December 1999 Toyota Truck of the Month - Bob Williams 1994 4Runner - Toyota 4x4 @ Off-Road.com
Toyota Truck of the
Month
December 1999
Written By Bob Williams
Pictures by Chris Geiger
December 1999
Written By Bob Williams
Pictures by Chris Geiger
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Bob Williams 1994 4Runner
In the interview process for my
current position as Senior Pastor of a Baptist Church, I was asked
what hobbies I had. Having just gotten out of graduate
school, I said, "None." About all I had done for years was
read books, write papers, and take tests. When I actually
accepted my current position I dove right in to my work and rarely
took a day off. Well meaning friends persisted in asking,
"When are you going to take a day off" and "Why don't you get a
hobby?"
Well, I
really did want to take a day off and I really was thinking about a
hobby but I was very busy, and as far as a hobby, nothing all that
enjoyable came to mind—until that fateful day in September of
1993. While on a grocery run with my wife, Tessie, my
attention was drawn to the magazine rack by a copy of 4Wheel
Drive and Sport Utility. They were featuring Hummers that
month, and there was a picture of one of those beasts poised on the
top of a large rock with it's front tire a couple of feet in the
air. 
I thought
to myself, "Now that looks like fun." I thought about all the
dirt roads I had seen in the mountains and hills surrounding my new
hometown of Las Vegas, Nevada. I was sure that getting back
to some ghost towns and driving up into the mountains on those dirt
roads would be an enjoyable hobby. I decided to look
into this 4WD thing and see what I could find.
I began reading all that I could
about the various 4WD vehicles available. At the time I had only a
few major criteria: the vehicle had to have a hard-top, air
conditioning, cruise control, and room for four people. I
know, real important stuff for off-roading, but we all start
somewhere. After months of researching, looking at vehicles, and
avoiding car lot salesmen, I settled on a 1994 Toyota
4Runner. The truck had what I wanted, and there was a lot
written about Toyota axle strength, engine and transmission
reliability, and resale value. It's funny now, looking back
at how I wanted the truck equipped. Besides the above
mentioned requirements, 
I wanted automatic hubs so I wouldn't have to
get out and "turn a knob" all the time. I also wanted the
smaller tires so I wouldn't have to pay a lot of money when it came
time to replace them. Remember, I was really new to this
stuff!
I took
delivery of my brand new, Garnet Red exterior, Oak interior, 1994
4Runner in mid-December, 1993. It came equipped with the SR5
package, and all the amenities I had requested including a 22RE
motor and 5 speed transmission. I was "good to go". It
was just a few days later that I began taking it off road.
There are a lot of places to drive off-road around Las Vegas, and I
drove immediately to an area that I had been eyeing for some
time. 
Just west of town is an outcropping of red
rock similar in appearance to the Moab, Utah trails, and there are
a few dirt roads leading up to it. What fun it was! I drove
up and down hills, over rocks, and squeezed through all kinds of
desert plant life that grew along the trails. The truck was
dusty and covered with fresh desert pin-striping when I arrived
home that day, and scratches in a shiny paint job on a new
truck was something my wife wasn't prepared
for.
With all
our other vehicles I had meticulously maintained the finish, and
she didn't like the looks of those scratches in the paint. I
explained to her that I had bought the truckfor that kind of use, and she's been a sweetheart about it ever since. She even understood why I needed new shocks after the truck was only three months old. Gotta love her! My first real driving experience on a trail was in February of 1994, on an old stage coach road near town. The old road is 7.5 miles long, and begins at about 2500 feet elevation, and tops out at about 6400 feet. I didn't think about snow being on the trail, and before I gave serious consideration to turning around it was too late. I have no idea how I got through that trail with open diffs and 28" tires with street pressure in them, other than I simply helped prove the old adage, "God watches out for fools and old people." And here's a hint, I'm not all that old! 
Well, I
drove every trail I could find, and as I gained experience I was
quickly finding the limits of the trucks suspension, tires, and
drive train. The 4Runner was due for some upgrades. In
January of 1995, I removed the front and rear differentials, and
sent them off to be re-geared, and to have a Detroit Soft
Locker installed in the rear. I chose 4.88 gears, and had
32X11.50 B.F. Goodrich Mud Terrain tires installed. What a
difference those few changes made. The 32 inch tires fit fine
on the stock steel rims, and there was only a minimal amount of
rubbing on the mud flaps in the front while the tires were turned
with the suspension under full compression.
