A Weekend of Wrenching (plus I HATE rust)

[Double0-12]

Hey, man - Hello from sunny Omaha! Not too many of us round here. Pretty difficult to find trucks around here without much rust. I've gotten lucky a few times. If you do need to use a shop, I highly recommend calling Ryan over at Toyotechs. Him and his buddy only do Toyota/Lexus. They're awesome. They're on 102nd and L Street. I can usually handle most stuff on my 4Runners but sometimes it's easier to just have someone else do it.

Any chance you were driving north on 132nd around 745 last night?

 

[afg10000]

Nope. Not me. Didn't even leave the house yesterday.

 

[Mudeprived]

Make sure you put everything back together with anti-seize. It even works as a torque lube so important bolts like on your calipers wont come loose.

Finesse works better than brute force other wise you'll be snapping bolts. Put away the impact & break out the penatrant & 1/2" breaker bar. I've found that tapping on the breaker bar with a rubber mallet works much better than brute force.

That price is crazy for the rear brakes, I understand you were frustrated but you have to walk away for a bit & come back later. You can do both sides yourself for around $200.

I busted a wheel stud the other day on my Limited, I was pissed. I didn't want to deal with it & was gonna drop it off at a mech the next morning. I figured it would be around $200 for him to drill it out & put in a new one. I slept on it & the next day I said f#ck that! I bought a new DeWalt 20V 1/2" cordless, titanium drill bits & some washers. I drilled it out & put in the new stud in around 2hrs. I saved $100 & have a nice new bad ass drill.
(my 3 old corded drills dont have the torque for hardened steel & would have made the job a nightmare)

I prefer to use the impact on rusty fasteners. I have used my impact to remove every rusty bolt since I got it in 2009 and have only broken two. They were both on a rusty Cherokee. The key is using finesse with the impact. You can lightly tap the trigger to tighten and loosen a few times till it breaks free. Just holding down the trigger to loosen will snap it, aka brute force, like you said.

I broke so many bolts prior to buying that $50 HF impact and hardly ever use a ratcheting wrench or breaker bar anymore.

The most recent were the upper rear shock bolts on the Cherokee. If anyone wrenches on Jeeps then they know or heard of the trouble of them snapping. My were so rusted that the heads were no longer hex shaped. I had to use locking sockets on them and got all four out with the impact (no penetrant). They were were so bad that the neck of the bolts were skinny from rusting away.

However i do use Kroil on almost everything which plays a huge role in removing those corroded bolts.

 

[Scramble]

DUDE, why did you drill it out? You could have just hammered it out with a cold chisel lol they will fall right out with one or two whacks. You make a great point on justifying tool purchases though. I try to explain that to my girlfriend every time I buy a new tool! She doesn't get it.

I hear you but the wheel & lug nut were still on. I had to drill through the lug nut with a 1/2" bit to destroy the threads on the lug nut.

 

[m0ist]

I hear you but the wheel & lug nut were still on. I had to drill through the lug nut with a 1/2" bit to destroy the threads on the lug nut.

Oh I gotcha, your stud was spinning with the nut. I thought you snapped your stud, and made more work for yourself lol :doh:

 

[Scramble]

Oh I gotcha, your stud was spinning with the nut. I thought you snapped your stud, and made more work for yourself lol :doh:

LOL, I'm dumb but not that dumb! :tea:

 

[Scramble]

LOL, I'm dumb but not that dumb! :tea:

New drill & bit made it almost too easy.

 

[Scramble]

Some people like to point the finger at Toyota for not properly rust-proofing their frames. But, like I mentioned in this discussion in another thread, what about all the other parts that get rusted to shit due to cities, counties and states using road salt to de-ice the roadways?

OP, sorry your wrenching experience wasn't as enjoyable as it could be. If I lived in one of the rust belts of the country, I would have never started a YouTube channel with [MENTION=102606]infamousRNR[/MENTION] working on these rigs. It would be too frustrating fighting frozen fasteners that break or strip while you're trying to get a simple operation accomplished.

People marvel all the time how non-rusty our California Bay Area rigs are. No Road Salts = A Non-Rusty 4runner, unless you live near the coast and then the salt air can start to do a number on your rig.

Trucks rust in the North East? Where?:guitar3:

 

[Horsethief]

I prefer to use the impact on rusty fasteners. I have used my impact to remove every rusty bolt since I got it in 2009 and have only broken two. They were both on a rusty Cherokee. The key is using finesse with the impact. You can lightly tap the trigger to tighten and loosen a few times till it breaks free. Just holding down the trigger to loosen will snap it, aka brute force, like you said.

I broke so many bolts prior to buying that $50 HF impact and hardly ever use a ratcheting wrench or breaker bar anymore.

The most recent were the upper rear shock bolts on the Cherokee. If anyone wrenches on Jeeps then they know or heard of the trouble of them snapping. My were so rusted that the heads were no longer hex shaped. I had to use locking sockets on them and got all four out with the impact (no penetrant). They were were so bad that the neck of the bolts were skinny from rusting away.

However i do use Kroil on almost everything which plays a huge role in removing those corroded bolts.

Yup! I had a 97 Grand Cherokee. When working on it back in 2010-ish, I snapped the lower shock bolts (by standing on my HF 21" breaker bar) and one of the upper bolts. Not sure how they are on the XJ, but on the ZJ they're studs mounted to the body. I broke one of them right off, luckily there was just enough stud left to hold the shock eye, I had my uncle weld a big washer to the end of the stud to hold the shock on.

 

[mtbtim]

Trucks rust in the North East? Where?:guitar3:

How do you keep it so rust-free in that commie liberal state of yours? I can say that because I live in a commie liberal state too. The People's Republic of California.

 

[Scramble]

How do you keep it so rust-free in that commie liberal state of yours? I can say that because I live in a commie liberal state too. The People's Republic of California.

haha, many hours of (not fun) sanding & painting. If i didnt love my house & job I'd move to a nice conservative state. Truth be told though, upstate NY is very conservative.

Edit: oh and that axle housing is from Virginia LOL

 

[rallypoint_1]

How do you keep it so rust-free in that commie liberal state of yours? I can say that because I live in a commie liberal state too. The People's Republic of California.

Tim should really know. He lives in the commie liberal mother ship of California....NorCal.LOL

 

[Mark_BC]

We should be thankful we aren't driving through sulphuric acid.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/trail-spill-write-offs-1.4813610

 

[Double0-12]

After the alignment and garage clean up, it is SO satisfying to drive my 4Runner around! It tracks perfectly straight, the new suspension makes the ride amazingly comfortable, when combined with the new brakes make it seem like a new car. Though I had nothing to do with it, the engine is so smooth. It idles around 600 RPM and is smoother than my 2011 Buick LaCrosse. Thanks for being a part of such a great site!