Good reminder! I forgot to put the two fittings on the OEM parts orders I just made. The stock breather is/was good on my housing (I did check and clean it when I put in the 4.1 rear diff), but I might as well have everything up a ways...

-Charlie

The less important half of my OEM parts order came in yesterday, so I installed a few quick and easy things...

First, a new visor clip. This is the second one to break on me since getting the truck. I'm beginning to think my wife likes breaking visor related parts on vehicles, but maybe she just uses them more often because she is short! She's on the 4th driver's visor and 2nd passenger visor in her '08 Mini...



Also figured it was time to do the PCV valve, grommet and hose. There was a bit of dirty film around the PCV valve and the parts are cheap. The valve I removed still had the right sound, but it did look old. It is always fun to dig out grommet bits from inside the valve cover - at least there is a shield there to hold the parts before it gets to the cam/lifters.



The rest of that parts order is everything needed to rebuild the rear axles (seals, bearings, retainers, etc, along with the larger 16" wheel brake cylinders). Those will be another time, when I have access to a press at my buddy's house.

-Charlie

I had a little while to work on the 4Runner over the weekend.

First, who has front doors that don't hold themselves open? The little holder-opener-thing is called a Door Check by Toyota. I replaced the front two this weekend. Not a very difficult process, though I had to do some repair to both front door cards where some clips were disconnecting themselves from the cards.







I also got the first bit of wiring for the 4WD system done. These are the wires that run the ADD VSV's. Just two power wires and a ground that connects to the driver's fender. The two wires that run into the cab are there in the dash harness, so all I had to do was clip them into the engine bay side of the plug under the dash after getting them in to the cab through the grommet.



You can just barely see them going to the back side of the large plug above my hand:



I still have to connect up the transfer case position indicator switches and the ADD position switch. I have to pull apart that side of the dash to see what wiring is already there to decide my plan of attack there. I also have to put in a few bulbs for the 4WD light and ATP light.

-Charlie

Just an FYI and I know you live in California but if you feel wet/dampness on your drivers side carpet, it's coming from that grommet that you put a new wire through. My wire for my subwoofer is ran through there and after a couple of days of rain, water seeped through and my carpet was soaked. Highly recommend you put some sort of sealant there.

Interesting. I wouldn't have guessed it gets wet there with normal rains, etc. (power washing the engine bay, on the other hand...) I'll keep an eye out for it. At least it is an easy fix, even if I have to move the charcoal canister to get to it.

-Charlie

The 4WD swap is officially completed!

First, the boring stuff. The transfer case shifter seat was pretty much dust, so I replaced it with a Marlin Crawler blue shift seat:





The only challenge there is getting the snap ring back in place. Finding the right combination of downward pressure and force in the snap ring is a tough.

I got the rest of the harness put together (was cut by the guy that I bought the parts truck from) and loomed. This covers the 3 switches on the transfer case and the ADD indicator switch:



Then pull the glove compartment out to get to the ECU and pull the harness:



Then plug in and run the harness as close as I could to the stock harness:





Then it is down to figuring out which wires need to go where. About half of the wires needed to be 'adjusted' with different ends because Toyota changed where in the connectors the wires went (big terminals for small terminals, etc.). Many of the wire colors also changed, which required a lot of cross referencing between diagrams. All of the wiring for manual transfer case was already under the dash (ADD relay plug, all the wires at the gauge cluster). I did pull the cluster to put in a few bulbs and replace the burned out "D" bulb...

It actually rained in Southern California, so I was even able to test it a bit on the street without stressing the drivetrain too much...

All the lights work (well, both the lights) - including the A/T P light, which you really should never see...



The truck is about to roll over 270k miles, which means engine maintenance is up next (timing belt, water pump, radiator, etc.). Or maybe suspension...

-Charlie

Very awesome! Glad you get to check that off your list. Now you just get to go use it!

I think I might be doing my first actual offloading tonight. Wish the running boards good luck.

Oh, and crazy thought for the day. Or week: 2jz-gte and FJ cruise full-time transfer case behind the auto. I know it can be done. That'll be down the road, but it may happen (I've done crazier swaps - see my signature...).

-Charlie

Had a successful first trip out with the 4Runner. Went on an easy trail, got to watch some other better built rigs (3rd+4th gen 4Runners, 2nd gen Taco) do some crazy (to me) stuff on some little side sections. Then got to watch the '06 Silverado in the group break an inner tie rod... and that cut the rest of the trip short.

In my 4Runner news, I swapped the rear upper links to the 4WD parts. Turns out they are ~1/2" longer for a different pinion angle due to the different driveshaft style. Blasted and painted, because... well, why not?







-Charlie

Great work getting the job done, my friend!

Welcome to the 4WD conversion club

Hey, I have 1997 4runner 3.4 2wd that I will be converting to 4wd soon. I got all the parts needed. Sent you a PM.

Answering soon.

As for my 4Runner... I'm in the middle of a timing belt + valve cover gasket + intake mods session. It'll take a bit of time to get it all done. I also got SR5 skinny flares on, will update with pics at some point...

-Charlie

First proof that I can't get an oil change right...



Another skid plate covering oil slick... ugh.

Next, lubed up the rear driveshaft. I had been getting some sticking of the slip yoke, not bad enough for a clunk, but bad enough that the wife noticed it. I used Ford XG8 grease on the slip yoke and it is much better. I'll probably have to do another round of cleaning and greasing later.



Next up, skinny flares! Cleaned them up really well, scrubbed with a Mr. Clean magic eraser on all the exterior surfaces too. Both rear mud flaps were coming apart a bit, so I reinforced them with a little bit of aluminum angle and rivets. One of the running board pieces also needed a little repair on one of the mounting studs too. Since my 4Runner was flare-free from the factory, I had to drill the mounting locations on the rear fender lip. Everything else is pretty straightforward as long as you have all the clips, etc. I still need to take pictures of it all finished, and I still need to clean up the rest of the black plastic on the truck, then hit it all with the heat gun to bring it back to black semi-permanently.













That pretty much covers the last couple months. Once the maintenance stuff is done, it'll be time for the rear axle seals, then steering rack and suspension.

-Charlie

Damn, we are neighbors.

Big round of maintenance time!

Timing belt, tensioner, pulleys, water pump, thermostat, valve cover gaskets, radiator and radiator hoses. I also did the deck plate mod and Airaid ISR while I was in there.

Starting off, making room:







Looks decent under there, no major leaks under the cover. Based on what I see and the records I got from my Dad and Sister, the last time the belt was done was at 84k miles, the truck has 272k on it now... So, fun times.

Looks like there was issues replacing the tensioner previously. One wrong bolt was on there:



I just took my time and removed the AC compressor and bracket. I don't have any 1/4" extensions to get up in there...



New water pump and thermostat in place, jiggle valve at 6 o'clock!



I got cam and crank seals, just in case. I only did the cam seals as the crank seal wasn't leaking. The cam seals are easy if the valve cover is off...



Valve covers off! It looked way better than expected under there. Remember, 272k miles! Half-moons reseals, rear plugs replaced, new gaskets, new cam seals. Should be good for a while.





Old spark plugs out. They all look pretty even for wear and ready to be replaced:



Modified intake back in place:



And pretty much all done. Just waiting on about 1 gallon of distilled water and the battery.



Everything is good. Temps right at 186-188*F, no leaks as far as I can tell. Engine running good as ever.

-Charlie