I enjoy reading about this, these trucks have always interested me. Looks like it needs more tire now.
I enjoy reading about this, these trucks have always interested me. Looks like it needs more tire now.
mazdeuce - Seth said:Looks like it needs more tire now.
I spent about an hour looking at it this afternoon, thinking about tires. When I planned this lift, I'd become pretty set on getting some 33's for it. The more I look at it, the more I think that 31's would be fine, as the 235's (29") on it don't seem hilariously tiny. Either way, I gotta refill the piggy bank before making a decision
mith612 said:mazdeuce - Seth said:Looks like it needs more tire now.
I spent about an hour looking at it this afternoon, thinking about tires. When I planned this lift, I'd become pretty set on getting some 33's for it. The more I look at it, the more I think that 31's would be fine, as the 235's (29") on it don't seem hilariously tiny. Either way, I gotta refill the piggy bank before making a decision
How much will 33’s affect acceleration, driving? Agree that it needs beefier tires.
What diameter rim are you running? My first reaction is I'd go with 33's. I think I'd prefer them visually, plus you get more sidewall for safety off road dropping the pressure. The drawbacks might be acceleration issues and a little less clearance for extreme flex, but the flex probably isn't critical for your use patterns.
31x10.5 is a very happy medium between capability and on road manners. anything bigger than that will make you want to regear and stress the clutch.
It's on 15 inch rims, that are 7 or 8" wide. I do like how these wheels look so either 31x10.50 or 33x10.50 would fit well and give a good amount of clearance.
Without regearing, 33's would make 4th gear feel like 5th on stock tires. 31's would be sluggish but manageable, I think. Part of going to 33's would be 4.88 gears in both axles, but if I'm going to the trouble of regearing, I'd want to add some traction devices as well. Right now the thought is to find a V6 third so that an LSD can be installed for the rear end. This isn't going to be an extreme build at all, rather something that can run fire roads and forest trails capably.
onemanarmy said:31x10.5 is a very happy medium between capability and on road manners.
So I happened to have a set of worn 31's that came with my turbo pickup, and I tossed them on to see how they fit.
This is as far as the right rear would lift before the other rear wheel came off the ground. The spring is not quite flat but the overload is making contact along its full length:
That's typical for 30+year old leaf springs. Pickups have it a little less because of the weight difference. My 87 is squatting, too.
By the time you have them re-arched correctly, you're almost ahead of the game buying new ones. I've seen them for around $150 per side.
Appleseed said:That's typical for 30+year old leaf springs. Pickups have it a little less because of the weight difference. My 87 is squatting, too.
By the time you have them re-arched correctly, you're almost ahead of the game buying new ones. I've seen them for around $150 per side.
These are brand new Old Man Emu springs installed over the weekend. I didn't expect them to have massive flex, but they are a bit stiffer than I thought they'd be
I see. I thought you were talking about the original springs.
In reply to Appleseed :
No worries, just wanted to make sure everyone was on the same page. Some of the reviews of the Old Man Emu springs did complain that they were too stiff, but I figured that was coming from people that expected them to be super flexy rock crawling springs rather than designed for rough road driving like OME advertises them.
In other news, with the lift gained from the new springs, the old front sway bar links weren't up to the task. The frame bushings were in rough shape too. Links from a 94-98 Explorer (Moog part K7275) are about 3 inches longer than the stock ones.
Shiny new sway bar links slotted in place, the sway bar is now level at ride height like it should be. Something for another day will be cleaning up the oily mess underneath and installing a new oil pan gasket.
In the rear, this shiny bracket lifts the arm connected to the Load Sensing Proportioning Valve (LSPV). The LSPV allows more brake power in the rear when the vehicle is heavily loaded, and less power when the vehicle is empty to prevent locking up the rear wheels. Lifting the rear end is the same effect as an unladen vehicle, meaning there would be very little brake power. With this bracket, the action of the LSPV is returned to normal. Need to get the parking brake working too; the PO zip tied the cables out of the way at least!
I had this brush bar that came with another Toyota truck that I owned, but hadn't installed it on either vehicle. The paint is definitely a bit worse for wear, but that can be fixed easily. Mostly I wanted to see how much I liked it's aesthetic before spending time and money cleaning it up and painting it. I might try to tie it in to the winch mount I'll build in the future, to give extra strength.
Coming along well!
That brush guard is nice. I've been looking for a used one around here, but Craigslist is slim pickins for a first gen 4Runner.
Over the weekend, I broke out the welder and angle grinder, and stuck a few pieces of metal together.
