88' 4Runner: mild build by noob

[johnnyh66]

I'm going with the Spartan that Harvo and 1BadJeepBruiser recommended.
Pretty sure I need the 8"... gotta double check that though.

May do the gear swap too.


Spartan Locker for Toyota 8" differential with 30 spline axles, includes heavy-duty cross pin shaft The Spartan Locker, by USA Standard Gear, provides reliable traction at a low cost. Give your vehicle great traction and save some cash. Choose a Spartan Locker for better traction. The Spartan locker by USA standard gear is a mechanical locker that replaces the spiders in a standard case. The Spartan locker's design does not use the thrust washers and has a revolutionary spring and pin design that makes installation a snap! The couplers and drivers are made from 9310 steel, for added strength. Each Spartan locker carries a one year warranty against defect.

[johnnyh66]

Originally Posted by C*H*U*D

I like the square one myself.

Hmmmmm....these guys are right up the road from me. I can pick one up with no shipping charge. We might have to be twins

They have a new plate/tube bumper and it's awesome!
They haven't made the First Gen version yet but say it's coming.

Looks much better with the IFS.

[johnnyh66]

and this https://www.budbuilt.com/new/ifs.html
Looks like something may need to be trimmed though...

[Mega Fattie]

You dont "need" a locker to hit the trails. Lift/tires/get the sliders on there because you already have them and lets go!

[johnnyh66]

Finally, FINALLY getting back to this (sorta had a divorce and set me back a ways).
But all's well that end's well and the Old Man Emu 2" IFS lift is on it's way.

Still thinking the Addicted Off-Road plate/tube hybrid bumper and gotta find some wheels and 32" maybe 33" tires and then a rear locker.

[johnnyh66]

These Mickey Thompson Classic III 15x10's may do the trick.
The overall width is 3" wider and the back spacing is slightly less than stock... gonna need to keep my flars.
Or maybe get some proper off-road flares.

[Bananaclip]

Square stinger for sure. Look into the Aussie locker. I've read that they are very well behaved and are super strong. The Aussie is a great price as well

[crawlhog]

I have to apologize John, when I invited you for a 4x4 trip I didn't realize your rig was stock. where we go 4 wheeling there are alot of deep mud pits, and without a winch I dont think you would have a good time. most of your day would be whinching it out. Let me know when its more trail worthy including a winch and some meaty tires. I want you to have fun , dont think that little guy could keep up. all of the rigs I run with are pretty built up

[johnnyh66]

Well it took almost 2 weeks but I just got shipping notification from Rocky Road.

Yeah Crawlhog, I'll have a winch eventually... and bigger tires.

[meatmonkey]

I'm jealous of your not-rusty Toyota. They don't come that way up here.

But please, whatever you do, DON'T put 10" wide wheels on your IFS regardless of the backspacing. I've found over the years that an 8" wide wheel with ideally 4" backspacing, or 3.75" if you want it a touch wider, is what fits best on the stock IFS with up to a 35x12.5 tire. You'll find out the hard way how much of a pain it is to steer those wide wheels with lots of scrub radius offroad, and how they kill balljoints and tie rods from the additional leverage. Plus the wider wheels swingers further back into the firewall at full steering lock, making tire rub worse.

If your handy with a welder it is possible to fit 33" tires with no lift and no rubbing. I've done it on a few Toyota's now. It does require cutting a fairly large chunk out of the firewall, making patch panels, and cutting apart and rewelding the rear inner fenders. But welding supplies seem cheap compared to a lift. And since most Toyota's up this way have rusted out firewalls and rear fenders you end up having to fix the rust anyway, so mine as well make room for larger tires at the same time!

Oh, and most of the cheaper lifts for the IFS are going to still end up with tire rubbage when flexed out offroad since while they make the vehicle sit higher, they do not space the bumpstops down.

While the lunchbox locker is perfectly acceptable in the back, do not put one in the smaller 7.5" front axle. I learned the hard way that the front carrier is weak and the lunchbox adds stress, and deflection, to the carrier which leads to incorrect gear mesh and ring/pinion failure. Despite popular opinion, welding the front diff actually makes it stronger in this case since the weld stiffens the flimsy factory carrier and helps preserve gear mesh. It also guarrantees CV failure before ring/pinion failure. With the lunchbox it was 50/50 if the diff or the CV's would go. Now that it's been welded for a few years its always CV's with are much easier to change, and cheaper than diffs. Not to say that the factory CV's are weak, as I run 34x9.5's and even let the girlfriend drive. However, ever single parts store aftermarket CV is junk in an offroad driven truck.

Budget friendly option would be to run 33x10.5's on the stock wheels. Narrow tires on stock narrow wheels helps keep tire rubbage down.

[johnnyh66]

My 2" Old Man Emu suspension should arrive today.

I was wondering about the 10" wheels and if there would be problems.
I'm happy to go with an 8" wheel... I'm also thinking 32" instead of 33's.

EDIT: and yeah, I can not believe I found this garage queen in the Chicago burbs... everything in the area is generally rusted out from salt.

[johnnyh66]

I might go with these Interco Birddog wheels... I like the extra retainer lip for airing down tires.

I was also looking for a black center with chrome outer

[johnnyh66]

something like this... but smaller tires.

[kgb424]

here are a few pictures of my 87 Toyota, its basically stock except the I removed the stock carb, it needs rebuilt and does not run correctly, so I removed the smog crap, and made plates to block off the exhaust manifolds and installed a nice 2 Barrel Webber Carb, I don't wheel it much, does work great in the snow once you throw some weight in rear of the truck, and I switched out the instrument cluster for SR22 instrument cluster of a Land Cruiser, so now I got a stock Tach in my dash board and I figured out to use the wire coming off the distributor, to connect to the cluster to make the Tach work. and installed a cd player and some new door and dash speakers and rear sliding window for the cab to get more air flow in the summer

[johnnyh66]

U.S. Wheel


Mickey Thompson Classic III


Cragar Silver Mirage


Cragar Black Mirage


Cragar Chrome Quick Trick I



Ultra 062 Series

[johnnyh66]

quick photochop

[johnnyh66]

ok, thinking maybe one of the black center wheels since my manual hubs are black.

[humve]

Originally Posted by johnnyh66

I took the 4Runner to the local ORV Park and broke her cherry.
Man, what a blast we had out there... got some full flex tettering action, some deep rutted mud action and thought I was gonna loose her down a gully but she pulled out of it... serious pucker factor there.

All in all, the Toy performed above my expectations and I think I did a pretty good job driving.

How does the front independent suspension do on the trails?

[joeyf]

Toyota make really nice wheels especially any of there TRD ones. I have there basic aluminum wheels on my runner.




All pro makes a really nice bumper.





Front range us to make a plate bumper, the owner brian is a real nice guy. if you were willing to wait he would probably make you one when he has spare time.

[johnnyh66]

Thanks man!
I've been looking at some of the TRD wheels... gonna have to check into those bumpers.

I like these FJ TRD's