3rd Gen 4Runner SAS

[Toy4rnr]

Catching up here but get the small 4cyl radiator that tucks up. I have one on my 3.4 and no issues keeping cool wheeling or driving in 90*+ heat with the AC at full blast, with a winch, skid and big ass power steering cooler all in front of my radiator on my 3.4.

2" of up travel does suck, because that's I what I have LOL! Spend the $$$ on air bumps, makes a ton of difference on and off trail. Worrying about breaking/bending something dropping off evrey ledge gets old real quick.

Damn, should have went that route. Wonder how much those are, I might just swap it out if its not another $200 like the 3.4 on is, otherwise I got plate and tube laying around I can build a skid out of. Thanks for the tip. Yeah surprisingly the on shaft bump stops are really tame until they reach their full load limit which is about at that 2" mark haha. But I haven't dropped off anything yet, most of my local stuff isn't that extreme, but I hope to head over to Reiter or Walker one of these days.

Hell yea. Yea I was just curious on your numbers for frame height for now. Also, was the bent track bar optional or standard with the kit?

Yeah about 21.5" to frame with BFG 35s as it sits now. The picture of it rolling out of the garage was about 22" frame height under the doors. The front springs hadn't settled yet though. It definitely has a slight rake now. I am hoping to get back to around 22" without having to dial in too much preload. I would like a little more up travel and room for slightly larger tires. The BFG's run at like 34.5" brand new.

The bent track bar was standard, I noticed alot of their pics had a straight one, but mine came with a bent one so I would assume it's standard now.

 

[Toy4rnr]

Here's a flat ground pic, don't really have any in this thread.

 

[TacoVio]

Damn, should have went that route. Wonder how much those are, I might just swap it out if its not another $200 like the 3.4 on is, otherwise I got plate and tube laying around I can build a skid out of. Thanks for the tip. Yeah surprisingly the on shaft bump stops are really tame until they reach their full load limit which is about at that 2" mark haha. But I haven't dropped off anything yet, most of my local stuff isn't that extreme, but I hope to head over to Reiter or Walker one of these days.



Yeah about 21.5" to frame with BFG 35s as it sits now. The picture of it rolling out of the garage was about 22" frame height under the doors. The front springs hadn't settled yet though. It definitely has a slight rake now. I am hoping to get back to around 22" without having to dial in too much preload. I would like a little more up travel and room for slightly larger tires. The BFG's run at like 34.5" brand new.

The bent track bar was standard, I noticed alot of their pics had a straight one, but mine came with a bent one so I would assume it's standard now.

Here's a flat ground pic, don't really have any in this thread.

Sweet. That’s absolutely perfect. It looks awesome and I’m sure performs well. Look forward to more pics man!

 

[Toy4rnr]

Sweet. That’s absolutely perfect. It looks awesome and I’m sure performs well. Look forward to more pics man!

I am so happy with how it turned out. Just want to get that front up that extra inch and call it good for a while. Focus on other things like front locker, hydro assist and such. Thanks, good luck with your swap!

 

[TacoVio]

I am so happy with how it turned out. Just want to get that front up that extra inch and call it good for a while. Focus on other things like front locker, hydro assist and such. Thanks, good luck with your swap!

Yea it’s motivating for me seeing yours! Thanks buddy appreciate it!

 

[Toy4rnr]

Little more progress on the rig. Addicted front bumper is on now. Frame needed a little massaging for the crossmember but to be expected, fits great! Went up from 200lb lower springs to 250s for this bumper. Need to break in the new springs now.

 

[Toy4rnr]

Found some snow this last weekend. Man these bumpers really give it a whole new look. Sliders next!

 

[Roc Doc]

Little more progress on the rig. Addicted front bumper is on now. Frame needed a little massaging for the crossmember but to be expected, fits great! Went up from 200lb lower springs to 250s for this bumper. Need to break in the new springs now.

I like his designs, much like GotPropane, it's everything you need and nothing you don't. Keeping weight down on these SUVs is critical.

I didn;'t use his front as I'm not rockcrawling in the PBB sense, although everytime I go with the Overlander crowd they think I have mad skills. Anyway, I have drug the rear a couple times, (on 32" tires so yeah), and it just scrapes the flat plate and I hit it with a rattle can, if I remember. Again, Scotty makes good stuff.

 

[Toy4rnr]

For the future I am looking into doing high steer arms since I have taper up knuckles on my rig. They work but the tie rod is sitting down low. Does anyone happen to know how strong the factory three studs are in the knuckles? I have flat tops on both sides and was looking into the Sky's high steer arms. I don't plan on running anything bigger than 36s which will be a while since my BFG's still have a bit of life left. Eventually locked in the front with hydro assist, thanks.

 

[YotaAtieToo]

Stock 3 studs are hit an miss, you'd probably be OK for your use. Do you have room for high steer?

 

[Toy4rnr]

Stock 3 studs are hit an miss, you'd probably be OK for your use. Do you have room for high steer?

Ok. I was hoping to do that Artec kit that ties into the knuckle arm also but it's discontinued. I actually don't think just high steer arms will work since the drag link has to go to the outer hole on the arm, it was mess up how parallel everything is now and the tierod might hit my track bar bracket. The Artec kit would solve all of that.

