Okay i said i’d do a comparison video so i figured i’d just back these two next to each other and kind of snap one out for you guys my awesome camera lady isn’t here she hasn’t got off work yet but i figured i could do this one solo all right the difference is between a second and third gen four runner all right this might seem like i might end up beating up on
The second gen a little bit but i love that platform let me tell you that is a great solid platform if you’re gonna build a rock crawler or you know just uh you’re gonna have like a bonafide wheeler rig i’d kind of recommend that one just for one because it’s a lot easier to slap a straight axle underneath it to cut that stuff out and put some leaf springs under
It’s actually got a real steering box and a lot easier to adapt a straight axle under that one if you’re going to go lincoln coils and all that other stuff then you know if you’re going to do go that far into it you might as well get a third gen but third gen all right i might get this a little bit backwards because i mean i have a tacoma and a third gen pickup
Over there too so it might be a little confusing at times i might mess it up second gen 4runner third gen 4runner i’ve got a first-gen too but it’s not here right now otherwise i’d have her lined well actually i wouldn’t i’d have these lined up next to it because it currently doesn’t have a motor in it but all right we’ll go ahead and start with the third gen okay
I’m on the cons so first con is like i mentioned this one having an actual steering box this one has a rack and pinion set up up underneath which i mean that might be a pro for a lot of road drivers whatever having the rack and pinion but for me i’d kind of rather have the steering box personally just because you know it seems like you’re less problems with the
Steering box than you are a rack and pinion tubs what are you doing what are you doing little kitty huh she likes me in videos another downfall which i think they had a recall on this is uh these lower ball joints on these third gens and tundras tacomas all of them they had a recall on the lower ball joints kind of a weak spot that’s a lot of pressure on that
Little ball joint and you get some dirt in there it just rubs and rubs and rubs and finally hit a bump and it pops off i end up losing a tire it tucks underneath and it’s just no good at all so you kind of got to keep an eye on that you know jack the rig up every once in a while give her a shake back and forth and up and down you know back and forth just pretty
Much to check your tie rods up and down to check your ball joints with it jacked up of course you could put a jack underneath jack it up on the the freaking uh drop arm itself and then sit there with a bar and kind of check for play in the ball joints himself also which is a good thing to do if you have a third gen 4runner it’s really good to stay up on that
Just which when you keep them stock height you don’t have as many problems it’s once you do go lifting them it seems like you put more stress on the ball joints so you have to watch out a little bit more which i mean if i could save someone skidding down the road losing their tire i would love that more than anything just because i’ve done it and i’ve had quite
A few buddies who have done the same thing just stuffing a puck in there lift it up and yeah lose a freaking tire screws the fender up you end up you know having to replace the whole front end while you’re doing this side you might as well do the passenger side also so it’s just kind of a pain in the butt all right cons what other cons does this have another con
Is it isn’t necessarily a tailgate on these it lifts up which i kind of parked around a drop off here but the whole hatch lifts up whatever so you don’t have a tailgate with these to whereas the third gen it actually the back window rolls down and then you fold it down you actually have a tailgate which is pretty freaking neat you know just if you’re sitting there
Hanging out you got your stereo playing the third gen pretty neat for that all right now let’s let’s start going over some pros of the old third gen here pros is i mean the motor here in 1995 and a half whatever they went to the 3.4 instead of the 3 liter v6 or the 2.7 3rz instead of the 22re 2.4 which both of those motors in a 2.7 and 3.4 are quite a significant
Upgrade compared to the two previous which i mean these three leaders are kind of hit or miss i mean you’ll see some go for freaking ever i’m sure you guys have heard me say this a few times some go forever no problems at all but it seems like a lot of them you end up losing a head gasket or having other problems like i i actually bought a pickup a long time ago
Went through had the head gaskets replaced did the timing belt timing a timing belt water pump a bunch of new seals all through it i had to put a bunch of money into the three liter whatever just to drive it up in the hills and i threw a rod in it and then i had another one i ended up blowing up to the oil pump quit work and it ended up seizing the motor so i mean
I’ve haven’t had the greatest luck with those three liters hence the old three four swapped third gen over there but uh all right the 30 and the three 4 both are zero interference motors so when you do lose a timing belt you aren’t going to throw your valves in your pistons or anything like that which is freaking awesome because the timing belt is a wear item this