These brackets are made of 3/16" thick 3" plate, 3" channel and scrap 1/8" plate folded over to make a U. The plate gets inserted into the frame, and is bolted through the two large holes. The forward hole has a captive nut welded on because access is very limited for a wrench. This one is for the passenger side; the driver side mirrors it.
These bolts are through existing holes in the frame. The rearward hole is actually a slot, so a chunk of the the old shackles cut off to make a giant washer reinforce the area. The forward hole will be a good spot to mount some reinforcing spar later on. A bit of the very end of the frame did have to be notched to make clearance though...
Both brackets mounted up. The piece of electrical tape is marked to indicate the center of the tailgate to align the bumper.
A miss by an inch is as good as a miss by a mile, they say. Or in this instance, about 1/8" as the tailgate is lowered.
First stage of bumper install complete. The bumper itself is from my old plow truck, and is just about the perfect length to suit the 4Runner. Still need to drill the upper holes through the bumper and into the mount brackets for bolts, and then design and build wings to protect the sides of the body forward to the wheel arch.
Two days later, these side plates get built.
3x2" angle runs parallel to the body seam, but just outside and below it. It jogs out and is tapered down by 1/2" to follow the shape of the fender, and then a piece of 1-3/8" angle is run perpendicular to the other pieces to finish off the edge.
A small piece of the 1-3/8" angle was drilled and attached to the frame with the forward bolt that goes into the bumper mount. A spar made from the same 1-3/8" angle was cut to fit and welded to the small bracket and the side plate to increase rigidity while still allowing easy removal/installation. These particular welds were done partially blind, as I couldn't get my helmet in to do it right. I'll take down the whole bumper and finish welding these up!
Second stage of the bumper complete. Still need to drill the upper holes to attach to the brackets, finish welding a few places (like the side spars) and clean up some rusty spots to paint. I'm debating gusseting the corners where the bumper meets the top of the side plates for extra strength and a cleaner look.
I need to get rid of my 4Runners tugboat stance.
I had a few hours before work this morning, so I decided it was time to tackle another minor grievance. While I appreciate the style of the wheels, and they fit very well, the amount of corrosion that built up on the bare aluminum wheels brought down some of the visual appeal of the 4Runner.
This was the first wheel I pulled off, the left rear.
After about 15 minutes with a spot blaster filled with crushed glass media, the wheel has cleaned up pretty nicely. Not going to be a showroom finish, but then again the whole truck is imperfect so this just continues the theme.
The second wheel; this one is the right rear. The observant will note that the other tire has the white lettering facing out, while this one does not. Thank you Previous Owner! Don't worry, that'll be fixed soon.
While cleaning up wheel number two, I decided to lay down some gloss black on the first wheel. I'm not sure how I like the look, but I can easily take the paint back off with the blaster if needed.
I only had enough time this morning to get two of the wheels done, I'll have to tackle the other two another day; possibly Saturday.
POLL TIME
Which do you folks like better: the silver wheel/black wall tire OR the black wheel/white letter tire? Or another combination?
Silver wheels and 33x10.5s. That was an option, right.
Silver. Definitely.
^^ yep...silver wheels, 33x10.5, and black wall out. Keep the tires tucked under the fenders.
factory Yota wheels look the best.
I'm going to disagree. I like the black wheels with white letters out.
Despite the rainy weather this morning, I pulled the front wheels off to blast them. They weren't as bad as the rears but still needed to be done. While I had the front in the air, I test fit the black wheel to see how it looks in situ.
In the daylight, they do look much better than the previous shot in the garage. However, taking the wheel back off resulted in the paint scraping off the inner bore of the wheel.
I'm worried regular wear and tear will result in a finish uglier than what I started with. Is there any paint that works better than others with aluminum? Maybe it makes sense just to go with silver instead.
For those of you clamoring for 33's, here's a size comparison between the (already oversized) 235/75's and 33's
onemanarmy said:^^ yep...silver wheels, 33x10.5, and black wall out. Keep the tires tucked under the fenders.
factory Yota wheels look the best.
I actually have a set of the SR5 alloys from this generation, but in the fitment for the later IFS trucks. The backspacing is all wrong to use them on a SFA truck as they won't clear the tie rods
thatsnowinnebago said:Silver wheels and 33x10.5s. That was an option, right.
Winner, winner, chicken dinner!
33x10.50R15 BFGoodrich All Terrain T/A KO2
Tire shop mounted these up 3 hours ago, I got them home and immediately slapped them on, torqued to 80 ft.lbs. and filled to 26psi.
And what does one do upon the installation of new, big, all-terrain tires? If you answered "go for a small off-road adventure" you are correct.
