PaperweightNate
New member
After making a trip to climb Mt. St. Helens in 2010 and getting stuck half way up the trail head in my 2wd Dodge Dakota, I made the decision to buy a 4wd. Like right then. I drove straight to Portland and spent 5 hours haggling with used car salesmen. Finally after they brought out 10 rigs that were either way over the budget I specifically told them I had, or POS garbage I didn't want, I drove my first 4runner. Honestly, I didn't think much of it, and I argued with the guy for another 2 hours over $500. I left with nothing and stopped at McDonald's when my climbing buddy said I should go back and buy it, so I did. Mainly because he had been there the whole time and I felt bad about dragging him around for two days.
So I bought her. My 2001 Toyota 4Runner.
SO I was still pissed about getting shafted $500 and when I bought it, it had a cracked windshield.. So I gave em hell until they agreed to replace it. I drove 200 miles before work (100 each way) to get it done... I felt compensated. Anyways back to it. I put a stock Kirkland Signature battery in it (Group 35) and drove it for awhile.
After about a year of driving her I needed new tires and brakes.. I got a good deal on a bunch of stuff and when I got my tax return in dropped the whole damn thing on making her beautiful. As you go on you will see I had no idea what I was doing, but I wanted to learn.. I always tried to be cost effective before and cut corners, over the build I think you'll begin to see how that is changing.. anyways more pictures..
I went with a Toytec 3" lift with 1" diff drop. Spacers up front because it was affordable and my shocks were still good.
I went with 891's in the back because I wanted strong effective springs. Ride quality meant nothing.. More bigger = More gooder. I bought some spring compressors from Harbor Freight for the spacers.. After feeling like I was going to die from a ricocheting piece of suspension I took it down to a local shop and they pressed them with a professional machine for $20. Seriously, it was terrifying, the HF Compressor was bowed into a ) shape, we wrapped them in cam straps and put a dolly on it to protect ourselves and we wrenched on them.. I have a large threshold for stupidity and even I was uncomfortable.
So I bought her. My 2001 Toyota 4Runner.
SO I was still pissed about getting shafted $500 and when I bought it, it had a cracked windshield.. So I gave em hell until they agreed to replace it. I drove 200 miles before work (100 each way) to get it done... I felt compensated. Anyways back to it. I put a stock Kirkland Signature battery in it (Group 35) and drove it for awhile.
After about a year of driving her I needed new tires and brakes.. I got a good deal on a bunch of stuff and when I got my tax return in dropped the whole damn thing on making her beautiful. As you go on you will see I had no idea what I was doing, but I wanted to learn.. I always tried to be cost effective before and cut corners, over the build I think you'll begin to see how that is changing.. anyways more pictures..
I went with a Toytec 3" lift with 1" diff drop. Spacers up front because it was affordable and my shocks were still good.
I went with 891's in the back because I wanted strong effective springs. Ride quality meant nothing.. More bigger = More gooder. I bought some spring compressors from Harbor Freight for the spacers.. After feeling like I was going to die from a ricocheting piece of suspension I took it down to a local shop and they pressed them with a professional machine for $20. Seriously, it was terrifying, the HF Compressor was bowed into a ) shape, we wrapped them in cam straps and put a dolly on it to protect ourselves and we wrenched on them.. I have a large threshold for stupidity and even I was uncomfortable.
Last edited:
