What have you done to your 4th Gen 4Runner today?

Thanks for the reply, sounds like its alot like the product on the right i tried.. it seemed darker after the second coat, but not near black. Doesnt specify a bunch of coats to make it appear black as in their little picture, but maybe thats the case. Plan to also use tremclad rust paint as the final coat. Hopefully it will stick better, ive never found it to be a long lasting paint.

 

Rustoleum Rust Reformer is black from the first coat. You can leave it or paint over it. I’ve used it for years any time I see rust while working on my 4R or anywhere else for that matter.

 

Chefs kiss

 

Completed my low-rent DIP (Dog Injury Prevention) mod. We recently rescued a couple of spaniels who ride in back. They've caught legs in my sliders a couple of times and I want nothing to do with vet bills for leg injuries. Rigged up temporary top plates as a temporary measure until I see about sourcing metal and having it welded.

Cut these from $5 Walmart boot trays and ziptied the crap out of them. Kind of Frankenstein, but it works.

 

Here's the stuff I used on treating the undercarriage:

 

Installed the Hewitt secondary air induction bypass kit and changed the transfer case fluid.

Got scared something was buggered before this, as for the first time today I see the "maint" light flashing.
Found on here how to reset that and was thankful its just an goofy oil life indicator.

Good times.

 

That does feel successful!! Nice work!!

 

Front sway bar links, rear coil change and some frame repair today. Rides better, so some of my body roll was definitely due to totally worn rear coils.

 

You've been busy!! Nice work! Worthy updates to the suspension!!

 

Its pretty well where I want it now for peace of mind longevity.. going to give it a good spray with fluid film in the near future, and have a bull bar coming in.. will throw a pic up when i get that done.

 

Did a little work on the rear drawer system. It's coming along. That cubby left of the cooler slide is for dry foods but I'm not sure if it'll be a cabinet, drawers, or double drawers.

 

Which end links did you go with?

 

I went with the greasable mevotech ones from rockauto.. definitely beefier construction than the originals.

 

Thanks, I ordered front/rear end links and sway bar bushings.

 

Added Air Lift 1000 spring boosters in preparation for a travel trailer vacation later this year. Used the excellent writeup from @J.A. as a guide. Had the idea to try one of my Over-Sand deflators to quickly take the pressure back down to the 5 PSI minimum and it works perfectly.

I used the

$113 Air Lift 1000 Air Suspension Kit 60809

60809 kit for 4th Gen 4Runners after consulting with Air Lift’s excellent customer support. My Eibach coils aren’t so much taller than stock to warrant a different set. I set them up as a single function mainly b/c I couldn’t find anywhere to buy the air line switching valve J.A. used in the timeframe available. (His install allows choosing between a single or dual setup - inflating both bags to the same pressure or individually to custom pressures.) I may convert to the switchable setup eventually.

 

I spent nights for a week and two weekends fixing rock chips and scratches with Dr color Chip, compound, polish and wax. I think it looks good for a 17 year old vehicle with 161000 miles.

 

I remember when mine looked like that!

 

RonT4R
I bought mine to build like yours but I made the mistake of searching for the best one I could find and then decided it was to clean to modify. And then my wife like driving it so now it’s a daily driver. Maybe someday.

 

Mine was clean prior……I just could not stop people from backing into it and driving off.

 

Those white t4r's sure look nice.

I put bilstien 5100 struts in the rear today. Was disapointted to see the kyb's i took off were made in Mexico.. so much for the "made in Japan".

 

it looks great. With that said, I’ve been very happy with the compromise I struck with myself: I keep my paint as nice as I can, but I don’t worry about the various battle scars anymore. I also try to mitigate as best I can, for example, I really like the look of the old Sequoia wheels and the full set cost me $200 on Facebook marketplace. At that price, I’m not concerned about picking up a little trail rash.

 

Battle scars are street cred, right?! Ha! I had an incident with a local highway contractor and got a truck.load of gravel spit all over my 4runner...it's in the shop getting resprayed but in all honesty, I thought the scars made the runner look less mall-crawly and more trail‐ready! Oh well, the wife wanted the 20 year old truck resprayed...while it's in the shop, I'm tackling the updated roof rack lightbar setup...





I'll have fresh pics of the actual 4runner soon...

 

Replaced my front/rear sway bar bushings. They didn't look too bad but did them anyways.

 

I did my rear sway bar bushings today as well! As well as a rear link on the one side.
I bought the greasable Amazons bushings some recommend on here.. i wish i didnt. Brackets with the slots vs the originals seemed pretty inferior and are wide enough that they may give at some point, i might have to take back apart and add some washers.
Sway bar link was a disapointment as well. Need twice the tools as they use different size nuts that the original and the rubber bushings were undersized, had to use my originals, they were ok though.

 

Ya I have both front and rear end links to do as well but didn’t feel like removing the tires today lol

 

Dont blame you. I messed around a much longer time on my project today than I wanted to.

 

Just changed out the plugs and coils on my '09 v6. Super easy for anyone curious about doing it yourself.

 

Changed the oil and filter today at 285k miles…..next change 290k.

 

What plugs did you go with?

 

bought this beast back in may 2024. I took her out and bumped into a tree after dodging a mama turkey with her chicks. It gave me a good reason to upgrade the front end.