motodude95

Well i started working on my truck almost a year ago, i never got around to making a thread about it, but since day one i have wanted too. i was looking around for my first vehicle and stumbled on this. a 1995 toyota 4runner with a 22re, 2 inch body lift and 33s this is when i brought it home.



it had tube bumpers, and lock out hubs. it was pretty good for the mean time, i wheeled it a bit and did some modifications to it but nothing to major.




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after a summer of wheeling, i wanted to get into it a bit more, aswell as start to do more work to my truck. i figured i would learn a lot too. (im going to be a heavy duty mechanic, this is a good start i figured.) so after a lot of thinking and figuring out, i thought i might as well do a solid axle swap started off with a axle from a 1980 pickup.



started to rebuild that, and then bit the bullet and got the trailgear IFS eliminator kit. i got the 3 inch, trying to be lowish. it was really a thing of beauty



rebuilt the axle



then started to chop her up! we and me dad made a redneck hoist at our work hes a carpenter by trade so he works best with wood.





me grinding away.



leafs hanging, you guys know the drill im sure you dont need pictures









riding like a gangster car! haha



setting our alignment.



we did the front first and then just did a temporary lift on the back just by spacing the coils until we could by the rear kit. i didnt drive it much so i didnt worry to much mean while, i did the timing chain and water pump.



my crazy dad haha.



also removed the body lift, it was kinda pointless and it was to high for my likings. i was trying to keep it fairly low. i also got some 35s the 33s were almost bald and they looks a little to small.



i finally got the rear lift kit from trailgear. the rear was a bit more work then i thought it would be! but i got it done in a weekend. once again, our redneck wooden hoist

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trying to get everything lined up.



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does this picture make my butt look big?



flexing for shocks.



now that the suspension was all done, i could put my money towards gears and lockers. i have 4.56s in it so it wasnt terrible with the 35s, but it was still hard on the 22re. i still needed a rear bumber too.
i figured it would be kind of a cool idea to put the shackle mount thru the bumper/hitch support. sure if i ripped my hitch off, my axle would go with it too, but there was a lot of frame surface area i was welding on





welded the whole length of that piece of metal to the frame, inside and out. aswell as extra braces







it was time to start the gears and atleast one locker. i went for 5.29s, and a aussie locker in the rear. im gonna hold off on the front locker until i get chromoly shafts, i think just a rear will be good enough for now. my girlfriends dad is a mechanic for chrysler so he set up my gears for a case of beer per 3rd







put them all together and then he did all the final touches in the setting up. meanwhile i went to a local place and ripped around a little. i hadnt had it out much so i was itching for it!



i then went on a little trip to see some sights with my girlfriend





got my gears back and then installed those! almost ready for some 4x4ing i also made up a square front drive shaft for now. i finally did my bumpstops too.








drive shaft blues



i had been trying to figure out for some time if i wanted to have a tire rack or roof rack. and after seeing my friends new tire rack on his jeep, i decided on tire rack. he also had a spare spindle so that was the final deciding factor i just needed the basics for now. so tire, hi-lift, and shovel. also put the antenna on it for my VHF radio.











i was finally feeling like it was all coming together. all the drive train was done (for now) and it was ready to do some wheeling!





first real trip with the new upgrades.



friends jeep with the tire rack i was talking about.







fairly tame trail, just lots of trees. at one point we were stopping every 20 feet to cut and move down trees
the grassy flat area is the road, you can see its used a lot



i didnt really do much more to my truck in those few months, just wheeled it and enjoyed it. went out a few times with my girlfriend and another weekend trip with my other older friends.









some of the guys panning for gold haha.







my friend Doug's jeep. all the guys i go with own jeeps, im the only one with a toyota! oh well atleast i represent







my dad was with me on the trips, and his head was always out the window checking out stuff (he likes looking at the wheel travel and obstacles i guess ) so i made some half doors so he wouldnt have to learn out so far. haha well i wanted to for a while, and he thought that would be cool too so i got some doors off craigslist for $20.



for $20 i couldnt go wrong! just the glass i get out of the doors probably cost a pretty penny. i started to chop them up to see what kind of shape i wanted.



my latch set up



my dad testing them out! haha




moved the inside handle lower, and welded up the top.




my wrench door handle



all painted, and my girlfriend even sewed these bad boys for me







so now im looking for somthing else to do to my truck. i got a bunch of free parts from my dads friend who use to be a toyota guy. i got a w56 tranny and 2 transfercases. i figured the next step is duals since the dual adapter plate was on sale on trail gear i figured why not! might as well buy it. so i got that and started to tinker on that a little. im gonna get the minor bearing kit from trail gear, just to freshen it up a little bit.





