I've been lurking on the forum ever since I got my 4Runner, and I decided I would finally create a build/upkeep/update thread for my truck. I'm still a novice at posting on forums though so any help is appreciated!
Truck info: 1986 4Runner, 22RE, 5-speed, OME HD leaf springs with one removed, OME Nitrocharger Shocks all around, 265/75/R16 Falken Wildpeak MT01, 4.7 Trail Gear transfer case, 4.88 diffs (open), RallySport front bullbar, Smittybilt 9.5K winch with synthetic line, light bar, Trail Gear rear bumper with custom tire carrier swingout, sliders, other various things.
Backstory: My cousin bought the truck for around $750 in the summer of 2014, and from what I remember, the original plan was for him to keep it and make it his own rig. He started teaching me about working on vehicles (I was 15 at the time) and I became pretty addicted. Long story short, we pieced together a 22re from donor parts, swapped in 4.30 diffs, threw on sliders and a rear bumper, and that was the summer project. I learned how to drive stick shift out in a pasture in the truck, and even though I struggled at first, I fell in love with it!
Here's a link to a more descriptive thread on the process of getting it up and running:
Thoughts and projects — Overland Challenge Series
Here's how it looked in the summer of 2014:
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Running under its own power with new Kenda Klever mud terrains:
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The truck stayed with my cousin in Missouri while I was down in Arkansas for school, but I made trips up there to work on small things whenever I could and continued to learn. My 16th birthday came around in the fall, and it was time to transport the truck down to Arkansas!
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Here's the set-up as of January 2020:
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One of the first things we did to the truck was add a snorkel that I got as a Christmas present. I was definitely nervous about the whole drilling into your fender thing, but it all worked out pretty well.
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From there, I went on off road trips on the weekends in the Ozark National Forest and became more comfortable driving on the trails and got very addicted in the process.
My next big upgrade was a front bumper. Obviously as a high school kid I couldn't afford anything high quality, and my dad and I somehow came across this gross bumper on Craigslist one day:
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This came off a 2nd Gen 4Runner, had maggots on it when we bought it, but it came with a functioning light bar and some Warn winch. I can't remember the price, but it wasn't a bad deal. Eventually found out the brand is RallySport(?), aluminum bumper! Also from what I was told, the 80 Series could have this from the factory (not sure where at specifically).
Taking off the old paint:
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Freshly painted with Walmart spray paint (satin black I believe):
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On the truck with a Smittybilt 9.5K winch. The Warn winch that came with it ended up being too far gone to be worth fixing.
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Other upgrades early on were a front skid plate from a 2nd Gen 4Runner and a brake booster from a 3rd Gen, both found at a Pick N' Pull! From the top of my head and my lack of pictures during the time, I think that was all the upgrading I did for a little while, but had plenty of weekend trips in the Ozarks.
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Early Spring 2016 rolled around and it was time for a tire carrier. My cousin had an old tire carrier/C02 tank carrier that he built and opted to give to me. I was busy with school stuff, so unfortunately I didn't get to help out much with putting it on, but it involved welding it onto the current Trail Gear bumper, and we made it work.
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That was the only major upgrade in the spring, and I helped out with the now retired Overland Challenge Series event in Northwest Arkansas. Fun fact, my cousin was the brains behind that and we're super close with the guys at Natural State Overland and help out with them at the Rendezvous if anyone has heard of that.
Bridge build obstacle at the OCS event in Spring 2016:
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I became a senior in high school and decided on where I wanted to go to college, and since I would be quite a ways away from home up in NWA, I opted to go for an all terrain tire. I would be commuting every day in college, too, so that was another factor. I got an awesome deal on the Falken Wildpeak AT3W in 235/85/R16, or pizza cutters, as some people may call them.
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Helping out at the fall OCS event. To this day, this is one of my favorite pictures.
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I stayed busy with school and getting stuff ready for college from there on out, so upgrades paused until the winter. I had saved up enough to upgrade to 4.7 transfer case gears from Trail Gear. Wasn't able to get any pictures of it, but here's a YouTube video of them working on flat ground:
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Those were installed in the winter of 2016, and I again had to put "big" upgrades to a halt because of school and finances, but continued hitting the trails with my cousin and other friends as often as possible. I also got to attend Overland Expo West 2017 as a graduation gift. Super awesome experience!
Fast-forward to January 2018. I bought a Spartan rear locker as my Christmas present, and wow did that make a difference off road. I ran it with the locker up until mid 2019 when I upgraded differentials (My old 4.30 diff with the locker is up for sale right now, so hit me up if you want it!).
Trying to do my first "burnout" with the locker but failing pretty hard:
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The rest of 2018 didn't have anything crazy happen. Just enjoyed my locker and stayed busy with college and work! 2019 came around and my fuel pump went out on me on the way to school on a very cold January morning, so that was a bummer. Got that fixed pretty easily, and then I considered my options of finding a daily driver to eat up the miles to and from school. I looked for quite a while at 3rd Gens, 4th Gens, and even Outbacks. I eventually decided that I didn't really need another 4Runner yet, and I wanted to stay Toyota, so I ended up getting a pretty sweet deal on a 2016 Corolla that had 21,000 miles on it when I got it! I call her "Plain Jane" for obvious reasons.
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Towards the end of the semester and summer of 2019, my transmission finally decided to give out. I looked for used transmissions for quite a while, but that option became less and less likely. I ended up finding out who AutoZone gets their remanufactured transmissions from (Midwest Transmissions) and ordered straight through Midwest Transmission. The clutch and flywheel were replaced while the transmission was out.
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I left my truck in Missouri with my cousin while I was back in central AR at an internship, so I would drive up there as often as possible and work on the transmission. Once it was finished, we kept it up there for a couple more weeks to break in the transmission to get it ready for the drive down to me for the rest of the summer. Of course, when we were driving it, we hit a bird/hawk and busted my windshield.
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Got that replaced, finished up my internship, and headed back to NWA for another semester of school.
In August 2019 I switched back to mud terrains and went for the Falken Wildpeak MT01 265/75/R16. Love them so far!
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In September 2019 I upgraded to 4.88 diffs from a 2nd Gen, so I was back to open diffs. I appreciated this a lot on the road.
In October, NWA got hit by a really bad storm, and it blew straight through the little town I live in. It blew down trees everywhere and all throughout town, and one of our trees in the front yard fell over and gave my truck a kiss. It's a bummer that my truck got hit, but it could have been so much worse, so I'm happy!
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We've whacked on it from the inside to try and buff it out, but some spots are just going to have to stay dented. It looks better now, though. I don't really care enough to have it completely fixed since I get it scratched up on the trails anyways.
I recently changed up the suspension, and that can be found in the Lift and Tires thread, but essentially I went with OME HD leafs, removed one leaf, and ended up with OME Nitrocharger Sport Shocks front and rear. I tried to go Bilstein at first but ordered way too big of a shock.
My next near-future plan is to throw in an e-locker, but I've got some researching and saving up to do. Hopefully all of this works! I'll try to update this as often as I can, but I mostly just wanted to share my story of my truck after being inspired by all of these other threads.