A few years ago I picked up a 1985 4Runner. It ran, sort of, and was in not too bad of shape. I bought it for my oldest daughter who is now 17. When I got it home, it had 3 different kinds of wheels on it, 4 different kinds of tires, brakes that were marginal at best, and someone installed add-a-leafs to the middle of both of the front leaf spring packs. The ride was terrible. It was a good starter for a project.
It has a Warn front push bar with a winch plate on the factory front bumper. It has very little rust on the straight body. It has fuel injection, air conditioning, and power steering. It is also an automatic transmission. It even still has the factory mud flaps.
Here is what it looks like now:
The 4Runner is named after the lioness in the Lion King movie. This being a father - daughter build and she has always liked lions and the Lion King, the name is perfect. The color is also a contributing factor for the name as well.
The first thing we did was put on new wheels. The wheels she picked were the Dick Cepek "Torque" wheels in black. They are 16" by 7". Then the work began. We installed a complete rear axle from a 2000 Tacoma. Mainly because it was free and had an e-locker. I regeared the 3rd member to 4:88 gears. The axle is only a few inches wider and so are the brake drums. The installation was pretty easy. The leaf spring pads are in the correct spot. We only had to move the park brake brackets and add some shock mounts because we also did a u-bolt flip. We discovered instead of leaving the ABS sensors in the axle, a 7/8" freeze plug fits in the sensor hole and makes a cleaner appearance. On the front axle we did a full rebuild. Starting with 4:88 gears for the front differential in a v6 large bearing case, Marlin Crawler heavy duty axle seals, and a bearing pack. Also we replaced the perfectly fine Warn locking hubs for a set of the Toyota ASCO hubs just to keep it factory looking. We also replaced the solid rotors and small calipers with the vented rotors and larger 2nd generation 4Runner calipers. A 1" wheel spacer put the width the same are the rear.
The engine in it does run but has one or more exhaust valves that do not seat all the way periodically. I received a free, non running 22re. It was a Jasper rebuild with less than 10,000 miles on it. The previous owner had it in his 1987 4Runner. Apparently a valve adjustment was never performed. The end of the valve stems were mushroomed and one broke its valve guide and ruined the valve seat. I have never seen that before and can only imagine the noise it made before it stopped running. So, after 8 new valves, a valve seat, a valve guide, and a grind, the head looks like new. The block is bored .050" over and the bearings are .020" over. Cross hatch looks great and has no warping. I installed all new gaskets, seals, and timing chain. Just for fun I installed a LC Engineering Torquer cam.
We will be installing this very soon. The 4Runner came with a LC Engineering header already and we installed their cold air intake as well. The front bumper has a Warn push bar that is mounted to the factory bumper. It looks beefy but was empty so we installed a 8000lb Ramsey winch. Yes you have to redrill the holes in the Warn winch plate to fit a Ramsey winch. Inside we removed the aftermarket cassette player and installed a JVC cd player with auxiliary input.
We removed the leaf springs to get rid of the add-a-leaf that was installed in mid pack. I should have taken a picture of how the add-a-leaf was installed. It was terrible. I had plenty of other leaf springs around, so we added a few, took out a few. It rides pretty well for an old solid axle 4Runner and it sits a bit higher. When I measured it for the new Rancho 5000 shocks, I was surprised to discover the shock size that was required was the shocks for a 3 inch lifted 4Runner. They fit perfectly.
There are still lots to do, like install the sliders, the new engine, new seats, and build a new rear bumper. We will keep you all posted.
Here it sits with its family: the ToySHOta, the FJ55, and the next daughters project truck.
It has a Warn front push bar with a winch plate on the factory front bumper. It has very little rust on the straight body. It has fuel injection, air conditioning, and power steering. It is also an automatic transmission. It even still has the factory mud flaps.
Here is what it looks like now:
The 4Runner is named after the lioness in the Lion King movie. This being a father - daughter build and she has always liked lions and the Lion King, the name is perfect. The color is also a contributing factor for the name as well.
The first thing we did was put on new wheels. The wheels she picked were the Dick Cepek "Torque" wheels in black. They are 16" by 7". Then the work began. We installed a complete rear axle from a 2000 Tacoma. Mainly because it was free and had an e-locker. I regeared the 3rd member to 4:88 gears. The axle is only a few inches wider and so are the brake drums. The installation was pretty easy. The leaf spring pads are in the correct spot. We only had to move the park brake brackets and add some shock mounts because we also did a u-bolt flip. We discovered instead of leaving the ABS sensors in the axle, a 7/8" freeze plug fits in the sensor hole and makes a cleaner appearance. On the front axle we did a full rebuild. Starting with 4:88 gears for the front differential in a v6 large bearing case, Marlin Crawler heavy duty axle seals, and a bearing pack. Also we replaced the perfectly fine Warn locking hubs for a set of the Toyota ASCO hubs just to keep it factory looking. We also replaced the solid rotors and small calipers with the vented rotors and larger 2nd generation 4Runner calipers. A 1" wheel spacer put the width the same are the rear.
The engine in it does run but has one or more exhaust valves that do not seat all the way periodically. I received a free, non running 22re. It was a Jasper rebuild with less than 10,000 miles on it. The previous owner had it in his 1987 4Runner. Apparently a valve adjustment was never performed. The end of the valve stems were mushroomed and one broke its valve guide and ruined the valve seat. I have never seen that before and can only imagine the noise it made before it stopped running. So, after 8 new valves, a valve seat, a valve guide, and a grind, the head looks like new. The block is bored .050" over and the bearings are .020" over. Cross hatch looks great and has no warping. I installed all new gaskets, seals, and timing chain. Just for fun I installed a LC Engineering Torquer cam.
We will be installing this very soon. The 4Runner came with a LC Engineering header already and we installed their cold air intake as well. The front bumper has a Warn push bar that is mounted to the factory bumper. It looks beefy but was empty so we installed a 8000lb Ramsey winch. Yes you have to redrill the holes in the Warn winch plate to fit a Ramsey winch. Inside we removed the aftermarket cassette player and installed a JVC cd player with auxiliary input.
We removed the leaf springs to get rid of the add-a-leaf that was installed in mid pack. I should have taken a picture of how the add-a-leaf was installed. It was terrible. I had plenty of other leaf springs around, so we added a few, took out a few. It rides pretty well for an old solid axle 4Runner and it sits a bit higher. When I measured it for the new Rancho 5000 shocks, I was surprised to discover the shock size that was required was the shocks for a 3 inch lifted 4Runner. They fit perfectly.
There are still lots to do, like install the sliders, the new engine, new seats, and build a new rear bumper. We will keep you all posted.
Here it sits with its family: the ToySHOta, the FJ55, and the next daughters project truck.
