Thank you for the tips! I'll be pricing welders this week.
I got to do some more cleaning today. I also started applying the phosphoric acid- it's cleaning up pretty well:





It leaves that white residue as it dries and before painting with the POR I'll blast it all with the air compressor.

Here is a before and after- first picture is passenger side cleaned and treated with the phosphoric acid and the second picture is the driver side before I did any cleaning or rust removal:






A buddy of mine told me that rust on the driver side is always worse than the passenger side because it gets more salt. I asked how he figured and he said think about it- the salt truck goes down one side of the road and then comes back on the other, salting the middle of the road twice. Based on the rust under my truck he was absolutely right.

I also read about a trick to test if the rust has eaten all the way through the metal. Using a ball-peen hammer I tapped on the frame watching for give- if the small hammer can easily dent the metal its rotten through. I used this method to check the frame and all seems good. I was able to get to good metal with the heavy wire wheel on my angle grinder.
I guess what I'm getting at is this: I was really concerned about the structural integrity of the frame and after a few days working on it I feel much better. Now, there is plenty of rust to deal with, no doubt. The body has little spots all over the place but luckily most of it is very superficial and I'm not worried about the task of cleaning and painting it. Where needed I'll cut it out and patch.
As you all said, lots of work but I can handle it!

 

I love all the work you're doing. It looks great and I cannot wait to see the finished product. Well...it'll never be "finished" but you get my drift.

 

Thank you! And man, I want to be driving this thing again SO bad! I've tried to stay true to my original goal of making this a safe, reliable family vehicle. My kids love this rig (my wife, not so much) and all the little details will add up to something I'm hoping to keep on the road for many more years.

I finally sprung for some new front fenders. There are dozens of online retailers selling factory replacement for anywhere from about $60 to $100 each. I found a pair with a couple of reviews that said simply "they fit". Free shipping will have them to my house next week for $130. We'll see. I plan to POR the backsides and I figure there's just not much difference from one to the next. I kind of wish I had just gone for the fiberglass fenders from Slacker, like I did the rear quarters, but the fenders are easy enough to replace...

Harbor Freight has a Chicago Electric 90 amp 120V flux welder for $100. The reviews are really positive overall, anyone have any experience with these? I will have to drive an hour to the nearest Harbor Freight- worth saving the shipping and if I time it right I may be able to get it on sale.
ehatch, you bought a unit that looks similar- you've been happy with it so far?

 

The cheap wire feeds are ac voltage. You want a dcen which stands for direct current electrode negative.

That's why i bought the auto arc made by Hobart from tractor supply for 300.

Yes it cost more but works better. Supposedly the ac voltage cause alot of spatter and burn through as it loses arc more frequently

 

Glad to see that you are still plugging away at this thing.

 

Good to know, thanks. I read about a guy that bought the inexpensive one I was looking at from Harbor Freight and converted it to DC. I guess that's why.
Decisions, decisions...
I'm feeling more and more that investing in a welder is a good plan, and I really don't want to spend on something that I'm not going to be happy with once I learn how to use it.
Thanks again for the input.

Thanks Gizler, yes I'm still at it. At one point I was hoping to have this this project wrapped up by July 4th weekend. I'm thinking I won't hold myself to that. No sense in rushing, right? Plus, now I'm going to have to allow myself time to learn to weld...

 

It's been a busy couple of weeks, not much time for the 4runner. But, I'm almost ready to POR the frame!

 

Progress has slowed significantly. We are in a very busy season- kids have ballet and swim lessons and there's yard work and spring cleaning and who the heck has time to work on some old truck!?
I got about two hours in this morning.
Last week I started assessing the needs of my rear end. Needless to say it is in bad shape- rust, wear, siezed up e-brake mechanism, not pretty.
So I found another rear end on Craigslist:



It is in MUCH better shape than mine. Today I started to tear it down. The bearings feel tight so I'm planning to just replace the seals, swap over all the brake hardware (which is pretty new on my old one), clean it up, paint it and it'll be ready to rock!

The axle looks to be in good shape:





Just have to keep at it...

 

Joe - I don't want to spend your money, but I would change those axle bearings while I had it all apart. That's my opinion, I understand if you don't do it and of course you can always come back to it later. If you want to do it yourself and if you have access to a press, I will loan you my tool to do the removal, but I'd have to ship it. And I know that ZUK would encourage you to pull that 3rd member and crank up the carrier bearing preload.

Soapbox off, still love watching and following along. You've undertaken a huge job and you've marched right along through it so far.

 

TIME is my enemy too but keep up the great work!

 

While you've got it out, why not swap to a factory 4.88 gears? Might come in handy for those mountain roads.

