Thanks. It worked well for the trip even though it's nowhere near done. I like full length!

I met up with my friend in Usal and we went abalone-ing. I couldn't get any though, too rough and I couldn't hold my breath long enough. Then I drove up the Lost Coat, really interesting area but I only got half way up and turned out to 101 which I shouldn't have, I should have turned west and drove up the coast and you come out at Eureka. Next time I guess. I'll have a trip write-up once I get organised.

I actually lived in Long Beach for a year and a half years ago. California is a nice place to visit but I think I'd only live in northern Cali.

You've really come a long way with your rig. Looking good. Glad to see you took care of the maintenance priorities first. Makes you sleep better at night.

That sounds like a blast. Usal beach/ Lost Coast have been on my 4x4 to-do list for about… ten years. Probably won’t make it before the harvest/ rainy season this year. The wife and I have been all over the area and camped at every redwood park up to Oregon, we love the area. I look forward to seeing your trip report and pictures. I am a few trip reports behind.
I agree the best part of California to live in would be the Jefferson (northern) area. Especially if the state of Jefferson actually happens! I am sick of the living costs in the bay area (3 bed 2 bath house= 600k+,) and California’s taxes, gun laws, etc. Love the sierras, coast, forests, and desert though.
Thanks! Peace of mind goes a long way. I still have a large project to do, and two smaller ones. I just ordered the b&m 70268, and I will get that in next weekend probably. Bypassing the radiator, and draining the atf and replacing it.
If I have time next weekend ill tackle the other smaller project, weld a short m10 on the front diff drain plug so I can change the fluid. It is stripped out.
The large project is the timing belt. Kind of worried about tackling that myself. My sister in laws boyfriend is an actual mechanic, I think I’ll try and bribe him into helping. It is that or a dealer. The 4runner has been to a smaller shop twice since I have owned it; they both screwed up the job.

Trip report; our summer family reunion trip. This wasn’t a wheeling trip, but a trip with some wheeling thrown in. We left Saturday 6/21/17. Attempted to drive to Great Basin National Park from the bay area. One of the trails I wanted to run this trip was the dirt road in and out. Had issues, see this post http://www.toyota-4runner.org/2729955-post20.html

After this there was serious talk of bailing on the trip. We stayed in Southlake Tahoe that night, and throwing caution to the winds, pressed on and left at first light. We took Hwy 80 across Nevada.


Hwy 80 was selected instead of 50 (which would have been way faster) because there is more towns, closer together on 80. At this point we weren’t sure if we could really trust the 4runner again. Went south at salt lake then took Utah 6 to Hwy 191. I am sure lots of you know what is on Hwy 191; Moab! One of our favorite cities. It was sad, we got there after 10PM, got gas, and kept going south. Eventually we got into Colorado.

And a few hours later, about 2am our destination.

Got a good camping spot, couldn’t see the neighbors at all. Woke up to a deer behind the tent.

Mesa Verde National Park is an awesome place. Toured two different sites. The park really needs two full days to see most of the big stuff.

I would definitely recommend a visit here.

The 4runner made a few friends in the park, two other cool 4runners.

While at Mesa Verde NP I noticed that the exhaust getting a little louder, to the point that it was obvious that there was a huge leak somewhere. I peeked under and found this.

Apparently I left an artifact of my own in the park somewhere. In hundreds of years an archeologist will find my exhaust hardware, and wonder why primitive man did not use a torque wrench. I got out the tool bag and took a go at fixing it.

I brought a small bag of hardware with me, m4, m6, m8, in various lengths with nuts and washers. The closest thing I had to an m10 was a long m8. That would have to do for the time being.

While under there I checked and ended up tightening two out of three nuts up at the top of the pre cat, and the other bolt and nut next to the one that ejected. Basically, the exhaust shop managed to tighten one of the 5 fasteners correctly.

Colorado is awesome. I love my Sierras, but the Rockies are incredible in a different way.


Spent a while exploring random dirt roads.

Played with the Gopros a bit too.

A small clip of part of one of the trails

Dust cloulds at 2:30 look like zombie ghosts

Nice thread! And you can definitely do the timing belt job yourself. Save the money and make sure everything is done right. I started disassembly one evening, did the rest of the work the next day in the rain, and had it all buttoned up that night. I replaced everything but cam seals, including radiator, fan belts, tensioner, crank seal, hoses, thermostat, etc. All for $500. A shop would have charged $1300 no doubt. It's a really simple timing belt job compared to what some others entail. And there's lots of reference materials on 4Runners and Tacomas since they've got the same motor.

I ran those zombie ghosts over. They are zombie ghosts of zombie ghosts now.
You have me just about convinced to try it out. I guess it is pretty straightforward, unbolt, rebolt. Ill get my mechanic friend to help out so he can tell me if I am about to really screw something up.

Last night I got the trans cooler in, bypassing the radiator. Hopefully the cooler and the 4.5 quarts of new fluid will help with the transmission overheating issue.

Back to the ongoing telling of the summer trip saga...
Did some other outdoor recreation as well.

Colorado is a state I could spend months vagabonding around in, living out of the 4runner.


“The Switzerland of America” with the Sierra Nevada, the Cascades, and the Rockies, I think we have enough incredible mountainscapes around here that I can skip the Alps.

There is a home depot in Durango, we had stopped in and got some m10 hardware. I got m10x45, but m10x35 would have been fine. Probably should have measured before buying. I got two extra to put in the spare hardware bag, as I have proven that spare m10 bolts are good to have.

Temporary m8 hardware, worked fine for a few days and a few hundred miles.

Fixed with proper diameter hardware. I wish all mechanical issues encountered on a trip were this simple.

This was my “shop” for this little bit of work. I wouldn’t have changed it for any other place.

Rocky Mountain National Park, incredible. Every time I go to a national park for the first time I have to change my list of top 5 favorites.

Saw some majestic moose in a meadow. We kept a respectful distance. Mind you, moose bites can be pretty nasti.

Most of these are taken along Trail Ridge Road.

Trail Ridge road is the highest continuous paved road in the country.

A bit east of the continental divide it gets up to 12,183 feet.

When I look at this photo I just assume it is photoshopped. I was there and I still can’t believe this is real.

I want to camp by this lake.

Up by the heighest point we saw a small herd of bighorn sheep. Only the second time ever seeing them. The first was on Islands In The Sky in Moab, very cool that they can live in the 115+ heat of the Moab area, and also at 12,182 feet of elevation. Pika and Elk were also plentiful.