Figured I'd start a thread after mostly lurking for a couple of years.
In short, I've been improving my runner to be good at two things: comfortable on an 8+ hour night drive in any season, and robust enough to handle light duty off-road for camping. It's not a rock crawler and will probably never go as far as of the
amazing builds on
this forum, but I could not settle for anything less than competency on an unplowed Canadian winter road.
This is my third Toy. Unit 1 was a '91 pickup that I loved a lot until it blew a head gasket at a bad time and got me thinking more seriously about a 4runner. Unit 2 was an '05 V8 4th gen, and while I admired the engine, I never grew very attached to it. The automatic transmisssion was part of that, I think. The other was the payment, for a vehicle that I drove maybe twice a month. I sold it and went without a four-wheeled vehicle for a couple of years.
I started looking for a third gen after lurking here and YT for a while.
I found it a few months later.
PO was in a rush to sell it. I obliged, buying it the day after it hit CL. At 210k miles, with a 1.5k idle, intermittent starter, shaking brakes, and failing battery, I figure he thought he was taking me for a ride. At $3500 for a 4WD manual with an e-locker, zero rust, and minor maintenance jobs, it was me that felt sort of bad.
This is the earliest full picture I still have, the only visible mods being the "factory lift" and '99 clear headlights.
It's been my hobby since.