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Upgrade Time

10K views 38 replies 9 participants last post by  88RunnerMike 
#1 ·
Alright, I guess it's time for a build thread.

GOAL: Rig capable of mild to moderate trails but maintaining it's usefullness for general camping and occasional errand running and trailer pulling.

So, no, I have no plans for SAS (at least not now :D) and it's not going to be a show rig but I am trying to upgrade it's trail-worthiness. I know there won't be anything ground-breaking or really even that spectacular here; this is as much about a way for me to document my own progress and hopefully a little public pressure for progress will keep me going.

Starting point: Essentially stock 1988 4Runner except for the TG sliders and diffs; currently already those have been upgraded to a Detroit spool rear locker and Detroit Truetrac (LSD) front locker, geared to 4.88.

My general plan at this point:

  1. Get aftermarked radio mounted and re-locate CB below (brackets for this are in progress).
  2. Upgrade rear springs, building a mutt pack is the plan for now.
  3. Larger tires, trying to decide between 255 85's and 265 75's. I've aquired Tacoma stock alloy 16" rims to mount them on (mostly as a weight-saver since I'm a bit under-powered).
  4. Minor body work for repair and tire fitting. I've got a little bit of body rust in the fenders I need to take care of and some minor trimming may be involved for fitting the tires.
  5. Rear bumper including a tire carrier.
  6. Front bumper.
  7. U-Bolt flip for rear springs.
  8. Rear diff armor.
  9. T-case skid upgrade, maybe crossmember here too.
  10. Front skid upgrade.
  11. Boxes for tools, spares, recovery and camping gear that can be mounted in the back but removed with some amount of ease.
  12. Rebuild center console.
  13. New rear springs. Thinking Alcans but that may change by the time I get here. I want to make sure I get my weight somewhat stabalized with the armor upgrades and such before spending money on springs.

So here it goes... :cool:
 
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#10 ·
Mutt packs assembled for now, added 1 leaf from a used pack of Dakkar's. It fit really well into the middle of my current pack.



Yee of little faith...(but sorry for crappy quality; my phone's camera is poor)

Before pic:


After pic:


I measured about an inch gain of clearence on the wheel well (about 19 1/4" from wheel well to hub center). I seem to be sitting just shy of 19" to the frame in the rear and about 17 1/2" to the frame in the front (on tires that are measuring about 32")

One progress picure for fun (the add-a-leaf is in the top of the group on the ground).


I need to torque down all of the suspension bolts and work on closing up the keeper brackets a little better but I'm pretty happy with the look, I'll just have to see how it rides.
 
#4 ·
GOAL: Rig capable of mild to moderate trails but maintaining it's usefullness for general camping and occasional errand running and trailer pulling.

So, no, I have no plans for SAS (at least not now :D) and it's not going to be a show rig but I am trying to upgrade it's trail-worthiness.
I think my build thread for the 85 started out like this :lmao:
 
#5 ·
Mine too! That's why I didn't bob it right off the bat. I wanted the room for camping gear so I could load it up and take off. The bed of my Dodge is now where the camping gear lives :lmao::lmao:
 
#7 ·
Ive stuck to my plan of not going too big! havent bobed the bed yet and no plans for a SAS for a long time. granted, Im locked f/r on 35s now. but I can still haul 2 bikes, all my camping gear, and DD my truck :D
 
#8 ·
mine started like this. The IFS steering wasnt strong enough so i SAS'ed....I wont ever need a front locker i said...Got one, Hydro assist? Never! Well i have it. and once it was done then i said it was on the axles it was keeping...No chromo shafts or anything...Well now im building 2 new wider axles out of the truck so i can replace the ones in the truck with stronger wider units and adding beadlocks that i never thought i would buy.

So yeah start your not so built build thread;)
 
#12 ·
Apparently I'm even slower at this stuff than I realized.

Finally made some progress with the radio brackets:







Test fit of the head unit:



I actually got it to sit just about where I wanted it. I need to get a couple of U-shaped brackets made to mount the CB below the head unit, but that should be the "simple" part of this.
 
#15 ·
Test fit of the head unit:



I actually got it to sit just about where I wanted it. I need to get a couple of U-shaped brackets made to mount the CB below the head unit, but that should be the "simple" part of this.
That's a great way to make some radio brackets! Nice work. I'm going to steal your idea :D I've been trying to figure out how to install my deck & CB radio. Thanks for the idea.
 
#13 ·
Had some :saw: fun on Sunday:





Now I need to spend time staring at it and figure out how I'm going to attach a bumper. Thinking at this point I may just leave the 2x3 that someone else welded into the end of the frame; I think the rust is mostly surface that I can clean up at least some and paint over, and the welds look decent and thorough enough cutting those out will be be a PIA.



