Brian's Build Journal - All Purpose, Overland/Expedition 4Runner

[tre9er]

Thanks, my wallet hates you, but I have been wondering why I sound like a turbine...

 

[TheFriZ]

Thanks, my wallet hates you, but I have been wondering why I sound like a turbine...

HAHA, you will be GLAD you fixed it though! Amazon has the OEM Aisin part for $96. Better get one while you can!!
Amazon.com: Aisin FCT-013 Engine Cooling Fan Clutch: Automotive

They only have two left. After that, the price may change.

There are a few aftermarket that are cheaper, there are a lot of aftermarket that are actually more expensive (Autozone Torqueflo for example, around $150). Personally, I try to use Genuine Toyota Parts or parts from the manufacturer who made the part for Toyota any chance I can.... Usually, you get by slightly cheaper buying them from the manufacturer; in this case, Amazon has the hook up!

Only took me 15 minutes to install, and that counted taking all of these pictures, videos, AND cleaning my fan up before putting the new fan clutch on it...

 

[tre9er]

I'm going to spin my fan tonight and see if it's similar to yours pre-replacement. Damn, $96? I was hoping it was like, $40...

 

[TheFriZ]

I'm going to spin my fan tonight and see if it's similar to yours pre-replacement. Damn, $96? I was hoping it was like, $40...

I believe Hayden and a few other companies have some that around $50 give or take. .. I usually prefer to try and grab OEM or equivalent, but im sure others do their job just fine

 

[tre9er]

spun mine last night. Definitely doesn't go far before stopping. Probably somewhere in the middle of your two vids. I notice the "roar" is only when I first drive it, cold. After I get up to speed it stops, and after the truck is warm, I don't notice it anymore either, of course I'm not keeping detailed "turbine-noise" logs.

I'm saving for like 100 things, mostly non-Runner related, at the moment, so I'll probably wait on this one. But good to know it's easy to do. Thanks man.

 

[TheFriZ]

spun mine last night. Definitely doesn't go far before stopping. Probably somewhere in the middle of your two vids. I notice the "roar" is only when i first drive it, cold. After I get up to speed it stops, and after the truck is warm, I don't notice it anymore either, of course I'm not keeping detailed "turbine-noise" logs.

I'm saving for like 100 things, mostly non-Runner related, at the moment, so I'll probably wait on this one. But good to know it's easy to do. Thanks man.

Sounds like yours is basically functioning correctly. They are supposed to be loud at startup, then they get quieter. It takes mine about 20sec at first, cold startup to get quiet.

 

[TheFriZ]

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-g...some-vibes-i-dont-mean-good-vibrations-d.html

This is my thread about chasing driveline vibes down. I could REALLY use some suggestions.

 

[TheFriZ]

update, well, im still trying to chase down some vibes, but they seem to be subsiding a bit...

The wife and I drove the 4Runner to the Red Bull Global Rally Cross event in Charlotte last weekend and I got a solid 21mpg on the trip. I was ecstatic over that!

 

[TheFriZ]

Treated the 4runner to an oil change today, OEM filter and some Synthetic Blend. I also installed some TRD decals a few days ago. I made them myself (I run a small vinyl business) so I really just did it for the "hey, I wonder how this would turn out" factor... I like them so far though!

 

[TheFriZ]

Well, Long time, no update

I installed some Infinity Kappa 60.11cs Components in the front of the 4runner
I have some Infinity Kappa 52.9i components waiting to go in the rear, I ordered some adapters from MJM (car-speaker-adapters) but they never came, so im waiting for a chance to make my own. )
I also installed a 4 channel Alpine Amplifier and a Kenwood DDX896 headunit with a built in 24 bit digital sound processor.

