1995 4RUNNER Project Page

[Scenic WonderRunner]

I'm not here to pick a fight...........

This is what I was told.........and I believe it.........and it makes sense to me.



Suspension Brace.........


"This is a must for any off-roader who is serious about his or her vehicles reliability out in the wilderness. This truss ties in the lower part of your frame (between the lower control arms) for added strength and reliability over rough terrain. This truss does not bolt in. Welding is required (a welded truss is much stronger then some others that bolt to the frame. Remember, a bolted truss is only as strong as the bolts holding it!)"

 

[Dave Bennett]

My .02

Welded or bolted, those braces are a must have on these early 4Runners.

On my 1988 SR5 4Runner I bent those mounts inward just slightly in a ditch crossing up in Washington. That brace would have saved my frame...

The result of not having the brace was bent lower A-arm mounts AND a front end that WOULD NOT align.

This was the #1 reason I sold the 4Runner and got my first Tacoma.

The rest is history...

 

[4AFK]

That looks like a really nice setup. My stock HU is on it's last leg. Do you have any pics of it installed?

Not at the moment, if it stops snowing for a bit tomorrow I'll take a few.

 

[DaveInDenver]

"This is a must for any off-roader who is serious about his or her vehicles reliability out in the wilderness. This truss ties in the lower part of your frame (between the lower control arms) for added strength and reliability over rough terrain. This truss does not bolt in. Welding is required (a welded truss is much stronger then some others that bolt to the frame. Remember, a bolted truss is only as strong as the bolts holding it!)"

True, that part about the bolt strength. I used 5/16-18 SAE grade 8 bolts, which are good to about 4,000 lbs in shear. The Sonoran Steel brace will pretty easily accomodate 3/8" bolts, but I went under sized because I want to use metric bolts and will redrill them for 8mm or 10mm when I get some decent graded ones. The key with a bolted truss (and remember your front brace, drivetrain cross member and a lot of other things on the truck are bolted on) is that the connections fit tightly. As long as there's minimal slop, a bolted connection is perfectly fine. The point is to reinforce the frame at this point and doing that with a good brace and 5/16"~3/8" size bolts is more than sufficient, assuming you are not racing the Baja. It's all about compromises. There is probably no doubt that a welded truss is a better option from a purely engineered standpoint. The only downside I can think of is fatigue, since the two mounts are now tied together without any allowance for vibration or frame movement (the frame is supposed to twist a little normally, you just don't want the A-arm mounts to flare). But I just felt having the option of easily taking it off to replace CV axles and work on the diff was worth using a bolted truss. There is no 100% right answer, just different solutions.

 

[Grim Reaper]

I'm not here to pick a fight...........

This is what I was told.........and I believe it.........and it makes sense to me.



Suspension Brace.........


"This is a must for any off-roader who is serious about his or her vehicles reliability out in the wilderness. This truss ties in the lower part of your frame (between the lower control arms) for added strength and reliability over rough terrain. This truss does not bolt in. Welding is required (a welded truss is much stronger then some others that bolt to the frame. Remember, a bolted truss is only as strong as the bolts holding it!)"

All dependant on design. The front brace is a bolt in. Mine happens to be a front brace fitted to the rear. The fact is it is easier to design a weld in then a properly designed bolt in.

They both get the job done and thats all that matters.

 

[DaveInDenver]

FWIW, another photo of a Sonoran Steel IFS brace.

 

[4AFK]

4Running Getting Used

Not that its much of a project photo or that you can see my rig in any great detail, but this image which I shot this morning puts my truck in context for sure.



We're under some serious ground fog this morning, but only a bit higher up there is plenty of sunshine. I promise when the sun comes out to photograph the recent additions to my dash.

 

[4AFK]

Deck Installed, GPS wired

So here it is, as soon as I finished that post the sun came out.



Looking to mount the Zune and the phone somewhere on the dash, but haven't figured out how I'm going to go about doing that.

 

[4AFK]

Nice!!!
Almost allows the "Don't Shoot into the Sun!" rule violation.

Its nearly impossible to not shoot the sun and get a 360° panaramic-photo result. In the past I've stopped about ~4° before I'm shooting in the sun (left and right), but that results in image missing at least 30° of the landscape (sun + buffer left and right). You can wait until its high over head, but then you miss the shadow effects that the early morning provides and everything ends up washed out. Even then you still may get it, I tend to like to include the sky in my photos unless I'm using the macro function on my camera.

 

[4AFK]

Project Update

Been spending some time today working on updating all of the projects that I'm presently engaged in including my 4Runner. I maintain a WIKI that I use to manage this kind of work, and I'm a lot better at updating it than I am all the BBS ssytems I might frequent.

You can see more about my truck here

 

[4AFK]

Update 1995 4Runner

Wow! What a fun year. The seals I had replaced last in November 2007 resulted in a pretty much constant collection of problems. The dealership did a wonderful job of not getting very much done and followed it up by driving six new spark plugs into the cylinder heads with an air wrench.

The helicoil was a ***** to get into the number six head socket, but after the plug exploded out of the head there wasn't much choice. Long story short the helicoil didn't work but it lasted long enough for me to get two new cylinder heads on the engine.

New mechanic, new seals, new water pump, and a new bill and she's running like a champ again. I've done some additional work on it here and there and I'll get some photos up when I have a moment to spare.

 

[4AFK]

He bravely drilled eight holes in his hood

Quite an expereince since I wanted to get my Hi-Lift out of the way and onto my rig permanently. I've been toying around with several ideas and finially decided to whip out my drill and get started.

I mounted it about 2" behind the rear hinge which allows me to open the hood without any problems. The mounting parts don't place it up too far up in my field of vision and best of all I haven't lost any clearence.

The experience of drilling the holes had my pucker factor up there, but its on there, tested and working well. Next I'll paint the Hi-Lift black.

:clapsmile

 

[slosurfer]

Can you get more pics of the hi lift mount? HOw is it supported underneath?

I've thought of doing this, so more pics would be awesome!

:rockon:

 

[toyrunner95]

I had the same truck. I had a procomp stage 1, 4" lift with 33s and a detroit in the rear. Never had a problem with the suspension, but repacking the wheel bearings ever six months helped alot with the routine maintenance. Also a supply of CV boots comes in handy. This setup worked really well. i had a wilderness roof rack that worked very well too.

 

[4AFK]

Can you get more pics of the hi lift mount?

Yeah sure! Fun Truck is back at home over the pass today, but I'll get on it this weekend.

How is it supported underneath?

Support is 'ok' (my Dad's 1984 Cherokee has a tighter suspension in my experience) but I gather this is a problem with the G2s in particular.

I'm going to be taking steps to improve suspension in the near future.