What have you done to your 2nd Gen 4Runner today?

Looks awesome. Good job.

 

mine is getting pretty, new rotors and brakes, driver side axle. Taking it to the mechanic though this time, just lazy I guess.

 

New tires and a roof rack! Super happy with how it turned out.

 

Your rims look great ! I gotta ask, I have all 5 of mine stored now since I put new steel rims and bfg’s on mine. Did you polish those ? If so what’d you use. They really look good.

 

Thank you! I just washed them. Just used a brush and soapy water. They’re not perfect though, there’s brake dust that I just can not get out and the finish is peeling in a few spots. Nice runner by the way. I’ve always liked them in white, I really like the tire carrier too.

 

Thank you ! Here’s an updated pic with the new rims and tires, left front axle replaced and the new brakes. I’ve never had that type of rotor before, man they are nice she stops straight as an arrow now.

 

That looks awesome! Those axles and brakes are a PITA to do. You ever thought of installing manual hubs? It’s a good way to save those cv boots ,it increases gas mileage and it’s very easy to do, you don’t even have to remove the wheels. You need a pic of the rig with the tire carrier showing. For real though that tire carrier is my favorite thing about the early 2nd gens.

 

Ya know I had never even given that any thought, I kinda like the don’t have to get out and lock the hubs deal. I’m to the point now it’s just jump in and enjoy the drive, everything is done mechanically now it’s just small nit picky stuff left to do. How does the manual hubs save on gas, wear and tear ?

I was under the impression that they just float until I Engage the 4x4. For the kinda stuff I’d take the truck to it wouldn’t be harsh, but I’ll admit I’ve been Looking at an locker rear end, Trouble is finding a solid axle for up front, damn expensive to do. Gonna have to come from a used truck with one, or a junk yard. I’m always looking. But $7000 for a new front setup isn’t happening.

 

In our 4runners the front axles constantly spin in 2wd and 4wd. The system is called an automatic differential disconnect or a.d.d for short. Anyways replacing the flanges with manual locking hubs prevents the axles from spinning in 2wd. I get about 1-2 more mpg with it. It cuts down wear on your front axles significantly. There’s a lot of write ups on the web about it. You can still retain 4wd shift on the fly simply by keeping the hubs locked. Doing an sas swap is super expensive. I don’t ever see myself doing one. To be honest I’m perfectly happy with the IFS setup.

 

We’ll see what you did, I’m heading to 4 wheel parts for the 5th rim today and your gonna spend my money on some hubs now....LOL. I’ve never really read anything about the a.d.d system but will dive in now so good info. Thank you.

All of my previous trucks, Chevy K-10’s had solid axles So that’s where my experience lies.

1-2 miles per gallon is big on our trucks, I thought the BFG’s were gonna sting me but so far I’m right at 17 without the AC. Again Thanks for bringing it to light, I’ll update if I change. I see you’ve got’m on your truck, looks good. Still can’t get over how nice those rims are ! “Thumbs up”

Are those WARN Locking hubs on your truck ?

Also anyone reading this, that brake kit was $90 bucks from Amazon, with the left front axle supplied by me, we were prepared to replace my bearing with Koyo brand ones but mine passed inspection so it was a clean and repack, total for the install was $225 out the door for his labor. Not to bad.

 

Well darn, I discovered my left hand valve cover is leaking more than it has in the past so I guess it is time to change it. Gonna have to look into it.

 

Hahaha sorry. I just gave that place a bunch of money too. They kinda pissed me off. Said my truck couldn’t hold an alignment because my ball joints are bad. They lied. I just did them and I took my truck elsewhere to get aligned and guess what? It was able to get aligned. Also told me my rack and pinion was bad, this truck doesn’t use a rack and pinion........... I have mile marker hubs. They were 50 bucks and I couldn’t resist. They work very well for me, but I’m just waiting to come a cross a set of aisin hubs at the junkyard.

 

I may have a set of aisin hubs. I'm putting a solid axle in my pickup and don't need them anymore. If I find them I will let you know.

 

Bummer, might as well go after both of the them. Cause ya know if one is leaking the other is gonna follow.

4scooter, that’s awesome, would love to see the outcome. There’s a pickup at PAP with one I’m gonna be at the gate 7:45 AM.

Yesterday at 4 wheel guy quoted me $235 for the “Warn Kit”. Got home and started reading about the install and the Aisin hubs. I’m not thrilled about having to find new hubs from a Tacoma? To have the free wheeling axles ? I’m fine with the factory setup until I find a solid axle complete to swap out.

