My new (to me) 1994 4Runner (feat. Leyla)

brocktice

brocktice

New member
Just bought this yesterday morning. Already finding some problems with it I wish I'd picked up when I first checked it out, but oh well. Paid $3k, 230k miles. I'm taking it to a trusted local mechanic on Friday for a good thorough going-over. I prefer to do those *before* buying but with how far apart things are here, it's not a good option. It's the 3.0 5-speed manual.

Not going to make a bunch of changes, but I want to hook the front brush guard lights back up to the switches inside, fix the front speakers, and probably add a winch.

My daughter was excited to check out the 'new car' so she's featured in many of the pics.

My new 1994 4runner pics
 
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You need tires. What you've got there are little better than street tires - if you're going to be spending a significant amount of time in the rocks and mud (and snow?), you'll be getting stuck just like in your other thread unless you upgrade to at least a more aggressive AT tire. Will you be seeing a lot of slick winter roads?

Welcome to the forum. :)
 
Welcome to the forum! Looks like a nice start on your rig. One tip--I wouldn't be putting a winch on that guard. As was covered recently on another thread, the mounting design of "brush guards" like that are not sufficient to hold the force of a winch under load--you'll just tear it off the truck with a hard pull. You'll need to get a serious "winch bumper" first, or at least build a proper mount yourself (in which case you could keep the guard). Best of luck on the new build!
 
KidVermicious said:
You need tires. What you've got there are little better than street tires - if you're going to be spending a significant amount of time in the rocks and mud (and snow?), you'll be getting stuck just like in your other thread unless you upgrade to at least a more aggressive AT tire. Will you be seeing a lot of slick winter roads?

Welcome to the forum. :)
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Thank you! I was figuring I'd need tougher tires. One of the roads I want to go up in this is full of sharp rocks, I was told I'll need heavy-duty tires. The guy I ran into that told me this said, "Yeah, I've seen some 1/2 tons go up there and blow their tires on those sharp rocks."

Got any recommendations on what I can put on there without a lift?
 
BucknutBob said:
Welcome to the forum! Looks like a nice start on your rig. One tip--I wouldn't be putting a winch on that guard. As was covered recently on another thread, the mounting design of "brush guards" like that are not sufficient to hold the force of a winch under load--you'll just tear it off the truck with a hard pull. You'll need to get a serious "winch bumper" first, or at least build a proper mount yourself (in which case you could keep the guard). Best of luck on the new build!
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Thanks, got a friend who's handy with welding and owes me some favors, I may just take off the bumper and see what he can do. I read in another thread I should get a proper winch mount for him to build into it.

I just ordered a Hi-Lift jack with off-road base, snatch strap, MV50 pump, and a tire gauge with bleeder valve.

Are those hooks/rings under the front worth anything for recovery purposes?

iym9cjih.jpg
 
31s were a factory option on these trucks, so you'll easily clear that size without a lift. Some guys get away with 32s and 33s, but that really depends on the particular tire and the condition of your springs, and I don't think you'll need 33s anyway. Check out this sticky: http://www.toyota-4runner.org/classic-t4rs/122911-official-classics-lift-tire-thread.html (and the others while you're at it :)).

As an aside, if you're going to be in sidewall-eating terrain, you really want to stay away from P-rated tires. Stick with LT rated tires, and I'd really suggest trending more towards the E rated LT tires. A stronger load rating means tougher sidewalls.

edit to add - the loops on each side are just for strapping the truck down for transport, I wouldn't trust them to recover from. The hook on the passengers side frame rail is intended for recovery. If you've got a 2" reciever for the rear, you can buy a shackle mount that will slip in there to fix a strap to as well, or just use the hitch pin. Good call on the compressor and hilift - now make sure you've got hard points on the truck to use the hilift on, because it will bend flimsy stock bumpers and rocker panels. Also practice with it in your driveway so you're familiar with it, and keep it clean and in good repair, and never ever ever trust it. The hilift is a great tool but will eat your face if you let it.

