penguinjohn
New member
Hello everyone,
My name is John and I live in Montana. I picked up a black 1996 4Runner (5 speed, e-locker, leather, sunroof, etc.) with 242,000 in Feb of 2014 as a daily driver. It’s my first Toyota and I’ve enjoyed having it these past nine months. It replaces my previous vehicle, a 1996 12 valve Cummins. That vehicle was great back when I was making biodiesel, but I have since moved on from making fuel, and the truck essentially became too expensive as a DD.
I began reading t4r.org about 4 months before flying to Tucson, AZ to pick up the 4Runner. Using the buyers guide provided here, as well as checking out other people’s build pages, I had a pretty good idea of what I was looking to purchase. It took a while, but eventually I found the rig I wanted.
Making my way back up to MT after buying the truck, I camped out of the back of the 4Runner, visiting many national parks including Saguaro, Grand Canyon, Arches and Zion NP. I still had a valid national parks pass from working outside Yellowstone NP earlier in the year, so it was free entry to all the parks along my route home. It was a super nice break from the -23F temperatures that were occurring in MT at the time, and a great way to feel out the 4Runner.
The fan bracket pulley seized in Flagstaff, so I swapped that out while on the road. I’ve also replaced the EGR and valve cover gaskets at around 250,000 miles. Water pump/timing belt are next.
Inside of the first year of ownership, the 4Runner has been from the Mexican border to the Canadian border and a number of cool places in between, mostly in Montana. I’ve really enjoyed learning from the build threads here, as well as picking up applicable technical info and build ideas from tacomaworld, pirate4x4, etc. I will be building this thing up to be a camping/expedition/light wheeling rig.
Thanks to everyone here for the great site, and look forward to meeting everyone, learning, and contributing.
John
My name is John and I live in Montana. I picked up a black 1996 4Runner (5 speed, e-locker, leather, sunroof, etc.) with 242,000 in Feb of 2014 as a daily driver. It’s my first Toyota and I’ve enjoyed having it these past nine months. It replaces my previous vehicle, a 1996 12 valve Cummins. That vehicle was great back when I was making biodiesel, but I have since moved on from making fuel, and the truck essentially became too expensive as a DD.
I began reading t4r.org about 4 months before flying to Tucson, AZ to pick up the 4Runner. Using the buyers guide provided here, as well as checking out other people’s build pages, I had a pretty good idea of what I was looking to purchase. It took a while, but eventually I found the rig I wanted.
Making my way back up to MT after buying the truck, I camped out of the back of the 4Runner, visiting many national parks including Saguaro, Grand Canyon, Arches and Zion NP. I still had a valid national parks pass from working outside Yellowstone NP earlier in the year, so it was free entry to all the parks along my route home. It was a super nice break from the -23F temperatures that were occurring in MT at the time, and a great way to feel out the 4Runner.
The fan bracket pulley seized in Flagstaff, so I swapped that out while on the road. I’ve also replaced the EGR and valve cover gaskets at around 250,000 miles. Water pump/timing belt are next.
Inside of the first year of ownership, the 4Runner has been from the Mexican border to the Canadian border and a number of cool places in between, mostly in Montana. I’ve really enjoyed learning from the build threads here, as well as picking up applicable technical info and build ideas from tacomaworld, pirate4x4, etc. I will be building this thing up to be a camping/expedition/light wheeling rig.
Thanks to everyone here for the great site, and look forward to meeting everyone, learning, and contributing.
John