That’s nuts how bad the guys behind the counter can be.

 

You don’t have to find hubs from a Tacoma, that’s only for 3rd gen 4runners and 1st gen Tacoma’s. You can literally take any hub from an ifs Toyota 1986-1995 and swap it over to any add 4Runner. It’s very easy and cheap if you do it yourself. A solid axle will be a sweet setup for crawling.

 

Let me know please. I would kill for some aisin hubs.

 

I guess as I’m getting older my Reading comprehension is just not What it was, so...........

I’m good to go, no new, older, stuff needed. If I did order the warn kit it’s just a matter of pulling my a.d.d hubs of and replacing them. I searched yesterday and found Aisin hubs, they definitely look great and I agree would be the way to go. So is there any danger buying the, ie...counterfeit parts, replica’s.

I’m trying really hard to keep Chinese parts off my truck.

And no additional springs are needed, just the hubs and whatever hardware is included ? I watched a few YouTube videos yesterday, but I guess it’s confusing me.

 

https://www.carparts.com/details/Toyota/4Runner/Replacement/Locking_Hub/1990/REPT287001.html?TID=gglpla&origin=pla&utm_source=google&utm_medium=pla&utm_campaign=221983653&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIxqHB3OC16QIV5Al9Ch0cywuvEAQYASABEgK0mfD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Like these would go right on ?

 

yes, those will work perfectly. Thats exactly what I put on mine.

 

Thank you Sir, gonna order them now. Got a pair on the way . You guys are great and I appreciate the info. Pics to follow when they get here and I do the install.

 

Finally filled her up again and discovered that I am getting a whopping 12 mpg in mix driving. So now I have a question. I know that putting bigger tires on it will change the speedo and thus the odometer will probably be off so how much would this effect the gas mileage? Anyone have any idea?

 

Giving the 91 a good run on the way up the wash to Font's Point in the Anza-Borrego Desert on 3/7/2020. Doing about 40 MPH in this instance.

Yes I got it quite dusty inside and out during a two day Over Landing trip. But need to double shock the front end.

 

Tomorrow’s project arrived today, the Aisin hubs. Neat that it’s a direct swap.

Done.

 

Memorial Day!

 

Beautiful Man . Our trucks are identical minus the sunroof. Even have the same wrinkling on the front fascia. Pretty neat.

And Thank you 2ndgenlivesmatter ! That was a great recommendation on the hubs.

 

I installed a SPARTAN locker (SL TV6-30, which cost me $205.15 back in March 2020) into the rear differential over the week end. I put SAE 140 GL-4 gear oil in the axle and all is working well enough and seemingly quite clicking is the norm during turns. The only noticeable difference beside the clicking is a slight clunk when the transmission is shifted from neutral. The lockers hubs are pushed into the spur gears which had a shim-bearing behind them. Those shim-bearings are removed with the 4 spider gears when you do the installation. This allows room for the lockers hubs to jump over the spur gear teeth when things need to differentiate and when there is little to no load coming from the carrier and 4 cross pin. It is this extra space that allows the 4 cross pin to clunk on the hub ramps. As the 4 pins push on the hubs they move into the spur gears that use internal splines on the external splines of the axle shafts to transmit drive torque.

Its day three now and I'm already use to the slight clunk on starting from stopped. With the five speed manual, shifting certainly gets some push back through the drive shaft when the windup in the rear end has gotten the four cross pins all in a twitter with the axle shafts having some twist from cornering under drive torque. The Spartan locker unloads the axle wind up when the 4 cross pin and carrier are aloud to back off from the ramps in the hubs which happens when the clutch is depressed and the drive shaft can do what it wants. You can feel a slight push on the synchromesh collar as you move the gear shift lever into the neutral gate from the last gear you were in.

It seems you have to play with the drive torque to the axle when readying your-self for a steady tight turn on pavement. Basically coasting stops the 4 cross pin from spreading the hubs into the gears and will allow the hub/s to skip over the gear teeth which allows differentiation of the two axle shafts to happen without any wind-up drama! In the rain or wet pavement days mashing the accelerator will be interesting to say the least! It should act just like a spool and make the steering input a little different as it will want to go straight until the traction is broken loose on the rear wheels. If this can be accomplished with the 3VZ-E is another question I look forward to understanding. But having both wheels turning at the same rate will break the inside tire loose first in a turn and that loss of grip should overwhelm the outside tire in short order and thus initiate a desired power slide.

