The Ganglesmobile 86' 4Runner SR5 (1 Viewer)

[Gaber]

Very excited to have picked up my first novelty vehicle. I've wanted a first gen 4Runner for a few years now, and with us essentially moving down to only using our newer wagon, I had my oppertunity to swap out the old minivan for a "family adventure vehicle". Was expecting to have to ship or fly to find something rust free, but happened to find a recent rust free California import in, of all places, the Upper Peninsula. 472k miles on the clock, but had just had a crate motor dropped in, new CV axles, and the brakes and suspension all feels like they have been serviced in the not too distant past. Made the trip up there and just took it home.

Inside is a little hit. Looking to either replace the front seat or have them reupholstered. Any advice on that front? The dash is the other real problem area. I'm not letting myself worry about/focus on it right now, but it's a real s*** show and I'll have to figure out how to address that.

Long term would like to slowly address all the little things inside, but having a work in progress is half the fun. This doesn't need to be a perfect restoration, so keeping everything year correct isn't necessary, but I would like to eventually get everything buttoned up and solid. I've really enjoyed doing this in the past with vintage mopeds and old motorcycles.

 

[Gaber]

A few immediate things I'd love some advice on:

Battery/starter - what should be "enough" CCA on the battery? It has a fairly new and still good 550 CCA battery, but if it sits at all or if you use any electronics in ACC it won't turn over at all. Could this be something with the starter, solenoid or wiring? Want to get that proper before I just drop higher output battery in.

Lift - front end sits higher than the rear. I know the leaf springs can sag, but this seems like someone messed around with the front and didn't do anything to the rear. I'd like to keep this fairly stock, no need to have it really lifted. What is conventional wisdom here for a more "mild" setup and what further info can I provide to help figure this one out?

Tires and wheels - tires are shot, which is great b/c I get to clean up the wheels and put more suitable tires on. This will see 95% pavement and I don't need something bit. Is there a generally recommended tire for predominant road use? What is the best way to get the spray paint off the wheels? Sandblast? Paint remover?

Other immediate plans include fixing the roll bar. Some idiot decided to cut off the rear support. I'm going to have a local fabricator recreate the rear tubing/bend plate and weld it up. I'll be removing random tie downs that have been added to the body, filling those in and having it painted. Looking at the stock 84' burnt orange.

Also plan on getting a softopper for it. Plus of course an endless list of other things. TIA for any help!

 

[Zor]

My 86 pickup, with 434k miles, sits like that with original stock rear springs and the original front torsion bars. I got the mildest OME rear springs and am waiting on shackles and U-bolts to show up before I can install them. My plan is also minimal if any lift, but something better than worn out springs.

As for the wheels, try one of those citrus strippers first in case the factory clear is still good under the rattle can black. If you use an abrasive it'll definitely take of that clear with the black. Start with the mildest method first.

 

[Gaber]

Great to know it's probably just worn out leaf springs. What specific OME springs did you get? And good tip on the citrus cleaner, I'll give that a shot first. Thanks.

 

[Zor]

I think the CS009R are the lightest from OME. Someone else may know more.

The dude abides.

 

[Gaber]

Far f'ing out man, thanks. Did you find a pair for the price listed there in that table? Even the price I found isn't too bad. And what u-bolts did you go with? Trying to get everything sorted and feel like I saw two different options.

Alternatively, I've also discovered I could just put longer shackles on as a more temporary fix. TBH I'm not quite sure what the ride quality is like yet, so may just have to get a better feel for that first to decide if the OME springs are needed for ride quality, or if I just need some shackles to raise it up.

 

[msahr]

Not sure what seats those are, they don't look like 1st gen 4Runner seats to me. So no big deal if you replace them. If you get new springs get EVERYTHING to do so. Springs, bushings, bolts, etc. Leaf springs are stupid easy to replace especially on these rigs. Welcome to the madness! If you're getting longer shackles, remember if you want 1" of lift, you'll need 2" longer shackles. Before you know it you look like that kid in High School with the huge shackles on his Camaro to boost the rear end. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

 

[Gaber]

Not sure what seats those are, they don't look like 1st gen 4Runner seats to me. So no big deal if you replace them. If you get new springs get EVERYTHING to do so. Springs, bushings, bolts, etc. Leaf springs are stupid easy to replace especially on these rigs. Welcome to the madness! If you're getting longer shackles, remember if you want 1" of lift, you'll need 2" longer shackles. Before you know it you look like that kid in High School with the huge shackles on his Camaro to boost the rear end. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Thanks for the heads up on the seats! I’ll do some looking into good replacement options with the time comes.

And thanks for the advice on replacing everything. I took a closer look at the shackles tonight, and they are toast, to the point they are actually sitting more like 45* from the body, which accounts for a good bit of that 3.25” difference in front and rear. I was also talking to my FIL tonight who was a mechanic back in his day, and he gave me the same advice to just replace the springs now and do the labor once. So I’ll be purchasing a set of the OME springs mentioned above.

On the shackles, is there a widely recommended set to go with for a mild rig? There are a lot of different options out there, from just replacing the bushings to higher performance ones that cost as much as the springs. I’m just looking to get this back to an OEM functioning state.