It wasn't long though until I
desired a locker in the front end too, and in June of the same year
a mechanic friend helped me install a Lock- Rite in the front
differential. Now I was beyond trying new obstacles, I was
out making my own. Four Wheeling was really getting good! In
the Spring of 1996, I was ready to tackle Moab. When we lived
in Idaho, Moab was one of the towns we drove through in the winter
months when taking the "Southern" route (avoiding Colorado) to
Louisiana to visit friends and relatives.
All I remembered about the town
was that it was small, there were some beautiful rock formations
nearby, and there was the "Hole-in-the-rock" house south of
town. I couldn't imagine where all those trails were
located I’d been reading about. Boy was I surprised,
most of them were near town, and were they scary
looking. I wasn't signed up for any of the official
runs, we just showed up, my two sons, myself, and a bunch of
camping equipment and a Jeep CJ5 in tow. We did some easy
trails, explored old uranium mines and did some sight seeing the
first two days, then decided to tackle one of the
trails. 
We looked on a map and saw that Pritchett
Canyon was close by, so we decided to give it a shot. We made
it to rocker knocker, and my son decided that was enough for him
(open diffs in the Jeep). Some folks we met on the
trail offered the strap where we needed help, but they had never
been on the trail before themselves, so we declined. They
came by our camp about 10:00PM later that night saying that they
had just finished the trail. We were glad to be relaxing
after supper.
By
the winter of 1996, I was ready for some more upgrades. It
was time for a lift, larger tires, and a Marlin Crawler Dual T
case. I had driven to Fresno to meet with Marlin about May of
1996, and got some good info about the set up. By that
November, I was ready to do the Crawler. I met Marlin South
of Las Vegas, in Jean, Nevada, at the Annual TLCA Glitter Gulch
Gambol. Marlin's family was with him and his wife drove my
truck back to Fresno. I ran out of time for the installation
on my Pro Comp lift, so I sent that along as well.
The installation of the Crawler
set up produced one big snag. The G58 transmission in my
4Runner, although a 5 speed mated to a 22RE, had a different spline
size, and wouldn't mate up with the Crawler. So, out came the
G58, and in went a W56. Marlin did a great job on the
installation, making it look just like it came from the
factory. The 4" lift went on well, but drive line vibrations
caused by a combination of the lift and the shortened rear drive
shaft, necessitated a 1" drop in the transfer case
crossmember. That, in combination with a custom drive shaft
from Six States Distributors, eliminated the vibrations. I
added a set of 33X12.50 B.F. Goodrich Mud Terrain tires, and I was
ready to go. 
I had a custom bumper made to give more
protection in the rear, and to carry a spare tire. I got busy
at work again, and only took the truck out once before a return
trip to Moab the following spring.
I wanted to finish Pritchett Canyon and do
some of the other 4+ trails in Moab, so I contacted Marlin to ask
about anyone I could meet up with that knew where the trails
were. He got me in touch with Alvin Sessions from Rocky
Mountain Off-Road, out of Grand Junction
Colorado.
Alvin led three of us up the Moab Rim Trail. I was
pumped. It was time to try out my Marlin Crawler, my lift,
and those new tires. I locked the hubs, moved the shifters
around, and I was ready to roll. All the way up the trail I
was smelling the clutch burning, stalling the engine, and with the
4" lift, feeling like I was going to tip over on every
obstacle. My heart was racing, my palms were sweating, and I
was thinking to myself, "This is awful. I know I'm nervous,
but why am I driving so fast, and killing the engine, and stinking
up the clutch?" 
At the Z turn obstacle, I tore holes in the
sidewalls of both passenger side tires. I had one spare, and
another truck had the same size tire and rim, so I borrowed his
spare. At the top of the rim, we went to the edge to check
out the view. Meanwhile, another driver was studying the
three shifters in my truck, and says, "Hey, Bob. If you wanted to
put this into double low, would you push the middle shifter
forward?" I just laughed. I couldn't believe it.
I had come all the way up in stock 4 low, about 48:1. The
Crawler wasn't even on! I had it on all the way back down the
trail though. So much for my first experience driving with
the Crawler.
