Rock Gobbler 2nd gen 4 runner

picked up a 93 4Runner runs and drives great I’m very happy with how it performs even with the 3.0

Low end crawl torque is goodish at 1k rpm with 31” tires the plan is 33”-35” but I’m unsure if 35s will destroy my tie rods consistently running 555 parts over Toyota oem due to cost.

Weight has gone up a bit I welded up a high clearance front bumper and added a 13k winch to the front end. The back end I did a tube bumper ,tire rack, extra fuel and high lift jack trying to keep weight balanced but I did have to weld in extra support to keep it all from springing. Welded on some rock slider to protect my rocker panels.

Future plans I could use input on
4.88 gears Or 5.29
depends on 33” or 35” will the tie rods hold up. Current 4.55 gears are struggling with 31s

Roll cage
I have an interior one picked out should I do an exo cage is it worth the extra weight or am I going to struggle up steep climbing.

Lockers
I installed a spartan auto locker in the rear it’s amazing off road. Adds quite a bit of slop into the rear end when engaging the clutch on top of that It’s more of a wait and hope it unlocks worst is pulling out from the gas pump. Yes I installed everything correctly and took out the thrust washers and set backlash to spec the 3rd member looked perfect with no actual wear. Front end should I put a locker in will it be beneficial if I do manual hub locks and a spartan then clench cheeks and hope it doesn’t explode my carrier

Nice pics at the top of Kelly flats.

I took it up yesterday afternoon I’m learning to pick my lines with caution the locker will let me go where my open diff wouldn’t and it can get sketchy fast. I found some deep holes that had me looking straight up.

yeah they call it heart attack hill for a reason. The step up onto the top section that has been concreted has gotten harder over the years.

I did it last year in my mostly stock 40 and it took a couple of tries to get up and over with open diffs.

From ground to the lip of concrete is over a foot deep I had to pack some big rocks in to keep from spinning all 4 trying to get my back end up it. I was being real cautious once I got past the middle that area feels like the trickiest. I made it less than half way with open diff it was a pain turning around sure as hell don’t want to do that agin.