Roamed YT's 4th Gen Restoration / Build (AKA "Dear Lord, what have I done?)

[Roamed YT]

So... I've known for many years that I can be a sucker for punishment.

Because I'm a sucker for punishment, I saw a 4th gen come up for sale locally for a suspiciously low price, I ended up jumping on it. I guess because I wanted a project?

The point of this thread is to chronicle the rebuild of a tired, used old 4th gen. I didn't do it with my 3rd gen but this truck will also be much more in-depth when it comes to work needed. I'm going to smash my head against the wall some days, but it's okay.

It will be a daily driver, but I have a nice 3rd gen as well as a pickup and motorcycle to use if need be. If the truck is down for a week or more it's not the end of the world. Initially I plan on getting the truck back in to a safe condition that I can daily and take my 3rd gen down for some much-deserved maintenance. As for build ideas, I rarely find myself in mud holes, but do climb the odd mountain and take the (much) less travelled road to visit a placer miner friend or two.

Here's the basic stats:

Born: February, 2003
Purchased: August 23, 2018
Mileage: 319,700km
Price: $2500 CAD
Trim: SR5 V6 / Sport

The Good:

I have a fair portion of service history going back at least to 2012. It looks like it's had (some) regular maintenance. It was a western Canada truck that spent a lot of its time on the highway between Calgary and Kelowna. Given its condition, the underbody is scary clean. Surface rust, but rust free for the most part.

The Bad:

It needs the following:
- Brakes on all 4 corners
- Front Right CV
- Sway Bar Links
- Rear axle seal
- Upper & Lower Ball Joints (this one is suspect as I found acceptable play when I had the truck in the air)
- Hood Struts
- 4WD love (it's stuck in 4 High)
- Suspension on all 4 corners
- A/C love (looks like it hasn't worked since at least 2012)

Also, the sunroof doesn't work (cable snapped and motor disconnected), Rear hatch is rusted out around the 3rd brake light and rear washer nozzle and I'm fearful of the rear window going down once and never coming back up. It will need a complete fluid change as well as a radiator once I get to that point. I discovered tonight that it never had a factory block heater and instead has a battery blanket (good) and a magnetic oil pan heater (not so good!).

It's been hit once on the drivers rear (bumper skin was replaced and the grey plastic faded much worse compared to the rest of the truck) and once on the passenger front side (headlight has been replaced with a TYC and the clips are all broken on the fog lamp and marker light).

I'll chronicle my terrible decisions below.


Here... We... Go!

 

[Roamed YT]

Catching up over the past week.

The truck currently lives in my garage. Good for it, because that's where nice things go (like the contents of our house. We moved about 3 months ago to a house which also needs a ton of work (think nearly a gutter and you're almost there).

I brought it to the shop and threw it up in the air to get a good idea of what I'm looking at for work.

Needs brakes desperately. Like, "don't drive this thing" bad. It's got 13WH calipers so that is a small bonus. Also, it's super clean underneath.

Spoke to my local friendly Toyota parts guy. The local dealer wanted nearly $800 per corner for reman calipers so I noped out of there and on to the ol' Rock and my friends at NAPA.

Hood & Hatch struts, pads, upper & lower control arms (which I likely don't need), sway bar links for front and rear from RockAuto.

Rotors and calipers from my local NAPA. With the pricing I get there and the freight for shipping chunks of steel to the Yukon, it made more sense to do it this way. I'll only replace calipers if need be, but I've got my suspicions.

I have not ordered suspension yet but am leaning toward Eibach Pro-Truck from Wheelers.

Today, I had 4 boxes of parts! Yay! So, I started taking stuff apart. As a little present to the truck, I also bought a set of late 4th Gen LED tails and a new set of headlights (that I'll build a retrofit in to this winter).

Tonight I installed the new hood struts - the hood actually stays open now! I discovered that when they replaced the battery this spring they decided to use a bungee cord to hold it down. I wonder what happened to the actual hold-down? Just another part to order I suppose.

I also installed the LED rear tails. I wasn't going to, but they're so easy and right there I figured why not!

I need to pick up a battery hold-down bracket, and some new hood trim clips. I noticed I'm missing a bunch down there.

 

[Roamed YT]

Parts came in late last week and early this week.

Started getting things taken apart. Had a bit of a delay yesterday as I got a nail in a tire in the 3rd gen so I had to do some swapping around of wheels.

Pulled the rear wheels off and there's good news and bad news.

Good news: Rear pads actually had about 50% material left on them. They were Raybestos so it's neither here nor there. Akibono's going on next. Rotors look decent as well, and both calipers still move freely. I had one frozen pin on the RH caliper.

Bad news: I've got XREAS. From my quick reading, it appears to be a purely mechanical system, so the removal will be a bit of a PITA but otherwise a non-issue.