Toyota suggests you change them at around 93 000 miles i do believe which you know they’ll in real in reality i’ve seen them go unchanged for i think it was around 260 000 miles before the timing belt actually went and then when it did go it just like i said it just throw another timing belt and do the water pump while you’re in there you know water pump timing
Belt and uh it won’t mess motor up at all he’ll just end up throwing that time belt on it’ll kick back over you’ll be back in business which is awesome on both of these motors these blocks are actually really similar i have heard before that they are the same blocks just the 3-4 has designed heads by yamaha yamaha helped design the heads on the 3-4 which is pretty
Cool yamaha they’ve done quite a few neat motors like the ford show taurus whatever those are pretty sweet freaking motors yamaha designed those so there is that this one has a lot more safety features i mean it’s got two airbags up front the four interlock brakes i believe all the way around and uh a little more room inside which is awesome so it’s safer
This 3-4 gets better fuel mileage and has more power this right here 3.4 liter is 190 horsepower but sure that doesn’t sound like a lot but when you go from driving 150 horsepower 3 liter it does it’s quite a bit different plus just driving back from newport we went to go buy that the old lady would just every chance she got she’d love to blow by me because we
Actually bought this rig for her to haul the dogs around which i’ll go ahead and show you guys the inside of it it’s kind of dirty because this is her her dog hauler so it’s got dog hair and you see the dinger interior airbags or american flag which kind of sucks because it reflects on the windshield and uh i kind of get carsick looking at it but i know she’s
Got the back seats down a pad there of course my sweet cooler my boss man got me pack ram and associates sweet my boss is freaking awesome but i mean it’s a really nice rig you push the button to go into four wheel drive this is the limited so it has that right there rear diff locker electronic diff locker which is freaking awesome that right there seeing you
Can get from the factory of diff locker that is that right there kind of takes the cake for me of course we did have to change out the front seats got rid of those freaking junk leathers and put some claw seats in it she keeps the back seats down anyway so we didn’t bother changing those out it’s actually a really nice rig it’s got 180 000 miles on it so it and
This here i don’t worry about it too much at all i changed the radiator on it the radiator cracked and changed the hoses i actually bought another 4runner with a blown head gasket which i think the radiator went out on it and then the girl drove it and ended up blowing the head gasket excuse me when you blow a head gasket there is usually a problem that causes
You to blow a head gasket in which on those three liters the problem is the exhaust is too close to the head so it’ll actually mess that head gasket up in a lot of cases there’s other cases too so i’ve done a little bit of work to it not much for the most part we’ve just changed the oil put gas in it and drove it freaking awesome rig i feel good about her driving
This instead of that third gen that she did drive just because of the safety features of this rig and not all that but she loves this thing she really does old parnelli jones in her race car here okay so that’s the third gen push button locker three 3.4 190 horsepower all the safety features just a great great freaking rig these are both really good good rigs
Which if you’re watching this video you’ll obviously have some interest in toyota 4runners and you probably know a little bit about them already but let’s go to the old second gen like i said you know if you’re building a rock crawler or something like that this more or less is a lot easier platform to work with just because it’s been around longer there’s lots
Of aftermarket parts you can slap a straight axle in it it’s just and not only that but to throw one of these 3.4s in a second gin is really not that hard whatever i mean people do it all the freaking time you can actually find a good deal on one that someone’s already done for the most part you could find them for around the same price as you can with the three
Liter in it which once you do that then you end up like that third gen over there just a freaking rocket ship she goes good all right this one here like i mentioned before it’s got the torsion suspension which is just tougher than heck and stock platform i mean these if you have little problems you could start to feel them before you end up with a major problem
Like these losing the ball joint this one here you know if you have something going on you’re gonna end up knowing about it before it goes bad on you and uh the interior on this i mean it’s it’s nice interior a little less room in this one definitely less leg room in the back by a couple inches i mean neither one of these are really made for big people to be hauling
Around we put one seat down just haul the dogs around in it and buzzer but uh yeah that back window rolls down and then that’s your tailgate which is pretty freaking awesome i mean just freaking awesome rigs this one’s got the automatic cup holder up here heater all that stuff no push by walker they come stock with a 15 inch wheel which i think in 95 these came
