the Rescue Runner build thread - Page 58 - Toyota 4Runner Forum

heat · 03-29-2020, 12:20 AM

Nice wheels.

the great him · 03-30-2020, 01:53 PM

So this about 2yars ago now I finally got around to replacing all my wheel bearings, they needed it bad. I had a spare set of spindles that I put a set of Total Chaos spindle gussets on and then had a buddy press out and in the old and new bearings and hub flanges. -he got my old spindles to do the same with, and passed his spindles on to another local guy and friend of ours with a 3rd gen, and when he pressed my bearings out he said they literally disintegrated on him lol. Anyhow when I installed these I also cleaned up the upper ball joint stud hole in the spindles -apparently a little too much as the bushing/sleeve for the SPC UBJ dropped in with a little more ease than I expected but I didn't think much of it at the time because it had a snap ring at the base and there was no noticable play.

Fast forward two days later and I'm driving through a residential neighborhood and I get that feeling in the steering that something isn't right, I had also just heard what sounded like a washer fall off the truck and bounce down the road. Thankfully I was only going about 25mph and avoided a catastrophic failure (I had just been doing 75+ on the freeway only about 10min earlier). Well that snap ring wasn't designed to hold those kinda loads and it really needed that bushings/sleeve/adapter to be pressed it, not tapped in(yeah looking back in hind sight that makes a lot of sense). Anyhow yeah the whole sleeve and everything pulled out of the top of my spindle. Fortunately the spindle rested against the coilover and didn't fold in so I didn't break the LBJ or a brake line or anything else. I was able to safety pull to the side of the road and stop. Called a co-worker and had them come get me and had a friend come tow it back to one of their friends shops who was kind enough to do a late night repair ie like 2am. needless to say food and drinks where on me, I offered to pay the guy but he was happy to help (spoiler alert he will be the guy welding up the custom exhaust on the GX because of it). So he welded in both adapters on both spindles so now that upper ball joint mount is no longer the weak spot in the spindle, Winning! So that was my front wheel bearing saga...

On to the rears; well there was some play and it needed to be addressed so I did those as well for the first time. I used all OE parts though I did source the rear bearings from NAPA and not the dealer. The process was fairly smooth, I also replaced the rear shoes and related hardware at that time as well. Fast forward to a year later and I was rotating my tires and noticed I once again and more play than I should in the rear axle. I told myself if I ever had to do this job again I would order chromoly shafts from Nitro Gear. As I thought of this upon reinstalling the axles back into the 4runner. Welp now was my chance. I called got a set on order and the next day they were at my house. Bought all new breaks yet again this time wheel cylinders and drums too. I got everything ready and that weekend got to work tearing everything down yet again. The koyo bearings were shot, and idk what happened, I hadn't done anything hard or abusive and figured I should probably get more than a year out of them but what do I know(?). Anyhow I was talking with a friend, same guy who pressed my front wheel bearings and he said he went with sfk and they were way better. I decided to give them a try and side by side right out of the box they were definitely tighter and had less play. So I put it all together and all new everything. I was mixed on my happiness with getting the Nitro shafts vs having to spend a day redoing everything that I had just done roughly a year before. That being said I'm now looking at doing a rear disc conversion, and since I have access to a CNC plasma table at work and I have the dxf file so all I really need is the calipers.

the great him · 03-31-2020, 09:45 PM

Welp today I washed and clay'd the 4runner and gave it a good coat of carnauba wax. Gave it a good shine, just in time for more rain

habanero · 03-31-2020, 11:10 PM

Wow, you've gotten a lot of work done and also reminded me that I need to make a bracket for my rear Anderson connector. Amber covers are great, much nicer for your eyes in camp than white.
Truck looks great!

the great him · 04-01-2020, 09:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by habanero

Wow, you've gotten a lot of work done and also reminded me that I need to make a bracket for my rear Anderson connector. Amber covers are great, much nicer for your eyes in camp than white.

Truck looks great!

