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Hey all, recently joined tnortt and thought I would toss up my 4runner build, I purchased it in November 2017 from a guy in Windsor. It was originally from Edmonton was driven here sometime in the 2000’s.
Started off by trying to get rid of some of the rusty body.. it was really bad… the frame was surprisingly in good shape! The spray foam fenders were the first to go, the back fenders were pretty much gone past the wheel well. And the drivers door was really bad along the bottom and the bottom of the inside of the tailgate was non-exsistant along with the back half of the rockers.
Wanted to replace all that I could so it was less body work to do so I found a door and fenders from a local Toyota hoarder. He also had a what I believe was a skyjacker 4” suspension lift so I grabbed that of course. Also I scored a set of wheels from a buddy at work that we’re wider and a little more offset.. perfect. And bought some used 33” pro comp tires from my buddy who upgraded to 38s on his ranger
Here’s the turd with 33s and no lift, and a super hurting rear sunspension. I drove it like this for a while and the tires came closer to rubbing fenders everytime I drove it lol rubbins racing!
Then my weakness kicked in… found a great deal and got waaayy ahead of myself and found a set of Toyota axles and 2 gear drive tcases!! The axles were under a suzuki samurai witch was built big so it was setup for 4-link and it had a spool locker in the rear axle and 5.71 gears front and rear. Front axle was trussed and already and had the high steer components and hydro assist on it!
The cases are in good shape, and gave me high hopes of making a double case setup, would just need an adapter to go to the r150 tranny to a gear drive case since mine has the chain drive tcase 👎🏻
So the suspension upgrades go underway… i ordered the Chevy 63” kit from low range off-road and was definitely worth it and a great kit, highly recommended. And found a set of nice springs in the wrecking yard off a 98 gmc sierra I believe it was and got a new set of energy suspension bushings for them. Ordered some fresh Bilstein shocks, stainless extended brake lines, ball joints, and odds and ends to make it all happen. Started with the rear end.
Also you can see the bumpers hiding in the background from trail gear. They were 15% off on Black Friday so again…my weakness of “finding a deal/sale” kicked in and ordered them!
Ewww stock..
<p style=”text-align: left;”>Then it took forever for me to weld the spring mounts in the proper spots and measure everything out and triple check it was straight as an arrow… witch paid off because it’s drives great, no dog walking or anything👍🏻 . Painted the axle and leafspings with tremclad to make it look fresh one last time lol Welded new shock mounts on the axle and ended up ordering a low range off-road adjustable top shock mount.
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The flash really brings out the rust 👌🏻
I ended up using the rear end that was originally in the truck because this is an 88 with the V6 and its . wider than the earlier 4runners witch I learned as I measured the width right then… oh well. I did end up putting a trail gear diff cover on too and a new diff breather that extends higher so when I have to play in the mud/water.
Rear end is pretty well done. Except that I realized i f*cked myself pretty good when I went to install the rear bumper… When I tore the truck down i removed the hitch that was welded onto it and it took a piece off the end of the frame with it. Sooo I smashed a 2×4 peice of steel into the end of the frame and welded it in so it had lots of strength to put the spring mount on. Then I had the bright idea of capping the end for more strength and to keep the mud out… that’s where I screwed up. To mount the bumper it has rails that slide into the frame and bolt on, can’t slide the bumper in the frame if it’s capped! Was pretty cheesed needless to say…but I fabricated up a new mounting system. Pretty much just cut the rails off and welded plate onto the bumper and drilled holes , then I put a peice of 4” flat bar across the caps and drilled matching holes and bolted it up. So this bumper has to stay with this truck forever lol
And while in the fab process I cooked up some rock sliders for the turd.
@Toyota Tom great build and writeup! Your 4Runner and my first one had the exact same rust spots. Glad to see you fixed yours rather than part with it.
It’s not a build until you spend hours doing something and then realize later it was a waste of time. LOL
That’s too funny, and hideously true.
It’s not a build until you spend hours doing something and then realize later it was a waste of time. LOL
Thanks @toys-n-yotas. I’ve never done body work before and this was my first crack at it, if it wasn’t for my friends expertise I would have never done it. And would have finished out waaaayy worse lol
Oh yes, a lot of R+D went into this truck!
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