I have recently purchased an 89 4runner and I'm looking to do some offload mods while keeping it my daily driver. I'm looking to spend around 2000-2500. Keeping in mind that the 31" mud terrains are bald and will need to be replaced.

Current thoughts-
Rear locker of some kind
- I'm going to be driving on dry pavement dirt roads trails, rocky areas, sand and mud. As well as snow and icy conditions.
--any insight, suggestions, problems, pros/cons, brands, anything will help!

Potential tire size upgrade:
-33/10.50/15 or 33/12.50/15
-I have to buy new tires regardless,
-brands? Preferences?
-I've heard bigger tires may need my gear ratio to be changed to regain lost power?

Body lift?
Possible 3" body lift

Removal of my running boards as an aesthetic upgrade and because I'm looking to fix the rust holes just I front of the rear fenders.

Also I don't need a yearly inspection on my truck for emissions etc. so im going to cut out the cat and straight pipe it or put a magnaflow on it.
-thoughts, problems?

She's A great truck.
89 runner 3L 5 speed with 285k on body and motor. Still runnin strong

Thanks a lot everyone! I won't be able to check this thread everyday but I will read all comments and suggestions etc!

Cheers.
Steven. The 18yo who wants to wheel.

I think every guy with his first truck goes through what you're facing right now, and it's worse the younger you are .

You COULD lift and lock it with brand new 33s and regeared diffs, but that'd be tight on your budget and you'll end up cutting corners. And to be frank, if you're at all interested in becoming a skilled wheeler, you should leave that truck bone stock for a while. Learn to wheel first, THEN add the bigger tires and lockers and such when they qualify as performance aids and not crutches masking a lack of skill. To be blunt, you're a noob . You don't have the prowess to push a stock truck to it's limit, let alone a locked rig on oversized MT tires. Lockers and such would be a waste of time and money for you, right now.

My suggestion? A set of 31 inch AT tires won't require a lift or regearing, and the AT tread will suit a daily driver better while leaving you plenty of traction offroad. A set of sliders and skid plates will protect your rocker panels and underbelly from sneaky granite. A good set of recovery gear (shovel, chains, hi-lift, straps and rings and such) will make sure you can get yourself out of a pickle. A CB or Ham radio will let you call for help if you're REALLY stuck. If you have enough money left, a winch wouldn't hurt, but you'll need a beefy bumper to mount it on. Put the rest of the money into preventative maintenance and collecting spare parts. That'll suck up your $2500 budget, and you'll have a truck that can get you into (and out of) all sorts of trouble. A long summer or two of taking that truck out every weekend and finding its limits will give you a much better idea if it's enough for you, and if you decide you need more you'll have a much better idea of exactly what you need to make the truck do what you want.

My favorite tire right now is the BFG KM2, but it might not be right for you - they're quiet for a mud terrain, but they're still a mud terrain, and you'll take an MPG hit too. The BFG AT K/O is pretty much the king of all-terrain tires, The Cooper ATP is awesome too. Toyo just started making an AT with a 50,000 mile treadlife warranty, and the Goodyear Duratrack is hugely popular as a good AT that handles extremely well on ice and snow. I'd look to one of those, but read some reviews and see what you think will work best for you.

Anyway, that's my advice. Get some armor on it and a solid set of AT tires. dump the rest of your cash into maintenance and recovery gear, and rock it stock. Wait until you're good enough to take that truck everywhere it can possible go, THEN upgrade.

Look for a club near you to wheel with, it's always better to wheel with buddies. And remember to Tread Lightly. Be safe(ish) and have fun!

That's all the stuff I wanted to hear. I'm happy to be a rookie and I'm even happier to take advice from the people who have been in my situation. I am wanting to take the running boards off. I'm not currently with my truck as I'm in Thailand backpacking for another two weeks. But of corse I miss my truck so I was watching videos and reading lots and I've come to the conclusion that I like the look a lot better without running boards. Are they easy to remove? Or would they have to be cut out? The rust just in front of the rear fenders got fairly bad in the two winter months I drove it. Just wanna get rid of the rust because it really makes the truck look a lot more hagered then it is. As for the tires ive heard the same thing from fellow small towns folk. 31's won't rub and I'm really not wanting to be cutting fenders or hammering anything down just yet. Thanks alot my friend, lots of insight, thanks.
-keep on wheelin in the free world!

