JMunn55 build/repair thread "The Bear"

[JMunn55]

I have a '99 3RZ 5-speed 4x4 (no e-locker), bought in March 2012. It is black and I bedlined the front and rear bumpers in black. Still have silver steel OEM rims, and the original chrome and I'm debating blacking out the grille too. I'm in the process now of installing a Thrush Welded muffler and doing some frame and rocker panel repairs (lots of rust due to salt). Surprisingly, the rest of the body is great, and it's also great mechanically, even with 327,000 kms (205,000 miles).

I do not have '99 tall coils because in Canada the talls only came on SR5s and Limiteds with the V6 and 16" rims. That will be an upgrade when I need suspension (either 99 talls or OME/Tundra coils). They didn't sell 4x2s here, and it seems about 1/3 of the '96-'02 4Runners around are the 3RZ-FE.

I haven't seen many 3RZs on here, and unless people own one or are a 4Runner/Tacoma enthusiast, they don't seem to have heard of it.

For my T4R, it'll be mostly repairs for now, I'm not doing much for mods at the moment. I do off-road it moderately Nobody I know wheels, other than a buddy of mine with an XJ Cherokee who is off in the military. My dad does occasionally too (he also has a '99 3RZ T4R manual), so maybe I'll get together with him in the summer and do a 4Runner day. I have another good friend of mine is looking to get a decent 3rd gen T4R and a trailer for his ATV, or an older 4x4 Toyota pickup this summer, mostly due to my influence.

Not long after I bought it, with my unreliable previous car, a 1991 Accord coupe
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=111562&stc=1&d=1393371697

 

[JMunn55]

The truck came with one set of rims and 235/75-R15 winter tires.
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=111569&stc=1&d=1393373134

I picked up a set of aluminum rims from a 2nd gen for $40 with a worn set of the same size winters on them. I planned to use these winters through the summer since they were pretty dead.
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=111570&stc=1&d=1393373211

First thing I did was replace the leaky steering rack with a used unit and get the main seal in the rear differential sealed up. This is the only work I didn't do myself. I dripped a lot at my friend's house, as you can see.
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=111573&stc=1&d=1393373443

Centre section of rear bumper was covered in surface rust, so in summer 2012, I decided to do something about it before it got worse.
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=111575&stc=1&d=1393373443

After looking on Google and seeing a black 1999 4Runner Highlander with black bumpers, I decided to go black with them. And I wanted something relatively tough, as well as easy to touch up. I went with spray on bedliner. I sanded, primed, and painted. They were difficult to get off due to rust, so a loot of cutting with a grinding wheel was required.
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=111583&stc=1&d=1393373925
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=111580&stc=1&d=1393373790
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=111581&stc=1&d=1393373790
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=111582&stc=1&d=1393373790

 

[JMunn55]

Finished rear bumper:
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=111584&stc=1&d=1393375165
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=111585&stc=1&d=1393375165

Holds up good to offroad work
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=111586&stc=1&d=1393375165

 

[JMunn55]

Had a great summer in 2012 doing the bumpers, no problems with the truck other than one from sway bar link. Went offroading a fair amount.
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=111587&stc=1&d=1393375345
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=111588&stc=1&d=1393375345

With my bad tires, on a rainy day in September, a grazed a guardrail on a slight bend in the road hydroplaining at about 40 mph. I expected damage to be worse than it was. Just a dent in fender, and front and rear bumpers. I took a hammer to the fender and popped the undamaged parklight back in place.
At this point, I decided my tires were too worn to keep driving on. So I swapped the decent winters that came on my truck with my dad for a set of used 31x10.5-R15 BFG A/Ts he had recently picked up (he preferred the handling and economy of the smaller tires).
You can see the damage of the little crash and the new-to-me tires
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=111589&stc=1&d=1393376017
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=111590&stc=1&d=1393376017

Also, by this time, front bumper had rusted through on drivers side, and the bend in the passenger side accelerated the rust over there, too
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=111591&stc=1&d=1393376162

 

[JMunn55]

In December 2012 in a snowstorm, I got in a relatively minor low-speed accident with a 2001 Corolla. Cracked lower valence and one turn signal. Corolla lost a headlight and received a folded up hood and fender. So my buddy and I removed the whole valence (which I had wanted to do anyway) and screwed the taped over turn signals to the top of the fat lip bumper. I ran it all winter like this.
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=111592&stc=1&d=1393376559

