She's a 1989 Toyota 4Runner. base model 22RE (with 5k or so on a new long block) 5spd and I bought her from a budy of mine a few years back with 230k on the odo.
[Back-story -] I got REAL into Toyotas after I lived in Australia for awhile and drove a bunch of 70 Series Landcruisers (IMO the best 4x4 money can buy... sadly not sold in the USA... LAME) and Solid Axle Hillux's. Down in Australia they are litterlay the benchmark for a durable, capable 4wd and people use thise things like folks here use an F350 (exept they actualy do work out of their trucks unlike all the poser contractors here in the US...) I got out to the ranch I would be spending 6 onths living at and the first question they asked me is "can you drive stick???" followed by "do you know how to drive a 4wd off-rpoad???" and I quickly answered HELL YES!!!!!!!! So they tossed me the keys to this beaut: a 1991 HJ75 "Ute" that had all the ARB goodies you could name, F/R Lockers, Bull Bar, Snorkle etc.
Over there ARB is sold in the little farm supply stores everywhere... God I love Australia, it really is a wheelers paradise. To say I loved this truck would be an understatement. The Troupy's that had Turbo's were alot of fun too and I'd probably opt for one of those if I were able to buy one here as they really are the best 4wd for Overland Touring (besides things like Mogs etc of that size/capacity...)
Anyway, enough reminiscing over a truck I no longer have. back to the 4Runner. from 1984-1989 Toyota made what is refered to as the 1st Gen 4Runner. These trucks are more like a standard pick-up with a removed rear wall and an added, removable fiberglass hard-top. Tey're far more unique then any following 4Runners and I just LOVE them. I've always wanted one of these trucks and I just happened to be talking to my friend one night and mentioned that I wanted on of these trucks...much to my suprise and joy HE HAD ONE. AS it turned out I actually bought it out from under another friend who wasn't too happy with me but he got over it. 1500bux later and i was driving her to the shop to have a new clutch put in. 80 bux after that and she was on the road
So here she is after one of her first outings to some local trails to get a feel for her.
As soon as I shifted into 4wd I knew this would be a long time lover affair and she litteraly crawled right over things that used to throw my XJ (Jeep Cherokee's) for a loop. Older Toyotas have SO much ground clearence right out of the box and this helps alot.
she was mostly stock except for a brand-new set of 31x10.50's and like all old Toyotas had the dreaded "butt sag" Luckily my time in Australia had aquainted me with ARB like I said earlier and they make a line of suspension compnnents called Old Man Emu. The name alone had me, but instead of those lame huge lifts that are mostly for lifts, OME gives you 0-about 2.5in of lift depending on the capacity of the springs you go with and is intended to make the truck ride better and increase the load capacity of these little over built beasts. If you need Toyota parts, go to TRDParts4U.com. they're great guys and they have amazing prices. I can't say enough good stuff about these guy's ('n Gals???) SO I got online and ordered up a set of OME Dakar rear leafs that would net me 2.5 or so in. of lift, some Bj spacers and some long travel OME shocks and steering stabilizer.
This is before:
And here's what all that money I spent did. (boy did it make it ride better too... I think OME wins in the value dept. for sure.)
One of the best parts was just getting to work in the shop with my dad. He's the best adn I think he has a ton of fun too.
Here are the springs before I installed them. These are REAL nice springs to say the least. Double Millitary wraps, Teflon pads between the leafs, zirc fittings to allow you to grease the bushings... Nice stuff.
I think the hardest part of it all was getting the old Steering Stabilizer off... My dad took it on like it was a personal vendetta. When it finaly let go the pin ityself flew out into the driveway/field and it took us about 2 hours to fiund it HAHAHAHAHA
Bj Spacers installed. This was a nice, easy neat little mod that netted 1.5" up front. I left my T-Bars alone so I didn't lose any of the limited flex the IFS has...
Oh and I also got myself a Marlin Crawler rear Bumper (in DOM flavor) to protect those delicate corners and give me a better departure angle
(if there's ONE weak point in the dimensions of these trucks it's the rear over-hang. they've got about a perfect wheel-base, they're tall so they have good break-over angles and they have a poretty good approach angle, but the butt hangs out there and can get snagged on things.) Enter the Marlin bumper... This thing alone netted me about 6 more inches (I could hardly belive it either) of ground clearence over my stock bumper and drop down class 3 reciever... Between this bumper and the rear suspension I got alot better departure angle after it was all done...
Plus it looks great ;)
So now that I had all the suspension I would need (it performs amazing when loaded down btw) those 31's were just looking kinda small... BUT I still had alot of fun with the old gal: Yeah these are poser shots, but frankly I was alone so it was kind of hard to get any action shots ya know ;)
Wow... look at that FLEX!!!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHA This was with the Sway bar on though, it actualy get's alot better with-out.
Gotta love a Toyota in a roack garden...
So On a recent trip out east we were prematurely turned around when my tires finnaly gave up the ghost... the sharp rocks of the central volcanic planers of Oregon were just too much and I had to limp back to Prineville OR with my tail between my legs and my spare tire on my truck...But not before I got to spend an hour or two playing "Explitive deleted...expletive deleted... explitive deleted stupid expletive deleted!!!!!!!"
After I bought ONE 31x10.50 for $187 out the door to get home (yeah I got hosed...) I finaly just broke down and bit the bullett... FINALY I had the 33x10.50's I've always wanted for this truck. They just LOOK perfect and really make this truck look like a Tonka truck or something that well, something like my drawings/day-dreams...
I even dreamed up a trailer. I have the frame, but I think it's going to end up being more of a rafting trailer then a compact overland set-up.
But like I said... The 33's look great IMO. (the first one is right before the new tires went on, like 20 min before... you can see how worn these suckers had gotten over the last few years eh)
I'm already thinking about getting a set of BFG KM2's on some black steelies (or if I can scrounge the cash some Mojave's... I love those rims...) for trail tires and keep these BFG's as my long range, do it all tires...
Other things I've added are a Yakima Basket rack with a Shovel mount.
---Huh don't know where those pics are ????---
While I wish I had a real nice ARB roack and an RTT (and I may here ina few months...) this Yak basket has been an AWESOME addition to the truck. For me, being a rafter, it's really nice to throw my wet stuff up there in my mesh duffle and let it drip and get some air. It's also great to not take up space in the back of the truck with crap like chairs and cots... Plus it was far less then half the cost of a real nice one and it still does everything I want it to.
The interior of my truck may not be the sweetly organized unit that some of us folks have...
...but I get giddy when ever I get in the saddle and fire up the GPS and the Valentine one... Mainly cause it means I'm heading out. I keep thinking I need to swap out the seats, but frankly, they work and I'm never really hurting after even the longest days drive so they stay for now.
Mods to come???
-4.88's to match the new 33's (I really need to do this soon to get my milage back and to be able to use 4th going up hill)
-F/R LSD's from a Celica Supra and a Supra.
-Safari Snorkle... yeah well I want one... ;)
Anything else I'll add in when I think of it.
Cheers
DAve King
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