Chick at work has an old 87 4Runner - 4Banger 4x4. Good tires etc. Just needs a bit of love and an alternator. $750 - I'm thinking of buying the thing for a trail rig. These any good off road?

yessir.

Check out Allprooffroad.com too!!

Interesting - Appears to be a cheap vehicle to mod, just what I need. The X might not see to much off road use if I buy this thing

This should be an excellent toy. I have ridden in older 'yotas just like this one. For $750 it should be a simple decision if there is no rust.

Its an AZ truck - No rust. Her family have owned it since new. Just taking up room in her garage now and she wants it out.

For a trail beater off road wise there about the same as a 1st gen but with an even more underpowered engine that has a lot of potential/products for upgrades.

What you have now with the engine, locker, traction, control, coils up front is much better off & on road.

Only makes sense IMO if you’re going to work/upgrade it. Ditch the IFS/torsion bar front…SAS it…and upgrade the engine…replace with something more powerful or tweak the 22RE to ~150hp with some performance parts.

Nice thing about the runners up into 90 is the removable fiberglass top.

I loved my runner; the 4.3 vortec engine swap made a big difference , nice to cruise in the fast lane from the slow (22RE) on the highway with anything bigger than the stock 235's with the stock 4.10

Thing is - I do worry about screwing up my X which is my daily driver if I take it off road and I want to do more off road stuff. So putting $750 into this and maybe another $1000 or so in suspension / tires etc. makes sense to me to save my daily ride. Then in a year or 2 when I have a little more off road experience under my belt, the X will be in its prime with lots of after market parts to mod it with.

Roger, at that price it's a nobrainer. There's tons of aftermarket including cheap SAS kits, cheap rear lockers, reasonable IFS lifts, etc.

How many miles are on it?

The company used the 1985's and before for offroad work, but when they dropped the front live axle, we got one '86, and didn't like the IFS for what we needed them to do...and moved on.

They are reliable, and there's a ton of mods for them...including hardened Birfields and reinforcement rings, etc.

147k miles - Had a new clutch about 3 years ago - 5spd Manual Trans less than 2 years on the tires, just have to run over this weekend and install the Alternator. Hopefully the Alternator isn't to tricky to swap out on those. It was a daily driver until about 9 months ago when it got parked when they got a minivan.

I love the late 80's/early 90's Toyotas. I miss my 87 and 91 4x4's!! These trucks are very tough and can take a beating.
I bought a lot of upgrades from these two when I owned my Yotas....
Downey

NorthWest

Yea they are great. If I get rid of my X I will be getting a older toy like an 85 or earlier because they are Straight front already.

Told her I'll take it - Will post up some pics when I have em.