You are modest. Nice work!

IMO, a huge value add of sliders is side impact protection. I got the 4Runner with my family in-mind (would have gone Tacoma if no kids), and I've seen a few t-bone impacts over the years, by other vehicles mostly, trees and other objects too, and sliders can be life-savers. The family views them as side bumpers of sorts... Nothing more precious than life itself.

Your build has purpose and I'm enjoying it.

Thanks, glad you're enjoying! I've definitely learned a lot with the Tacoma, so it's nice to have a T4R that's so similar to wrench on and look like I know what I'm doing .

I've always wondered about that with sliders. Seems like the frame is right there anyway, but I suppose they help to reinforce it a bit or at least stick out an extra foot or so.

Here are the sliders you were wondering about. I bought the pieces at NWTI for a lot less than they are currently asking (maybe there's more pre-assembly now? ), and then welded them up myself.

Their sticking outward helps keep impacting objects from protruding or further protruding into the cabin.

I've now seen a couple Tacoma guys come here, knowing what they want, as well as their away around a 4Runner. So much in common...

You should be loosening (but not removing) all the pivot bolts on all 5 links when you lift (10 places). If you did that, the process is simple - ALL the droop, none of the re-alignment issues. Keep a jack under the rear diff to avoid dropping the axle too far. Re-tighten at ride height, and all the bushings will be in their relaxed state and you will give them the longest life possible.

Same deal on the front suspension. Loosen the upper pivot bolt and lower adjustment cams (and find out NOW if they are seized, before you get to the alignment shop!) - all the droop, easy to align the shock lower bolt, though you then have to jack the bottom arm UP to align it. Re-tighten at ride height for relaxed bushings at the new ride height.

As a general rule of thumb, every rubber bushing should be tightened at ride height... (if you go poly and/or heim, it is no longer an issue)

-Charlie

Yeah, I can see how having them stick out would help slightly, at least theoretically. my guess is that in reality, with most of the cars and trucks on the road these days being SUVs and pickups, that the majority of them would likely have impacts above the sliders.

But hey, if the thing I was most worried about was safety, I wouldn't have purchased a 97 4Runner.

And don't get me wrong, I still love my 1st Gen Tacoma. It's still the main adventure vehicle, but this 4Runner will be great when we take the kiddo along, and allows me to have the DD experience that the Taco used to be but is now over built for.

Interesting, thanks Charlie.

Both my Haynes manual, and the FSM didn't mention simply loosening bushings, nor have the instructions from various lift resellers that I've seen.

I wonder if in practice, these 20 year old trucks are never in good enough shape when it comes to the bushings etc, and so it is nearly required to unbolt various components.

Even disconnecting the sway and lateral bar, I had to push down on the rear axle to get it to droop low enough to install the new, longer springs. (And that was also the case on a 5th gen Runner I did recently.)

Anyway, I like the idea of loosening the lower control arm cams since you're going to get an alignment anyway - those LCAs always seem to be the limiter to me on the front.

Also interesting how different my Tacoma was from a droop perspective in the front compared to this 4Runner (where I have no idea how it was treated for the first 260,000 miles) - so clearly long-term maintenance etc. make a difference.

It is pretty subtle, but its there. "Stabilize suspension" - That's Japanese for all the bolts should be loose until the suspension is on the ground, has been bounced and maybe even rolled back and forth a bit.

From the front shock section (SA-52):

All other suspension sections have a similar "torque after stabilizing suspension" wording too.

-Charlie

Oh, sure - for re-installation, I totally get that torquing when siting on the ground is the right way to go. I meant that I'd never heard of simply loosening bolts in order to be able to get full movement of the axle - that still seems like it wouldn't work to me. But, I've never tried it, so it's something to experiment with next time. I mean, it's "on the way" to removing them (as I've generally done) anyway.

Charlie's the man! Good work sir.

Slowly Turning the 4Runner into a Tacoma...New LBJs and OTREs
April 23, 2019.

It's been a busy few weeks getting the 4Runner whipped into shape mechanically. As I've said before - I knew there were a few things to do when I bought it, and I felt like it was easily accounted for in the purchase price of the vehicle.

The last of those mechanical things was one that I wanted to do out of an abundance of caution - preemptively replace the lower ball joints (LBJs). These are a part that's known to fail - and catastrophically - on 3rd gen 4Runners, and since I had no idea when (or if) the previous owner last replaced them, I figured that it'd be good to get mine into a "known" state.


That, and I wanted to perform a little experiment - I wanted to install some 1st gen Tacoma LBJs on the 4Runner.

