CA18_Sean's 1st Gen 4Runner expedition build

[Dances with Wolves]

You guys should head up to the panhandle. Blackwater River & Apalachacola have some good trails. There's also Osceola up by Jax. Big Cypress too but it's a mud bog until around January.

There used to be, and maybe it's still open River Ranch over by Lake Wales. It's private land but used to be open to off roading.

 

[ca18_sean]

I have some friends from Orlando that I went to school with that have been trying to set up an Ocala trip for awhile. That will probably be the first place I go when I get it back together. From what I've read it seems like Ocala has a nice mix of easy and intermediate trails. We were going to go earlier in the summer but then we got those 20+ days of solid rain, so we figured it would be too wet.

There's a few guys with 70 series Land Cruisers up in the panhandle area. I will definitely head up that way with the troopy! It's probably a month or two away from being drivable. Depends how long rust repairs take... axles need bearings and seals too. The never ending list of stuff to fix! Haha.

 

[dsal_86yota]

great job on the runner. Makes me miss mine. Didn't know there was much wheeling in Florida. Lived down in Orlando when I was little(Early-Mid 90s) All my dad was in to was riding air boats and some mudding. But here in Colorado we just drive outside town and find trails. have thought about moving back down there, inlaws are planning on moving there for retirement and wife has mentioned it. Not sure I could go where I cant crawl tho lol

 

[ca18_sean]

New diff arrived. Detroit locker for the rear instead of the spool.

And I picked up some class 10.9 M8x1.25x40 button cap screws from fastenal to replace the diff studs.

 

[t3chth1rt33n]

Tonight's progress:

Gotta call the windshield guys back out to install a new one. Also tried to get a new topper seal from Toyota but it's NLA. Gonna have to make something to go in there.

What did you end up using for a topper seal? And it looks like you have new door seals as well, did you get those from Toyota?

 

[ca18_sean]

What did you end up using for a topper seal? And it looks like you have new door seals as well, did you get those from Toyota?

I ended up reinstalling the stock topper seal recently. I tried a generic weatherstrip seal from Napa right after paint and it leaked slightly. The stock seal sealed back up properly after cleaning it with alcohol and gluing it down.

The door seals were NLA from Toyota. I just grabbed a set eBay Chinese replacements but they seem to be good quality! Fitment is spot on.

 

[ca18_sean]

*all the window seals were OEM Toyota. I replaced front outers and also inner and outer rear window seals.

 

[t3chth1rt33n]

Awesome. Thanks man. When are you doing the TAT? And whats your plan? Are you coming through Oregon?

 

[ca18_sean]

Awesome. Thanks man. When are you doing the TAT? And whats your plan? Are you coming through Oregon?

Plan sort of shifted on that... Going to be preparing my land cruiser troopy for the trip instead. Hope to do it in the next two years. My wife is in graduate school right now, she has a year left. So I have plenty of time to work on preparing it and she would like to ride along for at least some parts of the trip.

 

[ca18_sean]

Disassembled the rear diff this morning and pulled the spool out. Destroyed the bearings in the process even though I bought a snap on bearing puller. I never have much luck pulling bearings off without breaking them. Looks like the old bearings were put on with locktite. Lol. Picked up a new set of SKF made in Japan bearings from NAPA. In my opinion SKF/Timken/Koyo are all equivalent quality. I use all three on my drilling equipment at work.

Managed to use a 4wd hub service tool to torque the bearings down. Worked pretty well.

Backlash ranges from .005 to .007. Pinion height was set by Trail Gear when they built it the first time with 4.88s and a spool.

Done

Gonna install it this weekend. Would be ready to roll but I'm still missing some tires...

 

[ca18_sean]

Got home early, decided to install they diff today

Chased the threads with a tap and installed the bolts with red locktite.

Coated with black permatex and installed with new nuts and lock washers. Axles slid in perfectly too. Going to turn the drums tomorrow or replace them depending on the cost. Then she's done mechanically! Just waiting on those damn tires...

 

[River19]

Looks sweet.......nice job.

 

[ca18_sean]

Finally got my tires. BF Goodrich KM2 255/85R16. I'm loving how it all came together.

 

[Danimal]

Wow, looking fantastic! Really well thought out build, great work.

Dan

 

[98WhiteT4R]

The 255/85/16 looks right at home!