As long as you're getting recovery gear, you're going to want a proper strap (not a parts-store "tow strap") and a couple bow shackles, and maybe a beefy comealong or chains to use the hilift as a winch if you don't intend to get an electric winch right away.
 
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KidVermicious said:
Good call on the compressor and hilift - now make sure you've got hard points on the truck to use the hilift on, because it will bend flimsy stock bumpers and rocker panels. Also practice with it in your driveway so you're familiar with it, and keep it clean and in good repair, and never ever ever trust it. The hilift is a great tool but will eat your face if you let it.
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Good call. Knowing how those things go, probably the first time I'd need it is as the sun is setting and I'm hours from civilization or something.

KidVermicious said:
As long as you're getting recovery gear, you're going to want a proper strap (not a parts-store "tow strap") and a couple bow shackles, and maybe a beefy comealong or chains to use the hilift as a winch if you don't intend to get an electric winch right away.
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Oh yeah, I got a snatch strap also from Amazon. I'll have to pick up some extra stuff for the winching.

I didn't intend to use the vehicle for recreational off-roading when I bought it, it's for accessing remote sites for communications towers. However I can see that I'm going to end up with most of the same gear and skills anyway, so I might as well give it a go. :)

Thanks for the specific pointers. I've been reading a lot of the stickies, but I'm brand new to this field, so I'm at that "half of this doesn't make sense to me" stage.
 
brocktice said:
I didn't intend to use the vehicle for recreational off-roading when I bought it, it's for accessing remote sites for communications towers. However I can see that I'm going to end up with most of the same gear and skills anyway, so I might as well give it a go. :)
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Working or playing, stuck in the middle of nowhere is stuck in the middle of nowhere. You have an advantage over the rest of us, your toys are tax writeoffs. :)

Even if your primary purpose isn't recreational, there'd be no harm in getting with some local wheelers and hitting some trails. They can show you how to read a trail and pick a line, help you recognize when a section might be too much for your truck, teach you recovery techniques, and hey, you just might have a good time.
 
KidVermicious said:
maybe a beefy comealong or chains to use the hilift as a winch if you don't intend to get an electric winch right away.
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I'm confused about chains. I was under the impression they could snap and kill you, someone was telling me about a guy who got a link right through his forehead. This was when they were being used in place of a tow strap. However, Hi-Lift seems to recommend them and even makes an attachment for them. Do they just need to be really heavy chains so the strap breaks first?
 
brocktice said:
I'm confused about chains. I was under the impression they could snap and kill you, someone was telling me about a guy who got a link right through his forehead. This was when they were being used in place of a tow strap. However, Hi-Lift seems to recommend them and even makes an attachment for them. Do they just need to be really heavy chains so the strap breaks first?
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Yeah, never ever use chain during a dynamic recovery. That's what the strap is made for. For a static pull though, like with a hand winch, chains are fine, and make it much easier to move your attachment points to take up slack as you winch. I'm not a chain expert, but 3/8ths grade 70 is what they say you want to winch with your hilift. There's several youtube videos showing how, and Hilift makes an Off Road Kit with most of what you need if you don't want to assemble your own winching setup.
 
While there are many good offroad tires out there, BFGoodrich All/Terrains and Mud Terrains have a proven triple-ply sidewall design that has saved many trips from disaster when taking on rocks, plus they're excellent on road or off and wear really well. That MV-50 should serve you well--I used one for my last truck's 35's, and it always did well. Great value for the small entry fee (mine was about $70 or so). As Kid mentioned, that hook under your rig is the one to latch on to for recoveries. A couple tips for recovery: when using hooks on cables or chains, have the open side face upward so if it breaks, the force goes down with the remaining half, and toss a floormat, blanket, or other wide flat item over the cable to weigh it down and keep it from flying during a failure.
 
Got a quote for Mud Terrains yesterday, may go with those. Should fit in my spare carrier also, eh? I need to try lowering that.
 
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