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Today I visited my sister and 5-day old nephew. Mom and Baby Boy are both happy and healthy. The snowblower she was gifted by a neighbour was not so healthy. Spent an hour or so on a tune-up, and lucky me the spark plug which I bought yesterday was a perfect match. Now my Bro/law has 8.0 Tecumseh’n Horses at his disposal when the snow resumes its assault on us.
Thanks Evan, that confirms it, a 4Runner does look better without flares. I have not put the front flares into the old extra parts pile….yet. I’m not too worried on colour matching yet, I still haven’t detailed the paint since recovering from the barn. There’s a few spots that’ll need attention from a body repair person.
Thanks Mark, I hope you find a set for me.
Overall Redee is in FANTASTIC shape for her age, but that one frnder is hideous and sharp, there’s a rough spot where a CB antenna mount was wedged between the bed rail and topper many years ago, and a split seam in the a-piller from the former residents.
Yesterday my buddy Dave came by, and did some carpentry in the shop while I wrenched. I completed the balljoint swap, everything torqued to spec where possible. With the 4” IFS lift, I can’t access the upper bj with my torque wrench, nor do I have a crowfoot extension in 24mm. So I made the Upper balljoints really friggen tight and got a cotter pin in place. Done.
I also put most of the steering back together on the truck. Idler arm, inner/outer tie rods with new sleeves, and steering damper. The power steering gearbox rebuild is next to finish the steering mechanical bits. But that’ll be another day.
Thanks Kevin and Steve! Having a blast already this wrenching season. Got an hour to myself today and picked off a couple easy tasks.
I cleaned up the hub faces, and mating surface on the front with my wire wheel, and broke loose all the bolts on the drivers side to do the balljoints.
Yesterday I managed to partially remove a fender flare with the back of my head. So I completely removed it and found the ugliest part of Redee. She’s got the cancer, of the fenders. Drivers side is the worst, torn between covering it back up with the flare, or removing the cancer with a high-speed cutting device.
Drivers fender
Passenger fender
Plumb bob
Plumb bob and square to show exposed tire tread.
Personal preference is NO flares cause I like the original body lines. The Next set of rims and tires will be skinnier to fit inside the wheel wells, maybe a 33” x 10”. Considering I put on 3,600km this year, figure new tires are a decade away haha.
Haha yup, always testing the limits of strength…..by breaking stuff.
Already made the trip to Canadian Tire, just gotta bolt it back down to the workbench. Pretty effortless exchange, even got an “upgrade” cause mine was obsoleted a few years ago.
Last month I had to exchange a handful of taps / dies that were worn out from cutting and chasing threads. Gotta love Mastercraft lifetime warranty, but dislike how often I need to utilize it.
Speaking of Mastercraft, my Dad bought me a welder for Christmas! Just gotta wait for Santa to shove it down my chimney to keep up appearances for the kids.
There were some Lincoln Electric ones one big price cut for Black Friday, but for at least the next couple years the hardware itself will not be the limiting factor….definitely the user. Glad I’ve got a scrap steel and scrap cardboard pile accumulated, I’ve got some plate bumpers to build next year. My winter list is long enough of essential items before I tackle this next challenge.
Completed the passenger side balljoint job, but not without some headaches.
I opted not to remove the brakes and CV from the knuckle, easy enough just a bit heavier to muscle around.
The upper balljoint did not have the studs pressed in. While pressing them in, my 5” bench vice exploded. Lucky it broke on the last stud (for that side), and it has a lifetime warranty.
Also, the upper balljoint made in china, was not dimensionally as perfect compared to the one I removed made in Japan or USA. The pitch between the outter studs was a hair too narrow, so I had to enlarge the clearance hole on the upper control arm one drill size. Was about 5/16” now 3/8”. Not too bad.
Overall, I don’t plan on doing anything differently on the drivers side, except for not breaking my vice. I’ll try to pull the studs into the upper BJ using the nuts provided. Hopefully shave a little time off the job too.
Perhaps I’ll get a chance to finish the other side tonight after the family falls asleep. I still have to torque everything down, and put cotter pins in, but I gotta reconfirm torque specs in the manual.
Freakin’ pitman arm is mighty stuck to the steering box. I gotta buddy with the proper Puller to borrow, but he’s been on an afternoon shift for two weeks and we haven’t managed to complete the handoff. Once the pitman arm comes off, I’ll attempt the Steering box rebuild. Rebuild kit was $8, puller is $25….
Rock Auto carries the Powersteering high-pressure line for about $25, I’ll have have to cut the hardline shorter and re-flare the end. Correction, get the end re-flared. I’ll get the low pressure line (sold by the foot) and V-belts locally.
I’ve made my to-do list much longer, and made no progress crossing things off the list recently.
Maybe I’ll tackle balljoints today.
F’in right buddy!! Tommy is having way more fun in the snow than I am. Glad I stumbled across this Monday morning carnage. With exception to the front driveshaft, I’m sure it’ll buff out.
When it comes to International Economy shipping from China, I’m just glad when I get my item. 20 resistors to my door for $2.36….about $0.11 each and free shipping. It’s a long winter Mark, no need to rush things. Snowing here since Halloween.
Thanks Evan, I enjoy the research quite a bit, and it helps to keep my progress moving along. My wife works shifts, so I end up with a bunch of consequtive nights I can’t get into the shop cause I’m Daddy-On-Duty to sorta sleeping children. I can only tidy / straighten / watch crap on tv for so long till I feel the need to do something constructive…..or destructive like last night in the shop.
