Yotard's 95 4Runner Build
#1
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Thread Starter
Yotard's 95 4Runner Build
So I have been on here for a few years now and I have been meaning to do this since the beginning.
In 2010 I bought a 1995 4Runner 3.0 auto trans 4x4 with 135,000mi
Here it is as I bought it:
Since then I have added
1.5" Ball joint spacers
New Toyota upper and lower ball joints
OME 901HD coils
4crawler pan hard drop
Old man emu shocks at all four corners
Old man emu steering stabilizer
Northwest off road idler truss
Warn HD manual hubs
Eagle Alloy rims with 32x11.5/15 BFG KM2
My A/C never worked right so I bought a Denso AC compressor, dryer and expansion valve from autopartswarehouse.com and after 2 years is still blowing cold air.
I put in a new 3row all metal radiator from autopartswarehouse.com with a new thermostat and radiator hoses
I was having trouble with the transmission temp light coming on when I went up into the hills over Donner Summit so I added a Hayden 777 and an auto meter phantom gauge into it. Never gets over 220 climbing the hills now.
The hayden 777 has large AN fittings that I put a 1/2 pipe thread into the fitting and then ran regular tapered brass fittings to instead of the AN that I couldn't find fittings for.
Rebuilt my Hi-Lift
Added a Surco Safari rack with Jack mount
Bought Motive 4.88 Ring and Pinion with Koyo Master Kit, Spartan Locker, Cryo treated the gears and bearings
Mudrak built my rear third with the 4.88s and Spartan for me I have that and a full face Marlin diff armor sitting on the bench to go in
I bought another Spartan and a used IFS front 3rd from ToyotaBoy on here with 4.88s I am going to install the Spartan myself and install both 3rds pretty soon
Flamethrower Bosch 4 hole upgraded injectors
Finally got to install the rear 3rd with 4.88s and Spartan locker I pulled the driveshaft and put in TG Creeper joint.
While the housing was empty I welded on Marlin Crawler full face diff armor
Painted it up
Extended the brake lines with braided stainless lines
On the truck
Got to swap the front diff for the 4.88 and Spartan
dropped the IFS axle out
Swapped it on my bench for easy working
Pressed out all of the bolts on the CV axles and turned off the knurling, made it so much easier to go back in
its nice to have a lathe!
1" diff drop that I also made on my lathe. I am currently working on a way to make it more than just rotating the diff down
but actually making it a true 1" drop.
Welded up this CBI plate winch bumper kit
Added on a Warn 8000lb winch.
Finally got back to the rocksliders after almost two years of sitting in the garage. I am pretty happy with the way they turned out.
Made a nice Cargo box for the back with 300lb drawer slides
In 2010 I bought a 1995 4Runner 3.0 auto trans 4x4 with 135,000mi
Here it is as I bought it:
Since then I have added
1.5" Ball joint spacers
New Toyota upper and lower ball joints
OME 901HD coils
4crawler pan hard drop
Old man emu shocks at all four corners
Old man emu steering stabilizer
Northwest off road idler truss
Warn HD manual hubs
Eagle Alloy rims with 32x11.5/15 BFG KM2
My A/C never worked right so I bought a Denso AC compressor, dryer and expansion valve from autopartswarehouse.com and after 2 years is still blowing cold air.
I put in a new 3row all metal radiator from autopartswarehouse.com with a new thermostat and radiator hoses
I was having trouble with the transmission temp light coming on when I went up into the hills over Donner Summit so I added a Hayden 777 and an auto meter phantom gauge into it. Never gets over 220 climbing the hills now.
The hayden 777 has large AN fittings that I put a 1/2 pipe thread into the fitting and then ran regular tapered brass fittings to instead of the AN that I couldn't find fittings for.
