Newbie Seeks Input, 1994 4Runner

[carljwnc]

Thanks to slosurfer for sending me over here from ih8mud. :) Sorry for the cut and paste job if you saw this post over there, I'm just trying to decide if I should move on this one.

I just went and looked at, what I believe to be, a nice 4Runner to replace my much loved, but "can't afford the payments anymore" Turbo Subaru Forester.

Here's the dealers link; 1994 4Runner SR5 4X4 (http://autos.yahoo.com/usedcars/detail/index.html?cid=automobiles-222331128&dst=43.88&rsr=bWFrZT1UT1lPVEEmbW9kZWw9NFJVTiZjbF95PTE5OTMmY2 hfeT0xOTk0JmNsX3ByaWNlPSZjaF9wcmljZT0mY2xfbWk9JmNo X21pPSZjaz0mZ3VyPTIwMCZjc3o9Mjg3MzAmY2Vfc2w9VXNlZF 9CeV9EZWFsZXImdnR5cGU9YXV0b3MmbWs9VG95b3RhJm1vPTRS dW5uZXImc3VibWl0PVNlYXJjaA--). It looks and drives pretty good, running a bit rough at idle, the dampers feel worn (that could just be me, the Forester dosn't roll very much), and there looks to be very minimal rust on the frame. Dealer says new head gaskets, timing belt valve job (?), battery, and alternator.

What I'm looking for, first and foremost is a daily driver safe for hauling the two kids around. Second, an off-road toy well supported by the after market and able to take me on some of the trails in Tellico and Brown Mtn. NC both before and after modification.

I'd love to see some links to photos of this year/model modified for off-road (lifts, skid plates, diff locks, ect...).

Thanks Folks,
Carl

[slosurfer]

Carl, welcome to UY. "The Garage" section has some good examples of 2nd gen 4runners from stock all the way to fully built. I would imagine that the 4runner will have a bit more body roll than your subaru did, especially if the original shocks are still on there. With the 5spd, if you take care of it and baby the throttle, you should be able to get decent MPG out of it, the automatics are another story. Do you remember what the RPMs were at idle? Others here more mechanically inclined could help with the idle issue.

2nd gens are great for hauling kids and for romping around in the woods, even stock. I wheeled mine for awhile stock. In all reality, mine is still pretty close to stock. 6K may be a little much, I would try to talk them down from that. Kelley Blue Book, actually puts it right around that price, but that is for CA which may or may not be more expensive.

Others here could tell you some other stuff to look for, I am having a brain fart right now. Oh, check to make sure 4hi and 4lo are engaging. Let us know how it goes.

[Robinhood4x4]

Toyota trucks probably have the best off road aftermarket support next to jeeps. Like chris said, you can go from mild to wild. I don't know how tough of trails you want to do, but with just a little armor, a little lift and two lockers, you can take on the rubicon trail.

4Runners will sway much more than a lower, lighter subaru, that's just something you'll have to get used to. 3.0 engines don't have a lot of power and get about 17 mpg, but generally they're really reliable. Their only fault is the infamous headgasket problem but since the dealer already did it, it probably won't blow.

Common problems with this age of vehicle include the starter contacts worn, rear window malfunction and power steering pump leak. That's all I can think of for now. If you're handy with tools, these are all fairly easy fixes.

150k miles is a decent number of miles. I don't know if $6k is a good price or not for you area. Like Chris said, it's an OK price for CA...maybe a little high. But it looks like a pretty clean truck.

[NE4Runner]

5K would be a good deal especially for the east coast. Out west 6k would be more reasonable. There's always room for haggling. Cash talks, especially to used car dealers. I'd get it.

[91_4x4runner]

I suggest you use the "saggy rear springs" as a bargaining chip too... It's a relatively cheap fix anyways. I'd expect a 94 to go for 6K here.

The higher they sell anywhere, the better my resale value is (though I never intend on selling it).

[carljwnc]

Thanks Folks!!!

I've done some local price searching, and it seems as if the price is pretty good, many same year, same miles are going for quite a bit more. :) I'm going to try to get them down to $5500-5700. MPG is a bit of a concern with gas prices going up, but it does have brand new road oriented tires on it, so that should help. Today may be the day, I'm going to talk to my mechanic friend, sort out some $$$ issues, and get the gas consumption thing through the wife (that's the big hurdle). :confused:

[carljwnc]

Will be an 'official' newbie soon. :thumbup: Put down a deposit yesterday, and will be picking it up Fri. or Mon. :D

Much thanks for all the help!!!
Carl

[slosurfer]

NIce and congrats! I know you will enjoy it, I know I enjoy mine.

