jaxdog11

I recently got my first car which is a 1986 4runner and is stock. I plan on taking it off-roading a lot. Are there any modifications that I could do to it to make better for taking off road (I am just turning 16 and have to pay for everything so I don't have a ton of money to spend).

Rolladude1166

Well you might want to start off with some tires. You can get a decent set of used 31's for not to much.

87hillbillyoter

that button at the top that says SEARCH is really helpful

rattlewagon

Check out the build thread section to see what others are doing to theirs. And read all the stickies. ALL OF THEMMMM!!!

85gijunk4x4

re-re beat me to it. It all depends on what you want to do with your rig. theres thousands of combinations of parts and doo-dads just so people can have their rigs perfomr the way they want to.

just picture what you want your truck to do, and then put it in real life because its 100% possible.

SoCal4Running

Get manual hubs! Single best off road improvement, even before tires!

4x4jeffyota

get some good tires and a locker

gorillaman2012

theres always upgrading some of the engine stuff. better air filter and the afm off of a supra is a popular mod thats pretty cheap if you can find a junk supra. also the exhaust system. better header and muffler helps. anything with a little more air flow than stock is always better for a little bit more power and its cheap/easy to do since its pretty much all bolt on.

Sensei

Gentlemen, this young man is offering a clean slate for a build. A virgin if you will... Keep the suggestions coming, we've all been in his shoes at some point.
I agree with 4X4Jeffy, tires and a locker. Gets you offroad with confidence.

jaxdog11

what i've done so far

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...type=1&theater

skoti89

a rear locker paired with a good set of atleast 31 inch mud or all terrains. you would be amazed what difference a locker will make. a little saying you sshould take to heart is "lifts and big tires look cool at the mall, but lockers and gears do good on the trail." also "traction over height" traction being good tires and a locker. if you go to bigger tires like 33's or 35's i would want to re gear to help turn those bigger tires/ another thing i wish i had done before blowing money on lifts and big tires is armor. get some diff amor, bumpers and skid plates and such

jakeasinsnake

My first vehicle was my 93 toyota pickup about 10 years ago...I still have it. I ran it to the ground and it never gave up on me. Everyone is talking about gears and lockers for a reason, these mods will give you awesome off road capability. Make sure you keep your everyday driving in mind when picking your gear ratio.I wouldn't worry about engine mods too much u will definitely notice drive train mods before engine mods.

jaxdog11

What is better a front locker or a rear locker or both? Automatic or Selectable lockers? Any particular brands that you prefer?

jrobertson4runnner

x100 on what everyone here is saying. Lockers are great to have, wish I had one on my 2nd gen right now. Most people lock the rear first, if you can't do them at the same time. Also, if you're planning on regearing like everyone here says, it would be wise to wait until you have the parts for both diffs before you have the work done (buy all the lockers/ gears 1st, then take it to the shop) that way you don't have to have the shop tear apart the diffs twice. After having my 4runner for a little over a year, I put 33" tires and a 4" lift on it, but I have taken it off road quite a bit before that, and did just fine, so although they look cool, don't lift any more than you have to. As far as lockers go, the selectable ones are usually "better" because you can turn them off and on, but they usually cost about $500 more than the auto lockers. There are TONS of guys on here that run auto lockers and love them. Just do some research, look around on here, and see what you like, and what would work for your needs. Also, do you have the 22RE 4 cylinder, or the 3VZE v6, and is your transmission Auto or Manual? Both of those things will factor in to how you modify stuff, so it's good thing to know. As you can see, a lot of us put that info in our sig lines, so that people can read what we have on our rigs with out us having to type it out over and over and over. Good luck man, and welcome to Yotatech!!

blakefogt

My truck has 31" BFG AT's
Detroit EZ Locker

along with some other things, but I'm here to second the locker. I tore it up leading the way while a stocker behind me was constantly having to choose his line extra careful to avoid getting a wheel in the air.

armor helps too, especially being a noob of sorts

jakeasinsnake

I run a detroit ez locker in the front end and a cheaper lock-right locker by powertrax in the rear end. I've broken both the front end and rear end gears more than twice due to "getting after it" and both lockers have held up through those breaks. I drove my buddy to his off road shop to get parts for his scout, the shop owner/mechanic called out my rear locker as a lock-right i guess from the clicking upon turning (absolutely normal) i was impressed. He proceeded to tell me the locker would last for about a year, well about 10 years later still holding strong and no longer impressed by his thoughts. Like "jrobertson" says if you're planning on changing gear ratio you might wanna save all the work for a one time axle tear apart. Or if you wanna open the axles and drop your third member more than once, have at it, you'll learn the truck better that way.

rhill

this thread is your new best friend:

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f120...mation-121264/

I disagree with some of it, but it'll get you goin. Personally I would do tires first. You can find some 31x10.50x15s on craigslist for super cheap. Drivetrain and lockers are probably the best off-road performance mods out there, but also some of the most expensive. Figure out your budget, then go from there. I usually just go by what I can find cheap and used at the time...

And by all means, don't be afraid of wheelin it stock! You'll figure out what mods are important to you after a few excursions.

myyota

You can do a lot to your 86 4Runner. Go to the build forum and start reading, and you will get a bunch of ideas. The one thing i will tell you, is to build your 4Runner right the first time. Don`t buy cheap parts to save money, because in the end it will cost you more when you have to replace that cheap part.

I have an 86 4Runner that is lifted and has lockers front and back and a bunch of other upgrades, and i have close to nine thousand dollars into my 4Runner, so take your time and build it right the first time.
http://

jaxdog11

where could I find bumpers, sliders, and skid plates? everywhere I look online? I can't find hardly anything for 1st gen 4runners lots of stuff for 2nd and 3rd gen.

myyota

Check out marlin crawler, trail gear, and davez offroad, they all sell stuff for 1st gen trucks and 4Runners.