Clean bodied 1985 Toyota 4Runner

[Brucker]

Beautiful work!

Looks good, but I'd stick with the high pile carpet. Totally rad!

Thanks for the kind words. The shop is crazy busy as always and I need to make some time to go through all the photos so I can update this thread further. Hope to be able to before the weeks out.

 

[DaveInDenver]

Thanks. Though the last 3 ARB bumpers that came through my shop all were between 150-165 lbs shipping weight, which didn't include any accessories like lights or winch. And that weight is also what ARB and TransAmerican lists most of their fronts at for shipping. I haven't brought one in for a 1st gen so they might be lighter, though yours isn't a first generation either so who knows? And I would honestly have to check if they make one for the first gens.

We were shooting for around 80 lbs before any accessories. Came in a tad high (13 lbs over) but we are still happy. There may still be a hoop added to the top of the bumper but that depends on the owners tastes. We actually played with a couple different styles (if you follow us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/BruckerBrothersLtd, you would have seen a couple different attempts at fitting some hoops to it) and we couldn't find one that the owner was happy with yet. He for now has taken that off the build sheet, but that honestly seems to be changing everyday.

You could very well be right, I'm using the 'man-calibrated' bathroom scale method. ARB does (or did, no idea if they still do) make a bumper for the 84-88 trucks but not for the 1st gen 4WD 79-83 AFAIK.

 

[Brucker]

Finally found a little more time to go through some more of the photos so I can update this thread.

Bent up and notched the driver's side A pillar/door bar.

Tack welded into position

Before we could move on to the passenger side, we needed to remove the factory grab handle. And since we were dismantling something already we also removed factory rear view mirror. This will be replaced by a more modern unit which features a built in compass and temperature gauge. We will be filling in the holes that will be left of with small sheet metal plates.

 

[Brucker]

Passenger side A pillar/door bar bent up and notched, ready for install:

Tack welded into position:

The next piece needed would be the top windshield cross bar. We rolled and then notched a tube to fit. Here it is pictured next to a straight length for reference

Then tack welded the tube into place:

 

[Brucker]

Bent up and notched the dash bar

And tack welded that into place:

And then bent, notched and tacked into place the center roof spreader. Again, bent to allow for the most amount of clearance (headroom) possible:

 

[liveoffroad]

wow, that is one of the cleanest interior cages i've seen, well done! i dont have any experience building cages, but i'm wondering how strong it is w/o being tied into the frame?

 

[Brucker]

wow, that is one of the cleanest interior cages i've seen, well done! i dont have any experience building cages, but i'm wondering how strong it is w/o being tied into the frame?

Thank you for the kind words. As for being tied into the frame, I just haven't gotten there yet. Heck the cage isn't even fully welded together yet. If you read back (I know, lots to go through) I already went over the cage plan and specs. Here is what I wrote back on the last page in post #74:

Time for some cage work. This time around, the client wanted a simple 4 point interior cage. By 4 point, we are referring to the amount of points the cage will be tied into the frame. It will be constructed out of DOM round tubing and tied into the frame using bushings. We will also be tying in the factory roll bar to the new tube work, stiffening the entire chassis. Eventually the plan is to eliminate the factory portions with new DOM throughout and adding 2 to 4 more frame tie in points.

Hope that this helps.

 

[Hulk]

It's so tightly fitted, I've been wondering if you'll be able to paint it once it's all done.

 

[liveoffroad]

Hope that this helps.

It does, thank you... looking forward to see how this turns out.

 

[rover67]

It's so tightly fitted, I've been wondering if you'll be able to weld it once it's all done.

fixed it for you

 

[Brucker]

It's so tightly fitted, I've been wondering if you'll be able to paint/weld it once it's all done.

fixed it for you

Crap, never thought about having to fully weld all the joints! Whatever will we do?

Honestly though, I can't give away all my fabrication secrets. If I did there wouldn't be a need for me or my business anymore.

J/K If you believe that load of crap, I got some great land to sell ya But I do firmly believe that being able to easily answer questions like this is one of the many reasons me and my business have been able to stay as busy as we do.

