my 1988 toyota 4runner

my 1988 toyota 4runner aka "The chick magnet"

Owners Name & City- Tyler Roundy, Orem, UT


Make, Model & Year of Vehicle- 1988 Toyota 4runner


Engine- 3.0L v6, with upgraded radiator.


Transmission- Stock 5 speed manual trans.


T-Case- Stock


Axles- Stock


Suspension- Bastard Spring Pack in the Rear, and a ball joint spacer for the front


Wheels and Tires- 15 inch rims and 33's


Winch- none


Favorite Trails- never been on a trail yet.


Other- custom front bumper and trail gear rock sliders!


I am currently 17, Jr. in high school. This is my first vehicle. I got it for what I think is a good deal. clearly needs work, but i'm going to be going to MATC in lehi to become an auto technition. I am still a newb when it comes to cars and will need all the help i can get. I bought it with the hopes my parents would let me tag along in their insurance.... BOY WAS I WRONG!!! so on top of school, I will be in search of a job to pay for my own insurance. ( oh well, cant be unemployed forever )

this is how it sits now.

 

[Kevin B.]

Nope.... It's done...


View attachment 93275

You can just staple that back on. I'm sure it'll be fine.

 

[crawler dude12]

I will go pick up a few boxes of staples from dollar tree tomorrow. Maybe even throw a little super glue on it and I'll let you know how it works!

 

[Kevin B.]

No no no, you can't use crappy staples or it'll just fall right off again. Get the good staples from Home Depot.

 

[TRD270]

Can't use super glue either, get some gorilla glue while your at home depot

 

[crawler dude12]

Haha, okay. Sounds like a plan!!! Should I staple every 1/4" or 1/2"?

 

[crawler dude12]

In all seriousness, I'm looking for new 33x12.5's and was wondering what brand of tires I should look at?

 

[Kevin B.]

What brand? That's a huge question, and depends entirely on your budget and what you need from your tires. A broke college student who runs Hanging Tree every weekend is going to have a different set of priorities than an independently wealthy guy who hits a dirt road every now and again. Since you're decidedly in the "broke" category and just getting started with wheeling and building, I'd go for an inexpensive set of ATs and run them until they wear out or you decide you have to have something different.

You should go to tirerack.com and discounttiredirect.com. Plug in your tire size and look around at the options. Decide on your budget, then look harder at the tires that fall in that budget. Read the reviews, surf the web for other forum posts, you'll learn a lot about who is using what tires for what and whether they're happy with them.

 

[crawler dude12]

So what's the difference between 33x12.5 and 33x10.5?

 

[Kevin B.]

33x12.5 is two inches wider.

There's a school of thought that the skinnier tires actually get more traction because of the greater PSI of the tread pressing against the rock (not the PSI of the tire, that's different). I don't know if that's true or not, but a wider tire will definitely give more flotation in mud/snow/sand. On the other hand, a skinnier tire definitely gives you less weight and rolling resistance for a given height. I run approximately a 33x10 on my '85 4Runner and I think they made a huge difference in how the little 22RE was able to scoot the truck around.

 

[crawler dude12]

So, 33x10.5's would be the better choice?

 

[Kevin B.]

I think that's the better choice for me, right now. There may be a different better for me later if/when things change. Your situation is similar to mine, having a similar truck and all, so that might be the right choice for you right now too. Or it might not. Buy some tires and find out.

 

[crawler dude12]

Thanks! My dad said he would talk to a guy at work and see what we can come up with. I will just keep researching

 

[TRD270]

For a "cheaper" tire with a good warranty for mild off road use I would look at a set of Big O A/T's, kick ass warranty cheaper than a lot of the name brands. I'm a sucker for BFG but if its not in your budget I would look to Big O

 

[gorillaxj]

I enjoyed my BFF km2's, worked well on and off road for me, I also liked good year dura-tracks. Like stated above I would just search reviews and models in your budget and make the best of it.

 

[crawler dude12]

Well, I'm still looking at tires, and decided I would see what I'm going to do about the bumper I picked up.




View attachment 93354

My question is, weld on or bolt on?

 

[ricsrx]

I welded mine on, i would bolt it if at all possible

 

[Kevin B.]

Bolt it up for sure. If you're going to add a winch, look into bracing your front crossmember first though. Lots of horror stories on the interwebs of guys making a hard pull and bending that crossmember.

http://www.4xinnovations.com/84-95-Front-Bumper-Frame-Support_p_50.html
http://www.lowrangeoffroad.com/yota...-duty-gusseted-front-frame-brace-tar-ffb.html

 

[crawler dude12]

Bolt it up for sure. If you're going to add a winch, look into bracing your front crossmember first though. Lots of horror stories on the interwebs of guys making a hard pull and bending that crossmember.

http://www.4xinnovations.com/84-95-Front-Bumper-Frame-Support_p_50.html
http://www.lowrangeoffroad.com/yota...-duty-gusseted-front-frame-brace-tar-ffb.html

I was going to fab up something like that and weld the bumper to that.. Now, if I do bolt on what should I do with these Side mounts?



I guess I could take some steel and make a bracket/clamp sort of like this [ ]

 

[crawler dude12]

Looked at some tires today and narrowed it down to 3
Bfg A/T's , Cooper stt's, and hankook dynapro rf10's

The bfg comes in both 1250 and 1050 the others are just 1250.. Both in my budget.

 

[STAG]

I wouldn't reccomend the STT's. And I have no experience with Hankooks, but the BFG AT is a fair choice.