86Original

BTW, a front Aussie locker would likely be fine. You have manual hubs, so when you're not wheeling (hubs unlocked), you don't even know that the locker is there. I wheeled fairly difficult trails with just a front Aussie, BJ spacers, & armor on 32" tires. (i.e. Flatiron Mesa, Hells Revenge, Kelly Flats, Elephant Hill, almost got Carnage's slab)
I concur that with 32"+ tires you'll break idlers &/or tie rods if you wheel on big rocks. I stepped it up to rear locker & winch to go up Blanca Peak. With rear locker ran the whole thing (minus Jaws 3 for time) w/o winching. Broke an idler arm that had already cracked in Carnage.

bob200587

My thing about an aussie locker up front is, I'd like to be able to use 4wd and still be able to turn without unlocking hubs or taking the Tcase out of 4wd. SO if I was gonna buy the compressor and a front ARB....a rear wouldnt be that far off, and I might strike a deal on a combo or somethin.

86Original

You can still turn, particularly if there's dirt. But if you're on clean slickrock, it's a little more challenging. ;-)

bob200587

It just makes breaking CVs so much easier....not worth it. Id rather not break them and buy the ARB then save the money and break them. Too much work to replace even if you have lifetime warranty CVs

slosurfer

This is just a thought, but you don't want to spend the money on bj spacers, because then you will have to get an alignment. I am pretty sure that wheeling ifs with a front locker is going to take you places that are going to break the same stuff that you were worried about with the bj spacers. Also the hard wheeling that the front locker will allow you to do will more than likely kill you alignment anyways. If you are worried about spending money on the front, wheel what you got and lock the rear. Wheel that for awhile and then you will see if you want to keep ifs or sas, but if you already think that you will sas, you will not get back nearly what you paid for the front arb.

I am not saying a front arb is a bad idea ( I hope to get one soon), I am just stating the fact that you don't want to spend money on the front lift because parts break. A front locker is going to put just as much stress on the steering components as a bj spacer. Also, you will break idlers on big rocks no matter what lift or locker combo you have.

sschaefer3

Someone (me) has a 1990 Mini Pickup. Someone (me) has a 4.10 E-Locker out of a 2001 Tacoma. Someone (me) still has the RD90 that they ran in their 1999 4Runner and is going to put it in his work truck (1990 Mini P/U 4WD).

If an RD90 is going to work in the 86-95 stuff, I really think it needs to stay stock.

Best of all.............


She's still on 28's and headed for 4/5 trails.



There's more to it, I made the thing an IFS truss and alot of other stuff. We'll see how she does and the Cryo Hardening on the front IFS axles hold up.


When you have a 4Runner that goes anywhere and never breaks, you tend to want to wheel the work truck.