Hi, newbie to the forum but not to Toyota. Had a '90 Corolla Wagon for 12 years, three Corolla 4-door sedans, a Camry and a 2002 Highlander for 12 years as well, but new to this '94 4Runner SR5 Wagon 4WD, 5-speed, 2.4L engine with 314K miles on it. So help and expertise is appreciated.
Just bought this 4Runner and immediately replaced the battery, exchanged a stuffed rag for a new gas cap, and all new u-joints on rear drive shaft. New u-joints eliminated the nodal vibrations that masked more minor ones. I've no idea what mods were done to this T4R either. Looking up the VIN spec on Toyota.com it shows it was "Date of First Use" Feb 2, 1994 and included:
1. CK ALL WEATHER GUARD EQUIP PKG (I'd like to know what that is)
2. CR RUNNING BOARDS - CHROME (this is clear enough to me)
3. C7 DISC. PKG (I understand this)
4. RE 48 STATE EMISSIONS (ditto)
5. RH REAR HEATER AND CONSOLE BOX (ditto)
6. VP EXTRA VALUE PKG INCL (what is this?)

So I'm trying to diagnose an odd steering problem, resembles loose tie-rod ends, but doesn't seem to be that, steering is fine at low speeds and gets more loosey at highway speeds (60-80mph) so it could be tires, also the 4 Gas Matic shocks seemed to be in need of replacement, and this car comes with "that odd burning smell that is not the clutch (although I'm not going to swear on it, but the clutch does not slip at all. That's my clutch impression and I'm stickin' to it for now. 2WD (H2), 4WD (H4) and 4WD (L4) all work well as does all 5 gears and reverse.

So I just got the rear drive shaft done yesterday and put about 50 miles on the car testing driving it and running errands. So my focus is "get it safe to drive, first", and I'm targeting, shocks, steering, wheel alignment (to go straight the steering wheel must be very slightly cocked to the left).
I'd like to know is this a stock "lift" to accommodate the 31 x 10.5 R15 radial tires or was it modified by previous owners, or is there a way to tell? I measured the distance from middle of front and rear wheel well arches to the ground and the match. Then I decided to measure the rims and was surprised that the rim diameters were more than 16", for 15" tires? What? Photos attached.
Lift amount?
Wheel diameter, what?


All this is to first try to determine what size shocks I need to buy for multi-purpose use, highway and some gentle to mild off-road (maybe).

On the smell thing, I checked the drive belts and they all are taught, and there is no belt noise with the engine running at any normal speed. I also checked the length of the exhaust pipe from the exhaust manifold to the end (the last 18 inches or so has been modified to point up higher than normal) and it points straight into the rear brush guard bumper thingy. Somebody's creative exhaust pipe mod - is this the burning smell? Don't think so, but want other opinions.
Thanks for your help.

airnocker

 

Probably no lift for 31x10.5r15. I run 33x12.5r15 on a totally stock truck like yours and I only here a bit of rub going over big bumps while turning. My suspension is very tired too.

 

Thanks Saturn. I am glad to hear "no lift" is likely. What about my rim sizes? Is this an issue?

airnocker

 

Re: the rim measurement. I can't see the other side of the tape but it looks like you are measuring the mounting lip.

 

The tire says 15" you have a 15"
a 16" rim stuffed on to a 15" rim would stretch the tire and any tire shop that has liability insurance won't mount the wrong size tire on the wrong size rim unless they are total idiots

on your exhaust they tweaked the pipe up since you have an aftermarket tube bumper. Looking at the amount of rust the stock 3 piece rear bumper rusted out and they threw a T-G or other brand bumper on it.
The stock rear bumper hangs down about 4 more inches.

you must have got this thing dirt cheap

 

Thanks! Yes, I am measuring the outer rim-to-rim diameter, which is how I thought rims were measured. I just google'd how to measure them and find they are measured inner flange-to-flange. (doah!) So I will conclude these are truly 15" rims without taking a tire off.

 

Also look at how the exhaust has burned off the paint on the bumper

 

Amen. That's why I posted that view of the tail pipe/bumper. I mean, I'm an ol' fart and know better than to do that. I'm going to get that pipe aimed to miss the bumper.

Hey, dropzone, loved your 1994 4Runner Build overview. I'm jealous that your body is pristine compared to mine but both appear to be Garnet Pearl in color. Also, thanks for posting the youtube link on how to check '94 T4R's engine codes with a wire jumper! Nice.