i wanted dual sticks, but i made a cool wooden center console, so i wanted to keep that. so i figure i would try to make triple sticks i made 2 shift rails with the shifter forks on them. put grease nipples on to keep them sliding nicely and keep stuff from getting in. im gonna put linkage and have 3 sticks in a row. ive been working on this just the past week or so, so im still in mock up stage, just starting to figure it out









. thats pretty much where i am about now. i know this is a big amount of stuff in one post, and i probably should have started earlier haha but better late then never. hope you guys like it so far. im sure it will only get better. let me know what you think! ill post a update on my triple sticks when i get some work done.

Red Wagon

Nice Yota.

Where abouts in BC are you located?

I'm moving back and need some wheeling buddies,.

motodude95

I live in Langley, it's near Vancouver in the lower mainland. Where abouts are you? It would be great to have some more wheeling buddies!

motodude95

did a bit of work tonight. working on the triple sticks, got it all tacked in and the linkage set in place. everything seems to shift smoothly and work how i want. ill finish welding tomorrow and then just need to get my tranny shifter and cut the shifters to the height i want and the shifters should be good to go!

Red Wagon

I grew up in Surrey.

Right now I'm in Yellowknife but am heading back to BC at the end of the month.

motodude95

oh yeah right on. so you'll be in surrey? thats pretty close. maybe we'll have to go out sometime.

Red Wagon

Not sure where I'll be. Possibly the island but I'll be over a lot on weekends. My buddy has a stockish heep that he has paid off so he can finally start bagging on it a bit.

motodude95

awesome maybe we'll all have to go out sometime.

Red Wagon

Yeah there are quite a few day runs I want to do.

motodude95

finished up the triple sticks tonight! trimmed the shifters down and welded on some bolts. works nicely and none of the shifters make contact.

Aztecdiver

Looking good man. The flex on this dam thing is insaine.

CJPS62

Sweeeeeet runner man! ive got the silver version of yours my self! 5 speed n all! I just wanna know how much your lift was total and where you got it all? And also, ive been told that pulling 35's on the trails will tear up all your drive components and such...is this true?

Redeth005

Great thread man. I love your creativity. Your dad's stand scared the crap out of me though lol. but then i read hes a carpenter by trade so i was like okay.

My lift was a horrible idea haha but we didnt have very much of a choice. My SAS still came out great though haha

Good luck on the triple sticks. you're gonna love them. I wish i had the $$$ for some.

motodude95

Thanks man!

oh really haha its a trailgear 3'' IFS eliminator kit.http://www.trail-gear.com/ifs-eliminator-kit you can just order it online or find a local place that sells trailgear products. it turns out to be about 5'' of lift when its all said and done. and so far the 35s have been fine on my driveline. with a SFA you dont have to worry much. especially if you have upgraded birfeilds

thanks! Yeah his lift was scaring me a bit at first too! but it was actually quite solid! when you dont have a real lift you gotta make somthing work, so its usually a little sketchy And thanks on the triple sticks! hopfully ill have them in by spring

motodude95

spent the last week up at my bosses cabin rebuilding a deck and doing some other work, it was beautiful up there! 30 degrees and sunny. thats unheard of here in september.





Got back yesterday and starting to work on my 4runner a little today. i put grease nipples on the fill hole on the knuckle and found out that i had 2 broken knuckle studs im glad i found this now and not on the road or trail. already ordered new studs from marlin so hopefully they come soon.

Redeth005

Never had mine break. But I'm just curious. How did that manage to happen?

motodude95

I'm not really sure actually. They were the original studs and I guess they couldn't handle the pressure. I'm getting 8 new studs just to me safe. I'm gonna make Sure to check them everyone in a while. My wheel could move about 4 inches either way. Scary

motodude95

I felt like doing some work on my truck today to i figure i would try and take out some of the rust. i had a few free hours so i figured i might as well jump right in it and see what i could get done. i actually managed to get it all painted within 2 hours. not perfect or too pretty, but looks better then rust!

Red Wagon

Nice work at getting the rust.

I have to strip my parts truck in the next few days as I'm moving. The two front doors are in great shape and I'm thinking of taking them with me to steal your cut down door idea.


_

motodude95

Thanks. and yeah there pretty sweet, and really not that hard to build. just need some sheet metal and a welder. its really nice to be able to look at your tire without sticking your head out to much.