1995 4Runner Build - 3.4L + Axles

[Squeaky Clean]

This vehicle belongs to a good friend of mine. I have know him since childhood, and his family introduced me to offroading and have always been there for me on that front. They are the only reason I went to my first King of the Hammers in 2017. Over the past 12-18 months, he has been accumulating parts. It was supposed to be something we built together, but he is really busy with family and work. Fortunately, I had a block of free time after recovering from this year's KoH. I told him I would come pick everything up and trailer it to another friend's shop to get this knocked out for him.

This project has been a cool, full circle kind of theme. My friend and his family have been offroading since before I knew them, but in the past 5 years I would say I have probably caught up or passed them on time on the trails and in the shop. Enough story time for the first post.

 

[Squeaky Clean]

The original plan was just to do a motor swap, but after driving it a bit the plan changed. The power was great, but everything else was mediocre. The handling was what you would expect from a 30 year old IFS design. I knew it wasn't going to be very capable off road compared to what we are used to, either. My friend with the shop knew where there was a SAS parts lot available, so we knew what we had to do. I called my friend, we talked, came up with a rough budget, and decided to go ahead with the next phase.

We picked up the SAS parts lot and came up with an order for new parts needed. While we waited on shipping, I headed back home for a break and to pick up a set of dual cases. After I got back, we started working on cleaning parts and getting the housings built. The 3rd members were already assembled with lockers and 5.29 gears. We also did a 5th stud on the steering arms. For the brakes, we machined down the IFS hubs and installed 3rd gen rotors along with the 2nd gen calipers.

 

[Squeaky Clean]

We started on the front end first by cutting everything out that wasn't needed. I assume everyone has seen what happens, but for the amount of sweat and grinding dust created, I have to share the pictures of the process.

 

[Pitbullcruiser]

Dude, are at Mick's shop lol !

 

[Squeaky Clean]

Dude, are at Mick's shop lol !

Yeah. We did the motor swap before the Kentucky race. Then I came back to co-drive the Big Sky 200 with him. After that we started the SAS. I was finishing up the last bits during Visions. He is my ace in the hole for all things Toyota for sure.

 

[J.Cole]

Subbed. Nice shop and solid start to a clean build.

 

[Squeaky Clean]

According to my Toyota specialist, Trail Gear has changed their front leaf spring package to something with a shorter eye to eye length. We cut the pocket out in the body mount to french the rear hanger first which turned out to be less than ideal. It worked out fine, but in hindsight, we should have set the front hanger first. That would have allowed us to set the front axle another 1" or more forward. I think the rear mount could possibly be completely forward of the body mount with the new springs. It still works fine, but to get a lower ride height or run 37" tires it will take some body work.

On the front we were limited to 8" of shock travel on the Fox 2.0 x 10" shocks. If we modified the body mount or the shackle, I think we could get the extra 1" of down travel back. Currently the boomerang shackle acts as a limiting device hitting the front of the body mount. We were unsure on timeline for the dual cases, and I was concerned that the full down travel may cause issues with the front driveshaft, either pulling out of the splines or binding due to angles.

To gain the extra 1" of up travel, we could modify the bump stop pad basically making it 1/4" tall instead of 1 1/4" tall as is.

 

[Squeaky Clean]

Had a video to put here of a walkaround showing clearances before welding everything out, but seems like I need to get more creative to embed it in a post. Here is an image to save the space if I come back to add it.

 

[Squeaky Clean]

Cutting out the rear of the 4Runner was pretty terrible. There was a lot of material back there with the crossmembers, link mounts, upper coil buckets, etc. After getting everything cut out, though, it all went well except bump stops. I ended up holding off on the rear bump stops and letting the shocks do the work for now. It was going to be super tough getting to bump without disassembling leaf springs. Beyond that the bump cans would be hanging off the frame quite a bit. If it was getting raced I would worry more, but I think it will be fine. If needed we can add them at a later date or put a standard rubber bump stop on the axle and a landing pad on the frame.

 

[Squeaky Clean]

Seems like this is probably enough for now. I'll stop for the night to see if there are any comments or questions. Here are some "finished" pictures off of the lift with a fresh wash before any miles were put on it.

 

[Stingray]

Looking good,
Always seems so easy to watch someone else. The grinding dust and numb hands from all the grinding seemed like it was never gonna end.

 

[J.Cole]

Super clean looking with the stock bumpers still on. Cutting out the rear suspension on 2nd gen 4runners is awful. Especially when you want it to look nice and not all hacked. I would always joke and say the grinding and cutting on the rear is almost worse than the front SAS. I ended up cutting everything out of the rear of my '92 4runner and built a new gas tank crossmember and set the shocks up pretty much identical to the way you did here.