 

Took my T4R to a local shop to fix the tail pipe location. Once on the rack we found some holes in the top of the muffler so had them change the muff and tail pipe. The photo show the result. It may be lower than most might like but I ain't going over any big rocks. The mechanic said the car had a 3" lift, evident from the rear coil springs and spacers. I've read much on this forum on T4R lift kits and no doubt there are as many ways to do this as there is to putting ice cream in a bowl. While on the lift I asked that the suspension be checked as it drives a tiny bit "loosy". The right-front wheel bearing had some play, a control arm attached to the right pitman arm had a teenie amount of play, no grease fitting zerks or bolt plug, and the left-front lower ball joint had very noticeable play and looked liked it hadn't seen grease in decades. The right-front shock was leaking and once removed (this evening) it could be pumped as easily as an old timey pump bug sprayer. The left-front shock while on the rack looked like it might be okay, but once removed I couldn't budge it to extend or compress. They were high dollar Monroe Gas-Matic 59318's. The rear shocks are bad too, though not leaking. They are Monroe Gas-Matic 59235's. So I now know what to do to tighten up the steering.

I got no plans to do severe off-roading, maybe mild off-roading, and tonight I spent hours shopping for replacement shocks, e.g. I don't plan on spending $100/shock at this time, and since I don't really know how long I'll keep this ride, I'm thinking $30 each low end, $50 each high end, but I'm open to deviating by compelling rationale. These Gas-Matics have a lot of extension compared to what is found readily on website by entering Year/Make/Model/Engine, 7.25" front, 7.625" rear, front extended length 19.25", rear 20.875".

Any shock suggestions would be appreciated.

I cannot find any evidence of ball joint lift blocks on the front end or any place else, so I'm stumped as to how the front was lifted and by what amount. The dimension from ground to highest point of front and rear wheel wells are nearly identical, 35-1/4" front, 35-3/8" rear.

Here are some photos that relate to the text.

New tail pipe/location
Front wheel - signs of lift here?
...or here?
This can't be good. This might be called a stabilizing arm, there is one on either side of the anti-sway or roll bar, It's missing the lower cup washer which the other side has.

 

Here is a page from the factory service manual that shows how to measure the ride (suspension) height as per Toyota. These measurements are independent of tire size and fender modifications, and are only based on suspension geometry. You can compare your numbers to the factory specs given on this page to see how much lift you may or may not have.

The PO might have cranked the torsion bars to provide some front end lift. You can get an inch that way, but not much more without hitting the bump stops on every bump making for a rough ride.

 

Many thanks, Ron. This will certainly help. I have Toyota's Vol 1 & 2 Service Manuals coming but they haven't arrived yet. I was able to confirm today that the right front (leaky) shock is bad but not the left front shock, which is extends and compresses as good as a new one.

BTW: I'm in northern CO as well.

 

Sweet, the T4R Toyota Repair Manuals Vol 1 & 2 were just delivered.

 

Update: I've replaced a worn left lower ball joint, a bad right shock absorber, all new front disk rotors and pads, all new front bearing races and bearings,cleaned, painted and re-greased the front manual locking well hubs, had the front wheel alignment corrected (improper toe-in), then had the tires balanced and rotated. These all had very satisfying results in the handling and driving characteristics of this bad boy.

Additionally, I removed the lower dash from left to right to investigate why the cigarette lighter appeared to have been modified (there were two cigarette lighter sockets, one included two USB charger jacks). Turns out this was not done very well and I'm glad I investigated this as it turned out that there was one (original Gray/Red) positive 12 volt wire that had melted to an original (white/black) wire that had been poorly wrapped with black electrical tape. I had to clean up this wiring and realized that there were four other original wires that were tangling, improperly terminated and insulated. These wires were original but not used in the past implementation of a JVC CD/AM/FM radio.

I have the Toyota Factory Service Manuals Vol 1 & II which provides electrical schematics but they still leave a lot to be desired and would like to see more original photos of the cigarette lighter/stereo wiring area. The JVC stereo works fine and it appears to have been properly wired into the original stereo wire harness. This '94 4Runner SR5 4WD, 2.4L model has the two rear left/right stereo speakers that map to the front left/right speakers, plus the smaller rear left/right speakers in the ceiling.

I'm planning on installing an aftermarket cigarette lighter base which include two USB ports for charging and want to make sure I am connecting to existing "original" wiring if possible. I am fully aware of how I could add new wiring back to the battery to implement this but hate taking this route if the original wiring can be leveraged.

Any help and insight to this would be appreciated.