Thank you for the kind words. And yes I have done a fair amount to it, I also replaced the dash because I put a tear in it (long story and really stupid) but I repainted it because the replacement dash I got had some scuffs and scratches through the blue color. But for two years now it's held up great and not chipped or faded or rubbed away.

I have always wanted an outside temperature display for the 4runner. Sure there is a field monitor units from Japan and Australia but I'm pretty sure they are only in C° and not F° and I really don't want to spend $200+ to get one. A couple years ago this was pushed up to the front of the wish list by a accident that was probably the most scary accident I have ever been in and could have killed my whole family. We hit some ice in a curve next to a rushing river with no guard rail or shoulder ect. -it was the first time I have ever been happy/excited/thankful to see trees and be thinking and wishing about the prospect to hit them... luckily we didn't hit the trees and instead hit another vehicle. Our CBI bumper saved the 4runner and in the process sliced open the side of their truck like a can-opener. It totalled out their truck, but thankfully didn't hurt anyone, I felt so bad for them but there was nothing either of us could do, they couldn't stop, we couldn't stop I was in their lane, they were in ours it was just a bad situation and we are very blessed the no one ended up in the river. It was right around freezing out and there was snow all over the ground but the road was clear, and had been clear the whole way up to that point. It was in a little swale in a narrow point of the canyon where no sun light hits the road during the winter. Anyhow it was about 5-10° colder in that little section than anywhere else. So while a outside temperature gauge may not have prevented the accident, it could have given me a heads up that their could be ice on the road.

I have searched Amazon and eBay and always been on the lookout for a suitable unit that doesn't look tacky and or ricer or like a gimmick. Well a couple months ago I found one on Amazon and for $12 is decided to take the gamble. I got it but it only came with 6' of lead from the probe to the gauge and wasn't sure if that was going to be long enough. I also wasn't sure if it would be possible to lengthen the lead to the probe without causing issues in the reading, but again for $12 it was worth a shot. 6' of lead really limits the places it and be mounted and honestly I wanted it some place I can see all the time, without having to look her then there then over here and then back to the road... After a bit of looking around I found a spot I thought might work, right inside the gauge cluster. So out came the gauge cluster and apart it came. Very carefully I dismantled the entire thing, pulling the needles, and gauge face, then the the actual mechanisms for the speedometer, odometer, and tachometer. I carefully cut a hole big enough for the probe and the power source to fit through and used some good strong double sided tape to mount the display. This also served as a good time to clean out 20+ years of dust and crap inside the cluster gave everything a good cleaning with windex on a microfiber and once I was happy with how it sat I mounted and reinstalled everything back in the truck, ran my probe out side and mounted it to the underside of my CBI antenna mount. So far it has been working wonderful. And only about 1-2° off of the factory readouts in other vehicles.

I also found out over this last summer that my ARB twin compressor air chuck location is less than ideal, infact when the back of the truck has camping gear and or the dog back their it's almost impossible to access without removing a bunch of stuff, and honestly even on a good day it's a hassle to get to without the back hatch being opened up(what's the point of that super nice and fancy rear window that rolls down if I still have to open the back up to get to it). So I ordered ARBs extension and relocation bracket along with their chuck (included in the relocation bracket). I decided to mount it about half way up the back pillar so when the widow is down it's very easily accessible even with the back full of stuff or the big dog back there. And their quck release chuck is very easily operated one handed!, Major improvement

the great him · 04-02-2020, 08:29 PM

... I love having a plas table at work...

the great him · 04-04-2020, 05:17 PM

Goddammit Carole Baskin...

habanero · 04-04-2020, 06:44 PM

...killed your truck??? Gotta hate the ride of oh no.

What's up? You know, besides the Rescue Runner...

the great him · 04-04-2020, 09:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by habanero

...killed your truck??? Gotta hate the ride of oh no.

What's up? You know, besides the Rescue Runner...

Not a f**kn clue... Just died on me in the parking lot, I suspect a fuel issue, but since it's raining and the Lexus is in the garage I don't have a place to do much till it stops raining... Maybe it's Gods way of saying I'm actually not an essential worker...