Since Photobucket is starting to change things, this is the perfect time to refresh my thread a bit.

Here is a recent pic of the truck from June 2017, I took it on a 14 hour road trip from Coral Springs, FL to Beech Mountain, NC. While up there, I found some great offroad spots.



Here was the truck in November 2013. This pic was taken in Ocala, FL at the Hardrock MX Park with the FLCA. I think the KM2 tires were new at that point, I still had the hard top on.




This truck has driven all over the state of Florida from Ocala down to the Keys, and from FL to Kentucky, from FL to Tennessee, and now from FL to North Carolina. It's a tired old 22re, but with the 4.88s it pulls decent on the highway, it drives smoothly at 65ish and with the soft top sides rolled up, the kids love riding in it.


Current Specs:

Suspension:
- Downey IFS Frame Brace
- 1.5" Ball Joint Spacers
- 2" Longer Shackles and Stock springs with Jeep YJ leaf mixed in
- Gabriel ProGuard Shocks All Around

Engine:
- 22re ~193,000 miles, new tchain and bearings at about 171k, new clutch & flywheel at ~165k, new catback exhaust at ~167k
- TG Header
- Flamethrower Injectors
-

Drivetrain:
- New Driver's Side CV
- New Rear Axle Bearings at 183,500
- New Rear 4.88 R&P at 183,500
- New Rear U-joints at 183,500
- Marlin 4.7 Transfer Case gears

Brakes:
- 1" Bore Aisin Master Cylinder
- V6 Calipers
- 1" Wheel Cylinders
- Stainless Extended Brake Lines

Armor:
- Front Range Offroad front bumper with Warn XD9000i winch
- Custom rear bumper

Other:
- SoftTopper soft top
- Roundeyes Headlights

************************************************** ************************************************** *************************************

Toyota Part Numbers for Reference:

Engine:
Distributor Cap 22re 19101-35190
Distr Rotor 22re 19102-73021

Transmission:
Clutch Cover (aka Pressure Plate) 31210-35130
Clutch Disc 31250-35180
Pilot Bearing 90363-12002
Throwout Bearing 90363-40022-77
W56 Output Seal 90311-32009
W56 Input Seal 90311-30115

Under Hood:
Battery Hold Down 74404-89114
Cowl Clips 90467-06005

Interior:
Dome Light Lens 81241-20060

Exterior:
Front:
Turn Signal Lenses 81521-12260

Rear:
Turn Signal Gasket 81522-89131
Tailgate anti rattle clips 65778-89104
************************************************** ************************************************** *************************************


Quick history: It is now my 4Runner, but my brother bought the truck sometime in 2007 and here it is the day we brought it home and tucked it into the garage next to my 1983 Pickup.



A few weeks later we mounted some cheap MTs that came with it and took off the top:




So he drove it for maybe a little over a year, and then he moved on to another 4Runner in better shape, and this one became mine. I sold the '83 pickup and started to work on the Runner.

First up, I put the Buckshot Mudders, FROR bumper, and Warn winch from my truck onto it. I also fixed the sagging rear with a leaf out of a jeep YJ pack. Then took it out to Corbett up in Palm Beach county for a little mud. This doesn't look like much, but it was STUCK. I was winching to another 4Runner and dragging that 4Runner to me instead of pulling me out.

 

I replaced the clutch and flywheel and then took the truck up to the FL4WD event near Tampa. Had a great time, truck had a few tune-up related issues, also ripped off half the tail pipe.

Ordered new cat-back exhaust from Amazon of all places. It was bolt on, direct fit, around $110 and free shipping. I was pretty happy with that, also ordered a new O2 sensor.




Next up, the truck was making a lot of chatter noise, mostly around 3000 rpms and almost always right when I let off the throttle. I thought it might be the valves if I was lucky, but when I got the cover off, I could see driver's side chain guide was gone and there were grooves in the timing cover.

It's not a daily driver, so I let that go for several months, until finally I ran across this deal on a front 4.88 IFS diff from a local Yotatech'r. It's rare for anything good to turn up here in FL, especially local to me in South Florida.




I opened it up, pressed out the CV studs from each axle stub, and then found a way to hold the ADD shift fork to keep it engaged all the time.

Now, as luck would have it, I happened to have an 8" 4.88 diff ready to go for the rear. This was left over from plans I had for the '83 truck.

 

So, since I needed to drop the oil pan and diff to get the timing chain pieces anyway, and I now had the 4.88 gears ready to go, I started the work. By the way, I'm a procrastinator by nature, so getting the new 4.88 diff really kicked me into gear.

First up, I removed the old diff and crossmember




Meanwhile I ordered the new timing set from Engnbldr with new oil pump, water pump, and sleeve-n-seal

Here it is all torn down, with the new chain and guides in place




Things are never just simple for me. As I was cleaning the old timing cover to go back on, I found out that it was cracked at the top where that hidden bolt goes. The PO had "repaired" the crack with some kind of epoxy. So, I had to call Engnbldr again and order a new timing cover.

While waiting for the new cover, I noticed the coolant temp sensor connector was busted. It was just kind of hanging there.

 

Luckily, I found a Yotatech member who was parting out a 22re truck, so I bought the coolant temp sensor connector from him. Turns out though, it wouldn't plug onto my sensor. The sensor was rectangular and the plug was sort of round.




