1999 4runner build highschool/college edition

[domhanna]

I'm doing a similar thing. Just bought a '99 for $3500, it's got some rust because it's a northeast car but it's in good enough condition for the price. Gonna be repairing stuff and modding stuff over the next few weeks before heading to school.

 

[domhanna]

Damn, I did not scroll to the end of this thread before posting. Didn't realize how far you had gotten. Congrats, I hope mine gets this far.

 

[Iron duke]

Rear wheel bearings? Out on the trail? Curious how this would be done.

It was front wheel bearings and I just took it to a shop in Moab. I forgot to pack my mobile 6 ton press or I wuld have lol.

Damn, I did not scroll to the end of this thread before posting. Didn't realize how far you had gotten. Congrats, I hope mine gets this far.

I really appreciate it! As long as the platform is solid it will be well worth it. It doesn't have to be expensive to look and perform well.

 

[3rdgensnowhite]

Congrats man!
Im also young but not as young as you(20) Im also on a tight budget. i work full-time as a diesel tech, getting married in October and need to pay rent. its not cheap to live in cali but i get around.
so far i have the TTHA-9602 kit and spc uppers.
i put on a body lift but i dont like it so its coming off.
i made my own retrofit headlights( have another pair if anyones interested)
Front bumper
and a whole lot of maintenance.
im making rockys diy LT kit and sliders so yeah big fun!

 

[Iron duke]

Finally getting time to post about my trip across the US! To be expected, there were some mishaps and repairs along the way, but overall was a blast and well worth it. Me and my four buddies and my brother decided to go cross country with my 4runner and my friends' 2008 Tacoma. We left from Tybee Island, Ga and hit up San Antonio, Moab, Salt Lake City, Yosemite, Lake Tahoe, San Fransisco, The PCH, Los Angeles and the surrounding beaches, Los Vegas, and The Grand Canyon. I hit up Hell's Revenge which was one of the most fun things I've done. Then along the way there were random offroad turn offs that led to spectacular scenery. At Bonneville, we went to the salt flats to get some top speed runs. With a tail wind and 5 minutes of uninvigorating acceleration, I managed to hit 99mph...so close. In Yosemite, we did some repelling. The PCH was definetly one of everyone's favorite rides. We even were able to se the Elephant seals. Lastly, the Grand Canyon was absolutly breath taking, even being my thrid time there. As far as the parts list goes, I had to get a shop to do my front wheel bearings and my friend had to do his, along with a rack and pinion, brakes, and front suspension. Unfortunately, he was going up a dune at Pismo beach and launched himself off of it rearanging his front end, tweaking his frame, and damaging bumper and headlight mounts. The truck made it all the way home to Georgia though and nobody was injured. It was definetly worth it in the end. And at only 530 dollars per person, we made very reasonable. Here's some pictures along the way!

The before picture, cleaned up and loaded down

A few notable campsites

The unmarked turn offs. The first are buttes in NM and the other a canyon in UT

Good times at Hell's revenge!

Made it to Cali! Had some fun in Yosemite

Some PCH fun

Some PCH not so fun

 

[Iron duke]

Finally getting time to post about my trip across the US! To be expected, there were some mishaps and repairs along the way, but overall was a blast and well worth it. Me and my four buddies and my brother decided to go cross country with my 4runner and my friends' 2008 Tacoma. We left from Tybee Island, Ga and hit up San Antonio, Moab, Salt Lake City, Yosemite, Lake Tahoe, San Fransisco, The PCH, Los Angeles and the surrounding beaches, Los Vegas, and The Grand Canyon. I hit up Hell's Revenge which was one of the most fun things I've done. Then along the way there were random offroad turn offs that led to spectacular scenery. At Bonneville, we went to the salt flats to get some top speed runs. With a tail wind and 5 minutes of uninvigorating acceleration, I managed to hit 99mph...so close. In Yosemite, we did some repelling. The PCH was definetly one of everyone's favorite rides. We even were able to se the Elephant seals. Lastly, the Grand Canyon was absolutly breath taking, even being my thrid time there. As far as the parts list goes, I had to get a shop to do my front wheel bearings and my friend had to do his, along with a rack and pinion, brakes, and front suspension. Unfortunately, he was going up a dune at Pismo beach and launched himself off of it rearanging his front end, tweaking his frame, and damaging bumper and headlight mounts. The truck made it all the way home to Georgia though and nobody was injured. It was definetly worth it in the end. And at only 530 dollars per person, we made very reasonable. Here's some pictures along the way!

