aemravan's build thread - project TacoRunner

[aemravan]

well.. looks like my T-case may be coming back out :lookout:



Nothing is broken, but ever since I switched to the proper, thinner gear oil for the case I've noticed a slow drip that is now making it's way onto the driveway.

It's dripping off of the actuator motor corner so it is safe to assume that it's the common failed o-ring seals on the shift forks of the actuator.



In an attempt to keep my underside dry (which seems to be an endless quest, since at some point I'll need to drop the transmission and replace my rear main seal) it's probably best to do this sooner than later. Ideally I also want the current actuator motor to NOT die since it is functional.. though ultimately I still want to try a manual shifter conversion on this case using some cable levers but currently don't have too much time for R&D.. so any sort of life I can extend out of this thing would be ideal.



I've heard and read of various (incorrect) methods of trying to get these things apart to replace the seal, but obviously the only correct way is to drop the case, split it, remove the clips and pull the actuator off. The information that I thought was going to be hard to find was the seal part number since toyota doesn't actually sell these separately. Well.. looks like it's been a pain point long enough to have people actually throwing small seal kits together for these things, and it's actually local to me even though it's sold on Ebay.

 

[aemravan]

Getting freakishly good and quick at pulling the case. This time was probably somewhere in the 40 min range lol. Already cracked open and ready to pull the actuator before the seals arrive tomorrow.

Decided I should have ordered the outpushaft shaft seal to the front driveshaft as well since the flange comes off for the housing removal .. hopefully that gets here before too late this week.

Also figured it’s a good idea to replace the rear seal of the transmission extension housing since it’s open again and I had a little bit of fluid sitting in the case housing.

I’ll see how it all goes .. but so far it’s on the simpler side of things, just annoying to clean out all the oil and get it prepped for the fpg seal. Long story short, kids don’t ever go about the “shortcut” way of taking apart the actuator on the rig. You’ll spend more time messing with it and will just about guarantee that your actuator will never work again.

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[aemravan]

Well.. let’s hope it’s stay working after I throw it back in … lol. I would be absolutely pissed if it ended up taking a crap during this repair.

I will say, the snap rings holding the shift rods in were an absolute *****. But everything is apart and ready to be cleaned up ahead of the seals arriving. Now I just need to figure out where the seal ends and the housing starts so I don’t break anything .. also, judging by the build up of gunk .. I’d say it’s been seeping a while ..

But also after taking a look .. I think the outer leak comes from the larger o ring that around that housing , the smaller ring failures cause oil to get into the housing itself and kill the actuator .. I think ..

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[aemravan]

Well then … this isn’t supposed to..uh .. come out …

Went to flip over the housing and one of the fork shafts plopped right out. Don’t know why or how .. so part comes the housing .. good news is the inside is completely dry .. not a drop of oil. So the 2 small seals haven’t failed yet .. so my suspicion that it’s the larger o ring that causes the outer leak around the actuator.

Took apart the housing and did my best to guess as to how it goes together … a quick test plugging into the car and hitting both 4lo and center diff lock actuated both forks and both lights came on as needed .. time will tell if they’ll actually move as needed connected to the forks but time will tell. I’ll do a dry run when I get the actuator back on before I close up the case.

The small seals are off and ready for the shipment to arrive.

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[aemravan]

Dropping here for future reference. This confirmed to be the transmission outpushaft seal part number I have on hand.

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[aemravan]

We’ll.. got the deals on everything cleaned up . Actuator looks almost new again. Again, bc it was bone dry inside I would wager just about anyone that has an external leak has a failed o ring that’s the larger of the 2 and actually IS available from Toyota. It’s the 2 small ones a part of the housing that are not. You could easily crack open the outer cover to the actuator on the rig and see if you have oil or moisture. Either way, it’s gonna come off to replace .. but yea .. I think the failure mode is the o ring that leaks outside and possibly let’s moisture inside eventually killing the electronics (and I would be it’s the encoder or limit switch , not the actuating motors ).

Waiting for all residual oil to leak out of the front half of the case so it doesn’t get on the fipg when I go to seal it. Also need to plug this in as it sits and see if it still actuated since my rod came out .. seems exactly as it was but time will tell ..

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[aemravan]

Well.. may have dodge a bullet. Plugged it in half taken apart and both forks actuate as needed and don’t fault out. Time to clean everything up and get ready to seal things up.


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[aemravan]

This next part went together way quicker than anticipated. The input shaft has a split bearing that I for sure thought would fall off two or three times .. a little assembly grease kept it together and I got the case on in one shot.

Now fingers crossed it still actuates once it cures and is back in the car [emoji1787]

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[aemravan]

Took a break from the 4runner today to give my brother a hand with his mild supra build.

Spent the day upgrading to a koyo radiator with electric fans and putting in a new flywheel and clutch ahead of the turbo setup going on later this month.

