They do look nice, you might have just made up my mind!

 

Looks good, thanks for the info, wouldn't have thought of the hairdryer trick!

 

nice progress on this truck! i love the blue paint, that's my vote! I like the way your zuk-mod looks. sometimes i want to go back to stock-height on 33's when i see these trucks

 

Thanks buddy! Yeah I'm definately going to go with the blue!

Progress on the 4runner is going to be slow for awhile. My younger brother (the one that has my old 86'4runner now) was interested in my stalled out offroad trailer project, so I'm going to be working on finishing it up for him.
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f88/...-build-266807/





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I haven't had much time to work on my 4runner, I been trying to finish up the offroad trailer project. I got the safari rack almost finished, I'm thinking about building a scaled down lower profile rack for my 4runner when I'm done with the trailer. Also reworked the trailer tongue and added a receiver so I can switch to a 3 axis offroad coupler. I haven't been on here as much lately, just thought I'd throw up some pics of what I've been working on.








^^^I got the safari rack mostly done, added more cross bars for support, just need to wrap the 45° corners with sheetmetal to give the exposed cut 1" tubing a more finished look, and weld up the rest of the seams. Next I will take the rack back off and skin the lid and fenders with some 16 gauge sheetmetal.










^^^Reworked the trailer tongue, got it nearly finished, also got the tongue jack mounted.












^^^ I got the cargo rack finished up, and built the rear steps behind the fenders, and skinned the fenders and lid with 16 gauge sheetmetal.






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Nice, Ed.

I never considered (needed) a trailer before now and with the kid too big to stuff behind the seats forcing the swap over to the 4Runner, the time may be now. I like your design and really like your skills as a craftsman. Bravo!

 

I was searching your threads on your Ford Truck. I am really starting to consider building one with in the next year. Been doing a little studying on them and the 73-79's were called "Dentsides". I am glad you posted some interior pictures of yours as I was not sure how the dash boards were on your year of truck.

While searching your threads to find your Ford, I seen on your front page of the jumper wire trick you use for your rear window and it is a little different then how I do mine and I think I like your way better as it is quick and easy then how I route my ground wire. Thanks for posting that as well and making the front page usable for finding information.

 

Thanks Les, that's a huge compliment coming from a craftsmen such as yourself! I'm liking how the trailer is taking shape, just wish it hadn't taken 4+ yrs to get it to this point, lol. If you decide to build a 4runner, what year/ generation body style are you looking to get?

Hi Terry. If you haven't already, you should check out the Ford Truck Enthusiasts forum, they have a 73-79' dentside section...alot of good info and helpful folks over there. I'm a member and use the same user name over there.
http://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/forum38/
I might switch gears (after finish up this trailer project) and start working on the fords for awhile. I have a white 79' F250 with a 460 that runs great, and a yellowish green 76' Ford F150 parts truck, if I combine the 2 I'd have a pretty straight rust free truck. My problem is I really want a shortbed, and I watch too many "hot rod" TV shows that feed my imagination, lol...you can probably see where this project is headed, lol.

That window jumper wire trick works really good, I haven't had a problem with my rear window since doing it! Thanks for the compliment on my front page, I got that idea from you and dropzone, sure make going back and finding things alot easier!

 

Not much to update, I've put about 7,000 miles on the 4 runner since I bought it and it's running great. I've been getting aproximately 20-21 mpg average. I've put about 5,000 miles on it since replacing the radiator with the aluminum Koyo radiator and 2 stage Toyota thermostat and so far I'm really happy with the setup. I haven't had the temp gauge spike since installing them, my aftermarket temp gauge never goes above 190°

Awhile back I was hoping to get some Monstaliner DIY bedliner for the exterior, but that's probably not going to happen this year, seems like unforseen circumstances always comes up and the money I was hoping to use went to other things. I hope to at least get the rusty areas on the passenger side fixed before winter. Once I get the trailer project finished I'll get back to work on my interior, and get the rear seats finished up and the new carpet installed.

 

Glad to see you're liking the radiator. I'm considering the same one based on your review. Most other aluminum radiators seem to get reports of the shroud not fitting or the radiator sticking up too high and hitting the hood. I already have the same OEM 2 stage thermostat as of about 6 months ago. I replaced the radiator about 3 years ago with a CSF radiator from Radiator Barn before they shut down. The motor was gone through about a year ago so I'm pretty sure there's no issues with my cooling system being plugged up. But still, with the 90 degree temps outside, my A/C blasting, and the motor trying to turn 33's with stock gears, the gauge starts to creep up if I try to maintain 65 or 70 MPH (which is actually closer to 75 to 80 MPH since the speedometer is off). The motor can pull it but the cooling system can't keep up. I'm thinking the Koyo radiator might help pull a bit more heat out of the engine.

 

I haven't ran my AC yet, to be honest I'm not even sure if it works, I need to fix or replace my heater control cables, they feel like they're seized. We've had an unusually mild summer so far. We've only had mabye a week of 90° weather and that was in early June, my temperature gauge didn't go up in the 90° weather, but like I said I wasn't running the AC, also most of my driving is in the 55-60 mph range. Just thought I'd throw that out there, my driving conditions might be pretty mild compared to yours. I think the Koyo radiator would do fine, It looks like a really quality built radiator, just thought I'd add the addition info before you make your decision. One other thing to keep in mind is I had to buy the cap seperatly, I think it was around $25.

