Tito's - Another 1st Gen 4Runner build

[4LowandSlow]

Figured since I got some down time I would introduce myself make a build thread to show the build of the new 4runner but also keep myself up with what I've done over the last year with it since I've bought it so I don't forget what I've done lol

I've been on here for quite some time now looking and watching different builds happen and figured it was about time for me to start a thread of my own. I've been wheeling ever since i can remember smacking the back of my head on the glass of my dads ext cab tacoma, to finally being old enough to build some of my own rigs. Let me just start off by saying, it was a lot more fun when it wasn't my pocket hurting after a eventful wheeling trip lol. On my second rig now which hopefully stays that way for awhile.

We'll fly back to June of 2020 when I bought my first 4runner, Bone stock 1988 22re 5spd runner that had been sitting in the front yard for 8 years. had a blown HG and the guy bought it to fix it up and drive it but that never happened. I had seen it as a drove by on my way home from work and stopped by to see if he would sell it, a bit of talking and negotiating the next day she was coming home with me. This is how it looked when i picked it up

She was dirty but had lots of potential! The plan was to clean it up and put a new motor in it and some 31's and make it a DD. Which did happen, But that didn't last long and i got the itch as apparently an 80 series isn't meant to be a crawler. Next thing i know i had a 85 frame in my possession. Put the axles i had built for for another rig under that frame and under the body it went, put dual cases in it as well.

This point was still the stock 22re, w56, duals, 5.29s and spartan lockers. RUF springs and 3" rears with 35's

Over the next year it some upgrades and some 37s, didn't realize how weak the stock shafts were till i put on the 37's, I was popping birfs left and right at idle in double low.

During the winter i took it off the road, I was running into some wiring and ecu issues, wanted to make it more road friendly but also better off the road, Built 22re up with a full rebuild. dual row timing chain, cam, bigger valves and ended up building my own standalone harness and putting a mircosquirt in it, Really got some life out of this thing, 4xinovations interior cage, fabbed up some sliders, RCVs, 4.7s in the rear case and did triple sticks. a started doing some body work to try and clean her up a bit, body had lots of bondo i found at this point and some rust in the quarters that i addressed. Needed to get it done by January for a bachelor party for one of my buddies down at AOP. While it was down i broke the 80 out of retirement and headed to harlan for the first time, Had a blast. I need to make another trip out there. came back and finished the 4runner day before i left for AOP and off we were. AOP was a blast, FIrst ride after the new changes. I should of been more proactive while i was back home so i wasn't tuning the night i got there before wheeling the next day, I feel bad for the people living down the entrance road cause i must of made 20 passes down that road lol. Thankfully nothing broke and was able to give it a good beatdown to test it out, really gained some confidence this trip with the RCVs and not breaking a birf every 5 minutes. We also had a snow storm come through while we were out there, that made things quite interesting. I had ordered some 39" Kanati Mud Hogs before the trip and some beadlocks but sadly they didn't come in before the trip to AOP.

 

[4LowandSlow]

39s came in once i got back and mounted them on the beadlocks, During my first drive i got into in accident which involved a pretty violent rollover, Wasn't planning on testing out the cage that soon as i had just finished it 2 weeks prior, But thankfully it did its job.

At this point i was bummed, After putting all the work that has gone into it at this point and for lifes karma to catch up and slap me with this i just parked it for a couple weeks and didn't touch it while i ulitmately decided what to do with it, I thought about a body swap to retain it as road worthy but ended up saying f it and going full trail rig, slapped a piece of lexan glass in it and kept trucking. Went to windrock and uwharrie quite a bit, rolled it some more, and the body really became a crushed tin can.

After multiple rollovers and no straight panels i slipped with a sawzall and off the body and some tube work was done.

That was the last drive and trip the 4runner got, after years of abuse, love and memories it was time to retire it as it wasn't fitting for my needs as i would be enlisting into the army and it wasn't road worthy and time to build something else. Parted it out and kept what i wanted for the new rig and off to the scrap yard she went, sad day to DILLIGAF

 

[4LowandSlow]

My buddy posted up his 4runner forsale and next week it was back at the shop while i was off at AIT.
Introducing Tito's! Shes a 87' 4Runner, When i bought it already had a exo cage, 3rz swap with 1st gen tacoma dash, 3link front with an 80 axle, 4" springs in the rear with IFS rear axle, duals with stock gearing, She was a good platform to build off of.

he PO had started to bobb it but never got it done so that was one of the first things i needed to get knocked out to seal it up. but in my fashion first thing was to wheel it and see where it was truly at! After finishing AIT i was able to throw my wheels and tires on it and my duals in it so i would have a 4.7:1 in the rear case and took it to Uwharrie for a shakedown! It did pretty well but i figured some things out pretty quickly that needed to be addressed, Rear suspension had maybe 3" of travel, it was atrocious. i hated the spool in the rear, come to find out the diff was hurt anyways, And the rear needed to be sealed up and finished but that had already been planned. Wouldn't be offically my 4runner if i didnt add some body damage to it myself!

