Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Toyota Pick Up Advice

Oh yeah. You're a "pavement only" kinda guy.

I forgot.



Travis

Have two like Travis mentioned an 84 and 85.. Love 'em.. My hunting vehicles, also have a 2012 tundra... In 15 years it may be my hunting vehicle..

Of late? Sadly so. Heard from Jorge?

No.

Did you get banned again? Why do you keep changing your handle?




Travis

Just went back to the dark side myself....2014 Tundra 1794 CrewMax 4x4. Sweet truck.

Skip the 4runners or at least be careful of what year you purchase. My brother got one. He calls it the gutless wonder, and was disappointed with the gas mileage.

The early 3.0 V-6s are to be avoided like the plague. The 3.4 Tacoma V-6 is GTG. All of those trucks are "gutless", sort of. It ain't a V-8, but its got a LOW-RANGE, when you need grunt. And it that ain't enough, intall TWO transfer cases inline. That 22RE is capable of damaging its own motor mounts and possible the frame with that setup.

i had an 87 4 runner, what a total gutless worthless pile of crap that thing was, it was enough for me to never own another toyota again.

The 80's 22RE's actually had about eight or ten more horsepower than the early 90's trucks. Something was wrong with yours (lot of clogged catalytic converters from that era) or you have "unrealistic expectations", IE it ain't a five-O Mustang.

Had an 81 4wd, Longbed with the 22R and 5 speed. Sold it in 99 and have regretted it ever since. Kid totaled it within a week of buying it.

Hunting partner has an 82 4wd with the 22R and 4 speed...it has a little over 300,000 hard miles on it. Not many problems at all on that truck.

You had to do any major repairs on that truck? That is pretty amazing....be interesting to know how much that truck has cost per mile.

Welcome back.




Travis

That's some killer input.




Travis

You have to match the tire size to the diff gears with those gutless 4 bangers. My '85 xtra cab with the 22RE and 5 speed had TOYO 35x13.50 15" MT tires and 5.29 gears. Got 19 mpg going 70 on the freeway and did fine pulling hills.

The first gen 4Runners are nice ('84-'89) but they're built on the pickup frame and the extra weight from that heavy top causes them to sack out the rear leafs.

The 3.0 (3.slow) V-6 is a head gasket blowing POS.

The early 3.0 V-6s are to be avoided like the plague.

Really? I've got 2, an 87 & a 93, with 190k & 238k, changed the starter and timing belts on each, still running strong. The 93 will get 23mpg on a good hiway day. Best trucks & engines I've owned.

As to the original question, if you prefer a 22R, look for a fuel injected unit. My 86 is carbureted, that carb is a complex little bastage. The FI engines get better milage and more power in my experience.

I just searched craigslist here in an area of 150,000 population and found 5 '90-'95 4Runners with the 3.0 for sale cheap because they have blown head gaskets.

The tranny/transfers on those 3.0 V6's have issues as well. The 22RE/W56 5-speed/gear transfer is the way to go. The R-151 is a beefed up W56 for the turbo and I've read the parts are still available to do that to any of that series of transmission.

People dog the little 22RE for being "weak", that is one of the reasons it'll last so long.

A lot of guys put 32in tires on 4cyl Toys with 4.11 diffs and don't realize they are killing their torque and power unless they re-gear the diffs.

If I remember correctly, the '97 Taco with the small four I had came off the lot with 152 horses.

My '96 Ford 250 and the 7.3 diesel (you know, the one every one thinks is such an awesome engine?) came off the lot with 215 horses.

Any bets on which one is more of a dog to drive?

The big problem with the Toys and the 4-bangers are the auto-transmissions. They give the impression of low power because they are so unresponsive.

[quote=Dutch]If I remember correctly, the '97 Taco with the small four I had came off the lot with 152 horses.





Sometime around '97 or '98 Toyota went to the 2.7 and they do make more power than the 2.4. My daughters '90 4Runner has a 22RE that makes 110 horses. The older Tcases were gear drive, too but her '90 is chain drive.