what now I broke it
Rock Stacker
"So you want to hear my life story,
Well ok..." Steve Martin in The Jerk
So my 97 4runner was saved from going to the junkyard. A friend of a friend hit a deer with the 4runner and killed the radiator and A/C. It was towed to infront of the kid's house and not started again and got impounded when the tags expired. The kid, who is a drag queen, needed a place to store it till he could figure out what to do with it and he stored it at my apartment complexes parking lot. He ended up wanting to scrap it and I eventually just bought it for pre covid scrap prices. I figured even if it didn't run i could easily part it out.
This thing was in a sad state. It was running on 3 stock aluminum rims and the steelie spare with 235/75 tires with stock 20 year old suspension. Most all the fluids were definitely ready to be changed. When I was cleaning it I found drug baggies, empty bottles of vodka, sequins galore, cigarette burns and just a general aura of mung. It had been side swiped and the left back door was dented and the mirror was glued on. There's more, but it was a mess. To put it lightly.
I eventually bought a new radiator and timing belt and it surprisingly fired right up and ran strong, idled right and didn't sound too bad.
So that was 8 year's and 70 thousand miles ago with a good portion wheeling it.
Now the good stuff...
all the usual maintenance has been done multiple times over. Plus replacing all the broken bs like the side swiped door and both mirrors. Or the stuff I broke or wore out...
Here's the mods, all the work was done by me.
2 different lift's over the years with two different tire sizes and now I'm at a 3" front 4" rear lift on 285/75's.
LandCruiser 80 front springs in the rear
Uniball UCA's, new LCA's
True north skid plate
DOM high clearance tube rear bumper
Removed the lower valance and relocated both my 4x4 vacuum canister and windshield fluid reservoir.
AC delete, silencer deletes, rear heater delete with oem hoses, deck plate mod, snorkel, new vacuum hoses
Uniball adjustable rear track bar
I trimmed back both front and rear wheel wells because I was almost clipping them at full tuck, beat the pinch weld back
Replaced most of my lights with LED's. Added front spots and rear floodlights.
Updated oem headlights
Wheel spacers
Plus stuff I'm forgetting...
I'm pretty happy with the configuration currently there's not much more I need but these thing's I'm saving up for,
Sliders, transmission and differential skids,
Front tube prerunner bumper, re-gear and i haven't decided on whether to get an OEM elocker or buy an Eaton or something.
I just ticked over 250 thousand miles last Tuesday...
Chris
Well ok..." Steve Martin in The Jerk
So my 97 4runner was saved from going to the junkyard. A friend of a friend hit a deer with the 4runner and killed the radiator and A/C. It was towed to infront of the kid's house and not started again and got impounded when the tags expired. The kid, who is a drag queen, needed a place to store it till he could figure out what to do with it and he stored it at my apartment complexes parking lot. He ended up wanting to scrap it and I eventually just bought it for pre covid scrap prices. I figured even if it didn't run i could easily part it out.
This thing was in a sad state. It was running on 3 stock aluminum rims and the steelie spare with 235/75 tires with stock 20 year old suspension. Most all the fluids were definitely ready to be changed. When I was cleaning it I found drug baggies, empty bottles of vodka, sequins galore, cigarette burns and just a general aura of mung. It had been side swiped and the left back door was dented and the mirror was glued on. There's more, but it was a mess. To put it lightly.
I eventually bought a new radiator and timing belt and it surprisingly fired right up and ran strong, idled right and didn't sound too bad.
So that was 8 year's and 70 thousand miles ago with a good portion wheeling it.
Now the good stuff...
all the usual maintenance has been done multiple times over. Plus replacing all the broken bs like the side swiped door and both mirrors. Or the stuff I broke or wore out...
Here's the mods, all the work was done by me.
2 different lift's over the years with two different tire sizes and now I'm at a 3" front 4" rear lift on 285/75's.
LandCruiser 80 front springs in the rear
Uniball UCA's, new LCA's
True north skid plate
DOM high clearance tube rear bumper
Removed the lower valance and relocated both my 4x4 vacuum canister and windshield fluid reservoir.
AC delete, silencer deletes, rear heater delete with oem hoses, deck plate mod, snorkel, new vacuum hoses
Uniball adjustable rear track bar
I trimmed back both front and rear wheel wells because I was almost clipping them at full tuck, beat the pinch weld back
Replaced most of my lights with LED's. Added front spots and rear floodlights.
Updated oem headlights
Wheel spacers
Plus stuff I'm forgetting...
I'm pretty happy with the configuration currently there's not much more I need but these thing's I'm saving up for,
Sliders, transmission and differential skids,
Front tube prerunner bumper, re-gear and i haven't decided on whether to get an OEM elocker or buy an Eaton or something.
I just ticked over 250 thousand miles last Tuesday...
Chris