Fortunately, only a few miles from my house is the largest state forest in Massachusetts: October Mountain. There is a network of dirt roads crisscrossing the 16,500 acre forest, but since the weather has been fairly warm and dry lately, they were in really good shape.
Most of the time I let the truck lounge around in second gear, right around an indicated 20mph. Some areas were a little smoother and faster and third could be found bringing speeds up to 35ish mph. The steeper inclines really showed off how the stock 4.10 differential gearing was not compatible with the 33's however; neither screaming along in first gear or lugging second seemed ideal.
At one point the tree line opened up, so I pulled over and took in the beauty of the Berkshires
Can't forget the glamour shots
I had good timing pulling off the trail then, as only a few moments later barreling down the trail in the opposite direction were a front end loader and dump truck! Much of the trail network is only wide enough for a single vehicle, so coming head long into those two would have been trouble.
A few miles later, I came upon another explorer in a newer Tacoma, and followed them for maybe a mile before they pulled off at a junction in the road and stopped. After exchanging pleasantries and compliments on each others' rigs, we went on our separate ways. It may have only been about 10 miles of dirt, but it was a valuable shakedown for the 4Runner as well as just a pleasant afternoon.
perfect tire choice. Truck looks great.
One thing immediately evident with the larger tires is how anemic the engine feels now. The effective gearing is now about 16% from stock, making pulling away from stops sluggish and pulling fifth gear an exercise in futility. Even prior to buying the tires, I've been on the lookout for a good deal on some 4.88's, as they were stock in some early 90's rigs and therefore should be relatively cheap and easier compared to regearing the existing third members.
On Tuesday, I noticed this ad on craigslist:
No pictures? Check
Questionable spelling and grammar? Check
No location given? Check
But, 4.88 gears and the axles themselves? A steal of a deal, take the 4.88 thirds for my rig, then flip the axles with my old third members once I've done the swap for (probably) all of my money back.
Fire up the ol' text message machine, ask for some details and confirm the 4.88's:
Hmm, not exactly what he says in the ad but I don't need the springs and its still a good deal. So we set up a time and place to meet, on Saturday morning about 2 hours/90 miles away into central Vermont. About 2/3's of the distance is up Route 7, with the section from Bennington to Manchester flat enough and fast enough to pull fifth gear at times. However, turning off in Manchester to cut across the state takes you up into the mountains
That first hillclimb is relentless, and the 4Runner is struggling to keep pace in the "truck lane," screaming along in third gear just to maintain 35-40 mph. As the climb progresses, there begins to be the faint smell of burning, but the coolant gauge is staying cool and the odor is put off as possibly some of the oily mess on the engine deciding to smolder. Just after a junction in the road, I pull over to check if I was supposed to take that turn (I wasn't) so I let the truck idle for a few minutes to see if that would help alleviate the smell. Sitting did have a small but appreciable impact on the burning odor, so I pressed on, only to discover that the road kept climbing. But now it was even steeper and the 4Runner really did not seem to appreciate it. As we crested, suddenly the smell became much more noticable, and smoke began to fill the cabin. Quickly pulling off into a conveniently located parking lot, I shut the truck off and we escaped the rising smoke. I popped the hood to find everything normal, while my girlfriend looked around the truck and immediately found the culprit:
Molten mudflap! It may not be immediately apparent, but the exhaust dumps into an area partially enclosed by the bumper. After long enough continuous high rpm's the temperature of the bumper and mudflap bracket had climbed high enough to cause the mudflap to melt and smolder. Weirdly, it smelled like burnt popcorn and not the rubbery smell I would have expected. A few minutes with the Leatherman and the bolts holding the mudflap on were removed, the whole mess dumped in the back of the truck and we were back on the road.
Upon arrival of the meeting place, the seller pulled in and we exchanged pleasantries. He had two loose thirds so I could pick one to go with the rear axle; the front axle was still fully assembled. The first thing I noticed was that they were both 4 cylinder thirds, which were booger welded into "Lincoln Lockers." However, I doubt any welder manufacturer would want to be associated with these welds. Counting the teeth on the pinion ... and there's 10 teeth. The blue paint on the pinion end confirms these are 4.30's. "Yea, I thought that's what I told you, they're 4.30's." I politely but forcefully tell him that his ad says 4.88's, I asked you directly if they were 4.88's and you said yes, and that these are of no use to me. He drives off, we load back into the 4Runner and take the drive back home. At least it was a lovely drive through some very picturesque parts of Vermont, and it's a shame I didn't get to take any photos of the many scenic vistas.
You'll need to log in to post.
