In my opinion they compare closer to a radial on the street. They are hands down the nicest bias ply street tire. They are smooth, they feel easier to spin than my 36" sx's. Though I will say they are VERY loud. It sounds like im in a B-17. But I always kinda liked it. The truck sat for one month (January) and we had 12hrs above freezeing in the whole month of january, it was stupid cold. I hopped in it and expected the most horrid flat spots, but nothing. No flat spotting at all. I kept the pressure up around 20-30psi.

I cant say enough great things about this tire. Dont even get me started it offroad performance.

 

Cool. I'm thinking Rocker or the new 38.5" Radial MadDog.

I can trailer the beater but I like to drive it around town and sometimes to the trails.

EDIT: I figure the Maddogs are a good step up from BFG Muds and MTR's. Those are the radials I've been considering with a few others mixed in like Toyos.

 

The mad dogs are getting good reviews. I have thought about going to a radial, I think its between the trxus mt, toyo, and km2's. I love the Rockers on the road but I think my future is going to see cross country wheeling trips and since I refuse to trailer, I think the Rockers might be a bit much for a 4000mi round trip to Rubicon....

 

Little update I have bent 2 axle housings and im getting sick of it. Currently my bent axle housing is causing a wicked death wobble and my locker to slip under load.

NOTE: To be fair. Both axle housings were involved in traffic accidents where I ended up flying into ditches and airing the truck out pretty good.

So I picked up one last housing and decided to do my best to make it indestructible.

I ran 1.5 .120 DOM supports from the dif out to the perch and steering stops, and I trussed up the steering stops. And I made some 1/4" gussets for the top and bottom of the balls and tied them into the perches as well. 3/8" Marlin diff armor.

We will see if I bend this one too

BTW I havent made a braket yet for hydro assist.

 

so you bent em front to back, not up and down? I do like the the idea of the front reinforcement dude.

Nice pitting on the knuckle balls though...i did the jb weld trick and mine came out smooth as booty.

 

Up and down and front to back.

I dont care enough about the pitting to mess with it.

 

Hey kids, another fun wheeling season in the bag, the runner has done great! I seem to be more enthusiastic about long distance wheeling trips (any where in the country i can get my bum friends to go to). In June we drove down to MO to spend a week at Waa, Flat Nasty, and SMORR. We had a blast! Since I get board of tires pretty fast, no matter how good they are, I think im going to try something other than the Pitbull Rockers Ive been running for 2.5 years. First let me say that I believe there is not a better all around bias ply tire on market....not even close! So since I cant get a better tire, ill get a different one And since I plan to continue to drive the hell out of this truck and not trailer it, im thinking radials. Been looking at the Toyo open country mt and trxus mt. So it may be interesting to see the difference.

Also after years of wheeling this truck pretty hard I FINALLY managed to flop it....




No damage the cage took it all on, a little black paint and im good as new. winched it back over and finished the day.

Some other shots from the year











Attachment 334456

Attachment 334451

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09HWld7ZSd8


just for fun, i spent a week driving on my buddies 42's, and I could still get in the garage!!





Believe it or not ill miss this OBNOXIOUS volume

 

Those tires are.... loud...

 

Love that sound!

 

gnarly

 

Im pretty bored this morning...so I figured Id spread my boredom to this old ass thread.

Nother year of wheeling, and the 4runner seems to have found a groove. I can now pretty much wheel it....park it....fill it with gas....repeat. I think alot of that has to do with me swearing off a local park, a gnarly place called the Cliffs. Cause the only real damage ive had over the year came from that event. Trunion Bearings, twin sticks worked out of the t-case (prolly not damage and prolly a long time coming) And while night wheeling, I took a wrong turn and ended up going down a super steep hill. I was in 5:1 in the t-case and 1st gear, and the truck just pushed though and broke loose. So I started ski'ing down at an alarming speed. I tried to throttle out but the gears were too low. Once I started to go side ways I managed to work the truck over into a tree to stop me. I took the tree in the pass front door, mangling it enough that the interior panel bent! I still had half the hill to go, so I tossed it in double low 11.4:1 and drove off the tree...caving in the pass rear door at the same time. Then just ski'ed down the rest. I was actually able to save the doors with some hammers, and plier's, and some glass I had laying around...so now the raisin is a little more wrickly... But other than that not much damage until last weekend at Toys for tots at the badlands in Attica IN I came off a shelf hard and put the hyrdo ram into the oil pan. But didnt know it til I drove 3 hrs home, and saw the puddle, luckily I had only lost about 1 quart.

The gusseted axle is working out great! no bending and I have come down hard on it a few times. So my "poor mans diamond" is doing pretty good.

