92 4 Runner Build...maybe

Cascadia

Cascadia

Undecided
Location
Orem, Utah
I just picked up a 1992 Toyota 4 Runner in excellent shape. It's got a near perfect body with 2 minor dents that are barely noticeable. No rust at all. The interior looks brand new. Everything works including the ac and rear window.

Things that it has:

22re motor with rebuilt head in the last 40k miles
manual trans with new clutch in the last 30k miles
stock wheels and tires
2 owners, 1 old couple and another old guy
only 40k miles put on it in the last 8 years
181k miles

I don't know what my plans are for this yet. I need help figuring it out. I don't plan on doing any hard core wheeling in it. More exploring, camping, local trails, most of the Moab trails, some St. George trails, and whatever else comes my way. I want to fit 33's which should be no problem but possibly step it up to 35's in the future just for a softer ride.

My plans are:

33"-35" tires
4.88-5.29 gears depending on tire size
front and rear bumpers, front to come first
sliders
rear locker
4.7 t case gears possibly
suspension mods

I need help with the suspension. I'm new to ifs and don't know what to do but I do know I want to keep it. I've done a lot of reading and I've only come up with a few things.

FJ80 Coils in the rear
Front 1.5" Ball Joint Spacers
Panhard drop bracket (is this needed?)
Is there anything else I should do to the front end that is not too pricey?
Extended upper control arms maybe? From which company and why?

Will this give me a level ride? I want to stay away from body lifts, they're not for me.

This will be a veeeeerrrrrrry slow build. I don't have loads of money sitting around right now and I'm not buying parts with plastic unless I have the green to pay it off right away. I just want to have a comfortable wheeler that can take me places I haven't been.

4runner1.jpg4runner3.jpg4runner2.jpg
 
well if you wanted you could go with a blazeland long travel suspension. http://www.blazeland.us/ Or you could go with a custom long travel suspension.
the 1.5" bj spacer is a good lift for a little that you can squeeze 2" out of if you extend the torsion bars. the panhard drop bracket, not to sure on these I have the pickup and not the 4runner, and the PU doesn't use these. Also you could look into doing a stabilizer quick disconnect for the front end, that way you can pull a little more articulation out of the ifs. and doing the ZUK mod (fj80 springs) in the back will level the ride out/lift the rear up a bit. I have heard both good and bad things about it, but is the easiest/cheapest way to counter the relaxed springs in the rear.
 
Sweet ride!

I've got a 1986 22RE/auto, which is basically the same truck as yours if you take away the body. 33s will fit at stock height if you're willing to trim and tub a little. Guys running the FJ80 coils and ball joint spacers fit 33x10.5s with no trouble. Test fit first to make sure the ball joint spacer doesn't push your upper control arm into the tire at full droop, that happened to me but I was running a really wide rim at the time. I don't recommend cranking the torsion bars - if anything, I'd relax them a little if you have room, it'll soften the ride and flex better, but you can go either way to match whatever lift the FJ80 coils give you. I couldn't tell you on the panhard bar, I've got leaves in the rear and haven't ever had to mess with that. With a 22RE and a manual, the 4.88s will put you closest to stock gearing for 33 inch tires, but I'd go 5.29s if you ever think you might want 35s. The 22RE doesn't mind revving high. You could go with extended control arms in front which would give more lift for sure, the cheapest option on the market is Blazeland at about $1000. I've loved my Spartan locker in the rear, I hardly notice it on the street and I don't think the 22RE has the oomph to break it or make it misbehave :). Check out www.toyota-4runner.org, there's a lot of guys with the second gen in the Classics forum that can offer good opinions too.

UVRUGBY, he's got a coil spring rear suspension, the ZUKmod is for leaf-spring trucks, and in my opinion isn't a good idea anyway for a truck that needs to flex.
 
Kevin B. said:
Sweet ride!

UVRUGBY, he's got a coil spring rear suspension, the ZUKmod is for leaf-spring trucks, and in my opinion isn't a good idea anyway for a truck that needs to flex.
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lol good point :rofl: that is me not thinking. But, it is the middle of the night, I have 4 more hours of work still. lol


and kevin is right, those definitely are not stock.
 
Kevin B. said:
Who told you those wheels were stock, by the way? :D
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The stock ones are in my back yard sitting on my porch. The ones on there right now are off an 01 tundra. He wants those back for a $500 refund. Ha. I have no problem with that since I have a set of 04 tundra wheels with 33's waiting to go on already.
 
Sweet 4runner. Lots of good info from Kevin. It should definitely make a good vehicle to go exploring with.
 
Does anyone have any personal experience with 80 series coils? How much lift do they give? Is it a smooth ride? Is it level with a 1.5 inch bj spacer up front?
 
I'm getting ready to put my bj spacers on tomorrow, I have heard that the coils will give you level if relax the torsion bars down a bit.
 
Thanks man. I had noticed that with the others but hadn't noticed it enough until I got this one. It still sits so good that it kind of looks like its lifted. It is very clean. Hopefully I can keep it that way and build it just right.
 
FWIW, LC80 coils gave me at least 4" of lift in the rear on my '95 with the 22re... I was running ball joint spacers in the front, and it sat too tall in the back, so I swapped the LC coils out for some OME units from Cruiser Outfitters. With the OME's it was perfect. Also, with the spacers and OME's, I cleared 35" tires with just a little rubbing.
 
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