In spring 2013, the rocker panels were deteriorating (they had holes to begin with), and the transfer case started to leak. To make matters worse, I was informed that my insurance rates had quadrupled due to the accident and had to cancel my policy as it was not feasible for me to pay such high rates, being a fulltime university student. I knew the truck would not pass safety inspection with the rocker panels, bumpers, and turn signals the way they were. I also discovered a fairly massive frame hole in front of the right side rear trailing arm mount that I had somehow overlooked prior to this. So I cancelled my insurance and prepared to spend the summer fixing everything.
The truck came with a new OEM front bumper when I bought it, otherwise I would have bought a '96-'98 bumper and converted it. I decided to do the same to the new front bumper that I had done to the rear one previously.
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=111600&stc=1&d=1393377093
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=111601&stc=1&d=1393377093

 

[JMunn55]

It took me a long time, but I replaced the transfer case front output seal (thanks to BigFishAllDay's instructional thread - it was at this point I started looking at this forum a lot). I didn't get much work done in the summer or fall at all, too busy and had no money. I would take the truck out every couple weeks and drive it around the block until it was warm. One day in late fall, the alternator seized. I spend $100 getting it rebuilt and reinstalled it myself. I also replaced all of the belts at this point, since they all had to come off to replace burnt alternator belt and they were pretty cracked.

This New Years, I renewed work on the truck. discovered slow leaks in both sides of the front differential, the pinion seal in rear diff, and the back cover of the rear diff, and my 4x4 stopped working. I figured that was in the ADD system, so I replaced all the ADD vacuum lines. Fixed that problem.

The frame was thin in a couple spots at the back, as well as the hole in front of the trailing arm. My uncle, a pro welder, offered to help me fix all that as well as replace my rocker panels.

As the truck sits now + frame repair photos:
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=111604&stc=1&d=1393377947
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=111605&stc=1&d=1393377947
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=111606&stc=1&d=1393377947
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=111607&stc=1&d=1393377947
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=111608&stc=1&d=1393377947
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=111609&stc=1&d=1393377947

 

[JMunn55]

Painted front bumper with bedliner like I did with the rear, as well as the front light bar my dad gave me (he had his cousin build him custom tube bumpers). The light bar will allow me to mount lights eventually and have a place to put my front license plate.
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=111611&stc=1&d=1393378237

 

[JMunn55]

Since I don't plan on putting valence back in, I mounted my turn signals in my park light housing. I cut the socket out of the original turn signals and used clear silicone and a dremel to attach it to the park lights. The wires are long enough to reach. I remounted the breather tubes up higher on the back of the housing
1999 4Runner turn signal/park light conversion - YouTube
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=111612&stc=1&d=1393378482

 

[JMunn55]

Ordered the 3 seals I need and a new pinion nut from my local dealership. $50 total. Came in yesterday, gotta pick them up. The second time is so much easier. I have the driveshaft off and the old pinion seal out. I'll finish that before I start the front diff seals.
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=111613&stc=1&d=1393378836
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=111614&stc=1&d=1393378836

When I drained the rear diff, the fluid was a dark brown. It hasn't been changed since summer 2012, is it bad that it's that colour? The transfer case fluid was a lot clearer when I drained it, and that fluid was older.

The back of the pumpkin was covered in silicone, which the previous owner had used to stop a leak in the cover. I ripped it off and sanded the whole thing off, moving the brake lines out of the way for access. Without fluid in the thing, I can tell where it was leaking. It's nice and clean now so we'll weld a patch over the spot where it leaks.
I only have before picture. More on this later.
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=111615&stc=1&d=1393378836

 

[JMunn55]

I put a voltmeter in the dash next to the cigarette lighters to keep an eye on my alternator output. I still have original radio, and the CD player skips, so I want to replace that while the center dash is apart.
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=111616&stc=1&d=1393379244

 

[JMunn55]

Sorry some of the pictures are so big and some are sideways. I don't know how to fix them. They look fine on my computer. And they all post at the end of the post rather than with the caption I wanted.

Future mods:
-TRD badges in grille and on hatch
-CD player
-winch
-front fat lip bumper/no valence, light bar
-spot lights
-'99 tall coils or some sort of 1"-2" lift
-31" winter tires (so I can use A/Ts in summer - they aren't great on hard snow/ice)
-rear diff breather
-CB radio
-rear diff lock
-altimeter/tilmeter

Repairs still to do:
-pinion seal
-other rear diff leak
-front diff output seals
-rocker panels
-driver's side rear door lock stuck locked and shut -_-
-most grille clips are broken so I'll ziptie it
-driver's seat has a decent sized rip