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Every time I see pics from Moab or the PNW I get extremely wheel jealous. That place just looks like the perfect playground for a Toyota! And man that 4runner looks like it belongs there. Nice pictures, thanks for sharing.
I know this mod could be a bit polarizing from a cosmetic standpoint, but practicality wins over looks every time in my book. as the post says I put fj62 mirrors on my 4Runner. We had a bad hail storm and I lost my driver's side mirror. I've always hated how small the stock mirrors were so I begin to explore other options. After a bit of research I discovered that the early fj60 has had the exact same mirrors as the trucks but the later 62s had oversized mirrors. since the mounts did not change, I presumed that the later style mirrors would also fit a truck. As you can see it fits perfectly. These things are amazing
Last edited by liveoffroad; 05-26-2017 at 02:44 PM.
Look pretty good to me. I have slightly different mirrors on my 4Runner, they aren't the little flag type,they are larger truck type mirrors, the arm on mine requires the top mount and another hole further down on the door. Not sure why Toyota used different style mirrors for different models of the same vehicle. Mine are decent sized, but they stick way out, I'd consider those FJ62 mirrors if I ran across a deal on a pair.
Hey guys. its been years since i've posted anything but i miss the forums so i'm coming back! lots of changes over the years i'll do my best to catch this up. ended up not liking the fj60 mirrors, they were a bit to odd looking. found some fj55 mirrors on ebay. these are bigger than the stock 4runner mirrors but not quite as excessive at the 60s.
Last edited by liveoffroad; 03-08-2024 at 06:59 AM.
the 7mge was getting tired. so 3.4 swap time. pics to come
*edit.- well oddly enough i don't think i took any pics of the engine swap. there's tons of info out there about putting a 3.4 into older Toyotas, but i'll hit the highlights:
use a 3.0 r150 transmission and bellhousing- this puts the clutch on the passenger side (the bellhousing that comes with the 3.4 puts it on the drivers side)
build a crossover for the exhaust to dump on the drivers side - you can also buy these from yotashop
drill out/relocate the dipstick, you can buy a kit from yotashop
i used the 2wd t100 oil pan, it gives the most clearance for steering
my buddy helped with the wiring, that was the scariest part for me. in the end it was pretty straightforward.
love the 3.4. has a lot more low-end than the 7m did. i also like that it fits better in the engine bay and i can use a mechanical fan. cooling was always a problem with the 7m.
Last edited by liveoffroad; 03-25-2024 at 06:51 AM.
for anyone thinking about a 3 link, here's what i've learned so far:
all the steering arms on the market are made for leaf springs, which puts the tie rod way too close to the oil pan for any decent amount of up travel with a 3-link. i had to reverse tap the arms to put the tie rod underneath. wish someone would come up with a "mid-steer" kit
*UPDATE: sky offroad sells toyota steering arms with the tie rod tapped from the bottom. i highly recommend these if your not comfortable re-tapping the arms. they don't advertise these arms currently, so you'll have to ask for them. i was already pot-committed to the TG arms, but ended up with the same result
Last edited by liveoffroad; 03-08-2024 at 07:59 AM.
i bought the trail gear 3-link kit. i'll do a full overview on my thoughts later, but so far i think they did a pretty decent job with this kit. the lowers ended up being much longer than they should be, so the geometry won't be ideal but it'l work for now. i may end up making my own frameside lower mounts later.
Last edited by liveoffroad; 03-08-2024 at 07:23 AM.
a few other changes I made in the last few years: after blowing up 2 ring gears, i decided the rear axle needed an upgrade. i really wanted to do a centered fj80 axle, which has a beefy 9.5" ring gear, factory elocker option and disk brakes. however centering the diff requires basically a custom housing. while pondering all this i stumbled across a ford 9 that was the correct width, had a detroit, toyota lug pattern (which requires custom shafts) and had factory disk brakes ( a rare option on the 9"). the ford 9 is highly regarded as a very strong axle, so even though i cried a little about not sticking with toyota gear i pulled the trigger. i had a local shop regear the 3rd to 5.29, and put her in there.
the detroit definitely doesn't behave as well as a selectable locker, but this truck doesn't see as much pavement as it used to and the detroit is a very reliable, strong locker.
this change also allowed me to move the elocker to the front.
i can't find any pics at the moment, but i'll do some digging and add them later.
It was great to come back here and see that you're posting again too...I have been away for years also, and really missed the forum and the community here. Look forward to seeing your progress on linking the front end and the 3.4 swap!
next up is the shock towers. these frames weren't made for coilovers, so I welded in some 1x2 on the bottom side of the frame, that should help with the twisting force it'll see. then plated over everything with 1/4"
Last edited by liveoffroad; 03-11-2024 at 06:59 AM.
to keep my current ride height, i needed a 14" tall shock tower. i'm surprised how few companies offer something this tall, most are around 12" (from the top of the frame) i guess most guys doing coil-overs run hoops? i wanted towers so i could minimize cutting the inner fenders.
got the drivers side mocked up. clears the brake master by about 1/4"
04-25-2017, 12:39 PM
