185Runner Build

[185Runner]

LBJs, OTRE, ITRE, Steering rack bushings

I didn't take any pictures of doing this. Sorry. I have been gathering parts for some time as money permitted. Also after hitting MOAB i realized that the rack bushings needed to be addressed. I decided that I had the time to tackle the project over the long weekend. The first night was horrible trying to figure out where exactly to start. So I attacked with no plan and made progress almost completely come to a halt. The upside of this is that I learned a few tricks when I started on the drivers side.
1) Loosen everything you are going to take off before taking anything off.
2) if you know how to do it the inner bellows clamps are easy to use, do not use lineman pliers. They don't open wide enough and you may end up with TWO blood blisters on your hand.

Other than that use red loctite (I know most say blue, but I do not want these to come off so why make it easier if you have the means) on the NEW LBJ bolts and torque to 59 ft/lbs

The steering rack bushing were a bear and a half. What should have been an hour turned into twice that and then a bit. Usually pretty straight forward or so I thought.
1) Remove the front sway bar. Even with it out, it can suck to get to the top bolt of the center bushing.
2)The center bushing is removed by the top 19mm bolt NOT the bottom even though a 22mm socket will fit nice and snug.
3) And I only found this by accident on a youtube video, never once was it mentioned anywhere in any "guide". There is a bolt on the drivers side frame that hold the power steering lines insulated by the frame. Remove this bolt and you can move the rack just enough to get the drivers side bushing out much easier.

Just my .02, I will add some pictures as I have the opportunity to take them this weekend.

 

[185Runner]

2/2/2017

I was getting super tired of flickering blue LEDs. PO must have used cheap bulbs. Also I had an intermittent turn indicator. So I decided to tear the dash apart and figure out what the crap was going on.

Here is the damage. Apparently someone over torqued the bulb in the indicator and broke the plastic. So a new case was in order. I checked camelback and it was $80, naturally I checked eBay next. Found one with free shipping for $60. SOLD!



Took the gauge faces off.



Then removed all the bulbs so I could remove the circuit board.


Very gently and very slowly took off the board. It's only held on by pressure so take your time! Also gave everything a good scrubbing.



Next I moved reassembly. Pretty simple. Decided since I have read that LEDs are usually one directional I didn't tighten anything until it was 100% tested. Very glad I did this since only one back light worked. Now everything is nice and bright and working. Although the new bulbs have a bit of a purple hue. Meh won't bother me! I'm happy I don't have flickering bulbs.

 

[185Runner]

2/11/17

Fuel Filter replacement time

One of the items I have been wanting to get done since I bought my runner and just haven't have time to get to it. I have read a bunch on people having issues with not getting the filter to set properly and I also had an issue with this.

My flares seemed to have some paint flaking off so I rubbed it off and used a brass brush on it to make sure that it would be as good a seal as possible. I also brushed the threads to make sure everything was nice and clean. After reading several threads that had a similar leaking issue I decided to mount the forward line first. Then I set the mount onto the posts and loosely put the nuts on. Finally I set the rear line and tightened the mounts. I would also like to add that at first I was unable thread the front threads easily, on the second go round that I have described here I was able to able to tighten it all the way down with just my fingers and then snug it with a 14mm wrench. Fired her up and I noticed my idle is slightly lower as well. As you can see by the picture below the fuel was fairly dirty and it was probably well past due for a changing.

 

[seanpistol]

Wow, that fuel is dirty. Nice work.

What's next?

 

[185Runner]

Wow, that fuel is dirty. Nice work.



What's next?

Plugs and wires. Also drive belts.

 

[185Runner]

2/18/2017

238675 mi

Spark Plug Time!

Been on my list for a while and just needed to find an good hour to get it done. Since I've got a long weekend I was able to do it.

I bought NGK items as I have had great success with them in my Subaru and my Yamaha XV500K.

Bought the double ground NGK BKR5EKPB-11 (4302) and the NGK 4412 wires to match. Install went very easily as expected. Hardest part was moving the hose that is on the back of the support on the drivers side so I could get the boot and tools in and out of the #6 cylinder.

I also took the time to re-clean the MAF and pull the EFI fuse so as to reset everything.

Yesterday I also finished rerouting my CB cable so it is no longer showing inside the cab. Ran it in through the grommet behind the rear tail light. Have had it loosely that way for a while so I know there are no leaks coming in.







And this is a great reference to save for future use. Thanks [MENTION=43936]zcruiser[/MENTION].

 

[185Runner]

3/23/2017
Drive Belts & Breather

Today I had some time, so I got some stuff done. Started with my rear diff breather. I used the same guide as most of us do, 4Runners.org - Type R Rear Differential
The only difference is that I didn't have an exacto knife, easy fix, just used an under sized drill bit and made it just barely big enough to squeeze the line through. It worked just fine for me. Excited to finally have this done.








In the process I accidentally broke the spring off this little guy. Shut the door and took 10 minutes to get it back open again. I epoxied it back together and ordered one, so hopefully that gets here soon.



Then moved onto the next task of changing the drive belts. Not too bad once I figured out where everything was at. I used https://www.yotatech.com/f2/how-change-drive-belts-3-4-l-5vz-fe-216234/ as my guide. Although for the life of me I have no idea why you would remove the fan.... Just feed the belt around it.... Super simple.... I didn't take any pictures because I figured the guide is good enough. 12/14mm gear wrenches are enormously useful. If you do not have them Invest in them now! INVEST!

 

[185Runner]

Stereo installs gone wrong....

Opened up the dash to this. Who cuts up a perfectly good harness to twist wires together and secure with tape......... Such an idiotic and unsafe to do things



Not to worry I am handy with a striper (didn't cost me any singles) and used some splices and bam. Back together.



Thank you Lowes and your auto strippers

 

[185Runner]

For anyone who follows my thread. Its been an interesting year. I haven't been half as good at recording my maintenance as I would like.

That being said....

Way back in August I rebuilt the front suspension. It was getting sloppy and I went for an inexpensive rebuild. I just bought poly bushings from Energy Suspension kit 8.3115G. I also bought two brand new Toyota OEM upper ball joints and replaced them as well.

I didn't take a lot of pictures as there are a million write ups on how to do it. I do recommend A LOT of heat to remove the rubber. Using this method I didn't need a burr tool to remove the rubber. It took longer, but the metal retained its shape and it wasn't marred in any way. I also used all the grease that I had even though it was being pushed out when I was reassembling.

The passenger side was rusting so I had to replace the cam adjusters. I ordered the kit from Wheeler's OffRoad, LR 25430. Made the reassembly very easy.

Anyway if you have questions I will do my best to remember. I have also been deployed since then so I have literally been around the world.

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Here is how I hold my brakes so I can take my spacers off by myself.
That board is also used to help put diesel in my old truck. I have to trickle it in without it.
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Before & After
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Desperate need for an alignment.
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[185Runner]

HID Retrofits

I have been wanting to do this for so long. I was going to do it on my Subaru, but never got around to it. The lights on this rig are absolute garbage. GARBAGE! Here is my evidence.
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Garbage. I did my research. Years of it. I decided to go with the Morimoto D2S, 35W ballast, 5500K bulbs, Panarama Switchback Shrouds.

I opened them up at 250* for 8 min. Lightly sanded for good mechanical adhesion and then primed.
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It took me a long time to decide what color to paint the housing. I decided to go with gunmetal. My grille and wheels are gunmetal and though it would be a nice off set to the black bumper and lower panels.
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While we waited for the paint to dry and baking the glass back on I started on the assembly of the harness and pieces. Wouldn't you know it. The harness was about 6" too short.
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Since it's only one wire I soldiered in 10" to hide the wire out of the way. Made sure to shrink wrap the soldier to make sure it was water proof.
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Here is a test fit. Just loose to see how awesome it will be.
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Just in case anyone was wondering, Here is how much I had to trim so that it would fit nicely.
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Installed
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First Light! And God said "Let there be light, and there was light"
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Together!
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Here is the After shot. It is in the same place as the Garbage pic up above. Two days later. Same time of day.
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So far this is probably to most practical $400 I have ever spent on a vehicle.

 

[185Runner]

231 TBU

Finally got around to doing this. I have been wanting to do this since I bought the Runner. The rotors were warped anyway. Now the passenger caliper started to stick about a month ago. So I bought Junk Yard calipers to save some money. And bought Toyota Part 04479-60081, It has everything you need to rebuild two calipers. Perfect. I wired wheeled them down (mostly grime) and junk yard indicating paint. I didn't want anything fancy so flat (high heat) paint was all I need and had on hand. I also replaced the old cracking rubber brake lines with Stop tech 95044007 stainless steel braided lines (very pretty). Other than that it was a straight forward brake job. Nothing fancy. I did bleed the brakes by myself. WHAT!!!! Yes it can be done. It's all based on science. The whole system can be bled with one large bottle of brake fluid. My fluid was also super dirty so you can see it went from very dark/yellow to clear. I was surprised how fast it went. It's been a long time since I bled brakes.

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4Runner
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231 TBU
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In this picture you can see Science in action. I removed as much fluid as I could from the master cylinder and replaced it with new fluid so as to not push dirty fluid into the system. I put the dirty fluid into my brake fluid catch can aka poweraid bottle. I drilled a hole into the lid and ran a clear hose from the bleeder into the fluid at the bottom of the bottle. This creates a sort of vacuum as you can push fluid and the air into the bottle, but since there is fluid at the bottom as well new air cannot enter the system from the bottom. Fluid can only be pushed out. It's awesome and wonderful. Two people no longer required. Just open and make sure the the fluid doesn't go below MIN. Usually 15-18 pumps should be safe, as long as it's over filled.
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Dirty. Much worse in person.
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And clear.
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AND YES my split spoke 16" factory rims do fit. Go back to duratrak install post, I'm running 1.5" spacers.