Another 3rd Gen Runner build

This is mine and my nephews build. Slowly turning into more of my build as its in my garage and they are not able to help as much. (Turning into young adults).

Was in a limestone mine so not rusted out bad but definitely has some cancer here and there.

Plan is to swap to leaf springs in the rear(Already done), three link the front, AW4 swap and Dana 300(for now). Internal cage will be done and half doors in the front as well as tube bumpers front and rear. Likely will fix the sliders as well as they look like they came off of another build and where put on upside down.


Factory brake lines were pretty strong. I let that hang for some time.




Frenched the front hangers in a little bit. I wish I would have done more but not sure where the 40" Journeys will fit in. Old dana 300 clocking/Adapter ring I used to make a flipped ring out of some billet. I do not have that pictured though.



The Flip kit that is needed for a driver drop dana 300 DIY style. Only thing im not certain on is how I will seal the back side of the shift forks

The $180 artec truss that I found on ebay.



Three link has started obviously. My brother has a small homemade plasma table he built so he does all my Cardboard CAD to Doorstep for tabs and such.

Shocks my nephews purchased. 12" coilovers in front. (likely will upgrade to at least 14" later down the road.)

Next tabs were cut today while I am at work. I will hopefully get to mount the third link tomorrow.

Oil pan and pickup are on the way. Ebay finds so hope they are the correct ones.

BK hi steer weld on kit is next before we do the panhard bar. should also get the BK(not actually busted knuckle but cant remember the company) BJE are also waiting to be installed. Might try to knock those out this coming week.

Weekends I dont get any time as my wife and I are also self building a house so no time on weekends to work on anything else.

Very nice to see a new 3rd gen build thread!! Looking forward to following along.

Got a little work done today before work.

Third link is mounted. I may add another hole about 1" lower on the axle side to get my antidive number slightly better.

Also started to get the BK weld on kit ready so we can get the panhard in as well! Going to run full hydro steering on this unit as it will not see street besides from trail to trail short distances.

Not pictured is the Ebay find on oil pan was correct one. $100 bucks and a pickup tube was $40

Also I am still learning with Tig I dabble with it here and there. I am better at welding Stainless for exhaust and such but my brother is better at welding aluminum so we just figure it out.

looking good. is the entire axle in front of the harmonic balancer?

Blase said:

looking good. is the entire axle in front of the harmonic balancer?

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Negative, I will be modifiying the oil pan so that it clears the truss. Or I will modify the truss to clear the oil pan. Not sure which route to go just yet. I didnt want to stretch it as its sitting around 113" currently which is great for 40" tires. I would really have been happy to be 110" but I didnt want to cut the firewall area or move the rear forward.

No picutres this time but running into some space constraints.

We have a single ended ram for full hydro steering and it seems we are going to be tight for space with that the tie rod and a panhard bar. I havent found any rigs that have full hydro and a 3 link. I know there are some out there.

Anyone have any pictures to help me through this dilemma? I think a Z style panhard may be what is needed. Also waiting on diff cover to come in before we can get too crazy into the panhard bar set up.

Getting some steering mocked up. I believe I got these steering arms in close enough place to match from side to side.

On the single ended ram I just used 1' bolts and will have some spacers to hold the position for tying to the axle and the tie rod. Will need more support but all is just mock up. I think it will work out just fine for a weekend wheeler.










This is mock up starting for Pan hard bar. If we do end up needing to put a Z style bar in for it I would think we will need some type if antiwobble in there or I can run with not High misalignent spacers and get the same effect? Opinions on this? I really wish we had the room to just 4 link the front but this is meant to be more budget friendly as well as keeping stock location ish of most items.





The BJE got welded in with Nickel tig rod. I made two passes with it and preheated to about 550F I am curious if ppl weld the bottom as well as the top?

If you aren't running a steering box than why not 4link it?

2 86s said:

If you aren't running a steering box than why not 4link it?

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Not neccessary with keeping stock ish frame rails and only running 12"shocks. I thought about it for a while but couldnt bring myself to it to get good triangulation and such from the links without cutting the frame off and rebuilding it extensively. This is also more of a learning curve for my nephews rig. I am not rushing it but would like it done so I can maybe build another buggy down the road.

Not much of an update but we got the 4 journeys mounted up on some DIY beadlocks and Made some DIY anti Coning pieces. Used a stall mat for a stable 3/4" thick and cut the strips 1" thick as the bead on these tires is crazy.

Worked pretty well and have plenty of mat left to use as a antifatigue mat as well.