SEAN_at_TLT

That would be the one, except we are using a single Sway-A-Way 2.5 for now.

alanbobalan

hello everyone. just a few quick questions regarding installing rear glass on a 4runner. i've had the same idea for quite some time now. although, i'm not building my 4runner for racing or prerunning, it's going to be a trail rider but due to some unfortunate circumstances (i rolled my truck over about 2 years ago) my stock bedsides and fenders were smashed. i'm looking to replace them with flared fiberglass ones because they're way cheaper than body work and well... they look cooler! anyway, my roof was also messed up in the rollover. so here's my deal: cut off the front half of the roof and dispose of the rear top. install a full body roll cage and a full body soft top along with the rear glass. i have hannenman front glass and a hood right now, but i'm thinking about going with a tacoma or a tundra conversion kit. i'm already contemplating buying the tacoma conversion bedsides for it. any thoughts, comments, suggestions? thanks so much.

ps. deathrunner- you've got a good project going. i can't wait to see it when it's finished. there are lots of other nice runners in here too. keep up the great work guys.

BajaTaco

Looks kick ass! I dig it.

deathrunner

BajaTaco - Thanks Your ride is sweet as well.

Alan - Sorry to hear about the rollover. You might need to fab up a tube frame to mount your bedsides onto if you took off too much of the stock metal. Protrux was planning on using the rear Ivan bedsides from long bed of the smae year. They were going to simply affix it over the stock sides. Not sure if This is what you had in mind. Post some pics. I want to see what we're dealing with.

Sean- You tease. Making me wait until february. I'm really curious how the hell you can get 14" of travel in the rear without while keeping the shocks upright. They must be mounted to the bottom of the the axle and the very very top of the frame. I should be tackling that in january/february. Thanks for the info about the lower BJ's. I also thought that would be the weak link of these setups, now there will be a way out. Any idea on price????

There is a 4Runner in Oceanside at the Dicount Tire. I guess the guy is going to do some stuff to his rear bedsides. He's a rockcrawler runnin either 35 or 37's But he wants to get more tuck I guess. Anyway he is going to be chopping out some of his fenders, so I'll learn from him and let you know what I find out.

I've got the 3rd Gen rims on and they look sweet, but I badly need wheel spacers for the rear now. It's never ending, but always fun. -Seth

alanbobalan

deathrunner- i'll get some pics posted asap. since we're going to be cutting off the entire roof, we're going to install a full body cage. probably like an 8 point cage. we haven't drawn up any plans yet as this is all just talk for now. but i really want to do it. do you have any suggestions on the best way to do this? i won't have a roof, so a cage is a must, but i'm worried about the bedsides being flimsy. you mentioned fabbing up a tube frame to mount the bedsides onto. what exactly do you mean? are you talking about the roll cage? thanks so much man, i really appreciate the help.

deathrunner

Of you look at the prerunner pickups. A lot of guys get rid of the bed entirely and just build a minimal truss to hold the fiberglass skins.

Maybe like a basic fram connected to your cage in four or six points. Just something to mount the skins to. The prerunners do this and have no floor. I imagine you want to keep the floor, so this might not be the best idea.

SEAN_at_TLT

Our Tacoma bedsides are mounted like Deathrunner described and they support my weight entirely, they could easily be designed to be much stronger. Here are some pics.



IN the last pic you can see how we plated it in to still have a decent amount of storage. If you want to see how to fabricate something like this, here's a link to the full article.
Utility Bed-Cage

You could even still mount the factory hardtop if you took the time to make everything line up perfect. Toyotafiberglass makes replacement fiberglass rear quarter panels for 1st gens that are to factory dimensions and super high quality.

A lot of guys on Pirate4x4.com have heavily modified 1st gen. 4Runners, you should go over there and do a search, you will get a ton of great ideas.

alanbobalan

deathrunner- a basic frame sounds like a good idea. i for sure need to keep my bed though, i do a lot of hauling and such so i still need my cargo area. i'll search around and find some more info and find the best way to do this. if you come across anything let me know.

sean- thanks for the tips and the links. i've browsed through toyota fiberglass a few times and i think i'd rather settle with a flared rear bedside. perhaps a tacoma conversion. if i'm going to replace the whole bedside, i might as well get something that looks a little cooler and make some more room for bigger tires, eh? like i said to deathrunner, i want to keep my stock bed, i just have to figure out the best way to do this. thanks for the links tho, i'll check them out. you guys rule

deathrunner

On 1 st gen runner, the skin is the only real protection against the elements. The inside is brittle plastic as we all know. I would replace the plactic with sheet metal and the n do the frame idea. COuld be an improvement over stock.

-Seth

alanbobalan

if anyone has ever done something like this or knows of somewhere where i can find pictures/plans/ideas etc please post them and let me knows. thanksssss

SEAN_at_TLT

Here are some blueprints for the Tacoma rear suspension with 16" shocks, the 4Runner will be similar but with 12" shocks. We will have to increase the angles a little bit to pull it off but it will work.

SEAN_at_TLT

Updating an old thread, finished the LT front suspension and 3.4l motor swap in the '89. Holy cow this thing is faaaaast! The caddy kit is awesome and the glassworks fenders are good looking as well. I will post a few pics tomorrow at work. We are getting Deaver leafs for the rear on Friday and we already have the 12" SAW's. This truck is turning out awesome!

deathrunner

Sweet can't wait to see it. That motor has got to be sweet and much more in the yota spirit than a chevy swap. Which fenders did you go with? I'm really curious what you do in the rear, I'll be watching closely to learn from your experiences.
-Seth

pinnacle

I'm interested in the rear also, since I'm going to start on my project in the next month or so. Are you guys going run the the 62" spings?

Deathrunner-It says they are running galssworks fenders

SEAN_at_TLT

Here are some pics, this is all I can show for now.




For the rear we are using a rebuild kit that Deaver sells, it consists of a couple of individual leaf-springs that you insert into the stock pack. Basically it adds a new leaf every-other leaf. We are picking up the parts on friday. I'll let you know more after that. Stock-length springs are capable of the full 14" of vertical travel we have designed for the rear-end.

SEAN_at_TLT

Did I mention the 3.4 is ˟˟˟˟ing faaaaaast yet?

It feels faster than my sc'd '96 3.4!

pinnacle

That leaf pack you are running, its the tripple pack right?

The 4runner is looking mighty fine

SEAN_at_TLT

I don't know what Deaver calls it but is a production item for them. Call them and ask Jeff about it, he knows our trucks and will be able to tell you the exact name. Yeah, we're pretty stoked on how this truck is coming out!

deathrunner

Thanks so much for the pics. It helps to see it. Lookin good. I'm really interested in those deaver springs (Yes, it is the triple pack). I am curious if it would even compare to a set of 62's in ride quality. Obviously travel would be different, but for the price of the mod, 14" of travel is respectable.

I really like that glass too. The lines haven't even changed as far as I can tell.

SEAN_at_TLT

Exactly, the ultimate performance potential is somewhat lower than 62's but we are comfortable that we can get the rear to have a good matched feel with the front out of stock-length springs. Mainly we didn't want to come into the cab because then you lose a big chunk of the utility of a 4Runner. The pics make the fenders look less bulgy than they are, they are big but not huge.