This was my original plan but to get the nose up 4", wouldn't that mean i'd have to crank the torsion bars 2.5 in up if i get a 1.5" bj spacer? and i was afraid that cranking the torsion bars this much might make my ride very harsh. I thought of maybe going with the long travel kit, but was wondering if there was something in between that wont empty my bank account.

 

Check into sway away or ome tortion bars they will add some lift and still ride okay.

 

ok so 231 for the sway away tbars and 178 for ome. Which one is more recommended? Not a whole lot of price difference.

 

One for a good ride, sway away for strength I think you'd be fine with either.

 

well I tend to do things i really shouldnt' with that truck so I'm gonna go with the stronger ones just to be safe. already killed the front bump stops bottoming out my front end after ramping a table top.

 

Awesome truck! I'm liking the rear lift alot, now you just have to throw a lift in the front and your all set

 

Thanks, think i'm gonna do a 1.5 bj spacer and HD torsion bars in the front for now, but I think i'm gonna do the Total Chaos long travel kit eventually. just have to get the money saved up first. Probably tax time lol.

 

Alright got some updates for you guys. Got the Panhard bar installed, I went with the biggest one 4crawler had and it seemed to work perfect, Other than that I went ahead and ordered up a set of 1.5" bj spacers, and raided the local junk yard for some parts. I scored a front skid plate, a tow hook, and the rear tire carrier off of a 90 runner. Carrier only cost me $18, better for my budget then the one Total Armor Group sells. That things a fortune. I'm going to have to do a lil customizing to make the rear tire carrier work, but now I wont have to worry about switching out the spare tire everytime I switch between 33's and 35's. Has anyone put a early gen 2 tire carrier on a later gen 2? would like to hear feedback . thanks everyone and i'll post pics up of everything soon!

 

hey i'm just curious -

Did you notice a reduction in road noise/sound after using the bedliner on your Runner? I am thinking about doing the same thing, only reinstalling the carpet over the bedliner. I'm trying to make the inside more quiet... less road noise.

Did the bedliner make it more quiet?

 

Its hard to say for certain, I've had the carpet ripped out for a while now and almost forgot how quiet it was before i did the soundliner. I know its a bit louder without the carpet, but my bedliner isn't very thick and is chipping in a few spots. If you go with a bed liner I highly advise you pony up the money for a good roll on liner. The spray can kind requires so much its almost pointless for it to be very effective, I constantly have to touch mine up. but i do know it helps more than just having the paint there. If your just trying to make things quieter you could always foam the whole bed too, insulation is a way better sound eliminator than the bedliner. You can either rubber it or try use the spray foam under the carpet. also dont remove the patch of sound deadener under the carpet. i'd just liner over it if your trying to quiet down the outside noise. hope this was helpful.

 

Alright got my tire carrier installed and it works like a charm. only part that was kind of tricky was installing the plastic on the tailgate, its indented and is suppose to replace the whole reverse light assembly, only problem is on the newer gen 2's theres 2 big holes where the reverse lights came through, i had to trim the plastic to fit around the lights and remove alot of the license plate holder. I intend on taking some photos this weekend when I install my bj spacers to give you guys a better idea of what i'm talking about. but I really like how it makes the vehicle look now. I thought it was retarded to put the tire under the truck and this removes one of the very few things that bothered me about the rig.

 

Looks like you have ben busy, I like your idea for the speakers in the back. Also, you mentioned twards the beginning of your build you were wanting to switch out those "nerf bars" for the correct running boards? If your interested, i have the factory set that came on mine they are just like new, i just cant stand the damn things lol. How did the bj spacers go? Curious to see how much it brought up the front for ya...

 

The spacers worked just fine for bringing up the front end up, its only a very slight downhill angle now in the front compared to what it was before, only issue i ran into was the tire offset, rolled around for a few days before i realized my front tire was rubbing on my upper a-arm. set of 2" wheel spacers fixed that problem right up. And as for the running boards I'm actually looking for sliders over the stock boards. I dont like how the factory ones give it a squattier appearance and there not very durable. My truck didn't have them on it when i purchased it and I have no intention on putting the stock ones back on , and on the rear speakers, I didn't do much of a write up on them but I enclosed the front with particle board, fiberglass resined over all the seams to make it more air tight and packed the rear of the speaker box with foam cushion and rtved the holes where the wires go in after soldering the wires to the speaker and running the leads out of the box. They work pretty well and i like the look vs butchering the rear plastics in my truck and having a weak speaker with no backing.

