2001 toyota 4runner project

[Crayoneater]

About a year ago I had decided to upgrade to this 2001 4runner from a 1986 vw golf with almost 400,000 miles on it. So basically it is stock. Shortly after getting the 4runner I had to replace the shift solenoids; while doing so found that the last time the transmission was serviced the magnets were never reinstated. I added a few neodymium magnets and now it doubles as a up side down parts tray.

My first change was removing the runner boards.

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[Crayoneater]

To get my project off to a good start, I decided to take care of some basic maintenance. Every thing behined the timming covers was replaced including the crank and cam seals. Replaced the cam plug seals at the back of the heads and the valve covers received all new seals. New plugs, wires and a little bit of painting to make it look better. I was quite surprised at how clean it was under the valve covers for it having 230,000 miles.

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[Crayoneater]

During a visit to my parents in Washington, I had to run out to Ocean Shores to drive on the beach.

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[Jopina7807]

Cool! What are the rest of your plans? Love me some 4Runners!


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[Crayoneater]

Just received the pan hard correction kit made by Joseph Keith Walters. Tomorrow I
will be getting the 3" lift from toytec and Saturday some upper control arms from JBA offroad.

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[Crayoneater]

Just received the pan hard correction kit made by Joseph Keith Walters. Tomorrow I
will be getting the 3" lift from toytec and Saturday some upper control arms from JBA offroad.

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I have all my parts for doing the lift, and getting the brackets welded on tomorrow.

 

[Crayoneater]

The range of travel for these ball joints is awesome, on top of it they are rebuildable. Really nice cerakote finish on the ball joint housing. Over all these UCA's are really nice.

 

[Crayoneater]

The lift is installed, had to put a new steering rack in so I could get the alignment done. Now just need to get the sway/stabilizer bar set up correctly, and see if it fixes the unstable/twitchy feeling at 40+ mph.

 

[Phildirt]

Part of the unstable sensation is higher center of gravity. You'll get used to that. There's a reason lift kits come with all of those warning stickers :)

 

[Crayoneater]

Part of the unstable sensation is higher center of gravity. You'll get used to that. There's a reason lift kits come with all of those warning stickers :)

I understand with have some extra instability but not with how scary/sketchy it gets at 40 mph. I have been talking with Marlin Gehman at JBA offroad and he said I should have more castor then what the alignment tech set it to. I have longer sway bar links coming to help get the front sway bar closer to parallel to ground, then it goes back to hopefully get the castor adjusted to what it should be.

 

[Phildirt]

On a lot of lifts you are just going to have to set to max caster and live with it, as long as you are getting a decent return to center feel on the steering wheel it is fine. Caster doesn't affect tire wear or stability, just tracking to a certain extent but mostly steering wheel reaction. Not enough caster can make the steering feel stiff and unresponsive with little return to center. I've never been able to get caster as far "in the green" as I'd like with a lift on any vehicle but that's to be expected when we start changing the engineered geometry and relationship of these components.

 

[Crayoneater]

The alignment tech got as close as he could to the 3° castor as he could. I have 1995 4runner rear sway bar link on the front of my 4runner and new fronts went on the rear. I also have control arm bushings from Whiteline to in stall soon, take care of any possibility of worn bushings that might be contributing to the wandering feel. The only thing left for me to change after the bushings would be the lower ball joints.

 

[Crayoneater]

Thankfully the installation of the lower control arm bushings went relatively easy. No rust issues with the cam bolts like I have seen other have. As for the alignment i will be trying a different shop they are a family owned alignment only shop that have been around since the '60s. Right now the alignment feels really good I have the camber almost on 0°, no wandering/ twitching feeling. The steering still has a really light feeling since I had to change out the rack.

 

[Crayoneater]

I has been quite a while since I have posted anything here, I have been busy. I have since installed new wheels and tires 17x9 dirty life wheels and 285/75-r17 falken wild peak a/t

Just recently I decided it was time to replace the core support and fix the damage left from a previous owner.

The bumper in this picture was never fully bolted up or adjusted


I did replace the condenser and dryer on the ac system, and bought some extra lower condenser mounts for the the transmission cooler.

The only thing I am currently waiting on is a diy plate bumper kit from True north fabrication ( SRQ).

 

[Roguei69]

The stance sure looks good. Did you ever get the steering fixed at 40+. Was it just the castor or did it take a lot more work? Love Toyotas and like your ride a lot! Good job!

 

[Crayoneater]

The stance sure looks good. Did you ever get the steering fixed at 40+. Was it just the castor or did it take a lot more work? Love Toyotas and like your ride a lot! Good job!

Thank you, yes I did get the steering fixed, not too much work it was worn out lower control arm bushings. Once replaced they were able to get the castor to just over 3°. I also got the sway bars closer to level and they are functioning like they should. I did have to replace the steering rack with a new unit from Toyota the cheap one I had bought on Ebay only lasted about a year before it was getting sloppy. It feels better now the it ever has before I did the lift.

 

[Crayoneater]

I leveled up my mall crawler status. My True North fabrications diy plate bumper kit is welded together just needs some finishing on the outside. The snorkel I had put on a couple months back, it's main purpose is to reduce the amount of dirt and mud in the air box.

 

[Crayoneater]

I decided to do the Tundra brake upgrade to my 4runner. It ran me roughly 350 in parts. Bought some extended braided brake lines from SRQ Fabrications.

 

[Shayhan27]

I decided to do the Tundra brake upgrade to my 4runner. It ran me roughly 350 in parts. Bought some extended braided brake lines from SRQ Fabrications.

How do you like it? I'm trying to figure out what to spend my money on next.

 

[Crayoneater]

How do you like it? I'm trying to figure out what to spend my money on next.

This is/was a worth while upgrade for me my family and I are planning on moving to Arkansas soon and I will be towing a trailer with my 4runner. For any one else, I would say do this up grade as you need to replace your front brakes. You can take your time getting the parts together. One thing to think of doing is to regear your axles if you haven't already. With me running a tire that is just under 33" my 4runner is gutless when going up hills on the freeway or just plain thing to get up to speed.
If we were not moving I would have regeard my before the brakes.