So with the body being bobbed the frame was not, and it was not because the rear spring hangers were at the edge of the frame, which caused me to be unable to install the tail gate. with that and the suspension being trash and the rear axle hurt the solution was to do a 4 link! so goodbye axle and frame!
So as soon as i got home i started working away and cutting! Plan was to run a 80 rear axle to match the front and run a 4WU triangulated 4 link kit. I already had a 80 FF axle laying around so i sent that diff out to get built by ECGS, 5.29s, ARB, Solid spacer.

Got the rear axle stripped and cleaned up ready for brackets to be installed and get everything mocked up

 

[4LowandSlow]

Parts and coil overs came in and got everything tacked in and under the truck and started to mock up everything for coilovers. I was able to get the suspension cycled and flexed out before i had to head out back to work. Big thanks to my Dad for continuing on with this while i was away for a couple months at selection and assessment. during my time gone we were able to plan out the coilovers and start executing it, that involved building a new section of the rear frame to accommodate for the coilovers running through the cab, had a buddy fab up some towers for me, and get that all mocked up and flexed out to our liking just in time for me to come home and finish welding everything up. This time i was able to finish welding the suspension up, rebuild the front and rear axle and get it flexed out on its own weight.

 

[4LowandSlow]

After a year or so of training and loads of other BS i figured out i was getting station in Savannah, So during Christmas break i came back up to finish her up and bring her home with me, Finished installed the fuel cell, buttoning up some finishing details, finish bobbing the top and sealing the body up and hit the road! this thing at this point drives phenomenal. Way more power over the 22re i had before, and it was like riding on a cloud having coilovers on all 4 corners. Made the 4 1/2 trip down to savannah cruising 70-75 and getting 17 mpg on the 39s,

For new years i took a trip up to my buddys place in SC but on the way up to him i stopped by gulches to do a shake down with the new setup, the amount of flex and stablitly that the rig has now is crazy compared to before and how my red 4runner was set up. I didn't get many pictures but it performed fantasic. I also folded the front fender up on the drivers side pretty good lol.

The following week me and my buddy took a trip up to windrock to get it a true shakedown, and in true Gurt fashion i put it on its side in the first 20 minutes being an idiot, but no damage really, ground was soft and the exo cage does wonders! Was able to do trail 16, 15, 4, panther rock, little school bus, and 200 ft of rattle rock, i broke two lockouts in 7 ft of each other and me being the only rig doing it i decided to save it for another day. But it performed fantastic and exceeded my expectations, it played recovery vehicle for my buddies jeep on trail 16, popped a bead and tore a tire so had to drive back to the trailer to grab his spare in the piss pouring rain up the muddy chutes on the begining of 16, she got a true beatdown there.

 

[4LowandSlow]

Got back towards savannah and heard quite the bearing whinning noise from the transmission/transfer case, limped it back and pulled it apart the next weekend to figure out what was up, pulling the transmission in the barracks parking lot was not fun, but got it done, figured out the main bearing in the tranmission was going out and the needle bearing for the input shaft for the transfer case adapater was trashed. replaced those and put a new clutch in while i was there and back on the road she was.

Also while it was down and i was waiting on parts i took the time to tint the windows on the doors and the hard top to offer some privacy from people snooping around and keep some sun light out.

Currently out of the country for work and wont be able to do anything till i get back. plan is for when i get back is to finish up the tube work in the rear, change out the front coilovers, get an alignment as i've yet to do so lol,. and install some other goodies that i got for it. Moving into a place in july with a garage so hopefully ill really get some tinkering done. I've really been impresssed on how it drives on and off the road, The goal has always been to build a rig that can drive out to the trails and hang with the big boys and go just about anywhere but hold up to the abuse and be able to drive me how ever far i gotta drive to get home. It's not exactly where i want it but its getting closer!

