So heres a 4runner...I know..I know..shes ugly, but the motor is rebuilt, and if I keep this, i would like to dump some money into it. My Budget is about 1000 right NOW, possibly a bit more, if I need to, but my question is simple, what would be the most pertinent things to do to this truck for that alloted amount of money? obviously I want to build it up, but the body is destroyed on the side shown here...door on the drivers side is pretty bad. What you see is what you get, no special anything right now, lets pretend its bone stock, where is the best place to start? Motor is strong, transmission doesnt shift PERFECTLY fluidly, but as far as I can tell the drivetrain seems to be okay. Keep in mind that I have no idea what Im talking about or where to look. Green me up. Thanks for any info guys!

 

Do you want to fix the body damage?

What kind of things will you be doing with the truck?

 

Well I would like the body damage to be less significant, but I dont feel like Im going to spend a bunch of money on that, if it was all painted 1 uniform color it would look ten times better than it does now Well I want to build it, and find a happy medium between driving it 30 miles a day, and wheeling it when I can. This will be the first truck/wheeler for me, so here I am! But yes, like I said it will be a daily driver as well.

 

Well, if it were MY truck...

1.) pop/beat out any body damage you can
2.) paint it (rattle-can or roll-on if money is tight)
3.) 2" body lift
4.) 33x10.50 A/T's or M/T's if you think they'll be worth your while
5.) re-gear to like a 4.88 gear in order to regain your power and fuel mileage loss from the larger tires
6.) Get your transmission issue worked out (this should probably be first on the list)

Hope this kinda gives you an idea

 

Good question Jay351. For me I could care less how my rig looks. I am more interested in how she works as a 4x4 rig.

So this is your daily driver so that will affect what you want to do.

So if it were me and I had $1000 bones I'd consider the following:

How much wheeling do you want to do? Where are you located? What kind of wheeling is available to you? Mud, Rock Crawling, sand? That all makes a difference in what to do.

I'd start here:

* Check the CV's and make sure they are ok. Go ahead and buy a spare CV at Autozone, that way when one breaks you have the spare. (They have a full warranty so you can keep swapping them out) New CV with warranty = $180

*It looks like you have manual aisin hubs. That's great! When were your axle seals last serviced? Might be time to look into that. Same with wheel bearings. Total cost to service that ~$140

I know - why blow $1000 on maintenance? Because if you want to wheel this rig and those parts aren;t up to snuff you could do some real damage that will cost you a lot more than preventative maintenance...

In terms of "upgrades":

* New gears and at least a lunch box locker in the rear diff. You could do that for $1000K I think. (I am not an expert on these numbers. I hope AxleIke or ~tc~ chime in and school me on this.... I am not an IFS lady...

* You could do a suspension lift and maybe get some bigger used tires but frankly that will not improve the capability of your truck off road like new gears and lockers...

That's what I can think of off the top of my head.

Oh and WELCOME!

 

Forget about all the body damage, I say. Wheeling a beater is one less thing to worry about on the trail. Save your money for more important stuff. If you want to do something about the body, sand it as best you could, then rattle-can the whole thing flat black. Hmmm, a flat black, beat up Toyota...that'd be sweet.

 

BONDO for body damage. then repaint

 

Hah, this input is awesome! In response;

I live in northern california, rock/mud mostly, not really sand. Yeah they're manual hubs, This truck is NEW to me, so I dont know when the last time axle seals were serviced, but I can always have it looked it. Ive thought about bondo and flat black haha believe me, Ill have to make a weekend out of it! As far as the tranny issue, its not so much an issue I dont think, shifting back into first can be a little rough, but thats about it.

Keep it comin guys! This is good stuff

 

where in nor cal are you at?

i kinda wish i could be there right now to give my lungs some fresh unpolluted-ish air

 

Well im in sacramento soon, im from further up the hills towards reno at about 3300 feet. I guess you could say im more or less in auburn.

 

Have it looked at? With the knowledge on this board we can help you learn to do it yourself Hopefully someone in your area will invite you over for a wrench-a-thon...

 

touche lysmachia. Im here to learn!

 

oh god, you have insane trails up there! (i think)

i remember seeing alot on my way to lake Almanor

 

Oops... I hope you didn't take my post in the wrong way. My tone was to be helpful not condescending...

Sometimes I hate forum posting because tone can't be conveyed well. LOL

 

start simple
look up the $50 paint job or the rattle can paint job threads do some body work hit it with some paint

you might wana get the trany flushed

then sliders and lockers

o and you may want to put some truck info in your sig so we know what you got

And lastly Welcome to Yotatech

 

Oh snap. I so forgot about the sliders. That is the first actual MOD I would do beyond maintenance.... Before gears or a locker for sure!

 

nono! it wasnt taken like that at all! sorry if I seemed sarcastic! haha. PS its a 6cyl not a 22re . how bad is that :O

 

If you are having difficulty getting into gear I would check the fluid in the clutch master (I assume its a 5 speed) and possible clutch time before the rest. Just my opinion.

ps if they tell you its ugly just remember they were looking at it!