Introduction

[WarDamnEagle]

Hello everyone,

I've been using this website and others to gather ideas for upgrading a 1985 Toyota 4Runner which, other than some nerf bars, is completely stock. I've owned it since '86 and it has 150k miles. Use to drive it all the time but it's only been used for hunting the last few years. Not rusty anywhere as far as I can tell. Somehow got the bug to spend a bit of money on it.

Short list of ideas at the moment:

OME suspension lift
ARB front bumper
Warn M8000
Kennesaw Mountain rear bumper
BFG 31x10.50-15 MT's
4.56 yukon gears
Detroit truetrac front and rear
New or rebuilt engine (looking for 140hp+)
LC Engineering Header, cat, Magnaflow, etc.
Wilderness 6" side Safari roof rack (for fiberglass roof)
LC Engineering Pro 8 7/8" clutch
LC Engineering slotted/vented front rotos
Marlin Crawler Upgraded tie-rod w/ FJ80 ends
Marlin Crawler SS braided extended brake lines

Already bought SR5 Instrument cluster and front and rear SR5 seats off ebay (mine is a Deluxe with rear bench seat).

Opinions welcome; especially if you have any experience with the Wilderness roof rack on a gen 1 or the SR5 rear bench seat install in a Deluxe model.

One picture (hood was open - sorry).

Thanks,

 

[Ripper]

I have the OME suspension (med/med) on my 85 4R and am very happy with it. I run 32" MTRs (GY) because they have lowest road noise. I think 31"-33" in tires would be best with 4.88s IMO. Nice bumpers, very expensive. Not sure if I would spend the money on slotted front discs on a hunting truck. I love my headers, so I'm not complaining, but here is some info from EB: "The best setup cost wise we have found is to use the excellent factory exhaust manifold, then increase the pipe size to 2" all the way to the muffler, yep, the cat, too. Then we increase again to 2 1/4" on exit all the way back."

check here for some good info on 140HP engines: http://www.4x4wire.com/forums/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=820891&page=&view=&sb=5&o=&fpart=1&vc=1

 

[WarDamnEagle]

I have the OME suspension (med/med) on my 85 4R and am very happy with it. I run 32" MTRs (GY) because they have lowest road noise. I think 31"-33" in tires would be best with 4.88s IMO. Nice bumpers, very expensive. Not sure if I would spend the money on slotted front discs on a hunting truck. I love my headers, so I'm not complaining, but here is some info from EB: "The best setup cost wise we have found is to use the excellent factory exhaust manifold, then increase the pipe size to 2" all the way to the muffler, yep, the cat, too. Then we increase again to 2 1/4" on exit all the way back."

check here for some good info on 140HP engines: http://www.4x4wire.com/forums/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=820891&page=&view=&sb=5&o=&fpart=1&vc=1

Thanks Ripper,

I had seen that thread from Ted which has pushed me more toward rebuild than replace. Those new engines sure are pretty though!

I should have elaborated a bit more on what caused my sudden inspiration. We live out of the country and only come home about 1 month a year. 2 of our children now drive and I don't think they would be caught dead in my old 4Runner when we're in the US. My idea was to turn this into something that they would want to drive around. We always rent a Suburban or something but with 4 children, 2 driving, it's always nice to have something else around. ...and if they don't, well it will get the deer out of the woods faster! I do have a deal pending on an FJ40 but that will also need at least AC before the family will use it (Lower Alabama in August - very very hot and sticky!).

I thought about the 4.88 but a 4.56 brings the speedo perfectly (at least within 1%) back into reading with the 31" BFG's. I was tempted to go with 33" tires (and 4.88) but thought I might have to cut metal or put in a body lift, neither of which I'm interested in doing.

As for the slotted rotors, I need to replace mine anyway so its $50 vs. $100. Thought the children could use all the brakes they could get!

I would be interested to know which header you are running and how loud the exhaust system is. Noise is the one thing that makes me want to stay with the stock manifold and just replace everything else.

Also glad to hear that you like the OME. I was thinking about heavy front with medium rear due to the bumper and winch. I've also thought about heavy/heavy as I thought it might stay "level" longer - heavy is advertised as 1/2" more lift and I thought the rear could use it, especially since it's not a daily driver. Of course my poor 4Runner rear end has been overloaded so many times it's probably 2" below stock at the moment.

Would be interested to hear from anyone that has gone heavy/heavy.

Should have said earlier - great website! (Maybe not so good for the bank account though!)

 

[Red_Chili]

You should clear 33s with a modest suspension lift, such as OME. Consider 33x10.50s. Lots of wheeling got done with 31s though, back in the day!