Rebuilt my Hi-Lift
Added a Surco Safari rack with Jack mount
Bought Motive 4.88 Ring and Pinion with Koyo Master Kit, Spartan Locker, Cryo treated the gears and bearings
Mudrak built my rear third with the 4.88s and Spartan for me I have that and a full face Marlin diff armor sitting on the bench to go in
I bought another Spartan and a used IFS front 3rd from ToyotaBoy on here with 4.88s I am going to install the Spartan myself and install both 3rds pretty soon
Flamethrower Bosch 4 hole upgraded injectors
Finally got to install the rear 3rd with 4.88s and Spartan locker I pulled the driveshaft and put in TG Creeper joint.
While the housing was empty I welded on Marlin Crawler full face diff armor
Painted it up
Extended the brake lines with braided stainless lines
On the truck
Got to swap the front diff for the 4.88 and Spartan
dropped the IFS axle out
Swapped it on my bench for easy working
Pressed out all of the bolts on the CV axles and turned off the knurling, made it so much easier to go back in
its nice to have a lathe!
1" diff drop that I also made on my lathe. I am currently working on a way to make it more than just rotating the diff down
but actually making it a true 1" drop.
Welded up this CBI plate winch bumper kit
Added on a Warn 8000lb winch.
Finally got back to the rocksliders after almost two years of sitting in the garage. I am pretty happy with the way they turned out.
Made a nice Cargo box for the back with 300lb drawer slides
Last edited by Yotard; 03-18-2017 at 09:01 AM.
#3
Registered User
Thread Starter
Thanks! Yeah it really changed the look a lot. I am really happy with it so far. It has been a really fun project and I am not even close to done with it.
#4
Registered User
Thread Starter
I finished the front differential today. I took the factory 4.88 diff that I bought, tore it down to the carrier. I then bored the non add carrier on my Bridgeport mill to accept the needle bearings for the add setup. I then added in the spartan locker and reassembled the diff. Ready for installation.
Last edited by Yotard; 04-19-2014 at 02:52 PM.
#5
Registered User
iTrader: (1)
I finished the front differential today. I took the factory 4.88 diff that I bought, tore it down to the carrier. I then bored the non add carrier on my Bridgeport mill to accept the needle bearings for the add setup. I then added in the spartan locker and reassembled the diff. Ready for installation.
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#8
Registered User
Thread Starter
I'm pulling the diffs tonight to swap in the 4.88 locked diffs. I'm replacing the Ujoints with Trail Gear creeper joints, welding on Marlin Crawler full face diff armor and replacing the rubber brake lines with extended braided stainless brake lines, 1" Diff drop and 1" sway bar drop as well. Good thing I have a 3 day weekend.
#9
Registered User
Thread Starter
Updated pictures above with the work that I did this weekend. I was able to get through the rear 3rd member install with the new 4.88s and Spartan locker, welded in the Marlin Crawler full face diff armor, rebuilt the driveshaft with TG creeper joints, and extended the brake lines. I wasn't able to get to the front diff yet because my daughter came down with the stomach flu so I had to take care of the poor little thing. I was able to drive it yesterday and WHAT A DIFFERENCE! The locker was only noticeable when I did a U-turn, other than that I could here it clicking every now and then but the 4.88s are the biggest improvement. The truck leaves a stop sign effortlessly now. I am in the break in process right now so I won't be wheeling it until I get passed the 500mi mark and change the oil. I am really happy with the way it is working so far and highly recommend doing it if you are on the fence.
#10
Updated pictures above with the work that I did this weekend. I was able to get through the rear 3rd member install with the new 4.88s and Spartan locker, welded in the Marlin Crawler full face diff armor, rebuilt the driveshaft with TG creeper joints, and extended the brake lines. I wasn't able to get to the front diff yet because my daughter came down with the stomach flu so I had to take care of the poor little thing. I was able to drive it yesterday and WHAT A DIFFERENCE! The locker was only noticeable when I did a U-turn, other than that I could here it clicking every now and then but the 4.88s are the biggest improvement. The truck leaves a stop sign effortlessly now. I am in the break in process right now so I won't be wheeling it until I get passed the 500mi mark and change the oil. I am really happy with the way it is working so far and highly recommend doing it if you are on the fence.
