John's 99 4runner rebuild/build

[mmml4]

Made a little progress and yes it looks even worse in person. I figure enough seam sealer, paint and undercoating and all will be good. That was a real pain in the ass I must say. Still got to weld it out from below.

Going to replace the rear main seal on the engine and the front pump seal on the tranny before I go back in with it.

I also found the parts I need to control the transfercase, a nice Land Cruiser man in Idaho has a 97 parts truck. He has the wiring harness and relay.

I still got to fit the seat mount back in, yeah more fun.

 

[mmml4]

Here is my version of a transmission crossmember. All the black dots are where 14 or 16mm bolts will be, not sure which size yet. This was fabricated out of 2"x3"x3/16" wall tubing. I had to cut 28" of tubing down to 2-5/8" to fit inside the 2"x3" tubing.

The pieces that the red handled clamps are holding up will be welded to the top of my lower link frame brackets. This will allow me to bolt the crossmember in and stiffen the lower link bracket mounting plates.

 

[mmml4]

Crossmember stuff.

After I figure out where to cut the hole for the 4wd shifter it will be time for final cleaning and painting.

 

[mmml4]

Well thats the first 5 years, Hope I can post some trail picts soon. Thanks for all the positive comments so far and I welcome any ideas or critiques.

 

[Singtoe]

Great work! Seams like it would have been easier to mount the 4runner body onto the Land cruiser chassis.

Everything looks clean. What prevents the rear coil springs from falling out in full droop?

I have a ton more questions but will get to them later.

 

[mmml4]

Questions are a good thing. That was my daughters 4runner and I did not have full coverage and could'nt bring myself to scrap it, so dad gets a toy. I will be using limiting straps when I finally get it running again.

 

[mmml4]

I ran into a little snag on my transmission swap and need input. In order to swap the park/neutral shifter shaft the valve body must come off. Should the transmission be upside down so I don't loose balls springs or whatever or does it matter. I have never pulled a valve body off of a transmission before and don't know what to expect.

 

[963rdgen]

Awesome, wish I had your skills

 

[mmml4]

Made a little progress, got the valve body off so I can swap out the manual valve lever shaft.

Had to order a couple of parts from the dealership and when they come in I will be putting the transmission back in.

 

[digitalferg]

This build has come along so far. I am loving it. Seems like you're getting pretty close to the end (does it really ever end though....? lol ) Are you finally all 4wd now?

I was wanting to do the 80 axle swap on my old 4runner but I sold it off and got a tacoma. Now I really want to put 80 axles under my tacoma... I have the prerunner so no 4wd right now and I just moved back to Utah and been getting a bunch of snow out here so I am really wanting 4wd... Only thing holding me back on it is the amount of time it would take to swap in the 80 axles vs just swapping in a stock IFS 4wd and stock trans/tcase setup. I think a stock setup I could do in under 2 weeks whereas the 80 axle swap would prob take me a month or to or more. (Snow will prob be all dried up by then...heh...but of course, i wouldn't be swapping just for 4wd in the snow...)

 

[mmml4]

I actually got the transmission back in this week, so now I got a list of small things to install/mod now. Maybe another week or so. Drive shafts may be the last items, not sure where to start.

gastank
starter
dipstick tube (requires mod)
rear anti swaybar
shifter (requires mod 3/4" riser ) it hits the xfer case
drive shafts (re-tube both)
exhaust ???
rear crossmember (requires mod) drive shaft is going to hit it
transmission oil temp sensor (requires mod)
xfer case wiring harness (needs tape,loom, and pins put in connector)

Now that I see the list it may take me another year, SHHHHHHHHHIATTTTTTT

 

[digitalferg]

Haha. Ya. Quite a list still. But youve come a loooong ways.

Ive actually been wondering quite a bit about routing the exhaust on a 4runner/Tacoma when using passenger front offset axle. It looks to me that it has to start out on the drivers side as opposed to stock config on the passenger side. Which seems easy enough, but then what after that? Both the 4runner and Tacoma have the gas tank offset to the drivers side right in front of the rear axle. You cant really get past the gas tank on that side for it. So do you cross over somewhere in the middle? Not sure where could work for that though cause then the driveshafts get in the way. But if you cant cross over somehow, then the only other option I see is relocating the gas tank to the other side somehow, or to the rear. :dunno:

Also, all that crossmember work and tranny/tcase spacing and height and wiring is why if I did do this swap, I'd just be going with the a340f and passenger offset chain tcase from the 3.4 T100s. Pretty much bolt right in and center output works just fine with the slightly offset third on the 80 rear with a dual cardon joint.

 

[mmml4]

Gastank, transmission cooler lines and starter done. Rear anti-sway bar tomorrow and then the shifter.

 

[mmml4]

Also, all that crossmember work and tranny/tcase spacing and height and wiring is why if I did do this swap, I'd just be going with the a340f and passenger offset chain tcase from the 3.4 T100s. Pretty much bolt right in and center output works just fine with the slightly offset third on the 80 rear with a dual cardon joint.

Sometimes I wish that is what I had done, this has been a huge amount of time and work.

 

[mmml4]

Rear antisway bar and shifter are in. Next up, dipstick tube, rear crossmember and getting the drive shaft re-tubed.

 

[mmml4]

Going to get my drive shaft re-tubed next week and I'm considering going to .120" wall tubing over the stock thickness. The guy at the shop says it is costly but I think it will be worth it, what says t4r.org folks. If all goes well I will be able to drive it once again yeah!!!

 

[mmml4]

Got a slight problem here, I have got to get my exhaust up and over the new crossmember.

 

[Fishwerks]

I'm stoked to see this when it is all finished! Looks like a serious undertaking...

 

[mmml4]

FR4R, I was checking out your build and the color matched grill creates a powerfull visual that I had to keep looking at, it really changes the intire look of the front end. How do you like the LC wheels, I think I would like to get a set someday.

 

[BrianSD_42]

Man this thread is awesome!

You have some serious skills. I'm surprised more people aren't commenting. These level of modifications are very rare on T4R :laser:

Good luck lane: