I’m Dave from Columbus, Ohio. So far I like this forum a lot. It’s been helpful for the new Toyota owner that I am. I’m a member of “gsresources” (Suzuki GS Moto forum) and “dotheton” (custom/resto/restomod ,vintage bike forum) so with that said Forums are not foreign to me.
I bought this 2 owner (both PO’s worked at the dealership) all stock 1996 Toyota 4Runner Limited last June and have really fallen in love with it. The 4Runner has 170,000 on it now. Ive only put about 7k on in about 13 months since I live close to work. Always a few things to work on but I’ll be honest, I don’t have many plans to get crazy with this thing. I own a few older motorcycles and take pride in maintaining them and this 4Runner will get the same love. So far I’ve used the search function on this site to get some tips on parts purchases for OEM stuff. I used “amayama” to get outer tie rod ends as well as some valve cover gaskets/intake manifold gaskets, orings and other bits that I typically go OEM on with any vehicle. I bought the Japanese MOOG 555(?) inners on amazon and bellows locally. Installed the inners/outers/bellows. NGK spark plugs(double’s) and NGK wires. I religiously run shell v-nitro through all my vehicles as well (in a pinch high octane Sunoco gas is a no brainer). Currently waiting for my Gibson stainless CatBack exhaust to arrive and in the meantime am refinishing my rusted hitch (wire wheeled and welding flat stock patch to back where there is a hole) along with prepping my undercarriage to have Line-X coat it before winter. Hoping I can give it to them in as close to coating condition as I can in case they are lazy with prep(first time using their services). I don’t have a lot of pics but here are the few I do have. Thanks to the many people posting tutorials, build threads, tips and tricks and just plain old 4Runner porn for the rest of us to drool over.
Attachment 341938
Pulling my little refinished 4x7’ trailer I got for free in very rough condition from my brother in law. Hauled some brush that day, I also haul my 1984 PE175 to Wayne National Forrest to ride trails.
Attachment 341939
Attachment 341942
Bought 100sq.ft of paver stone for $126 on an online auction ($568 at Home Depot now) and was afraid the rough ride on the trailer would crack some pieces so I removed the babies car seat (ugh....), laid the seat down and loaded each piece. Pulling the pallet to my car by hand nearly pulled my quads. I assumed it was only 500-600lbs.... later discovered is was 1,750lbs !!! Luckily a short drive home and I’m still to this day impressed with the lack of sag it caused on the aged suspension.
Attachment 341943
One of the PE because I just did a refresh on her and it’s too sexy too keep it to myself.
Attachment 341940
And the fair weather DD 1981 GS450S that does include the 4Runner as an “extra” in this shot.
Attachment 341941