Financially Irresponsible 3rd Gen 4Runner

Milo902

Adventurer
Hi all,

I'm going through some (suspension) upgrades for my 96 4Runner and I thought I would document it here for any who are interested.

This is meant to be an example of what not to do, specifically spending loads of money on fancy new parts for an old vehicle. None of these upgrades are really required, and you could argue (some already have) they don't make sense, but they sure are fun.:elkgrin:


The 4Runnner as it sits: '96 4Runner, 3.4, 5-speed, 150k miles, Icon standard length coilovers up front, Icon Piggyback shocks & OME 890 coils in the rear, Tundra 199mm brake upgrade.


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(running boards have since been removed and stock rear bumper has been replaced with a CBI hybrid rear)


The plan: Full frontal alphabet soup rebuild, LR UCAs, LR jounce shocks, LCA bushings, steering rack, TREs, LBJs, extended length coilovers w/ compression adjusters, TC spindle, coil bucket & alignment tab gussets, timing belt & WP, TRD supercharger, and True-trac LSD rear end.

Future mods: sliders, winch and addicted offroad plate bumper up front, new rear bumper, followed by some hot-doggin' hoonage.
 

Milo902

Adventurer
I have been collecting parts for months, and since I had a feeling my LBJs were starting to get loose, I figured it was time clear out the garage and get cracking.

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Dirty stock suspension, about 15k miles on the Icons, washed almost never so they aren't so pretty anymore.

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After tearing down the front suspension, first step was spindle gussets. My interweb research tells me this is the weak link in the front suspension, cheap insurance I figure.

Spindle gusset fitted and tacked into place

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Gussets all welded up

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If those welds look a bit amateur, that would be because they were done by me. Given my 15 or so minutes of mig welding experience, they turned out as expected. I figure what better to learn on then a critical suspension component eh?
 
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Milo902

Adventurer
Sorry for the sideways images, I can't seem to figure out why some of them upload sideways. I must be special I guess.

That's the progress so far. The next two weeks will be pretty slow as I'm "studying" for the PE exam, but at the rate I'm going it will be merely a an expensive practice session.
 

Acher550

New member
If those welds look a bit amateur, that would be because they were done by me. Given my 15 or so minutes of mig welding experience, they turned out as expected. I figure what better to learn on then a critical suspension component eh?

Love this comment. Made me actually LOL.
 

blakeape

Adventurer
Sweet, excited to see where you go with this, I just built a 3rd gen and am making myself stop with it instead of going too far financially. They really are a fun platform.
 

Hound

Sheepdog
Looking good. Will always have a soft spot in my heart for gen 3 4runners. Miss mine everyday.
 

Milo902

Adventurer
Well it was a slow week, but blew off studying again and got a few more things done today.

Gave the coilovers a bath before I send them back for an upgrade. In keeping with the theme, I'm going to take perfectly good shocks and have Icon rebuild them just so I can have some slightly better performing bling. No need for a rebuild yet, but I want to take advantage of the aftermarket control arms and Icon's fancy new CDC (compression damping control) valve, so back they go. With this I will be able to gain about an inch of down travel and be able to change the ride from soft to firm using a dial on the reservoir. At some point I plan to give the rears the same treatment.

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Close ups after 2yrs & 20K miles, no real preventative maintenance other than the occasional bath and WD-40 coat. Shock body is a bit corroded, threads are in good shape though.

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Milo902

Adventurer
I also finished off the spindle gussets. Ground down my amateur welds and painted them black. Pretty happy with how they turned out.

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While I am reinforcing the front end for the inevitable hoonage. I got a set of alignment cam tabs from Total Chaos. These replace the flimsy stock ones so hopefully I don't knock the truck out of alignment every time I get a little air. Here they are all welded up and ready to replace the stock pieces.

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Pretty beefy.

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Milo902

Adventurer
Lookin' good , what kind of welder are u running by the way ?

Thanks, for this work I have been using a Millermatic 211. First mig I have owned, and man is it nice. With the autoset it's almost like cheating, just set the voltage according to material thickness, then it dials in the wire feed rate. I'm sure the more experienced welders like to set their feed rate manually, but for newbies like me it works pretty well. I have a tig as well, but I'm nowhere near comfortable enough with it to be welding structural pieces.
 

Milo902

Adventurer
Looking good. Will always have a soft spot in my heart for gen 3 4runners. Miss mine everyday.

I hear ya. I almost sold mine a few times in search of greener pastures, then I realize how much I really like it and come to my senses. New enough to be comfy and reliable on the highway, old enough I'm not worried about beating on it, small and nimble with decent feedback makes it a blast on a rough dirt road. I know many dog on the 3.4 for being slow but mines quite peppy and with the 5-speed will hang in the fast lane all day long, even loaded down on my way up to the tunnel on I-70. Plus the 3.4 has a quite satisfying intake growl under acceleration. It will be a blast once I get the supercharger on it though.:smiley_drive:
 

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