Project Light Runner: the $600 E-locker TuRD

[The 4Runner House]

So I got this truck from a customer that originally wanted me to replace an alternator. Upon seeing it in person I realized it was not the alternator causing his battery draw issue but a horrible nightmare of wiring gone wrong under the dash. On top of that the truck was just a total basket case and in desperate need of other work to be safe on the road. It was previously T-boned and looked like they used putty to fix the body. There were wires everywhere from the dash to the lift gate poorly routed and connected. None of the doors closed right, the bumper and grill were just hanging on, seats were swapped with 2nd gens using wood blocks and the roof rack was held together with screws and conduit clamps. Steering rack boots were barely hanging on, the rack itself was running power steering fluid and pouring out every end, valve covers pouring, radiator pitcock valve leaking. What else, sunroof wouldn’t close, the front shock bushing were completely gone and the ball joints were creaking. So I told him nobody in their right mind would put money in this truck to drive it daily. He just wanted to fix it to sell it being a spare truck so I told him I would buy it as is and either part it or make it a project. So I ended up buying it from him for $600.

With all the bad behind here’s the good. When I first saw the truck although it appeared to be a complete train wreck I looked at the dash for the 2 most important things. It only had 158k miles but more importantly I had to contain myself when I saw the “RR DIFF LOCK” button on the dash! So I checked under neath and the locker was there and the door code A04A showed it was a 4.30 ratio. It sounded like a rattle trap driving down and tracked horribly but the brakes were excellent and the engine ran flawless. So I thought to myself what could one do with a truck that would be a horrible investment as a daily driver but still has a good driveline. At first I thought it would be best to part it out then I got my wheels turning.

For quite some time and for no real reason at all I have wanted to strip a 4Runner down to make it as light as possible. For one to see how quick I can make it run and also to have a light weight mud runner. The goal is to strip off every last ounce of unnecessary weight to lighten it up while keeping it street legal. The only creature comforts I would keep for now at least would be AC, heat and radio. So it begins.......

 

[The 4Runner House]

First was to get a baseline by taking it to the scale as is with a full tank of gas. It tipped the scale at 4160lbs including my 180lbs. Basically with the added crap and minus the weight of the running boards and limited trim it came in right at stock weight.

 

[The 4Runner House]

Since the truck couldn’t sit more than 6 hours without killing the battery the first thing to do was sort the wiring. I ripped out every kind of wire under the sun including the extension cord that was powering the lights on the roof LOL. The radio was also wired in the most unusual way and lost power when I deleted the alarm. So I wired it again using the factory harness this time. After sorting all the mess of wires no more parasitic power draw! Imagine that.

 

[The 4Runner House]

Next step was to start the weight reduction process.

Sunroof
Headliner
Lift gate
Roof basket
Sway bars
Grill
Front bumper
Rear bumper
Rear seats
Rear seat belts
Rear door panels
Rear plastic quarters
Rear carpet
Spare tire hoist
Spare tire
Misc interior panels
Misc gaskets
Rocker trim
Random office carpet
$3.75 in change
And more

 

[128keaton]

Next step was to start the weight reduction process.

Sunroof
Headliner
Lift gate
Roof basket
Sway bars
Grill
Front bumper
Rear bumper
Rear seats
Rear seat belts
Rear door panels
Rear plastic quarters
Rear carpet
Spare tire hoist
Spare tire
Misc interior panels
Misc gaskets
Rocker trim
Random office carpet
$3.75 in change
And more

My god this project is awesome.
Looks like he used OEM parts for those seats. Good for him (lol)

Random question: how similar are the rear bench seats from the 2nd gen to the 3rd gens? I swear those look exactly like a set I pulled from a 2nd gen.

 

[The 4Runner House]

In addition to all the other interior weight reductions I took the steering wheel off to replace it with a nice one and hollowed out the air bag. I was able to reuse the cover which now weighs about 1/4 as much. I also pulled the passenger airbag and cover panel behind the glove box. Starting to look somewhat normal inside, at least up front.

 

[The 4Runner House]

My god this project is awesome.
Looks like he used OEM parts for those seats. Good for him (lol)

Random question: how similar are the rear bench seats from the 2nd gen to the 3rd gens? I swear those look exactly like a set I pulled from a 2nd gen.

Yeah he used the professional grade 2nd gen seat swap kit. Seem to sit pretty level LoL.

2nd and 3rd gen seats and close dimension wise but the patterns are slightly different. The rears are the factory 3rd gen limited seats

 

[128keaton]

Yeah he used the professional grade 2nd gen seat swap kit. Seem to sit pretty level LoL.

2nd and 3rd gen seats and close dimension wise but the patterns are slightly different. The rears are the factory 3rd gen limited seats

Wonder what the part number was? 42069-ID10T

Yeah the fronts are a ton different, especially on the bolt pattern and rail layout. I've had the seats out of my 2nd gen a couple times and my 3rd gen a couple times.