The Los Vegas strip at night

The boys at The Grand Canyon

The after picture. The last campsite before a tropical storm washed all my precious dirt off. A bit dirty but still solid!

Limited to 20 pictures...

If you want videos of each day go to @boysonaroadtrip on instagram or tik tok

 

[Iron duke]

So in post trip maintenance, I changed my engine oil, radiator flush, fuel filter (more on that), replacing the rear control arm bushings, and resanding/painting my front bumper. Also looking into different UCA's.

The bumper had a ton of surface rust because of the salt flats and there were still clumps of salt in it. I took about 2 hours to wash and prep the bumper for painting, and then 5 coats later it finally looked new again.

I wanted to change my fuel filter because it was the factory one and so I pick up on from the Autozone, not knowing any better, and think nothing of it. Apparently I am not alone, but Duralast fuel filters WILL NOT WORK ON OUR 4RUNNERS. I spent hours trying to get it not to leak and now then I was starting to strip the fuel lines attempting to remove it, so off to the mechanic it goes.

I'm going with Energy Suspension for their control arm bushings. After reading up on these, they seem very good quality and I like how they are poly bushings. I needed them because on the trip I noticed the vehicle feel like its swaying on the highway if there's bumps or unevenness in the road, especially when weighted down.

In the near future I plan on getting UCA's that will accommodate my lift properly. I have been running with Spidertrax wheel spacers and awful caster, and I hate both. I ran across these Freedom Offroad UCA's on Amazon that are 370 and people say they are actually pretty good and less than 1/2 the cost of the Total Chaos ones. Experience on those would be appreciated.

Also did this a little while ago, but I made my own high clearance exhaust for free. No leaking into the cabin at stops or anything, and it does'nt look stupidly low now that I have the tube rear bumper.

 

[T4topher]

So in post trip maintenance, I changed my engine oil, radiator flush, fuel filter (more on that), replacing the rear control arm bushings, and resanding/painting my front bumper. Also looking into different UCA's.

The bumper had a ton of surface rust because of the salt flats and there were still clumps of salt in it. I took about 2 hours to wash and prep the bumper for painting, and then 5 coats later it finally looked new again.

I wanted to change my fuel filter because it was the factory one and so I pick up on from the Autozone, not knowing any better, and think nothing of it. Apparently I am not alone, but Duralast fuel filters WILL NOT WORK ON OUR 4RUNNERS. I spent hours trying to get it not to leak and now then I was starting to strip the fuel lines attempting to remove it, so off to the mechanic it goes.

I'm going with Energy Suspension for their control arm bushings. After reading up on these, they seem very good quality and I like how they are poly bushings. I needed them because on the trip I noticed the vehicle feel like its swaying on the highway if there's bumps or unevenness in the road, especially when weighted down.

In the near future I plan on getting UCA's that will accommodate my lift properly. I have been running with Spidertrax wheel spacers and awful caster, and I hate both. I ran across these Freedom Offroad UCA's on Amazon that are 370 and people say they are actually pretty good and less than 1/2 the cost of the Total Chaos ones. Experience on those would be appreciated.

Also did this a little while ago, but I made my own high clearance exhaust for free. No leaking into the cabin at stops or anything, and it does'nt look stupidly low now that I have the tube rear bumper.

I always recommend maintenance parts be purchased through Toyota (I order from Mcgeorge Toyota parts). If you really think about it you actually end up saving yourself $ by using OEM parts because they last longer and they will make your vehicle last longer not to mention they install easier/correctly. Even small stuff like rotors/pads/oil filters etc. I like the JBA UCAs that I got a lot, tons of good reviews on them and not much more $. I’ve heard of the freedom’s but haven’t looked much into them.

 

[Iron duke]

So the other day I got this roll rack. Never used and was 250 instead of the normal price of 500, so I had to. Internal storage is 72”x36” and it’s overall length and width are 78”x40”, so it fills up the roof pretty well. I really love the look, but I had to shift the roof rails up one bolt so I could get the crossbars in an even position.

Also replaced the fuel lines and got an oem Toyota fuel filter, not making the same mistake twice. The install was smooth as ever, as it should’ve been.

 

[Devbot]

So the other day I got this roll rack. Never used and was 250 instead of the normal price of 500, so I had to. Internal storage is 72”x36” and it’s overall length and width are 78”x40”, so it fills up the roof pretty well. I really love the look, but I had to shift the roof rails up one bolt so I could get the crossbars in an even position.

Also replaced the fuel lines and got an oem Toyota fuel filter, not making the same mistake twice. The install was smooth as ever, as it should’ve been.

