Rez-Erected 94 4Runner

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I figured I would start a thread to document the build so far. I didn’t start the build but I would say I’ve gotten it extremely dialed in from when I first got it.

Specs:
1994 Toyota 4Runner 22RE

RUF Springs Front, Chevy 63” Springs rear

Front Axle: +5 Rock Assault, 6 Shooters 30 spline OG Longfields, IFS hubs with tacoma brakes, 5.29 w/Detroit Locker

Rear Axle: IFS width; 5.29 w/ Grizzly Locker

Fox 2.0x12” RR Shocks
Locked 2.0x2.0” Front Air bumps

5 Speed, Dual cases 2.28x4.7

Bought this beauty off facebook marketplace in November of ‘22.

I was putting around in an 80 series land cruiser but I caught the bug for The Hammers after a trip down there when I had to keep parking the land cruiser to ride along on “real trails”

My brother helped me drive it 9 hours from Northern California sight unseen. I was trailing with my daily filled with all of our spare parts and tools, but we actually had zero issues the whole way.

I didn’t know how to drive stick yet, so we parked it at a buddy’s property in Lucerne valley and I went back up there the next weekend to wheel it and learn how to work the stick, then had a trial by fire driving it home.

 

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Promptly Taco’d the front axle housing smashing this thing through the whoops, so first big project was a rock assault and air bumps up front

 

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Then I took it to TDS 2023, had a good time for 2 days, then rolled it Saturday night

 

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Initially after the roll I was gonna start all over, and just save the drivetrain, but as I started pushing the roof out and fixing the cosmetics, it started looking better and better.

So, I bought a bender, learned how to use bendtech, and got to work. I was only able to really work on it during the weekends, so it took me 9 Months to cage it start to finish, there were plenty of times where I wanted to just scrap the whole thing.

 

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This thing got wrapped up right in time for New Years, and I’ve been having a blast driving it to and from the trail.

Now that we’re all caught up to speed here’s the gig:

My latest trip out I peeled the differential out of the rear housing and broke a rear axle, damaging the housing beyond repair.

While I was building the cage, I picked up a set of Dodge Kingpin axles for a smoking deal, thinking I would build them in the far future, but 40’s on Yota axles lol. I don’t feel like throwing another Toyota axle underneath this thing so I have to build them sooner rather than later.


So this thread is to document the 1 Ton swap, and general build up of this clapped out pile.

 

[dwphoto]

So rad thanks for taking the time to make the build thread. I think I saw this thing @Tacodust 's Cougar Buttes trail run Vlog?

I have a rear housing with Axles sitting in my shed if you wanna slap it in and get this beast going again while you get other axles going

let me know!

Elliott

 

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So rad thanks for taking the time to make the build thread. I think I saw this thing @Tacodust 's Cougar Buttes trail run Vlog?

I have a rear housing with Axles sitting in my shed if you wanna slap it in and get this beast going again while you get other axles going

let me know!

Elliott

Yep that’s the one! That was pre “Kickflip” lol.

I actually might take you up on that offer. I was taking stock today and my 1 ton parts pile isn’t quite as big as I thought it was

 

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This weekend, instead of fixing what’s actually wrong with my 4Runner, I’ve knocked out a side project that’s been kicking around the shop for a while.

I got a very well enjoyed set of Total Chaos dogbone shackles from a customer’s truck, and instead of just throwing them away, I figured I would repair them for my truck.


All of the holes were egg shaped, but 1 of them in particular was so bad it was larger than the repair washer’s hole sizeA little chunk of copper and some quick mig filled this hole in.Next step was taking the shackles over to the mill and drilling the new sized holes
Modifying the repair washers to be the correct thickness

This gave me a press fit insert into the shackle
The goal is to now have a wearable, replaceable insert, as well as to have more surface area to avoid chewing up bolts.

Some quick delrin spacers to adapt the width of my existing shackle hangers:

Now we were in business to test fit:

I’m hoping to be able to replace the dual shackles that were on this thing when I bought it. I hate the idea of the axle and tires dead hanging off the shock when the shackles unfold.

The taller shackle helps maintain ride height as well, since 2nd Gens have saggy booties.

