I'm looking for any general advice regarding any of these mods. If you did any of these mods and ran into unforseen problems or regret doing the mod for any reason, I want to hear from you. I've researched each extensively but just know that there are details I'm missing. For instance, you I've heard that it's a good idea to do a Body LIft before armor, it's possible to do a transfer case lift with the Budbuilt skid plate, 4:70 transfer case is too low for snow, etc.

Thanks in advance. Yotatech has been a valuable resource for me since I bought my 4runner. I look forward to contributing to this site when I have more experience with this stuff.

Applications:
This DD sees a lot of *winter* highway miles to access unmaintained roads in the N Cascades, Montana, Wyoming and the Canadian Rockies. Priority is winter performance over rock crawling but I really enjoy creeping up rocky, rutted trails. There are also plenty of steep hills around town and on the highways I frequent.

Rig: 95 4runner, 3.0, Manual, 4wd, stock 4:30 gears, 130,000 miles young

Mods so far:
1.5” BJ Spacers, OME coil springs, Pannard, Sway Bar and Diff drop, low profile bumpstops. Nitrocharger shocks, 31x10.5 Toyo AT II

Future Mods:
Front/rear selectable lockers & 4:88 gears http://www.marlincrawler.com/differe...zip-equip-8-v6

1.5” BL + 33” dedicated winter tires OR M/T’s siped at Les Schwab

Rear Marlin Crawler Bumper + Sliders, BudBuilt Transfer Case skid
http://www.budbuilt.com/new/single_cross_members.html .

4:70:1 Transfer Case gear upgrade - - http://www.marlincrawler.com/transfe...01-xd-gear-kit on the fence about this one b/c I drive in snow a lot. Do you think these gears would be too slow? I don’t mind having to put chains on when it gets hairy.

Yeah - I know it's a ridiculously expensive list but worth it to me if it gets me safely to the places I like to play.

Any other thoughts, suggestions, whatever, let’s hear it. Thanks in advance.

 

I have the budbuilt v6 skid on my truck, love it, great investment. Your gas tank hangs down pretty low too, a skid on that would be a good idea, but youll have to make it yourself.

Lockers are key in off road, good idea.

Do the 4.88s first then decide if you need transfer case gearing, because for the v6, its not quite as easy as just replacing t case gears. Your v6 has a chain driven t case (with a 2.58 low range) where as 4.7 gears are made for 4cyl gear driven case (2.28 low range). In order to get lower transfer case gearing, youll nedd an adapter plate and a top shift transfer case out of a 4cly toyota, THEN you can put 4.7 gears in it.

Marlin t case bible: http://www.marlincrawler.com/tech/tr...fer-case-bible

Good t case read> https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116/v6-tran...r-case-231669/

Toyota engine/tranny stuff faq: http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/faq/parts/

BFG at or General Grabber ATs are wicked good in the snow, and still ok in the dirt. You dont need the BL to fit 33s.

 

That's an awesome thread on transfer cases! Best one I've read so far. Thanks, rattlewagon.

The fact that I'll have to pull a tc out of a 4cyl to put 4:70 gears in a single tc makes me wanna just get a dual now. Although I'm sure lockers would really help, I really like the idea of having some creeper gears so I don't have to rally over tough obstacles thus beating up my DD anymore. Also, it would be nice to keep momentum up steep snowy/icy roads without redlining my low range.

Part of the allure of the single case 4:70 gears was that I thought it'd be a simple drop in procedure. Do you happen to know of a good thread on installing a dual case in a 2nd gen 3.0 manual? I'm particularly intimidated by messing with the driveline angles. If not, no worries - I'll find one eventually.

Also, if I decide to put in a dual, and be moving things around (tc, driveline) anyways, would it make much sense to go ahead with a slight BL and tc / gas tank lift while I'm at it?

 

the driveline angles are the easy part, because you should have the cv joint up front already.

if you haven't rotated the rear axle, the rear driveshaft flanges should still be parallel, so you shouldn't need a cv back there... worst case is you'd have to add a cv joint to the rear driveshaft, i had to do that on my crawler, because i rotated the rear axle upwards... it vibrated heavily on deceleration.

the front cv joint is in there not so much because the flanges aren't parallel, but because the front driveshaft is short, the angles are steep... even with dual cases, driveshaft length shouldn't be an issue with the rear driveshaft.

i run detroit lockers, but there are cheaper full-time lockers also, i would not run a manually selectable locker in back, because the switching capability creates more places for breakage and malfunction.

one thing that i have found helpful in my dual case situation is twin sticks on the transfer case, because it allows me to run all gears in 2wd, which means less wear on the front drive system.

dual cases is a big step up, if the adapter situation that rattlecan outlined is doable without altering driveshaft lengths, i'd do that first.

if the driveshafts have to be altered anyway, it sure helps make the case for duals :-/ you just don't see people with ifs doing duals very often.

 

One thing I don't see on your list is a front bumper and or winch mount with a winch and recovery gear.
Like said above do the 4.88's first then decide if you want to do the 4.7's in a 4cly transfer case or not. My pickup has 4.56's with 33's and I got into situations where I wanted it slower on just trails.
Lockers will be a big help, my pickup is the first vehicle I've had with a locker and every vehicle I own after this that spends anytime off-road will have at least one locker.