Kevin B's 1985 4Runner

sixstringsteve · Oct 27, 2012

I hear ya brother. Wheeling is way more fun.than wrenching

UVRUGBY · Oct 27, 2012

Kevin, sorry I didn't make it over this afternoon. After getting my AAls done at Steves I went home and passed out!! You guys got a lot of progress done on the truck, looks great. But, wrenching could be fun and great experience. Cause you break something on the trail, you need to know what is going down.

Spork · Oct 27, 2012

So... you find your ratchet?

Kevin B. · Oct 28, 2012

I did. Socket hasn't turned up yet, but I made do. :greg:

Kevin B. · Oct 29, 2012

Argh. I (and my shoulder) need an air ratchet so very badly.

If I didn't know this was a seaside truck before, I do now. I'm breaking bolts left and right. I'm glad I've got a parts truck to scavenge from, or I'd be spending more time at the wrecking yard than in the driveway. If this axle wasn't headed for the junkyard under the '86, I'd be swearing a blue streak...

It took a 4way with my hilift under one side and a friend standing on the other to break these free. In several cases, the term break is literal

. But the '85 axle is under the parts truck, and tomorrow I hope to get my bastard springs and wider axle under the '85 and get it back on it's own weight. I'm not making as much progress as I'd like due to pulling and shipping parts from the '86 - the money is helping, but I don't ever want to part out a truck again. What a rotten depressing PITA that is.

sixstringsteve · Oct 29, 2012

Yuck. You'll get through it!

frieed · Oct 29, 2012

rumor has is that 50-50 acetone and atf if the best rust buster out there. Can't beat the price either

Kevin B. · Oct 29, 2012

frieed said:
rumor has is that 50-50 acetone and atf if the best rust buster out there. Can't beat the price either

That's what I hear. I never had a bolt stuck bad enough that I'd need to find out on the old rig, but I'm going to be stopping at the hardware store in the morning for a little bottle of both.

Anybody know if that mix is safe to use in a little plastic spray bottle, or should I try and find a metal oil can?

TRD270 · Oct 29, 2012

For Sale 1985 Ready to go 4 runner

Good luck with the bolts

frieed · Oct 29, 2012

big enough vat to dip the whole rig....

bryson · Oct 29, 2012

Yuk is right. I'd replace all of those lug studs with new ones... not just the broken ones. You never know how stressed they were - cheap insurance against them breaking in the future and causing real problems.

Kevin B. · Oct 29, 2012

bryson said:
Yuk is right. I'd replace all of those lug studs with new ones... not just the broken ones. You never know how stressed they were - cheap insurance against them breaking in the future and causing real problems.

Those are on the '85 shafts, they aren't sticking around. I'll have to do the fronts though, and I think that's great advice. Right after I soak them for a week in rust-buster.

Kevin B. · Nov 6, 2012

So I decided to trial the ATF/acetone mix against PB Blast on the front lugnuts. They were good and frozen on both sides. One set got soaked in PB Blast for two days running and came off easy on the second day. The other side has gotten a daily soak in a 50/50 mix of ATF and acetone for four days, and never did come free. I hit it with PB Blast yesterday before going to bed and again tonight when I left for work - if they come free in the morning, I'll never use anything but PB Blast again.

My bastard rear springs are under, and waaaaaaay too high, I knew the springs that were on it were saggy but I didn't realize how badly. With the fronts being in reverse arch I don't think I can save them no matter how many more leaves I stick in there, and I'm not ready to do anything else with the front yet, so the back's gotta come back down. The old rears are under the '86 so I can roll it around, so I've got a line on another set of stock rears from clfrnacwby that I'll throw under so I can drive it around with a level stance. I picked up another 5.29 3rd from Pawn for dirt cheap - it's welded and I don't want to run it as is, but if I can't trade it for an unwelded 3rd, at least I can pull the ring and pinion and I might know a guy I can talk to about setting them up in one of the 4.10 thirds

. But I've got too much to do in terms of lifting and clearancing in order to make the 33s and whatever gears work right now, so I'm going to stick with my original plan to rock it stock for the winter.

I saw a build on Yotatech where the guy ran Chevies sprung under to keep the stance low. That's intriguing, but he's more of a desert guy, I'm guessing I'd have bigtime clearance issues on the rocks.

I need to get my butt in gear, I got a letter from the USTC asking for sales tax and title fees, so I'm hoping that everything went well with contacting the original owner and I'll have a title shortly!

Kevin B. · Nov 6, 2012

Toyota guys, what do you use when you install the 3rd, paper gasket or gasketmaker? I've been using paper gaskets like the FSM calls for and I always get a little weeping around the seal. I hate it. It's all the way around it, so I don't think the surface is warped - am I using crappy gaskets or should I switch to a gasketmaker?

UVRUGBY · Nov 6, 2012

chevy springs offer a lot of articulation in the rear, and have heard that they are good for the rocks, at least I read about it on yotatech.

clfrnacwby · Nov 6, 2012

I use gasket maker.

sixstringsteve · Nov 6, 2012

I use "the right stuff" gasket maker.

I Lean · Nov 6, 2012

Use Permatex "The Right Stuff". You'll never go back to paper, and most likely won't go back to any other type of RTV either.

sixstringsteve · Nov 6, 2012

Got any pics of how it sits?

Kevin B. · Nov 6, 2012

UVRUGBY said:
chevy springs offer a lot of articulation in the rear, and have heard that they are good for the rocks, at least I read about it on yotatech.

Lots and lots of guys run Chevys, and there's no denying they get great results. I've been thinking about them a lot, and I haven't made my mind up but I don't think they're right for this build. It's going to be a dual purpose DD/backcountry explorer build, and as much as I'd like to have a dedicated trail rig, this one is going to see way more road miles than dirt miles, and even fewer rock miles. The standard Chevy spring swap is going to take me higher than I want, and if I pull leaves I'm going to lose the load capacity I need to schlep my family and camping gear around. It's gonna require experimentation to find the exact leaf/shock setup for what I want from it, and I learned on my last build that I'm tired of screwing around with compromises and half measures. It's fun to upgrade and mess with the rig, but using it is funner

. At the end of the day, it'll probably end up costing me near as much money to fab a well-done Chevy/RUF swap as it'll cost to get into a set of OME leaves and shocks, and take much more time to get right.

So that's my thought process. Luckily I'm nowhere near the point where I need to make up my mind yet. I've already flopped back and forth a couple times and will probably flop a couple more times. It's frustrating, I finally had a definite direction I wanted to go in with the '86, now I'm starting over and learning the ins and outs of a whole new suspension system. It's all good, I'll figure it out.

Kevin B's 1985 4Runner

Well-Known Member

Active Member

Tin Foil Hat Equipped

Not often wrong. Never quite right.

Not often wrong. Never quite right.

Well-Known Member

Jeepless in Draper

Not often wrong. Never quite right.

Emptying Pockets Again

Jeepless in Draper

RME Resident Ninja

Not often wrong. Never quite right.

Not often wrong. Never quite right.

Not often wrong. Never quite right.

Active Member

Recovery Addict

Well-Known Member

Mbryson's hairdresser

Well-Known Member

Not often wrong. Never quite right.