Fairly new to posting, but a regular lurker here on T4R.

Yes, I've searched, but no, I didn't get the information I was hoping for.

Hoping for the collective's insight on the following issues for my 1996 SR5 V6 4wd with 151k.

1. I don't know when the timing belt was changed. No sticker. It's non-interference, so aside from a small *possible* chance of the belt causing damage, is there any reason to spend the $500+ on a water pump/belt job?

2. My front struts and rear shocks are shot. I think I'm still on the original sets, but my Runner doesn't have the typical sag. I want to keep it close to stock height, maybe add 1-2". What do I choose? KYB? Billstein? Tokico? I will do the rears myself, the front struts I will seek help. I just don't know the pros/cons of my options.

3. My brakes suck. Aside from the Tundra brake upgrade, what other solutions are people doing? My brakes don't seem to engage until you push the pedal pretty far. I've tried bleeding the brakes, but no avail. Master cylinder? Fluid flush? I'm stumped...

4. How often is everybody changing their plugs/wires? What plugs are you using?

THANK YOU!

Just bought a 97 in January. 105k miles. So far... New plugs, Radiator flush, new u-joint @ transfer case, Tranny flush. I also would like to know what is up with the soft brakes... got some sag in the rear to. let me know if you find a good 1-2 inch lift for cheap. Does the 4runner have a rep. for bad brakes? Any more 100k mile maintence jobs i should do?

Hello,
I was always taught to just bite the bullet, spend the money and get **** done, especially with a "new" car. Timing belt: Spend the money, get it done. There is no reason to make a headache for yourself and miss a couple days of work because you don't have a vehicle.
Shocks, if you want to keep the stock height, go with OEM tokicos. Altough, I'd suggest a mild 1.5" lift all around withe OME 880/906s and OME comfort rear shocks. Just my opinion. Bilstein HDs can be substituted as well, maybe another member will vouch for them.
Buy new OEM toyota rotors and pads of your preference. Your pads are probably low, and you might as well replace the rotors because they probably will shake violently with new pads. You can try turning them first if you cant afford pads and rotors. I like to make a habit of doing things the right way the first time, tho.
As for plugs, I won't use anything other the the OE NGK #3967 Plugs. The Densos are garbage, and I wont ever put a bosch plug in my truck. NGK or Denso dual ground if you go with plat/iridium. I don't see any reason to go with anything otehr than the NGKs tho. I do plugs every 30k.

Also, get a new radiator or an external tranny cooler or you will have a big headache on your hands. Search "pink milkshake"
Best of luck to you and welcome to t4r.org

My brakes were really soft and the pedal went way to far near the floor until I figured out the rear brakes were way out of adjustment and needed attention. My adjusters were so far in that they would have never self adjusted out to where they needed to be. Just my two cents, something to check. You never know the quality of work done by others before you got it.

1. Even though the 4Runner engine is non-interference, you still need to worry about the water pump. If that goes, and you over heat.. you're going to be looking at a lot of problems. I would get that done if it were me.

2. Tokico Trekmaster R/T's are a good 'stock' replacement. They also havea lifetime warranty. If you don't have any saig then you should be good on springs, unless you do want to lift for sure. If you only want around 2 inchesthen maybe look into the OME 881/906 combo. If you find a used pair of Performance Products springs those will accomplish the amount of lift you want as well.

3. Another thing to consider with your brake issue may be damage caused from improper bleeding. If you push the pedal all the way to the floor when you bleed you can damage an O-ring seal. I'm only relaying what I read off of 4Runners.org. I've never heard of that before, but I'm pretty sure that's pat of my brake problem. Also, as the poster mentioned above, check your rear drums to make sure they're adjusted correctly.

4. I waited roughly 80k before I changed my plugs, and they were way overdue. I started having misfire problems. I think most people will recommend buying Denso or NGK. The cheapest route is going to be just buying them from the dealer. It was cheaper than anywhere I found online.

The brakes on my 4Runner pretty soft as well, but with that said I recently test drove a few 3rd gens for my wife... and they had much strong brakes than me. As far as other maintenance, you might want to go ahead and changed out the differential and transfer case fluids. It should only run you just under $50 if you do it yourself. Even cheaper if you don't have 4WD. Also, for about $15 you can get some MAF cleaner & throttle body cleaner. Those are pretty easy to clean.

for the suspension i would get bilstien shocks with 99 tall coils. thats what i have except i still need to install the front coils....
it gives 1 inch of lift

i love it though

+1 on these comments!

I think about it this way...if you've made it that far on original equipment then that's pretty dang good. Replace the brake components as they're made to wear out; same with the water pump and timing belt.

I would gladly spend a relatively small amount of money to have 150k+ miles or worry free service.

For the suspension there's a bunch of possible combinations you could use. I really like the bisteins but you tend to pay a little more for adjustability and the potential to rebuild them instead of replacing them next time. OEM has obviously served you very well and the Old Man Emu (OME) makes great products as well.

Fortunately, I have the 5 speed. So no pink milkshake for me!

Thanks for your advice!

I considered this; however, the brakes felt the same before and after bleeding--so no net gain or loss from the process (except time). I will look into the rear brake adjustment, I overlooked that last time.

Thank you-

Well, yeah, I Just meant damage from the previous owner perhaps.

Interstingly, I took my 4Runner to Les Schwab after I bought it to have them check out the brakes (after I was stumped from bleeding them..) They too didn't have any suggestions. Hopefully, whoever was evaluating the car just overlooked the rear adjustment...

FYI: as I missed it in my original post, 4wd and 5 speed for this maintenance.

Thanks all who have offered advice.

You don't really need to do a tranny flush, many members don't, mines yet to have one, but i will when i do the clutch. I wouldn't recommend tokico crap shocks or whatever, i would recommend Rancho at $45 a piece with a lifetime warranty. As its a non interference engine you don't really need to worry about the timing belt, many members wait till well after 150k to change it, i would still recommend doing it sooner rather than later because your gonna want to change the water pump as it is quite harmful to the engine if it fails. I changed my original plugs and wires out at 150k but would really recommend doing them soon for you, do the wires when you do the plugs, and NGK dual ground plugs are what you want to buy. BTW i have Rancho Shocks rear and KYB's up front, and recommend both as they both have lifetime warranty's.

I disagree that the Tokico Trekmasters are crap. I absolutely love my Tokico (LC shocks) and they were $35 ea. shipped. They are hands down the best shock for the money and I honestly like the ride better than the OME comfort shocks I used to have (which cost almost $200 for the pair). Even if they wear out quickly (which I have no reason to believe they will), I can buy another 2 sets of them and still not have as much money into it as I would with one set of Billies, OMEs, etc.. The Ranchos aren't much more $, but the shocks aren't any better IMO.

BUT the Ranchos have a lifetime warrenty, and when i bought them it was $78 shipped (for 2).

The lifetime warranty is nice. I'll have to check and see what the warranty is on the Tokicos (I don't remember off hand). I went with the Tokicos because I was able to find extended and collapsed lengths which was important to me so I could get as much travel as possible (and I almost killed my OMEs by overextending them). I ended up going with the Treks for the rear of a '90s FJZ80 Landcruiser (part#GE4095). I would not advise running the LC shocks unless you have long LC coils (8 wraps or more) or OME 861s. Otherwise they allow so much flex your coils will fall out if they're too short. You can find the trekmasters that are made for a 3rd gen and I believe they are still an inch longer than stock.