46&2's 85 FO RUNNA

This is my 1985 Toyota 4Runner build up thread. I bought this truck in January of 2005. I bought it from the second owner who had performed all the modifications through the help of a local shop. It was kept in a storage unit the last 10 years of its life, and even had the original paint job. When I bought it, it already had:

-DOA built 22RE, bored, cams, downey header, k&n air filter w/ 20,000 miles on it when I bought it
-Front and Rear custom bumpers
-2 inch NWOR leaf springs
-heavy duty tie rod
-rear limited slip
-marlin crawler 4.7 tcase gears
-32x11.50 A/Ts on 15x8 white steel
-Warn winch
-All Pro tcase crossmember

So I wheeled it for about year like that. Did awesome. After a year though, I had discovered all my limitations. After much research thanks to Marlin and PBB, I came up with a battle plan and set out to set it up just how I wanted it.








From day one, I hated those damn white wheels and all terrains.

My basic "goal" with this truck was to turn it into a capable daily driver/expedition/camping rig. We'll see what happens from there...


When I've reached my goal, this is what I'd like to have:

Stuff:

Suspension:
[*]2" Drop Box
[*]Front 44044 Wagoneer springs w/ 6 inch shackle
[*]Rear 63" chevy springs with stock chevy/6 inch dual shackle set up, 1 inch blocks
[*]12" stroke Front Bilstein 5125s
[*]14" stroke Rear Bilstein 5125s
[*]Ford shock towers
[*]Full front frame plates (with Marlin Crawler IFS box mount kit)

Steering:
[*]88 IFS steering box
[*]Marlin Crawler high steer

Axles:
[*]89 V6 Pickup rear axle w/ 5.29 R&P
[*]Front 5.29 R&P
[*]Front vented rotors
[*]IFS truck calipers/pads
[*]IFS truck master cylinder
[*]IFS hubs (need Sky kit)
[*]Braided stainless steel brake lines
[*]Rear Locker (Lockrite or Aussie)
[ ]Front Locker
[ ]Air Compressor
[ ]Longfields

Armor:
[*]MC rock sliders
[*] Rear Bumper
[ ]Front and rear axle truss and armor

Drivetrain:
[*]Dual Case Adapter
[*]Budbuilt dual case skidplate
[*]2nd 21 spline top shift tcase
[*]Front and rear drivelines for dual cases

Rubber:
[*]35x12.50 Discovery Mud Terrains/35x12.50 Goodyear MTRs
[*]15x10 black rockcrawlers
[ ]Beadlocks

Big thanks to my friends Wade, Kyle, Ben, Greg and Luke Porter of 4x4 Labs for all their help through out the build process.


Getting ready to head to Wade's house to start hackin' and welding:



Lots of goodies up in here:



Pulling apart the front end:













Let me tell you folks, this is backyard mechanics at its best

New VS Old:






Putting on the new front springs:











Finishing up the front:



Sitting a little higher now...

Wade modifying the exhaust so its not in the way of the dual shackles:




Dual shackles at full droop:




Rear chevy hanger location:






Getting ready to weld....then the welder took a . Had to wait almost a week before we could get any more work done. Thankfully, Luke from 4x4 Labs hooked a brotha up and let me borrow one of his welders so I could at least roll the truck around the yard until Wade's got back from the shop.

Finished up the rear end and the Marlin Crawler high steer....






High-steer and sliders go on:





Unfortunatly, I don't own a camera so half the process went undocumented when my buddy with the camera was working. Doh! Anyway, here she is after slapping the new meats on her:

Here are a few more after I got my front 5.29s and square driveline made. Took it out to a pile of rocks and tested out the flex. Dont like my front springs at all. Looking foreward to replacing the YJs with 44044s that are already nice and broken in. Afterwards I went up to 4x4 Labs and picked up some 6 inch front shackles and 1" add a leafs to slap under the 63s so that my rear end matches up with the front. Ill wait to put all this stuff on for when Im done cleaning and painting my wagoneers.

After ditching the crappy cheapo tires and getting some Cooper discoverers and 15x10 rock crawlers. also upgraded to a 3 core 22RTE radiator and optima red top battery.

Greenhorn wheeling shots







Getting a little flexy

This is my friend Brandon in his TJ. A week later he miscalculated his proximity to one of Greenhorns many 30-40 ft sheer drop offs and rolled in his exo caged first gen. He bled to death internally on the scene before medical crews could arrive. This was the last time I would see him. Rest in paradise buddy.



BRANDON A.

10/27/1987 - 03/31/2007

Had Luke at the Labs whip me up a burley drop box, made from 1" square tubing with 3/4" hangers





Tacked the new hanger on:



After a bunch of bushings that didnt want to come out I finally got all the new bushings in and bolted the springs up:



Here is my new shackle angle, overall I am happy with it. Seems like a pretty good angle.

After finishing up, before adding extended rear bumpstops and add a leafs:

Put on my Marlin rear bumper.

Got my truck in CRAWL magazine last year, here is the blurb. they screwed up my axle info though....




Thats enough for tonight, I will add more to my build up when I feel like it

Nice Rig!

right on man i didnt know we had two members in the crawl mag sweet

Thanks guys

Yeah Mini got in it then the next issue was my truck. pretty exciting, especially since Crawl is my favorite offroad mag

Picked up one of these for the rear and some other axle and knuckle rebuild goodies:



Since I have the V6 rear axle I have to order the Aussie for my front third, install it in that and swap third members to run the aussie in the rear. That was a lot of work and the Aussie didn't come until 2 days before Fordyce, So I just pulled the rear third and welded it. My friend has another 5.29 open carrier that we will put the Aussie in and he will take my 5.29 welded carrier. Going to keep it open in the front for now.

Crappy cell phone pics:

Wow... I really need to update this...

Okay okay!! This might take a while

Dual cases went in about a year and a half ago :grinpimp:

Also cut about 2" out of my fenders front and rear, no clearance issues now!! Should be able to run 37-38s no problem. Did this when I installed the duals. Here it is a year and a half later and I still havn't gotten around to bedlining the front fenders heh





BEFORE:


AFTER:

I wanted some half doors for a Fordyce trip but by the time I found some cheap, relatively straight doors I had less than a day to make them.

Overall I guesstimate I have about $70 bucks into them (though I already had all the grinding/cutting wheels and paint, but I will figure that in anyway).

$40 for both doors
$3.00 for a 10' 2x4
$5.00 for (40) self tapping screws
$14 or so in grinding and cutting wheels
$10 in spray paint

My final goal is to get the same color (tan) interior panels and cut them to fit the doors, and fold them over so the armrest is nice and fuzzy. I also plan to incorporate a cup holder and make a little button for the door latch to make it more aesthetically pleasing. Eventually I will make a really nice set and use metal instead of wood and paint them to match my truck exactly. I rarely run half doors though so for the cheap investment in both time and money I am very happy with them. They work great on the street and especially on the trail. With the top off and the half doors on the air flow is really nice.


Donor doors



Cut off the window frame



Marked out where I wanted to cut. Decided to cut it level with the inner door latch mechanism. all you do is push it down to open. I am going to make a button for it eventually.



Cuttin' away

Here they are cut with the first piece of 2x4 installed. Cutting the top piece was the biggest PITA, just took a lot of trial and error to get it to fit right.



Almost done...





Just painted em black since I would never find a rattle can red that would even remotely come close to my factory red paint job.



Added a little Marlin Crawler bling bling






Took me about 3 or 4 hours total to complete.