2003 4Runner

[orange01z28]

I bought this thing back in 06 and had a great time in it for a while, but ended up selling it to my dad in 08 who proceeded to DD it for the next 15ish years. It's got 220k miles on it and has been meticulously maintained for the whole time my dad had it, so betweent that and Toyota I figured its good to go. My dad got a JK recently so i'm fortunate enough that he's just giving it to me. This will also give me the opportunity to stop DDing my Gladiator and probably get a (barf) EV for work and kid transport

It's a SR5 4WD V6 that's been stock it's whole life until now. I'm not messing around and going straight to a 3.5" lift and 35s; I am ready to cut and my other buddy has already gone through all the growing pains in a 4th Gen so we know what pitfalls to miss. After the suspension is done it will be sliders and armor and then gears and lockers by next summer.

I only have a rough idea on what i'm doing for suspension right now, a lot of it being contingent on whether or not my friend upgrades his to an RCLT, which in that case i'll buy his Total Chaos Long Travel; if he doesn't do that, i'll go a little less extreme at first and upgrade to long travel A arms in the future

Here's how @tjZ06 and I treated this thing back in 07



Here's how it sits today after a decade and a half of grandpa duty

 

[orange01z28]

First money spent on it today.

I'm not a huge creature comfort guy, but Apple CarPlay is pretty much essential at this point. The other thing that's essential to me is SXM, but i'm going to try and finagle a deal with them after I sell the JT to get a receiver

 

[tjZ06]

Here's how @tjZ06 and I treated this thing back in 07

So many great memories in that thing! I look forward to seeing the next incarnation... also, did you realize that pic caught my 1st Gen 'runner in the pic too?



-TJ

 

[orange01z28]

So many great memories in that thing! I look forward to seeing the next incarnation... also, did you realize that pic caught my 1st Gen 'runner in the pic too?

View attachment 268970

-TJ

We need to get that back

 

[DintDobbs]

@orange01z28 I'm sure you already know the drill with gears, but here's a handy little calculation I came up with to get an idea of what gears you should use:

(old tire diameter ÷ old gear ratio) ÷ (new tire size ÷ new gear ratio) - 1

This gives you the difference in "tire-to-gear ratio", which also roughly equals the difference in fuel economy.
You want to keep the end result as close to zero as possible, with a preference to the positive side; because the new combination will be heavier in relation to its dimensions, you will want to err on the side of more torque (unless you really need to use highways).

In my case:

(30÷4.10) ÷ (33÷5.13) - 1 = 0.14

That means my rig has about 14% more torque with the new setup and consumes 14% more fuel. At any given speed in any given gear, the RPM'S are about 14% higher... except that it's now in top gear at 35 MPH.

I would say that's pretty close to accurate in real-world results, went from 16-ish MPG down to about 12, and the torque is monstrous. I gave up driving faster than 55 MPH though. It was worth it for me (road-legal off-road toy) but research a bit on builds similar to your end goal before you buy.

 

[wigsajumper]

Look forward to seeing the build out.

My 04 currently has 150k bought it 4ish years ago with 63k miles on it.

 

[orange01z28]

I didn't fart around on this one and ended up saving almost $800 on a lift. Metal Tech had an open box sale on ICON Stage 2 Suspension Kits w/ SPC UCAs so I grabbed it. I still need to get rear control arms and bump stop extensions but this is a good start. I can expand to long travel A arms at some point too

 

[orange01z28]

Picked it up from my parents’ house in the Sacramento area over the weekend and drove it home to Arizona. Went from 232k miles to 233k on the way and it ran like it was brand new the whole time

 

[orange01z28]

Just realized I forgot to post a couple pics with that last post



Here's how it sits right now, parked next to a coworker's 4th Gen. This is how it will end up eventually

 

[orange01z28]

Easy work today. Glad it’s easy because I’m going to have to pull it all apart again to plug the mic into the right input on the receiver. Had to move from a CD/tape player to a modern stereo with CarPlay. I’ll probably buy an SXM module at some point too





I drilled a hole and placed the USB input here. Zipties on the top and bottom of the ferrule keep it from moving



Mic is placed here



Next weekend its time to do the harder work before I do the lift at some point. Gonna do the body mount chop and hammer the pinch weld

 

[orange01z28]

My dad had used this for a lot of hunting in Butte County. So there's lots of hidden dirt. My Arizona plants must love this soil getting thrown on them



Did some cutting and smashing. I need a bigger hammer. The bodymounts are chopped on both sides, but still have pinch weld bashing to do. Also, it's a rough cut as i'm going to have someone who knows how to weld put the plates on



The lift is going on next month and tires will go on the used wheels soon after that

 

[orange01z28]

Just finished my lift

ICON Stage 2 Lift w/ SPC UCA's, Metaltech rear bump extensions, Metaltech rear LCAs and UCAs, and removal of front sway bar

There's so much info on how to fit 35s online, I think i'm good to go. I've already done my BMC and am going to do some pinch weld hammering and more trimming, but i'm still getting gun shy and thinking of going with 285/75 Yokohama G0003 MTs. I think I just need to go 35s straight off.

What do you all think?

 

[tjZ06]

Lift looks great, and obviously will look killer once you get the wheels/tires on it. I'm looking forward to seeing how it works on the trail.

-TJ

 

[orange01z28]

Did some cutting and hammering to make 35s fit. This is a 255/85 Mickey on stock wheels that is the set up on my friend's 4th Gen. I will have no clearance problems, although the stock wheel makes the tire close to the SPC UCA on my truck. However, my wheels are -10 offset while the stock wheel is +30, so i'm pretty sure that 35x11.5 tires are going to be the winner. I'm planning on ordering some this week

 

[orange01z28]

Wheels and tires mounted today

Just have to do a little more trimming on the body mount, as the driver's tire is just kissing the corner. I'm sure there's more work to be done on the rear as well

35x11.5 R17 Falken RT01s on Konig Compressors with a -10 offset

 

[tjZ06]

The stance, wheel and tire combo are perfect. Not crazy wide and tucked in, should be very functional without a crazy scrub radius... and your front wheel bearings will thank you.

-TJ

 

[orange01z28]

First shakedown run. As soon as my sliders are finished and get put on I can start going to rockier trails

 

[tjZ06]

Looks like a great time!

-TJ

 

[DintDobbs]

She looks good!

 

[orange01z28]

Sliders on. Pretty easy bolt-on from Victory 4x4. The only problem is unless you have a really small 90º drill, you're going to have to mount them 2x on each side to get the new holes drilled. Still easy though, especially with another set of hands.