Just purchased two 4runners, a white 1985 auto (not running), and a black 1988 manual (Really bad body). Both for $2,100.

The '85 has a nice body with no bad rust, except for a few surface ones, and has a decent interior.

The '88 has rust holes everywhere on the body, but runs like a champ. The person I bought it off of said they did a rebuild about 20,000 miles ago.

My plans so far the '85 so far is just to do an engine and transmission swap from the '88 and hopefully down the road buy a lift kit for it.

As for the '88 not sure if I want to part it out or find someone to rebuild the torn apart engine from the '85 and get it running.

 

Both look to be great trucks. Lots of information here and how to get one or both back on the road. Looking forward to your build/s. Welcome to Yotatech.

 

Thanks man. Just talked to my sisters boyfriend, he's willing to do the swap for only $200 dollars!

 

Does anybody know if I'd be able to put the lift from the '88 on to the '85?

 

The rear suspension yes, the front suspension no. The 88' has IFS (independent front suspension) the 85' has SFA (straight front axel).

 

Thanks for the quick reply rustED. Do you know of any adapters or mounting system I could use in order to make the lift work on the sas or is it just not possible?

 

Its not possible, the frame rails are shaped differently, they are 2 completely different suspension designs.

What's your overall goal with your 4 runner? There's a lot of ways you can go. If your looking for a little more lift to run bigger tires OLD MAN EMU (OME) front lift springs would be a good way to go. If you're on a tight budget you could swap the rear lift out of your 88' and then buy some OME front springs (they cost a little over a $100 per spring, so you'd be looking at a little over $200 plus shipping) and get some longer shocks for the front and you should be good to go. Sometimes you can find good deals on lift springs on Craigslist too. Here's a link to some OME springs: http://www.lowrangeoffroad.com/index...ion-parts.html

The 85' having the straight front axel offers a lot of different suspension options depending on your mechanical ability, and your goals for how capable you want it to be off road.

 

My overall goal is in the near future is lift, gear it and get bigger tires for it. Would you recommend getting a pro comp kit, I've heard that they are pretty inexpensive.

 

I don't have any experience with Pro Comp. Hopefully someone else will chime in that is more familiar with them. You might want to check out the "Offroad Tech" section, there should be quite a few threads on different brands of lifts. But I'd definately do some research before buying anything, some of those lift kits are inexpensive for a reason, they have a rough harsh ride, and limited flex. Again, it all comes down to what your going to use your truck for. If your going to daily drive it and occasionally take it off road, or use it for hunting and easier trails you should be fine. If your wanting to build a more capable rig that can handle tougher trails your going to want to check out Marlin Crawler, All Pro Offroad, Trail Gear, and similar companies/venders.

 

Thanks rustED, maybe later down the road I'd want to get something like the ones you listed, but right now since I'm about to start school again;it doesn't seem like i will be able to for a while. For the mean time, I think I might just buy shackles and new shocks.