Getting that steering gear out took a lot more effort than I thought for two main reasons. It’s a much tighter squeeze between the inner fender and frame, secondly it’s way heavier than I thought it would be. Got it dripping dry in the vice so I can replace all the seals and O-rings in it another day. A refurbed steering gear is roughly $250 – 300 on RockAuto, but I have a rebuild kit in the parts bin from the days of Purple-ee. Worst case scenario I’ll have to buy a refurb. Either way I HAVE to get new High & Low pressure lines between the pump and steering gear, they were a contibutor to the leak, but not the only source.
I also stripped the remaining steering bits off the frame and the centre link. The centre link was covered in grime (power steering fluid & motor oil & mud sludge mix), so I scraped it clean then washed it in the varsol tank. Contemplating hitting it with some black paint, but I’d have to go buy some. In the meantime all the parts are loosely setup on the workbench.
I’ll prolly replace the balljoints before I jump back into the steering.
Do you guys pull the knuckle off to do the balljoints? Or just support the knuckle and keep the CV & brakes attached? Figure it might just be easier to pull the whole knuckle out than keeping it supported and out of the way.
Had a good night in the shop last night, made some progress on the gauge cluster…..didn’t feel like getting greasy and filthy working on steering.
I attached the tach signal wire, fired up Redee and got nothing on the cluster. I verified continuity in both ends of the signal wire, and under the dash, so the problem lies in the gauge. I swapped it with a spare I had lying around, and the Tach, backlight and Back Door warning light all came to life. I could have stopped here, but I did not want to lose Redee’s odometer reading, and the spare cluster was American MPH.
So more investigation of Redee’s cluster showed some signs of water damage on the printed circuit board. Makes sense with the windshield leaking directly above the steering wheel. (See damage in red).
I figured the least invasive surgery on the gauge cluster would be swapping circuit boards.
Step 1, remove all the bulbs
Step 2, remove 13 small phillips screws which connect circuit board to the gauges (yellow)
Step 3, carefully (VERY FRIGGEN CAREFULLY) pry up the circuit board around the alignment posts. It’ll lift off after, no tricks
Step 4, repeat for second gauge, swap and reinstall.
I tested Redee’s cluster, and it worked perfectly. The RPM reads double as it should, but I ordered an ebay resistor to correct the problem. See mod here —> http://www.mindspring.com/%7Ejayk3/toyota/tachmod.htm
Somewhere between now and Mid January (when these arrive from China), I’ll finish up the Tach portion and put the dash back together.
The other 3 gauges of interest are still in the works.
Opionion Time. <b>Where should I put the stand-alone mechanical oil pressure gauge?</b> Currently it’s under the stereo in a triple set, but I don’t need it as accessible. With 3,500km this year, I had no oil concerns other than a leak. Thinking I’ll just put it under the hood on the firewall.
Total bummer man. But on the positive side you’ve already got the plans, skills and partner, just gotta wait for the green light.
Spent a couple hours researching through my Electrical Schematics, the interweb and Redee’s engine bay to figure out what I need to wire up the OEM gauge cluster. I’ve got 4 unresponsive gauges of interest in the SR5 cluster.
- Water temp
- Oil pressure
- 4WD indicator
- Tachometer
Turns out most of what I need I already have, and I think #4 is gonna give me the most grief.
1: Water temp. I bought an OEM sender off Rock Auto a few months back. The only wire I need to run is from the sender (one I thread it into the block) to Connector N3 in the passenger side footwell. I’ve actually located this connector, the other half was connected to the 22RE, but now it’s just a lonely female connector waiting to be tapped. Not worried about the “lesser gauge” in the cluster, the EFI has very accurate readout.
2: Oil pressure. I bought the OEM sender from RockAuto with the water temp. All I have to do is uninstall my mechanical gauge, and replace it with a thread adapter and run a wire back to my favourite lonely female connector N3, and tap that yo. I’ll actually run a tee off the block, and keep the mechanical gauge installed too.
3: 4wd indicator. I found the LG (light green) wire under the hood, just gotta connect it with N3, and tap that. Yea yo!! Three-peat!!
4: Tach. Crimp on an eye connector to one wire that I already ran to the negative side of the coil. Then pay my buddy James to solder in a resistor on the back of the gauge cluster that will 1/2 the signal voltage. RPM will read double because the coil puts out twice as many sparks per Rev. Hardest part of this job will be outsourced by my wiring buddy.
Haha such a common sight in our shops. 4Runner on stands, with a pile of Choice A tools (socket, wrenches), Choice B (breaker bars, sprays of sorts) and finally the Effective tools of the primal sorts (bigger hammers and heat)…..all encrusted with weight reduction.
Glad to see your assortment of tools and perseverance paid off!
Those Chevy leafs look super FLEXXY…a mod I’ve had on my list for years but never attempted
Those hood louvers look neat, but I agree on the factory hood for the win. I had to cut out one of the strengthening ridges under the hood to clear my air cleaner, and that hurt a little.
That’s too funny, and hideously true.
It’s not a build until you spend hours doing something and then realize later it was a waste of time. LOL
Thanks Tom, and you’re right about sense of satisfaction. I enjoy just about every cruise I have cause last winter was so busy. The HVAC was pretty nerve wracking, especially separating the plastic tabs/joints. It still isn’t perfect, but works well enough for now. The vent selector has lots of resistance, maybe needs some Jig-A-Loo, and the Hot/Cold temp slider isn’t attached to anything. I’ve got some parts laying around to rig up that cable.
I may not enjoy eating pickles, but My pickle fork set sure got a workout yesterday. Split 4 ball joints, 4 tie rod ends, the pitman arm and idler arm. Well underway to replacing the entire front end steering system. I also found the steering gear seal kit that I bought 5-years ago for Purple-ee but never installed. Redee is leaking pretty good out the GM resevoir, the rigged high-pressure lines, and the bottom of steering box.
