Hello All

I am new to posting anything on this site, although i have been looking at it for about a month now. Soon, i hope to get an early second gen. 4runner, (90-91) should be about a month. It will be completely stock though. So i was just wondering, In your opinions, what should i get with roughly $1,000-$1,500 that i will have? (im hoping) I am thinking i would like a roof rack with 4 lights and a hi jack (i like the look of roof racks) and maybe rock sliders and a front bumper, from badland bumpers. But would i be better off with a suspension lift? or body? or maybe go with lockers? i really do not know which would be best. Please give me all your ideas. Thanks a ton.

 

Welcome!!

Your money will be gone before you know it! With a 2nd Gen Runner, most would agree that you should start with rear coils from Downey, OME or PP to get rid of the sagging butt syndrome (SBS) of 2nd Gen Runners. Bilstein shocks work nice with the new coils. You can postpone an actual "lift" by cranking the torsion bars slightly if needed. Sliders should be second with a rear locker of some sort as a close third.

Just my .02

 

I vote for manual hubs. Gives you better acceleration, better gas mileage, and saves wear and tear on all the front end drivetrain.

I love my Downey HD springs and Edelbrock shocks. If your steering wheel has vibrations then an OME stabilizer is an easy direct bolt on and works great. Other than that try to see how you can stretch your money.

The economy lift is the Downey springs, cranked torsion bars to level out, and one of Roger Brown's 1" or 2" body lifts. That will clear 33's. More than likely I will add the 1" body lift soon to clear my 32's and then the sliders. I don't rub but I miss the space I had with the Downey's and 31" tires. I already bought some front mud flaps off ebay to put on with the sliders.

 

I'm on a similar time scale for my 4Runner purchase and after I take care of all the basic maintenance stuff (changing all the fluids - esp. brake fluid and tranny/diff fluids, checking brake pads, discs and shoes, and a few things suggested on this site that I haven't totally explored! Etc, Etc.) I plan on doing exatly what Cebby says. The rear ends sagged when new and probably get worse with wear. If it has the original shocks they are almost certainly shot and replacing them will make a WORLD of difference. Don't know what the consensus around here is yet but I had Rancho 9000s on a truck once that I was extremely happy with.

I believe you can put 31x10.5 tires on the stock rims with no lift, right? That would be a good thing assuming your new (old) truck has 275s on it. Most of the trucks I've been looking at need new tires anyway.

Definitely do your maintenance items as priority #1. Don't forget all the filters as well - air (upgrade to K&N), oil, fuel, etc. I would guess repacking the CVs would be a good idea as well. You just never know exactly what the previous owner did even if they have good records. That goes for any vehicle. Cheap insurance. Search the site to figure out everything you will want to do.

Go over the truck with a "fine-toothed comb" and fix anything else that needs fixing as long as you already have cash set aside for truck parts.

Then take a good look at what you want to do with the truck and see what makes sense for you. If you don't plan to offroad it (sounds like you do though) then looks stuff can move higher up the list.

Chris

 

Welcome to the forum Serith.

To give you a few ideas on what I have done to my '91, visit my 5 pages of mods on my website.

 

So i was just wondering, would a 4" suspension lift and a 3" body lift even be worth it? and for all of you who have one on their 4runner, how much more "tippy" does it make the vehicle?

Thanks for all your advice, i am now considering a detroit locker for the rear axle.

 

A 4" suspension and a 3" body would eat up pretty much all of your funds you have set aside. It would not be very functional either. If you want huge tires, no power, no gas mileage, and an ill handling rig go for it.

 

I was going to go with a 4" superlift, but after reading about the angles that much lift will put the CV's at, I think I'm just going to save for a solid axle swap, then an 3.4l V6, then a roll cage, then sliders, and so on...