JZiggy's "Grown Up" 4Runner Build
- Thread starter JZiggy
- Start date
Pyral
Member
Engine looks good. Mine has 100k less miles but more wear thanks to having 4 previous owners.
When I did my valve shims I figured out that there are 20 teeth on the tensioner. So yours is not even at half life yet.
I'll do my valves again in December, so I'll need to barrow that shim collecting soon.
When I did my valve shims I figured out that there are 20 teeth on the tensioner. So yours is not even at half life yet.
I'll do my valves again in December, so I'll need to barrow that shim collecting soon.
JZiggy
Senior Member
Oh that's interesting! I didnt know how far out the tensioner could go. Good to know.
I have amassed a lot of shims. If there's something you need let me know!
JZiggy
Senior Member
LBJ Uniball Conversion!! :rockon:
This is a mod I have been pondering for quite some time. I finally pulled the trigger after reading a decent amount of positive feedback from other users. My hope is that this mod will be a long term solution to LBJ failure worries with use and abuse on the trail.
I reached out to Josh at Anonymous Fab to get the details and start planning this mod. He was very communicative and great to work with. His business model is to take LBJ cores, press out the balljoint, and weld in a receiver for a 7/8" uniball. This mechanism is far stronger than a balljoint and eliminates the failure point of the ball being able to pop out under tension.
Turns out that Josh prefers 555 balljoints as the steel is high quality and welds more readily than OEM. I was able to get some new 555's on Amayama pretty cheap so I sent those over to him.
Made in Japan and complete with color codes bags for each side. Gotta love Japanese engineering.
I got them back a couple of weeks later. They come with the uniball pressed into the received but the customer has to assemble the misalignment stud.
Top view. Nice welds by Josh. Note the snap ring.
Bottom side
The two halves of the stud go into the ball with a few taps. The 12 point bolt is torqued down with red loctite. I opted to put a pair of nuts on the stud to hold it in the vise and torque it down on the workbench rather than doing it during installation.
Old LBJs came out. They are OEM with about 50k on them. Still in fine shape but showing a bit of wear with how loose the studs are in the socket.
Josh's kit comes with optional lower boots that zip-tie on and 3D printed top caps to keep dust out of the joint
To be continued...
This is a mod I have been pondering for quite some time. I finally pulled the trigger after reading a decent amount of positive feedback from other users. My hope is that this mod will be a long term solution to LBJ failure worries with use and abuse on the trail.
I reached out to Josh at Anonymous Fab to get the details and start planning this mod. He was very communicative and great to work with. His business model is to take LBJ cores, press out the balljoint, and weld in a receiver for a 7/8" uniball. This mechanism is far stronger than a balljoint and eliminates the failure point of the ball being able to pop out under tension.
Turns out that Josh prefers 555 balljoints as the steel is high quality and welds more readily than OEM. I was able to get some new 555's on Amayama pretty cheap so I sent those over to him.
Made in Japan and complete with color codes bags for each side. Gotta love Japanese engineering.
I got them back a couple of weeks later. They come with the uniball pressed into the received but the customer has to assemble the misalignment stud.
Top view. Nice welds by Josh. Note the snap ring.
Bottom side
The two halves of the stud go into the ball with a few taps. The 12 point bolt is torqued down with red loctite. I opted to put a pair of nuts on the stud to hold it in the vise and torque it down on the workbench rather than doing it during installation.
Old LBJs came out. They are OEM with about 50k on them. Still in fine shape but showing a bit of wear with how loose the studs are in the socket.
Josh's kit comes with optional lower boots that zip-tie on and 3D printed top caps to keep dust out of the joint
To be continued...
Last edited:
JZiggy
Senior Member
Uniball conversion continued
The top caps fit pretty snug against the CV joint dust shield. I found the spot where they touch (barely) and sanded down a bit of clearance. Once installed there's no way to pop the dust shield back out. But I wanted a provision for re lubing with PTFE spray so I made a little hole that just fits a red straw (0.085" for the curious). I tapped it to M3x0.8 and plugged it with a little JIS screw and a number 005 o-ring to seal it up nicely.
When installed its easy to pull the screw out and insert the straw from the front, even with the LBJ bolt installed (not shown)
I wasn't crazy about the nut + split washer + washer hardware that Josh provided so I decided to get an all-in-one from Belmetric. It's an M16x1.5 flange nut with distorted threads (prevailing torque locking mechanism). These are actually superior to castle nut + cotter pin except that they aren't really replaceable since they won't lock if you remove and reinstall them.
I added some paint marker so I can keep an eye on them and make sure they aren't trying to back off.
Installed with wheels on the ground. I used a new set of OEM black bolts torqued to 37 ft-lbf. I scrapped the OEM 01-02 dust booties since they don't fit over the larger uniball body and boot.
Ye olde OEM LBJs to be packed away as spares (I guess?)