On the flip side, I cannot wait to get onto some dirt and see how well the rear end will hang out in 2WD under power with some steering input like this!....

Pismo or Glamis is in the future for some extended fun.

 

Man, we have 3 Almost identical trucks ! I’m trying to grasp everything you’ve written but that’s very cool. So rather an air locker this is a mechanical setup ?

 

bthp223,

Yes, this is otherwise called a lunch box locker by the 4x4 community and is purely a mechanical solution albeit with some idiosyncrasies. I had an ARB in my 1982 long bed, back in the day, and it is really the best of both having a proper differential for pavement and a spool with the push if a button for the dirt and rocks. But they cost about $1,000 not including installation and you need compressed air or gas to operate the piston/sleeve. With the SPARTAN locker the installation requires removal of the four spider gears from the 4-pin-forged-cross and a pair of shim-bearings that ride behind the spur gears that the axle shafts are splined with. The locker supplies a pair of hubs that have radial grooves to match the tips of the spur gears teeth. There are a couple of bushings too that go inside these hubs to help keep things centered as best that I can tell. Then in between the two hubs are four small coil springs with bushings that push on the opposite hub which help the hubs to be lightly seated against the spur gears without any drive torque. The 4-cross-pin is captured at its 4 ends in the differential carrier which also has the ring gear screwed to it. As this 4-cross-pin rotates with the carrier it is slightly able to move, between the hubs, without transmitting any load to the hubs, spur gears and axles which is by design and where all the added back lash comes from. But as the 4-cross-pin meets the 8 angle cut surface notches in the two hubs they are pushed apart and forced into the meshing of the radial slots with the spur gears teeth and on through the splines to the axles. So during hard acceleration or deceleration the locker locks the axles together. When you throttle off and reduce the drive torque the 4-cross-pin will allow the hubs to fall back toward the center of the differential carrier and this will allow the two wheels and axles to spin at different rates as in when negotiating a corner. The tell tale sound is the clicking of the hubs and teeth jumping over each other as the four small coil springs provide the only push-apart-force between the hubs.

The idiosyncrasy is that sometimes this release is slightly difficult on pavement especially if the locker is locked and you have made a bit of a corner on a high traction surface. When this happens the two axles get twisted in opposite rotational directions and the bind is manifest in the grip that the two hubs have on the spur gear teeth. The radial grooves have an included angle that matches the slope of the spur gear tooth form. The SPARTAN locker is designed so that once the cross pin is able to stop forcing the hubs apart then the hubs will slide off the gear teeth and release the wind up that has occured in the axles. This causes quite a good bang that you get from the rear end when this happens. In the four days I have been driving with this locker it has happened three times so far. So the trick in living with this locker on pavement is to drive with this understanding and try to manage the windup by not going into corners like you are trying to drift your 4Runner which is an oxymoronic statement with a 3VZ-E under the bonnet. All joking aside, if you can coast into the corner the hubs will click and no wind up happens and you can carry on with a more or less straight path after the corner without any nasty bangs. However, when it is bound up and refuses to unlatch because your right foot is still in it then the inside tire will start chirping as you make the next corner. In addition when it is locked just like a spool the vehicle does not want to turn and you will certainly feel the 4Runner wanting to go straight as the turn in becomes completely missing from the equation. This is especially relevant to the 2nd generation 4Runners as the front suspension has a substantial scrub radius. So in part the trade off is slightly different steering manners when its locked and more drive line back lash clunking when starting from a dead stop.

 

I have about 10K miles on my rear Spartan locker. The first trip out of my driveway I was backing up and turned the wheel and then....the bang. I thought I backed into something. When I confirmed I did not hit anything I looked underneath for an oil puddle. Nothing. This is a feature that has not gone away, although it happens a lot less now. After about 500 miles it seemed to have “broken in” and there was less banging. I also added a few ounces of Friction Modifier to the oil and that also helped. Pulling out of a Gas station or parking spot and having to make a slow 90 degree turn under power and on pavement will pretty much start the wind up.
Off-road it is great, I can take obstacles a lot slower and with less drama. When I am powering through soft sand and I have to make a turn, I have to quickly back off the throttle to release the locker, start the turn and get back on the gas. If you don’t, you can go full lock with the steering and you will only go straight. Turning with power oversteer is not an option with this vehicle, at least not in soft sand.