97 4Runner Crawler

Bought @theesotericone 4Runner in October of 22.




Armor
Stubbs HD-SKO welded sliders
Savage 3/16 steel skids 1st generation
Relentless Predator front bumper w/10K X20 gen2 synthetic winch
Savage Dual Swingout rear bumper w/ tire carrier, hi-lift mount and rotopax mount
eimkeith lower link mount skids
welded rear diff armor
tube doors
Removed -
Engo 12k synthetic winch - it got loud


Suspension
modified 3.5 2wd camburg kit - coilover moved to clear CVs and increase travel, heim uppers
2.5x8 kings 18x500lb springs
Locked offroad 2x2 hydro bumps, revalved and de-stroked to 1.2" 250psi
Kartek 8" straps on adjustable clevis
2.5" King Piggyback extended travel rears
OME 861 coils
Front Range Off-Road upper heimed links
Metal Tech adjustable lower links
Eimheith panhard correction kit (PCK)
Durobump 5.25" rear.
333 Fab alignment cam eliminator plates.
TK1 Racing rear sway bar - 45" U4 bar, 18" double shear arms, 10" links
Removed -
2.5" King Ex-Travel fronts w/650lb springs
Durobump fronts

Drivetrain
Trail Gear Crawlbox w/ Marlin 2.28 Total Spline Input, Rad Design twin stick.
Custom mount on stock crossmember with Marlin HD mount.
RCV CV's
ARB lockers with Nitro 5.29s
ARB CKMA 12 mounted under hood.
Tom Woods Custom Driveshafts F/R
Power Stop Tundra front brakes
333 Fab billet rack clamp - still bent
Camburg rack clevis
Heim inner tie rods
37" Yoko MT on Method 703 17x8.5
Removed -
35" PitBull Rocker on MB Motoring 17" 352's


Tunes/electrical/lights
Interstate AGM MTZ 34R relocated
Attwood 9065-1 battery box
500A fuse off battery
Blue Sea Winch on/off 350A
Blue Sea 12 circuit fuse box.
Bussman 100A circuit breaker.
300W inverter in dash mount
Dual Electronics DV526BT head unit
Hifonics Zues 4ch 1000W peak amp powering
Polk Audio DB651 6.5" rear door speakers
Infinity Reference 6500CX 6.5" front doors speakers and tweeters

$76 Boss AR1500M Car Amplifier - 1500 Watts Max Power, 2 4 Ohm Stable, Class AB, Monoblock, Mosfet Power Supply, Remote Subwoofer Control

Boss AR1500M 1500W monoblock powering
Pioneer TS-W259S4 10" sub. Custom enclosure using rear storage compartment.
Full Butyl sound deading on floor and doors.
Noam n4 speakers on tube doors
7" electric cooling fan for trans.
trans temp gauge mounted on A pillar.
SS3 Pro Fogs in bumper
SS3 Sport driving on top of bumper
Mictuning 7" round headlights
Mictuning rock lights
Removed -
Nilite 4" spots in bumper
Nilite 6.5" flood on top of bumper.
SS3 Pro fogs wired to low beams to replace headlights
SS3 Sport driving wired to high beams to replace headlights
SSC1 Pro wide for side shooters

To do:
KPOffroad cam tabs
replace failing PS pump, add cooler and filter
revalve front coilovers, open bleed and stiffen high speed
rear link slop
ABS wiring rear
Stronger intermediate shaft / tundra 9" diff
raisin gas tank
collapsing core support
Delete crap on inner fenders- charcoal canister / evap, abs…?
valve cover gaskets

 

Trying to make @theesotericone regret selling the rig?

 

Things I have done so far:

Repair blown out coin buckets - beat back into place, welded all cracks, ran a 5/16 steel rod around the outside lip and ran a 2x1/8” strap over the top and welded it all up.





Added hood pins after breaking the hood latch


Headlights kept going cross eyed so I took them out and put in some diode pods. Not a huge fan of how it looks so ill be redoing this sometime. I want like to find some plastic headlights to keep the weight down on the old tired core support.


Blown add extension housing and stub shaft - replaced with manual hub tube and shaft

 

Tore it all apart over the weekend for some possible suspension changes, rear axle refresh / armor, and new link hardware to try and get rid of some play. Also added some Allen head magnetic plugs to hopefully resist being destroyed by rocks so quickly.

 

Gotta have someone to buy it back after I break some more

 

Hopefully I'll be solid axle by that time. That said, between what I've broken on it and you are breaking on it it might hold the TW record for most broken parts in a single rig. Stoked to see the tradition carrying on.

