So I've had this 99 4Runner for about 8 years or so. It was my wife's daily driver until about 2 years ago when we got her a Sienna. I just recently was able to start building it. Here's some specs on the base 4Runner:
SR5
V6
Automatic
Rear Locker
255k
First thing I did was buy a used OME lift off craigslist. Thought it was a good deal at the time, more on that later. I then started gathering parts to go trough the whole front end to make it all like new. Here's a list of the parts I picked up.
OEM Upper and Lower ball joints -new OEM bolts or the lowers too
OEM Inner and Outer tie rods - new boots as well
OEM front wheel bearings - planned on doing both sides
OEM Upper control arm bushings
Safari Ltd steering rack
Ok, so here's a few pics.
Started with this:
Swapped rims and 231mm rotors and calipers from my moms Sequoia that was being totaled:
Last weekend I started all the work to redo the whole front end and put on the 3" OME lift.
Didn't take any pics of everything torn apart. Was just busy trying to get as much done as I could while I had my brothers help.
Got the steering rack torn out and set next to the new one:
The old inner tie rods were limper than an 80yr old man wit severe ED:
Got the steering rack in and the lines hooked back up. The lines were the worst part. Then I finished up the drivers side as much as I could:
Once I had this I diverted my attention and knocked out the back. Didn't take any pics, but it's OME Shocks and 891 coils.
Then I prepped my newest purchase for install:
Got these Light Racing upper control arms from a member here. They look awesome and I can' wait to use them more.
I had to finish up the drivers side and put on the tire just to get an idea of what it was going to look like:
As you can see it was very tall in the front. Was hoping that with weight on the front it would settle down a bit. I had to take a break at this point as I needed to have the drivers rear and passenger front wheel bearings replaced. While I waited, I installed my 1” RB body lift with steering shaft extension.
Once I got the bearings replaced I got everything reassembled and got it ready to take to get an alignment. This didn’t work too well. The front was extremely stiff and I could hear the CV’s clinking at the angle they were being forced to. I turned around, having only driven maybe a mile. I got home and stuck a jack under one control arm and jacked it up to its max 20”. Neither the drivers or passenger sides flexed. I was thinking that since it was a used lift, maybe the shock shafts were frozen on the bodies. I sprayed each with a lot of WD-40, but they still wouldn’t move. So I pulled the front lift and headed to Toytec. There I worked with [MENTION=9139]steezemcqueen[/MENTION] and he was a great help. We figured that the coils had to be OME 882 which are rated for something like 450+lbs on the front end. So, it was time for new coils. Decided on the 881 on the shocks that I had. Once they got the first one taken apart they noticed that the top hats had been elongated and wouldn’t sit right on the shocks. OK, new top hats. Then they took the second ones apart and found that while it’s top hat was also elongated, the shock shaft was also about half warn through. This didn’t make me very happy.
Luckily Dylan was very patient with me and spent the time talking me through my different options. I could go with 5100’s and some 881’s then upgrade to the 883’s once I get my front bumper and winch. This wasn’t that appealing as I didn’t want to have to keep taking things off. This left me with one option that the wife gave the green light to.
These coil overs are awesome. They have already been very nice as I’ve been able to start to dial in my suspension height. This is how it was sitting after an alignment.
Well, partial alignment. Going to go to Toyota on Monday as Firestone just made excuses for why they couldn’t get it spot on.
This is where I’m currently at. Going to be doing the basis for my sliders this coming weekend with my brother. He’s also going to be helping me to do front and rear bumpers.
SR5
V6
Automatic
Rear Locker
255k
First thing I did was buy a used OME lift off craigslist. Thought it was a good deal at the time, more on that later. I then started gathering parts to go trough the whole front end to make it all like new. Here's a list of the parts I picked up.
OEM Upper and Lower ball joints -new OEM bolts or the lowers too
OEM Inner and Outer tie rods - new boots as well
OEM front wheel bearings - planned on doing both sides
OEM Upper control arm bushings
Safari Ltd steering rack
Ok, so here's a few pics.
Started with this:
Swapped rims and 231mm rotors and calipers from my moms Sequoia that was being totaled:
Last weekend I started all the work to redo the whole front end and put on the 3" OME lift.
Didn't take any pics of everything torn apart. Was just busy trying to get as much done as I could while I had my brothers help.
Got the steering rack torn out and set next to the new one:
The old inner tie rods were limper than an 80yr old man wit severe ED:
Got the steering rack in and the lines hooked back up. The lines were the worst part. Then I finished up the drivers side as much as I could:
Once I had this I diverted my attention and knocked out the back. Didn't take any pics, but it's OME Shocks and 891 coils.
Then I prepped my newest purchase for install:
Got these Light Racing upper control arms from a member here. They look awesome and I can' wait to use them more.
I had to finish up the drivers side and put on the tire just to get an idea of what it was going to look like:
As you can see it was very tall in the front. Was hoping that with weight on the front it would settle down a bit. I had to take a break at this point as I needed to have the drivers rear and passenger front wheel bearings replaced. While I waited, I installed my 1” RB body lift with steering shaft extension.
Once I got the bearings replaced I got everything reassembled and got it ready to take to get an alignment. This didn’t work too well. The front was extremely stiff and I could hear the CV’s clinking at the angle they were being forced to. I turned around, having only driven maybe a mile. I got home and stuck a jack under one control arm and jacked it up to its max 20”. Neither the drivers or passenger sides flexed. I was thinking that since it was a used lift, maybe the shock shafts were frozen on the bodies. I sprayed each with a lot of WD-40, but they still wouldn’t move. So I pulled the front lift and headed to Toytec. There I worked with [MENTION=9139]steezemcqueen[/MENTION] and he was a great help. We figured that the coils had to be OME 882 which are rated for something like 450+lbs on the front end. So, it was time for new coils. Decided on the 881 on the shocks that I had. Once they got the first one taken apart they noticed that the top hats had been elongated and wouldn’t sit right on the shocks. OK, new top hats. Then they took the second ones apart and found that while it’s top hat was also elongated, the shock shaft was also about half warn through. This didn’t make me very happy.
Luckily Dylan was very patient with me and spent the time talking me through my different options. I could go with 5100’s and some 881’s then upgrade to the 883’s once I get my front bumper and winch. This wasn’t that appealing as I didn’t want to have to keep taking things off. This left me with one option that the wife gave the green light to.
These coil overs are awesome. They have already been very nice as I’ve been able to start to dial in my suspension height. This is how it was sitting after an alignment.
Well, partial alignment. Going to go to Toyota on Monday as Firestone just made excuses for why they couldn’t get it spot on.
This is where I’m currently at. Going to be doing the basis for my sliders this coming weekend with my brother. He’s also going to be helping me to do front and rear bumpers.
