I'M NEW. I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DOOOO...

recently bought a new 4Runner it's an '86 solid axle swap from a pickup has low gears in the transfer case low axle gears super crawly. 22RE with a 5-speed. overall pretty great mechanically but I'm new to old Toyota's. mileage is more or less unknown as it is with any old rig you buy.

I drove it 3 hours home through off and on snow fall white knuckling the steering wheel because it has automatic lockers. but the next day the passenger front caliper has started locking up... I've already ordered new calipers from O'Reilly's but has anyone else experienced this? My logical guess is the brake caliper is failing but wondering if anyone else has experienced the same thing.

drove around town in low range so I don't have to use the brakes. can easily lift off in 5th gear lol.

 

I drove an '86 for 20 years and also straight axled it along the way and never had issues with the brakes. I suspect it is just an old part giving up the ghost. Hard to say what sort of care the rig had over the years... I'd go ahead and flush the whole brake system since you'll have it open anyways. Good luck.
Still miss the 1st gen.

 

welcome

 

yeah i figured as much... love it so far! I'll have this thing for a long time for sure. my daily's a 3rd gen tacoma i got this to offroad and beat on a bit.

 

Welcome

 

Welcome

 

Welcome from Wisconsin! Like BLKNBLU said.

 

Looking for insight too. I'm running 35x13.50 R15 I believe the axle shafts are stock. Eventually I'll upgrade to RCVs to eliminate that failure point but are 35s relatively safe for stock birfields? it's a 22re and for the most part I offroad pretty conservatively. Anything I should look out for for preventative maintenance? with the engine or trans or anything? oil additives? These 4 cylinders are notoriously bulletproof but I know anything can fail without proper maintenance.

I'M A NEWB TO THESE RIGS. any experience type info I would be grateful for. thankyou.

 

Oddly, I've seen quite a few 1st Gens in my area recently. One for sure in the neighborhood, one on my way home from work, and a few here and there while driving. Serves as a true testament to these awesome rigs and their long term reliability.

 

I can't speak to the stock axles as I put in Longfield axles and birfs when I built the thing. I also had the diff gears cryo treated. My weak link was the gear in the locking hub that I was going to put in "someday" but I never got around to it and the stocker never broke so... I also ran skinnier tires. I don't remember which one but Interco had something that was 10.5x35 and that is what I ran. I never did additives or any of that stuff. Just take really good care of your lubrication and cooling system and you should have very little trouble.

 

I kinda figured as much. I've heard people running a zinc additive since they have a flat tappet cam. Mine has new Aisin hubs so hopefully I don't break one at least for a while... I would normally run tall skinnies too but man these wide meats look sick. not to mention they're new Toyo MTs from the previous owner.

 

For sure! Where I live it's squarebody Chevys. They're everywhere in Grand county. Me and my buddies all had one in highschool and some of us still do! love old trucks...

 

Also too mine seems to hit the rev limiter at 4500 RPM which redline is at around 5700. Is that normal? I'm questioning the accuracy of the tach.... The previous owner thinks it might've had an automatic trans originally and was manual swapped and he did replace the gauge cluster to get the tach to work. IDK... It seems to work fine. The engine idles at 750 or so but 4500 seems very low for the rev limiter. Maybe it was done that way on purpose for offroading??

 

A 750 idle is about right. Do you know your transmission and gear ratio? I am assuming a W56 and 5.29s. It can get a little whiny at times. I can remember running uphill grades in 3rd at 4k to hold 55 mph.

Here is a calculator from Marlin. Maybe run a few scenarios that you are experiencing and see if the results line up.
https://www.marlincrawler.com/products/differential/ring-and-pinion

 

YEP. w56 with 5.29s. that shouldn't affect the rev limiter though... it surprisingly gets out of it's own way but yeah once there's a hill it's 3rd gear at 55.

 

Best name ever!

 

I guess I've never been rev limited but I don't know if I ever ran the 22re over 4500ish.

 

You lose horsepower past 3300RPM anyways, seems like a waste to push any further.

 

It's a little thing called WHEEL SPEED. in the snow at least. One thing too the idle seems to surge up and down when it's warmed up.

 

THIS IS THE FUNNEST THING I'VE EVER DRIVEN. also where I live this time of year you need four high to get anywhere. this thing with the lunch box locker in the front makes it a pain in the ass. there's a lot of stress going to that steering box... is it bad for an automatic locker to drive around with one hub locked in?

 

I have no experience with an auto in the front but I vaguely remember that unlocking one hub was helpful. But I suspect it would only be useful in mixed driving. If your off road you lock both, on road unlock both, but if you're back and forth you lock/unlock as needed. You might also unlock off road if you get into tight turning scenarios.