I have a set of rear leather 2nd gen seats that are collecting dust, but I don't want to toss if I don't have to. I'll double check tomorrow I guess. I didn't think the rear seat bolt pattern and layout were different.

 

[The 4Runner House]

Wonder what the part number was? 42069-ID10T

Yeah the fronts are a ton different, especially on the bolt pattern and rail layout. I've had the seats out of my 2nd gen a couple times and my 3rd gen a couple times.

I have a set of rear leather 2nd gen seats that are collecting dust, but I don't want to toss if I don't have to. I'll double check tomorrow I guess. I didn't think the rear seat bolt pattern and layout were different.

Haha seems about right

Yes 3rd gen front seats have different brackets on all 4 sides which makes them fun to fit into older trucks. I’ve converted my 88 pickup to 2000 sport buckets which was not as quick as a next gen swap

 

[128keaton]

Haha seems about right

Yes 3rd gen front seats have different brackets on all 4 sides which makes them fun to fit into older trucks. I’ve converted my 88 pickup to 2000 sport buckets which was not as quick as a next gen swap

It is super weird.

Also: re your mileage.

I would not be surprised if that cluster was swapped or something. 158k seems too low for that much wear and tear. I've seen abused and wrecked 200k+ 2nd/3rd gens that weren't that bad.

 

[The 4Runner House]

It is super weird.

Also: re your mileage.

I would not be surprised if that cluster was swapped or something. 158k seems too low for that much wear and tear. I've seen abused and wrecked 200k+ 2nd/3rd gens that weren't that bad.

So what the deal was with this truck is an old wise man bought it years ago bone stock and in pretty nice shape. I remember seeing it come by the shop a few years ago and it was well taken care of. He then passed it down to his son, the son and his friend managed to do all the extraordinary work in just a years time. Luckily neither of them knew enough to start destroying the mechanicals. So the Dad got it back from his son in polar opposite condition. Under the hood its actually very clean and the engine and driveline are excellent. I believe the mileage to be correct but if it had 400k miles and ran this good I’d be ok with that. Gonna ring it out anyways.

 

[The 4Runner House]

My 1st gen 4Runner has 295k miles and it is 5x cleaner than the 88 SR5 in my driveway with 157k and 100 times cleaner than this TuRD. It really comes down to who owned the truck. I’ve seen trucks that have been clapped out before 100k. I got my 86 from the original owner a few days ago who kept it in the garage since new and it’s the cleanest 1st gen I’ve seen in a long time.

 

[128keaton]

So what the deal was with this truck is an old wise man bought it years ago bone stock and in pretty nice shape. I remember seeing it come by the shop a few years ago and it was well taken care of. He then passed it down to his son, the son and his friend managed to do all the extraordinary work in just a years time. Luckily neither of them knew enough to start destroying the mechanicals. So the Dad got it back from his son in polar opposite condition. Under the hood its actually very clean and the engine and driveline are excellent. I believe the mileage to be correct but if it had 400k miles and ran this good I’d be ok with that. Gonna ring it out anyways.

Wow. That is a freakin' shame.

Nice 1st gen though!

 

[The 4Runner House]

With the weight reduction came a free suspension lift. The rear came up 1.75” and the front around 3/4”. The front end was definitely lower than it should have been but also the lower shock bushings were laying metal on metal.

 

[The 4Runner House]

Next was to sort the lower strut bushings up front. I had a set of 2013 taco shocks laying around with less than 20k on them. While not identical they still worked fine. They were enough to bring the front end up more than 1/2”.

 

[The 4Runner House]

With the bushings repaired and adding a 1” spacer up front it sits just perfect. By measurement it sits 1/4” lower up front. I threw on a set of old Enkei 15x8 wheels to give it some offset. Having the gold centers the wheels actually go really well with the whole tan theme. As much of a turd as this truck is im really diggin it.

 

[The 4Runner House]

So I went back to the scale with a full tank of gas and it is now 580lbs lighter! Basically it is 3400lbs with a full tank of gas lol. This was just before pulling the rear quarter glass out.

I can say for certain it gets to 60mph noticeably quicker than before. Having no weight over the rear end it will spin the tires all the way into 2nd gear. There’s just not a whole lot that’s more fun than doing massive burnouts in an old Jalopy. A near future mod will be to ground the wire on the E-locker ecm so I can use the locker in 2wd.

 

[apohl17]

Alright, I gotta admit, I'm very curious to see where this build is going to be in a few months. Heck, even in a few weeks with the kind of diet plan you have your truck on! Subscribed [emoji869]

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

[The 4Runner House]

Alright, I gotta admit, I'm very curious to see where this build is going to be in a few months. Heck, even in a few weeks with the kind of diet plan you have your truck on! Subscribed [emoji869]

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

I do have a lot in store for this 4Runner. One of those things may be chopping the top and caging it like a Hummer H1...... This is definitely a great experimental truck for mock up if nothing else.

 

[The 4Runner House]

Hmmmmmm........ 1” front spacer and 44s?