Topic: '85 4runner daily driver trail rig

[MikeCL]

Well its time I post my build over here.

I bought this 4runner last year, towards the end of May. It was a sight unseen purchase through craigslist. The 4runner was 5 hours away, and I worked out a deal with the guy to trade my old '89 pickup with a blown 3vze, and a parts 4runner with a running 3vze, along with cash. He brought the '85 down with his roll back, and picked up my old truck and 4runner. Made my life easy, as I didn't have to deal with parting them out my self, and junking them.

Of course sight unseen, there were plenty of problems with the 4runner. In the electrical department the rear window did not work, and was left cracked open. It was also jambed up with a 2x4. The stereo only worked when the running lights were on, as the horn/hazard/radio fuse was pulled due to a bad horn switch. And someone tapped the always hot wire into the dash lights... Must have made the repair when it was dark out?

4 days after I got the truck, it starting blowing a lot of white smoke  So the next weekend I put in a new head gasket and intake gaskets. It ended up being the intake gaskets from what I could tell.

I was told the tcase had a leak, but I wasn't to concerned about it since I wanted to go dual cases and could rebuild it. Turns out it wasn't the tcase, it was the front main seal. I put the repair off for a couple months, it was a 15 minute repair job when I finally got around to it.

Here she was the day after I go it 

[MikeCL [OP]]

I drove it like it was for about a month, then one day the front drivers side tire developed a nasty sidewall leak. I took it out for lunch, and when I got out I could hear air hissing out of the tire... I looked around the tire and found the cracked sidewall. I quickly hopped back in and rushed to a gas station to fill it back up, then went to get some food.

Thankfully I still had my 33" swampers which I ran on my pickup truck. New tires were not yet in the budget. So after work I took the old worn out 35's off and installed my 33" swampers. Going from a 10" rim down to a 8" rim, the flares had to go. And of course, they caused quite a bit of rust damage.

[MikeCL [OP]]

Time for some armor, I could not stand that rear bumper 

I made the rear bumper in solidworks before I started, this gave me some measurements and templates to use. I also had the brackets cut locally on a cnc plasma table.



Made a few changes, but it turned out pretty nice



Had some extra steel left over, so I gusseted the corners.

[MikeCL [OP]]

I got talked into going wheeling with it on short notice, and still needed to get some rock sliders on it. So I went back to solid works and tossed these together.



Picked up some steel and got to work the next weekend.



Finished and on the truck







You can see I also trimmed the rear fenders a bit

[MikeCL [OP]]

I decided to make some half doors as well before we went wheeling. I got a set of doors for free from a club member, they had some good size dents in them. So I took Thursday off, and gave my self one day to build half doors.

Start with some tape, and make a plan.



Chop chop!



Top skinned, handle works great.





Other side had a few more dents.



Painted them up and added some universal car mirrors, and wheeled it 

[MikeCL [OP]]

New tires and front fenders 

Also installed 1.5" spacers all around.





Also installed high steer and upgraded the front disc brakes. Installed some Marlin front axle seals while I had it all apart as well, money well spent 

[MikeCL [OP]]

Time for the tcase! I had the guy toss in a extra top shift tcase with the 4runner when I got it. Plan was to dual case it and be done, then I decided I wanted 4.7 gears and dual cases. But I was on a budget. So I opted to install the 4.7 gears first, and go to dual cases at a later point.

I scored a set of Marlin 4.7 XD gears off pirate with a HD tcase mount for $320 shipped   

Tore the old case apart and cleaned everything up. Here are the new and old gears lined up.



I had the case machined to clear the new gears, rather then grinding it out.



Checked everything for clearance multiple times as I slowly put it back together. I didn't want to have to do this again.



low range gears all in place



Had to put the shifter on, and test fit the new shifter knob 

[MikeCL [OP]]

Swapped in a IFS rear axle, found out I had 4.30 gears when I did... So I had to swap the thirds around on the rear axles as well.

I ordered up parts for installing rear toyota disc brakes, slowly adding to the pile until I was ready to install them. I also picked up a Spartan auto locker for the rear. Took a weekend to install everything. New wheel bearings and seals while I was in there as well.

Here is the locker, my old cross pin had seen better days...



I liked the pin setup with this locker.



And ready to drop back in.



Rear disc mounted, and brackets bolted in place.



caliper is centered pretty well too.



Rear disc brakes made a huge difference on my truck, since the drums were rusted up beyond repair. Upgrading to disc brakes seemed to be the most cost effective option.

[Tallchevy]

Looking good   What are your plans for a front bumper?

[YotaNate]

Looks nice!  How do you like the new MTR's?


Nate

[Joey88RUNR]

Looks Good!  clean work!  good Tire choice! I love my new mtrs

[MikeCL [OP]]

Thanks guys

Still more to add to this thread, had to go fix the boss's computer.

I've been happy with the MTR's, but have not wheeled it with them yet. I wanted to upgrade my front axle shafts before wheeling with tires that big.

