After my '88 4Runner SR5 V6 was blowing a quart of oil out the rear main seal every tank of gas, and the body was rusting out all over I decided it was time for a new ride. It had taken me plenty of places and had 238K miles on it. So Summer of 2001 I started looking. I knew I wanted one with the factor rear spare carrier and with large tire option gear set and lastly I wanted it blue like my '88. After a month or so of searching I found one on eBay.
. After calling, I got them to agree to a Buy It Now of $6,000. It had 137K miles on it. I pulled the running boards and cheezy push bar. Before I sold my '88 I swapped the Optima red top out of it and also the radiator fan shroud as the '91's was missing a clip and floppy. I also swapped the hub lockers from my ADD equipped '91 to the AISIN manual hub '88. As the '88 was probably destined for a deer lease I didn't care and disclosed to the buyer. This was my daily driver so I left the 31x10.50 BFG M/T's on the '88 and sold it for $1600. I would have swapped out the front seats b/c the '88 had WAY BETTER front seats in it. Tons of padding compared the new one. But blue interior vs. grey interior so i pulled them out thinking I could swap seat covers but they were too different. Man, I miss those big thick seats of the '88. Even with the high mileage on them, they were still super comfy and in great shape. I did put some Continental tires on it b/c the ones that came on it were garbage. I chose the Continentals b/c of price and tread (very highway oriented). I commuted with the truck and they were great tires, quiet and balanced well. Sumemr of '02 I was driving to work and pushing the engine at about 75 to 85 mph when it lost power and started stumbling. Got it to my parents and checked teh spark plugs. one was totally fouled and corroded. Replaced them with cap/rotor and wires and it ran pretty good from then on. I have a sneaking hunch that the head gasket had given way partially. Dec 2002 I got a new Z71 Suburban as a company car so the 4Runner was parked for awhile. Spring of '03 I bought one of my best friends '90 pickup for $3000. It had Mickey Thompson Alcoa Forged Classics, 32x11.50 BFG M/T's, ARB front bumper, killer sound system, Rawson Koenig Aluminum toolbox, Borla cat-back system, NWOR balljoint headers. The engine ran very tight but had the stock fan chunked and had the BlackMagic electric fan. He had lots of trouble with it. I decided to swap out the goodies and sell it b/c I am more of an SUV man. So i swapped the bumper, tire/rims, and stereo. I spent $130 getting the truck detailed (paint clayed, interior steam cleaned, etc) and sold the truck for $4400 . So now I had a weekend truck. In actuality it stayed parked at my parents as by now I was living in my travel trailer on the coast and didn't have room for it. But I moved back in with the parents almsot a year before I got married so I started driving it to my home church on the coast on weekends with my girlfriend. At that time I put Rancho RS5000's on it, with the longer ones in the rear b/c I also put All-Pro springs in the rear. I put the Rancho steering stabilizer on it as well. It has been a good truck and only in the past year the rear passenger doors have begun rusting out at the top of the windows. Because of the mudders I quit driving it. They were loud and it gets about 10mpg. Recently I decided to get it back in shape and wanted some more streetable tires that would do well in the sand at the beach I run on. The mudders need too much horsepower and bite into the sand and don't float. So I found some new FJ Cruiser steel wheel take offs and got 5 shipped to me for $300. Took my 44K mile Goodyear Wrangler A/T's off the company vehicle which got new Michelins and I plan on getting back on the beach again with my wife and new son. It drives like a new truck now and can hold cruise at 70mph where before it constantly shifted up and down. These tires should float great on the soft sand where I surf.