These pictures are from Dec 2001.  Pat's 4 Runner was dubbed the "HMS Murphy" due to it's sheer size and weight.  He estimated close to 5,000 lbs.  Most of this weight was from the complete EXO cage Pat had fabricated, along with the entire stock body, trail spares, tools and a full-size spare.  All that weight was not friendly to the drive train.   Broken axles and birfields were pretty common for Pat so one day he posted some pictures on the internet of the latest project he started..... 

Would you believe this is the same truck pictured above?  In a few short days Pat trimmed his 4 runner down to the bare essentials, a frame and drive train.

The front end was built around a set of Lincoln Navigator headlights. Another nice touch was the frenched in rear spring hangers.  By recessing them into the frame, Pat eliminated one of the common hang-up points when sliding the frame over rocks.

The transformation shed at least a 1,000 lbs and the rig performs better at everything from climbing to crawling.  Also, trail breakages are now a rare occurrence with the 5.29 ring and pinions being the weak link thanks to the upgraded chromoly axles and superbirfs.   Eventually he will switch over to the stronger 4.10 ring and pinions.

Pat's new lighter buggy was working good but by August of 2004 he was ready to go to the next level and link up the rear.  The leaf springs just weren't cutting it, the biggest issue being the inability to climb some of the steeper obstacles without a lot of wheel hop. He cut off the rear half of his buggy and fabricated a double triangulated 4-link using Johnny-Joints on each end of the 40+ inch long links.  18" Fox Air Shocks were used to support the rig and provide dampening.

In August 2006 Pat's buggy went under the knife again.  The original plan was to build a new chassis but with the price of material being really high at the time and no bites on his old rig he decided to just take the pile of parts he has been collecting and install it in his old chassis.

he new power plant is a 4.3l mated to a TH350 and Dana 300 transfer case. To handle the extra power the Toyota axles will be replaced with a D60 up front and a 14 bolt out back.

The finished project.