Where to start??

[onefastchevy]

So I've got about 12k to spend on a toy and am planning on buying a early 90's 4Runner. I want an all around offroader, mountains, mud, rocks, and sand, (I live in Alberta, Canada, and all are within 2 hours of my house). Nothing too extreme in any one place (as my budget dictates). So about 4k will go into the vehicle leaving me 8k for add on's... I'm thinking around a 5" to 7" suspension lift and 33's or 35's, but don't know what else is needed. Any recomendations on what else to do (motor, driveline, ect...) and recomemded brands (for lifts as well, don't know which one to go with)

Any and all coments are greatly appreciated!!

Thanks
James

[cdc]

header, k&n filter, regear it to whatever size tire you end up getting, not to sure on lifts, i just bought a 4" procomp dont know if they make a 5 or 7". if its in the budget get a warn winch. good luck

[speedy]

5-7" lift, can you get it that high with IFS and still drive around with reliable CV shafts? My buddy has a 3" lift on his and has broken 2 CV shafts off-roading due to the extreme angle. I vote you spend some cash on a good front bumper with a winch.

[Sean]

Lifting the rear is the problem with the second gen 4runners. The passenger side upper link is mounted right up against the gas tank making long arm kits like they have for TJs impossible and unavailable. Instead the few kits out there use drop brackets to lower the arm so the geometry of the suspension doesnt get too out of whack with the lift coils. These brackets not only act as low hanging achors they also put more leverage on the mount which have been known to fail.

A popular alternative is to retrofit leaf springs in. You hack off all the offending four link crap and mount up some leafs. Its a lot more work then a front axle swap but doable. I am running chev springs i took to a local spring shop and had arched as much as possible with an extra leaf thrown in.

With that budget I would do a SAS and the rear leaf swap. If you can do the work yourself you will have plenty left for regearing the axles, at least one locker and a dual case set up. Buy some BFG MTs from Costco and go out and play.

Front suspension
TrailGear IFS eliminator kit -$1208
79-85 solid front axle 300-500
rear suspension
Three Hole Spring Perches $ 31.90 Pair (trailgear)
Rear Shackle Mounts $ 38.50 Pair (trailgear)
Sloped Spring Hangers $ 33.00 Pair (trailgear)
Bilstein shocks $ 150 pair (Marlin)
Chevy 63" springs $100 pair (junkyard)
Rearch and extra leaf $ 150
total for rear $503.40

Just an example. Lots of money left over for tires and gears, maybe a dual case set up and a locker if you keep the tires and locker on the budget end of things.

[onefastchevy]

Well I'm an amature mechanic, but don't know that I would have the fab skills to be doing a leaf spring swap.... Do you know of any articles explaning such a procedure?? Where do you measure to know if a spring is 63"? Is the TrailGear IFS eliminator kit also a lift?

If all else fails is there a good 4" lift kit out there? Also I have herd that anything over 33"s is too much for the stock axels, any recomendations for a replacement or is this neccicary?

Thanks Again!!
As always all comments are more than welcome and appreciated....

[onefastchevy]

What locker would you go to?? And what is a dual case set up (relativly new to 4x4 ing, but we all have to start somewhere, as the login would imply I'm much more knoledgable about about north american muscle!)

[yotanut7]

A dual case set up is using your original transfer case along with the low range portion of another transfer case for more gearing options and a lower low range while keeping the same high range.

[bowshtr]

Man....12k could build me one hell of a toyota!! For that kind of money you can build more then an all around decent off-roader. Im talking a full tubed propane, small block driven atals cased rig. Mabye even rollin on mogs or duece and a halfs and 40+ inch tires

[Sean]

The trail gear kit comes with 3,4 of 5 inch lift springs. I have 4" allpros and they net in the neighbourhood of 6-7 inches of lift with doing the solid axle swap. As far as rear leafs go you measure eye to eye. What you are looking for is the early to mid nineties leaf springs out of the back of a chevy pickup.
What tire size will hold up depends a lot on how you use your truck. The more you beat on it and get it bouncing the more drivetrain parts you will break. As far as the front axle goes pick up a set of longfield super axles also available at trailgear.ca and you are bullet proof with 33s. I have been running 37s on toyota axles for five years. Broken some shit but upgrade as i find the weak links.
As far as lockers it depends on how much budget you have left at that point. V6 lockrites have a good rep, though the 4cyl models not so much. These lockers can be had for around 215 USD if you look around. If you have the money for a selectable then get the arb. The price has gone up on them though and the cheapest place i know of right now for them is trail-gear.com, not the canadian site. They are still over 700 a unit not including an air compressor. Set up thirds go for around 1500.

Setting up the rear leafs is fairly simple and straight foward. The hard work is in cutting out the old suspension. Once you have cut out the original four link just follow the instructions for the chey spring swap basically. And remember you need to get the springs arched to get lift out of them. They are supposed to lift a pick up about 3" but the back of the runners are so damn heavy they basically dont lift them at all. I ran a 4" block for a few years until the were finally my downfall allowing so much axle wrap that my shocks broke and my rear pinion snapped. I give up a little flex having them arched with an extra leaf now but id rather that then run blocks.

I posted a couple recent pics in the trail pics sticky if you are interested in checking them out.
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