"Why?" You may ask, "would you ever want to do that?"

My answer would be twofold:

1. Convenience. Because the LBJs are a known failure point, whenever I'm out on an adventure, I like to carry a set of trail spares. These are just my original Tacoma LBJs - which, while used, are definitely be in good enough shape to get me home. And, if I could carry those Tacoma LBJs with me when I'm in the 4Runner, that's more convenient than having a second set to lug around there.
2. Curiosity (and a possibly better part; but mostly curiosity). I've heard a rumor that the Tacoma LBJs are stronger (or at least beefier) than the 4Runner variant. Not by much, but a little. Before this experiment I had no idea if that was the case, so I figured this would be a good way to find out.

As one does - having already made the decision - I figured a bit of research was in order to try to understand if it would work. And - of course - I discovered that switching out to Tacoma LBJs wasn't a single-part swap, and that there could be a side effect.

• To swap the LBJs, I'd also need to replace the outer tie rod ends (OTREs) since the joint between the two is slightly different between the Tacoma and 4Runner.
• Word on the street was that turning radius could be affected due to OTRE interference/contact with the sway bar at full lock (or rather, limiting full lock).

Both seemed reasonable to me - after-all, new OTREs just meant a few more bucks into the bottomless black hole of truck costs, and the turning radius of the 4Runner is already so much better than the Tacoma that even if I lost a bit of radius, I'd still feel like it was amazing.

It's settled then.

So, I gathered the requisite parts. The LBJs were easy - I knew I was going with OEM there, since the aftermarket ones generally lead down a road to trouble. I ordered a left and right using the following part numbers since these come with new bolts as well, where the other part numbers don't (L: 43340-39585; R: 43330-39815). For the OTREs, I'd heard from Zane @Speedy tech7 that I could get Japanese made 555 versions in ACDelco Professional boxes for about half the price of OEM (L: 45047-39175;R: 45046-39295), so I ordered a left (ACDelco: 45A0832) and a right (ACDelco: 45A0833) as well.

Everything arrived, and proceeded to gather dust for a month in the living room. Tough life when trips and adventures get in the way!


Now, an astute reader may notice a couple things in that photo. First, those specific LBJ part numbers do in fact come with new bolts. Second, that passenger (right) OTRE doesn't look like any 555 part I've ever seen. In fact, I'm told it's a Mevotech - which I've never heard of but is apparently reasonably high quality as well.

I contemplated and balanced my OCD of having two different OTREs on the 4Runner with the common sense knowledge that these parts would work just fine, and eventually decided to install everything and not go to the trouble of tracking down an actual 555 part to replace the Mevotech.

And with that, I gathered the necessary tools to do the job:

• 14, 19, 21, 22, and 24mm sockets - to remove the lug nuts, LBJ from the lower control arm (LCA), and OTRE from the LBJ.
• A pair of 8" and 10" adjustable wrenches to loosen the OTRE jam nut.
• An impact wrench to make removal of castle and other nuts easier.
• OTC 6295 Front End Service Set - to easily separate the LCA, LBJ, and OTRE.
• A torque wrench for re-installation of critical components.
• And of course a floor jack and jack stands.

My first order of business after jacking up the truck and taking off the wheel, was to take a couple of measurements between stationary components on the truck and the dust shield - I knew I was going to need an alignment when this was all done, but I hoped I could get things "mostly" realigned by keeping the measurement consistent in the transition from old to new.


Then, it was time to get out my favorite tool in the shop - the Uga-Uga - a Milwaukee Mid-Torque Impact Wrench. This thing makes me feel young again it works so well, so I use it as much as I can. In this case, to remove the castle nut holding the OTRE and LBJ together.


Next, the smaller Pittman Puller in the OTC 6295 Front End Service Set makes quick work of separating the OTRE and LBJ. A hint here for anyone who doesn't know - leave the castle nut loosely threaded onto the OTRE when you do this, and it will keep the joint from exploding when it's pressed out.


The final step in removing the OTRE is loosening the jam nut that secures it to the inner tie rod. This was by far the hardest part for me since I was unable to use the Uga-Uga - thereby making me feel each and every one of the years that constitute my age. I even had to resort to some penetrating fluid and a bit of heat; these were clearly on there too tight!


From there, the only thing left to do is remove the LBJ from the LCA. I started by removing the castle nut in the same was as I had the one on the OTRE - Uga-uga and then the larger Pittman Puller from the OTC kit.


That leaves just the four, 14mm bolts to remove from the LBJ - assuming you still have all four, since they have been known to work their way out, a key component to failure!