 

That's all good information to take into account. From reading reviews of Koyo radiators in different vehicle applications it seems like they are generally regarded as a good brand. I think my issue is simply that the radiator can't transfer enough BTU's of heat out of the engine. A/C running means that the air flowing over the radiator is hotter, and 33's with stock gears take more throttle to turn which means more heat into the coolant. My entire cooling system has been gone through within the past couple years. Coolant is replaced at least every year since I end up draining the radiator for one reason or another every once in a while.


As for your heater control cables, you can usually clean them. The hard part is getting that spider assembly all out and then getting it back in and routed correctly. Once the cables are out, spray some brake cleaner in them and work the cables till they feel smooth. Then spray some silicone spray or WD-40 in there to lube them up. A good cleaning got mine working like butter. I also greased the lever pivots and sliders on the control assembly. Make sure the ends aren't bent on the cables. If they are you can try to straighten them but I've heard that they will bend again once you've done this. If you end up needing new cables I have a set I can sell.

 

Sub'd glad to see you still have a 4Runner to play with. I'm still rockin the V-8, but with the fuel injection I'm getting 16-18 mpg with 33's.

 

Thanks for the info on the heater control cables, I've never had to tear into the dash that far, but probably will when I start painting the interior plastic, that will be a good time to check out the cables, hopefully with some cleaning and lubrication and can get them working good again, otherwise I might have to make a deal with you for your spare set!

Thanks. I knew if I sold my 86' that I'd have to get another toyota to play with, I end up getting this 87' the same day I sold the 86' so it made the transition alot easier, still miss my 86' sometimes tho! If I was getting the gas mileage you're getting I would have kept it! The best I ever got was 13.6mpg on the freeway, but there's no freeway driving where I live now, lol.

 

Not the kind of update I like to post.
















I was able to drive it home, I kept a close eye on the temperature gauge, not wanting to chance overheating it, but it was fine. I parked over some cardboard and surprisingly not even a drip from the radiator. Upon closer inspection it did make contact with the the fan, I have a Cresent half moon shaped mark in the fins where the fan hit, in one of the above pics you can see where one of the mounting brackets is bent...hopefully the radiator is salvageable. The fan shroud got pushed into the fan belt and sawed into it a bit, no pics of that. At the very least I'm looking at replacing the driverside fender, headlight bezel, probably the grill, turn signal, headlight and bumper. Depending on how bad the core support is and whether or not I can straighten it out and still have some structural rigidity I may have to replace that as well. In one of the pics you can see the core support/body mount looks like it's dented in, not sure if it's pushed up as well, it's hard to tell with all the twisted metal and weird angles, kind of makes it hard to tell, I'll have to do a closer inspection on everything after stripping it down.

 

Wow dude that sucks! Sorry for your loss, lol. But the trailer looks awesome. Might be time to put your fab skills to work on a deer proof front bumper. Keep up the good work.

 

Thanks man. yeah I won't be putting another one of those Chinese ebay bumpers back on there, lol. It looked the part, but that was about it. The metal was probably half the thickness of the factory bumper I took off there. Yeah I agree it's definitely time for a big old locomotive/ mad max style cow catcher bumper, lol.

 

 

Ouch!!! You have had some bad luck lately with trucks. You might be able to get a jack and some wood and push the core support out. If you have to replace the core support, it is not that bad of a job. I had to on my 86. I just bolted mine in and have no intentions of welding it back together. If you do have to replace the core support, get a spot weld cutter. It is a drill bit that makes cutting the spot welds easy. Dont try and drill them out. Harbor Freight has them for like $6. It looks bad and you will need to get several parts, but I dont think it is near as bad as it looks. The worse part I think is getting the inner fender lined back up.

Your trailer is looking great. Might want to consider some Mad Max bumper for the deer. I nearly hit one a few days ago. Not the way I like to go deer hunting.

 

Hi Terry. Yeah I've had a pretty bad streak with hitting animals since moving up here, I hit a deer in my wife's old durango, a cow in my old ford, and a turkey in my 86 4runner (they can do alot of damage if they're flying). My wife was joking and said the only animals left that I haven't hit is a bear and a moose, lol.

I'm definitely over due for a bumper upgrade, I will probably build my own with some sort of grille guard as well since this will more than likely will happen again. I need to look into upgrading my headlights too since I do alot of night driving. Every animal (except the turkey) I've hit coming home from work at night.

Thanks for the tip on replacing the core support, that sounds like the route I would go if I need to, I would probably bolt the new one in place as well, I don't really see the need to re-spot weld it in place. I found a local guy that has over 40 toyota pickups/4 runners from 85-95' so I'm hoping I can source most of the parts I need through him once I have some extra money. In the meantime I will have to drive the old ford. I wish I had the money, I found a 89' 4 runner on CL for $550 that has a really nice body and interior, power windows/ locks etc, but it's a 3.0 with an automatic. For the price tho it would be worth it to either do a body swap, or swap my 22re/5speed and harnesses over to it. http://kpr.craigslist.org/pts/5779199325.html