 

Alright so I have a few updates, and i promise i will post pictures soon, just been tinkering and to lazy to go find the camera. So my dad gave me his old winch mount/grill guard off his totalled tacoma and i modified it to fit on the front of my truck. I really like how it looks and I think it will work fine til i get some cash to invest into an arb or equivalent bumper. but I also hit a problem with my tire carrier, the latch on it tends to stick open if i'm not paying attention and i had an unintentional opening of the gate right when i whipped my truck hard around a corner. to say the least where i had it mounted got tweaked bad. going to need to take a hammer and pound out the dents, but eh, whats a yota with out a lil body damage right? Anyhow was curious if anyone else seemed to have a noticeable difference in handling after installing there bj spacers? I never did a front diff drop or a sway bar drop.. could this explain the slight jerking around the road feeling i'm getting? or do i just need to adjust a few things? might also help if i put the same size rims on haha. my current tire got trashed so i'm currently running a spare, only problem is its a 15x10 rim, where as all my others a 15x8...

 

Hey guys, been a while since I updated, so I made sure to take some photos this time. Anyway heres whats new.

Finished my lift and its nice and leveled off now. (for the most part)


1 1/2 bj spacers


Got a front brush guard for free. just had to make some adapter plates to make it work.


Picked up some tow hooks from the local pull apart. Running with two (and i know my clasps are on wrong... on the "to fix" list.


picked up a rear tire carrier off an earlier model 4runner and modified it to work.


had to tweak this part a little since the earlier ones back up lights are in a diff location.


Installed a pan hard drop bracket... think i need a shorter one thou, didn't take into effect the settling of the coils. this is a 6" bracket .




got a new magnaflow with 2 1/2" pipe from the O2 sensor back.


Picked up a few other things from the local pull apart. Found a manual locking hub, and a skid plate.





Finally mounted my air intake properly. its been bouncing around for about a year. Also fixed my fan shroud that blew up with the fan back in the winter of 2010.






now for the bad.......

Front differential locked up on me when driving home after it snowed about a month ago. when i tore it apart heres what i found.



Thing wont budge and i've given up on trying to save the pinion. Even hitting it with a 2 hand sledge hammer isn't giving me any luck.

So i'm saying good bye to my old 4.56 front diff........


... and installing this 4.88 i found instead


This is all I have so far, but next on the to do list I'm changing my battery terminals to marine terminals, prepping my new front diff for paint, fluid change, ect, going to order up a 4.88 ring and pinion for the rear (unless i can find a used one somewhere), order up a set of wheel spacers for the rear, new shocks for up front (there a little two short at the moment), and see what i can do about fixing those crappy front speakers in my cab. I'll post more as i do more.

 

So I installed new pads all around this summer and they've been working great, but on my way home today i noticed something funny with them, when i depress the pedal I feel it kick a lil. Almost as if i'm hitting a high spot on the rotor, or as if the rotors are warped, but its only a couple little thuds against my boot when i'm almost to a stop (30mph or less), theres no vibration or anything when braking, just this little thud against my shoe from the brake pedal. I noticed this has done this when the brakes are stomped on in an emergency, but i figured this was due to the rear anti lock. Its doing this now under normal braking. Any advise or input???

 

 

Well heres a update on the runner.


Finished cleaning and restoring the 4.88 front diff I got.






Then continued to install it.





Went and cleaned up my new hubs, painted, and regreased them.



Got my defected rear coils replaced for free!



Replaced the rotors and pads.




And heres a few pics of my painted tcase, front diff, and a few other things on my truck.









Up next I have a first gen roll bar i'm working on and getting ready to install. Just went and replaced the u-joint on the yoke side of the drive shaft, and still on the prowl for a 4.88 rear third member. Also got my hands on a new gas tank door, and a sunroof rain guard. More pics to come. stay tuned.

 

I like the painted pieces everywhere, excited to see what it looks like when your all done.

 

always something to improve on