85 4Runner Re-Build Thread

[DIRTCO]

And the knuckles coming together...

[DIRTCO]

And here it is all together with the tires on, at full droop.

[DIRTCO]

And at ride height

I have a few details to work out but this takes care of the front end, for the most part.

[DIRTCO]

Originally Posted by 85toy

hmm thats prolly what mine is gonna look like when i tear mine apart. great build, thats a mean looking runner.

Yeah, that stuff was horrible. It stuck to everything and was PITA to deal with. Thanks!

[DIRTCO]

I got some more work done over the last two weekends. I finnished up the front axle; set the toe, topped off the gear oil, mounted the shocks and made some brake line tabs.

The brake line tabs are 1/8", bent to 90' and made to re-use the stock hard lines. When I drilled the holes in them I cut a section out so I can slip the brake line through the bracket, that will let me hang the caliper from the shock hoop for easy trail repairs.

[DIRTCO]

I then took the 4Runner for a quick drive on some of the back streets in town. I wanted to make sure nothing weird was going on with the front end. Even though the rear driveshaft is bent (mainly the slip section), I was still able to get up to around 30 with no vibration. It will need some more testing, but for the most part, it tracked straight and there were no problems.

Now for the bad part, it drives straight but runs like total crap. Whenever you come to a stop it wants to die, you have to shift into neutral and rev the gas while you brake. I have run into this problem before but not this bad, I will figure it out, but it's just another thing to add to the list.

Here a couple pictures after I got back to the shop.

[DIRTCO]

The last project for that weekend was to get the rest of the ammo boxes mounted. Before I bolted them down I welded some hoops to the boxes so I can lock them up. There are slots on the lid and when you close it, the lid drops past the loop.

[DIRTCO]

Now on to this last weekend!

I figured it was time to tube out the back of the 4Runner. This is one of the projects that I was looking forward to the most. I guessed it would take me two weekends to complete; well things just started falling together and 90% of the rear tube work is done in a day and a half I guess that makes up for the front end that kicked my ass. There is still some more work to be done, but only a couple pieces.

Here's the start

[DIRTCO]

I then moved on to the upper side bars.

[DIRTCO]

I wanted to do something a little different at the very back, I also did not want to block access to the cooler.

At this point everything is sprayed with "Hammered Black spray paint"

[DIRTCO]

Since I don't have a tow rig and I love snow wheeling, I've been trying to find a way to enclose the cab when needed. Here is the idea I have, it's part of the reason I built the cage the way I did. All of the panels will attach by tabs on the cage. The large open area in the middle will be plexiglass, while the area's behind the seats will be sheetmetal. The large section on top of the Ammo boxes will open up to get items under it.

The gap between the cage and cab will get filled with roll bar padding. While the set up will not be 100% weather proof, it should still stay nice and warm.

Here's an idea of how it wll look (it will be black not green ). This will be one of the last steps after everything is mounted.

[Hayes]

that's an interesting idea...

[Volcom]

Love the tube work!! That turned out sick

I also like the idea of making it semi enclosed, that will make the winter wheeling much warmer and dryer!

[DIRTCO]

Originally Posted by Hayes

that's an interesting idea...

Thanks, I think . I figure that it can't be much worse than the cut up hardtop. The bedsides were so beat up that the top would not bolt on any more, it would hang over the side a couple inches. I also never came up with a good way to have a back window after the pickup tailgate swap. I had a piece of plexiglass that would fit in the rear window channel ,but it was a real PITA to deal with and it ended up breaking in half.

As long as I can get everything to fit tight I think it should work pretty well. The space the heater will have to heat will be 1/3 to 1/2 the size, which should keep the cab plenty warm. The whole set up will be a lot lighter and I will be able to install it by myself (unlike the hardtop). And my favorite part; no more broken topper windows. It seems like every other trip I broke one

[DIRTCO]

Originally Posted by Volcom

Love the tube work!! That turned out sick

I also like the idea of making it semi enclosed, that will make the winter wheeling much warmer and dryer!

Thanks, there's still a little more to come

We will see how it works out, as long as I have it figured out by next October I'll be happy

[Dr.Trevorkian]

I had a soft top made for my rig for $300, yours could probably be done for a lot less than that. Check it out, http://www.yotatech.com/f115/dr-trev...thread-134004/

[Dr.Trevorkian]

Actually you could probably just get the center section that you were going to make out of plexiglass made from the clear vinyl and then you could remove it in the summer. I've been pleasantly surprised at how crystal clear the vinyl is.

[DIRTCO]

Originally Posted by Dr.Trevorkian

I had a soft top made for my rig for $300, yours could probably be done for a lot less than that. Check it out, http://www.yotatech.com/f115/dr-trev...thread-134004/

I like the idea of a soft top, if I could get one made for around $300 I'd do it. With the rear section of the floor being open I would still have to have some kind of a bulkhead behind the ammo boxes. The more I think about it the more I like the idea.

I would try to go for something like this, the black section would steel or wood.