1st time/1st gen owner

[LittleRed]

Hi! :hello: I've been lurking around here for a couple weeks, ever since I bought my 4runner. I'm so impressed with how friendly and helpful everyone seems to be here and I'm looking forward to getting advice as I fix him up!

'86 4runner, 22re, 4cyl, manual, 202k. Rusty around the fenders but still my dream truck. I'm looking forward to learning how to do everything to this truck.

I bought Chuck in San Francisco for $2,400 and a large pizza then learned to drive manual on a solo drive home to Arizona. He loves doing forest service trails in 4low.

Everyone, I'd like to introduce Chuck:

 

[RAD4Runner]

...Rusty around the fenders

Yeah, those trims attract rust. I removed my non-functional chrome wherever possible - windshield, rocker panel, wheel-well.

... but still my dream truck. I'm looking forward to learning how to do everything to this truck.

Yep, mine too, since I saw them in news, movies and documentaries about Toyota Wars, among others...

 

[t4runn]

Welcome!

 

[LittleRed]

Ah, the forum ate my reply.

Sometime I feel like I have the only rusty truck in Arizona. The theory with Chuck is he had fender flares at one point and it must've trapped moisture. Someday I'll dig in and start replacing the rusted body panels, when I've saved up for a nice paint job. But for now, I get to enjoy earning scratches and dents

Why would the chrome attract rust?

 

[ldkrunner]

the chrome trim around the windshield just flat out holds moisture...ditch it before it gets worse. you can have a windshield company put plain black rubber around it or just leave it bare. i had a very bad case of this on my 85. so bad that i had to remove the w/s to cut all of it out. then fab up sheet metal and weld in around several areas of the "A" pillars.

the rear fenders with or without trim do the same thing with the lip on the inside of the panel. i had to do some minor triming to get rid of all that as well and again fab up sheet metal and weld in to resolve. there is a lot out on the forums about all of these issues to give you an idea on how to approach repair. i am going to post a build thread on my 85 here in the near future on this forum in the "classic t4r's" i have alot doccumented on these repairs opcorn:

 

[lofreqjeff]

Nice 4Runner! Where in AZ are you? I'm in Chandler and I have an 89 4Runner.

One of the first things I did to mine was take the wheel well trim off. The windshield had a crack so when I had it replaced, I had them put on a rubber gasket instead of trying to replace the metal trim.

If you ever have any qustions, need to know where to get parts, want to go wheelin, or even need a hand wrenching - let me know.

I got mine from the original owner and it was bone stock, but after 9 years it has evolved into something like this: