Just joined the forum so I figured I'd introduce myself. I bought my first Toyota pickup years back and sold it to my brother when I had some money problems but I just got back in the game with an 88 4Runner. It was a Florida truck till 2 years back and supposedly had an engine and tranny rebuild 20K miles ago. He didn't have the paperwork to prove it but the frame and body were solid and this was the EXACT ride I'd been looking for for quite some time. I figured the price was right at $1800.

The guy who had it before me put all sorts of flame stickers all over the grill and lights, he had tinted the windows, as well as fashioned a half-assed hood scoop out of an old hood and a ton of bondo. After we pulled off the stickers, windshield visor ( man I hate those things ), running boards, big shiny rims and tires, we got to work grinding and cutting on the hood. Fixed the door handles, horn and some other odds and ends as well. Tomorrow I'll be doing all the fluids, air filter, tune up, etc. and will start scraping at the tint. Unfortunately it's still purple but it's not as ridiculous as it was when I got it.

Still left to fix...

Rear window : Motor works, but the wiring is messed up. Want to mount an outside switch to power it up and down. Anyone tried this?

Rear bumper : I want to take it and it's accompanying flares off and mount a straight 4 inch tube across the back.

Carpets : Nasty. Just nasty. NEED TO GO.

Sanding, putty, paint : Not going crazy. Not a lot of rust, a few dings and dents to be popped out or filled. Will probably finish with a light tan textured paint to hide imperfections. Plus, I think it looks cool.

That takes care of the necessities and eventually I'd like to...

Lift it : Only a few inches. Need to research cheap and easy kits. I'm no mechanic...seriously.

Tires : Probably get some 31's with a fairly aggressive tread but this will be my daily driver so general wear and comfort are issues.

Canvas top : I saw one done up yellow with black canvas and roof rack. Looked pretty kick ass.

That's about all I can think of for now. I look forward to shootin' the bull with you guys and picking up some tips and advice in the future. Here's a few shots of what I'm working with.

 

Welcome to Yotatech, truck looks good. What's up with the hood? Looks like you are cutting out the middle.

If you look in the 86-95 Section there is a whole sticky on lifts for IFS.

Good luck.

 

Welcome to Yotatech!!

Looks like a great project! Enjoy and do lots of research!

 

Man, you weren't kidding about the bondo!!

Looks like a solid rig to start from. Feel free to throw some more pics up whenever, I like checking out other first gens.

Welcome.

 

Hey welcome to yotatech
that's a pretty cool 1st gen you got their
keep up the good work

 

Cool, guys. Thanks for the warm welcome. The "hole" in the hood is where the previous owner had welded his "hood scoop" onto a perfectly good hood ( which is now all but ruined). There must have been 30 lbs of bondo layered on top. Was a pain to remove. Hopefully I can do some more grinding and some light bondo work to smooth out the hood before paint. It doesn't need to be perfect, just...better. If I can't shape it up halfway decent I'll be looking for a used hood, I guess.

I've been researching lifts for the past hour or so and I think I figured out what I want to do. Downey springs ( 3 inch ) and tightening the front torsion bars a bit? I think that's what I've deduced so far as the best option ( which I understand can turn into a long, drawn out debate where the newb gets reprimanded for bringing up a topic covered umpteen million times ), or something like that...lol. I'll see if I can't find that sticky you mentioned, cory. Anyway, thanks for the welcomes and I'll be sure to post more pics as this progresses.

 

welcome to yotatech! from what i can see the runner looks good (except the hood, lol). sounds like you've got a plan for that, also scout the local junk yards for a hood if you cant smooth it out, they're usually pretty cheap!

 

Also, if anyone has any advice of things that should be done ( regular maintenance-wise ) to this truck I'd appreciate it. Special oils to run, gear oil change? I don't know, I'm not an absolute newb when it comes to trucks and I'm vaguely familiar with the 22RE but like I said, I'm no mechanic. Tips are appreciated.

 

For the lift, just t bar cranking up front would be un even with the 3" springs. You should get a set of ball joint spacers and crank the torsion bar a little and it should be perfect.

Good looking rig too.

 

Nice looking runner for sure man!!! but imo you would be better off putting ball joint spacers and a lil bit of t-bar crank. its still a pretty cheap front suspension option that will prolly net you a little under 3" of lift.