Feedback: I have only had the chance to drive it around town 10 miles or so. I immediately noticed when running the wheels back and forth with the front end off the ground that the prevailing load is higher. It takes a bit more effort to turn the wheel lock to lock. Driving around it is noticeable as well but it eased up after just 10 minutes or so. Steering effort is a little higher and it doesn't return to center as readily. I do also have the front end aligned with 4* of caster which doesn't help. But after driving for a while it did seem to wear in and loosen up and I also just got more used to the feeling. I didn't notice any other differences: no noise, clunks, things feel the same over bumps and everything. Alignment still feels the same. I'll report back later but so far so good!
The top caps fit pretty snug against the CV joint dust shield. I found the spot where they touch (barely) and sanded down a bit of clearance. Once installed there's no way to pop the dust shield back out. But I wanted a provision for re lubing with PTFE spray so I made a little hole that just fits a red straw (0.085" for the curious). I tapped it to M3x0.8 and plugged it with a little JIS screw and a number 005 o-ring to seal it up nicely.
When installed its easy to pull the screw out and insert the straw from the front, even with the LBJ bolt installed (not shown)
I wasn't crazy about the nut + split washer + washer hardware that Josh provided so I decided to get an all-in-one from Belmetric. It's an M16x1.5 flange nut with distorted threads (prevailing torque locking mechanism). These are actually superior to castle nut + cotter pin except that they aren't really replaceable since they won't lock if you remove and reinstall them.
I added some paint marker so I can keep an eye on them and make sure they aren't trying to back off.
Installed with wheels on the ground. I used a new set of OEM black bolts torqued to 37 ft-lbf. I scrapped the OEM 01-02 dust booties since they don't fit over the larger uniball body and boot.
Ye olde OEM LBJs to be packed away as spares (I guess?)
Feedback: I have only had the chance to drive it around town 10 miles or so. I immediately noticed when running the wheels back and forth with the front end off the ground that the prevailing load is higher. It takes a bit more effort to turn the wheel lock to lock. Driving around it is noticeable as well but it eased up after just 10 minutes or so. Steering effort is a little higher and it doesn't return to center as readily. I do also have the front end aligned with 4* of caster which doesn't help. But after driving for a while it did seem to wear in and loosen up and I also just got more used to the feeling. I didn't notice any other differences: no noise, clunks, things feel the same over bumps and everything. Alignment still feels the same. I'll report back later but so far so good!
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octanejunkie
Elite Member
I've got 10k miles on mine from Josh. I'm about ready to replace the FK balls and install the lower boots - he didn't offer those when I bought them.
I faced the caps to clear the CV dust shields taking them to 1mm thickness, using a caliper and socket to measure thickness - they still wear a groove lol Josh has a prerunner and didn't design the caps around CVs
Nice lube port mod [emoji106]
I faced the caps to clear the CV dust shields taking them to 1mm thickness, using a caliper and socket to measure thickness - they still wear a groove lol Josh has a prerunner and didn't design the caps around CVs
Nice lube port mod [emoji106]
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JZiggy
Senior Member
How have your uniballs worn in after 10k miles? And why do you need to replace the balls already?
octanejunkie
Elite Member
They still have reasonable resistance, they don't fall over when I remove the 4-bolts and spindle and the steering feel is smooth.
I'm not in a hurry to replace them, Josh says 50-80k miles is to be expected. Some of the PTFE liner is deteriorating and coming out, and I was thinking that was no bueno, but apparently that's "normal" and I'll keep running em till the wear is measurable.
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octanejunkie
Elite Member
Nah, nothing like that sticks out in my mind, but they start out stiff!
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Rushthezeppelin
New member
Pretty sure the truck will outlast him and he won't make it to that before his heirs grab it and promptly destroy it lol. At least he's in Atlanta though so the rust won't kill it first.
octanejunkie
Elite Member
Freshened up the upstream O2 sensor with another Denso unit. The only one had ~70k on it, and lately my gas mileage has seemed to be dropping. We'll see if it helps!
Following
I've always been curious about proactively replacing things, specifically sensors, and what effect that has on overall performance.
What are your thoughts about replacing camshaft, crank, knock sensors, etc, proactively?
It stands to reason that if the ECU gets more accurate readings it can make better decisions. How old wiring contributes to the sensing accuracy is a whole other conversation.
JZiggy
Senior Member
The sensors you mentioned are (I think) kinds that give binary signals, such as the crank sensor which is just an encoder. The O2 sensor has to provide a calibrated range of resistance readings so the rest of the EFI system can meter the fuel, timing advance, etc.
I've read that O2 sensors can get "lazy" over time, so they don't respond to the actual fuel level in the exhaust quickly enough for the EFI system work efficiently.
I'll report back with what I find!
Spiker Engineering
official vendor
I'll be curious to hear back as well. I recently replaced my O2 upstream sensor which only had about 40K on it, but I noticed a mileage decrease, and had some doubts about it since I bought it on Amazon. So I bought a new Denso sensor from an authorized seller.
Can't tell yet if the mileage improved as my driving pattern has been weird. I'll know more next week when I put 1000 miles on it driving up to OR.
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