On the stud topic, good to know, my one side has off the shelf studs from what I remember, I got the passenger knuckle from WFO, the driver was stock from the Chev Dana44 I used. I'll replace if I go down this route.

 

[Stingray]

Damn, should have went that route. Wonder how much those are, I might just swap it out if its not another $200 like the 3.4 on is, otherwise I got plate and tube laying around I can build a skid out of. Thanks for the tip. Yeah surprisingly the on shaft bump stops are really tame until they reach their full load limit which is about at that 2" mark haha. But I haven't dropped off anything yet, most of my local stuff isn't that extreme, but I hope to head over to Reiter or Walker one of these days.



Yeah about 21.5" to frame with BFG 35s as it sits now. The picture of it rolling out of the garage was about 22" frame height under the doors. The front springs hadn't settled yet though. It definitely has a slight rake now. I am hoping to get back to around 22" without having to dial in too much preload. I would like a little more up travel and room for slightly larger tires. The BFG's run at like 34.5" brand new.

The bent track bar was standard, I noticed alot of their pics had a straight one, but mine came with a bent one so I would assume it's standard now.

I smoked my 3.4 with a 4 cyl. shorty radiator, and went with a champion Aluminum 3 row, the thing never runs over 190 now in any weather or any grade.

 

[YotaAtieToo]

Ok. I was hoping to do that Artec kit that ties into the knuckle arm also but it's discontinued. I actually don't think just high steer arms will work since the drag link has to go to the outer hole on the arm, it was mess up how parallel everything is now and the tierod might hit my track bar bracket. The Artec kit would solve all of that.

On the stud topic, good to know, my one side has off the shelf studs from what I remember, I got the passenger knuckle from WFO, the driver was stock from the Chev Dana44 I used. I'll replace if I go down this route.

Quick Google shows some cheap options for 4 stud D44 knuckles....

 

[Toy4rnr]

Got back around to doing more shit to the runner. This time outboarding my rear shocks and moving the lower mount up. Doing a little extra since I hate how low they hang. Still rocking the cheapos, hopefully get a pair of Fox shocks later this year, they have some 2.0 IFPs that are same dimensions as these Rough Countries. Just a test fit for now, I need to pickup a new 1/2" bit so the stud shank seats onto my tower.

 

[Toy4rnr]

Final product. Turned out pretty decent I think.

 

[Toy4rnr]

Little update. Bought the Front range offroad rear link kit as a stop gap before I grenade the stock ones. Need to brace the upper brackets then install those next. Then comes custom exhaust and an F150 tank swap to set me up for a much longer triangulated 4 link rear, I'll be reusing all the heims from this kit so the money lost is negligible for peace of mind.

 

[Toy4rnr]

Decided instead of building a big skid for the long radiator, I picked up a shorty Champion 3 row. Much thicker core than the factory short radiator from my research. Marked up my broken fan shroud that got dominated by a stick to cut it to proper length. Sounds like it should do the job and be up and out of the way.

 

[Stingray]

Decided instead of building a big skid for the long radiator, I picked up a shorty Champion 3 row. Much thicker core than the factory short radiator from my research. Marked up my broken fan shroud that got dominated by a stick to cut it to proper length. Sounds like it should do the job and be up and out of the way.

It will cool like no other, and you'll never have a problem, I run a stock fan, and I cut up my factory shroud and plasti welded it to fit right, and it will mount where the 4 cyl shorty fits.

EDIT

I do use the trans cooler in the radiator, and run an additional cooler in the grill.

 

[Toy4rnr]

It will cool like no other, and you'll never have a problem, I run a stock fan, and I cut up my factory shroud and plasti welded it to fit right, and it will mount where the 4 cyl shorty fits.

EDIT

I do use the trans cooler in the radiator, and run an additional cooler in the grill.

Good to know it keeps your setup cool even using the trans cooler chamber. I wasn't planning on using it, I haven't been for three years because I have a pretty big flexalite diesel oil cooler I'm using as a transmission cooler up front. I'll be plasti welding my shroud up once I cut it. Will be really nice not having to worry about smacking my rad bumping ledges now lol.

 

[Stingray]

Good to know it keeps your setup cool even using the trans cooler chamber. I wasn't planning on using it, I haven't been for three years because I have a pretty big flexalite diesel oil cooler I'm using as a transmission cooler up front. I'll be plasti welding my shroud up once I cut it. Will be really nice not having to worry about smacking my rad bumping ledges now lol.

I went through about three variations on the radiator, thinking the small 4cyl with a huge electric fan would keep it cool. But no such luck.


Without a shroud at all it ran 195, with the shroud cut up to fit nice and tight it's at 190 pretty much all the time, we go to Big Bear at about 7K elevation and it holds 190-195 steady with a stock thermostat.

On the trans it may not make sense running into the radiator but not having a stock radiator I didn't worry about the pink milkshake issue being aftermarket, plus it gave me added capacity. So into the radiator, then to the grill cooler. On the freeway at 70 the trans runs 150 or less, and climbing up the mountain in second gear it has been as high as 180, And around town stop and go it runs 180.