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[rdruss]

Obviously runs in the family .. "Toyota Fever".

 

[Inv4drZm]

Obviously runs in the family .. "Toyota Fever".

Toyota Fever must be contagious lol

Remind me to never mess with my tcase. Looks like a lot of work.

 

[aemravan]

Toyota Fever must be contagious lol

Remind me to never mess with my tcase. Looks like a lot of work.

The case wasn’t as terrible as it looked.. still need to throw it in today but if nothing leaks and still actuates it’s really just a weekend job.

The Toyota fever being contagious is an understatement lol. We are just about 100% Toyota across my immediate family with the exception of my dads work truck and brothers jeep. Other than that I think we’re a little north of 10 Toyotas in the family since 1997.

The two supras go back to the early 2000s.

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[aemravan]

When you go to throw in the tcase back in the rig and find a nice surprise sitting on top of the tool box :lalala::lalala::lalala:

These are the c clips to prevent the shift rods from coming out of the case. I’m sending it without them. They literally cannot go anywhere since on end is pinned with the shift fork and the other in the actuator. Might revisit this wise decision down the road but I really don’t feel like cracking the case open again and putting off a running car another 2 days. Maybe I’m wrong , but I can’t imagine these going anywhere without the clips.

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[rdruss]

Be sure and put them in a little plastic bag and hang on your workshop peg board for future retrieval, just in case!

 

[aemravan]

Be sure and put them in a little plastic bag and hang on your workshop peg board for future retrieval, just in case!

yup.. that's a great idea. Considering the fact I forgot them 2 days into the build, no telling what will happen to them in the next few months/years lol.



On a related note.. not that I think these are the cause, but I seem to have lost the 4lo indicator light on the dash.. I don't know if its a coincidence of the replaced LED burning out (I just had it illuminating 2 days ago), or possibly me damaging the signal wire coming out of the tcase plug (I tugged on it a bit to zip tie it in place and keep it off of the driveshaft, but it was pretty damn snug).

I know the actuator still put its into 4lo, confirmed via motor noise, as well as physically being in low gear. I still get the alarm beeping sound when trying to engage if in gear or moving, so the system definitely works, and I don't see how the clips would be the culprit.. so I may have some troubleshooting to do.. or just let it be.. :noidea: Don't want to take the dash apart because one of my needles is for sure going to break again to verify the led itself.. so maybe I'll start with the wiring first to see if i can get it to light up on a separate bulb before digging into the dash.

 

[4RunnerAquasport]

On a related note.. not that I think these are the cause, but I seem to have lost the 4lo indicator light on the dash.. I don't know if its a coincidence of the replaced LED burning out (I just had it illuminating 2 days ago), or possibly me damaging the signal wire coming out of the tcase plug (I tugged on it a bit to zip tie it in place and keep it off of the driveshaft, but it was pretty damn snug).

I believe both of my indicators were working, so you already have a replacement when and if you might go back in there. The ones on my manual swap are still working fine.
Hopefully you're done messing with that thing for awhile lol.

 

[aemravan]

I believe both of my indicators were working, so you already have a replacement when and if you might go back in there. The ones on my manual swap are still working fine.
Hopefully you're done messing with that thing for awhile lol.

yea, the indicator was perfectly fine, even with my half-tcase test lol. Not sure if this is good or bad.. but this morning it's back to 100% normal and functional on the 4lo indicator light. Made it to the office with no issues, still actuates into both 4lo and center diff lock, and thus far appears to be dry-ish at least.

Hopefully this is it for a little while :flypig:

 

[4RunnerAquasport]

yea, the indicator was perfectly fine, even with my half-tcase test lol. Not sure if this is good or bad.. but this morning it's back to 100% normal and functional on the 4lo indicator light. Made it to the office with no issues, still actuates into both 4lo and center diff lock, and thus far appears to be dry-ish at least.

Hopefully this is it for a little while :flypig:

hmmm maybe just a ground issue with the wiring then?

 

[aemravan]

Spent some time wrenching over the past week.
Glad to report the tcase is still bone dry, still got 4lo and diff lock , but 4 lo indicator is dead. The bulb isn’t the issue. Might troubleshoot some more but as long as it works it doesn’t bother me much.

I developed some horrendous body gaps in the front end that I finally tracked down to some collapsed body mount bushings. Threw in a replacement and reset some spacers to dial everything back in. Not factory spec, but it’s nice.

The next up is tackling the stupid dim headlight output from these eBay lights. I thought about putting in a nice bulb , but decided instead of spending $100 on those , I would give the diode dynamics SS3 pods a try. Apparently these fog light pods are SAE spec with a nice vertical cut off , and I’m hoping will get me some awesome output to compensate for the headlights.

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[daprotege5]

That bumper looks amazing matched to the color of the 4runner. i likey likey. wonder if anyone has painted the hybrid the same color. stuck between which of the two to make, they both look awesome on our trucks.