Gatorgrl's Grand Gen2 4Runner makeover

Well she is now having a/c issues. The a/c breaker popped so we suspect its the heater box resistor tripping it. Ordered a new breaker from Toyota but the resistor is discontinued. Oh the joys of maintaining these old rides.

 

Sounds like a trip to your favorite junk yard is due.

 

If I only had time. Getting a giant bus ready for a marathon trip on Sunday. Replacing the rear wheel bearings and seals as well as the u- joints on the rear section of the drive shaft. This has taken up most of our week. Not a good time for the Runner to be pulling this a/c shit. I went by O'Reillys and had them order me the resistor by part number. It will be here tomorrow.

 

You guys might qualify for joint sainthood. I just finished all 20 pages and have bookmarked it for reference.
By the way I just rescued a 1994 SR 5 4Runner and was looking for some help with it..........

 

Sainthood or insanity.....the line is sometimes blurred.

 

I’m wondering now if your runner really was honestly represented when you bought it. Just seems out of line for such a clean machine to have soooo many issues. Have you ever noticed any evidence that it may have been in a flood or otherwise ?

 

The story we got from the used car dealer was it belonged to his auto painter and it was his baby. He had it since getting out of the service and had to move away to take care of his mom and had to sell it. Yeah....take that for what its worth.

 

I think it is because it does not like having the word "Towed" at the end of its description in your signature! Thus you find yourselves in this grey area between Sainthood and Insanity, LOL.

 

This Runner is a jealous bitch. We have been busting our ass this week prepping the bus for our big 2 week trip with new rear wheel seals and bearings and new u joints for the rear drive shaft and the Runner got jealous. Even though she has NO RIGHT, clearly. Its hard having two very needy jealous children

 

Just read through this and can say I am super impressed with your build and I can totally relate to your pain. I had a 90 Celica All Trac 20 years ago and I practically relived that experience reading your posts. It was truly a love hate relationship one I spent thousands of dollars on, and lots of blood sweat and tears on. There is something special about those old late 80’s early 90’s Toyota’s. I wanted it perfect and there wasn’t a part of that car that went untouched. Just total props to you and your husband for keeping her as close to perfect as possible.

 

I agree, God Bless you both for the strength and perseverance to keep her going .

 

Toyota must of contracted Land Rover to build your 4runner because it just keeps wanting more of your time. Its a Land Runner.

 

You might be on to something.

 

Flood car

 

Fourtoad,
Having owned a 1982 Toyota 4x4 pickup for 16 years and a 1996 Land Rover 4.6 HSE Range Rover for 18 years they are at opposite ends of the spectrum for reliability. That is not hearsay it is my first hand personal experience and is why I junked my 22 year old 4.6HSE and bought a 1991 4Runner for $1,600 that was 5 years older than the RR.
I dearly hope that your prized possession is not a "Land Runner" because I think that might be a fate worse than death itself. I can appreciate the humor in the name but my god that had better be all it is, humor!
The complete aghast BS I went through with my RR was only a testament to the patients I have and that you have exhibited with your 4Runner which is unfortunate. However, what I hope you will find with your Toyota, is that once you have it fixed it will stay fixed which was not the case with my Land Rover. My take is that my 29 year old 4Runner is going to serve me well and none of the crap I put up with in owning a Land Rover will be present. Like I can take it off-road and it will get me home after I beat on it all day and it will shrug it off. The RR never did that something fairly major always let go, the list was endless from air springs rupturing to the flexplate coming apart to the heater core bursting three times, to radiator hoses poping off, to a cracked engine block that was later T-top linered at great expense to the final straw when the RR snapped its drivetrain internally somewhere and would not move any longer under its own power. That was it, flat bed to the wrecking yard after that!
While Toyota has embraced the methods of SPC with reduced process variation and Taguchi Techniques for Quality Engineering and has put these in place for many many decades, Land Rover is the anti-thesis for what that can be. When the quality engineering is absent the reliability is the ugly truth that ownership is saddled with. What is extraordinary is that no matter who owns the blasted company the reliability doesn't seem to be getting any better. I am British by birth and I was feeling my pride when I got my Land Rover but with everything I have seen and done a Toyota is it, there isn't any question!... My only regret is that it should have been a Land Cruiser not a Land Rover.

 

Thank you Parker and I agree. The name on here was created by my husband because we "tow the 4Runner" so he penned the name fourtoad. Not my choice but too lazy to change it. I love my little Runner.

 

Just leaving the beautiful mountains of North Carolina/ Tennessee now. Was an awesome trip and the Runner was excellent!

 

Here's where we parked our bus for the week while we looked for property. What a shithole. Lol

 

She looks sharp.

 

Your bus looks awesome! You wouldn't have some interior pictures to show?

 

Not any recent ones. Its a mess right now as we have been camping for a little over 2 weeks now. I'll dig in my phones photo album and see if I can find any for you.

 

There I found some.

 

And the illuminated cockpit.

 

WOW! I don’t even have a tub in my house....

 

Nice, I gotta ask if you can remember. What rims are those I’d like to find those in Black ?

 

Ha, down loading into the round file.

 

I will look when I get home. I got them as a set on Tirerack.com and wanted ones that looked like our first ones so we could use the tires that didn't get damaged as spares and it wouldn't look like shit.

 

@Fourtoad thank you! Very sweet set up. If I was to build a motor home, that’s the direction I would want to go with a build.

 

We did not "build" this. It came from the Bluebird factory just like this originally. Sure things have been updated like the flooring, carpet and furniture covers but it is just as it was designed. Not interested in converting a schoolie.....ever.

 

That's cool! I'm not jumping into doing a conversation anytime in my future.