Hello,
This is a long post so be warned.

I have some questions and would also like to introduce myself as a new member of the yotatech forums and as a proud 4x4 Toyota owner. My name is Greg and I live in Dawsonville GA and here are some pictures of my rigs. Questions will come after.

A 1992 Toyota 22r-e 5 Speed 4x2 Pickup. The odometer stopped working at 280,000+ miles and she still runs like almost brand new. There's no way to stop a Toyota.


My 1987 4x4 2.3 5 Speed Isuzu Trooper. This was my "FIRST" 4x4. She has 200,000+ miles on her and runs like a top, I love this rig.


Now here's the daily driver and my pride and joy. My 1995 3.0 (3.slow) 4x4 auto (I’d rather of had a 5 speed, we can always fix that) 4Runner. She has 230,000+ miles on her and counting. I’ve had her for about a month+ now. She had some problems when I got her but I’ve slowly gotten those fixed. I’ve done the timing belt, all the hoses and all the other belts; I did the cam and crank seals, the pinion seal and the driver rear axle bearing, plugs and plug wires and other small stuff. I still have to do the valve cover gaskets; that’ll probably happen next weekend.


The person that had the runner before me spilt oil on the back carpet; I tried to clean it with no luck. So I went to home depot and got some out door boat carpet and put it in the back along with some in home padding, it works out great.


I’m planning the start the modding on this beast here soon. Here are the immediate future planed mods:
· 33x12.5x15 BF Goodrich Mud Terrains
· 15” Black Steel Wheels
· Ball Joint Spacers
· Heavy Duty Torsion Bars
· New Rear Coils (kind???) to fix the a$$ sag and get lift
· New Shocks (kind???)
· Rock Sliders
· Rear Locking Diff (kind???)
· Home made Snorkel
· And other small mods: CB, diff breathers, etc.

8+ months down the road mods:
· Customer made front and rear bumpers
· Roof rack
· Audio mods
· 3.4 swap
· 5 speed swap
· There are others I just can’t think of them right now.

Before I get to the questions I’d like to explain my goals for this rig. My ultimate goal is to have a rig that’ll do moderate to moderate + trails and still allow me to use it as a daily driver. I drive about 50 miles+ a day to and from work. I want to fit 33x12.5x15 on it with the least amount of unnecessary lift.

Q1 - Coils: Could I fit 33s on the runner using Downey’s 20% heavy duty coils with or without the 1.5” spacers? If the 1.5” spacer is required would it be better to use a full 3” coil instead of a coil and spacer combo?

Q2 – Shocks: Are the Rancho RS9000X shocks worth the money, or would the RS5000 shocks work just as good? I understand I’m kind of comparing apples to oranges here. I guess what I’m asking is, is it just kind of like having steak instead of hamburgers with the 9000’s because you can adjust them? Is it really worth the extra money spent to have 9 adjustments? Are there any better shocks out there for on and off road than the Rancho’s (saving money is always a good thing )?

Q3 – Rear Locking Diff: I’m thinking ( ) of getting the “Aussie Locker” because of the ease of install and the low cost. Can a regular person really put this baby in? On there website is says they have a locker for the pickup rear end but not the 4runner rear end. From my understanding these are the same rear ends, am I incorrect? I’m going to call and ask them I just wanted to see what you guys thought. If you feel this is not the locker for my application or there is a better locker for my application please let me know.

Q4 – Front Locking Diff: I was thinking ( ) of putting the “Aussie Locker” in my front diff also. I have the ADD system with soon to be manual locking hubs (I just ordered the manual hubs, I have autos now). I just want someone to tell me if my thinking is correct or incorrect on this. OK, if I put an “Aussie Locker” in the front diff will the drive shaft from the 3rd member to the transfer case spin continuously? If that’s the case will that be a problem with daily driving and highway speeds of around 75-80 MPH (yea I know I’m speeding at those speeds )?



Thanks for the information and suggestions,
Greg

 

Link to Aussie Lockers:
http://www.offroadlockers.com/home.p...e/a09c/0/.html

 

Welcom aboard. I got a 88 trooper also with a 2.3. It's dead right now. Bad engine. I loved it though.

 

welcome!

 

Welcome to the best 4Runner source on the board IMO.

 

I'd do FJ80 short side coils for the rear a panhard drop bracket and ball joint spacers in the front.
Also get some longer shocks not sure which you were thinking but I had Rancho 5000 shocks PN RS5167(front) Rancho 5000 shocks PN RS5017(rear)
when I was running that setup it worked great.
You can do the rancho 9000x's too I think the numbers are the same just replace the 5 in the begining of part # with a 9.
Here's my old 93 runner's cardomain page if you want to check it out for ideas.

 

he means on the web... and he's right!

 

I'd get some sway-away torsion bars for the front if you want minimal lift to clear 33's. I have mine cranked up for 1.5" of lift. A little trimming of the front bumper and pounding of the inner fender seem was all that was needed to prevent rubbing off-road.

 

I rebuilt quite a few of those engines....they seemed to have constant problems with oil pressure.
Those toasters (affectinately named for being so top heavy) were actually not bad offroad machines.

 

Is that your chameleon? (sorry to hijack)

 

Yea it's an awsome ride, just the 2.3 were bad head castings (hot spots between #2 &#3 cylinders) and oil pumps were weak. other than that they were bullet proof. only thin to ever break on it was the engine

 

Thanks for the welcome and information everyone.

Keggo - That chameleon (it’s a Jackson chameleon) is not mine. I have kept and breed 3 species of chameleons (Panthers, Jackson’s, and Veiled’s). At one time I had 3 breeding pairs of panthers and a number of breeding pairs of Jackson’s. I now breed dwarf monitors (Ackie’s and Kimberley Rocks), high-end boa morphs (Ghost, Salmons and Arabs to name a few, I even have a new morph under works), and high-end crested geckos. I also have a large collection of tarantulas, mostly ornamentals (Indians, Sri-Lanka’s, and Red-Slate’s to name a few). I even have large colonies of hissing cockroaches and lobster roaches.

Here are some pictures of the species and morphs above for anyone interested.

Panther Chameleons - http://www.chameleoncorral.com/images/LeonardoAmbilobe_400.jpg

Adult Yellow Ackie’s - http://www.diamondreptile.com/yellow_ackies2.jpg
Adult Red Ackie’s - http://www.rainbowboa.co.uk/images/Red%20Ackie%20-%201.JPG

Kimberley Rock Monitors - http://market.kingsnake.com/image/325919.jpg

Boa Morph’s:
Salmons - http://www.boa-constrictors.com/Bilder/SalmonHypo.jpg
Ghost Boa - http://www.boabasement.com/page/mpdgb42.jpg
Arab Boa - http://www.classreptilia.com/images/arabesque3.jpg

Tarantulas:
Indian - http://www.reinoanimal.hpg.ig.com.br/IndianOrnamental.jpg
Red-Slate - http://www.swiftinverts.com/species/Pruf-f1.jpg
Gooty Ornamental – (Pure Blue) - http://www.swiftinverts.com/species/Pm-f.jpg

Crested Geckos (crested geckos make GREAT pets):
http://www.tainoreptiles.com/files/crestytrio.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/crestedgecko/eating.JPG

I hope everyone enjoys.