Left axle seal is kaput as well. Looks like a very similar setup to the 3rd gens so hopefully it won't be a hassle. Will have to get my seal puller and drivers from the shop tomorrow before I can get it all done.

I also picked up some gear to try my hand at cleaning up the rims. I took the spare and gave it it scuff, prime and a couple of shots of paint just to see what is happening.

I might refine the process a bit as it looks like I picked up some dust and debris while things were drying. Overall a fairly simple process. If I choose to do the other 4 wheels it will be while I have tires and valve stems out.

Oh what fun!

 

[Legender]

Looks like you're getting a great start on a huge project. I'm sure the end result will suit your needs. Keep us posted. Neat idea with the cards... have not seen that trick before.

 

[firebirdguy]

looks good!

 

[Roamed YT]

It's starting to get snowy up here in the Great White North... so my partner was driving the 3rd gen last week and she put it in 4WD and lo-the blinking 4X4 light of doom!

So... I got to do some work on the '03 to get it mobile again.

I wasn't looking forward to replacing an axle seal based on my negative 3rd gen experience. Turns out Toyota learned a bit and put the seal closer to the flange. Hardest part of that was dealing with the parking brake line.

I replaced the rear rotors and pads. I was planning on doing calipers as well as they have a habit of freezing up and I had bought some NAPA remans. Turns out that I got 2 rights. Talk about frustrating. Thankfully the left rear wasn't frozen so I re-used it. On the reman, it's a poor quality product. I wouldn't use it again if not for the price... I had to clean up the flange for the banjo bolt as it was folded over during reman and I couldn't bolt down the brake line. Cue panic while I have a slowly dripping brake line (was moving past my clamp up the line) and I'm madly cleaning up the flange!

Got it put back together and out of the garage around 2:00 on Saturday morning.

I also sold my 285 Duratracs that I hadn't mounted to another local 3rd gen owner.. that money will go towards suspension projects!

 

[Boort]

[MENTION=151806]Roamed YT[/MENTION]

Bad news: I've got XREAS. From my quick reading, it appears to be a purely mechanical system, so the removal will be a bit of a PITA but otherwise a non-issue.

The XREAS was not that difficult to remove. only slightly more than a typical suspension upgrade. I yanked it off my '06 earlier this summer. Disconnect the hydraulics at the check valve points located by each shock. Don't open the check valves by the controllers on the frame. Be sure to pry out the top space brackets. Replace the shocks with aftermarket suspension components. A bunch of tubing clips and few bolts to Remove the 2 "controllers" from each side, and carefully pull them free of the rig.

Here is a PDF that Helped me (I forget if I got it here or elsewhere on the 'net.):
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=315160&d=1539576660


Boort

 

[Roamed YT]

The XREAS was not that difficult to remove. only slightly more than a typical suspension upgrade.

Yeah, I've discovered because it was such a simple solution (compared to other manufacturers with air or magnetic ride control) it's also pretty easy to remove.

I'm going to do a budget refresh with a Daystar kit and save the fancy stuff for the 3rd gen. The suspension isn't expensive, but the shipping and exchange on the good stuff easily doubles the price. That's tough to swallow on a truck I have less than $5K in to.

 

[Roamed YT]

Long time no update! Between work, two kids under 5, winter and renovating a house, we've had a lot going on. This truck serves as a bit of a creative outlet because it gives me a chance to go out to the garage and decompress.

The good: The truck now has a nickname, brought to us by my partner. She has dubbed it the "TrashRunner". So, the TrashRunner has been put back together and as of Sunday, is now the DD.

Catching up...

Rear end:
Installed a Daystar spacer lift with new Delco springs and 5100's. It was original, and with 320,000Km it was shot.
Replaced one rear axle seal, rear pads (Akibono), rotors (NAPA) and one reman rear caliper.

Front End:
Replaced the struts with some Monroe QuickStrut kits and Daystar spacers. Ball joints and tie rods were surprisingly tight. I ended up having to take the struts and springs apart to bust out the top hats as they had made themselves one with the rest of the truck. Brute force and ignorance!
Pads and rotors were done as well as both calipers as they were frozen. Replaced both CV's with NAPA lifetimes. CV angles appear to be decent so I'm not overly concerned with boots tearing right now.

I also pulled off the skid plates and cleaned them up, degreased and repainted with rocker guard.

I had some 255/75 Duratracs installed earlier this winter and put everything together.

Another nice side project was that I installed a set of Morimoto 2Stroke LED bulbs in the driving light housings and did a yellow Lamin-X install on the lenses.

Got things put together around 1:30 on Saturday morning and went out for a bit of a rip!

So far, not bad.

