Ken (BoostedInline6) once told me the easiest way to see if a truck/4Runner came with 31 inch tires was to see if it has chrome wheel well trim.

He was saying this in reference to see if the truck had 4.56 gears, but I would think this would still apply in this case.

Frank! Welcome back. Stolen a second time? That sucks <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/angry.gif" alt="" />
Good to see you on this forum again.
Happy New Year!
Danny

Thanks! It is nice to be back, really nice. I will begin a slow build up because I don't have much dough (grad school) and even less time (grad schoo). But she'll get there. Now I can do all of the "if had to do again I would...." type things.

It was weird the second time my 89 was stolen. I wasn't really mad, just bummed but not like before. I had insurance this time so that helped. I wish I could have at least recovered it for parts but it's all good.

I was lucky that my dad bought my mom a really nice new benz right around that time. It was so nice that she straight gave me her '94 Explorer which is loaded and in excellent condition. I have had it for about 14 months. However, it is not a yota and worse, not 4wd so I kept my eyes out for quite a long time for a good deal to come by. When this one did I pounced.

Funny thing, 3 French exchange students showed up tonight to join our hybrid design team this semester and they need a car like right now. I'm going to "rent" them the Explorer for the semester then sell it this summer. It's kinda nice because I have this sort of irrational sentimental view of the Explorer due to it being in the family for so long. Now it's not quite gone and actually paying me money while it's here. Also, it's a good towing vehicle for its size (have done a fair bit of that for the team) so it will still be around a bit longer for that type of thing.

Frank

Welcome back, hopefully you can keep your hands on this one.

The G144 stands for 8" diff, 4.87 gears, and 4 pinion diff. To run bigger gears you will have to get a new rear diff.

There's no doubt in my mind it came with 31" tires. Only 31" tire trucks came with 4.88 gears. It's pretty common for the Vin plate sticker to say 225/75R-15 when the truck came with 31" tires. I think Toyota was just lazy when printing out the stickers. Besides, how many customers really know the difference? <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

4.88 gears is a good thing, especially with an auto trans.
What the mods plan?

Killer theft deterrent <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/evil.gif" alt="" />

Yeah that's first. A kill switch is in the works. After that...

Manual hubs, defeat ADD.

Spacers front and rear.

Idler arm brace.

Air shocks rear for heavier loads.

Gears/tires/lockers are up in the air. I understand 5.29's are not exactly strong but I don't think I'd want to go to larger tires with the 4.88's. The engine is stock so I could squeeze a few more ponies there and maybe run 32's with the 4.88's. I think an e-locker is the only choice since the truck does street duty the vast majority of the time. I might also consider Truetracs anb just get towed instead of cranking excessively hard on the ebrake like I did to bust my old Truetrac way back when.

I plan to increase the front end travel by increasing compression travel. This will leaad to a kit. Right now, though, the kit only exists in my head. It will include a frame brace and skid plate extension.

I think I'll just go with Roger's sliders.

As for rear bumpers I haven't shopped for those in a long time and don't know what's out there.

Given that I work insane hours at school it is unlikely much of this will take place before summer but we'll see. The hubs/spacers/idler arm brace are doable in the near term.

My goal is more expedition mid-grade street friendly wheeler as opposed hard core crawler.

I am soooooo happy to have a 4runner again let me tell ya'...

Frank

Welcome back! It is a shame - That your truck did not show up the second time. Glad to here you doing well.

Frank,
I went that route of more expedition type runs. I have a lot of fun on the rocks. I have more fun on the expedition type runs. We ran the Mojave Road last November. We will be running the Swansea Grade Trail later this year when the snow melts. Been into Death Valley a bunch also. Great areas to xplor <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

That's exactly the stuff I want to do. It's not that I don't enjoy the challenge of a hard trail but I'm just not feeling the whole live-to-wrench-on-my-truck thing these days. I like to explore.

Plus, it seems when a truck becomes a hard core cralwer it's lifespan gets rather short and I'd like this one to stick around a good long while.

Frank