ElvisPelvis

Howdy fellas,

I'm ditching my crappy Jetta for something much more cool. Initially I was looking for a second gen 4runner but recently an interesting car caught my eye on Facebook marketplace - a bright red '86 Toyota 4Runner SR. I wanted to know what things you wish you knew about owning an older generation 4Runner prior to getting one. This will be my first jump from a sedan and I figured I might as well go big or go home.
From what I've seen on the forum you guys love these 4Runners as daily drivers!

Hey, while you're here, what do you think of the one I'm looking at?

The meat and potatoes:
Photo album:
https://imgur.com/a/NeNztLX

Stoked to hear from you guys.

SomedayJ

I wish I got my trucks 10 years ago.

That red 4Runner has the typical rusty spots, the front fenders can be replaced, the quarter panels need cut and weld, the interior is in good shape, original radio, it is missing the bottle jack, I do not know what is that black cover behind the rear seats. For professional advice wait for wallytoo's comment, he does not miss any detail in ad pics.

Melrose 4r

Looks really good and I like the history on it.
my advice would be to find a reputable Toyota specialist in your area to check it out and be your shop for repairs. Regular service parts are available but interior oem stuff you pretty much have to get used. Doesn’t look like it needs anything interior related, though.Use Toyota oem parts for greatest longevity and don’t get too crazy with mods if your daily. Keep in mind it’s now a classic, collectible vehicle that is appreciating. Not the best choice for a daily as a nearly worthless Corolla or Camry (in my opinion)

wallytoo

iTrader: (1)

frame looks decent. interior seems to be mostly complete and intact. not a fan of the rear bench seat, prefer the split seats. this is NOT an SR5 model as claimed in the listing, it is a basic 4runner (nothing wrong with that). missing the shift pattern medallion on the stalk.

if you are going to drive it, the rust in the front fenders doesn't really matter. leaks there don't affect anything, other than appearance. eventually you'll just replace them. the rear fender rust is a bigger issue; water can get inside the body/cabin and continue to rust away. this is far more work than replacing the front fenders, especially to do it correctly.

i've daily driven my '87 4runner for 8 years now, with over 100K miles put on. i added a 2nd '87 a few years ago, so i don't put quite as many miles per year on my original, but i still use it the most. i have no worries about daily driving it, but it also fits my job needs, where i need 4wd and high clearance on a weekly or semi-weekly basis. i also own a bunch of vehicles (3 first gen 4runners, 2 volvo 240s, an '89 camry, a '48 dodge dump truck, and a cj5.

Jimkola

Fun vehicle. It’s helpful to have some mechanical knowledge and enjoy working on cars, otherwise you could face some significant costs. I’ve rebuilt almost everything I can think of, sometimes for a good reason, other times I’ve done it just because. The funny thing is most of the time when I’ve rebuilt something just for the heck of it I found a issue I wasn’t aware of.
if you start using the 4R as a daily driver, and the vehicle wasn’t used like that in the recent past, you could very well start seeing needed repairs cropping up. It’s normal, just be prepared.
id have a second vehicle at the ready, this one could easily be down at times as you address issues that come up.

864running

I wish I never put a 4 inch lift on mine. If i went back to bone stock I would've put on ball joint spacers and the Trail Gear 6 inch shackles in the back with a locker and been done until I saved enough for a solid axle swap. Putting a lift on IFS really weakened a lot of stuff and made saving for a sas a pain in my butt due to constantly fixing stuff.

wyoming9

iTrader: (1)

i wish I had known about JIS screwdrivers after twisting the the phillips screw drivers and ruining the heads and having to drill out so many fastners.

br549arkie

Take a close look around the back of the transfer case for a possible oil leak.

dropzone

iTrader: (6)

its got a poop ton more rust than i would like to deal with.
the rear output shaft on the transfer case is leaking like crazy throwing 90w everywhere

wyoming9

iTrader: (1)

The interior is way to clean!!!

Really hard to prove just what might have been really done in this day so easy to fabricate invoices for most anything

That tells me the rest of the vehicle is going to need lots of catch up.If you can do 95% of your wrenching yourself once things are caught up older vehicles are not bad

all this work done yet the rear output seal is gushing might be a simple blocked vent.

It all depends on what your daily driving entails my 4Runner was great for the 5 mile commute to work all local township roads .

I avoided interstates just not enough horse power in the heavy vehicle to drive with the 80 mph traffic flow.

Since I did the 3.4 swap( I got spoiled!!) I really think the 22Re is having problems even though it is a fresh engine great engine not for a high speed commute of any distance.

JJ'89

Good point!
I screwed-up one of the two little screws attaching the blade to windshield wiper arm on my '89by using a phillips. When I bought a Kawasaki motorcycle a few years ago, I ordered some JIS screwdrivers. Remarkable how precision the fit. is.

firstgenfan

This truck was on eBay in jume and the guy was trying to get 15k for it and it needed brake line work or something at the time of the posting.