The big news is though, my new OEM Toyota Steering rack was garbage... had to file a warranty claim.. get a new one.... I finished installing it, but Im a bit low on funds at the moment, so the truck is waiting to get another fresh alignment. The old, new rack had a clunk develop in the guide bushing area after only ONE MONTH!!! I was pretty ticked that the dealer wouldn't do the installation at that point as well, considering the faulty Toyota part was going to cost me another alignment and some more fluid... trivial, sure.. but $80 for something that was their fault really ticked me off..... not to mention the 4 35 minute trips I had to make running back and forth to the dealer......

 

[TheFriZ]

OK, sooo
This is a copy and paste from another thread I have.... I NEED this wobble fixed!!!

I'm trying to chase down some vibrations I am feeling. I feel them underneath the truck at speeds from 55mph up in to the 70's... Nothing crazy, just a nice, tight vibration.

At first thought, I thought of the Rear Driveshaft, because that is what it felt like. I crawled under the truck with my trusty Lincoln Grease Gun and gave the rear driveshaft a wiggle. I could feel a slight bit of play at the Slip Joint. I put some grease in the slip joint until I could see the driveshaft bump with a pump from the grease gun. I went ahead and gave the Double Cardan Joint a few shots of grease as well in each of the two U-Joints. I also went ahead and greased the Slip Joint on the Front Driveshaft while I was down there.

Test Drive: there was an ever so slight improvement, but the vibes were still there.

On to the next possibilities. As some of you guys know, when I first bought the truck, the steering was all jacked up and the front shocks were blown. The steering rack had a lot of play in it. Well, now I have replaced the steering rack, Lower Ball Joints, Shocks, etc... I got the truck aligned afterwards. When I first drove it, I could feel a lot of vibes in my steering wheel.
Well, I could see some inside camber wear on the front tires, which are pretty damn new, Goodyear Tracker 2's. So, after it was aligned and all fixed up, I rotated the front tires to the back(on the same side they were on). This cleaned up the steering wheel vibes.

So, now I'm thinking it could be the tires. Obviously, they need to be rebalanced; One, because tires obviously need to be rebalanced every so often, Two, because I have no idea who balanced them before, and Three, because I feel that the wear on the front(now the back) tires could have worn them out of balance.

However, what makes me think that it isn't the tires is that it only comes around after I get above 55-60mph... I would think that I would feel the vibrations more often if it was tire related. I guess if it is tires, once you are going that speed, the tires change shape from which they are when you are only going 25-30mph....

If it's not tires, Do 4Runners have any idiosyncratic little things that cause vibrations? Going back to my Jeep days, there were lots of things that could change ever so slightly and you would get Death wobble in your steering, or you would get rear driveshaft vibes... Hell, my rear leafs sagged over time and ultimately a change in 1/4 inch height gave me rear d/s vibes.....

I did put 1.5" rear spacers and 1" spacers on the truck when I put new shocks on it.

Being that it is a linked suspension and not leaf sprung, this usually accounts for driveshaft angle in the arc of the suspension, so I wouldn't think it would be rear pinion angle. Obviously the front 3rd member doesn't move with a lift, so the front pinion angle wouldn't be suspect. Would a 1" lift bring vibes to the front C/V axles?

I wouldn't think the c/vs would be the problem really.. Or else I would feel it more I would think...

Its not really vibes so much as a steering shimmy from 55-75....

I have
NEW OEM Toyota Steering Rack
NEW OEM Toyota Lower Ball Joints
Newish Outer Tie Rod Ends....

The new rack obviously has new OEM Rubber bushings in it... On the passenger side wrap around bushing ive tried the OEM rubber and a Poly bushing.. but it has made no difference...

The Outer Rod ends look OEM, they are definitely fresh.. But they could be parts store rebuilt units I suppose... Id hate to change them for no reason though...

My Upper Ball joints seem to be good, no grease squirting out... no play in them

My wheel bearings seem to be good. Absolutely no play in them... No bearing roar typical of when a bearing starts to go bad...

I do have some bad sway bar bushings that are clunking... but that shouldn't affect the steering... just sway/lean...