 

any downey springs you find will probably be used...they went out of business last year.

how rust free is that old 4Runner? I lived it Cheektowaga for 3 years and Watertown, NY for 3 years....things rusted fast

 

Welcome to YOTATECH.

Love the 1st gen 4runners.

31's will fit just fine...we have one that has them on and it looks perfectly proportionate.

 

Been out working ( slingin' trees by day, and wrenchin' yotas by night ) for the last few but I've made some good progress.

The front passenger side brake seized up on me an hour from home two days ago and with the meager tools available I managed to crack the caliper open and lose all the fluid from a broken slave cylinder. Which left me with no brakes an hour from home. I guess I don't need to tell you that it made for an interesting drive the rest of the way. The rotors, pads and calipers were all shot so I got out the card. We tore into the front brakes that night with my bro and a friend replacing the rotors and calipers on both sides as well as the wheel bearings since we were in there. First time I ever had the hubs apart on vehicle but it appears we got it all back together properly.

The brakes seemed to work great for the next 20 miles or so and then the front driver's side locked up on me. Did some research last night on here and with friendly mechanics and it seems this isn't uncommon although I'd never heard of it before. I deduced that it's either the master cylinder, the rubber brake lines or the fact that the fluid was old and really gunky. Figured I'd start with the cheapest fix ( bleeding the heck out of the brakes ) and see if it happens again. If it does, on to the brake lines, etc. Still, my 10mm wrench and a bottle of brake fluid will be permanent passengers until I'm convinced all is well.

After we bled the brakes I did a quick oil change, plugs, wires, air filter and the like and it seems to be running much better. While under the truck I found a set of headers had been installed as well as a flowmaster exhaust. The sound is a little obnoxious for my taste but I'll live with it for now. I have to admit it is a little bit fun. Supposedly it adds horsepower as well but I'm not convinced.

Got around to doing some cleaning tonight, used a heat gun and scraper to remove the tint and pulled the cap off for the first time. I still hate the color but it is starting to look better. Can't wait to paint it up and put a decent bumper on the back. Here's a few more pics.

 

At this point I'm not really concerned about the lift but thanks for the heads up. I might actually just beef up the springs in the back because the toolbox I'm building for my gear and saws will be quite heavy and it will help even up the look of the truck.

Surprisingly the truck is the most solid thing I've owned. It had toyoguard from the factory and it's still mostly there. There's a little section on the passengers side running board that needs attention and a portion of the bed ( also passengers side ) is a little rough but it's nothing that can't be attended to with minimal time and tools. Like I said it WAS a Florida truck so we'll have to see if it can remain rust free in these winters up here. lol

 

As for tires, when the money's there I think I'll go with the Hankook Dynamic MT. I really like the tread pattern and they seem well rated for most on and off road use. That's probably a few months out though.

 

welcome to the YOTA site!! love your first gen! lookng good man

 

Didn't get too much done to the truck over the summer but I got a coat of paint on it and took a few trips. Here she is loaded up with the canoe, camping gear and enough tree slaying equipment to tackle any forest. lol
And a shot from the tree looking down.

 

My trans took a dump on our last trip. I lost 5th gear about 150 miles from home and limped it back in 4th at 50mph. Took a bit. I'm a little torn on what to do now. There's a local shop that can rebuild my trans for $600-$1000, or I could buy a used one in that price range or I could step up to a Marlin Crawler for $1195. I'm leaning towards the latter but would appreciate your guys feedback. Is the Marlin really the cat's pj's or what? Thanks, I'll try and devote a bit more time to my truck this winter and will keep this thread a bit more updated as well.

 

Did a Zuk mod this morning. Made a pretty nice difference. Had front end gone through earlier in the week at a local shop. Basically everything was shot. Truck is looking decent and driving great now but the rust monster is starting to rear it's ugly head. Hopefully I can get after that at some point here. Tires and wheels are coming in next week. Here's a before and after the Zuk mod pics.

 

marlin = awesome. i need to order something from them, but yeah. they're great to work with, have lots of information, and if you call them up, they'll make sure you get the right tranny. also, once your old one is out/new one in, you can rebuild it and sell it for some extra cash