I picked up my first 4unner Sunday from my father-in-law. Its got a few issues, but nothing too major. Its a 1990 3.slo/auto with 250k miles. When he bought it not too long ago, it was supposedly just out of the shop (might of still be in shop when he bought it) for some kinda head work. Whether that was just changing gaskets or what i dont have a clue. My plan is to make this a trail/mud rig.

Heres it loaded on the trailer for the trip home (tires are way to sketchy to make the hour drive home)



Yesterday, my buddy came over and we decided to see if the 4wd worked like i was told it did, and it does lol.





Almost got it stuck, thanks to bald street tires. The list of things to do (other than get it all transfered into my name) before I really drive it much is:

-clean it really well
-get some tires (got good deal on some used 265/70/17s coming in about a month)
-fix exhaust (sounds like its stopped up in some places and leaking in others)
-replace driver side front axle
-buy cheap intake or build ISR (intake boot is duct taped at the moment)
-get rid of the running boards and grill guard
-fix some small issues under the hood

Hopefully all this will be done within the next month, but after that things will slow down. Got kid #2 arriving at the end of May. There is alot more to do and even more that I have planned but that will do it for the time being. Id like to eventually do a SAS and 4.3 swap.

Any comments or suggestions are appreciated. Ive done alot of research on these things as of lately, but there is still alot more to learn.

Ive been researching on putting gm wheels on it, since I can get 17" stock steel gm wheels for free. It seems I may have to bore out the center of the wheelo some to fit. Thats not a big issue to me, but Im also seeing some backspacing and lugnut issues pop up in some threads. Any experience with this?

I guess worst case is I need to find some 17" toyota wheels or get some different tires.

Tires are a lot more for bigger wheels.

I understand that but im getting a heck of a deal on a set of used tires for 17" wheels from a buddy. Thats why I was gonna run a set of free GM stock wheels with those tires, but now im ready that the gm wheels may not work out.

Why I hate mud.


3.0 fails to start after mud bath

Learn from other's mistakes.

Yea cleaning up mud sucks but that's part of it. I don't really plan to take it thru a lot of mud tho, just have a lil fun sometimes. I have other toys that are built strictly for mudlol.

Well over the weekend, I built a ISR tube and did a lil work to the 4R. I found a burnt fuse for the radio/antenna/dome light/etc. I changed it out, now I have the annoying buzzer for keys/door open/seatbelt. I done some rease to try to get rid of it, but none fo the write ups seem to match whats going on under my dash. Also, someone has already installed a different antenna (which really isnt connected to anything) so Im gonna try to remove or disconnect the power antenna.

Heres a pic of my ISR tube (will get painted soon). Autozone only had one coupler of each color, so thats why one is red and one is black.


I made it out of a 2.5" electrical conduit 90. I had to heat it up some to get it to bend like I wanted. The brass fittings I already had and I just threaded them into the PVC, no nuts on the inside that might come loose. I may swap it out for exhaust tubing at a later date if I need to.

Im going this evening to pick up a set of 17" TRD tacoma wheels for it, so Ill be ready for my "new" tires next month. Im thinking about going thru and changing all the vacuum lines also.

Well I picked up my "new" wheels last night, now just need tires.

Pic of the wheels


Im gonna try to get it cleaned up really good inside and out this week.

Last night? That's when mine went missing!!!

Thats interesting. I did drive all the way from LA to WV to pick these up...hmmm lol

Well I guess I should update some. I did install the wheels and tires



I did a little off-roading.


Then I caught the bug to start building. I picked up the following:

'84 frame for the axle


TG 4" HD SAS kit


63 chevy leafs


Rear lead spring mounts


98 gmc with a 4.3


Th350 to toyota tcase adapter


I'm now looking for a th350 trans and then I'll be ready to start building. Should be a fun project.

Looks like you have a lot of work to do!

Yea I have a lot of work coming up. Should be fun. Plan is to get the SAS and rear leaf swap pretty much done, and then do the motor swap. After motor is running I will finish up the lift.

Well I just realized I havent updated this thread in a LONG time. A LOT has happened since, but some of it being my 5 year old has had 2 surgerys (one on his stomach and one on his heart). So I didnt really do much to the 4runner until January when I started rebuilding my front axle. Ill let the pics do most of the talking.

Front Axle Rebuild























3 of the 4 steering stops were damaged pretty bad, so I cut them off and redid them






The color is really red...the camera makes it look oranges in some pics

I picked up a 4.88 rear end out of a junk yard. I put this 3rd in the front axle.






I added some color to a few other things also


Pulling the drivetrain








Start of the SAS


Ran out of gas for the torch to finish this side (didnt get a pic of the passenger side before a buddy started grinding)


Passenger side just about done


I also got a few more parts in...

Spartan for the rear


Another adapter for the gm trans to hook up to the toyota tcase. It takes 2 adapters with the 4l60e trans Im going to run now.


AA output shaft for the trans (donated by a friend)


Thats where Im at now. I still have the driver side frame to grind clean, then I will hang the axle. And now I think I have decided to work on getting the motor in before starting on the back suspension. Just to take a break from torching and grinding on the frame lol. I dont get to work on it nearly as much as Id like, but thats how life works when you married with two kids (and one of the two still a baby).