Going to Windrock mid june for GSMTR and got a list together of what i need to do. i have 3 days to get it ready to go for it and then im leaving for windrock, Typical last minute prep for me, well see how much of this list i get done.
- Finish rear cage and rear bumper
- Rear Bump stops, Rear fender well isn't ideal
- Install new front driveshaft w/ driveflanges
- Figure out wiring for winch as i might of fried it at windrock my last trip.
- New tail lights (i might leave the broken ones in, it seems to be a trend with me...)
- Mount up some new 40s on the beadlocks. my 39s are blad, and don't want to wheel on 37" ko2 lol
- Reseal rear transfer case (also need to install new HD shift detent springs and balls)

If i have time I'd like to get the following done
- New front coil overs installed
- Radio/Speakers
- Rear disconnect (Front digs FTW)
- Body needs some trimming around the cage cross-through tube
- Fridge mount and wiring
- Have some interior lights to install
- Rear tailgate cable installed

 

[paradisePWoffrd]

The build is looking great. One comment; that truss, on the rear, isnt doing much for axle strength. Not sure if yota axles are common to bend, but that truss doesnt prevent bending, since it is only on the outside. Putting a vertical plate between it and the axle, would go a long way for strength.

 

[4LowandSlow]

The build is looking great. One comment; that truss, on the rear, isnt doing much for axle strength. Not sure if yota axles are common to bend, but that truss doesnt prevent bending, since it is only on the outside. Putting a vertical plate between it and the axle, would go a long way for strength.

Thanks i appreciate it! I agree with you there strength wise, more just mounting points for the links. Its on the list of things to do but not gonna lie its not high up there. I think if i were jumping it I'm sure it would, but I haven't seen a 9.5" fzj80 axle bend, only seen the front 8" housings bend, our 80 series is about 7k lbs and on 37s for years now and its been wheeled hard but hasn't bent yet, at least i think it hasn't bent lol. I'm sure that'll change when my dad get the LS swap finished

 

[gslander]

Looks good!!

 

[Rnuovrcj5]

Nice 4-runner! Guessing you’re down at worst batt?

 

[4LowandSlow]

Nice 4-runner! Guessing you’re down at worst batt?

Thanks! I'm not, Just around the corner from them at SOAR

 

[Rnuovrcj5]

Thanks! I'm not, Just around the corner from them at SOAR

That works too. Cool place to be.

 

[4LowandSlow]

Guess its been awhile since an update lol, not too much has happened since I've been back stateside. As soon as i got back loaded up the 4runner on the trailer and headed back to NC to my dads shop to get the 4runner ready for GSMTR at windrock. Got the new tires mounted, made bump stops for the rear, finished the tube work on the rear bumper and some other little maintenance things. Got married and off to windrock we went, It was the wife's first hard wheeling trip and i was told not to be too hard on it and not roll us * 100% was not easy on it at all...* but i didn't roll us so that's a win in my book! Popped a brand new tire, broke 2 lockout hubs, started overheating so the hood came off, and broke my bluetooth speaker ( defiantly the worst break of all of them). other than that it was a good time. My wife claims she had a good time and enjoyed it but I think she won't be joining me for another windrock trip anytime soon lol. We covered a lot of ground while we were there with the amount of breaks everyone had, 71,71B, 15, little school bus, 44, dinosaur, 39, 16, rail trail and played around a bit on for awhile.

My buddy Will's buggy decided its texas speed motor wanted to leave the chat halfway through 44 so dragging him all the way back to camp out of that trail and up 26 was a blast, I'm surprised my little turd was able to pull it all the way out with no issues lol. He got the pink helmet of shame

Loaded up and headed home

Took it to Uwharrie after fixing some things and hoping my overheating issues were a thing of the past, It was indeed not fixed lol

Got moved in to my new place and have a garage to tinker on things, Not my dads 30x40 shop with A/C and a lift and all the tools i could ever need, but i wont complain as it beats laying in the barracks parking lot lol

Can't get my dual cases to stop leaking for the life of me, I've pulled it apart twice now since being back trying to get it not to leak. one re-seal with gaskets and rtv, one with just rtv, both times letting it set up for 3 days before putting fluid in. I'm about at the point where i just put atlas or something else in it and call it a day. Hopefully heading back up to NC with it this weekend to build a new exhaust for it and help my dad some with his LS swap in his FJ80.

