side by sides, to the overlanders. People wanting to make a week out of it here it is.

(Jeremy)>> Still in its infancy the park has a little over 35 trails that span more than 28 miles through some of the most scenic landscape you'll ever see, but the trails didn't reveal themselves easily.

(Wade)>> A lot of walking, lot of riding. When we lose the leaves, we've been able to find it. We've had some places we went over 100 times and never noticed something, and then one day you stop and you go walking, and bam, there it is. These are some old trails, some of the ones we put back into service, but it's been a work in progress. These overlooks are not that easy to find. Like I say, it's a lot of walking.

(Jeremy)>> The park's president, Wade Cozart, built the trail system mostly with volunteer help. Working on weekends they would clean up old growth, clear downed trees, and work on building new paths that would create a unique experience for all who visited.

(Wade)>> It's mountains. You're gonna have hills, rocks, creeks. I'm trying to make this to where a lot of people it's not gonna be an all out moderate park, but we're trying to put a variety in to where it's for the ones that like a little adrenaline we don't want it boring.

(Jeremy)>> Coalmont OHV will have annual passes but will cater to the weekend getaway crowd too with amenities to fit all the park's patrons.

(Wade)>> We are gonna have food vendors in here. We've got bathhouse, showers. We've got fifteen 50-amp hookups, six 30-amp hookups with water on both. 30 primitive camp spots with two big group camp spots.

(Jeremy)>> So if you're looking for a weekend adventure with long winding scenic trails and with some mild difficulties that will keep you wondering what's next then Coalmont OHV has what you desire. Our 4Runner's ready for some action as we run it through the gauntlet at Coalmont.

(Jimmy)>> Hey guys, we're finally out here running some trails in our 4Runner, trying to get our bearings, giving it a little bit of a test, and we're in Coalmont, Tennessee, at Coalmont OHV. This is a great little park. Got lots of trails and we're just trying to have some fun.

(Jeremy)>> So we're in our 2016 4Runner. We've got a lift kit from Icon, Summit Racing. We've got our General Grabbers, our ATs. We built our sliders and our bumpers. We have a winch from Warn up front. That kinda sets us up for being down here, out here, and almost taking out the mirror. It was this close! We've also got a rooftop tent, and our rack, and our lights, and all that fun stuff to make it a little more comfortable, but for the platform on the 4Runner itself this is doing pretty darn good.

(Jimmy)>> This is pretty much everything we could have done I feel like. Not a whole lot more that we need to do.

(Jeremy)>> No, and the big plus side to this is we drove this here. This drove down the highway at 75 miles an hour without a problem. We don't have these giant oversized tires. We don't have this underpowered setup. We are setup for driving to our destination, and that's kinda the whole point of overlanding. You take everything you need with you but you've got to get it there somehow. So, the right setup gets you where you need to be.

(Jimmy)>> Don't have to deal with trailers.

(Jeremy)>> A tow vehicle, twice the fuel. [ engine rumbling ]

(Jeremy)>> I think this is gonna turn out alright.

(Jimmy)>> It's a little tricky through some of these spots here.

(Jeremy)>> Dude, I'm just gonna say it. I guarantee you I'm gonna have to buff this again when we get back.

(Jimmy)>> Yep!

(Jeremy)>> And that's okay!

(Jimmy)>> I've seen a lot of branches do some dragging on the side.

(Jeremy)>> That's what it's all about, right? That is a severe right hander, isn't it? That's 90 degrees.

(Jimmy)>> Good thing we're on a super short wheelbase 4Runner.

(Jeremy)>> You got this.

(Jimmy)>> Oh it's muddy down here.

(Jeremy)>> You've got some good brakes.

(Jimmy)>> Yep!

(Jeremy)>> Just a little slip and slide there.

(Jimmy)>> Good brakes but the tires don't like the mud. At least this kind of mud.

(Jeremy)>> And straight downhill stuff, right? There's a good rock there. You might have to use your slider here. You got around it! I was hoping I'd here this crunch.

(Jimmy)>> Something there.

(Jeremy)>> That's a little creek crossing. We are low! This is like dinosaur stuff. There you go!

(Jimmy)>> That's what it's for, I guess.

(Jeremy)>> That's how you do that.

(Jimmy)>> Alright!

(Jeremy)>> When we head out on the trails there are certain things that we do bring with us. Definitely bring a tool bag. You bring a couple extra fluids. You bring a way to air up and air down your tires, but there is one thing that we do bring as well, and that's actually right here on our phone. It's called On-X Maps or On-X Offroad. It's a great tool you guys can take with you when you're heading out for an adventurous weekend or when you're hitting the trails, and it'll show you trail systems. It'll show you places to stop. Stuff like national parks. It shows you even if you're driving to your destination where gas stations are. Place where you can camp, place where you can find stuff, and then when you're out on the trails or o-h-v systems you can actually watch the map where you are on your phone. One of the coolest parts about that is a lot of these trail systems, they're deep down in the woods like we are now. I have no cell service, especially places like this. We've never been here before. So, we don't really know where we're going, and we're really in the thick of it. What you can do is download the map to your phone prior to leaving. That way when you're out here you can pull up the map and it uses g-p-s to tell you where you are. So that's an easy way for us to get back to civilization, or back to the start. Since we haven't been out here before, even though we do have a trail guide, if you guys are going out by yourself this is a great tool to have. [ Music ]

[ Music ]

Man, this is pretty slick.

(Jimmy)>> It's awesome!

(Jeremy)>> I don't know of any other place where you truly can drive out on a set of flat rocks like this. You could even camp down here. There's already been a campfire.

(Jimmy)>> We've had an awesome day out here at Coalmont and our 4Runner did a much better job than we thought it would, but we do have a few more hours of daylight. So, we're gonna hit a few more trails before we call it a day.

(Jeremy)>> We'll see you guys later. Gonna try to maybe beat some of the rain that might come rolling in here shortly.

(Jimmy)>> if you like anything you've seen on today's show go to Powernation TV.
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