I'm terribly sorry. That must be horrible for you.

I've never had a truck with running boards on it. I'm fairly certain they just unbolt, and you should listen to me right up to the point somebody else comes in and tells you I'm wrong, and then you should listen to them.

in my experience, running boards are easy to unbolt if you let the nuts/bolt soak in some PB blaster for a few days. and if someone hasn't gone and welded them on for some odd reason. expect to spend about 45 minutes under the truck and 5 bucks on a can of PB (or liquid wrench or what ever you prefer)

KidV... if someone said to not listen to you, i probably wouldn't listen to them.

Don't listen to kidv, but don't listen to me either.

I built my first v8 toyota when I was 18. Only thing I knew how to do was sick burnouts. Wheel it stock or stockish and upgrade over time. Nothin wrong with that. I go way overboard so I'm gonna stop right here with suggestions.

Can't agree more with the previous posts about keeping it simple and getting tools and recovery equipment. A good set of tires will do wonders.

It is incredibly valuable to gain that driving skill from the start. I'd much rather be out wheelin and have somebody ask " how did you get this far?" than " why can't you go any further?"

What KidV said X2!

Start here.

Master build thread library

Personally I recommend starting with the BFG AT tires. Great offroad and on road performance. Read my build thread. I started out much like yourself (just older).

Unless putting in a V8 motor, avoid body lift.

Definitely look into some new tires first, I personally don't see a point in getting 31s when you know that eventually you'll want 33s, all that does is cuts about 800 bucks off your budget, my advice don't go with a "lift kit" use spacers to give yourself some decent clearance (you could get a decent set for under 300 and it's mostly DIY whereas with a kit it's ~600 and requires a shop most times unless you have the tools/lift to do it) and meet in the middle one tires with a 32 by 11.50 or 10.50 (just a suggestion) I have falken rocky mtn ats and I love em, they're a good dd tire as well as a good offroad tire. Marlin makes good bumpers and you can get a smittybilt xrc8 winch for around 300 and a decent set of halogen auxiliary lights for 50/60 bucks. Other than that leave room for whatever you want to do to it to make it pretty (maaco does very good paint jobs and body work for around a grand and I'm sure they could take care of whatever rust you have. My last suggestion is to take a picture of it when its all said and done and post it up because those 1st gens are sexy as hell

I'll chime in and second (third, fourth...) what most have said--put some decent tires on your rig and go play! Get a feel for it, how it reacts to various terrain, what you have to do to overcome things, etc.. I was on my third one before I went into serious mods, and I had a ton of fun with the first two stock ones. Find out what kind of wheeling really appeals to you, and then you'll have a direction for where to put the money (and by then, you may have saved up enough to do a lot more in one round).

That's a wide range of conditions. In that case an AT would be your best choice, a MT would be too aggressive for some of them. The BFG AT's are probably the best all around tire, as mentioned above.
Taller tires will result in a loss of power and mpg. But if you stick to some 31's, you won't need to regear and they'll fit without needing to lift. Later when you have more $ and more experience to know exactly what you want, you can regear and add a locker at the same time, which is cheaper than doing them at different times.

Body lifts have their uses, I have one on my 83 and 84 for different reasons, but 3" BL's are just ugly (IMHO) and more work to install than a 2" BL.

Good advice about the lift, I'm sniffing out a 2" lift right now. Won't change things too dramatic for a daily driver, but if a guy knows what to look for, they can tell.

Also, I'm looking for a new set of wheels. Right now I am running stock 16" with Mich, LTX M/S2s. They're not bad, but I'm going through a mid life crisis and want something a little more grippy. Was looking at Fun Countries, but they seem to be out of stock all over the galaxy. I might end up rocking the FCIIs.

As far as size goes, right now I have 265/70R16s, I am looking to make a jump to 265/70R17s, or basically go from 31" to 32". Is this the end of the world and I am going to have to putz with stuff for mileage and regearing, or is it close enough like horse shoes and hand grenades? Thanks for any advice- hopefully good- out there.