 

[Zor]

I found my springs locally from someone who put em on but wanted way more lift. I ordered greasable shackles and OME U-bolts from Low Range over a month ago. They finally shipped this week and their communication was as though they were nihilists. They were the only stock length shackle I could find. I got toyota bushings for the shackle end and poly bushings for the spring eye since I don’t know if the OME spring matches a stock bushing. In general I dislike poly bushings.

 

[msahr]

They're leaf springs. Never been sure why the high-zoot super awesome spring shackles are necessary. Unless you're trying to get crazy amounts of additional travel and want to allow for as little binding as possible get standard shackles. Lots of places around to get them.

As for the shackle angle, this is my 85 4Runner rear shackle, about 3.5" lift springs, I dont remember how long they are. Not very.

 

[pappy]

If you get new springs get EVERYTHING to do so. Springs, bushings, bolts, etc.

I got toyota bushings for the shackle end and poly bushings for the spring eye since I don’t know if the OME spring matches a stock bushing. In general I dislike poly bushings.

Shackles. Two other sources. Marlin Crawler, Inc. | World's First Rock Crawling Company (since 1994), and All-Pro Off-Road - Toyota Off-Road Specialists. AllPro is now part of TrailGear. As much as I don't like TrailGear, Marlin is on my s*t list right now. I just ordered new shackles from AllPro.

The suggestion on the Toyota bushings is a great one. I installed all Toyota bushing on the front springs on my 85. They are not much more than poly (I paid $4.70 each out the door, list is $5.80). For the rear get Toyota bushings for the shackle end, but be careful on the rear eye on the spring. Apparently there are two different bushing sizes used back there, especially with aftermarket springs. My Alcan rear use same smaller bushings as the shackle hanger. The front eye bushing is stupid money from Toyota ($35 each) so I'm going to use poly up there. Also, beware. The frame eye has a larger bushing with a steel sleeve. That sleeve rusts to the bolt and you can't get either out. Plan on cutting the bolt between the spring and the hanger. When you are done redrill the frame hanger to 18mm, and just run a shackle bolt. Be careful on the length. When I bought mine it hit the gas tank, at least until I took a cut-off wheel to it.

 

[Gaber]

Shackles. Two other sources. Marlin Crawler, Inc. | World's First Rock Crawling Company (since 1994), and All-Pro Off-Road - Toyota Off-Road Specialists. AllPro is now part of TrailGear. As much as I don't like TrailGear, Marlin is on my s*t list right now. I just ordered new shackles from AllPro.

The suggestion on the Toyota bushings is a great one. I installed all Toyota bushing on the front springs on my 85. They are not much more than poly (I paid $4.70 each out the door, list is $5.80). For the rear get Toyota bushings for the shackle end, but be careful on the rear eye on the spring. Apparently there are two different bushing sizes used back there, especially with aftermarket springs. My Alcan rear use same smaller bushings as the shackle hanger. The front eye bushing is stupid money from Toyota ($35 each) so I'm going to use poly up there. Also, beware. The frame eye has a larger bushing with a steel sleeve. That sleeve rusts to the bolt and you can't get either out. Plan on cutting the bolt between the spring and the hanger. When you are done redrill the frame hanger to 18mm, and just run a shackle bolt. Be careful on the length. When I bought mine it hit the gas tank, at least until I took a cut-off wheel to it.

Great tips. I would like to utilize as much rubber as possible for the bushings. I have some more thinking about this and looking under the 4R to get my head totally wrapped around it. Figure I can get some info from the manufacture of whatever springs I go with too. That's half the fun though.

Given this is going to be more a family cruiser, the goal is to restore the original ride height and have a nice comfortable ride. Originally I was looking at the CS009r (aka softest) OME 2" springs, but then found the 0-1" kit from Skyjacker at Jack It. It has some great reviews across some different boards. Anything I'm potentially not thinking of here? 90-95% of the time, this will just be hauling me or the family around, maybe have a mountain bike or two in the back/on the hitch. Very occasionally be used for light truck duty, but I don't mind sacrificing a little sag in those moments.

Btw - read through your whole 85' post. Love what you've done with your build.

 

[Gaber]

Also regarding the roll bar - here is a photo of the carnage from the previous owner. Why you would hack this up, idk, but here we are.

I got a quote from a local fab guy that does roll bars for $350, and he could only go up to 1.75" tubing for the bends, so I'm thinking about other options. I'm assuming the roll bar is not considered safe without the rear supports? Any other ideas or gut checks on price?

 

[pappy]

Any other ideas or gut checks on price?

As much as it kills me, these G1 4R get parted out a whole lot. There is a Facebook group called 1st Generation 4Runner Classifieds. Frequently somebody is parting out one of these trucks. There are also several hoarders over there. The problem is always location. But, most are mid-west trucks due to rust.

 

[Gaber]

As much as it kills me, these G1 4R get parted out a whole lot. There is a Facebook group called 1st Generation 4Runner Classifieds. Frequently somebody is parting out one of these trucks. There are also several hoarders over there. The problem is always location. But, most are mid-west trucks due to rust.

Awesome - I'll check it out! I'm in Michigan, so that is perfect for me.