gonzo97
New member
Hey Everyone,
New to the forum but have been in the Toyota game for quite sometime. First started building 4Runners at the age of 16 (mainly rock crawler style trucks) and have been in love with 4Runners ever since.
I have owned a 1997 Limited 4Runner, 1991 Fully SAS 4Runner, and also a 1988 4Runner, still to this day the 3RD Gens hold that special place in my heart. So enough about the past, lets talk about the present.
I purchased a 1996 SR5 back in September of 2015, my initial thought was, "Well hell, I'm going to SAS this and put 4dees on it!" My thinking was this is my secondary car and I can afford to just work on it over time etc. Well as all things do my goals and plans have now changed and my focus is not on building a rock crawler but has shifted to more of an overland style build. So although my build will be slow, I hope you guys will follow along and I hope you enjoy! Lets dive in!
This is how she sat for about the first year that I owned her. When I first purchased her I spent around 3k which I thought was a slamming deal for around 200k miles. Well of course when I got it home my mechanic buddy looked it over for me and told me the headgaskets were about to go out on it, so the work began. I completely tore down the engine, rebuilt it with all new Toyota Gaskets, replaced the water pump, timing belt, radiator, radiator hoses, heater core valve, the works. Now the truck runs stronger than ever and I can rest in peace knowing that she will be good for another 150K
ray2:
That led me to be able to focus on my suspension which was not a smooth ride at all. Combination, of mismatched wheels, too big of tires (width) and also a stock panhard bar, was definitely not the recipe for success.
So I ordered in new wheels
Then came the new rubber :banana:
I liked how it looked not even on the truck yet
Then came the spacers, they are a work of art, thank you SpiderTrax :art:
Finally I was able to mount them to my truck
Then I had to solve the stock pan hard bar issue, ToyTec to the rescue, thank you Poly Performance for getting me the parts I needed quickly
Stock Versus ToyTec
I was only off by an 1/8" but its amazing what that small difference can do to your ride, definitely helped get rid of some of the rear end vibration I was experiencing.
And the moment we have all been waiting for, the final picture of the final setup, might I add, I am super happy with the outcome of these last few weeks of research, and waiting for parts :naughty:
Hope you guys have enjoyed this first post, looking forward to posting up in here more and more.
The newb.
Gonzo
New to the forum but have been in the Toyota game for quite sometime. First started building 4Runners at the age of 16 (mainly rock crawler style trucks) and have been in love with 4Runners ever since.
I have owned a 1997 Limited 4Runner, 1991 Fully SAS 4Runner, and also a 1988 4Runner, still to this day the 3RD Gens hold that special place in my heart. So enough about the past, lets talk about the present.
I purchased a 1996 SR5 back in September of 2015, my initial thought was, "Well hell, I'm going to SAS this and put 4dees on it!" My thinking was this is my secondary car and I can afford to just work on it over time etc. Well as all things do my goals and plans have now changed and my focus is not on building a rock crawler but has shifted to more of an overland style build. So although my build will be slow, I hope you guys will follow along and I hope you enjoy! Lets dive in!
This is how she sat for about the first year that I owned her. When I first purchased her I spent around 3k which I thought was a slamming deal for around 200k miles. Well of course when I got it home my mechanic buddy looked it over for me and told me the headgaskets were about to go out on it, so the work began. I completely tore down the engine, rebuilt it with all new Toyota Gaskets, replaced the water pump, timing belt, radiator, radiator hoses, heater core valve, the works. Now the truck runs stronger than ever and I can rest in peace knowing that she will be good for another 150K
ray2: That led me to be able to focus on my suspension which was not a smooth ride at all. Combination, of mismatched wheels, too big of tires (width) and also a stock panhard bar, was definitely not the recipe for success.
So I ordered in new wheels
Then came the new rubber :banana:
I liked how it looked not even on the truck yet
Then came the spacers, they are a work of art, thank you SpiderTrax :art:
Finally I was able to mount them to my truck
Then I had to solve the stock pan hard bar issue, ToyTec to the rescue, thank you Poly Performance for getting me the parts I needed quickly
Stock Versus ToyTec
I was only off by an 1/8" but its amazing what that small difference can do to your ride, definitely helped get rid of some of the rear end vibration I was experiencing.
And the moment we have all been waiting for, the final picture of the final setup, might I add, I am super happy with the outcome of these last few weeks of research, and waiting for parts :naughty:
Hope you guys have enjoyed this first post, looking forward to posting up in here more and more.
The newb.
Gonzo
