The 2nd Gen Redemption by _ExpeditionMan

[AndrewG]

Nice 'Runner!
Our's could be twins. Mine is a '95 that I've had since '98 or '99. It is very capable off-road in stock form, so I never went crazy modifying it. The only thing I did was the AISIN hubs after replacing the CV boots a few times. There was no improvement in fuel economy, just eliminated the boot wearing issue and gives you the ability to unlock the axle if you destroy a CV joint on the trail. I have no issues with the ADD, so that is still there. The narrow width and relatively short height helps a lot on overgrown trails and the longer wheelbase is nice for bombing down dirt roads. The rear seats fold flat so if you're not much over 6ft, you can get a good night's sleep inside.
Enjoy and keep us updated!

 

[_ExpeditionMan]

Nice work with the methodology. I've never had the *joy* of working on CVs.

I'm a huge fan of the Aisin hubs.

I can't get enough photos of a stock Yoats on the trails. Looks like brochure photography!

Thanks, I certainly stared at it long enough. There is something to be said for a stock truck doing what it was designed to. Part of the reason I love this 4Runner so much is its simplicity and it being stock just contributes to that. If you like stock Toyotas on trails you will love the photos and videos I got. Any news on your 85?

Nice 'Runner!
Our's could be twins. Mine is a '95 that I've had since '98 or '99. It is very capable off-road in stock form, so I never went crazy modifying it. The only thing I did was the AISIN hubs after replacing the CV boots a few times. There was no improvement in fuel economy, just eliminated the boot wearing issue and gives you the ability to unlock the axle if you destroy a CV joint on the trail. I have no issues with the ADD, so that is still there. The narrow width and relatively short height helps a lot on overgrown trails and the longer wheelbase is nice for bombing down dirt roads. The rear seats fold flat so if you're not much over 6ft, you can get a good night's sleep inside.
Enjoy and keep us updated!

How many miles do you have on yours? And yeah I was very surprised what this thing could do off road especially with a novice off road driver like myself. I love seeing other more modern trucks and seeing how much smaller the 4Runner is and how much more ground clearance it has. So many people don't realize that in most off road situations size is a negative determinant. They truly don't make trucks like these anymore. It is funny you should mention the ADD system, that is on the list to disable. Here is great write up to locking it permanently, which makes it pretty much foolproof (less vacuum lines). Disabling ADD

 

[AndrewG]

I just rolled over 160K miles. It was my daily driver and Baja expedition vehicle when I lived in San Diego. It was so much more enjoyable to drive on the narrow highway in Baja and all the dirt tracks leading to the coast than my former fullsized Chevy Blazer with the loosey goosey steering and gas guzzling V8. The Blazer would get stuck so easily, the 4Runner would go anywhere. Your experience may vary. It is all mud and deep sand here in South FL (swamp buggy territory), so now the 4Runner resides in the garage and is used mostly for trips to HomeDepot and to tow the occasional trailer. It never breaks, is easy to maintain and is so utilitarian, I will have it for years to come. I do dream about trips out West again....

 

[tanglefoot]

The '85 has just been chained up, plowing snow. It's had a bad connection at the alternator plug--it takes quite a bit of fiddling before the charging works. Hopefully I got it together well enough last time. I'm thinking about putting the truck camper back on it next summer though, but going about it better. Maybe suspension airbags and pipe insulation to seal it around the back of the cab.

 

[ADVW/Liam]

Hey bro, I was wondering if you ever got them fixed. I discovered my oil leak was from the front seal. I've recently done an oil change, and have monitored the leak, which is so slow, it hasn't left any spots on my driveway. I'm probably going to do my CVs soon, as I have noticed the inner boots have some wear marks on the shaft side near the clamp. I'll take a pic and post it up on here later. I figure I'll do my CVs along with the re-gear... just gotta find a set of CVs that I trust. BTW, I still have all those pics from the trip. PM me your address, I'll figure out a way to get them to ya.

Be Safe,
Rick

 

[_ExpeditionMan]

Hidden Falls - Expo Group Trip

Hi All,

It is has been a minute since I have updated this thread so I wanted to throw in a few photos of the trip I organized with two fellow expo members to the Hidden Falls Offroad Park. This is a massive tract of trails throughout the Hill Country of Texas near Marble Falls. The land is covered in scrub and the trails are rocky and full of packed dirt.

We met and headed down a park road where we eventually found a small rocky stream. After consulting the map we decided to be adventurous and head up the stream.



This was a bit of a challenge for me as this was my first time ever off-roading, especially since the small rocks made modulating the clutch very touchy.



Eventually we encountered a huge rock which prevented us from proceeding up the river. Thus we had to escape from the river bed. I had a hard time with this one. It's difficult to tell from the angle of the video but I could not see what was to the right of the front right fender. Once I backed up far enough to see that I was clear I finally gave it the juice it needed to make it up the climb.



2nd Gen 4Runner - River Bed (video)

Eventually, we ended up at the end of the park along a huge hill. It was quite imposing, but we decided to do our best to climb it. Several ridges separated us from this end goal. Below is the picture of us starting our climb.



@jgilbreath hit the first obstacle. As you all know things look way easier on video, but this was a huge dip. He had an e-locker on the truck but it was not working so this is all open diffs.

3rd Gen 4Runner - Hidden Falls (video)

I caught a quick video of @ADVW/Liam making it look easy here. Capable truck and good lines makes this look much easier than it should have been.

2nd Gen Tacoma - Hill Trek (video)

Finally, it is me bringing up the rear in the stock 4runner with worn tires. Here is me getting some guidance from a more experienced driver as I get guided up the ledge.



We found these awesome views at the top of the hill.





