1998 4Runner Mild Build

[Dirt Claude]

First off, let me say that with spring here, I'm very eager to get the Runner setup for wheelin. This is still going to be my wife's daily driver, so I'm not going for anything too crazy, just a capable rig that can hold it's own.

Here's what I got taken care of in the last week or so...
- Toyota E-Locker & 4.30 gears installed by Oleg over at Irbis Offroad
- New Timing belt, idlers, water pump, belts, radiator hoses, and valve cover gaskets (regular maintenance items are just as important as off-road gear)

This week...
- The rest of my 2.5" lift should arrive in the mail this week, if so, I'll be starting the lift this coming weekend.
- Front...Tundra 4x4 TRD Coils, OME N91s struts, extend top plate spacers,1" diff drop spacer
- Rear...OME 890 coil springs, OME N86 shocks, panhard drop bracket, extended bump stops
- When I'm done with the suspension lift, I may still go with a 1" body lift so I can run a 285/75/16 tire comfortably, we'll see. Until the funds get replenished, I'll just stick with the 265/70/16 A/Ts.

Next couple of weeks...
- Seeing how a like to bash in rocker panels, this truck will certainly receive a pair of sliders before it sees any action. I've got a pair sitting in the garage waiting to be mounted.

That's all I've got planned for now, eventually I'll be building front and rear bumpers, and setting up a nice sturdy low profile roof rack.

Here's a picture in it's stock form right now.

[Chris]

Good to see your plans Brad and nicer to know we'll see you on some runs with the "new" truck.

[Funrover]

Great looking rig, I lok forward to the plans/add ons. This will be a good one to watch!

[Dirt Claude]

Thanks, I've definitely got the itch to get it done so I can get out there. It shouldn't take too long, hopefully!

[Dirt Claude]

It appears I've been spending all my time under the truck and haven't posted much. So here it goes....

I decided to start with lifting the front first since that would be a little more time consuming. It really wasn't too bad, it took me about 3 hrs. from start to finish which included mounting the coils onto the struts.

Just to recap, I used coils from a 2001 Toyota Tundra 4x4 TRD. In a side by side comparison the new springs sit about 1.5" taller, they are much beefier and a bit stiffer. The install went pretty smooth, had to get a little creative when installing the strut assembly as it was a couple of inches longer than the original setup... nothing a little bottle jack couldn't take care of.

I opted to leave the sway bar connected for now, but I may end just getting rid of it all together. The Tundra coils are much firmer and will probably compensate for the lack of a sway bar.

[Dirt Claude]

Next up was the rear coil springs and shocks. Again, I went with an Old Man Emu setup.

I've always been a leaf spring guy, so the rear coils were something a little new for me. It was pretty straight forward actually, just remove the shocks & panhard bar, then drop the axle and swap the coils.

In comparision, the new coils looked the same with exception of the overall length, about 2.5" taller.

While I was under there, I also fabbed up a couple of brackets to extend the e-brake and panhard bar.

[Funrover]

OME make great stuff, I really feel that is worth every penny!

[Dirt Claude]

Now that the lift was done, it was time to move onto the sliders. I had a pair of 67" Trail Gear sliders in the garage that I never got around to installing on the last rig, so I figured I'd chop these down a bit and use them on the Runner. When I held them up the truck, I was surprised to see that they were a perfect fit and wouldn't need any fabbing.

Before I could install the sliders I had to remove the old running boards. I like the stock, clean look of a vehicle, so I decided to hack off some of the front of the running board and keep it attached, that way the fender flares would run all the way down to the bottom of the fender. Without it, the flare would stop a good 4" inches from the bottom of the fender. I'm pleased with how it turned out.

So, mocking up a slider is very time consuming.... getting it to fit right between the tires, getting equal distance coming off the frame, setting the angle on the slider, as well has making brackets to mount it to the frame.

I decided the keep the slider very close to the pinch weld. My thought on this was that when the slider flexed-up and made contact with the pinch weld, that the weight would also be distributed through the bottom of the rocker panel as well as the frame. Well see how that one works out!

To protect the sliders, I layed on some black Hammerite paint. I'll eventually throw on some grip tape on the top for foot traction.

[Dirt Claude]

So that's were it's at today (geared, e-locked, lifted, and rocker protected)!

I'm extremely pleased with how everything has turned out so far. The new suspension has made a world of difference. I was concerned that the Tundra coils may have made the ride a bit harsh, but I think it's perfect. It should have came from the factory with coils that ride like this!

Within the next couple of months I'll start working on the bumpers and roof rack. Now to get it out there and get dirty, I can't wait!

Oh, anyone got a good lead on some 285/75/16's? I need some bigger meats to fill the space!

[Funrover]

Those sliders turned out pretty slick!

[Dirt Claude]

Funrover previously posted:

[Funrover]

So when are you gonna come wheeling?

[Pathrat]

Great work. I am always impressed when people can just whip up some brackets and other such things and are able to make things work!

[4Runninfun]

Looks good.