 

[Squeaky Clean]

Subbed. Nice shop and solid start to a clean build.

Thanks. Not my shop but I can take credit for keeping it clean. I waste a lot of time cleaning while others would keep working.

Looking good,
Always seems so easy to watch someone else. The grinding dust and numb hands from all the grinding seemed like it was never gonna end.

Thanks. I agree. I would rather start with a bare slate and have the same or more work than spend any appreciable amount of time with a grinder or cut off wheel. Plasma isn't so terrible but that just leads to more grinding in the end..

 

[Squeaky Clean]

Super clean looking with the stock bumpers still on. Cutting out the rear suspension on 2nd gen 4runners is awful. Especially when you want it to look nice and not all hacked. I would always joke and say the grinding and cutting on the rear is almost worse than the front SAS. I ended up cutting everything out of the rear of my '92 4runner and built a new gas tank crossmember and set the shocks up pretty much identical to the way you did here.

Given the choice, I would probably do the front over the rear for that reason. Would have loved to link it front and rear with coilovers but the budget was already pushing the limit as is. I probably splurged a bit on boujee shocks and hydraulic bump stops, but I was really concerned with being underdamped and undersprung with limited uptravel. My thought process was to use the hydraulic bump stop as a secondary spring rate similar to a coilover with crossover rings. We ended up right around the 50/50 on shock travel or even more up travel than down. That being said the ride height will likely go down at some point by removing a leaf after everything settles.

Looking back, I would have probably done 2.5" shocks and skipped the bump stops. Then came back and added them in the front if needed. As you can see it was really tight packaging. I could have pushed the shocks off the back of the axle and made some room if needed, though. That being said, we did bottom it out a few times on the shakedown, and it wasn't violent or terrible at all. I guess it all worked out and leaf springs fit the build better. Same with the steel wheels.

Rear bumper is uninstalled for tire clearance from the wheeling trip. It scrubs a little bit, as expected. Easy trim once he decides what he wants on the rear. Front bumper will get replaced eventually once he get a winch mount built. I do like the stock bumpers, though. Keeps it looking OEM and a bit under the radar which was part of the plan as well. A really clean resto mod type build with better performance but nothing too flashy.

 

[Squeaky Clean]

Loaded back up and ready to go shakedown. The 1st gen belongs to the shop owner. 3.4L, 3 linked front with coilovers.

The body was in great shape until the first trail. Got the passenger side first, then came back and got the driver side later. Springs look to be settling out as well. It was extremely wet, but for a first run it did very well. All I did the whole trip was tighten all the pivot points after breaking in.

 

[Squeaky Clean]

And here are the nice photos of the shakedown.

And back on the trailer under her own power.

 

[boonet4r]

Love to see other 2nd gens wheelin hard. Quick question, what height rear spring kit are you running?

 

[Squeaky Clean]

Love to see other 2nd gens wheelin hard. Quick question, what height rear spring kit are you running?

Front and rear springs are both TG 3". Unsure on the rear shackles. They were something in the shop not ordered. I think they were 5.5" hole to hole. Beyond that, we also put new perches on the rear axle with multiple locating holes and rotated the axle a few degrees.

 

[YotaAtieToo]

I took one look at all that coil stuff and cut the whole frame off about where the gas door is

Was very simple to rebuild with 2x4x120

At least op did a good job actually cutting it all off and cleaning it up, I think most people leave a lot of that stuff under there.

 

[Squeaky Clean]

I took one look at all that coil stuff and cut the whole frame off about where the gas door is

Was very simple to rebuild with 2x4x120

At least op did a good job actually cutting it all off and cleaning it up, I think most people leave a lot of that stuff under there.

It was a hassle for sure. I cut out one side very meticulously trying to cut the welds out and remove the pieces separately to reduce the mess and endless grinding. My friend did most of the other side with his method of "just start blasting". I would say his method was a bit faster but way more messy and higher risk. Almost got some of the wiring and brake lines along the way.

If it was more of a trail rig, I would have likely cut the frame and/or relocated the fuel tank. For better or worse, by the time we got the rear it was time to wrap the project up and take the most straightforward steps to find the finish line. Lots of details and additions I would have liked to have completed. I'm usually a buy once, cry once kind of guy. This was a good learning experience, though, both in fabrication and project planning/execution.

 

[boonet4r]

any updates on this thing?