GeoRoss' 1986 4Runner

[joeynational]

Does the wire run from sender straight to the gauge cluster? If so it absolutely should have continuity..my gauge is also in-op im gonna check my worrying as well before i but a sender they are not too cheap

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[89FourRunner]

Ive always reused my ubolts. Its whatever lol. Cheap U bolts will stretch and stretch but decent ones should be able to gdt torqued to spec easily more than once.

 

[GeoRoss]

Does the wire run from sender straight to the gauge cluster? If so it absolutely should have continuity..my gauge is also in-op im gonna check my worrying as well before i but a sender they are not too cheap

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I tested the wiring and there is continuity, just 1 Ohm of resistance which may be a consequence of my chain of alligator clips.

I retested the two oil senders that I have. Both pass the FSM test. I don't know why the one failed earlier.

I retested the two oil pressure gauges that I have. Both fail the first FSM test. With the ignition on, the oil post on the gauge should be ~4.5V. Both of mine are at 12.4V. They both have the correct resistance of 44 ohms.

Sooooo, all that fretting to find out I have bum oil pressure gauges. I hope the guy I bought the second cluster from gives me a refund.

 

[GeoRoss]

I went with the medium duty OME rear leafs, OME bushings and stock shackles. I had planned to remove a leaf. However, all the main leaves are riveted to leaf retain clips. I could have drilled one out but then I would have to put in another retaining clip. I didn't have the time or patience to do that. I could have removed the overload leaf, but that would have just lowered me down the thickness of that leaf for all practical purposes. If any of this is incorrect let me know. I decided to just put them in and see what it looks like.

This is what it looked like driving home lightly loaded.

Right after adding the lift.

I added ~550 lbs of pavers to help break in the springs. It only lowered it about an inch.

If they settle down to that height I'll be very happy. I can adjust the torsion bars to level it out a little. I don't want to roughen the ride so this 4runner will have a rake for the foreseeable future. I need to look into the LSPV adjustment. Braking was bit weak, but some of that is all that weight.

I also wish I had the time to swap the springs this past winter/spring. It was a bit warm.

 

[89FourRunner]

I went with the medium duty OME rear leafs, OME bushings and stock shackles. I had planned to remove a leaf. However, all the main leaves are riveted to leaf retain clips. I could have drilled one out but then I would have to put in another retaining clip. I didn't have the time or patience to do that. I could have removed the overload leaf, but that would have just lowered me down the thickness of that leaf for all practical purposes. If any of this is incorrect let me know. I decided to just put them in and see what it looks like.

This is what it looked like driving home lightly loaded.

Right after adding the lift.

I added ~550 lbs of pavers to help break in the springs. It only lowered it about an inch.

If they settle down to that height I'll be very happy. I can adjust the torsion bars to level it out a little. I don't want to roughen the ride so this 4runner will have a rake for the foreseeable future. I need to look into the LSPV adjustment. Braking was bit weak, but some of that is all that weight.

I also wish I had the time to swap the springs this past winter/spring. It was a bit warm.

Dont adjust the brake valve, simply make a bracket for where it mounts on the axle for the ammount of lift you gained. So a 3" bracket or whatever, out of plate steel. Thats how the lift kits do it.

You can definately adjust your torsion bars, but do not exceed 14" from rim top to fender lip. That height, which is about half an inch above stock can be run forever with no increased wear and tear, you may even prefer the ride lol. Anything beyond that leaves very little droop. Spray the adjusting bolts really good with a penetrating oil in advance and then you should be able to break them loose. Spray inside the frame hole and aim right at the threads of the bolt. From that point on keep them lubed every 6 months. Mine can be turned easily for years now because of that. With a V6 I find that every full turn equals about 1/8th of an inch, so you are probablly looking at 4 full revolutions on each side. Start on a level surface, and roll truck back ten feet and forward ten feet between adjustments so the tires can walk themselves into the changed alignment and measure out correctly. Half an inch can aid in your issue and you probablly won't notice or care about the difference in ride quality, but you will notice half an inch in stance believe it or not.

 

[GeoRoss]

Thanks for the info 89FourRunner!

I don't mind a little rake and I agree about 1/2" in the front will make a huge difference without sacrificing the ride.

About how long do leaf springs take to break-in?

