[Mike C]

I picked this one up about a month ago, and got rid of my '89 pickup with a blown HG at the same time. Its got some rust, but for a '85 in the rust belt its pretty clean. I believe it was a Arizona truck originally, had a AZ sticker on the side window.

Here she is the night I drove it home



First thing that had to go was the purple windshield banner

Couple of pictures after removing the stickers and cleaning it up a bit.



The rear bumper has got to go



The first weekend I had the truck, I couldn't figure out why the radio wouldn't turn on at first. It worked the first night I had the truck, after fiddling with the buttons in the dark. After thinking about the fact that it worked at night, I turned the lights on and gave it another go, bingo So either the main feed or memory feed was pulling from the light dimmer rather then a 12v source. Turned out the 12v constant was hooked up wrong, but it was a easy fix.

Also the rear tail gate window didn't work, and the PO had blocked the window up using 2x4's. I tore into it and found the rear window motor mounts had worked loose. I pulled the assembly out and tested the motor by jumping it to a 12v source. The motor worked, so I put everything back together and tried the stock switch. I could hear the relays kicking, but it wouldn't power the motor. The wiring in the back was a mess, so for now I wired up a 12v 3 way toggle switch direct to the motor. I have a line up on another tailgate, I'll give the stock wiring another go once I replace it.

I've also had to replace the intake gaskets, after it started blowing steam out of the exhaust. The list of engine work is already pretty long, but its running like a champ and pulling 19.5-21MPG right now. Only major things left right now is to heli-coil the rear lower exhaust stud, and replace the oil pump seal.



Friday when I went to lunch, I heard air hissing from the front drivers side tire The tires had dry rot, which had me worried. But I had hopped they would at least last me through the end of summer till I had saved up for some MTR Kevlars. I jumped back in the truck, and went to the nearest gas station to get some air back in the tire. After work, I went home and put my old 33" swampers on the truck. I hated having to drop down to 33's, they looked goofey with the bushwacker flares hanging so far past them now I had planned on removing the flares when I got the new tires, and I knew I would have some rust to repair underneath them.

So here are some pics as it sits now, no flares and swampers.










Current specs
-Stock gearing
-LCE headers
-MSD coil
-Roundeye headlights
-15x8 4"BS Cragar soft 8 rims
-33x12.5 Super swampers
-3 inch procomp springs up front
-3 inch rear lift blocks

Future mod list
-Dual cases
-Hi steer
-15x8 3.25" BS Cragar soft 8s
-35x12.5 MTR Kevlar tires
-Full body armor
-Rear aussie locker
-Dual Tcase crossmember
-Rears Up front
-Chevy rear springs with sky's kit
-Softtopper

Should keep me busy this summer

[rjcruisers]

i just bought same looking truck , few threads down from this. bought a day ago, my rear windo don't work either. does your seats have sr5 logo all over them?

[Mike C]

Thanks, just took a look at your rig, I love the gold color and factory strips on these

Yup, got the SR5 all over the seats, its a cool little touch.

[TheSurvivalist]

Nice score. Good looking rig.

[fortysixandtwo]

Nice 4runner. I have always been partial to that color combo on the first gen 4runners because it was a 4runner just like that that got me into Toyotas and ended up causing me to get my 85 4runner

[toy4xfun]

what are you doing with the flares

[Mike C]

Thanks

Flares are up on craigslist, trying to sell them locally fist. I don't want to deal with shipping them due to the size, but if I can't find a buyer locally I'll get them boxed up and ready to ship. I've already had a couple people send me messages asking about them.

[Mike C]

Picked some steel up on Friday, and started on the rear bumper. After first setting the bumper under the truck, I decided to kick the sides up a little higher. I made some changes in solidworks, and printed out new templates to raise the angle on the ends.









I will probably cut the fill plates tomorrow and cut the mounting holes in the main tube. I am waiting for my mounting brackets to get cut before I start on the side bars.

[Mike C]

Cut out the filler plates today and welded them in. Welds turned out pretty good considering I used a 110 mig welder on 3/16" steel. I had to turn down the wire speed in order to get a hot enough bead. I will be using a friends 220 welder on the side bars and the mounting points. Since the filler plates are mainly for looks, the 110 welds should hold up just fine.









Going to cut the holes for the mounting brackets tomorrow, should have the brackets by the weekend.

[rjcruisers]

nice mike , can you clone me a rear bumper too?

[Mike C]

Thanks, my cloning machine is in need of repair

[raydouble]

Cool truck, I like the rear bumper design

[Mike C]

Picked up my bumper brackets last night, and got to work on the bumper this morning. First thing I had to do was weld the brackets together, spacing them apart 1/4".





Then I test fitted the brackets on the bumper and had to enlarge the slots until they fit.





After this, I went to test fit the bumper on the truck only to find out I marked the slots wrong... 5 inches off on either side I scribed new lines 5 inches over using my digital calipers. After a little more cutting and grinding I was able to mount the bumper and crack open a beer







I didn't take any more pictures until I finished welding the brackets fully in place, filling the holes, and grinding it all smooth. I also ran out of wire half way into welding the brackets in place. But I did snap a picture of one of the brackets and the hole I filled before calling it a night.



Tomorrow I will be welding in the shackle tubes and starting on the side bars. If all goes well, I should get the side bars welded in place too.

["N8"]

mmmm sexy

[2ndGenToyotaFan]

Looks good, can you grab a shot of how it mounts up under the body?