 

As always, thanks for your input Cory. And thank you very much for your kind offer to loan me tools. I keep going back and forth on whether or not to do the bearings. Other than cost, I don't have any reason not to do them. I think I'm working against my own impatience right now. The weather is nice and I want to be driving this thing so I am having to watch myself that I don't take any shortcuts. The 4x4 wire write up on bearings and seals (here) is really good and part of me figures I can always come back to it. Then again, I have it all pulled apart- wouldn't it feel good to just do it and know I'm riding with new bearings all the way around!?
Do you know off the top of your head what the carrier bearing preload should be? Is it recommended to increase the preload beyond factory specs or does it just loosen up over the years?
Thanks again for your encouragement- we will just have to see about the bearings...


Thanks, man! I have some vacation time at work that I've been saving. I'm hoping to get a good chunk of time in at the end of this month. Keeping my fingers crossed.



Ugh, like the bearings, I keep going back and forth on this, too. What if I get all done and realize that I really need to put 33" tires on it but I can't because it'll be so hard to turn them? But I don't have any good reason to put tires that big on it other than looks, and that's not really a good reason to regear it now is it?
Maybe it is? But then I'm looking at spending even more money. (I went over budget quite a while ago...) So for now I think I will wait. You can tell I'm not as confident about this decision just yet...

 

Joe, according to the gear master ZUK, he seems to recommend cranking up the carrier bearing preload as much as possible, you wouldn't be able to torque it unless you made a special tool with a nut right in the center anyway. Read his website, I think it's gearinstalls.com. I know you are struggling with these decisions, I do the same. If there's no room in the budget or no time, then you'll just have to revisit these things again later. I do agree that you have to draw a line somewhere, otherwise you will go crazy spending money. I guess you can look at it like this, if you aren't going to do anything right now with the 3rd member (in terms of new gears and/or bearings), then you can probably leave the axle bearings alone as well knowing that later on you will have to pull the axles anyway to get to swapping the 3rd member or installing 4.88s or whatever. Whatever decision that fits your time and budget is fine.

 

Man, your advice is spot on, thank you. Another consideration is the fact that I've now pulled the rear end out and broken things down for the first time. Going back will be easier and less intimidating. Not to mention anti-seize on a lot of those bolts! I'll get it back on the road and make changes and adjustments to suit my needs. I still may go ahead and do the bearings while I have everything apart, but as for the gearing, I'm going to sit on it. One step at a time.

I also came across this page while nerding out on old 4runners: myrcproject.com

 

From personal experience with my second gen v6 (heavier, but more power) the factory 4.56s just weren't enough. Running a stock 31" tire was fine as long as I wasn't too far up in the hills, but as soon as I went to the 33s it was game over. I recon you could find a set of dropouts for less than $125.

But, the budget always dictates. I can appreciate that. Ive been waiting for over 4 years to get the turbo runner on the road again.

And, Cory is spot on.

 

I sure do appreciate everyone's input. Thank you. At least one of my questions has solved itself: it'll get new bearings. I got the drivers side pulled apart this afternoon and the bearing is totally shot. So that's that.
Then I kept breaking it down:



This is the first time I've removed a third member. I spent a good deal of time looking at photos and reading on Zuk's website (thanks for the link, Cory) and from what I can tell my gears look to be in good shape. I don't see any signs of wear. What do you guys think?





May be hard to tell in photos. It feels tight, none of the gears wobble or feel loose.
So now I will read and study and try to make an informed decision.

 

Joe - If you have a dial indicator you can check the backlash pretty easy and adjust if necessary without doing any teardown or anything. Also, as ZUK suggests, if you are happy with the backlash you can then turn each adjuster the same amount to crank up the carrier bearing preload. Without tearing things apart, I think that's pretty much all you can do. I guess you can make sure the pinion has no in/out play as well. You can make a axle bearing removal tool with your old axle tube if you cut it. Might be different where you live, but a lot of shops here did not have the right tool to press off the axle bearings, so I ended up buying the tool on eBay. One shop said they had the tool, but they wanted too much money to do the job, more than the cost of the tool.

Anyhow, you are tearing right through it, that truck will be on the road soon enough.

 

Be sure the new rear axle you got has the same gear as the front in the vehicle.

 

Also, throw some gear paint on there and snap some pics. Email ZUK. He built my 4.88 3rd in my old runner. Awesome guy to talk to and always willing to help even if he doesn't make money. Genuinely a great guy.

 

Thanks again Cory. Yep, I am looking into this. Trying to read and understand enough to build the confidence to tackle it.


Yes, good thinking. Both front and rear are factory 4.10s. For now, they will stay 4.10s too.


Also good advice. I suppose this is the time to do it.
I've been spending a pretty good deal of time on his website recently.