That's a damn good steal!

 

[Iron duke]

Today I got another amazing deal. I sold just the tires (with 20k miles) for 400 and got these wheels and tires (with about 30k miles) for the same price of 400 dollars. Basically free to me beside getting spline-drive lug nuts. They are XD Misfits 18x9 with apparently 0 offset, but they have a lot of poke. They're paired to 285/65 (33") Nitto Trail Grappler MT tires. Also got my rear bumper finished up with license plate bezel and cb antenna mount and my friend did a little handiwork on the mud flaps, just in case you didn't know it was 4wd lol.

Next order of business is to install some OME 2860 coils...the rig is getting fat.

 

[Iron duke]

So the day before college I found out my 4wd is not engaging. Unfortunately I have no idea what it could be, possibly the vacuum lines or an electrical connection failure. I can engage low range, but no 4wd light and no 4wd. I have no idea how to go about installing new vacuum line and getting pressure back in it, if it is even the vacuum line. Another negative is that now that I'm at college, time and resources are almost non existent. Hopefully I will have a long weekend sometime to figure it out, but I may not be able to post for a while unfortunately.

 

[TravThePro]

Luckily it's a really simple system. You can try bypassing the VSV and running vacuum directly into the 4WD line to see if that light comes on and the vehicle actually engages 4WD. If it doesn't, there is probably a leak in the 4WD line or the ADD is seized (which is pretty rare especially if you have had it in 4WD recently).

If it does, just test if vacuum is getting through the correct VSV (not both at all times). The 4WD one seizes fairly often with vehicles of this age/not being cycled enough throughout its life.

 

[Iron duke]

Luckily it's a really simple system. You can try bypassing the VSV and running vacuum directly into the 4WD line to see if that light comes on and the vehicle actually engages 4WD. If it doesn't, there is probably a leak in the 4WD line or the ADD is seized (which is pretty rare especially if you have had it in 4WD recently).

If it does, just test if vacuum is getting through the correct VSV (not both at all times). The 4WD one seizes fairly often with vehicles of this age/not being cycled enough throughout its life.

I went to a shop that did hook up their vacuum to the 4wd and they said the actuator engaged but the 4wd light still didn't come on and no 4wd. They also said that nothing was really broken mechanically on the 4wd system (actuator, ADD, etc.), there's just not a signal from the 4wd switch to the actuator or something. That didn't really make sense to me because it is the j-shift t-case which is controlled by a linkage (right?). Anyways I'm pretty sure they were just spit balling at that point since their diagnostic inspection was taking multiple hours. I'm only assuming it's the vacuum lines because that seems to be a common factor in these trucks. May be the solenoid if it's something electrical, but I have no clue.

I have the 4wd engaged fairly regularly, but I accidently put it in 4wd when the 4runner was off and then started it and rolled forward, that's when the 4wd didn't engage for the first time. Not sure if that had anything to do with anything either.

 

[BorotHex]

I have the 4wd engaged fairly regularly, but I accidently put it in 4wd when the 4runner was off and then started it and rolled forward, that's when the 4wd didn't engage for the first time. Not sure if that had anything to do with anything either.

I wonder if there’s a 1 or 0 stuck somewhere it shouldn’t be because of what you did accidentally. It’s possible.

 

[cl4Rk]

EDIT: Iron duke, I originally missed one of your more recent posts. I see that my post below won’t be very helpful to you. I hope you can figure it out

I can engage low range, but no 4wd light and no 4wd.

FWIW I had the same symptoms and found holes in the hoses. I wrapped them up with silicone rescue tape and that solve the problem immediately.

 

[TravThePro]

I went to a shop that did hook up their vacuum to the 4wd and they said the actuator engaged but the 4wd light still didn't come on and no 4wd. They also said that nothing was really broken mechanically on the 4wd system (actuator, ADD, etc.), there's just not a signal from the 4wd switch to the actuator or something. That didn't really make sense to me because it is the j-shift t-case which is controlled by a linkage (right?). Anyways I'm pretty sure they were just spit balling at that point since their diagnostic inspection was taking multiple hours. I'm only assuming it's the vacuum lines because that seems to be a common factor in these trucks. May be the solenoid if it's something electrical, but I have no clue.

I have the 4wd engaged fairly regularly, but I accidently put it in 4wd when the 4runner was off and then started it and rolled forward, that's when the 4wd didn't engage for the first time. Not sure if that had anything to do with anything either.

J-shift is completely controlled with linkage, so it doesn't have failure-prone electric actuators like the others. This t-case has a single 2 prong wiring harness that comes out of it to communicate with the 4WD control Module.