With everything apart, I was excited to take a look at the standard equipment from the 4Runner and compare it to that from the Tacoma. Would the Tacoma LBJs really be heftier than the 4Runner, or was it all just internet bunk?


What you can see reasonably clearly - I believe - is that the ball joints in both 4Runner and Tacoma LBJs are the same! But, we can't bust the internet myth entirely - on close inspection, it's clear that the stud on the Tacoma OTRE that connects it to the LBJ is in fact bigger than it's 4Runner counterpart.

Assuming - as the internet tells us - that size does matter , the Tacoma assembly may be slightly stronger, just not in a way that's likely to make much difference - since if the ball joint goes, I don't think any size OTRE connection is going to keep your wheel from eating your fender.

Just sayin'.

OK, from here, everything is reasonably straight-forward. And yes, I know it was up to this point as well - but there is one twist at this point - we'll get to that when installing the OTREs.

Start by installing the new Tacoma LBJs - they bolt right in using the new bolts. I also recommend just a bit of blue Loctite (242), for good measure. Torque the four, 14mm bolts to 59 ft-lbs and the castle nut to 103 ft-lbs + any slight additional tightening necessary to insert the cotter pin (Note: these are Tacoma torque specs, since this is a Tacoma part).


Now, it's time for the OTREs. The strange bit here is that in order to get them to fit without interfering - at all, as far as I can tell - with the sway bar links, is that you have to install them on the opposite side of the 4Runner than you do on the Tacoma. That is, what goes on the driver side of the Taco goes on the passenger side of the Runner.

It's weird, yes. But it works. And I've learned not to argue when it works.


Get the OTRE threaded in until your measurements to the dust shield match those that you got before anything was disassembled. They'll never match exactly, but if you're close enough, it'll be fine to get to the alignment shop. Toque the castle nut to 67 ft-lbs and the jam nut "good and tight, but not so tight that the next guy will need a torch."

Trust me on that one, too tight makes a guy feel weak. I mean, that's what I've heard anyway.

With that - well, and re-installation of the wheel (89 ft-lbs on those lug nuts) - I was done! My 4Runner had new parts and I now had the comfort of knowing that even more of the two trucks were the same - one less thing for me to remember when I go to order parts in the future!

It might be that the difference (other than the OTRE ball) is the Ackermann was changed between the 4Runner and Tacoma (different wheelbase). You should still be just fine either way.

Ackermann steering geometry - Wikipedia

-Charlie

Building a Roof Rack - Measure Once, Drill, Swear; Measure Twice...

May 3-5, 2019.

If you're going to turn a 4Runner into a family adventure vehicle to replace the Tacoma, one thing is for sure - it's going to need a way to carry the CVT @Cascadia Tents Mt. Shasta that we sleep in every night. With an Exped Megamat 10 Duo, it's some of the most comfortable sleep I've had, really.

So with most of the mechanical work done for now, I figured the next bit of work was to figure out the roof rack situation. I generally start with a mid-level design for these kinds of projects, but this time I just wasn't feeling it for some reason - ending up at essentially this.


I started by doing something that I maybe should have done before even buying the 4Runner - some research to see if the roof rails from 1997 were even rated to hold the weight of a modern day roof top tent (RTT). To my relief, the OEM crossbars are rated at 165 lbs of dynamic load, and all the aftermarket racks I could find out there had load ratings of 200-300 lbs, meaning that the rails attached to the roof using five of these riv-nut looking anchors were probably strong enough.


Whew. That was going to have been an expensive lesson if we'd been unable to use the tent!

At this point, I had two options - buy something or build something. I wanted a rack just large enough for the tent (not a full-length rack) and in the few-hundred dollar range. And, from a design perspective, I knew I wanted something reasonably sleek - I didn't want to see big bulky bars running around up on the roof.

A quick look around showed that I didn't really love the designs or prices of the few after-market options. Prinsu always seems to have nice designs, but I could nearly purchase another 4Runner for the price. The only possible option I really found was Rocky Mountain Racks - the design of their Antero half-rack along the lines of what I was thinking - alas, they no longer made it, opting to focus solely on the full-length model.

So that brought me to build. And really, if you know me at all, you know that's the option I preferred anyway. The only problem was: how to do it? I knew that it'd have to be relatively light given the load limit on the roof and that ruled out my usual steel construction - it would need to be aluminum.

My very first order of business then was to order some 1"x2" extruded aluminum cross-bars that would build up the base I could mount the tent to. Since these would be the heart of the system, I figured it would be a good idea to have them take up space in the living-room-truck-part-storage-area for 6 months or so. Note: @mrs.turbodb didn't agree that this was a good idea.