If you have a good setup you may not need to use the cooler in the rad.

My sending unit for the trans is on the outbound line, so max temps when fluid is headed to the coolers.

I needed a radiator option because my SAS crossmember cut through where the radiator hung down.


I am using a traditional gauge for the trans, and the Torque App for water temp.

And I did add a Torque converter lockout switch to help keep trans temps down.

 

[Toy4rnr]

I honestly have no idea what my temps are, I positioned my cooler in front of where my fan draws through. It's 11" x 6" x 1.5" which is a bit bigger than the typical B&M I see people run. I have been wanting to get some gauges for water and trans temp, haven't decided on which ones or where to mount them yet. Probably should get on that. I'm going to have to look into the torque lock switch also, not sure how much I would use it offroad, slipping the TC is so nice lol.

 

[Stingray]

I honestly have no idea what my temps are, I positioned my cooler in front of where my fan draws through. It's 11" x 6" x 1.5" which is a bit bigger than the typical B&M I see people run. I have been wanting to get some gauges for water and trans temp, haven't decided on which ones or where to mount them yet. Probably should get on that. I'm going to have to look into the torque lock switch also, not sure how much I would use it offroad, slipping the TC is so nice lol.

Rail Controller

www.radesignsproducts.com

I added this, and only use the Torque Converter lockout when I'm pulling a grade or up a mountain pass, when the converter would unlock, it causes the trans temps to climb.

When I'm wheeling and in either of the low range cases the manual over ride for gear selection is nice, I use second gear a lot, and if you put it in second it starts there and stays there, so no first to second shift..... If that makes sense?

For any OBD2 monitoring I use this

Torque Pro (OBD 2 & Car) - Apps on Google Play

Measure BHP, Torque & 0-60 Clear car OBD faults View engine data in Google Earth

play.google.com

You use an OBD2 dongle in the port, and pair it to your phone or whatever, I bought a radio and paired it for gauges.

The trans on the 97's are not OBD2 so you'll need a manual gauge.

 

[Toy4rnr]

I looked at rad designs stuff before for manually controlling my transmission. Definitely something I would like. And nope, 97 is a bummer of a year for some things lol, I'll be putting a T on my line out of the trans and using a sensor. Just gotta figure out where I want the dang thing.

 

[Toy4rnr]

Got a radiator hose that would fit with some trimming since I couldn't get the stock one to quite do what I wanted. They were really close to the same size but it looked like this one had a slighter shorter middle section.
Dayco Part : C71134

Then had to clearance my hood for the rad cap, I know people usually cut it, but hammer was closer lol. Seems to clear now, hood latches just fine.

Next is install the shroud, install a coolant sensor housing then fill it up and go for a drive.

Edit: And fix my PS lines since I just threw in a new TG tapped box week before last..

 

[Stingray]

Got a radiator hose that would fit with some trimming since I couldn't get the stock one to quite do what I wanted. They were really close to the same size but it looked like this one had a slighter shorter middle section.
Dayco Part : C71134

Then had to clearance my hood for the rad cap, I know people usually cut it, but hammer was closer lol. Seems to clear now, hood latches just fine.

Next is install the shroud, install a coolant sensor housing then fill it up and go for a drive.

Edit: And fix my PS lines since I just threw in a new TG tapped box week before last..

Shit, I forgot about the lower hose, I could probably hunt you up a good part #, I had a good auto parts store that just let me wander around behind the counter.

 

[Toy4rnr]

Shit, I forgot about the lower hose, I could probably hunt you up a good part #, I had a good auto parts store that just let me wander around behind the counter.

If you know of one that just slides on in there no mods needed that would be slick. I got a gates number off pirate and cross referenced it to something available in town.

 

[Stingray]

If you know of one that just slides on in there no mods needed that would be slick. I got a gates number off pirate and cross referenced it to something available in town.

Dayco #71765
I did have to cut some of the excess off but you can see by the picture its a pretty good fit.

And one of the hood trim.

 

[Toy4rnr]

My white knuckle sliders arrived. These will be next after I finish up my gauges. Not bolting it on, adding all the fasteners to my collection and welding these to my frame.

 

[Stingray]

My white knuckle sliders arrived. These will be next after I finish up my gauges. Not bolting it on, adding all the fasteners to my collection and welding these to my frame.

Thats the brand my boy is running on his 80 Series, and my brother put on his lexus.
I'm running lowly old TG shit on both of my rigs.

I Run kickouts on my rigs, but heard guys say they get hung on rocks.

 

[Toy4rnr]

Thats the brand my boy is running on his 80 Series, and my brother put on his lexus.
I'm running lowly old TG shit on both of my rigs.

I Run kickouts on my rigs, but heard guys say they get hung on rocks.

I ran All Pro (TG) on my old 84 and didn't have any issues with them, did the job lol. But I had a hard time finding sliders that had a smaller kick out that also covered fender to fender underneath, been eyeing these for a bit and decided it was time, I've been paranoid about my rocker panels for too long lol. They look like quality units so though they hurt the wallet a bit I think they'll be just fine.

Edit: I went with DOM on these.