We hit a few more obstacles as we proceeded down the hilltop and I even got a chance to flex out the rear suspension. As you can tell I am pretty excited about this haha

2nd Gen 4Runner - Hill Descent (video)

We stopped to take a group picture when we noticed some oil leaking from the tacoma of the group. Queue the group diagnosis.



Luckily it did not seem like trail damage and later on @ADVW/Liam figured out it was a very slow leak from his front seal. Here's the awesome group shot.



Lastly, I snagged a cool photo of the tacoma on the way out of the park.



I had a blast doing this and while not the typical overlanders outing this was a great opportunity to practice and grow my skills as a driver.

 

[_ExpeditionMan]

Tire Update! - Lots of Backlog

Hey guys,

It has been a long while since I have updated this thread, but now that I have sometime the backlogged updates should be flowing in. After the last trip to Hidden Falls Adventure Park it was clear that the 4Runner needed new tires. The 31x10.50 Michelin LTX A/T tires on there were worn down badly, and were starting to show signs of spider cracks on the sidewall. I have had a tire blow on me on the highway previously in an older Acura and there was no way I was going to take a chance of that happening in a SUV. Therefore.. meet the new tires, I got a really good price match at Discount Tire for a set of 33x10.50 BFG K02 tires. I did a lot of research before purchasing these and it was really between these and one of the Cooper tires. I have always been a sucker for the white lettering. I purchased five and went with the warranty provided by Discount Tire since I read of a few issues some owners have had with these wearing strangely due to bad molds. Here are a few pictures! Keep in mind I have zero lift on the truck and that it is completely stock.

Interesting story on the picture of the truck at Autozone. I was just taking the truck home with the new tires when I took a turn a little faster than usual and I hear a bunch of noise come from the engine bay. I pull over and look for something wrong and spot some liquid dripping to the ground. Some genius had removed the battery tie down and never reinstalled it and I hadn't caught it until now. The whole battery and tray had slid from its position over into the power steering pulley which had cut a hole in the side of the battery... GAH! A new battery and a bunch of bungee cords held me over until I got a new clamp from Toyota. Learn from my mistake and make sure your battery is completely secure.

Before:



After:

 

[Arktikos]

Nice one. Black or White are my favorite colors for this 4Runner generation. Got that console rear window switch working yet?

 

[Renegade_Medic]

I saw some of the pictures of HF and said man that looks really familiar. I live down in Buda, but I'm from Marble Falls. It's a great park and there is a lot to do. Looks like your 4Runner is coming along nicely

 

[jgilbreath]

Nice choice on tire size.

 

[_ExpeditionMan]

Nice one. Black or White are my favorite colors for this 4Runner generation. Got that console rear window switch working yet?

Thanks I really like the expedition white color as well. The center console switch has decided to start working, with small intermittent periods of rebellion. At this point it works at least 80% of the time so it's not worth the trouble to look at it further. I will be installing some new rear speakers soon which will require me to take out the back interior trim. I might play around with a multimeter and see if I can find anything.

Nice choice on tire size.

Thanks man. I figured it's about as big as I can go without having to regear or trim. I'm not sure that I will ever go larger. Did you ever get the e-locker working on your 3rd gen?

 

[jgilbreath]

Still no e locker. I have a big round of preventative maintenance coming up, so i will probably address it then. Did over 5,000 miles this summer up to Oregon and down the west coast. Some long washboards convinced me that i need to upgrade my suspension. I think kings are in my future for 2017.

 

[_ExpeditionMan]

Still no e locker. I have a big round of preventative maintenance coming up, so i will probably address it then. Did over 5,000 miles this summer up to Oregon and down the west coast. Some long washboards convinced me that i need to upgrade my suspension. I think kings are in my future for 2017.

That sounds like an awesome trip. You should make a post in the adventures section.

 

[Summitbeerowl]

Hey guys,

It has been a long while since I have updated this thread, but now that I have sometime the backlogged updates should be flowing in. After the last trip to Hidden Falls Adventure Park it was clear that the 4Runner needed new tires. The 31x10.50 Michelin LTX A/T tires on there were worn down badly, and were starting to show signs of spider cracks on the sidewall. I have had a tire blow on me on the highway previously in an older Acura and there was no way I was going to take a chance of that happening in a SUV. Therefore.. meet the new tires, I got a really good price match at Discount Tire for a set of 33x10.50 BFG K02 tires. I did a lot of research before purchasing these and it was really between these and one of the Cooper tires. I have always been a sucker for the white lettering. I purchased five and went with the warranty provided by Discount Tire since I read of a few issues some owners have had with these wearing strangely due to bad molds. Here are a few pictures! Keep in mind I have zero lift on the truck and that it is completely stock.

Interesting story on the picture of the truck at Autozone. I was just taking the truck home with the new tires when I took a turn a little faster than usual and I hear a bunch of noise come from the engine bay. I pull over and look for something wrong and spot some liquid dripping to the ground. Some genius had removed the battery tie down and never reinstalled it and I hadn't caught it until now. The whole battery and tray had slid from its position over into the power steering pulley which had cut a hole in the side of the battery... GAH! A new battery and a bunch of bungee cords held me over until I got a new clamp from Toyota. Learn from my mistake and make sure your battery is completely secure.

Before:

View attachment 382577

After:

View attachment 382584

View attachment 382587

View attachment 382578

View attachment 382583

Nice tire choice. I just went with the same ones on my 93 truck. I painted the rims though. They were looking pretty beat up. Plus now they have an updated look.

 

[_ExpeditionMan]

Nice tire choice. I just went with the same ones on my 93 truck. I painted the rims though. They were looking pretty beat up. Plus now they have an updated look.
View attachment 383077

Those wheels look awesome in that color. Mind me asking what paint you used and how it's holding up so far? I've really been wanting to do that to my wheels since they are worn and the previous owner did a poor job when applying black plasti-dip to them