[DHC6twinotter]

Well cool beans! Somebody else in the NC area. :D

I got 300 miles (~20mpg) out of a tank of gas recently, but I'm just 2wd and even then, I was pretty blown away. 17mpg is probably about right. They are pretty reliable trucks, other than the headgasket issue. I've spent about 800 in parts since I bought the 4Runner 5 years ago, and it has 205k on it now. No complaints from me. :D

[carljwnc]

Whelp, time for a re-introduction, two years later and newish member Crinale has convinced me to have another look at ultimateyota. :clap: I have not found myself happy on 'another' :shake: Toyota forum I need to find somewhere to call home. :hillbill:

I ended up with the above mentioned '94 4Runner and 20k mi., and many off-road adventures later, besides A LOT of catch up maintenance, my Yota (dubbed YotaRu due to my Subaru background), has not missed a beat!!! :thumbup: No modifications have been done, except a BudBuilt skid plate and a front recovery point that I made myself. I've got lots of plans, but of course the end of January was also the end of my job with nothing new in sight on the horizon. :(

So anyway, Howdy again folks, and a few pics of the YotaRu and her adventures;

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v418/terrapondus/YotaRu/40sm.jpg
My BudBuilt skid plate and custom recovery point.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v418/terrapondus/Brown%20Mountain%205-19-08/06sm.jpg
Brown Mtn. OHV Park.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v418/terrapondus/Cullowhee%209-01-07/09sm.jpg
Cullowhee NC

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v418/terrapondus/Hurricane%20Creek%208-30-08/57mz.jpg
Hurricane Creek NC. My most frequent wheelin' spot.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v418/terrapondus/Hurricane%20Creek%204-12-09/th_P4120020.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v418/terrapondus/Hurricane%20Creek%204-12-09/?action=view&current=P4120020.flv)
And a little video from Hurricane Creek.

Hopefully coming back here will get my Yota forum enthusiasm back up, I think all the folks on my Subaru forums are getting sick of this Yota guy hanging around :confused:... actually, I love my Subie buddies and would never give up on them. www.offroadsubarus.com www.subaruforester.com :drink:

[Seanz0rz]

looks good man! i have some mad respect for the subies, and would own one if i could afford one!

and yes i just said "mad respect". im straight up gangsta yo, respect.


:spit:

welcome to the site. this one is ALOT better than other tech sites

[Crinale]

hey, i didnt notice you were already signed up when i told you to come over here :-P ... its way better on this site than the other yota sites

[carljwnc]

hey, i didnt notice you were already signed up when i told you to come over here :-P ... its way better on this site than the other yota sites


I signed up on a few Toyota forums (including this one) and for some reason settled on 'that other one', I decided that I only had time for one more forum in my life. I just chose wrong, and never went back to any of the others. I've also been very involved with both my Subaru forums for such along time now that they will still remain my main forum focus. But I sure do need a good Yota outlet sometimes. :-)

[Obi..]

*Welcome back and have you thought of tossing on some FJC coils and a set of bj spacers to give a little more room and stuff some 33's in there? (I'm glad you came back, a lot of folks might lurk once signed up but rarely contribute. Take pics, have fun, and come in here to tell some good stories and what you're up to.

:D

[4x4mike]

I like the XT edition 4runner. My wife drives an '05 FXT and we like it a lot.

How did you make your front recovery point. Just a big chunk of metal with holes in it? I may look into this.

[Crinale]

I like the XT edition 4runner. My wife drives an '05 FXT and we like it a lot.

How did you make your front recovery point. Just a big chunk of metal with holes in it? I may look into this.


u mean xt Forester? cuz i dont think there is an XT 4Runner :-P ... i wish i could have afforded an XT, but i have a Impreza TS currently, altho i have someone interested in buying it ^_^...

hey carl, i know bein on multiple forums is difficult... i regularly check 4... lol... and i had to cut one out cuz i just didnt have the time. we all need a good yota outlet :-P

[slosurfer]

Hey, welcome back! Nice upgrades, good job on that recovery point. :thumbup: Similar to SDORI's and I like the low profile of it.

Sorry to hear about your job. :( Times are definately hard now. I'm self employed in the construction industry which means lately that I'm unemployed most the time. :laugh:

I hear ya, on the multiple forums. NOt only am I a member of most the toyota 4wd sites, but I have the toyota van site, and work related forums. :laugh:

[carljwnc]

I like the XT edition 4runner. My wife drives an '05 FXT and we like it a lot.

