Chris's '93 4runner

Hi All, Chris here...

I am one of the newbies around here. I joined in Feb. because I wanted to meet other 4wheelers. I also wanted to learn more about the trails around here and learn more about wheeling in general. So far, I have been very happy, I have met many wonderful people (I am still working on remembering all the names), and have been on two trail runs. I look forward to upcoming runs as well. I like the fact that this is a diverse group with families, as I am married and have an 18 mo. old son.

I have always been into the outdoors, when I was a kid we would always go camping and couple times we did some light 4wheeling. I have been hooked since, but I could never afford to really get into it. I joined the Marines and drove AAV's (Amphibious Assault Vehicle) for 4 years. They will basically go anywhere and are a tracked vehicle, but they have a low ground clearance, so many of the same princibles apply to wheeled vehicles. Ever since I got out of the Marines, I would try to hit the dirt as often as I could. I only had a two wheel drive 4banger Mazda truck, but I pushed that thing to go some crazy places.

Now I have a '93 4runner, which was bought as a family car, but I have started modding it to make it more capable offroad. I am very happy with it (even though the IFS has got to go eventually) and am looking forward to many runs with this group. Although my wife has questioned how much time and energy I am putting into it, she has been great about it. I have added: cb radio and firestik, IFS rear A- arm cross brace (apparently Toyota forgot to build them on 2nd. gen. 4runners), Aisin manual hubs, balljoint spacers, OME front shocks and steering stabilizer, FJ80 cruiser coils in the rear, Rancho 9009 rear shocks, 4crawler panhard drop bracket, and I just picked up a used 70% tread 33x12.5x15 Mickey Thompson Baja Claw Radials today.