Hey there toyota fam, 2nd post ever. The point of this thread is to get ideas for where I should be with my 4runner to make it as capable as I can and hopefully give others ideas and motivation to work on theirs. I welcome everyone's feedback, experience and criticism. So some background. . . I bought my 1993 4runner 4x4 1 1/2 years ago. I almost like tinkering as much as I like wheeling. I don't have alot of mechanical/fabrication experience but I get by. (With the help of my brother in law) So far I have installed front and rear trail gear bumpers, a xbull 13,000 lb winch, rebuilt the head gasket and up, replaced all the vacuum hoses, replaced all the coolant hoses, installed ball joint spacers, hd ome springs, bilstein 5100s front and rear, panhard drop bracket, extended brake lines, extended rear break bracket, rocker switch box to control my floods, spots and light bar, Catalytic converter, built a spare tire swing out, built some rock sliders, ideler arm, and Milestar Patagonia 31x10.5 tires. I'm installing a front spartan locker within a month. I may have forgot to mention some things but we can get to that later. What else can I do to beef this guy up or just to add on for convenience or fun? And yes, eventually I would like to do a SAS.


Here is after I put tires on it. . . When I planned on not doing much to it besides wheeling it.





Here it is after the lift, shocks and rear bumper.

 

Skid plates from the radiator to the tcase.

Nice runner!

 

@swampedout Thank you.. I like that idea. Do you happen to know any good build threads for the skids? Or maybe recommend a solid one that's not $300+?

 

Being you already have a winch, then next best thing you can do is put a locker in the rear. I wouldn't do an SAS unless you are into rock crawling. Nothing wrong with IFS for normal wheeling.

 

@jsabowabo eventually I would definitely like a rear locker. I just haven't decided if I'm going to fork over the $$$ for an ARB or if I'm just going to do a spartan. I still have alot of research to do on that topic. I'm installing a front spartan as soon as it comes in the mail. Do you have lockers? If so. . . What is your experience on importance of a front vs a rear?

 

I have a Spartan in my rear, I like it. I wasn't about to drop 1k on an air locker and the lunchbox works great. Its on road manners take a little getting used to but it's not a big deal at all. Off road performance is a world of difference vs open rear. I can't say about a locked front, but I think most people lock the rear first

 

There’s a cool video on YouTube by an Aussie “front vrs rear locker”. Thought it interesting. F/R locker is the way to go though. Grizzly is my favorite so far even over ARB. As mentioned above road manners need to be learned. Auto-locker rear on light snow covered roads is interesting but trick is to lock in front and use 4wd to prevent fish tailing.

Dual cases is about a must in my opinion. Even with IFS will be a total sleeper rig.

SAS is awesome but learn to wheel IFS and you’ll go far further than expected. Most SAS is for bling factor and spendy.

chevy 63 rear springs are about the best flex for the cash, having good flex out back helps the IFS shortcomings. The tripod teeter is no fun. Duals will help with this as lower speeds helps keep momentum down. Will need to reposition shocks to make most out of flex.

Exo cage, I’ve become way to comfortable off-camber but don’t want to jinx myself. Will just leave it at that.

Tail pipe out the side infront of rear spring shackles tucked up high and not extending past body. My girl drags her ass coming off obstacles and every pipe coming out the rear I’ve seen on trails is smashed or about to be smashed.

 

@muddpigg dual case is a good idea. Ill start looking into that. What caught my attention though was the fact that you mentioned repositioning the rear shocks. Can you give me a little more information on that? I don't know if I've ever seen a thread on that unless it was about prerunning. Thank you for all the info. This is why I like picking others minds. There it way too much info on the internet that I go through before my brain just calls it quits.

 

This is referring to Chevy 63 spring in rear. Axles travel on an arch when articulating so when looked from the rear the path would look like (-----) stock shock mounts bind up and limit articulation. Factory shocks, atleast on leaf springs is mounted one shock facing forward and the other shock facing rearward not an issue for stock set up, and probably a bit better for preventing spring wrap/axle hop. Mounting shocks /\ doesn't bind but with long flexy springs tends to have more hop axle though. You lose some dampening of shocks by angling them and theres a ratio to angle reduction, as ideal it shock pointing straight up and down over axle or along its travel path. but for long shocks that means cutting into cargo area, most aren't will to sacrifice space. Also putting shock mounts on axle a little higher gets them out of harms way.

Dual cases has lots of modifications that goes with it. Short wheelbase rigs will need to change propeller shaft/drive shaft to a double cardan design, 4crawler has some good links to explain difference. The rear axle pinion needs to be rotated to point at t-case output flange. So if your cutting and welding in new perches good time to look into other upgrades. Your rig is coil springs on rear you can cut and install new coil buckets, I haven't done any work on your gen 4rnr so would take some research. If memory serves I've read the stock coil rear has limitations to flex, fine for stock. Being as your gas tank location prevents upgrading to a long linked rear suspension 63's may be a good option. And given that for the swap you want used springs, mine are 3/4 ton 4wd springs, you can get them all day for $100 to 120, SORD has a good swap kit for $100ish, spring perches are $35-40. I sleeved the gas tank crossmember with 1/4 tube, welded in, and capped ends off. Then welded upper shock mounts into crossmember. I homebrewed my kit, lots of time but I was using an angle grinder to cut out pieces.

 

What size lift is that in total?

 

@GrimWolf the lift is suposed to be a 2.5" rear and front. I never did measure a before and after. Its still about 3" in the rear because I don't have 350lbs on it to compress the HD coils.

 

How's that locker install coming? I'm locking front and rear currently but haven't driven it since it is still under surgery. I decided on an ARB for the rear so I don't have to deal with the on-road lunchbox locker mannerisms. It was a lot of money to drop on making both wheels spin but I'm looking forward to playing with it. The front is getting a Spartan also. Just installed that in the carrier today. I'll be setting up gears later this week.