Last fall I scored a E-locker for $75 off craigslist. Soon as I found that, I planned on putting it up front. And after I got my year end bonus, I ordered up a set of 30 spline longfields

Before I installed either of them, I needed a switch for the locker. Did some reading and wired up a test switch, worked great. I also needed to rewire my power windows, I decided to move the window switches under the radio. This would allow me to only deal with 2 wires to each door, easier for swapping my half doors on.

Here is the finished switch panel.



I installed the longfields and front e-locker after finishing the switch panel

Also decided to go dual cases now, rather then wait. So I ordered up a Marlin crawl dual case adapter while they were still on sale.



I finally installed the dual case last weekend, no pictures of the install though.

[MikeCL [OP]]

Now the front bumper. I came across this winch plate/stinger kit front Frontier 4x4, and I really liked the looks of it. Plus it allowed me to build off it, giving it a different look.

I drew this up in solidworks, but none of the measurements are really accurate. It was just to give me a concept to build from.



I am happy with how it turned out. I still need to reinforce it in some areas. Going to add some gussets before a winch goes in as well.





Also fabbed up a receiver mounted license plate bracket, once I add a winch I will have to extend it out past the fairlead.

[MikeCL [OP]]

And to finish it up for now, ruf pack mixed with all pro 3" front springs. And 18" monroe shocks.

My truck had a all pro hanger up front when I got it. But it was pushed forward, and the shackles were pretty close to 90° because of it. So I needed longer springs to correct the shackle angle.









I have some old all pro springs I picked up from a club member that will go in the back. Still need to weld up new rear shock mounts before I start on that though. Right now the back is sitting on 5" shackles and 3" lift blocks, stock springs.

Also going to build a spare tire carrier, but that should be about it for now. When I have the money I will regear the diffs and add a winch

[YotaNate]

Wow I am really liking that rear bumper!  I'm about to start from scratch on one for myself.  Is there any chance of getting the measurements/materials you used sir?  I would be pumped to have one that looked as good as yours, I always preferred "plate" style bumpers and would really like to build a set of my own.

Thanks! 
Nate

[MikeCL [OP]]

Thanks Your not the first to ask, so I tossed some numbers on the bumper. Keep in mind I did make some changes as I built it. But this is a decent starting point.

[YotaNate]

Thanks Mike!  Thats awesome!


Nate

[Talon84x4]

Looking good, even though it probably won't stay I really like the copper and black together

[MikeCL [OP]]

Keeping the factory color, and planning on cutting new SR5 graphics in black. I need to spray the front fenders, two tone line they were before. I also have a tail gate that is in better shape, but will need to be painted before it goes on.

[THK Matt]

WOW thats awesome dude.

very clean work and it looks pretty stout.

[MikeCL [OP]]

Finally got a chance to wheel it last weekend, 1 year to the day I bought it

Love the marlin 4.7 gears and dual case setup. I was in double low most of the weekend, cruised the easier trails with the 4.7 case. And the front e-locker worked great as well. But it is slow to disengage at times, I quickly found its easier to put it in reverse for a couple feet to get the elocker to disengage. But for the $75 I paid, I can't really complain about it Beats being open up front.

The new tires worked great all around, of course the gearing and lockers helped as well. But there were a few hills that everyone will take a small run up to get up. And when they tried to crawl it, they would have to back down and try again with some speed. I managed to walk right up them in double low, 2nd gear, locked front and back. I think my tires were the reason I was able to crawl up those hills.

Here are some pictures of my truck from the weekend.

[junya92toy]

Looks pretty good, Im think I need to get solidworks!

[fade]

that runner is sweet makes me want to get one some day. I like your bumper alot.

[MeSwoleShane]

Good looking 4Runner. What type of vehicle are those shocks for? Or can you get me the part #?

[sweetmeat]

Looks nice, good work man

[x91crawlerx]

nice build

[8485runner]

Good lookin runner!   Great work man!   

[MikeCL [OP]]

Time for another update... falling behind on things

I picked up a used 12v compressor this summer and installed OBA.





Then I picked up some LED rock lights from Off Road Only.





My drivers side floor pan was rusted out, I had a sheet of 22 gauge steel welded over it for most of the summer as a temp fix. This weekend I finally cut the rust out and fixed it the right way with some 16 gauge steel.









And today I redid some wiring. I was not happy with the stack of ring terminals on my positive battery terminal. It looked like a rats nest under the hood.

I picked up this battery terminal from Autozone. It takes 2  4gauge wires and 2 8gauge wires. The first large wire is the positive battery cable. The second one runs to my new fuse box on the passenger kick panel. I have one 8 gauge wire running to my 12v air compressor, and the other is for the under hood fuse box.



I ordered a bluesea fuse box, after reading up on fuse box options online. I decided to go with the 6 circuit panel with a common ground. I still need to run some of the ground wires, I have a big stack of them under the radio trim.

[toyomr285]

nice work on you rig! By the way did you end upgrading your birfields and inner shafts or you left them stock?

[1badeagle]

Hey man, I got a 85 runner and im curious of where you got your new rear wheel wells from? they look killer.