I'm back in a Toyota!!!

[jh504]

After a year of absence I am back in the Toyota saddle again! This weekend I sold my XJ to a highschool kid, with visions of mudbogs and ragging out in his eyes, and layed down cash on a 4runner. I felt bad for the Jeep as the kid stomped the pedal and sped off towards his favorite "no trespassing" trail. The feeling lasted only as long as it took to jump behind the wheel of my new toy.
I picked up a 1991 4runner, 3.0, standard, with less than 1,000 miles on a top end rebuild. The previous owner has had it for 8 years and was very meticulous with its care. The interior is near perfect and the exterior is not far off. Its running 32X11.50 BFG MTs on stock suspension. I am very excited about where this build will take me. I already have an 8,000 lb winch sitting in the box ready to be mounted. Which brings me to my first question;
has anyone ever seen one of these 4runner winch mounts?http://www.autopartswarehouse.com/d...rQQWarnQQWinch_MountQQ19842006QQW3611078.html
Is it made to work with the stock front bumper? I was originally going to replace the bumper with a steel winch bumper, but I wouldnt mind keeping the stock bumper because it is in good shape. I will have sliders on the sides for jack points. Anyone know of a good product that works with the stock bumper?

 

[cid 96]

congrats!

Congrats on getting back to Mr. T. Don't know much about this generation 4runner, but it sounds like it is in good shape.

Sid

 

[Cackalak Han]

I don't have anything to add, either, but the truck looks cherry! I also sold my ZJ a few years ago to get back into a Toyota. Have never looked back.

 

[Willman]

Welcome back

 

[tacollie]

I dig the 4runner

 

[sidearm]

now we def gotta get together to wheel, now that you got a good rig!, by the way that winch mount is a universal mount, I would suggest looking a a mileamarker winch mount/brush guard. They are around 200$ and are funtional and I believer they offer one for our trucks.

 

[jh504]

now we def gotta get together to wheel, now that you got a good rig!, by the way that winch mount is a universal mount, I would suggest looking a a mileamarker winch mount/brush guard. They are around 200$ and are funtional and I believer they offer one for our trucks.

Thanks for the info, I will check them out. I will post some better pics of the truck soon. Anybody else have suggestions on a winch mount?

 

[Tucson T4R]

My last 4Runner was a 90. I ran a Warn winch mount with the brush guard loops on each side. It worked well for many years. I prefer a full plate winch bumper like the Shrockworks I am now running on my 2004 4Runner but at the time, the price was right for the Warn brush guard mount.

The negatives were that is subtracted a bit from your approach angle when four wheeling and did not add significant impact protection like a full plate bumper does. The positive was the attractive price.

 

[jh504]

My last 4Runner was a 90. I ran a Warn winch mount with the brush guard loops on each side. It worked well for many years. I prefer a full plate winch bumper like the Shrockworks I am now running on my 2004 4Runner but at the time, the price was right for the Warn brush guard mount.

The negatives were that is subtracted a bit from your approach angle when four wheeling and did not add significant impact protection like a full plate bumper does. The positive was the attractive price.

I wondered about the approach angle on those things. I prefer a full bumper as well, but this truck is in great shape and I will wait until I beat it up a little (the bumper) to add steel bumper protection. Do you have any pictures of your old 4runner with the winch mount?

 

[sidearm]

I know its not a full plate bumper, but i have the allpro double tube wrap around type winch bumper, and it looks great, heres a bad pic

 

[tanglefoot]

I run the All-pro bumper as well, but single-tube. I was originally going to try to put the winch in a removable cradle and put a class III hitch receiver on the front but I couldn't find a front receiver for the '85, and by the time the prices are added for the cradle and the receiver, it was getting close to the All-Pro bumper, which is very nice BTW. It's great for approach angles and protects the corners well. The stock bumper doesn't hold up to very much.

Enjoy the Yota

Eric

 

[jh504]

The All-pro bumper looks great, and I have always liked them. I am trying to steer away from replacing the bumper for now though. It will not be a hardcore trail rig, just trips on fire roads and mountain trails. My XJ was a lot more on the "trail rig" side of things with a 6.5" lift among other things. I am trying to go the other direction with this rig. Minimal lift, only the offroad necessities, and try not to beat it to a pulp. If I do end up going with a full bumper I will probably design and fab it at work, where I have access to AutoCAD, a waterjet, and a good welder. I will be designing, and building my rocksliders at some point. I might just fab up a winch mount to go with the stock bumper. I was just trying to get around this because the price of steel is close to what I could purchase one for.

 

[sidearm]

def gotta get that winch on there, i used to not care for them, but after i finally got one on my rig, it has been a godsend(toobad my controller is shot!)

 

[Corey]

Welcome back.
My last rig was a '91 4Runner.

 

[jh504]

Welcome back.
My last rig was a '91 4Runner.

Nice, how was it set up? Did you SAS it or deal with the torsion bars? That is another thing that I am contemplating. Although I love SASed 2nd gens, we are a long way off from that. For now I am trying to decide what the best suspension option will be. My goal is to run 33X10.50s and have some decent performance offroad. It is definitely getting new shocks and coils, and I have been considering a ball joint spacer in the front. Also quick disconnects on the swaybars and I am restraining myself from cranking the torsion bars. I am thinking maybe LC coils in the rear and BJ spacer up front. Anyone ever run a similar setup?