As for welding the cage fully, if I didn't, it wouldn't be a proper or even close to safe, cage. Never, and I mean never, think it is ok to skip welding any part of any joint when it comes to structural cages.

The tube work will be welded in certain areas, then disassembled into various larger pieces (rear spreaders, then B pillar, the A pillar complete with cross bars and center spreader, the floor bars will be the last pieces out), then the welding of the unreachable areas will take place. The different pieces will be coated in primer, then paint (except for the areas that will be effected by any welding still needed), then reinstalled, finished welded, and finished painted. The cage will not be able to be removed from the vehicle once it is fully welded, without cutting something apart.

Hope that this answers your questions.

 

[rover67]

yeah wasn't saying you weren't going to weld it all just that it is not easy.

I am familiar with the type of work.

 

[Brucker]

yeah wasn't saying you weren't going to weld it all just that it is not easy.

I am familiar with the type of work.

Hmmm... My mistake then. I thought I answered your question of, "been wondering if you'll be able to weld it once it's all done?". To which I based my response.

The work is actually fairly easy. As easy as any tube work really. So I guess you mean that there are just more steps involved than say fabricating a cage for something without a top. Which you would be correct. But there really is not that many more steps.

 

[Brucker]

Crap. Went to update this thread and found that all the previously posted photo links are dead. So it needs to be redone.

Well, the good news is, after a LONG hiatus, the 4Runner is back in the shop to be completed. Plans have changed some but will fill you all in as the build progresses.

Bad news is, now with the thread needing to be redone, it might be a minute before any new updates. I will go back and start at the beginning of this thread and rebuild it. Should even have the first couple of posts redone tonight.

 

[pmccumber]

Crap. Went to update this thread and found that all the previously posted photo links are dead. So it needs to be redone.

Yes . I was just seeing this and was happily engaged and now it's like I lost the book.

Did the mini truck get the girl? Did they stop the bad guys?

Cool build

 

[Brucker]

Yes . I was just seeing this and was happily engaged and now it's like I lost the book.

Did the mini truck get the girl? Did they stop the bad guys?

Cool build

Thanks for the kind words.

I got the majority of the thread redone by fixing the broken links. Hope to find time to fix the last couple of post worth of links soon. And then I will move on to actually updating this thread!

 

[Brucker]

From here on out the ADHD will be strong in this thread as we finish out this 4Runner. Lots of time has passed since this was last worked on and some aspects have changed. But the final goal is close to the same. Unfortunately, I had a computer drive die and take some of the build photos with it. But onward we go.

There are a couple more cage tubes that need to be put in. Now we focus on a grab handle for the front passenger. We bent and notch a shorter section of small diameter tubing. Then tack welded it into position.

Then we moved our attention to the rear bumper mounts on the body. They will not be used any more and can be easily seen with the new bumper and are therefore an eyesore so they will be removed.

 

[Brucker]

Having the rear bumper removed afforded us the opportunity to clean off all the surface rust that had appeared and then get it painted. Photos of removing the bumper and just how much surface rust had gathered are a part of the missing photos, so you will just have to use your imagination.

Here is the freshly cleaned up bumper heading to get painted.

And with it coated:

We removed the rear axle and suspension after we added shock tabs to the axle. Then disassembled the rear axle and slid our axle jig inside of it and then welded everything solid. Then reassembled it with the new ARB'ed 5.29 geared third member. These photos are also missing. But here is a photo of the completed axle freshly painted.

 

[Brucker]

The front bumper still needs a couple of things, one of which has been bugging me for a while. And that area is the recessed light mounts. What I had thought would look decent in concept, just ended up looking wrong. But that’s custom work (and life, right?). Sometimes you hit a home run, and sometimes you strike out. I struck out in this case. So only thing to do is fixing it. The problem I had was that each pocket wasn’t a square. The upper inner corner of each pocket protruded in some. I didn’t think this would be as noticeable as it turned out to be when I was first putting this together and designing on the fly.

Here is a look at how it was:

So we clamp the bumper into the mill in order to remove the unwanted material.

And then re positioned the bumper to mill the opposite side:

 

[Brucker]

Start filling in the missing sections to make a true rectangle:

And with the lights being test fit: