i just picked up a 94, 3.o 4x4....had to replace shocks, and boots.
i went with Monroe shocks in front...drove it to the dunes yesterday and they seem to work good. sent like 60 bucks for both.

now i need to buy sway arm repair kit cuz one of the end links is broken and the bushings for it too. that way i dont have no more noise or boat rocking action

Hey Geolander, if you go with the dealership shocks, they don't need to ship them. if you tell them you're going to pick them up, they'll leave it aside for you. all you have to do is prepay over the phone, shouldn't be a big deal. then again, idk how that dealership works. good luck!

Quick update on this and a question.

I've got everything torn down doing shocks and ball joints right now. Both front shocks are done (or near enough) and the passenger-side UBJ went in without a hitch (note to anyone else doing this: stick something between the upper control arm and its bump stop before jacking your runner up. Makes getting that UBJ in less of a PITA.)

However, I'm running into lots of stuck bolts, and before you ask, they've been soaking in PB Blaster and WD-40 (after my can of PB Blaster ran out) for the past 4 days. Hit them with it on Friday planning to do this on Saturday, but everything was still stuck fast. So I hit them again on Saturday and one more time yesterday. Managed to get most of them, but 4 are still eluding me. The two holding the brake hardline/steering rods on the driver side and both swaybar endlinks. The brake hardline bolts are just stuck. No amount of elbow grease, even with an 18in breaker bar, has been able to get them to budge. I'm stuck on how to even remove the swaybar endlinks though. I can't get a ratchet (or breaker bar) on the upper bolts due to clearance issues, and the lower bolts are just frozen solid. I tried a breaker bar on the lower bolt with a crescent wrench above the bushing, but all that succeeded in doing was rounding off a couple corners on the upper fitting. Anyone know any tricks?

Good to see you tackling this yourself!!! Go to Lowes or Home Depot and pick up a propane torch. Heating the bolts can certainly help. That being said, some of the bolts (depending on rust and what-not) may practically be welded in and you may just have to drill them out. Get a BFH and some beer (not too much with a BFH in hand) and got to town.

I'll give the torch a shot tomorrow evening, but if that doesn't work, I'll probably put it back together and cough up the labor fee to the shop. Don't want to destroy the bolts since I don't have spares on hand. Also not sure I can fit a drill in there.

Honestly, they don't look rusty. The ones that I've removed have been mostly clean, with some dried up remnants of thread lock compounds in them. No rust at all except some surface rust on the bolt heads. The endlinks seem to be mainly an issue of poor positioning and lack of leverage with a short crescent wrench. If I could fit the breaker bar in, I could probably get them off. Really wish they were set up like the links on the pre-'90 trucks, with the nut on the top of the link rather than the back side. Then I could at least get a socket on. Not sure why the steering linkage bolts won't come loose - they seem like something that should have been removed fairly often for servicing the brakes since they hold the hardline bracket in place.

...what's a BFH? Big F**** Hammer?

Edit: Ugh, I just realized that getting a torch means I have to put everything back together again just for a trip to Home Depot. There's an Ace around the corner, but they don't carry propane torches, just those dinky little butane deals. And a MAPP torch, but that's $50 and comes with no gas vs $20 for a propane torch with a gas bottle.

Yup.

Forget the sway bar bolts - hack those off with a sawzall and yank the entire thing. You don't need it.

Hm, tempting. That would definitely allow me to get at least one more ball joint in. What sort of effect on handling does it have?

You'll feel very squishy and tippy in the front end for a couple days, and then you'll get used to it and it'll feel normal.

And you'll get way more flex in the front end, if that sort of thing appeals to you.

Eh, squishy/tippy front end is half the reason I bought new shocks. I'm definitely used to it, but I also didn't like it at all. I may just hack them off and replace them. Endlinks are cheap.

Unfortunately, my shop refuses to do work with any parts but the parts they order, so getting it done there isn't an option after spending a couple hundred on joints already. I'm down to heating the bolts as basically my only option I guess, unless I want to start destroying stuff (and I really don't).

What's a steering linkage bolt? Are you talking about the tie rod ends? And if so, is it the castle nut or the rod end stud itself that's giving you trouble?

Before I had my 93 lifted I had installed a set of KYB MonoMax shocks both front and rear.

In a word - they worked great! In a stock 4Runner I give the MonoMax's 5 Stars . Not only were they responsive on road shocks, but performed great off road too.



And two thumbs up.

It's the bolts that hold the brake hard line bracket and the steering link to the back side of the hub/disc assembly. I'm not bothering with the tie rod ends.

Also, in other news, there's something up with my radiator. I just drove to Home Depot to pick up a torch and some gas, and when I got there, there was a hissing noise (air leak) coming from under the hood and quite a bit of antifreeze sprayed around. I couldn't pinpoint it there, but when I got home, I figured out that the leak is coming from the top (intake?) hose on the radiator. The leak is coming out the end of the hose, so I'm hoping that it just got bumped somehow and needs to be re-seated. Need to wait for everything to cool down first though. On the upside, the new shocks felt nice.

I ended up going with the Gas-a-Justs. Rockauto had them for cheap ($120 for all 4), and the reviews I saw for them were overall pretty good. I've only got them on the front so far, but they rode nicely on my 6 mile jaunt to Home Depot a few minutes ago.

Swapped out the upper radiator hose, drove around the block, and discovered that the whole radiator is toasted. FML.