was having trouble with my rear ARB locker install. Turns out Total Offroad in debuc IA did a really bad job installing the locker.

I was getting a really bad gear winding noise

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjVn9ATpkL8

pulled the 3rd member off and found

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Su4jsEK_1c

so I sent the 3rd member off to east coast gear and they re-did it, very nice job. I will send them my front when I ready to do it next year. so while I waited for that to come back I figured now was the time to pull the rear axle assembly and sand blast and powder coat it.


I also did a new driveshaft from Tom Woods. my old prop shaft double cardon had a bit of play in it. 180K was a good run for it so... the new tom woods is awsome, excellent quality and quick turn around from Tom Woods nothing but good things to say about them.

... pic here andy ...

Nice 4Runner and love your attention to detail! Will be following along

This is a very in depth build. I dig it. I am always impressed at the level of detail that some achieve with their builds. This one looks like it is on track to be one solid vehicle. I listened to the gear whine. For a second there I thought I was listening to the air siren for a WWII German Ju87 Stuka Dive Bomber. Hey, that might actually be fun to have for the commute to work...

Anyway very clean looking build! I look forward to seeing where this takes you.

it's like remodeling the house... do one room the rest looks terrible and then I end up re-doing the entire dam house. honestly not sure if I'm all about the details or if it's just some strange psychological disorder where I just can't stop until it's all new again.

started by pulling all the bushing out



next sand blast and powder coat


comming....

the bearing in my AC cluth assembly was making some jet engine types of noises. bearing was toast toast toast.


got a small pile of parts.


comparison of old and new parts... the old clutch was so worn away I can't even believe it still was working, but it was and making a ton of noise.


ok finally got the stator off what a freaking nightmare that thing is, if the compressor was out lemon squeezy but my god, I think my neck is broken.


and the last item that needs to come off is the little screw holding the wire harness onto the compressor



defeated by 93319-15008 screw, w/washer

given the fact that I'm a complete idiot and can pretty much screw up any thing, I have a large supply of screw extractors and self help books that keep telling me mistakes are OK.



Now I just have to put it back together and hope it all works out, I know it will not but I know some people succeed so maybe it will randomly happen to me?

Toyota Part No.: 76825-35020 PROTECTOR, BACK DOOR OUTSIDE GARNISH

I figured this should be easy right... ha yea right. you have to take the back door 1/2 apart to get at it and loosen it so you can get the new one on. also broke some door clips so had to wait for them, also did some dynamat on the back door wherever I could fit some, the back hatch feels so much more solid now. dynamat is your friend.

the old one was in pretty bad shape, multiple pieces, think the previous owner used chewing gum to stick it back on.


but after messing around getting to the back on the Garnish and replacing it... I can now stop cringing each time I open the back hatch.

Good job on that garnish

Did it come with glue ready to stick on or did you have to glue it on; and if you had to glue it, what did you use?

I'm ready to do this again myself

I should have taken a picture of it before I stuck it on, it came with sticky stuff already on it, just peel and stick.

just getting enough room to get the old gunk off and work with the plastic garnish plate, sucks. I loosened everything enough to get about 1/2" of room behind it. I was amazed I did not break any of the little clips holding the garnish plate on.

Well, the trick is to remove the real license plate bezel from the hatchback, then it's easy Lol

I've taken mine off twice, it's not that bad. The trick is to drop the rear window 2-3" so you can get a wrench on the top bolts that hold the handle, the rest you do with the window closed

Thanks for the info on the garnish, I've added it to my camelback cart

Great stuff so far! I can't wait to see more of this.

have been pulling parts and cleaning gunk off stuff.

thanks to others I decided to use the mustang GT calipers(94-04 Mustang Gt), because of the ebrake provision. I did like the idea of using 4th gen rotors so we will see how that works out. I also need to fabricate some brackets and since I'm using 4th gen rotors I'm guessing these will be one of kind custom jobs.

I decided to collect a bunch of things so I could work in my shop over the winter. it might take a bit to get this working how I would like. unfortunately my mind has the concept of a perfect like factory brake setup, and... well.



first I found a great looking rear axle housing, took it to the coin car wash with a big bottle of dawn dishwahsing soap and some brushy brushy. nice and clean.


Then I pulled a set of axles out of a 2002, pressed everything apart and cleaned them up. I also had a new set of bearings waiting just in case, so now they will get a home. also wire wheeled the bearing cups clean and will put a couple of coats of cold galvanizing paint on them.


next I picked up a set of 4th gen rear rotors and some mustang GT calipers.


test fit... everything fits smooth like baby bottoms. now I just need to paint and put everything back into place.


made some good progress got both axle/seals/bearings/retainers/abs tone rings re-pressed and mounted up


now for the first question will this all fit with my wheels? not a ton of room but it should all fit.

Ok so I think the custom mounting bracket is key. I also spent some time trying to figure out how thick I should make it. there is some pretty substantial maths behind all that safety stuff but I found this little gem out there and needless to say, wow.

https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/cgi/v...ontext=cwu_met

so after reading up on that stuff, I love that kind of stuff.

I came up with a bracket like this... I decided to try it in 1/8" hardboard. hardboard is substantial enough so I could nail down the holes and clearance stuff without having to worry about the template bending.


so I was able to get it mounted with the mustang calipers and I think it's going to work out. Now I just need to make some 3/8" templates, ultimately after reading the safety stuff I'm going with 3/8 1020 steel. I will have to shim on the caliper mounts about 1/8" but that should be pretty easy. I could use some washers but... I'm not super fond of stacks of washers. I have done that kind of thing before and it's usually a pain in the butt if you ever have to take it apart. so my goal is no washers, but I'm sure I will have to shim just a bit to get the caliper centered correctly on the rotor.



Ok finished up the 3/8 A25 steel version of the caliper mounting bracket on both sides. works great. 9/64" centered the ford mustang GT caliper on the 4th gen rotor perfectly.


Now I just need to wire wheel them up and rattle can them, and of course figure out brake lines and eBrake cables.


I quick wire brushed and painted the brackets, also ground out some custom spacers instead of washers. the washer are 4mm thick and kind of round like a washer. I will heat them up and drop them in some oil to give them some protection.

Now that the brackets are set I can do lines.

Started with the 3way and will work out.


picked up 2 new factory lines and will cut them down and re-flare.
driver side

passenger side


custom banjo lines



this little sucker right here is like sweet buttermilk pancakes and fresh Canadian maple syrup after a good night of drinking and a 3 hour nap. what ever order you want it's all good. I will never ever flare another brake line without it again. because she is now all mine. I like tools.


passenger side all hooked up



note: when I re-did my master seals, I noticed Toyota changed the seals, they now only put one, not 2.
you can see the change here in old VS new; old on top, new on bottom. compare and contrast.

the new master works much better than my old one... probably because it's new and the other one was 18 years old and starting to slowly fall apart.

I have been eyeing this thing for a long time now and once it hit $200 on ebay I just tossed my money @ it.

it does go into a 4runner but... of course some modification was needed, because they advertise "direct fit" you know it's not going to be "direct fit"

after running with this for a bit I want to add the radiator works great, I'm pretty critical of the rivnuts they use and the fitment in the video but so far the performance of this radiator is excellent. it does require +1 gallon of coolant. I would do it again but I'm still miffed they advertise direct fitment.