Next, I'd need to figure out how to attach it to the roof. I thought about trying to bend some aluminum for the feet, but ultimately decided that it'd be easier for me to weld up some steel feet. All I needed to do was to figure out the exact right angle to make the top (which would attach to the aluminum cross bars) and bottom (which would attack to the roof rails), and then somehow make sure those angles were correct even after the heat of welding.

A challenge if I ever heard one... And yes, I fully realize that may simply show my lack of experience - don't burst my bubble.

At any rate, I eventually realized that if I placed a block of wood on the roof rails, and then placed a level across the roof of the truck (itself held off the roof by approximately 2" blocks), that I could trace the line where the level crossed the wood. That line, in conjuction with the bottom of the block on the roof rail would be the two angles I needed for my brackets.

Of course, in my excitement and celebration of intelligence, I took exactly no photos. So, here's a diagram.


Next, it was time for me to gather the materials. I didn't have any good flat bar laying around, but I did have a length of 2.5" angle that was 0.25" thick, so I figured I could get the pieces I wanted out of that for a total cost of free. Nice.


With all my little bracket pieces in hand, I knew the main challenge was going to be welding them up in a way that they maintained the correct shape. I'd need some sort of jig. So I laid everything out on a piece of rect tube, using the piece of wood I'd drawn the angles of the roof on and the corners I'd cut off the piece of angle to a jig.

A few tacks and it was ... ugly. But also hopefully functional


From there, I proceeded to tack everything up in several places in order to prevent movement during the full welding, and then decided that I'd even do as much of the full welding in the jig as I could - both as practice with downhill and to keep everything stable.


To my surprise - yes, I'm still easily surprised when it comes to metal fab - I seemed to stumble through successfully. Once ground, the brackets looked like a single piece. "Oooo, those are pretty." [email protected]


The drill press made quick work of the necessary holes* for the cross bars and roof rails, and then - with great enthusiasm, as I'm sure was the case the first time I got to use spray paint when I was a kiddo - I got some help getting them primed and painted.

* I just wished I'd measured their location twice before drilling.


Once the paint had a day or so to dry, I went to test fit one of the cross rails so I could start on the rest of the rack and that's when I discovered that I'd drilled the holes on the wrong ends of the bracket. That is - the hole spacing on the end which sits on the roof was drilled for the end which bolts to the cross rail and vise-versa.


As a woodworker I know better. Measure twice, cut once.

I figured that the best thing to do at this point was to fill in the holes rather than try to make entirely new brackets - the only downside being that I'd have to regrind and repaint everything. Grrrr. But, no use crying over spilled milk as they say, and pretty soon, I was once again ready to make forward progress.


To make the side plates, I'd picked up a remnant piece of 3/16" aluminum the last time I'd been to the steel yard - my thought being that I could use my woodworking tools to create the shape I wanted. To make things easier, I started with a piece of 3/4" plywood to create a template - forming the wood much easier (and less expensive) than using the sheet aluminum right off the bat.

Tracing and cutting, cutting and sanding - it didn't take long to arrive at a shape I liked that followed the lines of the roof and would provide a bit of visual interest for the rack.


Finally, the moment of truth - time to start cutting aluminum. First, roughly on the tablesaw. Let me tell you - aluminum chips flying up and hitting you in the face is way different than sawdust! Once that torture was over, I headed over to the bandsaw to get the gentle curves.


Finally, I clamped the plywood template to the roughed-out side plate and used the router with a flush-trim, templating bit to get the shape just-so, and the wire brush on the angle grinder to give it a nice brushed look.


Holy smokes - this might actually work. And that would be totally awesome.

I grabbed all the parts and headed out to the 4Runner, which had been patiently waiting for me for a few days - this project, like essentially all others, taking longer than I expected given the fact that life continues even when projects aren't complete! ::


I made quick work of removing the OEM rack and made a mental note to pressure wash the roof of the 4Runner. It was a mess up there - lots of pine needles and pollen that don't exist around our place, so likely from the previous owner - probably not cleaned in years!


And then, it was just a few M6 stainless steel bolts to secure the feet to the roof rails, some ¼-20 stainless carriage bolts to secure the feet to the cross bars, and ¼-20 stainless hex bolts to attach the side plates to the cross bars.


Came out pretty reasonably if you ask me. And it's sturdy! I have only a small amount of lingering doubt that it won't be up to the task of holding the tent. ...which I still need to figure out a mounting solution for.

