Good afternoon esteemed gentlemen.
Its very unlike me to ask the internet to solve my problems, and I haven't been on a forum since you had to wait for porn to load on a dial up modem.
But here we are.

Meet Charlotte. Shes an 88, 5speed, 4wd, 22re. I'm mildly in love
She's charming but rough, like a funny vegas hooker. I've attached some pics to show that the previous owner (who didn't seem like a muppet) has done some work, but she's old, and could use some more TLC.
She seems to runs great, just 30 years behind the times. she's wet on the bottom, but doesn't seem to leak fast. She has ~215K in freedom lengths. I've had her about a year, and drove her up the pass all winter.
Recently she started making UFO noises after I put her back in 2WD for the spring, and I'm convinced its T-case ATM.

Since I am new to this whole line of truck.....
What should I do with this oh wise internet gods? Give me your best bad advice.

Should I get a t-case and keep it stock? Just replace s*** as it breaks?
Am I about to fight a whole mess of un-foreseen issues?
Can parts be had for this, or have we broken them all already?
Knows issues with this vintage of truck I should watch out for?
Should I go nuts? What's popular with these if I still wanted to daily it but also live in Oregon? Common suspension upgrades?
Sorry for being a dumbass, but a leopard never changes its spots

Thanks for the replies in advance!

 

First of all welcome, you have come to the right place. Love the truck, I have also have an 88 (4Runner not truck). I love that topper too, very cool. I don't really love the wheels though, not a fan of that style.

So to answer some of your questions, there are LOTS of parts available for these trucks, and believe it or not many parts are still available from Toyota, so no worries there. Also there is some very good aftermarket support from places like MarlinCrawler, but before you go worrying about that, what kind of noise is your transfer case making? I personally think it would be odd for the tcase to be suddenly making bad noises when you are back in 2WD...going from 4 Hi to 2 Hi seems like less it just disengages the front output drive from tcase, so you know, less stuff spinning you would think means less chance for a weird noise.

Some important things to check:
1. Is there plenty of fluid in the transfer case? Needs to have fluid in there to keep the bearings lubed, also if you have never changed it, probably a good idea to drain and put in fresh.

2. Are you front hubs unlocked? If they are locked, then your front CVs will turn with the tires rolling, which you know, can make some noises.

 

HiCoryC85. Thanks for your reply!
You know its my first 4wd truck, so it's going to come with a lot to learn.
This truck rode cherry all winter, and politely waited until spring to give me issues and demand service.
She spend a lot of time with the ft hubs locked, so if I wanted to be in 4wd, I didn't have to get out in the cold to do so.
Now that its proper spring, I disengaged the lockers, and my problems started shortly thereafter. They may not be related, but they happened at about the same time.
For the record she makes a whirring/humming kinda noise as the driveline loads up. I ft hubs go out once in another vehicle that sounded similar.
I'm inclined to blame transfer case and the output shaft seems to have passed a lot of oil which is now on the bottom of the truck. The driveline has a lot of play at the output of the transfer case as well. she probably needed u joints a while ago:/
Tcase was found with low oil, and I drained it and filled it with new gear oil ruining some laundry in the process. I checked the old oil, and didn't see the forbidden glitter, and there weren't shavings/filings all over the drain plug magnet.
But it hasn't done anything to improve the intensity of my noise.
I'm open to suggestions and near the truck and anyone has any suggestions....

 

"A lot of play" at the output shaft or shafts is not normal or good. The rear output has come loose on mine before. The retainer nut is supposed to be staked but sometimes they still come loose. It could also be a failing bearing. Sounds like it needs to be resealed anyway. The RF1A manual T-case is pretty durable and not that difficult to rebuild. Plenty of videos out there.

Also, front hubs can stick inside and not engage or disengage at times. Especially if they haven't been serviced in a long time.

U-joints that are sloppy are easy to find. But I have had U-joints that were siezed and I missed it initially looking for loose ones.

Make sure your CV boots aren't torn and full of crud.

Sounds like you need to give it a good look over and service. Good luck with it and welcome to the forum. IH8MUD has a pretty active 95-older mini truck/4runner section you might like as well.