cjcoffroad

My brother and I decided we wanted to build an 80's Toyota 4runner. This is our first Toyota build, most of our experience is with Dodge pickups. After searching around for a bit, we came across this '85 on Pirate. It was a one owner '85 SR5 with only 85k original miles. We drove up the same day and picked it up. Here's a picture of it as we started stripping it down:



After seeing all the builds on here, we opted to go with an All Pro classic 4" kit with all the fixings such as high steer, 5" rear springs to compensate for the additional rear weight, etc. We also picked up a Trail Gear rear Detroit with 5.29 gears, IFS rear axle, Trail Gear 1.5" wheel spacers for the front, front 5.29 third with a Lockright, IFS steering box, Addicted Off Road front bumper, Trail Gear rear bumper, 15x10 wheels with 3.75" backspacing, Copperhead Fab wheel stiffeners and 35" BFG KM2's. Other mods such as dual cases are still to be decided.

Since this will be a trail rig, we decided to bite the bullet now and go with a satin black paint job rather than deal with scratches. We stripped the paint off as best we could and took it to a local body shop:





The next order of business was to prepare the wheels and tires. My brother welded on the stiffeners and had the wheels and tires mounted and balanced:




Next was preparing the IFS rear axle. Our friend Mason installed the Detroit third member and we ground off the perches:




Today the runner goes on jack stands to install the suspension. Thanks for looking and for now here's a sneak peak at what's to come:

87hillbillyoter

subscribed. i love the paint

SandDamaged

Cant go wrong with the satin black! keep us updated!

cjcoffroad

We made some progress, though maybe not as much as I'd hoped. First, the front axle/springs/etc had to come out:



Some of the less cooperative bits had to be ground off:




On the side, we started prepping the front axle for the third member/knuckle rebuild/high steer:



Tomorrow hopefully we'll be mounting up the axle and steering!

spc mike

oh ya...now this is worth watching!

ToyBoy Twink

At first when I saw the body stripped down, I felt a chill. The new paint looks great though. Should b a bad little Toy. R u going with stock motor and trans ? Keep up the good work.

cjcoffroad

Thanks guys! Today was spent further stripping everything down. We probably had a good 3 or 4 hours just cutting and grinding different parts. Almost ready for the new suspension:



Front axle just about ready for its upgrades:



My brother welding the new front crossmember in:



Now we have run into a problem. All Pro gave us the wrong front shackles, so I'll be having them overnight replacements tomorrow. This is as far as we were able to get as a result:



We should be installing the IFS steering box and high steer this week as we want to tackle the rear suspension next weekend!

For now we'll be sticking with the stock motor and trans due to the low mileage, but I've been eyeing the 7MGTE and the 4.3 builds so who knows! We'll see how slow it is with the 22re and 35's.

Taco Eater

whatup son

Black_1985_SR5

iTrader: (1)

keep up the good work

trdwssrs

X2..look'n good!

blackness

As a body man, I love the flat black. Even that will be a shame to get scratched up!

warbirdghost

Wow! You guys don't mess around when you dive into a build. It's lookin good.

cjcoffroad

I apologize for taking so long to update! I've been out of town a lot this summer but can finally get back into it. We went ahead and mounted the IFS steering box:



Next was getting the front axle mounted to the All Pro springs:





This week we should be installing the new front third member and rebuilding the knuckles!

cjcoffroad

A friend came over and tore apart the front axle today.



What a mess! Everything inside is nasty enough to the point that I think I'll go ahead and upgrade to chromoly shafts and birfields. Would the Trail Gear 27 spline kit be enough for the 35's I'll be running? Thanks!

cjcoffroad

Finally an update! Got everything done on it now just need to bleed the brakes, etc. I'll get some better pics of it when we pull it out of the garage, but here's one for now!

85 lifted runner

that's a good looking truck. I just had my 85 4runner lifted on 35's and have had some rubbing issues. The shop said they lifted it 4.5" and I don't think they got that out of it. I took it back to them and they added shackles to get 2 more inches all around and were supposed to send the springs back in to get 2 more inches out of them. After readying your post it looks like you only lifted the truck 4" in the front and 5" in the back. How much clearance do you have from the centerof the fender to the tire? I currenly have 6" in fron and 9" in rear. And if the shop did what they said then I should have over 6" of lift. If you could give me your specs it would be a huge help to see if the shop did what they said they did. Thanks

westjohns yota

dang man that was quick! great work, but your steering box looks like its pointed straight down?