But that should be "easy."

badass work here man, makes me want to be more precise on my stuff

4Runner Organization and a Bed for @mini.turbodb
May 7, 2019.

Roof rack built, we now had a place for @mrs.turbodb and I to sleep, but what about the whole reason we decided to get the 4Runner in the first place? We wanted to have something more comfortable for @mini.turbodb!

The idea was for her to sleep in the back of the 4Runner - "downstairs" as she likes to call it - but for that to work, I needed to make the back storage area just a little higher so that it would be level with the folded down back seat.

Not only that, but I knew that we'd want a nice place to store the 50 qt ARB Fridge/Freezer, and it wouldn't be bad to get a flat work surface for making meals and whatnot on when we were in camp.

With those things in mind, I set out to make what I thought would be the perfect organization platform - functional, reasonably inexpensive, and as light as possible. To that end, I decided that the construction would be primarily ½" shop-grade Baltic Birch plywood. This would be lighter and less expensive than ¾" ply, and would also be plenty strong with it's 7-layer (but really 5 + veneers) construction. A rough estimation suggested that one sheet would be more than enough.


My next order of business - having once again decided that I would wing the design as I had with the 4Runner roof rack - was to start measuring the space where the organization platform would live. I broke out my favorite trusty tape measure and a pencil and paper and started writing down numbers.

No, not random numbers. The size of the rear storage area.


As I was measuring, I realized that I was completely wasting my time. Toyota had done this for me already - or rather, they'd done it for all of us, and likely other folks had realized it well before I had. So I stopped measuring and headed back into the shop, with the perfect template for what I planned to build!


A bit of tracing and it was time to cut. At approximately 40-inches in depth, the first cut was easiest with the track saw, and the rest were a combination of track and jig saw - close to the line on the curves, but leaving just a hair of material that I removed with the belt sander. Yes, I was approaching this a little more precisely than necessary.


A quick test fit showed that what I'd created was perfect - it fit into place and wouldn't slide around. And, it was still about half-an-inch lower than the folded-down back seat. Perfect, since the next steps involved adding a bit of height.


First though, a piece of maple edging. While this is likely not really necessary - since who cares if this thing gets a little banged up - I liked the idea of providing a bit of protection for when people slide things in and out of the back of the 4Runner. Glue and a few pin nails held this in place nicely.


Oh, and I should mention at this point - it's simply amazing how much faster it is to build things using wood as opposed to metal. Definitely my favorite medium despite all the metal fab I've been doing of late.

With the edging on, the next step was to install a few 9/16" runners on the bottom of the panel. The purpose of these was threefold:

1. Raise the panel approximately ½" so that it was flush with the back seat. (Bear with me, I know I'm repeating myself.)
2. Provide some additional thickness for the drawer supports (that would hold the ARB fridge) to screw into.
3. Provide a small void under half of the panel for a slide-out table. More on that shortly.

With the runners in place, the next order of business was building the pull out "drawer" for the fridge. I modeled this off the one I built for the Tacoma since it's worked so well (with minor modification). The only difference on this one is that I decided to rabbit the bottom into the drawer sides for a bit more strength and rigidity. So I quickly machined some maple bits (for strength) and got ready to put everything together.


A few screws to hold the drawer sides together, a few more to hold the drawer rails to the platform, and finally even more to attach the drawer slides to the drawer sides and rails and I was nearly done. The only thing left to do - cut a simple piece of plywood that could pull out as a work surface.


And with that, it was time to test it out again. Or really, place it in its final location in the back of the 4Runner.


One of the quickest projects since it was made of wood, this is one that I think we'll get a ton of use out of. And, perhaps most importantly, @mini.turbodb loves it. And she cant wait to get setup "downstairs."

Well that's another well thought out and executed mod to the 4runner. Your workmanship and skills are enviable. Great choice of material for this project. Do you plan to paint or lacquer it? Or just leave it raw?

I really enjoy reading your posts. Your sense of humor and humble attitude, are engaging.

Keep up the great work, and keep posting your mod's and trip reports.

Durwin

Thanks! Glad you're enjoying. I've had a fun time writing up everything with the Tacoma, and the 4Runner is shaping up to be a lot of fun as well, so it's nice that you're enjoying it.

As far as finishing the platform - I considered some poly or enamel, but decided against it because the point of this thing isn't some piece of fine furniture that needs to last in pristine condition for generations. I expect that it will get banged up from gear going in/out, and might need to be tweaked over time as we use it and see what works well and what can be improved. So for now at least, it stays raw.