I went through 3 r&p's in 2008 and 2009. (after market 5.29's in 4cyl 3rd's) So a change was in order, and when PORC decided to screw me on my warranty, I was free to start over. I decided to go with a set of the factory 4.88's. Yes, the odd ball unique OE 3rd members. I scored them for $100 a piece. While the 5.29's were good for the 3.0, the 4.88's are much more appropriate for a 3.4. Plus I have never read of anyone having a failure on the factory 4.88's. Im sure it has happened, but its rare enough that I havent seen it. A little over a year later and they are still just fine. On the 5.29's I got about 12 mpg city and 18 mpg high way. On the 4.88's I get about 13.5 city and 20mpg high way! Which is pretty amazing. (thats at 60-65 mph) And I traded a 340h for another 4.88 3rd so now I have a spare that can be easily changed on the trail...but prolly back at camp if I can help it!!

2 of my bilstein 5125's wore out so I swapped in another set that my buddy had laying around.

I traded a guy my 37" Pitbull Rockers for a set of 37" trxus. I have to say once I got them aired down enough (to the point where my 0-50psi guage needle does NOT move) They are quite nice. If I work really hard I can do the same lines I was able do with the rockers while watching a movie. But still no real comparison in the mud the rockers own the trxus. All in all Im happy with the decision. The trxus are smooth and quiet on the road. My next tire will be 37" Rocker radials!

With my EE buddies help (Bamfct2004). I think he has figured out why I dont have cruise control, (yup the important stuff) but I havent gotten in there to check the 2 wires in the harness.

For reading all that crap.....I give you pics...though we dont many pics anymore...

 

read thru you're thread, very impressed with your work, will be using your build thread to add to my knowledge base for when I tackle my SAS project on my 93 runner... I have about the same goals for mine as far as the underside goes, I dig the cage though too... I'm still in the process of putting together a final parts list and aquiring the $10k I will need to get her done the way I want...

when you gonna SC it??? sounds like you probably don't need it though between your gearing and how hard she gets pushed on the trail....

 

Thanks glad it helped.

No S/C in the plans. My goal is reliablity and simplicity. Plus the vehicle itself is not a very safe platform to really flex a SC'ed 3.4.

My new DD is a 97 3.4 5speed 4runner...now that would be hilarious with a SC.

 

WOW I just read the whole thread. Great job makes me wish I'd kept my 2nd gen and done something similar. Maybe when my pickups done I'll try to pick up another 4runner and SAS it. Also love the center console gives me an idea on what I can do for my truck when and if I do bucket seats. Again great job!

 

Thank you sir.

It sure was fun driving through 2-4ft snow here last week! All my neighbors got up at the ass crack of dawn to start to dig out their driveways, and the huge plow piles at the street. They were all still digging when I rolled out of bed at 10am and crawled to my truck and just drove out....I think everyone of them stopped shoveling and just gave me the dirtiest look

 

I realize this is an old thread but I just finished reading thru the whole thing. Awesome. I have a 93 and would love to copy your 4runner some day. One question. You did the complete SAS with a 110 mig using flux core? I ask because I have a millermatic 135 (110v) and I wasn't sure it was big enough. Have you had any weld failures?

 

or u can make an extension to keep the valve in its stock location

 

Thanks!

I did use a 110v flux core on all the welds and not one has broke after 7 or 8 years of hard wheeling and thousands of miles of street driving. That little welder is still my only welder, I love it. Not saying I wouldn't love a 220v miller or lincoln, etc..., but I have trouble justifying it. Especially when it means I would have to run gas and have a cart sized tool in my already cramped 2 car garage (not 2.5 car!!), with a bender, plasma, drill press, band saw, compressor, steel racks, and all the other crap we accumulate.

Just be sure to prep well, bevel when you should, and take your time! Drag a nice gooey puddle across. It is slow.... And invest in a slag hammer.... ˟˟˟˟ be splattery. Dont set your self on fire doing those "laying on your back welds."

 

Since this dusty old thread got bumped up again....ill update...

The 4runner is still kicking, doing great actually. Ive been tweaking and redoing some of the things I did back when I had less abilty/knowhow. It cruises down the highway quite nicely.

I put a hole in one of the trxus at Black Hills, and instead of replacing it I sold them and snagged a good deal on 4 37" Radial Rockers.

I lowered the truck another inch or so and added caster to the front. Its finally where I want it.



I also added a slick little antiwrap bar in the back...





I also started to tinker around with making a poor mans air bump. Ive wanted to try this for a while, then I saw that Stinger actually came out with them, but they want way too much $ IMO, too close to air bump prices.

So I started to walk the isles in Menards and came up with this for about $25/ bump. And requires about 20 minutes of work to put it all together. Keep in mind it was just for fun. I welded them up in the front and they worked so well that I made a set for the rear. The truck hasnt bottomed out yet and I cant feel when the bump hits the axle. They also added a little spring rate that I needed with these leafs on a 5300lb wagon (I mounted them about 1" off the alxe). With bouncy bally from Target........ They compress 1"/100lbs.





Just for fun

 

Thanks for the info 4rnr. I'm about out of gas so maybe instead of refilling right away I'll buy some flux core and give it a try on some sliders.

Once again, nice runner! It's cool to see your still using it and working on it.