i am pretty new to the offroading world a few months ago a friend took me wheeling in a 88 toyota pickup and eversince i have been wanting to get into offroading so i baught a 19904runner i only kinda know what i want to do with it and i dont have a whole lot of money so i was wondering if you guys could help me decide a few things like number one is i want a 3-4 inch lift and i want 33x12.50 m/t tires either bfg or truxs but my main concerne is the lift i dont have alot of money and im not sure what kind i should get so would someone like to give me some clues on if i should get a long travel suspension or maybe just a regular lift i will be doing smoe mud driving and lite rock climbing and trail riding thanks alot

 

use the search button, it is your friend.

but to save you some time, no money = no long travel

before you go putting money into the truck, take it out on the trails stock. you wont appreciate the sport or your truck if you dont use it while its stock. you have to make some mistakes, just dont let them be expensive ones. do it right the first time, wheel it and see what you need, dont just buy some lift kit and throw some mudders underneath it and call it a day, find out what you actually need and dont need.

 

first off, welcome to YT and the world of offroading. be prepared to never have extra money again! i would hold off on the lift until you can afford to do it right. long travel is only if you want to lose your 4wd and you find it mainly on prerunners (for desert racing etc). you cant have long travel and still maintain 4wd because your CVs cant handle those angles. as far as the lift goes, you need to wait and do it right. don't just do 3" spacers or a 3" BL to fit the tires. you need to do it right such as using a fabtech or cornfed lift, but that can get pricey. you may be able to get those kind of numbers by using OME coils etc (I know many do, i personally have 3-4" suspension using OME and bilstein coilever assemblies) but youll have to remember certain things to be safe such as a diff drop, but if you want to really do it right, wait for a fabtech or cornfed (someone may suggest other good brands). good luck!

 

Thats not true. For the Total Chaos you only gain an 1" more of travel if you lose 4wd. You go from 12" to 13". Thats why they run with either Porsche or T100 CV's. But it still cost a good chunk of money to do Long Travel.

 

i stand corrected then and i was misinformed in other threads

 

you can look at DeathRunner, Pinnacle and Sean at LT(?) they are running LT o their Runners.

 

Wheel your truck for a while and see what you need. There are several options to get 33x12.50's to fit.

BJ spacer and a 1" BL will clear them with the proper backspacing on the rims, 3.75" on a 15x8" rim. I dont reccommend going larger that 1" on the BL, but with proper trimming and beating of the pinchweld you can get them to fit. The BJ spacer doesnt give you any extra clerance, just 1.5" of extra downtravel. For the rear either new springs or spacers.

Bracket lift, thou I am not a fan of the rear setup on a 4runner with a bracket lift, mine did me wrong and went to leaves.

SAS and rear leaf swap. More money, better articulation but only really needed if you do lots of rockcrawling, for lite crawling and everything else the IFS works just fine.

 

thanks for all the info i want to wheel it everyday but there is no places to go around here i live in sonoma county if someone knows any places to go that arnt to far away please let me know thanks

 

I'll save you some cash - don't do ANY lift.

Armor it (sliders, bumpers, skids), put on 33x10.50 (can fit on your '90 with no lift and no rubbing), lock it front/rear and wheel the piss out of it. It'll be a LONG time before your driving skill surpasses the capability of the truck.

 

Yeah I agree with that. Wait till you need the lift and SAS. My friend wheels his 91 stock Runner on the same trails several of us "lifted" trucks run. I only am doing mine because I have wrecked some havoc on my suspension(which was lifted).

 

I think you'll be surprised what your 4Runner can do without tires and a lift, I know I was.

 

Lifting before locking is useless. I've seen a truck with 28" tires on stock suspension on here locked, showing up flashy rigs. I drive a 94 p/u and my next mod is fogs, under carriage lights, bj spacers for 1.5" front lift and new 63" rear Chevy springs for 4" of rear lift. You should go with add-a-leafs and ball joint spacers to save money and put some 33x10.5's on it. But, know that you have to regear if you want to go with 33" tires. The strain will be unreal if you keep the 4.10 setup. Regearing cost lots ($800?), just go with 31x10.5's and a light lift, that's where I'm at for now. If you want wide tires, you'll hafta cut fenders. The wider tires are for more powerful rigs with 454's, LS-1's, and such. If you have a ton of power, then you can gun it and float over the muck with wide tires. When you're 3.slow or 22-RE'd you'd be better off with tall skinnies to get down into the more firm ground and slow ride gettin' dirty. Thinner tires are also much better in the snow in case you're looking at snowboarding up there anytime this season. The ball joint spacers look easy to put in (write up please guys) and are pretty inexpensive, around $150 for the 1.5" spacers and the drop kit for your sway bar and other pieces. The rear add-a-leafs I've see for $30, they'll fix a saggy butt. I am unsure if you need coil-overs or not. If you read enough on here you'll know every millimeter of your new rig, Enjoy

 

Havent ever seen swaybar brackets for a BJ spacer lift, its not needed, as you really dont change the normal arc of the suspension, just add 1.5" of droop.... Drop kits for swaybars are for when your LCA is dropped, which it isnt with BJ spacer, or spacer/spring lift on taco, 3/4gen...

Coilovers, other than LT kits, are not available for anything prior to 95.5

 

I agree with TC. Armor it, throw on some big tires and get some of them nice ARB front and rear bumpers with a winch and you will be fine. Another word of advice, Be very particular of what you buy. Make damn sure you want it and then sleep on it for another week before you purchase. I spent alot of money on a bunch of crap I dont really care for or need and now I am broke and cant afford the necessaties. I got some kick-@$$ tires (Oh yeah!) but now I gotta deal with axle wrap cuz I went cheap on the lift. Should of done it right in the first place. Good luck!
Ryan