[Mike C]

Not the best picture, but here is a shot of the mounting brackets under the truck



Welded in the shackle tubes and hung the 1 shacke I have. I need to buy a couple more shackles now.








Then I cut the side bars and welded tac welded them in place. I had to make a few adjustments before they both matched up side to side.







I didn't like the look of how the side bar ends were flush with the back of the main bumper, so I cut them back a little with a slight angle before I filled them in.









Tomorrow I am going to pull the bumper off, weld the backside of the side bars and add gussets between the main tube and side bars. After that and some grinding, I might even hit it with some paint

[2ndGenToyotaFan]

Is this a proven design?



I'm not really digging the openness..... Seems like a bad idea for off angle pulls... But I'm not studied on recovery point design in particular...

[NorCalBorn]

Originally Posted by 2ndGenToyotaFan

Is this a proven design?...
I'm not really digging the openness..... Seems like a bad idea for off angle pulls... But I'm not studied on recovery point design in particular...

*Beat me to it man, good catch, guess you finished up w/ your fireworks while we were still out playing.

Mike, I am worried about the same thing. Finish welding the two plates in at least, IIWM I'd also throw a piece of plate on each side @45deg to gusset them. They appear to have either already shifted from the heat or maybe it's just the pic itself..at any rate, we're not trying to bash. Just opinion here, I'm seeing what Jerrod is also w/ the off-angle pulls.

["N8"]

You guys are nutz! Double quarter wall plate with 1/8" tubing goin through them is not strong enough???

Even if they did deform from the heat of welding that doesn't mean much. I one time deformed a 3/4" piece of 309 stainless more than 30 degrees from the heat of welding. It then took a 60 ton press to remove said bend.

IMO the hitch points are going to be more than adequate.
Although I do have one criticism, The single piece of plate your using as a mount between the bumper and the frame looks week to me. Not because its not beefy enough just that its got no lateral bracing. Also the frame looks to be fairly thin where it was bolted. If it were me I would have attempted to accomplish that with a piece of square tube or at least an I beam. At this point I might go back and weld in some reinforcement.

But looks killer man. I love the smoothed weld look, musta been a lotta work with a flap wheel!

[Mike C]

Marlin bumpers along with others use a single piece of 1/4" with out the tubing insert. ARB bumpers are even thinner then that I think. With how short the gap is, I am not worried about it. I did end up filling the gap in on a pevious bumper

As for the frame mounts, also the same style used on marlin bumpers. I will be adding side tie in mougta for the side bars before I wheel the truck.

[NorCalBorn]

Originally Posted by Mike C

..side tie in mougta...

*"mounts" maybe?? Gotta love small keyboards?? That or it's how you say "Beer Holders" in Japanese? I like my idea best, mmm, beer holders w/ a TEQ logo.. (*Had to.)

Agreed on the 1/4 stock for marlin bumpers, but they are tied in via top and bottom, with multiple intersections, thus little chance of deflection.

You thought of doing some sliders also, square stock turned @ 30-45deg to give a deflecting angle?

[Mike C]

Blame the blackberry at 4am when you check the boards after getting a drink of water

Pics of a painted bumper later tonight.

[NorCalBorn]

Originally Posted by Mike C

Blame the blackberry at 4am when you check the boards after getting a drink of water ..

*Those don't even count as having a keyboard, unless you're a mouse.

[Mike C]

I got pictures now

added some corner gussets




And some random finished pictures. I am going to be trimming the rear fenders when I have more time, and cut the ends of the bumper to match.

[Man Jerk]

Did Scratch make your frame brackets for you? What did he charge?

[Mike C]

Odie had Scratch make those brackets for his truck, he had copied the brackets off Hogans bumper. After he got the brackets, he forgot to alter them for his 2" body lift. I ended up tossing Odie $20 for the brackets, and having Scratch cut the bumper mounts for me. He charged me $26 for all 4 brackets.

[NorCalBorn]

*Something to keep in mind if you do go with tie-in hoops for the front ears is that (in my case w/ my Marlin rear bumper and also a couple of others') is it makes mounting the bumper frustrating as all get out. You need to prybar the rear and the hoops up around the body mount at the same time, I can get a pic for reference if you don't understand. One false slip and I had a really nice half thumb blood-blister to show off for a few weeks. Give yourself some flexibility and ovalize your mount holes a little, that way if you ever need to remove, adjust, whatever it'll be a little easier.

[Mike C]

Thanks for the tip, I can see how that would be a problem. I already have a few ideas to design a better mounting bracket

[Mike C]

I finally started trimming the rear fenders, I still have to patch a few rust spots and fill in some gaps with sheet metal. The fronts are next, still deciding how I want to tank them.

I also finally got a real camera again

A few months ago my old Canon digital rebel 300D gave up the ghost on me And canon wanted at least $200 to fix it, they could not give me a solid number over the phone. So I opted to do the surgery my self. Early in the operation I busted a tab for one of the ribbons... I moved on, hoping it would not be a problem. After I put her all back together, things were much worse then before

So I was stuck with my point and shoot panasonic, putting all the play money into the 4Runner. Well the other day I scooped out craigslist for Canon 10D's and found one for $325 I meet the guy today, and took it home for $300 with the kit lens. Its in great shape, and now I have 4 batterys for the thing.


So here are some more recent pics

[jayrunner]

sweet looking bumper