A Trip to Stellar Built

PURE 4x4Photoshoot

Dec 14

As an adult, THIS is it. This is that feeling you felt when you were 10 years old pulling up to the Toys”R”Us or Electronics Boutique (now GameStop for all our non-archaic readers). Smiling from ear to ear while overloading your senses with toys and video games is exactly what stepping into Stellar Built is like. Especially during Christmas season, you can’t help but drool over a few things you’d like to see under your tree.

Well today was time for my annual alignment after a year of road trips, camping, and trail runs. My 4runner’s steering has thought that “left” is “straight” for far too long and now is the time to correct it at one of Sacramento’s beloved truck shops. Upon arrival I was greeted with Clinton’s (@amg_t4r) godly 5th Gen 4runner. It’s truly difficult to keep up with this guy and it seems like he has a new major mod every week. His 38 inch mud terrains paired with RRW’s instantly creates a presence like no other and upon inspection you can tell that this guy really wheels his stuff. I currently don’t know of any other 5th gen’s able to conquer the “soup bowl” at Rubicon, yet here she was right in front of me in all her glory. Clinton’s runner is iconic in the culture in so many ways and continues to inspire countless 5th gen owners. We’re extremely happy to have him part of the PURE 4x4 movement.

After being hypnotized by Clint’s runner, I now see Dmitriy’s (@eurosonic) 200 series Land Cruiser (also Stellar Built’s shop truck), the “Corporate Cruiser” pull out of the garage. So now it’s time to fanboy over this monster, and again I’m feeling like that 10 year old kid. The last time we visited Stellar we saw the 200 on the lift receiving some major work to the suspension and exterior armor. Well now it is basically complete, sporting 37 inch BFGoodrich KM3’s and RRW’s just like Clinton’s. The facelift on this thing really makes a difference to the front end facia. Everything just flows so well in this build and everything looks “meant to be,” giving off a strong, capable, and clean impression. I absolutely cannot wait to see this thing in the trails and can only hope Dmitriy hits me up to tag along for the ride!

After seeing those two beasts, I was forced to check up on my now extremely inferior ol’ 3rd gen runner. Just kidding, I’d never talk about my baby like that. I just had a few impure thoughts of other rigs, but in the end you are still the one for me boo. Anyway, the homie Josh (@joshkirihara) was working on my alignment and reported the good news that nothing was bent and should be kosher for a proper alignment. I step back outside to hop on a call and something else catches my eye….

Just when I didn’t think this day could get any better, Brenan from Trail4r.com (@trail4r) pulls up with Jade! It’s been a while since I last saw this thing and it has gotten some tasteful upgrades as well. The new Velox Offroad gull-wing panels he had looked pretty badass. These panels literally doubles your molle real estate in the cargo area and offers a cool design to access your things. I don’t think I’ve seen any other builds with these intuitive panels. Aside from Jade at Stellar Built, Brenan also has his 2nd gen Tacoma (@trail_tacoma) at the shop getting a major overhaul. Long travel, beefier axles, and a Land Cruiser steering rack were just some of the big boy upgrades he has being done. I definitely can’t wait to see the Taco finished and on the trails.

By this time Josh was finished with my 3rd gen and it was sadly time for me to go. My alignment was back to 100 percent and Josh even went above and beyond by re-greasing my upper ball joints and trimming some material so that I wouldn’t rub anymore -THANK YOU! Upon leaving I had more impure thoughts: maybe I should just purposely break more things on my rig so I can come back to this great toy store of mine. Maybe. But will the wife kill me? Maybe.