aviator

Just saw the rest of the pics that factory rear bumper looks like it's in great shape I'd just put it back up where it belongs in the stock location and maybe add a reciever hitch for towing.

jeopardy98

I would love to do that but I haven't found rear bumper relocation brackets and wouldn't the hitch still hang down since the frame is a few inches under the body at this point? I could be way off and if so, please show me the way

one2high

Where are you located? The truck has Carolina tags and the other guy is from Canada! That seems quite a ways apart to me. By the way, that's a nice looking rig and welcome aboard.

jeopardy98

I was talking to the guy from Yorktown. That's who I quoted. I'm in VA. The truck is about 3 hours from me. I'm leaving after work tomorrow to go get it.

aviator

Forgot you had that body lift... if you remove the body lift like you were talking about maybe doing the bumper looks like it would be sitting normally location wise...
as for the hitch yes it would hang down but the cross member [reciever] sits just below the bumper level so it would not "hang down" that far at all.
When towing you would have to use a "drop down" ball mount, but you'd have to use that anyway to maintain proper trailer geometry unless your trailer was lifted to match the truck [which would be unadvisable from a stability standpoint].

jeopardy98

So, if I put a hitch on it with the BL the hitch would sit under the bumper as it sits right now, correct?

Also, I just noticed but I don't think that exhaust is stock...

I'm leaving to get it this afternoon so I'll have some better pics by tomorrow.

aviator

That's right [from what I can see in the pics right now anyway]

Greg_Canada

Hey bud, you didnt read what i wrote correctly.
If you have stock gears, there is no way 4th or 5th gear will be useful. If you can use 4th or 5th gears, you definately already have lower than stock gears in the differentials.
When you drive on the highway, what gear are you in (at about 2500rpmish keeping up with traffic)

jeopardy98

Well I picked up the truck tonight so I can answer that now. I drove it home 200 miles and I used 4th gear the whole way. I was running about 65-70 at 3000 RPM's. Does that seem like stock gearing with 37x12.50's?

So I am in love with this thing already. Lots of good and some things that aren't but nothing major. The truck is a beauty. Perfect original paint and the interior is immaculate except for a small tear on the side of the driver seat near the latch. The lifts were definitely done the right way and they didn't cut any corners. It rides much smoother then I expected as well. The truck has some kind of dual exhaust and it's the best sounding 3.0 I've ever heard. It is amazing. It's loud but it's a nice deep growl. That's one thing to cross of the list. It also has tilt steering. Not a big deal but it was nice to find. The truck also came with a grill guard mounted with two KC offroad lights.

The gas mileage sucks but I am running 37's with what I believe to be stock gearing so I can't complain about that. No AC. That blows but I rarely ever use it in my truck now so I'll survive. It's a bit tough to get into even with me being 6 foot tall but I kind of like that so maybe that's not a negative. No spare tire and no owners manual but those aren't big issues either.

I plan on taking some pictures tomorrow to share with everyone and then the modding shall commence Anyone need a nice Nissan Frontier Crew Cab? Ha Ha.

Thanks to everyone for the comments so far and I'm looking forward to the days to come.

Dare44

i know some of the 4runner around that year came with 4.88 gearing, maybe u got lucky . get rid of the fram oil filter that is a must. looks like u been doing ur research tho, i know u will have fun with it.

aviator

Glad to hear you got a winner.

jeopardy98

Hmm, that doesn't make any sense. 5th gear was useless unless the pedal was buried and even then it was a stretch. The speedometer/odometer is off by about 14% as best as I could figure using mile markers over a 30 mile stretch and a GPS for speed. I got about 120-130 miles out of the first half of the tank. It doesn't seem like it's geared with those numbers but I don't know these trucks like you all do. I can't imagine running a 6" bigger tire and not losing something though.

The rear bumper is still confusing me. It appears that some sort of brackets have been welded on the frame that attach to the bumper. Almost as if I couldn't add a tow hitch even if I wanted to. I'll have to take some pictures and show you what I mean. Hopefully I can get a photo shoot in tonight before the sun goes down. This "work" think really puts a cramp in my fun sometimes...

aviator

You did'nt say you had the thing floored to get 3K rpms...
with 31s a normal mid-pedal position will give you about 70 mph at @3000rpm indicated in 5th 3500-3750 rpm [without a lot of headwind lol] will give you around 80-85 mph easily..
I would say knowing what you said now that your gears were'nt done.

i'd need to see the pics to comment further on the bumper but it sounds like there was a hitch and the PO removed the cross member part.

bigtrucknwheels

def. wrong on the tilt wheel. at least here in the states, they didn't all come with tilt. neither of mine do, nor do any of my friends.

nice find though, and yes, consider us the dark side, you'll know why soon enough. Once you go Toyota, you never go back...

and I vote you have 4.56 gears. no way you'd make that kind of speed with 4.10's. 13 percent off, well, 7 percent off with 4.56 gears is 34's or 35's, so that would sound about right. (31's on 4.10's is about 7% in case anyone was wondering).

and 120-130 miles out of the first half of the tank with a mileage error isn't bad at all! thats pretty good, better than I'm doing!

jeopardy98

No, I had the thing in 4th with a very upper to mid pedal position running 65-70 at 2900-3200. In 5th with the pedal buried I could only maintain speed and that was if I was on flat ground. Sorry to confuse you. Also, don't the Toyota's from this gen. come with one piece drive-shafts? Mine is a two piece shaft. (see below)





Yes, I only got 111 on the odometer so I was adding the mileage error. Still not horrible I guess but man does that thing start dropping once it moves off the full mark. I'll be lucky to get 180 out of the whole tank I bet.

On another note, I got out and took some pics of the truck today and found some other goodies that I didn't know I had like Aisin manual hubs.



I've got to run put the little girl to bed but I've got lots of pics to post when I get back

jeopardy98

Beautiful





kicker shocks











exhaust setup

strange bumpstop setup- completely limits flex

dual steering stabilizers


















So my conclusion was that I have enough (not great) rear flex for now but the front flex sucks. Still not too disappointed though.


I had to throw a few of the little girl in. She loves the truck too








I have 2 Exhaust vids that I'll post as soon as they finish uploading.

bigtrucknwheels

very nice! wanna sell me those rims?

aviator

Very cute... take care of them both and in a few years she will be able to assume ownership of the truck herself for real... just remember it's her truck and she is only letting you use it. LOL
The trucks of this vintage do have a two piece rear drive shaft on the long chassis models but it looks like the PO flipped the shaft around on yours and added a dust boot for some reason. may have to do with the lift.
from what I can see the bumper hangers def. look like the stock hangers.

jeopardy98

Here are the two exhaust vids. Excuse the camera work but I was going for sound not video here. 1st is mainly from inside the cab and the 2nd is outside near the pipe.

Dare44

kinda looks like the last owner was resently a little trigger happy with the spray paint under the truck, looks good tho