Cartzo's 87 4Runner Homemade Long-Travel Build
 

How I got it:

1987 Toyota 4Runner SR5 22RE. I bought it for $975 with 218600 miles on it. For all I know it was stock. The previous owner put in an aftermarket security system and cruise control, but I don't know how to work either of them. The rear window works with the key! Had a bad exhaust leak where the manifold connects to the block. The transmission is a little thrashed. You have to hold it in 1st or else it will kick it out of gear when you let off the gas. All other gears are good. 4WD works awesome! Has auto-locking hubs so no need to get out and twist them :) It had two super bald 31x10.5 BFGoodrich All-Terrains on the front, 1 BFG with good tread on the driver side rear, and 1 Pathfinder I think it was on the passenger side rear. I think that's about it for now. These are pictures from the ad I saw on ksl.com where I bought it

looks like a good find. does it run well? also what are your future plans with it?

So a few months before I got this runner, I had an 87 Pickup 22R that I got from my grandpa. It was a puny little thing so I wanted to put some bigger tire on it. My girlfriend's dad gave me some rims he had and I picked up 5 Big O Big Foot tires for $300 with about 90% tread. I wanted black rims so I plasti-dipped the rims before mounting them. (bad idea) I had to get the tires mounted and balanced on the rims but in the time I was getting that done, I got t-boned by a high school student and totaled my truck. I bought my current 4Runner with the insurance money and got the tires all mounted up. Sure enough, the plasi-dip got torn up along the edges of the rims so I re-did them and they looked good. But that is the first thing I did to my runner was rims and tires.

This is after I got the tires and rims on.

It runs pretty good. I have had to do a little engine work on it. I will go into more detail later. This summer I would like to do a solid axle swap and suspension lift. In the very distant future I will put in a V8 and a new transmission:tongue1:

wow, that white truck was a wreck!! the runner looks nice. ya i have been kicking around the idea of plasti-diping my runners rims. the are the sr5 rims. idk yet though. i might just change them out for a different kind.

Yeah honestly I wouldn't recommend it. They look good and hold up pretty good. If you are a perfectionist like me it will annoy you when you get a little nick and can see silver or chrome underneath. I had a leak in both of my passenger side tires and when I got them fixed the plasti-dip got completely shredded so I ended up ripping it all off. It stayed on the rivets on the inside though and I think it looks pretty cool.

After the rims and tires I needed better sound on the interior so I wired up some subs and put in a Kenwood deck. It was definitely the easiest vehicle I have ever wired. Nice and easy to make the cords disappear under the carpet. It took a little modifying to get the deck to fit tight but it works fine.
Specs:

Stock front speakers - looking to replace them with some Rockford's also

Rear speakers - Rockford Fosgate T1572 - 70 watt RMS 140 watt peak

Subwoofers - 12" Rockford Fosgate P3 - 4 ohm 400 watt RMS 800 watt peak

Deck - Kenwood KDC-HD552U - 22 watts x 4 RMS 50 watt peak

Amp - Kenwood KAC-9105D - 500 watt RMS x 1 @ 4 ohms 1800 watt peak

I aslo took out that nasty fabric covering the shifters then plasti-dipped the sheet of metal on the bottom cause it was gross and rusty. Ended up buying some seat covers and trimable floor mats too.

What seat covers are those?

I'm not exactly sure. I picked them up off ebay for like $24 I think.

I have a question for you KidV. Would it be easier to do the axle swap and lift at the same time or do the lift after I have the solid axle in?

Its easier to do everything at once, unless you like buying parts twice...

Don't talk to me about axle swaps, I'm not gonna give you the advice you want to hear :).

The solid axle swap is highly overrated. The IFS on these trucks is sturdy, and will go almost anywhere you feel like you need to. There's a culture that says you have to have a solid axle or you're not wheeling, but I call bullpucky. With the time and money you'll spend on just the solid axle conversion, you could afford plate bumpers, skid plates, rock sliders, and a selectable rear locker, and have a WAY more capable truck, with a better ride and better mpg to boot. There's a reason Toyota went to IFS - for 99% of the wheelers out there, it truly is a superior all-round system. And unless you're taking lines like this, you're not one of the 1% that actually needs the strength and articulation of a solid axle. It's a nice upgrade, it can be strengthened where the IFS can't and is easier/cheaper to get higher lifts. But it's far from necessary in order to take your truck places that'll have your butthole grabbing seat cloth, and I think in your case it'd be overkill. Wait until you're breaking the IFS you've got, then worry about if it's time for an axle conversion.

To answer your question, when you install the straight axle you'll be removing the torsion bar suspension and installing leaf springs (or coils, if you're linking it) - the suspension is how you lift the truck, so you only want to do that once.

If there was a dislike button, I would have worn that thing out on this post :D

I completely agree with that statement!

-----

The solid axle is preferred for offroad because if it's higher articulation and strength. With the solid axle you don't have to worry about breaking cv's (unless you run big ass tires with lockers), you have better articulation and a stronger 3rd member so you can run a locker with more reliability.

I wheeled with IFS on my 88 4runner and went a lot of cool places. But now that I have a solid axle, it will be very hard for me to ever go back to IFS.

There's no dislike button because I already wore it out on your face. :flipoff: