Front end is all back together! Took her for a spin around the neighborhood and the front end is quite tight. No more wandering around down the road. I like.
Before tightening the control arm bolts I jacked that corner of the truck up until it just lifted from the stands. It's my experience that you want those bushings loaded when you tighten everything.
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99blkx, on Flickr
One lesson learned here. You can't get a torque wrench on the rear LCA bolt with the steering rack in place. If I did it again, I'd either buy a 22mm crows foot or leave the rack loose until the LCA's were torqued. Instead I torqued the fronts, then tightened the rears to "about the same."
One more look at that nice rack.
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99blkx, on Flickr
You can see a couple of things here... the paint pen I used to mark the new OTRE's to be about the same length as the old ones. Everyone knows that trick. Also a couple of JIC OH SHIT jack stands under the cross member for working on the truck when one corner is on a jack. The actual stands are further back.
Now for a quick rant about dealers. I got a deal on my steering rack through a friend. As a result, I chose the same dealer for those bolts I needed. It was a $15 lesson learned... heads up to my fellow Seattleites. I paid too much by going to Rodland in Everett.
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99blkx, on Flickr
I also printed a torque spec checklist. This comes in handy when you're going "did I remember to..."
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99blkx, on Flickr
I feel like I have to say my handwriting isn't that bad. The list was hanging on the wall at the back of my workbench when I did my write in, lol.
Looking happy as a clam. And I made a few dollars selling the brush guard.
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99blkx, on Flickr
And parts for the next project came in...
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99blkx, on Flickr
I feel like I got a shipment of drugs in, lol.
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99blkx, on Flickr
And lastly I arranged for a buddy of mine to do my valve cover gaskets. He's done several already and I just don't feel like digging into it myself. For $250 or so labor I'll write the check this one time. Going to call my alignment guy on Monday to get that and mount/balance scheduled.
Now I'm pondering shocks. I don't want to lift it so maybe Bilstein 4600 or the old faithful 5100. At <$100/corner I figure it's a smart choice. If I have time tomorrow I may look at the fog lights. I think the PO butchered the harness for the brush guard lights. Might need to source a couple of plugs and then some amber bulbs.
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1999 4Runner - 4wd - E-Locker - Sport hood - 270k miles and counting - OEM+ ish "build" in progress
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