With a 15 inch wheel but this one here is a 99 i do believe or well it has a 16 inch wheel which those wheels they’re off of tacoma i yeah those came stock on tacoma 16s which those tires i bought a different forerunner that i got the seats out of there and i got the tires off of and then ended up selling it to a buddy he’s putting another motor in it and doing
A five-speed swap but yeah so back to the four runners all right these have a two link rear end whatever they just have these two bars and then coils to where this one here has actually a four link and coil rear setup and the gas tank hangs a little bit lower and i want to say the departure angle when you drop off of stuff is a little bit lower on that than this
One here so you know like i said this one is more of a beat around platform whatever and i want to say these are made in japan those ones are made in america once they went to tacoma i do believe they started making them in america so this is an actual japanese built rig which i mean the japanese make tough tough products they really do they make things too last i
Mean toyotas they have a long history of ever since the beginning whatever after world war ii when they made their first car whatever they made it to be a car you’re gonna drive for the rest of your freaking life and super easy to work on parts interchangeable it’s always been toyota’s kind of go-to which is freaking awesome that’s kind of why i am a toyota person
Sure i’ve got four diesel pickups but for the most part i am pretty partial to the old toyotas all right so you know if you’re looking for something to go beat around in the woods i’d say he can’t go wrong with one of these you know and stuff if if it is kind of you’re just around town drive up in the hills drive down the beach stuff like that just because you
Will end up with less problems suspension wise and you know it’s just a basic basic easy platform the motor though whatever you know which i said you can do the conversion over to the 3.4s these are just a lot more reliable of a motor more horsepower better fuel mileage so it’s kind of a pig and a poke what you want for the most part of course something newer is
Probably gonna have a little more features that are more appealing but at the same time if you find a good deal on one of these you can’t really go wrong you know and then of course these which it’s hard to find a good deal on these nowadays and plus these dank tacomas just look so freaking good the old third gen looks freaking awesome right now she looks pretty
Sad just because we haven’t been driving her and she’s got green stuff on her hoods up a little bit and old lady hit a deer but that’s a freaking awesome pickup 3.4 just a freaking ripper all right the old 3 liter it’s a distributor motor so it’s got a cap and rotor in it which the 3.4 has three coil packs one coil pack runs two cylinders so you know what that
There that that distributor is a little more problematic than coil packs in all reality in my opinion just because you get a little bit of moisture in there whatever i mean you i pull it off wd-40 which an old 22 re first gen 4 runner i had man it seemed like if i went to go start that thing on a misty morning like what we have right now whatever i’d have to pull
The cap off wd-40 wipe it all down put it all back on just to get the freaking rig to start sure you can silicone them and do all that other stuff but yeah and the old 22re which you can get in these also they uh they’re actually pretty prone to head gasket failures and timing chain issues your timing chain which you’ll hear it in the motor your timing chain getting
Looser hear it slapping around a little bit more and it’s better to catch it before it goes because i think the 22rs are an interference motor like you can mess them up if you lose your timing chain i have heard of people just throwing a new timing chain in them and being fine but i i do believe they are interference motors which correct me if i’m wrong if they’re
Not whatever and someone knows you know go ahead and leave me a comment set me straight just so i know you know and i’ll be thankful but the 22re’s they had 110 horsepower like i said these three liters had 150 horsepower to where the 3.4 has 190 horsepower and then the 3rz which you can also get in that is 150 horsepower same as the three liter which these three
Leaders are kind of a lower compression motor than the 2.7 the 2.7 4 cylinder is a more high compression motor so a lower compression motor you’ll have a little more bottom end torque and kind of more of a putt around rig to where those three rz’s are more of a wrap high wrap high compression motor freaking yeah you know there’s pros and cons to everything it’s
Kind of what you’re looking for i just wanted to kind of lay out a video of the difference between a second and third gen 4 runner and uh maybe one of these days when i get by that old first gen i’ve got i’ll snap out a video about it but uh yeah till then you guys stay awesome thanks for watching and uh hope you like my collection of toyotas here i’ve got a
Couple more but they’re outstashed in the bushes and uh yeah thank you for watching hit that like and subscribe button if you found anything i said informational or if i was wrong in any way you know and you you know something that i had not known before it would be nice if you left me a comment so i would know that for future reference awesome stay beautiful
Transcribed from video
2nd and 3rd gen Toyota 4Runner differences / pros and cons By Wrecking Ball Rob