Well.... I went and did it, bought a T4R budget truck and learning tool

[cdthiker]

Hi all,

Been on the search for a third car/ back up rig/ snow truck for me and the lady friend for well over a year now. I have used this forum several times to float ideas around and I am ever grateful for all of the wisdom that has been shared. Not to mention the over all general willing ness to help, do not find that always else where on the interwebs...

any ways for context.....

when I was trying to grab an 80.... and could not get her on board...
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/94074-Found-a-Used-FJ-80-HELP!!!

and most recently the quest for a cheap used t4r
http://www.expeditionportal.com/for...-a-1995-4-runner-how-much-should-i-really-pay



Anyways, Ended up picking up this well used second gen from a fellow who lived in CDA idaho who was getting ready to ship out for college.
he needed the cash to fix his subaru and was not too firm on his price.
Up here in these parts of the woods if it has the toyota badge, then it has the toyota tax on it.... meaning, everything is over priced, and do not even try and talk to people about blue book value.

When i was looking for t4r's in the area, it was really hard to find something with under 200 k on it in our price range of 5k
so when this one popped up on craigs list for 2700 with 170 k on the clock, timing belt in the last few thousand miles and the head gaskets done in the last few months, I was all over it.

Right off the bat the biggest problem with these trucks ( the 3.slo) was taken care of. I took it into the toyota shop for a pre purchase inspection and they basicaly gave it the green light saying compression check was good, no major leaks keep an eye on the oil level and drive it.

so, thats the plan. I would like to start doing some work on it my self if I can teach my self a few more things. I manage to work my way around motorcycles, so this will be a learning experiene

out the door we gave the kid 2300 for the truck it came with three sets of rims, an ok but tired set of MT's on the truck with one set, a roasted set of At's on the OEM t4r rims, and a good solid set of studded winter snow tires on a third set of rims, not a bad deal me thinks.... That leaves a little over 2500 for fixing stuff, and doin stuff.....

I dont want to Mod the 2012 taco, too new and shiny, but this truck.... noooooo problems,

ahhhh! but wait, I already did my first mod,
I slapped a bumper sticker on her from the company I work for teaching wilderness medicine.
looks better already!
cheers
td

 

[tanglefoot]

Although I may have been discouraging in your other thread, it's sure is hard to badmouth them when you see one--love that 2nd gen styling.

You may not need to spend any more on it...save that money for fuel and food!

Although it has a few years on it, try not to abuse it off-road. Go slow and use lots of finesse. I baby my 1985 as if it were new.

Pretend it's the year 1995 and check out the original brochures. You can view the brochures without paying. Just select one in the brochure archive on the right, below the color chart and press the red, "view" button.

http://www.toyotareference.com/4runner/1990-1995

Enjoy!

 

[cdthiker]

tanglefoot,
it is all goooood.

I am a sucker for all things toyota, knew that we were getting our self into a bit of a project, but thats ok. Hoping to get a good two or three years out of it and pass it along to some one else in need of a decent little 4x4.

and thanks for the reference with the website, good stuff!

For now it is going to get some basic work done on wear items rear brakes axel seals,etc..
we shall see how the adventure goes..
cheers

 

[Martinjmpr]

Well, you bought it to learn, with a 3.0 and (I'm assuming) an auto, my guess is that the one thing you will learn is patience!

 

[4Rescue]

NICE... that could be my new project trucks twin!!! I'm really liking the interior of the 2nd gen but I'm gonna miss my 1st gen some day as it's more "truck like" in my opinion. Congrats on the new truck. You'll find that these trucks are real ROW style Hiluxes underneath (minus the SFA in some markets) and they'e as tough as any Toyota Mini-Truck has ever been. They're not FAST, but they're comfortable road trucks and they go VERY well off-road with minimal effort/modification. IMO they're one of the best Expo platforms in their "class" by a LARGE margin. Yes, they're more expensive to buy into, but A) they are very reliable and B) once you own one, parts aren't much more expensive then anything else. You won;t find them in every junkyard like a Chevy 350 but...


http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/113916-Project-quot-Snapping-Turtle-quot-1KZ-TE-into-a-2nd-Gen-4Runner/page2

My Suggestions:

- OME Suspension. IMO Nothing compares in quality and ultimately performance. I lived in Australia for years and every Toyota we had was running OME/ARB gear. I run full OME suspension on my 1st Gen and it's amazing. The 2nd Gen is going to be the same (although I'm doing a rear leaf-spring conversion on mine).

- Ball Joint spacers at the front. They'll let you keep from cranking the Torsion bars to match the rear lift, give you more flex (not this truck's strong suit up front so every little bit counts) plus lift without having to have one of those (IMO) terrible drop-racket lifts like a Rancho etc.

- 4.88 Gears if you're going to go to 33's, and really if you;re loaded down even wit the 3.Slow I'd not hesitate to run 4.88's with 31's for added power/pulling hill climbing capacity. I see you're in Idaho so i know you've got grades to pull - I also spent a LOT of time growing up in Courdelane and I've been rafting in Idaho for many many years... I LOVE Lowman/The Payette river valley, Stanley, love the Lochsa river area. We were also the first RAFTERS to run the middle fork at over 8ft+. on the upper gauge ("Boundry Creek" put in??? Can't remember the name of the creek right now to save my life) a few years back after wheeling in through 2-3ft of snow to the upper put in with my loaded to the gills 1st gen... Basically I LOVE Idaho aye... a LOT LOL

On another note: Who do you work for in the W-EMS education field mate??? I got my W-EMT through WMI years ago and I'm also a Paramedic, recently graduated from Nursing School and I was a Wildland and Structural Firefighter. This is a GREAT place for guys like us who have back-country medical skills and you'll find a lot of like minded folks here if you haven't already. Great to meet a fellow Wilderness Medicine guy aye... I look forward to watching your build.

Cheers

Dave

 

[BIGGUY]

It's been awhile since I've seen a K county license plate for Idaho. I was born and raise in Osburn in the Silver Valley.

Very nice 4Runner. I had a '90 SR5 with an auto in it and I loved it. I bought it used with around 185K on it and was the 3rd owner. (First owner only had it a month and traded it in and the guy I bought it from got it for his wife.) I put heavy duty torsion bars and heavier rear springs from Downey under it along with an aux fuel tank and then just drove it. I traded it off on my FJ Cruiser with over 325K miles on it. It was a good vehicle and it was the match for my '90 pickup except for the pickup having the 5 speed. I never really had any problems with the 3.0 in either one of my vehicles. It didn't have the best power or mileage in my 4Runner as the previous owner had put 31" tires on it in place of the stock 28" or 29" tires. If I would have kept it I was going to put new gears in it.

A little Moab action. This is before I added the new suspension.





Here's my pickup. It had NWOR heavy duty torsion bars and rear leaf springs on it. I also had the rear diff go out on me very early in it's life, just out of warranty and I was on vacation and the stock 4:56 gears were no where to be found. I put a set of 4:88 gears in and it was nice. A little slower on the top speed, but very noticeable at slower speeds. I bought this truck brand new and owned it for 20 years and when I finally let her go it had over 485K miles on the 3.0. It had the head gaskets replaced under the recall shortly after I bought it and then only normal maintenance for the most part.

 

[dorton]

Welcome to the board.

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