I've seen lots of good things mentioned about the Duralast/Autozone 5040 Idler which I think is primarily for your generation truck, but is quite a popular upgrade for first-gen 4Runners.

Search "5040", and see 4crawler's and (http://www.sdori.com/) websites.

 

How can you tell? Are the parts marked somehow?

Edit: Here's a rough breakdown in price across these manufacturers/resellers that I've found over the past few days (not an exhaustive search and not necessarily the cheapest prices, but it shows the differences between a few of the main options):

Moog (rockauto)
Idler arm: $69.99
Pitman arm: $25.79
Center link: $77.79
Tie rod assembly (x2): $112.44
Total: $286.01

Raybestos Pro (rockauto)
Idler arm: $89.79
Pitman arm: $56.79
Center link: $100.79
Tie rod assembly (x2): $167.76
Total: $412.13

Sankei (autopartsway)
Idler arm: $133.02
Pitman arm: $71.57
Center link: $138.73
Tie rod assembly (x2): $193.19 (I only found inner tie rod ends on the web so this is a guess based on the average percentage of the totals from the other manufacturers/resellers)
Total: $536.51

Toyota (partznet)
Idler arm: $209.80
Pitman arm: $133.76
Center link: $174.76
Tie rod assembly (x2): $190.20
Total: $708.52

Final purchases (includes taxes and shipping)
Duralast idler arm: $41.41 (Autozone)
Toyota pitman arm: $98.68 (eBay/Palm Beach Toyota)
Toyota center link: $106.50 (eBay)
Toyota tie rod assembly (x2): $190.20 (Conicelli Toyota)
Total: $436.79

Excited to get started—thanks again for the discussion.

 

Just a note for any other noobs out there… I visited a junkyard for the first time this weekend and took apart the steering components from a '90 4runner. Pretty awesome way to increase knowledge and experience without being worried about wrecking your own truck. Took the relay rod (center link) home for $15, too. (Thanks grego92!)