The first time you did work on your own 4Runner

[ben550]

Remember the first time you mustered up the courage to do work on your own 4runner?

So there I was, young and in school.

I remember reading the manual, standing in Autozone for 30 minutes thumbing through the book trying to determine what air filter I should get, cautiously removing the latches, removing the old filter, dropping in the new filter, and securing the latches...

Complete success!

I was so proud of that air filter change... yes it was super easy but that's where i started...

Funny to look back on now.

What was the first thing you did on your 4Runner?

 

[GVL]

First thing I did when I purchased my Runner 5 months ago was Plasti-Dip the hood scoop and grille.

Completing that simple task got me more curious about doing other things myself and for the first time I have taken a serious interest in trying to learn more about my rig and will at least attempt to complete them myself before paying someone else to do them for me.

Nothing major yet, but a few other things I recently tackled myself are:

• Installed RIGID LED ditch lights and mounts
• Extended the rear differential breather
• Removed both front and rear sway bars
• Disconnected power antenna and installed a junction box so CB antenna handles AM/FM too
• Installed shovel mounts on roof rack
• New battery
• Interior LED map lights

Next Up:

• Install new AOR bumper that is being built right now
• Install new WARN winch sitting in my bedroom
• Install HID conversion kit (in route from XenonDepot)
• New brakes and rotors
• Storage platform for cargo area
• Mount fire extinguisher properly

I don't see the fun stopping anytime soon :biggrin1:

 

[Red88TopangaCa]

My first experience working on my truck was especially educational. My dad is a plumber and does most of the work on his 1970 chevy work truck, he's very mechanically inclined.

So we go to change the water pump on my 22re which for me wasn't going to be a walk in the park. you have to remove the intake and fan and some belts to get to it. Then the water pump has these different length bolts and you have to remember which bolts go in which holes. He gets the hole thing off with me holding the flashlight and watching the whole time.

Then we get into this argument right when we had just gotten the old water pump off. He just got in his truck and left and I had to figure out where everything went back together. It was really frustrating but in the end I learned a lot about my truck, gained a lot of confidence, maybe too much, about working on my truck in the future and I felt really proud a few hours later when I had it all back together without him. HA! Touché Dad!

 

[3rdgenT4R]

Olds Cutlass

Don't remember the 4runner....probably something like battery/filter ect....but I do remember the first auto work i did on my first car...a '79 Cutlass...circa '94...I read up as best I could on the school computer and talked with whomever would listen and tackled a "tune up"....diving in head first I took off the plug wires from the distrubter cap and plugs, pulled the plugs, pulled the AF, ect, ect....I then put it all back together and it ran like sh*t....I guess I forget the part about plugs/wires being installed one at a time so they would fire appropriately.....head down in shame I shuttered/popped/ and shaked the car about a mile down the road to an older guy that worked on cars who took care of the problem.

 

[gm350reratliff]

I think the first thing I did to my 4th gen was an alarm and remote start. The first thing I did to my 5th gen is an Escort radar detector hard wired with a countryjoycrafts.com mount.

 

[jstanwood]

The first thing I fixed were three burned-out bulbs. Both of the ones behind the HVAC display and one behind the passenger temp up/down button. It was $21 in dealer-price parts and 5 minutes of work.

The 4R was new-to-me, and it really bugged me on the 2+ hours drive home from the dealer where I bought it.

I don't count floor mats and a brake controller, but they were easy, too.

 

[Hyde802]

A dirty hippy owned the runner before me, had a home made sleeping platform in the back that was very moldy, the whole truck was dirty and very gross. 1st step was deep clean the whole thing and fix is home job trailer wiring. It needed the normal 20+ year old car stuff. A wheel bearing a few ball joints, windshield and an AAL in the rear, general base line maintenance stuff. But this wasnt my first time spinning a wrench.

Favorite thing I ever put on the truck was the miles. :driving:

 

[Stevel Knievel]

Today! I grew up in Chicago and NYC so never had much of an opportunity to work on cars. Today I just put NFab steps on my 4R. It was an easy add, but super fun to do. I may have just got bitten by "the bug."

 

[91'4bee]

First involved job I did on her was a coolant flush. Ended up having to pull the radiator to fix a small leak. So it got even more involved (never had to take a radiator all they way out before at the time). After a day of working on it I get it all back together and I am tightening the bolts on the thermostat housing and I snap 2 of the 3 studs...and me being ambitious and she being my only ride I fill with coolant and start it up and proceed to bleed the system! Thank the car gods because the housing remained sealed for a week of driving before I took it in to a mechanic to have him pull the broken studs and replace with bolts. Had that thing popped open while driving that week I would have cooked the motor in a minute and I wouldn't know until it was to late.

 

[BlackWorksInc]

First thing I did on the 4Runner if I remember right was CV Boots under warranty, wasn't too bad a job.

The second thing was my ShrockWorks Bumper.

 

[snivilous]

Changing the oil! I was so scared though my dad walked me through it, took a few times to remember the steps... Though that was a long time ago before I had learned to drive a car/truck. And now I don't hesitate to take the torch to the beast if the need occurs

 

[UnderFire]

I completely gutted it and switched to a tan SR5 interior along with my Infiniti seat swap.

Jumped right in with both feet there.

 

[junkyardbiker]

About 5 minutes after I traded my pickup truck for the 4runner and started driving it home it would shut off everytime i let off the throttle. Turns out the idle adjustment screw was just loose, then an alternator a few days later.

 

[Cookie Monster]

My first big maintenance on my 4Runner will be coming up this weekend! Changing all the oils this weekend.

I guess the *first* thing I did was to go to the junkyard and get a few interior pieces (headrest, passenger side front sill, etc).