'94 4 Runner Build/newb thread

[Caoboy]

Hey all!! I finally picked up my Expo (yeah right lol) and Off Roadin' vehicle!

It's a 1994 old man gold 4Runner! 164k on the clock.

This will be my Build/questions thread, as this is my first 'real' SUV/4WD.

Prior to this, I was taking wifey's 2000 Honda CRV exploring on the NF roads. It worked, especially with some Yokohama Geolander AT/S on the vehicle! I got through some things that nobody thought would it would be able to conquer, but I eventually was defeated by a rutted road that somebody used for a mud slinging fest. After 45 minutes of pulling out the vehicle, using a Land Cruiser as a tow truck, and working against the coming darkness/black bears (I would have liked to wrestle one of them for dinner ) We saved the vehicle and went home. That started my search for my first real 4wd truck.

I wanted an extended cab pickup, but everything local was beat up, too old, or just too expensive!

Somehow (fate?) I was browsing the Craigslist east bay/dublin/pleasanton section. That section is about an hour away from me. I come across a 1994 4runner, that is located in my local town! This 4runner was never posted in the local craigslist section. I call the guy, no answer. Leave a voice mail. Send a text message just to double up on my interest, to let the guy know, in case he was too busy to pick up the phone. He calls me back about 20 minutes later. He says its located at the local dirt lot everybody parks their vehicles at, and gives me the lowdown on the vehicle. I go check it out, and call him back. There were about 5 other people looking at the car when I got there. I call the guy, ask him to bring the title. I mention this part REALLY LOUDLY and everybody gives me the stinkeye and walks off.

Take it for a drive, it needs an alignment/tire balancing (probably just the balancing) and some TLC (paint needs buffing, I'll let the trail brush do that ) and the throttle feels a bit stiff, like the cable is sticky. There is also a power steering leak, but the fluid is topped off. Hood is rusting a little (surface rust) and there are two spots on the rear doors (same spot 1 each side) that are bubbled/rusted. No other rust on the car. It was a prior Bay Area car, which explains it though.

The owner used it as his daily driver/commuter, so he kept maintenance up to date. He sounded like a person that doesn't really do is own work, kept talking about how he needed it to be reliable so he's kept up on the maintenance, always taking it to a shop for the maintenance. (even oil changes!)

I start the 4Runner and it's like a brand new truck. No hesitation starting, no bogging while driving, nothing. Temp checks out. A/C works damned well, and there was no bogging down of the engine with the A/C switching on. I check the smog paperwork, and it passed with really low emissions.

It even has a tow hitch. I'm sold! Dude had it listed for $3800 at the lot, $3500 on CL, I told him what can you do, he said somebody offered $3200 but hasn't come through, and another one said he'd pay full price. I told him $3300, right now, cash is in my pocket. SOLD!!

I can live with the 3.SLOW V6 for now (3.4 swap? *drool*) and the Automatic. Wifey can drive an automatic, so that's a plus in her eyes.

Drive it home.

Now for the list of things to do!
*any dates in front of the list are when it has been completed*


(2/10/2012) Baseline fluid change. Need to change the rear diff fluid still, but thanks to a rounded differential bolt I'll have to wait until I get a new one.

Steering feels a bit 'loose'. Need to research and mess with that. (need to fix LCA bushings)

Throttle cable/pedal feels sticky, rather, stiff.

Fix power steering leak.

Fix rusted areas.

(2/4/2012) Door lock cylinders need to be lubed, they are VERY sticky. (lubed with dry lub, might need graphite instead)

Diff breather mods.

(2/12/2012) Replace burnt out bulbs. (fixed)

(2/10/2012) Realign headlights. (fixed, but not perfect)

Fix issue with 4WD.

Replace broken EGR Temp sensor. (broken while messing with the motor...)

Replace driver mirror glass (have new glass, need to tear apart stock mirror now)

(02/23/2012) Electrical gremlin with the back window? He says sometimes it will randomly roll down when you start the truck. (fixed a soda filled window switch)

Fix the single din radio install. The prev owner actually said he looked for a stock toyota radio as the original went out and it was too expensive (DUH?) so he went and got a cheap Sony deck installed. Whoever installed this looks to be about 10 years old. I'll get an actual install kit.

Install CB radio. Free, and have everything for it, might as well, until everybody in my group starts upgrading to HAM.

(2/23/2012) As a work in progress, ripped out all interior and cleaned it. Still need to finish the rear seats, and the seatbelts. That's about it.

Future mods:
ARB Medium Lift kit. Rear shocks are tired, I can bounce the truck easy.

Different tires. It has some M/S tires on it right now, maybe 50-60% tread left. (OE 17" Tacoma Sport/4Runner wheels replaced these)

Lockers-eventually.

ARB front bumper. IF I decide to get a new front bumper, it'll be ARB. As of right now, the OEM bumper works just fine. (might go with Marlin Crawler instead)

Marlin Crawler Sliders.

