I had done a little wrenching on a '71 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme convertible I got the summer before my senior year of high school. Nothing big, just things like alternator, fan clutch, and starter motor replacement, but I had a buddy that would help me do tuneups. That was the extent of my auto repair experience. Fast forward 35 years later, I bought my daughter a '97 4WD 4Runner SR5 with 256k miles on it, and knowing it would need some work I got the wrench bug.

I took the 4Runner to the shop to get it aligned, and the guy came out and said that the lower ball joints needed to be replaced, and that would be $600.00. I declined. Then he said all 4 shocks needed to be replaced, and that would cost $700.00. I declined that too. And that is when the journey started. I figured that I could buy the parts, and do so much more work than what they quoted for around the same dollar amount, and that would include beefing up my tool collection. Not being a mechanic, I started watching videos and reading posts from this TR4 forum. That is how I discovered Tim and Sean's videos. So, what started as a $1,300.00 quote to replace the lower ball joints and shocks, evolved into the following repairs, which launched my mechanic hobby (for lack of a better term)... and were all done with the help of Tim and Sean's videos:

-Replaced both lower ball joints
-Replaced both upper ball joints
-Replaced the bushings in the upper and lower control arms, for the front and rear
-Replaced the steering rack and sway bar bushings
-Replaced both CV axles with remans from Napa (looks to be OEM parts)
-Replaced all 4 shocks with the Billstein 5100 0-2.3" lift shocks
-Replaced the rear coils with OME 2906 coils, to achieve the 2" lift I wanted

The inner and outer tie rods seemed fine, so other than keeping those the entire suspension is new. I definitely spent way more than the $1,300.00, but did 10 times what the shop quoted to do, and I bought tons of new tools, like a DeWalt cordless impact gun, a bunch of deep sockets, so seal pullers, an OTC front end puller set, floor jack, jack stands, wheel chocks, and lots more hand tools I didn't already have.

The next thing I wanted to do, as it seemed way past due, was replace the timing belt, and all of the other doo-dads commonly replaced when doing a timing belt. So, I dove back into Tim and Sean's videos, bought the kit from eBay that was all OEM parts and included the 3 other belts. I also bought new upper and lower radiator hoses. I also wanted to get out the green Prestone and put in the Toyota red coolant/anti-freeze, so I did a flush of the cooling system to start the timing belt replacement job.

While very satisfying, and taking way longer than I expected, I did run into some problems and in essence had to do the job 2-1/2 to 3 times. The first problem, which didn't rear it's head until I was pretty much complete, was I broke a couple of teeth off of the crankshaft gear when trying to get it off. I didn't see a sensor there and thought it would be okay to re-use (first mistake), and later found that the car wouldn't run with the damaged crankshaft gear. The second problem I ran into is when I pretty much had the covers on and everything buttoned up I did a little look of my work area and saw the big washer that goes between the engine and the tensioner pulley. Luckily I was able to loosen the tensioner and the pulley and was able to slide the washer in with the timing belt still in place. That was a surprisingly easy fix of my rookie mess up... even though Timmy's video warns you not to forget the washer. Doh! That's when I buttoned it up and tried to start it. When it died after running for second I had a strong hunch that the broken teeth on the crankshaft gear was the culprit, so I asked here in a thread (Failed Attempt at Timing Belt Replacement), and people agreed that that was probably my problem. So back apart she went. I picked up a new gear (and sadly discovered the Toyota dealership I got it from charges over list price, opposed to Camelback, where I get most parts. I don't want to flame them, which is why I didn't mention the dealer, but will only use them for extreme emergencies), put it in, and then had a new challenge - I had to recompress the tensioner and get the grenade pin back in, as every attempt to get the belt back on with the pulley and tensioner loosened failed. I may have been able to do it, but feared I'd maybe cross-thread something, strip it, and create another problem: so I opted to do it the safe an probably proper way. I used a big vice at work to compress the tensioner, and back at it yesterday afternoon. I got it all put back together, filled the radiator, and yay, it started! Tough job, especially for a complete rookie, and no one there to help me, but as previously mentioned it was very satisfying. However, during my test drive I had the "P0125 - Inufficient Coolant Tempertaure for Closed Loop Fuel Control" code pop up. I had my BlueDriver code reader hooked up the whole time, mostly to monitor coolant temp, so when I got to my destination I cleared the code and it didn't return on my 15 minute drive home. When I go home I tried burping the coolant loop again, so maybe there was a little air trapped in the system. That, or the new thermostat I put in during the timing belt replacement is stuck open. I'll drive it around today to make sure all is okay before turning it back over to my 18 year old daughter.

And that, my friends, is what started my DIY auto repair activity. As others have mentioned, I couldn't have done any of the repairs I mentioned without the help of Tim and Sean's great videos! And... the Sick Mod BBQs Tim hosts are a blast too! I've been to a couple and hope to go to more! Lots of really cool tricked out 4Runners, and great experiences to hear about!

Sorry for the long-winded babble, but as Tim has seen in the many long-winded emails I've sent him, I get a little excited talking about this stuff. Thanks to Tim and Sean, and all of the the people that post and contribute to this forum! Now I need to buy my own 3rd Gen, preferable a '99, and do it all over again on that Runner!