derockus

iTrader: (1)

Hey people,

Just bought my first 4Runner off craigslist a week ago. I'm pretty stoked with it already. I was deciding between a J**p (no 4 letter words here, I know) and the 4Runner and I know you agree I made the right choice. The PO only owned it a short while but he did put some money into it before I got it from him. Poor guy was moving to ID and had to sell his toy, I'll give it plenty of use though.

22-RE engine. Odo says 198K. By the looks of it the engine was rebuilt at some time. VERY little rust overall. Spent most of its life in AZ from what I was told. PO put a nice stereo system plus amp/sub in it so that part is already sorted out. Also has brand new 31" rubber.

It needs CVs, new exhaust from the manifold on back (flumpflumps while idling, thinking it's a clogged catalytic and muffler since they are original, any other guesses?). He threw in 4 Bilstein shocks so I'm gonna swap those in also. Other stuff I want/need is a roll bar, roof rack with spare tire mount and space for offroad equipment, big lighting system, and maybe something badass to paint on the hood. Ultimate goal is just a backcountry play/camping/bike-shuttling/go-nearly-anywhere rig.

Swimmerboy2112

iTrader: (2)

Nice rig! Looks very similar to mine (same wheels and similar rack) except mine is yellow lol.

Kitty's 4Runner

Nice Truck, welcome to the Yota-family !!

thspittingllama

you've done well! that body looks super clean

derockus

iTrader: (1)

No new pics quite yet, nothing major to show.

Got the rear seats and seat belts put back in.
New SR5 cluster with tach. Jumped the mileage from 198K to 206K... oh well!
Installed new CV's. First CV experience, went really, really well actually.
Put in new carpet kit, looks great.
Hooked up a new PA speaker to the CB so I can holler at ladies on the sidewalk.
New starter, fires right up now.
Took a city driving mpg; got 16.6mpg so not terrible. I think I factored in the increased tire size (29" stock to 31") to compensate for the misread of the odometer OK.

Putting in Bilstein Shocks on the rear this weekend. Guy that sold me the truck threw in 2 new ones he hadn't gotten around to putting on yet.

derockus

iTrader: (1)

Replaced the rear shocks today. Heck yeah, Bilsteins.

Before:


During:




After:


One of these is broken...:


Can't wait to do the ZUK Mod. You can see how close that bump stop is to bottoming out. Then, hellllllo cushy ride.

rustED

iTrader: (2)

Really nice 4runner! That thing is really clean! You mentioned doing the Zuk mod soon, and thought I might suggest using j--p TJ front coil springs. They are inexpensive ( I paid $20 on Craigslist) and you can cut them down to achieve the amount of lift you require, (I gained 3" of lift, could have gotten more) and they fit perfectly without any cutting to the upper bump stop (so if you want to return it to stock you can). I haven't got to drive mine a lot yet, but they seem to ride pretty nice. I know Zelephant used them on his 4runner. Here is a link to the zuk mod I did: https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f199...73/index6.html Anyway I look forward to seeing more of your build!

derockus

iTrader: (1)

Thanks Ed, you're right and I'm going with the ZUK-TJ Edition mod.

Shocks ride nice so far. They take out the small/medium bumps I was getting rattled on before. ZUK should take care of the hard ones.

Popped in an order for catalytic and exhaust for www.autopartswarehouse.com USE CODE APWCART00 (those are zeroes) to get 10% off anything! Any one know a good place to send or take a cat to get recycle money?? I am in western Colo.

derockus

iTrader: (1)

Picked up a set of springs for $30 (incl shipping) from fleabay. I rented spring compressors from Oreilly's for $0. I jacked the 4Runner up and jackstood it by the frame so the suspension would droop rather than having to do the jack-leaf-spread-recipe-for-disaster. Cut the springs with a chop saw to just over 12 inches.

Bump stop before:


Hangin' 'n' crammin':


Before ZUKkin':


After ZUKkin':


BOIOIOIOING:

rustED

iTrader: (2)

Hey Derockus nice job on the Zuk mod! It really leveled it out!!! I think you will really like the ride quality too, I am very impressed with mine so far, and not so much as a squeak from the coils! I was really expecting some sort of noise from them, but nothing so far. The ride heighth has settled aprox a 1/2" though, but other than that, no complaints. If you take yours off-road before me, be sure to let us know how it performs!

RMP8080

Nice on the zuk mod, I will do the same to my runner, your runner is nice and clean great find...Bill

Terrys87

iTrader: (1)

Great looking runner. How do you like the ride with the TJ springs? That is an option I will look into.

derockus

iTrader: (1)

I like how easy the TJ mod was to do. Ride is definitely improved and I don't bottom out on spots around town the I used to. Offroading it next week so I'll get back to you on that. The groaning/plunking has mostly gone away since the springs settled.

derockus

iTrader: (1)

ZUK mod with TJ springs are working like awesome. Wen't offroading through Dinosaur Nat'l Monument around July 4th with 4 people and a TON of camping gear. I don't think I bottomed out once all fully loaded like that. DO THIS MOD.

derockus

iTrader: (1)

Latest fixes:

New Rear Main Seal, yum. It was slightly weepy and I was in there pretty deep doing the clutch anyway so it was a no brainer. Getting the old one out was easy since it was pretty worn down it slid right out. We screwed up putting the new one it, bent the metal and misaligned the wiper. Had to pull the new one and replace it. DO IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME. Take your time pushing these things in. We left the cover on; I guess you can take the rear crankshaft cover off, put the seal into the cover whiles it's out, then reinstall it. You have to do the rear crankshaft gasket and the oil pan gasket too then.