The
next day we actually met up with Marlin and did the Poison Spider
Mesa, Golden Spike, and Goldbar Rim trails. We drove through
the dark, through the rain, and through the snow. We finished
at 2:30AM the next morning, but that's a story for another
time.
The 4Runner
was driven with some minor modifications along the way until June
of 1999. Getting the rear end of the truck in shape took some
trial and error. I tore the upper link brackets off the axle
three separate times before solving the problem. I had them
gusseted, and ultimately removed the upper and lower Pro Comp
extensions. This took a lot of force off the brackets, and I
never had anymore trouble with them. I bought some used
spacers from Chris Geiger for extra lift (he had used them on his
truck before purchasing longer coil springs). The front end
of the truck needed some extra gusseting and strengthening, and I
had that done locally. 
During the 1997 Moab trip, the guys from
Rocky Mountain Off-Road were showing folks their solid axle
conversion. I had already wanted to do this to my truck, but
didn’t have enough experience to know how to get it done and
so I stayed with the IFS, and did the 4" lift. I liked what I
saw, except for one thing. They used the old style
steering. I knew I didn’t like that, and I wanted to
have a different steering system but didn’t know how to go
about it. Not having a lot of R&D money, I waited until
someone came up with a new system.
It took a while, but All-Pro Offroad designed
a setup I liked. It moved the tie rod above the springs, and
was a crossover system. One problem remained. I knew
that I didn’t like the way the rear end tracked when the
suspension cycled. It had good travel, but the control arms
were too short, and the axle moved around too
much.
I had
been able to raise the transfer case crossmember back to it’s
stock location by using 1 ½" longer upper control arms, but
the axle still acted funny. I waited for someone to put leaf
springs on the rear of their 4Runner. If someone could get
leaf springs to work I knew that it was time to do the job.
Well, Chris Geiger had that done to his truck and liked
it. That and a trip to Las Cruces for the 1999 Chili
Challenge (I did all the 4+ trails) convinced me it was time to get
to work ridding myself of the
IFS/Coil suspension woes.
In June of this year I put my
truck up on jack stands, got out the sawzall and started
cutting. I had no idea what I was doing, but I was reasonably
sure that if I measured correctly everything should fit all
right. Hey, everybody else was doing it! Jon Bundrant
at All Pro Offroad was most helpful on the phone, and supplying the
needed parts for the axle swap. You can get all the parts and
advice you need from Jon if you want to do the swap yourself.
We got the front end done and went to work on the rear
suspension.
My friend, Mike Bradshaw, who did all the welding and torching
stayed up all night the night before I was to leave to run the
Rubicon over July 4th, just to make sure everything was done.
We finished at 2:30AM that morning. Mike went home to get some
sleep so he could go to work, and I started packing the
truck. Tessie and I took the 4Runner to the car wash, cleaned
it up, and we were headed for the Rubicon.
We had a great time, and the
truck performed exceptionally well. The only real problem was
separation at the front drive shaft. The slip shaft was too
short and came out three times. Drew Persson of Persson
Off-Road, had some heavy nylon rope and fastened it around the axle
and the frame to limit suspension droop on the passenger
side. When I got home I had the drive shaft adjusted and it
has worked well to date. 
These are the modifications presently done to
the truck: Custom front bumper with Warn HS9500i winch, Custom rear
bumper with spare tire and Powertank carrier, Marlin Crawler Dual
T-Case, 2.28 gears in both cases mated to a W56 transmission.
Toyota solid axle conversion, 5.29 gears, Detroit lockers front and
rear, Hy-Steer crossover steering, shock hoops and shock
mounts for the front and rear axles, and a host of other parts.
Five inch lift, front leaf springs (stock length) with the locating
pin placed 11/4" forward from the stock position. In the rear I
used 56" long Alcan leaf springs. Custom drive shafts from
Adams Drive Shaft, Henderson, Nevada.
I have plans to modify the rear bumper for
the time being, and make some major modifications to the body in
the future. A 4.70 gear set will be added to the Crawler too.
I don't yet know exactly what I’ll do in the way of body
modifications, but it whatever I do, you can bet it will be to help
it crawl over the rocks with a little more finesse!
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