 

[Kickdeez]

After blowing up and rebuilding the cases in my F-Toy no less than 6 times in the time I owned it, I found that using the paper gaskets with a thin layer of RTV on both sides worked to keep mine from leaking. And cleaning the shit out of everything, including chasing all threaded holes, cleaning all bolt threads, and taking a wire wheel to all mating surfaces. Pretty sure I went through a case of brake parts cleaner every time I rebuilt them. I spent WAY more time cleaning parts than I did removing, disassembling, reassembling and reinstalling those cases. They didn't leak...just couldn't keep them from exploding on 42" stickies

 

[gslander]

I have had duals since 2008, and a few different versions of them. My first install of them had zero leaks, however fretted out and failed almost 1yr to the day I installed it LOL. The next sets have pretty much always leaked or weeped. I use permatex "the right stuff" this stuff is awesome but a bitch of get off if you have to disassemble it. I had the worst luck with paper gaskets and ultra grey rtv but I'm sure it was probably install error on my part. You also need to be carefull you don't put too much rtv on as you can clog up the oil galleys (found this out on a tear down of one of my cases). I'm at the point now where I have just accepted it. The only time it leaks is after hard wheeling or driving 75+ on the interstate for a long period of time, usually out of the shifter. I just check the level and party on at this point.

Tldr: duals leak, just accept it

 

[dlcrawler12]

How do you like those Kanatis? Been seeing the around more and more lately.

 

[4LowandSlow]

How do you like those Kanatis? Been seeing the around more and more lately.

I love them and for the price you can't beat them IMO, they're super soft and grippy running them around 6-8psi on beadlocks seems to be the sweet spot, this is my second set of them with my first being a 39x12.50 and had them for 3.5 years no issues. this new set of 40x13.50 seems to be better fitting for my rig. Getting more sticky each trip. well see how they hold up at GER in decemeber.

 

[4LowandSlow]

Finally was able to get up to my dads shop this past weekend to get some work done to the 4runner, made a new exhaust for it to run it out of the side of the truck instead of straight out the back with the fumes getting thrown back into the cab and killing me. also wired a capacitor and resistor into the rear 02 sensor to slow it down since i don't have a cat to try and eliminate the CEL and make it run not so rich, need to put a bigger capacitor in but its defiantly better. Also being able to breath is 100x better going down the road, really need to through a bigger muffler on to keep the noise down but that'll have to wait a little to knock that out next time i go up. Also had some extra time to fab up some skins for the tube doors to cut down on the wind on the highway, made them removable so i don't tear them on the trails

 

[4LowandSlow]

Figured it was time for another update, Took some leave to spend some time with the family for the holidays after having 4 work trips back to back. Which turned into 4 straight days of working on the 4Runner. Pulled the transfer case to seal it yet again, which I figured out the front crawl box was cracked in multiple places. Fingers crossed this time. Pulled the front shafts out to throw a set of OG long-fields in the front, fix a leaky axle seal, and regressed the wheel bearings. Replaced the u joints on the front driveshaft. The motor mounts were shot so I changed them out to some trail fail bomb proof mounts to match the t case mounts. Also needed to three a harness in the rear because SaFeTy. This is where it gets good. Got it all together Wednesday night and the clutch has been soft for a little bit and fluid was dirty so I went to flush it. Had my buddy pump the clutch a couple times and to my unpleasant surprise not only was the slave cylinder moving. But also the bell housing! At some point since my last wheeling trip to windrock I cracked the bell housing, With me leaving for GER today, getting a new to me unbroken wasn’t plausible as my local Toyota yard didn’t have one. So broke out the tig and started welding away! In my defense before yall eat me alive I’m going to go ahead and throw every excuse I can out about my tig welds. It was my first time using the tig and my first ever time welding cast aluminum… it was dirty and wouldn’t clean, I was mad, and I was rushing it. think I painted it more then actually welded it. At least the clutch feels much better and fully engages now and looks pretty, ish. But we’ll see what happen. Did multiple passes as I had to fill in a huge hole that I blew through the bellhousing getting to aggressive with the heat. But it looks like it might work. We’ll see after this weekend. Definitely going to be getting a new one lol. Currently heading up to GER for a birthday weekend wheeling trip and I’ll post an update after I get back.

 

[gslander]

Thats better than I would have done! I would have tossed a plate over it with sheet metal screws and gooped jbweld all over it because safety factor.