My Rag Joint, the little rubber joint/bushing between the steering rack and the steering is cracked and could use a replacement... I really wouldn't think that would be the cause though....


This thread hasn't gotten much attention, Does anyone have any ideas????? do 4runners have any common causes for this????

Original thread here
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-g...some-vibes-i-dont-mean-good-vibrations-d.html

 

[geohil]

Had something similar and it turned out to be a lower control arm bushing in the front end. The offending bushing was still stiff enough to hold the a-arm still at slow speeds, but on the highway it would jump around causing some wobbles.

They are a bit tough to diagnose without pulling the damn arms off. You can put the truck using jackstands on the frame then try and move the tire laterally. Have someone watch to see if they move, but this is a tough maneuver. I ended up replacing all my control arm bushings when I did one just to be safe.

 

[TheFriZ]

Had something similar and it turned out to be a lower control arm bushing in the front end. The offending bushing was still stiff enough to hold the a-arm still at slow speeds, but on the highway it would jump around causing some wobbles.

They are a bit tough to diagnose without pulling the damn arms off. You can put the truck using jackstands on the frame then try and move the tire laterally. Have someone watch to see if they move, but this is a tough maneuver. I ended up replacing all my control arm bushings when I did one just to be safe.

so yours didn't wobble until around 50mph or so?? mine seems to clear up above 75 or 80... how bad was it to change you lower control arm bushings? press in and out?

 

[Srabai]

When I first bought my truck I had the same vibrations from 55 to 75 mph. I threw on new quick struts, lower ball joints and outer tie rod ends and got it aligned. That fixed the shimmy perfectly but I don't know what the culprit was. I just read your build thread and saw you have new struts, lower ball joints and the tie rods look good so I'm not sure on yours. Let us know when you figure it out. Nice build by the way. That Land Cruiser is beautiful too.

 

[geohil]

Lower control arm bushings can be pressed out with a bottle jack after a bit of heating. Not a bad job. A ball joint press works well to press them back in. $100 and a couple hours. That's where I would start. Someone on here did a write-up on it that helped me a lot.

 

[geohil]

Uppers its easer to just replace the a-arm. Good chance to go uni-ball.

 

[TheFriZ]

Uppers its easer to just replace the a-arm. Good chance to go uni-ball.

What's the benefit of going Uniball?

Are uppers common to have the bushings go bad?

 

[geohil]

The advantage of going uniball is better adjustability for alignment. With our trucks when we get 3 inches plus of suspension lift we start to run out of caster/camber adjustment. The uniball type UCA takes care of that.

The uppers do fail - but for some reason not as soon as the lowers. Start there - minimum financial investment AND is probably something that should be part of any front end refresh. I just went with NAPA ones and they seem to be working great.

 

[TheFriZ]

Well, I was able to get my truck on a lift.

I tried to pry and pry on the lower control arms, and visually inspected them. I couldn't get any movement up/down or in/out... They seemed tight. Visually, I couldn't see any cracking or anything on them. The only movement I could get out of them was prying them front/back, like along the axis of the bolt... Which, I would expect that movement, right?

I still hear a slight pop in the steering rack, but im starting to assume that this is just the sound they make?? the pop occurs when you are changing over left to right or vice-versa. Normal? I sure hope so, this is my second NEW OEM steering rack in a few months...


I did notice, having someone rock wheels side to side, that I could only make the noise above happen from the drivers side wheel, if done from the passenger side, it wouldn't be audible. But im 99% its coming from the rack, and not the OTR... Its the second rack from Toyota I have put in because the first rack developed a popping.

Again, while having someone rock the wheels side to side, I could see a LOT of movement coming from my steering rack, even on brand new fresh rubber bushings. While someone rocked the wheel back and forth, the rack definitely rocked with it.

Im going to install the whole ES poly steering rack bushing kit and see what I get out of it...

I wonder if that rack movement could be enough to give me the shakes at high speeds?