Resurfaced Flywheel and new pilot bearing. I got the 1200lb kit from Marlin Crawler.


New clutch plate and cover. Alignment was easy.


So Marlin Crawler sent me just the clutch throwout bearing. OE clutch throwout bearing assembly was able to be disassembled, old bearing pressed out, new bearing pressed in. Later in '89 Toyota went to one piece throwout bearing assemblies. So MC, not knowing what I had, sent me the bearing. Apparently, the first time the clutch was replaced in this truck they went with the complete assembly rather than remove/replace the old bearing. Local parts store was able to get me a complete assembly the next day so we could carry on.

The other PITA was figuring out how to orient the assembly, spring clip, and fork. I searched all over YT and got answers for both directions. We put it in like this:



Spring loops around the fork-side of the assembly. Fork blades DO NOT thread through ear loops, fork blades ride on bearing assembly tabs and the zee-d ends (the start and end of the clip itself) slip around the back of the fork blades. Connection feels loose at first (but not like the spring is going to shoot off like if you thread the fork blades through the clip ears). Once you apply pressure to the bearing and fork it feels really solid. The spring clip is really just to keep the assembly from rotating and once everything is put back together you can tell it's not going anywhere.

With doodles:


Also did:
New PC Valve and breather hoses
New distributor cap, rotor, plugs, and wires
Oil and filter change, Slick50 added
Front brake pads
Greased propeller shafts

Coming up:
New O2 sensor
Distributor cap o-ring
Fuel filter

derockus

iTrader: (1)

Just when everything seems to be going so well I BLOW THE DAMN HEAD GASKET. By the end of this I'm going to be a YotaTech certified mechanic whether I want to or not.

paxam

how do you like the clutch? I am thinking of getting the same one.
is the peddle heavy? chatter on release? etc

derockus

iTrader: (1)

Clutch has been fine so far. The pedal is not noticeably heavier, haven't had any chatter. I definitely think it was worth it to get a 1200lb than the stock 900lb clutch.

Something to check, find out if you have the unified throwout bearing or the original press-in bearing. Up to a certain year (1990?) the throw out bearing had a housing that you re-used with a new pressed-in bearing. Toyota switched to a unified throwout bearing so the housing and bearing was one-piece so you just replaced the whole thing. The two-part and the unified are totally interchangable. If I was you I'd just order the unified bearing from MC regardless of what is in your tranny now. Pay attention to how the clip, fork, and bearing are held together.

BigSwole

Are you going to just fix the hg or do a rebuild while your at it?

derockus

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, I am still not sure at this point what I am going to do. When I bought the truck I got virtually 0 history on it. Person I bought it from only had it a few months so I didn't get any good info from him. When the HG went I laid out 4 options. The headgasket really blew out good too. Went from running OK (I did pull and oil test a few weeks earlier and there was coolant in the oil) to totally FUBAR. I started the truck and HUGE plume of white smoke, smoke coming out of the cat gasket, water coming out of the gasket, engine would not run at all. Really hoping the head/block didn't crack.

1. Remanned long-block from any of the many engine companies out there. Cost ~$1200-$2000. I really wanted to go this route so I could be totally confident the engine would be reliable. Not a very cheap choice though. Biggest issue is all the freight costs for shipping the engine to a residence and shipping the core back to the engine shop. My work area SUCKS, street parking in front of the house is not a really appealing place to try my first engine swap.

2. Pull the engine and have it rebuilt (semi)locally. I've only gotten one quote back and that was $1800 and a 3 hour drive to deliver and then later pick up the engine. I thought I could save some money by not having to pay all the shipping but there are not many rebuilder shops around me. And I still have the problem of the bad work area.

3. Do the HG and all the front end (oil pump, water pump, timing, etc) and leave the block. I'd like to also have the head remanned, new valves, maybe RV cam. Haven't gotten a quote for the head work yet but I betting it comes in higher than buying a pre-remanned one online. I'd still be worried about all the short block parts but it's a heck of a lot cheaper to do this. If the short block components go I'll be kicking myself for not doing it all once.

4. Just do the HG and sell the damn thing.

My biggest shortcoming as a inexperienced mechanic is diagnosis. I can follow directions and do the work (I think) but I am basing too much of my decision on COST instead of VALUE because I don't know how badly I need to do any of it.

There are some things I know I should check to help me decide but I am incredibly good at procrastinating.

1. Compression - Is this even worthwhile to do with a blown HG? I'm guessing I'll find compression numbers all over the place and it won't tell me squat because the blown HG will throw those numbers off, correct?

2. Pull the valve cover and visually inspect the valves, cam, rockers. Lips, pits, grooves should all stand out.

3. Can I figure out if the engine has ever been rebuilt? What is something to look for to come to that conclusion?