97 4Runner Crawler

Bought @theesotericone 4Runner on October.


Armor
Stubbs HD-SKO welded sliders
Savage 3/16 steel skids 1st generation
Relentless Predator front bumper w/12K Engo synthetic line winch
Savage Dual Swingout rear bumper w/ tire carrier, hi-lift mount and rotopax mount
eimkeith lower link mount skids

Suspension
2.5" King Ex-Travel fronts w/650lb springs
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)
Durobumps front and rear.
333 Fab alignment cam eliminator plates.

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
35" PitBull Rocker on MB Motoring 17" 352's
Power Stop Tundra front brakes

Tunes/electrical/lights
Interstate AGM MTZ 34R
Balistic Fab battery tray.
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
Boss AR1500M 1500W monoblock powering
Pioneer TS-W259S4 10" sub. Custom enclosure using rear storage compartment.
Full Butyl sound deading on floor and doors.
7" electric cooling fan for trans.
trans temp gauge mounted on A pillar.
Nilite 4" spots in bumper
Nilite 6.5" flood on top of bumper.
SS3 Pro fogs wired to low beams
SS3 Sport driving wired to high beams
SSC1 Pro wide for side shooters

To do list:

Rear axle / suspension:
Drop the rear axle to pull and reseal 3rd member
Weld a bash plate on the bottom of rear axle
Replace the mangled drain plug
Passenger lower rear link upper bolt play
Clearance body / bumper - rubs at full flex
Lower rear suspension - super lift 550 TJ front 4” springs?
Fix ABS wiring driver rear

Front powertrain / suspension:
Remake lower limit strap tabs
Stronger intermediate shaft
Lower front suspension - maybe lower spring rate?
Upper ball joint boots
Install new bump stops

Misc:
Replace winch with smittybuilt 10k that is quieter
Rework front lighting
Power steering rack bushings - strengthen / double up passenger bushing?
Rework gas Tank fill to not rub
Replace / relocate the raisin of a gas tank?
Fix collapsing front core support
Delete crap on the inner fenders that I don’t need - charcoal canister / evap, battery relocate, abs…?

https://www.pirate4x4.com/threads/how-to-build-a-sway-bar-from-junk-yard-parts.761500/

 

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.