I also saw your post on IFS about LTing it. I'm pretty sure there's someone selling a four and a half over LT kit in the first gen marketplace. I never want that route because I like the narrow profile of stock.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/new-btf-long-travel-kit-locked-shocks.789604/

 

Found a +3.5 kit with kings for only 2k that I should be picking up this Friday so hopefully that works out. It’s already customized so I shouldn't feel bad about cutting it up to make some changes.

I wanted to stay skinny but when I really thought about it +3.5 and 0 offset wheels in the front is another 1.75 over what it is now which isn’t terrible. Hopefully it will help make it a little more stable offroad. The crawl box and the extra reaction time it gives has saved me from flopping a lot and I don’t like it which is why I would like to lower it. I have a feeling it may get a little sketchy to drive on the hwy with light springs in the front but hopefully I am wrong.

I’m hoping 0 offset may also help steering and lbj life. LT is also the only good way to really stop rubbing the frame especially if I think about 37s. Lower arms should also give me a bit more firewall clearance. Hopefully these fat ass tires don’t rub the upper ball joint too bad.

Hopefully I can finish this project - rework rear axle / springs, LT front, and reinforce inner fenders / delete stuff on them I don’t need by mid April. That would give me time for a shakedown before I drive back to missouri for an event then an event then Toyota jamboree in tx the next weekend.

 

3/16 on the back and some 1/8 across the bottom. 1/8 is doubled up to keep the diff drain in a little better shape. Probably don’t need so much but I lost minimal clearance and it will be much harder for the drain plug to loosen on a rock now.

 

Some new some used parts.



Still thinking I convert the uppers to heims so I can leave the lower cam eliminators full forward and still align it. I think I need to cut open an upper to see the wall thickness of the 1.5” uppers. Then I know a tube to size the ID down to 1” for the bungs to 3/4 heims. Then I just need 3/4 to 9/16 or 14mm misalignments.

I’ll also probably make an angle on the front of the arm to slide up over rocks. It will also protect / reinforce the shock mounts which I might move them also.

also got some old 2.5x10 kings with resi and dual rate springs that I am trying to figure out a use for… they were the right price so I just got them.

 

Cleaned axle up and painted

Installed driver side LT

Need to cut a lot up top but tire is pretty clear from tub

need to chop off the lower mounts and inboard / inset them for more compression and clean them up. Kings fully compressed will be 16 3/4 so the mounts will be low.

pulled the 3rd member out to reseal but as I RTVd the third member I found a small junky spot every 5 revs of the pinion. Couldn’t see anything so I installed it but I decided to pull it back apart tonight and actually figure it out. I’m thinking some old rtv in a bearing but who knows.

ordered lbjs and outer tie rods as well as heims and bungs to convert to heim inner tie rods with a camburg clevis kit. also went with offset heims for the uppers. And got 18”500s. May swap to some 450 or 400s if I’m still not flexing the front much

 

Good work getting this rig back on the trail!

Looks like you'll be good for a while, but I just cut the drain plug off entirely. It was loosening up as I drug it, and I almost lost all my diff oil more than once.

 

Yea the threads on the drain are fucked up from it dragging on rocks so long. If the Allen loosens on me I’m welding it I’d just like to keep the drain instead of sucking it all out because that sucks and I feel like you leave a bunch of the worst glitter in it to keep floating around.

 

I replaced one of the lower 3rd member studs as with a bolt. Works great as a drain, just a bit slow.

 

Hacked up and redid the LT kit. Heim uppers and lowers are sunk in, inboarded and moved forward a bit more.

turns out I’ll have to do them again and push it forward more which sucks

it cycles 14 5/8 limited by uniball and shock length on compression and cv bind on droop. Still need to check with tie rods to see if outers bind

 

Trying to distract myself from rebuilding the lowers so I bought 37s with the plan to run these on longer trips and put the pbrs on the beadlocks… now I’m kinda debating maybe just throw these on the beadlocks and run them all the time.

I just think this thing would hold up a lot better beating on it with 35s vs 37s. Any opinions?

 

Driver side clearance is good. Satisfying to see it sitting on its weight on a jack.

passenger side spindle seems tweaked and cracked forms something I did to it. Repaired and hopefully got it set at the right angle.

now burning in limit strap tabs, bump pads, and moving the coilover mount on passenger lower a third time to tweak it a bit. Want more droop and a little more clearance on coilover body

 

Less dash lights than I started with

 

The only dash light was the ABS light. lol

 

Yea it will probably come back since I just twisted the wires and taped it lol.

Had a p446 code on and off so I replaced some of the vacuum hoses. maybe it will stay off or maybe it’s just off since I have no battery in it haha.