Overall it was a fun project, and I’ll be interested to see the difference once I find and have the new housing into the truck.

 

[dwphoto]

Yep that’s the one! That was pre “Kickflip” lol.

I actually might take you up on that offer. I was taking stock today and my 1 ton parts pile isn’t quite as big as I thought it was

let me know it's just hanging in the shed. I'll make you a deal I've got axles and housing...

 

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Haven’t been working on the truck much, since I’ve been giving the missus some weekends away from the 4runner, but here’s what’s been going on:


Doing some experimenting with hard bushing compounds,
A lot of toyota crawler guys run bolts with no sleeves and poly bushings and end up going through a bushing set a trip.

So I selected a Cast Nylon compound that’s filled with Moly, so these should be a self lubricating, hard wearing bushing that should also cut down on body roll by forcing the spring to twist instead of just deflecting the bushing.

I made some link pivot bushings for a buddy’s 3 Link 1 ton rig a couple of months ago out of this and have been satisfied with how they’re holding up enough to make a set for my truck.





Threw a fresh Diff stud eliminator in the new victim housing (thanks @dwphoto ) and threw an old diff armor that got saved from a junk housing on it.

I strongly believe worn out stock diff studs is why I peeled the case out of the housing on the last axle, so this should keep everything nice and tight.

 

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Some pictures from some side projects I’ve been working on, been building and valving sets of shocks for some other toyota crawlers, Swapping some KR3s onto my truck.Helped out another buddy get a +5 Rock Assault into his sweet 3.4 swapped crawler

 

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Got the rear axle housing back into the truck, added some shaft bumpers, and with the stickies, she’s looking dialed. I really need a set of 14” for the back, as the longer shackle easily lets the rear cycle more than 12” like it used to

 

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Not much to report other than wheeling and enjoying it, Thanksgiving got cut short by a buddy snapping a trunnion pin and needing an emergency knuckle rebuild, the recovery was fun,

I landed on the front driveshaft and bent it enough to start hitting the crossmember, and the transmission finally gave up 2nd Gear on the drive home, so I think it’s time to take her down and finally give her love, and start the 1Tons. So if anyone needs a screamin deal on a set of built up yota axles let me know
Rode passenger in Calico last weekend, and my Uncle got to shake down his freshly SAS’d Tracker

Oh and also, the hooptie made it onto the latest Yotamasters drop, Illustrated by the great and powerful Nick from Loose’n’lost;

 

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4Runners been out of commission with a bent front driveshaft that I haven’t had the time to take out and rebend straight, and a BFG sticky that won’t stop leaking out of the sidewall.
On the plus side, the Toyota axles have buyers once I yank them out.

I’m just waiting on my dad’s sick ass daily/ big bear killer to get done and out of the way.

 

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Finally got the axles out from storage and got them into the backyard. Spent all day grinding the cast iron perches off the housing and stripping the rear axle down.

The wheel bearings are absolutely cooked, so my initial idea of being a scumbag and just tossing gears into them, welding the diffs and throwing them under the truck isn’t gonna work. I’m gonna have to put some money into maintenance.

Now to track down wheel bearings. This is a Dana 70U axle and there’s a million different variations in bearings and brakes, and little documentation on the axles themselves, but that’s a problem for another day.

 

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Didn’t really take any pictures, I was thrashing hard for Thanksgiving, ended up missing that deadline, but I just got it wrapped up in time for New Years in Johnson Valley.

 

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Have just been breaking in the new gears by driving this thing around town and to work, I took it on the local radio tower service road to test out the new wired up lights and 4WD. So far everything is running great!

The 7.17 Gears I installed are hilarious, it sure helps the truck get moving with all the extra rolling resistance and rotating mass, but it now really just wants to to go 60mph in 5th gear… turning 3500 rpm lol

The main kink is with the brakes, it is currently wanting the lock up the drums much faster than the front, but with the proportioning valve biased towards the front, brakes just feel like theyre not applying hard at all, The master cylinder is for the 93 Dodge that the axles came off of and I’m using the stock brakes, so I think I just have some more fine tuning to do with the prop. valve