How did you make your front recovery point. Just a big chunk of metal with holes in it? I may look into this.


The XT badge is off my Forester, and the 4WD badge is off of my old '83 GL Wagon parts car. :-) The other bit of Subarooiness installed, that I highly recommend, is the wiper blades are two passenger side (17") blades off of an '09 Forester, they work GREAT!!!

[carljwnc]

Hey, welcome back! Nice upgrades, good job on that recovery point. :thumbup: Similar to SDORI's and I like the low profile of it.

The recovery point is definitely SDORI inspired and there is a bit of a story behind it...

My Runner came with a brush guard on it that I didn't like. In removing said brush guard I broke the rusted in bolt that was holding it and the tow hook on.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v418/terrapondus/YotaRu/29sm.jpg
After months of trying to remove the broken bolt, I finally gave up, moved the stock tow hook to the other side and made the recover point to use the threaded hole in the frame behind the one where the broken bolt is. The thing different about my recovery point as opposed to the SDORI is it fits a 3/4" bow shackle instead of the 5/8" shackle the the SDORI uses.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v418/terrapondus/YotaRu/36sm.jpg
(Un)Fortunately, I still have never gotten stuck so I haven't had the opportunity to test it. :great::

[Obi..]

The other bit of Subarooiness installed, that I highly recommend, is the wiper blades are two passenger side (17") blades off of an '09 Forester, they work GREAT!!!


*I might have to abscond w/ Lil'Bro's off his Integra then? This solves the wiping/streaking issue (oh man, here comes someone w/ a pun..)? Are yu talking just blades or arms/complete then?

[carljwnc]

*I might have to abscond w/ Lil'Bro's off his Integra then? This solves the wiping/streaking issue (oh man, here comes someone w/ a pun..)? Are yu talking just blades or arms/complete then?


I'll spare you the pun. ;) What you replace are what I call the 'carriers' and the blades. They are an 'aero' style carrier, and yes, you can get just the replacement blades for them.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v418/terrapondus/YotaRu/43sm.jpg
If you want a good deal on them, you can contact Ben at Hodges Subaru (http://www.hodgessubaru.com/index.htm), he has already sold several sets for Toyota truck owners and even has a set on his Yota. :) Just tell him that I sent you.

[slosurfer]

Good job on the tow point! Way to work with what you had. :thumbup:

Okay, I've got newish blades, but they're still kindof streaky/crappy, so these subi blades should help. Just to get this right, I need 2 '09 Forrester 17" passenger blades, correct? This is the whole part that attaches to the arm, and then down the road, I just buy replacement rubbers? Is there really a difference between the passenger and driver "carrier", aren't the carriers the same on most vehicles? I know they sell replacement "carriers" in the different lengths at Napa and other places, some do this rather than just replacing the rubber every year.

Sorry, for all the questions, but I'm really interested in this. :) MY blades started streaking, just thought it was time for new rubber, bought new rubber and still the same thing. So it must be the carrier that is fubar'd.

[Obi..]

Blades streaking with new rubbers, a google ad-sense dream come true. :D

[carljwnc]

Good job on the tow point! Way to work with what you had. :thumbup:

Okay, I've got newish blades, but they're still kindof streaky/crappy, so these subi blades should help. Just to get this right, I need 2 '09 Forrester 17" passenger blades, correct? This is the whole part that attaches to the arm, and then down the road, I just buy replacement rubbers? Is there really a difference between the passenger and driver "carrier", aren't the carriers the same on most vehicles?

Thanks for the kind words on the tow point!!! :)

(2) '09 Forester passenger side blade assembly is correct, just to make it easier Subaru part #86542SC160. Refill (blade only) part #86548SC150.

Yes, this is the whole part that attaches to the arm. The rubber parts are what I call the blade which you can get separately, the carrier is the aero shaped piece that attaches to the arm and holds the blade. My invoice calls it the blade assembly.

A lot of vehicles now have different length wipers on the drivers side and passenger side, I guess just to give the driver a better view.

[Crinale]

every car iv ever owned, except the 4runner, has a longer blade on the driver side and a shorter one on the passenger side... (including my 1990 Honda Civic)... its to clear as much of the driver side as possible, and move that little triangle of dirt that always ends up between the 2 blades farther to the passenger side... my truck is in dyer need of new blades... they just kinda smear the water and dirt around :-P