Of all the Runners produced which year is the most capable off roader? I'm talking bone stock here. No sliders, no lift...nothing.

Would there be a clear favourite or is this one going to be up in the air?

 

either an 85 with SFA and EFI or a 99-00 with e-locker and 5spd, the latter being my vote. 2nd gens are nothing special.

 

I'm going to have to agree, the 85 with with the SFA.

 

I have to go with the '99-'00 w/Elocker

Why would you say a 5 spd is more capable? In my experience the auto definately makes off-roading easier in MOST cases, and a more controlled. Just curious?

 

I'm going to say a locked IFS Runner is still going to out perform a SA open diff'd one.

That being said, I am still saying the 1999 is the best stocker since they have the best ground clearance of the 3rd gens.

 

just out of curiosity, why do you say the 5spd would be more capable? i have an auto and it just seems like to me that a manual would be a pain in the a$$ with some of the things that i have been crawling through. then again, i'm fairly new to driving off road.

 

I'm no hard core wheeler, but I do run open diffed. Are there really situations where a rig with no lift could benenfit from a locker? Seems to me that in order to get into a situation where a locker is necessary you'd need the ground clearance of a lift.

I say the first gen SFA rigs.

 

It all depends on if you know how to handle a manual transmission. It will get more performance, if you have good control of it. It will take a little more work to get around, but on trails, if you know what you are doing you will do better with a manual transmission.

 

You guys are making me happy that I stumbled upon, and bought, this fabulous '85 4Runner of mine.

I wanted something that would be: very good off road without a lot of mods, tough as nails, easy & cheap to lift if I ever wanted too, reliable, and competant as a family hauler as well.

Seems I found the perfect rig.

 

I am going to say auto.

I have taken two 4WD rigs upto the Greenwater area since '90 when I had my '90 22RE 5 speed Extracab truck.

The 5 speed is nice, but going up some steep hills really slow where you have to stop and pick a line for a second can be hard to get going again.

With the auto since there is no pushing in the clutch, you won't roll backwards, and can take off easier with less wheel spin.

If I was building up an older truck like I want to do some day, I'd be very tempted to run it with an auto since I have driven both on trails and up steep hills in the woods.

 

Comparing a stock auto to a stock manual (stock meaning no gearing changes) : Auto's are better for crawling up obstacles because you can't smoke the clutch. Manuals are better for going down the obstacle because of the compression braking.

That all changes when you add a crawler to a manual and you're geared ultra low. You can almost idle up an obstacle then and there's less of a chance of smoking the clutch. Once you add the crawler then you have the best of both worlds.

I'd say a locker is better than a sfa too. I don't think the stock sfa articulates enough to overcome the need for a locker. Also, a locker will get you through more obstacles than a lift. There have been plenty of times where I had plenty of ground clearance but no traction because of the looseness of the terrain, steepness of the obstacle, or fact that I would lift a tire and loose traction.

Steve

 

I have had both so to speak. A 98 Tacoma Auto with E/Locker, and now a 5speed 4Runner (no locker).

My vote would be a 3rd gen 4Runner 5speed with E/locker.

With the weight over the rear, wheel base, crawl ratio, and locker you would kick some serious butt off-road in a 3rd gen runner.

Just my opinion.

(My 98 LTD Tacoma did REALLY well off-road, make no mistake)

 

2000 with an auto and an e-locker. It will crawl better and it has a locker from the factory. In purely stock form, this is the hot ticket.

Don't get brain washed into thinking solid axles are better no matter what. Lockers are amazing things and IFS works all right in a lot of situations, especially if it is locked too.

 

My vote goes for a '98 Auto w/e-locker. All the goodies and an extra one whopping degree of approach/departure angle over the '99+ years.

EDIT: Nope, I'm on crack. I read it wrong. The angles are identical between the 2 years. :pat:

I still vote for the '98, I'm just not a fan of "the chin".

 

The 3rd Gens models had different ground clearance, I thought all 96-2002 models had 11 inches

 

I think older ones. Pre-'90's. That's if you really want to do wild offroading. I think those and oder Toyota trucks have some of the toughests transmissions to blow off-road. That's if you're wild though. If you're more moderate, '00 and up.

Zach

 

You missed my post a few weeks back, didn't you?

Short answer: 11" is, in fact, the published value for all 3rd gens.

Physically, that is not the case.

 

Did they drop them an inch or 2 cause, I always wondered why some 4Runners looked taller and shorter:confused:

 

Ideally, an '89 4Runner SAS with 22RE and a 5Speed. I say '89 because it'd be easier to find a nice one than the rarer '84 and '85s with the SFA.

Also, I would prefer standard tranny because of compression braking as mentioned earlier. It's much easier to control descents with gears and with the standard you can more easily do a dual t-case or lower your gearing.

I like the idea of the 22RE for buildability and fuel economy too.

Let's not forget that the top comes off.

Warren

 

Thanks for all the responses. Looks like I'm doing pretty well with my '99 then.