Are you running any HD torsion bars?
What size wheels are your running and what is the back spacing?
Are you going to upgrade any of the bushing too?
Sweet!
#11
Registered User
Thread Starter
Torsion bars are stock and are not cranked up, wheels are Eagle Alloys 15" Diameter 10" wide 3.625 Backspacing
Got energy suspension sway bar bushings ready to go in with the sway bar drop.
Got energy suspension sway bar bushings ready to go in with the sway bar drop.
#12
I ran Bilsteins all around with HR rear springs, Downey Off Road Torsion bars and the front truss support. That T4R drove like a brick on the CA freeways and that drove my wife nuts. Had to put the stock torsion bars back in and stock shocks back in. Oh well, still somewhat lifted I guess.
#15
Registered User
Thread Starter
Got to swap front diffs this weekend and updated the last 4 pictures with the changes I made. I can't wait to get out there and see what kind of improvements I get out of having a fully locked rig
#16
Registered User
Thread Starter
Look what showed up at my door! Trail gear sliders. Unfortunately I bought the 4Runner 58" length. Really TG you should be more specific, there are a lot fewer 1st gen 4Runners out there than 4 door ones, you shouldn't even label them 4Runner sliders you should just call them 58" sliders because then I would have measured my truck and ordered the 67" sliders. Yes, I do accept that I was an idiot for not measuring my truck but I saw 4Runner and thought it would fit. Well I bought a stick of DOM today and will cut and weld it in myself to make them 67" but seriously guys could you advertise more accurately please!!!
#17
Registered User
Thread Starter
So my transmission decided to stop shifting on the way to work this week. OD light kept flashing so I pulled a code 63 #2 solenoid. Have a solenoid kit ordered to replace this weekend. I'm going to try aftermarket since the stealership wants 300 bucks for one solenoid. I was going to run signal peak trail this Saturday. Oh well.
#18
Registered User
Thread Starter
Over-Heating uphill only on hot days
I have been chasing an overheating problem that is very strange, at least to me. 3.0 95 4Runner auto trans
I replaced the radiator 3 years ago about 15,000mi ago with a 3 row all metal. I flushed and changed the coolant, new thermostat and hoses non toyota.
Ever since then on very hot days and going up hill the temp will go up as long as the I am going up hill. I never let it get passed 2/3 way up. I can run the AC all day long on flat ground no problem, but try to go up a hill and I start to overheat on hot days 90 degrees plus. Running the heater slows a lot. Needle will just move above center rather than climbing 2/3 to red.
Last weekend I put in a toyota 82C 180F thermostat and flushed the coolant and put on a new radiator cap and put on an aisin fan clutch, yes the shroud is on it.
You are all going to start telling me head gasket right?
Well last night I ran a coolant hydro carbon test on the radiator and it bubbled for 5 min when the truck was warm and it never changed color.
Oil is clean, oil cap is clean, coolant is clean and not losing coolant.
Pressure tested the system holds pressure, cap is fine.
What test should I run now?
I replaced the radiator 3 years ago about 15,000mi ago with a 3 row all metal. I flushed and changed the coolant, new thermostat and hoses non toyota.
Ever since then on very hot days and going up hill the temp will go up as long as the I am going up hill. I never let it get passed 2/3 way up. I can run the AC all day long on flat ground no problem, but try to go up a hill and I start to overheat on hot days 90 degrees plus. Running the heater slows a lot. Needle will just move above center rather than climbing 2/3 to red.
Last weekend I put in a toyota 82C 180F thermostat and flushed the coolant and put on a new radiator cap and put on an aisin fan clutch, yes the shroud is on it.
You are all going to start telling me head gasket right?
Well last night I ran a coolant hydro carbon test on the radiator and it bubbled for 5 min when the truck was warm and it never changed color.
Oil is clean, oil cap is clean, coolant is clean and not losing coolant.
Pressure tested the system holds pressure, cap is fine.
What test should I run now?
Last edited by Yotard; 08-01-2014 at 01:31 PM.