I have shifted it into 4WD countless times while it's off with the j-shifter. This shouldn't be a problem for these although you never know what the 4WD control module could do.

Try checking things in roughly this order:

-Is the 4WD engaging on the T-case (check front driveline to see if it spins free when shifted) If it isn't then the issue is either in the linkage or shift forks are bent, which is extremely unlikely.

***If the T-case is working, move on to the electrical/vacuum diagnosis

-Check the 4WD 20 amp fuse on the interior fuse panel
-Is the 2 prong connector from the t-case connected/free of visible wiring issues
-Are the VSVs connected and free of visible wiring issues
-Check for power to the 2WD VSV when in 2WD (Have vehicle running just in case)
-Check for power to the 4WD VSV when in 4WD (vehicle running)

***If the electrical side is working, it's time to diagnose vacuum with the vehicle running for all tests

-Is the vehicle getting vacuum to the start of both VSVs
-When in 2WD does the vacuum make it to the other side of the 2WD VSV
-When in 4WD does the vacuum make it to the other side of the 4WD VSV

Replace any vacuum lines that you have doubts of integrity. Most of the time one of those VSV has seized. Hopefully this will work for you. Let me know if you have any questions.

 

[Iron duke]

J-shift is completely controlled with linkage, so it doesn't have failure-prone electric actuators like the others. This t-case has a single 2 prong wiring harness that comes out of it to communicate with the 4WD control Module.

I have shifted it into 4WD countless times while it's off with the j-shifter. This shouldn't be a problem for these although you never know what the 4WD control module could do.

Try checking things in roughly this order:

-Is the 4WD engaging on the T-case (check front driveline to see if it spins free when shifted) If it isn't then the issue is either in the linkage or shift forks are bent, which is extremely unlikely.

***If the T-case is working, move on to the electrical/vacuum diagnosis

-Check the 4WD 20 amp fuse on the interior fuse panel
-Is the 2 prong connector from the t-case connected/free of visible wiring issues
-Are the VSVs connected and free of visible wiring issues
-Check for power to the 2WD VSV when in 2WD (Have vehicle running just in case)
-Check for power to the 4WD VSV when in 4WD (vehicle running)

***If the electrical side is working, it's time to diagnose vacuum with the vehicle running for all tests

-Is the vehicle getting vacuum to the start of both VSVs
-When in 2WD does the vacuum make it to the other side of the 2WD VSV
-When in 4WD does the vacuum make it to the other side of the 4WD VSV

Replace any vacuum lines that you have doubts of integrity. Most of the time one of those VSV has seized. Hopefully this will work for you. Let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you for all the great info and advice. I will be taking a look at those things hopefully soon. The only thing you mentioned that I checked is the fuse, which is good, but a lot more things to look at. Thanks again and I'll let you know for sure if I have any other questions and the outcome.

 

[3bears]

on my old 2000 with the j shift, my 4wd was not working correct and it was winter and snow and needed it working, I was testing all kinds of stuff, then someone on the forum suggested it might be the little one way valve that supplies the vacum to the system. Its blue ( if original), right next to the upper intake manifold, betweeen it and the radiator.
the way I tested was to take it off and blow into it from both directions. It should only work in one direction. mine did not work in either. No one had one in stock, so I just drilled it out ( then not a one way) I guess you could just get a vacum splice fitting and not drill it out....but I did that until I was able to get a new one. That seemed to gett the system working, unless I bumped something and it was all coincidence. But after getting the new one in, the system did not let me down and all worked as it should.
months later when I was at a pick and pull I grabbed the entire vacum system out of a car, including the diff actuator for spares...for $25
on my current 2000, i had no dash light telling me I was in 4wd, it was the bulb. Its improtant to exercise the systems. The P.O. of this one had never used the locker, and it took many attempts and then using it a lot off and on to get it to work correct. Now I make sure I run both systems a little every few weeks, as I will need them in a few months when the snow hits.

 

[Iron duke]

Well, I cleared a check engine light (02 sensor code) and the 4wd started working again. About the same time as the 4wd stopped working, my sub also quit working, so maybe one shorted out something with the other? I have no idea, but it's good now so I'm just happy about that.

A couple questions:

1. New tires. Going up to 35's to be with the cool kids. What's the best tire miles/dollars in y'alls opinion?

2. With 35's, I can't go without upgraded UCA's. I'm thinking about JBA's SPC UCA's, but people have also said Freedom Offroad's are good too. For an extra 70 bucks, are JBA worth it?