 

[GeoRoss]

Well crap, I was looking at my LSPV and it looks like my spare may have bent the LSPV arm up a bit. This will complicate getting it fully functional I guess.

 

[KidVermicious]

Give it a couple weeks to settle. It's not just the springs, the bushings are stiff right now too. It'll lower as they break in.

The LSPV can bend, that's ok. Once the truck is at it's final ride height, put a typical weight in the rear and take a friend to go find some gravel or dirt. Lock up the brakes and have your friend watch to see whether the front or the rear locks first, then bend the LSPV arm to compensate until they lock up about the same time. Or build a spacer bracket to raise it on the axle. Or take it out completely and add a prop valve. Lots of ways to deal with that.

 

[GeoRoss]

Well, I haven't done much to the 4Runner other than use it. :lol:

I spent the past month working at an off-grid site in Northern Arizona. I have a new oil pressure gauge to put in, I just need to get a Yakazi pressure sending unit. I'm nervous about using the Sendei pressure sending unit as it doesn't behave like the FSM says it should. The test light blinks with the throttle response, not increase in intensity as the FSM says it should.

The springs work great. I do need new shocks badly. I also need to crank the t-bar a little to remove some of the stink bug. I was hoping that a month of bouncing on rutted roads and the like would settle things out, but not yet.

I was super surprised how I never got stuck with these Goodyear ST street tires. They have too much tread on them for me to replace, I'm being cheap. I do have some 15" American Racing wheels I may use for some more AT type tire and just swap them out based on the trip. I do enjoy 20 mpg around town.

I am starting to get some transmission noise in 3rd and 4th. It is most pronounce when I let off the throttle. I'll change the oil and see if that helps. If not I'll try to find a local W56B (?) and/or rebuild it. I've never done it, how hard can it be? :lol:

I need to start getting ready for fixing the exterior and interior. My original idea was to start on the outside and work in. However, I am getting antsy and may start doing things to the interior just to start making progress.

 

[joeynational]

Hey dude, there is a w56 locally here in PHX for very cheap!

 

[DEFresh3451]

amazing vehicles

There are some amazing vehicles in this thread. I would ALMOST trade my TRD for some of these classics :wink2:

 

[GeoRoss]

I finally had time to work on the 4Runner this weekend.

The odometer quit working in August while I spent a month driving on some really rough/washboard roads. The pin in the odometer had come loose. I guess I had not full seated that pin when I fixed the odometer on my new SR5 gauge cluster. Easy fix.

The PO had put in an SR5 gauge cluster from an AT but it didn't have a functional oil pressure gauge. I thought from the FSM tests that it might be the oil pressure sender. He put one in from AutoZone and it failed the FSM test. I bought one from Intermotor and it didn't behave like the FSM says it should. One FSM test is to use a test bulb that is grounded to the oil sender. The light should be dim and get brighter with increasing throttle. The Intermotor sender blinked and blinked faster with increasing throttle. I don't know if this makes a difference, but I found an SR5 gauge cluster from a MT on eBay and bought it since I was now not sure if the oil pressure gauge on the AT gauge cluster actually worked.

I also bought an "OEM" sender from LCE. It was made by Senkei. I installed it with the new-to-me gauge cluster. No oil pressure. I tested the Senkei sender and it also blinked. I tested the oil pressure gauge from the new cluster and it failed the FSM test and the 9V test. Down the rabbit hole. I contacted the eBay seller and he sent me a new oil pressure/temp gauge module.

Now, I searched and search oil pressure senders. Both of my gauge clusters are made by Yakazi. Toyota sells two oil pressure senders and one is made by Yakazi. I couldn't find anything about definitive about this weird behaviors and that a generic or Senkei pressure sender worked. Not wanting to maybe toast an oil pressure gauge I bought an OEM oil pressure sender made by Yakazi from the dealer. I installed it and tested it. It behaves as the FSM says it should, bulb gets brighter with throttle. I installed the new oil pressure gauge and I now have a function oil pressure gauge. :dancing:

I don't know if this is real, but I would recommend buying an OEM Yakazi oil pressure sender for people swapping in a SR5 gauge cluster. I am too chicken to test the Senkei sender on the oil pressure gauge that works.

 

[GeoRoss]

So I have a function oil pressure gauge. However, the oil pressure/temp gauge replacement module the eBay seller sent has a faulty temp gauge. It doesn't register at all. One step forward, one step back. DOH!

