As I read more and more about prerunning it seems its predominatly filled with 2wd vehilcles and the total choas site even recommends removing the front diff for extra travel. So here's my questions:

1.Would I just need to get the rear transmission housing, driveshaft and fronts spindles from a 2wd 4runner to convert it, or am I missing something?

2.Could I get any money for my 4wd parts? if so any ideas how much?

This is my last post fro today, thanks for your patience.

 

my question is tho...why would you want to prerun a 4runner? if you wanted an extreme desert vehicle, wouldnt it make more sense to sell the runner and buy a 2wd pickup and do it RIGHT?

 

The main reason to remove your 4wd is if you are going to run coilovers where you have to for clearance reasons. If you are going to stick with torsion bars/reservoir shocks then just keep your 4wd and use the T-100 axles with the TC kit. The 2wd 4runners are the same as yours minus the front diff/transfer case. The 4wd Toyotas make great prerunner type vehicles and already have more clearance for bigger tires than if you went with a 2wd. 2wd's are somewhat cheaper to build because of less parts and have less things to break. Thats why more people use them, but there is a lot of longtravel kits out there for 4wd Toyotas which is a plus. You can also check out www.esbfabrications.com who also sells kits for Toyotas.

 

Here is a picture from Total Chaos' website of their "Caddy Kit". This truck is using 4wd with bypass shocks.

 

^^^ That suspension is what I'm saving up for.

 

ditto. btw that pic is freaking sweet. Also, where can you find prices for the total chaos suspension, I couldn't find it on the site only prices for the add ons.

 

Where do you live?

Edit: Try here for prices. I'm not sure how prices anywhere else compare, but I do know that prices for most of their stuff is pretty competitive, so take it for what you will.

Edit#2: Here, here, and here are the three they sell for your Runner. Just throwing out ideas and comparisons.

 

I've seen this guy around town more than a few times. At first I was pretty impressed until I saw the lack of front axles. Being able to fly down trails at 60mph is all fine and dandy, but it's amazing what you miss out on when you don't have 4wd.

 

I agree completely. That's why I want that TC kit. Looks like it flexes plenty. Definitely better than stock. So all kinds of offroading are possible.

 

You have to realize that most of these guys live in SoCal where it is only a short drive to Baja and there are plenty of local spots to pre-run and jump. 2WD trucks are awesome and can achieve much more travel in the end than a 4WD, but I really like to wheel and pre-run so when we built up our Tacoma we went with TC and kept 4WD, and the same for my 4runner. check out the tacoma here http://www.trailslesstraveled.com Unless you are planning on going very extreme, the the TC kit w/4WD is your best choice. Plus when you do this you will need wider Tundra CV's which unlike Tacoma trapezoidal "CV" like joints, actually have true CV's that can handle much more angularity. So keep 4WD and go jump and go wheel, and get the best of both worlds!

 

You can also look at www.bajaconcepts.com or www.kartek.com.

 

I still think it looks pretty sweet.

 

I've got 14" of travel and still retain 4WD with my TC LT kit. It's nice to be able to prerun and at the same token go rockcrawling. Soon I hope to have a set of bypass shocks to help with dampening those moments of catching air.....



BTW, the only time I got airborne, there was nobody ready with a camera

 

Bruce, if you remove the bumpstops (which you don't want to do for obvious reasons) you will get 14" of travel but with the bumps installed you are pulling exactly 13". Which is till tons of vertical wheel travel and totally kick ass. I was down at Kartek the other day and Mike was telling me about your truck. It is coming along nice. you mentioned triangulating the rear links, are you planning on lengthening them as well?

 

Yea, Mike was the one who talked me into the long travel set-up, actually it was when he showed me the only set of 4Runner fenders he had in stock that made me decided to do it. That and the fact he didn't have the Donahoe coil over assy's in stock for the standard TC upper a-arms, otherwise the outcome may have been completely different. With the addition of the 1" diff drop I was able to get a bit more droop out of the suspension. I've got the limit straps set to just prevent the uniballs from maxing out and the axles don't bind at all. During my landing after getting it airborne, the suspension totally compressed all the way to the skid plate.

Once I get around to building my rear suspension, the links will be extended to the transfer case. I have most of the design work done, all I need to do is get an extra frame and rear axle housing to fabricate all the parts and do a mock-up. I'll then build a jig to fabricate the links. The only problem I have encountered is the stock crossmember where the upper links attach to may be in the way. I'm trying to keep it as low as possible, but I have other options in mind too.

 

I have a 2wd mod on my 4Runner.
I am actually waiting on a differential to come from Canada and wanted to drive my truck. What I did was remove my CV shafts, differential and drive shaft. The major issue here is the wheel bearings because the CVs hold them in. For this I decided to take the outer joint off of some old CVs. I used a big steel tube to seperate the CV on one and an air cut off wheel for the other. The I simply slid the joints in the wheels and tightened it down. I have developed a loud pop in the steering rack when I turn right and My front output shaft makes alot of noise. I hope this is due to not much restriction from the lack of diff and driveshaft.

 

Bruce, The measurements that we took while installing the Total Chaos long travel kit on our Tacoma showed that the suspension travel is limited by the angularity of the upper Uni-ball. We measured exactly 14" of vertical wheel travel during the installation with the bumpstops removed (metal-to-metal), but the bumpstops, 8" travel Swayaway shocks, and upper Uni-ball all max. out at just a hair over 13" of useable wheel travel. Lowering the front differential may help with your CV angles, but would not affect the limits of the suspension travel at all. The limit straps do work great as a progressive stop on extension travel. We just installed a pair of Swayaway 3-tube bypasses on the front of the Tacoma, and are in the process of re-valving all of the shocks.

Keep us posted on the progress of your rear suspension, and PM me about anything that we might be able to work on together. I'm interested in making similar improvements to my rear suspension. What are you planning on doing about the gas tank? We've thought about using a fuel-cell behind the axle and re-locating the spare tire. There isn't much room to work with, is there? Are you planning on bringing shocks/coil-overs through the body?

 

Hyperlite, We also removed the front drive-shaft, differential and CV shafts when we first installed our long travel kit because we couldn't get new Tundra CV shafts in-time. The CV shafts do not hold the wheel bearing in place, but removing them does leave a big opening in the spindle, exposed to dirt and contaminants that can ruin your wheel bearings. The 2WD (Prerunner) Tacomas 3rd Gen. 4Runners use the same 4wd spindle with a plug where the CV shaft would have been. We just cut the top and bottom off of a 4" diameter soup can, and used silicone to hold them in-place because the factory parts from Toyota are EXPENSIVE.

 

Trust me that it does because I origonally did this a while back and ended up with 6"-8" of play from driving 5 miles to Wendy's, destoying my bearings and then my rotors and pads. On my spindles the bearing are pressed in and any jaring motion from side to side will cause this bearing to come loose. When you thread the CV end in it holds the whole assembally together
Do not run with CV's out in a 3rd Gen 4Runner or Tacoma.

When I made my rear bumper I hacked the old spare tire crossmember out. I then uses 2" square tubing to make a new crossmember. The bottom of the crossover is 2" above the frame rails. I have a 2"BL so I have masive amounts of clearence there. I want to fit a fuel cell or something in there cause my current one is bent up

 

hey will your 4x4 parts fit on my tundra?.. if so we can swap parts.. would that work?