Marlin Crawler Rear bumper?
Winch. If I get the bumper, it's probably because I need a winch.

Foglights/Driving lights.



Now for questions:

Anything else you would do to my truck?

Any issues that I should watch out for?

Next weekend will be the shakedown run Can't wait to get out and do some recon!

[Martinjmpr]

Sounds like a great start. I'd be interested to see another 2nd gen build - you see a bajillion 3rd gens and 1st gens but not many 2nd gens. Around here you can get a decent 2nd gen pretty cheap. I see a lot of them on the road, too, so I wonder if the head gasket issues are a little bit overblown (no pun intended )

Welcome to the forum. Great bunch of folks here and you will get a lot of good advice. You can also check out http:www.t4r.org for 4runner specific information (they have a sub-board for 1st and 2nd gen 4runners.)

[Caoboy]

Hey Martin, thanks for serving first off!!

Secondly, thank you for the website. I'll definitely be poking around there. And one of my buddies, and his buddy, have 2nd Gens as well. I guess we are all out there, just lurking

Today I decided to see how the rear seats fold flat. Apparently there are pull tabs that were shoved under the seat. Figured that out, popped open the seat, what did I see? NASTINESS! Nothing but nastiness. The stench that came out from under the seat was horrendous. Immediately I grabbed the vacuum and dug in (literally) and started removing all that crud. I should have taken a picture, it was REALLY disgusting. Once that was vacuumed, i folded the seats down and figured all that out. Put it back to stock, and I was surprised that I didn't notice the smell before...

Then we went to register the car. AAA was closed. So much for them being open on Saturdays! That will be done first thing Monday, after work.

Drove to the local alignment shop. Had the tires balanced as well as the 4Runner aligned. This is where the fun begins! It was NOT out of alignment. It's spot on, sitting there. Apparently the bushings in the lower control arms are shot, and need to get those replaced ASAP. That will be the first 'mod' I complete. I think I'm going to have the shop do it though, as I'll have to pay to get it aligned anyways, so they might as well do it all at once.

The guy who did the alignment said that it was the wheel setup that broke down the bushings, plus the age, just really increased the wear. The tires are something like 32x12.5? I'll have to check again. Way too big, I'll be looking for a smaller (Tundra/Land Cruiser/Tacoma OEM?) wheel and start researching what a decent size tire for the Runner will be. All Terrain of course, as I'm going to go over ALL TERRAIN with this beast!

Drove to the auto shop and purchased some carpet cleaner. Went through a whole can of that stuff under the back seat, and the rear of the Runner. I'll be doing it a few more times until that smell is no more! Took off the steering wheel cover, and the stock wheel was really grimy. Cleaned that up, no more cover for me, thanks!

Set up my phone mount to make an action camera! Took a boring 5 minute video driving around to see how it worked, and decided to hit a dirt patch/mud patch and test out the 4WD. Everything engaged and I walked through the bog pretty easily. Better tires would help though.

Now I'm off to go pressure wash the under carriage and really inspect under there!

[Caoboy]

Also, I think I'm going to need a new center console/arm rest. This thing is wobbly, I don't even think it has a bolt holding it in. Any ideas? Or should I just go with an ammo can

[Sempertoy]

Congrats on the new rig! Nothing better than finding "the one" and fixing her up! If you ever head to SoCal, let me know! We can go check out the desert!

[Martinjmpr]

Wow, 32 x 12.5? The tires sure don't look that big! If I was to guess I'd say maybe 31/10.50's? Anyway, I'm assuming 15" wheels - you'll find that tires for 15" wheels are noticeably cheaper than tires for 16" and larger, so that's another plus. Honestly I think 31's are perfectly fine. I'm running 265/75/16s (nominal height about 31.6") and have no problems getting over the obstacles I need to get over.

[TheFozz]

FWIW NorCalBorn's '95 including the 2wdAuto-4wd5speed swap. It's not overkill and cleans almost everything he runs. Really one of the cleanest 2ndGen Expo builds I've ever seen.

[Caoboy]

Tires are 32/11.5/15.

I can hear them rubbing the bumper on full lock, sometimes not even full lock lol.

I'm looking for some OEM Toyota wheels.

I found a set of 07 17" tacoma wheels, the wide five spoke type with tires. Lug nuts/center caps included. I'm assuming I'll need the spline drive lug nuts anyways to center the wheels right? I know most toyotas come that way unless they were factory steel wheels.

I also found a set of 2002 4Runner wheels, with tires, don't know the condition/age of tires, and no lug nuts.

On the wheels currently, are the regular acorn type lugs for steel wheels.

Just want to make sure I can throw either of the Toyota sets on without issues.

[Caoboy]

New wheels are in the truck, will be getting new valve stems and balancing done tomorrow. Old ones will be put up for sale officially tomorrow!

[Owyhee H]

Nice 4runner. It looks to be a great starting point, probably dosent need too much to do what you want. I second the 31X10.5R15 tires. It is a great size, very common, and will get you where ever you need to go.