1998 A Little Wrecked and Is Time For Some Real Work

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WOODYs4RUNNER

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I have a 1998 and about two hours ago, I was turning and the rear end slid out from under me. I hit the cement wall on my right, almost head on at about 20-30 mph. I need to fix this soon. If all you can put together some upgrade ideas for me this would be great. I will have to take all the front end pieces off and then go to a body shop and put the runner on a puller machine, but after that is done, is where you all will come in. I would appriciate your help, so if you do thanks.
 
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There was a recall on '97s and '98s which relocated the rear axle bump stops and replaced the rear springs to give the rear axle more travel and reduce the sudden oversteer.

Look at your rear suspension. If the bump stops are inside the coil springs, your truck has had the recall performed. If they're mounted on the frame outside the springs, it hasn't been done.

If your truck hasn't had the recall, I'd sure press the dealer to do it. I had a '98, and it could do sudden nasty moves like yours did to you. Not fun!
 
Bump Stops

I will check next week while I visit the body shop. I want to take some pictures before they perform any work. I'm having an ARB bumper installed. Do you know if there is a full front bumper, sides, and rear bumper kit? Do you also know if there is a snorkel available for the 98' 3.4 motor? Instead of the body shop installing an oem bumper I am paying the difference and upgrading. What do you fellow people know about the REVTEK 3 inch lift kit? I can have this installed for $550 in the bodyshop while they have everything torn apart too! Thanks on your information, keep up the help!
 
khaug said:
There was a recall on '97s and '98s which relocated the rear axle bump stops and replaced the rear springs to give the rear axle more travel and reduce the sudden oversteer.

Look at your rear suspension. If the bump stops are inside the coil springs, your truck has had the recall performed. If they're mounted on the frame outside the springs, it hasn't been done.

If your truck hasn't had the recall, I'd sure press the dealer to do it. I had a '98, and it could do sudden nasty moves like yours did to you. Not fun!
Click to expand...

my 96 has both, a square one outside, and a round cone looking one on the inside of the spring.
 
Just checked my alldata.com DIY account for recall info, and it states that loading the vehicle at close to gross rear axle weight and close to GVW, in combination with certain severe manuevers, can can loss of directional stability.

It also says that 4x4s are not affected due to "different rear suspension characteristics."

It affects 96 to early 98s. Is the 98 in question a 2wd? If not, this is a rare case of Toyota being full of **** & means I'll be calling the dealer for an appointment to make sure it's taken care of.

BManning
 
Re: Bump Stops

WOODYs4RUNNER said:
I will check next week while I visit the body shop. I want to take some pictures before they perform any work. I'm having an ARB bumper installed. Do you know if there is a full front bumper, sides, and rear bumper kit? Do you also know if there is a snorkel available for the 98' 3.4 motor? Instead of the body shop installing an oem bumper I am paying the difference and upgrading. What do you fellow people know about the REVTEK 3 inch lift kit? I can have this installed for $550 in the bodyshop while they have everything torn apart too! Thanks on your information, keep up the help!
Click to expand...

If you want a full functional front bumper, sliders and rear bumper that will stop a train (jk), check out www.BentUp.com They doo all kinds of custom metal work like bumpers, exo-cages, sliders, armor ect for all kinds of trucks, but specialize in toyotas. his prices are good and his work is top notch. Their number is on their site, ask for AJ, and tell him Jay Rieger sent you.
 
It is a 4wd. Thank you for your info and I have an appointment with Toyota next week. The truck is still in the bodyshop. So should I be asking the question of "Should I have lost traction on one of the first down poors for the Fall season in a Toyota during normal driving condition's?" Is there more to this than I'm thinking? Do you fellow forumer's know something that I haven't thought up yet?
 
Interestingly, it's only recall associated with 3rd gen 4Runners- which speaks volumes about their general quality- but if I'm you, I'd ask them for a complete explanation of the recall and why they claim it only affects 2wd 4runners (what, exactly, are the differences in the rear suspensions? spring rate? geometry? linkage?).

Do you have any legal recourse? That's a question for a lawyer, not me, but it might be worth a phone call to one. Essentially, you had an accident that at least could have been somewhat caused by an acknowledged factory defect/issue. Lawyer might tell you there's nothing you can do, might be worth asking...

Good luck...
 
To add to this, the guy who is walking me through the process of Farmers Insurance at the bodyshop is telling me the agent for Farmers is coming out Friday to overlook the damage. The bodyshop is telling me the 4runner is on top of a fence right now and could fall either way of being totalled or fixed. Its all up to the the amount of money the Farmers agent wants to put into labor of pulling the frame. For advice to all with 4Runners. DRIVE SLOW WHEN TURNING!!! This was my fathers baby. He passed away 09/10/2005. This truck has so much sentimental value to me right now that this is just a nightmare to me. I hope he will go with fixing the 4runner because I just installed a KENWOOD DDX-8017, Kicker L5, Kicker RS speakers all around, and was going to install while in the bodyshop an ARB front bumper(painted the color of the truck), a Revtek 3" lift, and a K&N intake kit. I hope this all comes true. My dad would be very happy with the out come. I'm pissed off at the wet weather right cause when it pours it pours.
 

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They have totalled-it-out for the frame needs replacement. Man oh man!!! What now, I'm in such a loss for words right now. Well, I will hear from Farmers sometime next week for figures and their ideas. Anyways please write and tell me your experiences, so I can help mine. I looked at the bump stops today. They are big and on the outside of the springs. Near the tires. I'm really irritated now, since the recall was never performed. Hmmm...
 
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