 
#14 ·
Now I need to spend time staring at it and figure out how I'm going to attach a bumper. Thinking at this point I may just leave the 2x3 that someone else welded into the end of the frame; I think the rust is mostly surface that I can clean up at least some and paint over, and the welds look decent and thorough enough cutting those out will be be a PIA.



I'd try to remove those 2x3" pieces and then buy a new piece of 2x3" and weld it in as a crossmember. Gives you a great place to mount a new bumper.

Here's mine


 
#17 ·
I'd try to remove those 2x3" pieces and then buy a new piece of 2x3" and weld it in as a crossmember. Gives you a great place to mount a new bumper.
That's a good point. I was contemplating bolting/welding legs along the inside of the frame and then putting a 2x3 crossmember in behind those, but I'm not sure if there's enough room for that.


That's a great way to make some radio brackets! Nice work. I'm going to steal your idea :D I've been trying to figure out how to install my deck & CB radio. Thanks for the idea.
Glad you like it.
 
#18 ·
nice work on the radio brackets.

I have to agree with cutting out those 2x3's and reworking the rear frame like Volcom mentioned. That looks pretty sketch if you ask me. Swing by and take a look at what I did with stealth4x4's.
 
#19 ·
Been slowly making progress.

Radio is totally set, really happy with the final result. Even though the speaker is more enclosed in the current location, it seems to be easier to hear than when it hung from the glove box.



Followed sage advise and cut out the ghetto-fab 2x3 blocks:



Decided to clean up some rust at the bottom of the body since that will be coverd up by the bumper shortly. I was honestly amazed as how much better it looks with just rattle can white. Kinda inspired me to clean up the rest of the body when I have more time.









Made new pieces to sleave the inside of the end of the frame:



Pounded in and ready to weld up:





And burned in.









I've got the new cross member painted and ready to be put in as well. Tomorrow I plan on finalizing how my bumper legs will attach and sit, may weld the crossmember in depending on how everything looks to be sitting.
 
#20 ·
Nice work for your first welding project. It's starting to come together.


As for the radio, you might check radio shack for the external speaker, they were super cheap if I remember right (like $15)
 
#21 ·
Thanks!

I actually have one of those external speakers, but I haven't figured out where to mount it. I looked nice and small in the store, but huge in the cab...
 
#22 ·
Crossmember is welded in, bumper frame cut, hitch reciever tube welded into the main peice, tacked together.









Now comes the fun part of making a couple of legs and attaching it square, leveled and centered....
 
#25 ·
Got the reciever tube braced and end caps installed:





As it sits now:



And got new shoes!! :D

 
#28 ·
Looks great! Still thinking about how I want my rear bumper on Zilla. Is this new bumper on the Runner now? If so, post up some pics of the final product. I expect to end up with something similar on my '85 - the one you saw at Doug's.
 
#29 ·
Thanks John! Yeah, it's on the Runner now, I just realized last night I never posted final pictures.

Here's the leg design. I put 4 across the back comming down off of the new cross member and one on each side comming off the frame.



Couple of pics from the bottom. In the long run I think I'll go back and put a small rectangle of 3/16" plate over the side of the joint in the legs for additional strength.

Tailgate up:



Tailgate down:



It's got good clearance on the tailgate. The 4Runner gate is lower than the pickup gate, so I went with the angled legs to try and maxamize clearance. For comparison, see the picutres Volcom posted of his rig farther up in the thread. His is a 4Runner too, but he's swapped in a truck tailgate.

Doug and I actually talked about this design sitting under Zilla!

Here's how it sits on my rig:







And a couple of shots from Moab for better perspecive:






I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. I was in too much of a hurry when I finally attached it to the rig, and I wish it was a little more level on the body rather than sloping away to the back. I've also decided that those outside corners need to be turned in to 45* angles, but I need to determine exactly where the tire carrier is going to sit before doing that.
 
#31 ·
Looks solid! Did you drag the hell out of it and give it a good test in Moab? Every time I go there my back bumper on the D-cab gets some heavy abuse. :D Thanks for the pics! I think I'll 45 the corners when the time comes but the rest looks good and stout to me!
 
#32 ·
Thanks! Yeah, it drags more than would be ideal, but I think re-working my rear suspension will help that a bit. After putting that bumper on and hauling camping gear out to Moab my rear springs are sagged out again.

I just scraped it on Fin's and Hell's, but I dug it in hard trying to get up Z-turn on Moab Rim.
 
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