Tobiko the Runner -- Acorn22's T4R

[Acorn22]

What’s up guys, I’ve been on this forum for a little over a year, and I’ve decided to start a build/maintenance/adventure thread really just for my own documentation of my vehicle.

This car’s history goes back to Texas where it was owned by an older woman for the first 189k miles of it’s life, before it was given to me as a graduation gift to me from my entire family on Christmas. I had actually seen Tobiko at a local dealership a few months before it became mine, my dad just did a great job of hiding it!

I moved from Birmingham, AL to Crested Butte, CO for school (HA!), and as much as I wanted to throw mods/upgrades at it, I held back and did a ton of maintenance to it so I could get it riding like a beast over mountain passes and 27 hours across the country back to home. Now that I’ve had it for a while, I’ll try and stay up to date on any work, mods, or adventures that I take it on.

All work is performed by myself on my super low student budget lol

1998 Toyota 4runner Limited 4x4, 3.4l Auto – Currently sits at 202k

Engine Bay/Transmission:
• New timing belt, radiator, water pump, and idler pulleys (OEM)
• Valve cover gasket and rear cam-seal replacement
• New spark plugs/wires (NGK)
• New fuel filter
• New air filter
• Clean MAF/IAC/TB and all that jazz
• Synthetic oil change
• New PCV valve
• Resealed oil pan (pain in the ass!!!)
• Transmission drain and fill 5x with synthetic Valvoline
• New brake booster
• New master cylinder

Interior:
• Junkyard clock (it works!)
• Steering wheel cover
• Husky cargo area rubber mat
• New shifter bushings
• Cleaned blower fan
• Sanitized AC ducting (smelled like trash at first)

Exterior:
• Poor mans Satoshi mod
• Stickers!
• Repainted roof rails and rear spoiler

Suspension:
• Lexus LX450 front coils for rear lift
• Gabriel rear shocks for 1995 FJ80
• Front Tacoma Eibach 625lbs lift springs
• Tacoma Bilstein 5100’s
• Panhard drop bracket
• New OEM Lower Ball joints
• New Upper ball joints

• Sway bar delete

Wheels:
• New Koyo front wheel bearings (broke a 20 ton press!)
• New CV seals + other hub pieces
• New rotors/pads
• New rear axle seals + Timkin bearings
• New rear drum brake hardware

• Painted OEM 16" rims

Drivetrain:
• Swapped 3rd member and matching front diff because stock one had bad pinion bearing sound, thanks [MENTION=84229]jman11788[/MENTION]
• Synthetic 75w-90 in both diffs + T-Case
• New front driveshaft u-joints
• Extended rear diff breather
• Resealed 4wd actuator

Electronics:
• Kenwood Single-DIN Bluetooth head unit
• Kenwood 125w 6.5” front speakers
• Kenwood KAC-5001 1000w Subwoofer Amplifier
• Pioneer 1300w 12” subwoofer

Misc. Mods:
• 32” Light bar
• ABS switch on/off
• Velcro remote holder for radio (my favorite!)


As Tobiko sits today!








Now that snow is starting to melt off, hopefully I can start wheeling some more as well as continue to work on it! Plans for the near future include:

• 255/85's
• Front Bumper
• Thorough detailing
• Extended sway bar links

 

[Beaumont67]

Re- All work is performed by myself on my super low student budget lol
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Acorn22 - will be following, your awesome build.
^^ LOL, I know how that works...:high5:...got to love the good perks.

Sharing SUPERPRO bushing info. - might be of some interest, in your gen3 or to others.
- just don't know what model they call 4Runners, in other countries
https://www.superproeurope.com/technical-superpro.features.cfm


Polyurethane Suspension Bushes - The Good & Bad
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_z6OEohnPKw
A brief look at the design of suspension bushes and pitfalls of cheap and badly designed bushes. The contrast is the superior design and engineering of the SuperPro brand.
www.sportdrive.technology
www.superpro.eu.com

 

[sleepydad]

How hard was the new master and brake booster? I’m thinking about doing it. My truck still stops but it’s been slowly requiring more force than once upon a time.

 

[Acorn22]

Thanks [MENTION=134828]Beaumont67[/MENTION] it's about time I do the steering rack bushings probably along with my UCA bushings. They have developed a creak that makes me sound like a fool...

How hard was the new master and brake booster? I’m thinking about doing it. My truck still stops but it’s been slowly requiring more force than once upon a time.

They were both actually a lot easier than anticipated. The booster is only held onto the firewall with 4 bolts, and attaches to the MC with only 2, so it comes off pretty easy. The only difficult part I had was installing the booster because the 4 studs that come off of it were hard to line up perfectly into the holes in the firewall at the angle you have to put it in. Also, there was some piece of plastic on the inside of the firewall (?) that was blocking the booster from entering in, and I only found that out once I crawled under the steering column and looked...
Other than that, just bench bleed the MC, drive it around some, bleed the calipers, and you're good to go!

 

[jman11788]

Great work on all the maintenance and mods! Can't wait to see where this goes.

 

[Acorn22]

Found some gnar today while mountain biking up at Hartman's Rocks in Gunnison. Thought I'd stretch the legs since I haven't be able to do so all winter!






This is why I haven't bothered upgrading to larger tires yet because I can get ultra flex with these 265's!

Also for those interested in my Frankenstein type lift, I've managed to not use any 4runner-specific coils or shocks and the reason for that mainly came down to cost, and availability.

My rear setup consists of the 8.75 wrap coils off of the older LX450 models, matched up with some cheap Gabriel shocks (G63615) I found on RockAuto for like 60 bucks all together for a 1995 FJ80. The rear shocks measure 13.88" Collapsed length & 23.66" Extended length. This length compliments the LX450 coils nicely and I am able to achieve max articulation WITHOUT aftermarket bumpstops. Yes, you heard that right, I am still running stock bumpstops! My tires lockout against the wheel well just slightly before max stroke of the shock, so I don't have to worry about them snapping. That is a benefit of having this setup.

Hub to Fender Measurements

Front:
DS -- 23.5"
PS -- 23.5"

Rear:
DS -- 24.25"
PS -- 25"