I picked up this 86 4runner a couple months back and its in need of some love. doesn't look too bad from a distance.


has some cancer, 2 holes on the bed rails and some around the windshield





door stopper is missing and door got bent backwards


The motor (22re) was rebuilt 70k ago but either not done well or the po didn't take care of it cuz it burns oil and knocks on startup

The tranny has some input shaft bearing noise when you let off the gas

The drive shaft has some play in the rear end (bearing?)

The rear leafs are sagging majorly and the shocks are blown.

So all in all it needs just about everything. Any estimates on what this all would cost? I'm guessing around 2k for motor trans and suspension and then god knows what for the body. I can do almost all the work my self minus welding.

Am I crazy to even think about doing this? Worth it? or should I just drive it till the wheels fall off?

 

Depends on your want to, know how, and money....I love 'em. I have one alomst finished and one started. The cancer is scary but it can be fixed properly. You gotta really love 'em to want to restore it, but when you are done you WILL really love it. Thay are getting harder and harder to find.

 

did some work on the a piller on the drivers side just to see what I'm up against.

Here's the damage with all the snot that the po put over the rust removed. Not the worst I've ever seen but not fantastic either


here it is after I removed as much rust as i could. put some rust converter on and resealed the areas for potential leaks. that should stop the spreading of the cancer for now until i can find a donor piece to weld in.

 

that's really bad rust for california, not to be nosy but how much did you pay for the truck?

are you gonna cut out the parts on the bed rails?

how do you plan to attend to the rust on the windshield?

 

It lived by the beach for the last 20 years. I paid $1000 for it. If I keep it I'm going to weld new a pillars in around the windshield. Still trying to decide if I want to keep it or not. I really want an extended cab so I dunno

 

go find a 2WD truck in the junkyard, and bring a battery powered sawzall and cut out the A-pillars from it. Take the doors too, so you don't have to fix yours.
And, take a front fender off of a 4WD pickup so you don't have to fix that either.
for the bed, just chop out the seam part of the bed from a 2WD/4WD truck

 

thanks for the info I didn't know the pick up and 4runner parts were swapable

 

the 4runner is basically just a longbed singlecab with a connected bed and topper, lol.

 

Dude , thats alot of rust.

I may buy a 1989 first gen runner that I will be parting out this weekend , and you can cutout whatever you need from it . Im not 100% sure I will buy it though .

I am over buy King and story rd here in san jose.

 

duuude if you get that runner please let me know that would solve alot of my issues. I would take the drivers door fender a pillars and pieces of the bed rails lmk