So I went to the auto store with the plug and found that you can buy OE style sensors and more of a universal style. I bought the OE style and of course it plugs right in. So I soldered in the new connector. I won't know the effect of this on the truck running until I get the engine put back together.

 

So I received my cover last night and figured I'd put in a little wrench time. I managed to get the new timing cover on, water pump, oil pump and some of the other bracketry and one of the coolant hoses. I put new brushes in the alternator a few days ago and laid it down in there where it goes. It started raining on me so I called it quits.




Next up will be the oil pan, bolt in the new front diff and hook up the d-shaft and CVs.

 

nice runner

 

Put the new front diff in last night, along with the cross-member.





Also got some goodies from Marlin. A shifter seat and socket, and new rear axle seals for when I throw the rear diff in.




There is one bracket for the engine that I can not figure out. I'll try to find a pic of one, but I think it goes under the PS pump, but for the life of me I can't figure out where.

EDIT: Well, Roger Brown to the rescue, he has a pic of how the mystery bracket goes back on and great enumerated instructions as well. Thanks Roger! It's the green bracket in this pic from his site...

 

I got the engine all buttoned up on Friday, started right up. Then on Saturday I ground the flutes off of the CV studs I had pressed out of the axle shafts. And got the driveshaft and CVs bolted back up.

Next up, I installed new torsion bar adjusting bolts since my old ones were frozen. Before hand the truck was about 1" lower on the front passenger side. Now it's nice and level. Here's a pic of the old bolt next to the new bolt.




Now I'm getting ready to install the rear 4.88 third. I bought it off this forum a few years ago, so I wanted to check it before I install it. The BL looks to be about .010. That's a little high according to Zuk's page, it should be around .008. I think I'll give the adjuster a few cranks and see if I can improve it slightly. I also need to get some gear paint and check the pattern. Here's a shot where I set up the dial indicator




Here is the .010 reading

 

After doing the timing chain, I STILL had a strange engine noise. Turns out it was a rod knock. It was the same noise as this guy's thread https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116/still-tapping-noise-after-timing-chain-replacement-192784/ so I was pretty sure it was a rod bearing.

I ordered the kit from engnbldr, $54 for the 5 mains and 4 rods and went back in. The frustrating thing was that I already had the oil pan off for the timing chain job just a few months ago and now I had to drop the diff and pan again.

Anyway, here is the fried bearing on the left, it was the #1 cylinder. The bearing halves on the right are from one of the other cylinders.



The engine is quiet as a mouse now. I'm at about 171,000 miles so hopefully this is the last bit of major engine work for several years.

 

With the engine work hopefully out of the way, I'm getting to my short(er) list of things to do.

- rear bumper (being built)
- 1.5" ball joint spacers, maybe ZUK coil mod in rear, all new shocks
- 4.7 gears in transfer case
- full soft top
- rear locker, leaning toward Aussie

The rear bumper is being built by a TTORA club member. It will look pretty much like this pic, which I borrowed from the Fab section on this board.

 

Found some deals that I just could not pass up.

First up, I bought a Kayline soft top from a fellow Yotatech member, and got it installed this weekend.







Next up, I bought an Aussie for the rear diff from a member on the Marlin Crawler forum. It's not installed yet, but here it is on my bench. Notice it comes with a nice Aussie sticker too.

 

It's been a fairly productive few weeks. First of all, the Aussie Locker moved from up there ^^^^^^^^^^ to down here vvvvvvvvvvvv



The locker clicks are a little scary at first, I keep running through everything in my mind to make sure I didn't mess something up.

And secondly, I put new gaskets on the exhaust manifold. I replaced all the studs and nuts while I was at it. That turned into a real job, I had to helicoil 2 of the holes and have the manifold true'd up at a machine shop. Drilling the holes required a right angle drill to get between the inner fender and the head. I had to go to a specialty shop to get the M10 x 1.25 set with the inserts, tap, & drill bit so that was $69. Ouch.

 

Had a headlight out, so I just picked up these beauties to replace the stock lamps. Ordered them from Roundeyes for $109 shipped. They are supposedly 60% brighter than stock. At some point I may also upgrade my headlight harness with the 4Crawler setup. I'll put these in this weekend and see if I can get some comparison shots.

 

Wow, I haven't posted in here since June. Going on a 2000 mile round trip in the 4Runner in a few weeks, so I gave it a little TLC over the last few weeks. It's at 176,300 miles, so a lot of things needed attention:

- Repacked front wheel bearings
- Replaced all 4 ball joints
- Replaced both outer tie rod ends (inners were done last year)
- New Aisin clutch master & slave cylinders
- Gave it a homebrew alignment following Matt16's posts
- Took the soft top off and sold it, did not like the Kayline fit
- Changed oil

And finally put a new rear bumper on. It was custom made for me by a local FL TTORA member and he did an amazing job.

 

ur runner looks good

 

Thanks twisted. Checked out your 2 runners, they look great.

 

You're 4Runner looks great! I'm stealing some ideas for my build.

 

Subscribed, love the rear bumper!

 

Swimmer - thanks. Love the yellow paint. 53 pages of build...wow!

Rob - I'm extremely jealous of your wheel/tire combo. Exactly what I want

 

Yeah it's mostly talk hahah but there is some work in there and i think its up to 70 pages now. lol