I thought I could easily swap the individual gauges. I played with it for an hour and came to the conclusion it is not easy to remove the needles. I think you would end up wrecking the gauge doing it.

Change of plans, see if I can get the non-working temp gauge to work. I took it apart and noticed that there is a resistor on the PCB board. It looked toasted. I swapped the PCB boards from my two different modules. I now have a functional temp gauge and oil pressure gauge. Two steps forward! It is a small thing, but I'm very happy.

 

[GeoRoss]

Lastly, the dome light did not come on when I opened the ds door. I don't have any buzzer functions and I seem to recall that an unplugged buzzer can cause this. Mine was plugged in and worked according to the FSM. I then looked at the switch itself. The door switch wasn't plugged in. DOH!

I plugged it in and the dome light still wouldn't come one. The switch was filthy so I cleaned it with brake cleaner. It now works!

Over all, some small problems that bugged me have been resolved.

 

[GeoRoss]

I finally got around to replace the rear shoes. I went with the Napa premium and Napa hardware kit. Toyota wanted just too dang much money for theirs. One thing that didn't come with the kit was the parking brake/adjuster stud. I was reluctant to reuse them, but they still had some bite. I thought about either rebuilding the wheel cylinders or buying new ones. I'm trying to be better about just throwing parts at something and the old ones showed no sign of leaking. This one bit me though. I had some brake fluid leak out of one of the wheel cylinders while I was assembling. I will order some new wheel cylinders and replace them both.

I now remember how much I hate drum brakes. I took the long way adjusting them. I put the adjusters at minimum, put the drum on and used the parking brake. This took over 30 cycles. Next time I'll take my drum measurements and them rotate the adjuster to a close approximation. I can then use the parking brake for the final tweaks.

 

[GeoRoss]

I also took the time to clean up the engine to chase down oil leaks. One is the power steering pump. It looked like it might be the low pressure hose at the pump. I tightened it up and took it for a spin. That area is now dry, but I'm still have a drip or two. I'm pretty sure the PS is still leaking but I also can't rule out engine oil at this point either. I do put in about 1/3 qt of oil every fill up. The front of the oil pan was pretty wet. I don't see any drip forming there and the crankshaft, distributor and timing cover look like they are only dirty from the PS.

Due to time I'll have to farm out the PS and hope that is the problem. Resealing the oil pan does not look like fun. After I get the PS leak fixed I'll have to give the engine a thorough degreasing so I can pinpoint any other leaks.

 

[GeoRoss]

Well, I sure did make a goofy error. I'm under a time crunch to get both the 4Runner and Land Cruiser smogged this month. The Land Cruiser is in pieces right now. I really should have checked what the shop rate was on changing the ps pump and both hoses. I was floored by the bill. :brick:

My fault, but at least I don't have to kill myself getting everything smogged and registered this month.

 

[GeoRoss]

Well, I can't believe I didn't put this together. I had a transmission whine while decelerating in 3 and 4th for some time. I assumed it was a bad input bearing and have half heartedly been looking for a replacement W56B. Today I just realized that the noise appeared some time after I put the OME springs in. I bet my pinion angle is off. As I understand it, the pinion should be horizontal. Is that correct? I sure hope this is it as shims are a lot easier to put in (and cheaper) than a new transmission.

 

[ntsqd]

With no double cardan type CV joint in the drive-shaft the pinion should point up (or down) at the same angle that the rear output points down. This is rarely greater than 3°

Put a digital level against the rear output flange & note the reading. Then put it on the pinion flange and note the reading. The difference between the two readings is the error.

In high HP applications I usually point the pinion .5°-1° less than the output shaft angle to compensate for spring wind-up under load.

 

[GeoRoss]

With no double cardan type CV joint in the drive-shaft the pinion should point up (or down) at the same angle that the rear output points down. This is rarely greater than 3°

Put a digital level against the rear output flange & note the reading. Then put it on the pinion flange and note the reading. The difference between the two readings is the error.

In high HP applications I usually point the pinion .5°-1° less than the output shaft angle to compensate for spring wind-up under load.

Thanks!!!

I'll check it out as soon as I get the Land Cruiser put back together. It is parked in the only flat spot at my house. As I tear into it, I keep finding "while your in there" things. LOL