robpoe

nvm .. sold them

robpoe

anyone ?

NYChopshop

I think everyone is just butt hurt that you have 2 4runners and are happy with a honda pilot! I dont even know if they are auto or manual. If the one with no engine is an auto, I'd say get a 4.3l gm V6 with a 700r4/TH350 auto and put it in. Or you can put in a later model toyota 3.4l engine, but that'd take more wrench time I think, especially with putting in a new computer on the cheap from a donor. You can also pretty handily mate the 3.4l or 4.3l engines with a stock toyota 3.0l engine's manual transmission. If you want to drive it stock on the road only and swap in the right gm transmission, you dont even need a transfer case for 4x4 and make it a 2wd. However, I however feel that unless you would be making it a prerunner-style vehicle, 4x4 is the way to go. You can always take the transfer case out of the other truck before you get rid of it, and a 22re's gear driven transfer case would be even stronger if thats what you have, since you didnt say much about that truck. I don't totally relate with you on a lot of your choices, like no-offroading and pilot over runner, but you've just picked the wrong forum to drop that news That also makes having the second axle for modding to accept a later-model toyota e-locker wouldnt appeal to you either. I will agree that the 3.slow is a dog, even when working perfectly, but otherwise these trucks are a great base for someone to modify. If you drive stock and are short on cash, sell the wheels and the iffy-engine 95 (unless the 94 has a screwed up body) and swap in a different engine. You'll have a really fun ride at the end of the day. If this all doesnt convince you to love your yotas, sellem both and find a honda forum! heh. Dont let a 3.0 engine piss you off to the point that you dislike toyotas.

robpoe

Thank you for your reply ..

Actually, I started lovin on Yotas several years back. My uncle and I blew a transmission in his 83 Toyota 2wd truck (is that a Corolla with a truck bed?) on the way back from Colorado. It sat for a couple years, then I inherited it (long story) and put in a junkyard tranny for $60, plus about $100 for a clutch (since I was there). Ran it for about 15k .. then picked up an 87 22RE 4Runner. Loved it, drove the piss out of it, sold it @320k (put about 45k on it). Picked up the '95 .. loved it too!

I'm lookin to fix up one of the trucks .. my son turned 14 recently, and I'd like to use it to teach him how to drive ... and I'd like to use it as my play truck. I don't have a ton of $$$$ to throw at it ... I think the engine work on the '95 won't be so bad. They're both the 3ZVE (3SLO?) and both auto tranny.

Mostly I'm concerned about the drive line / drive shaft. If I fix the drive line, I don't want a reprise of the drive shaft screwing everything up .. not sure why it did it in the first place .. so was a little lost there, too.

My DD is a Honda Pilot. I love it ... But it's not a workhorse, nor is it nearly as tough as my 4Runner(s) are/have been. It's not a full frame (as the Runner is), it's unibody. I don't wanna tow with unibody. It's my "nice car" because I drive 50-80 miles a day for work. And I'm a big guy and the runner is .. ehh .. squeezing it a bit

NYChopshop

I'm not sure about the engine work on the 95, but good luck with that. That's what I would be concerned about. The truck also seems to have other problems. If you can get it up and running, you can certainly give it to your son as a DD. I suggest having a professional mechanic give it a thorough inspection, even if you do the work yourself. I don't know in which area you live, so I cant recommend any shops.

If you want to fix the 94 on the cheap, get a used front and rear driveshaft with new joints, grease it up and pop it in. If you want quality, get a re manufactured one or bite the $300 or so bullet (when last I got one made) and get a tom woods pair of driveshafts. The woods ones are lifetime warrantied and you can get it telescoping, so I couldn't imagine anything going wrong with it if its a fear of yours. Maybe you and your son could get into putting a better engine into that one and make a project out of it. I wish my dad did something like that with me! That also gives you the option of having a much newer engine, sure the power is nice, but you get reliability out of the deal. You'll read a lot in these forums about how much people dislike the power and typical head gasket problems of the 3.0l (or 3.slow 3zve) and aspire to swap out when their engine goes. The 3.0 is also notoriously bad on gas mileage for the size of the 4runner. I myself am looking forward to swapping in a 4.0l Lexus V8 into my truck, but that's a bit more complex and expensive. When you get the second truck running you can sell the other one and get some money back, especially if you've fixed the engine.

Automatic transmissions are big blood-colored oil carrying ticking time bombs in my opinion. Sure they may be easier to drive, but they have half the life of the manual transmissions and at least 5x the maintenance cost over the life of the transmission. I personally prefer driving manual transmission vehicles, but its the reliability that really sells me.