The bad: I still need to do sway bar links and bushings as I have something rattling around in the front end. It's still stuck in 4WD but at least the centre diff is unlocked.

On Sunday I tore the interior apart and shampooed the carpets (ew!) as well as the seats. It's impressive how well they cleaned up. Gave the interior a full detail which made me happy.

I've noticed that on a cold start there's a less than 1-second rattle... suspicion is timing chain slop. As I don't want to dig 10 hours in to the front end of this engine, I think I'll give the tensioner a shot. Maybe. Tonight I did a quick oil change with M1 and an OEM D3 filter because I don't know the last time it had an oil change!

Windshield needs to be replaced, I have at least one blown speaker and I have a set of TYC headlights that I'll build a budget retrofit in to...

The more I drive the 4th gen, the more I like it! I like the extra space and the extra power! However, I've noticed that it lacks a bit of the "bank vault" build that my 3rd gen has.

They both have a home in the garage right now!

 

[Roamed YT]

I forgot, I also made a donation to my local Toyota dealer and bought an OEM right front ABS harness as I had damaged the original when doing my suspension on that corner. The donation was $200. Parts guy did not appreciate my quip about how that was almost 10% of what I bought the truck for!

 

[JVC8790]

Looks like a solid daily! Hows the light output on the LED/Lamin-X combo in the driving lights? I put some Nokya yellow bulbs in mine and it doesn't have quite the output I had hoped.

 

[Roamed YT]

Looks like a solid daily! Hows the light output on the LED/Lamin-X combo in the driving lights? I put some Nokya yellow bulbs in mine and it doesn't have quite the output I had hoped.

The Morimoto 2Stroke is a pretty decent bulb. I've been dealing with TRS since Matt was working in a garage in Ohio so I'm pretty confident in their products.

I don't find that the Lamin-X cuts much output from the lights and they certainly overpower the stock halogen headlights. They claim 2400 lumens at 5700K temperature. I would say they're maybe 75-80% of the output of my D2S retrofit in my 3rd gen which makes sense, as they claim 3500lm at 4500k.

TL;DR - Yes, they have good output with the yellow Lamin-X. Grab your hair drier and do it up!

 

[Roamed YT]

So... I've been DD'ing this truck for a few weeks now.

I've done a few things, and noticed a few issues that I will need to address in the near future:

At 320,000km, I did the following:
- LOF and grease job for maintenance (I run OEM D3 filters on both trucks)
- Removed the HCF and replaced the air filter (Denso)
- Started an LED replacement of interior bulbs (I had some spare 31mm's in my tool box)
- Replaced the cabin air filter (it was OEM and everything else was Fram, so I'm suspicious of its age)

Things I've noticed:
- I still have a very noticeable clunk over bumps in the front end. Will start with replacing sway bar bushings and the other sway bar link that wasn't done in February.
- The blower motor occasionally squeaks at level 2 and 3. I may address this, I may not.
- The drivers side upper seat has some play if you move around in it. I might pull the seat back out and take a look to see if everything is snug or if I have broken brackets.
- On every 1 out of 5 startups, I have some timing chain noise. It lasts for about half a second and then goes away. No matter if it's a cold or hot start, so my suspicion is the tensioner is toast, or worst case, the chain is stretched. I'll pop the inspection cover and take a look.

I'm getting 16.2MPG while it's still stuck in 4WD so it's semi-respectable. I rented a Ford Fusion Hybrid last week and that thing was *awesome*. It was 42MPG all day long over the 1500 miles I had it.

 

[Roamed YT]

Update for 04/16:

This weekend, I replaced the front sway bar bushings. Got rid of the front end clunk caused by the originals that had 15 years and 320,000km on them. I bought a 1/4" Milwaukee M18 Fuel impact when I was in Vancouver last week. I should have got that years ago, especially as I've had M18 stuff for the better part of a decade now. Front end feels significantly better now. Total time was about 30 minutes.

Tomorrow it will go get a new windshield.

 

[Roamed YT]

Update for 04/29:

Replaced the windshield last week. Was needed as it had seen better days. While I had it at the glass shop, I had them pop the front windows out and give them some tint. Things look muchly improved!

I also finished my LED retrofit, so we've got some clean, crisp 6000K white light in the doors, map lights, console lights and lighting up the plate.

Today I picked up a set of (nearly) new take-off SR5 wheels from a 5th gen from a co-worker. He replaced his with some TRD Pro's in black.

I'm sick of the blown speakers rattling around so over the weekend I ordered some Fosgate 5 3/4" and 6 3/4" speakers with adapter plates and harnesses. Bought from Crutchfield because even though you pay a premium, IMO it's worth it for the service.

Maybe things will settle on the 4th gen and I can get back to working on the '99... maybe.