waketek516
New member
Here we go!! New Shoes!
The Waketek516 build...
- Thread starter waketek516
- Start date
Millerad1651
New member
Amazing what a new set of wheels and tires will do. Looks good.
JWaldz
Moderator
maybe I missed it, but where did you get the red stainless steel brake line?
waketek516
New member
Those are the ones from Wheeler's Offroad.
High Performance Toyota Brake Lines from Wheeler's Off-Road
I added them when I did the Tundra Upgrade, and mentioned it a few posts back:roadkill:
Foo-Fighter69
New member
Great looking truck. Read the whole thread! but its not stock anymore change your signature perhaps. :shrug:
waketek516
New member
Ahhh I was just thinking that....
waketek516
New member
Good days & bad days...
Friday after work I went to the shop to check the balance in my new TRD rims (I was getting bad shake at 40-50mph. I assumed a wheel weight came off or something. Turns out the old tires that came with them didn't wear evenly, and that's what's causing it to shake. I was piecing my lift together this month anyway, but that accelerated the process for me, and I ordered almost everything I needed from Toytec on Friday:
Eibach 3" coils (already had)
Rear OME 890 Coils
Rear Bilstein Shocks
Front Bilstein Height adjustable 5100 shocks
Extended Rear Brake Line
Front Differential Drop Kit
Front shock replacement bushing/washer kit
I also ordered a set of prothane bushings for the following:
Front sway bar
Rear sway bar
Steering rack
So I was in a great mood Friday - I love buying upgrades!
Then Saturday morning came, and me and 5 of my buddies decide to take 2 cars from Huntington Beach up to Lake View Terrace to go to the shooting range for the day. I offered to drive one of the cars, so we piled in my 4Runner and my buddy's SRT8 Jeep. We drive the 55miles up there, and the 4Runner did great. No problems at all - all gauges reading totally normal. I park in their lot, and "BOOM"...
Steam is coming out of every area of the hood, and the car is dumping the worst looking coolant I've ever seen like a garden hose:
We start trying to hunt down where this came from, and we finally see that its the heater hose at the back of the block (in a VERY hard place to reach/get tools):
I borrowed the Jeep and drove around for over an hour to 4 different stores trying to find the right hose, and also a few gallons of new coolant. Came back, and finally go the hose off.... looks like this might be a problem
So we finally got the hose swapped out with a $3 pair of pliers, refilled with coolant, and burped the system. Let it run for a good 15-20mins to get everything cycling again, and the gauge was once again reading normal... So we decide that everything looks good, and we're going to drive home. My only concern is that we couldn't get a new worm clamp on it (no room), so we reused the factory spring clamp.
We made it about 8miles on the freeway before the clamp popped off, and she dumped the coolant again! At this point we were no where near stores, so I just called AAA.
So I left the car there, and I'm picking it up today. They shop is doing a full coolant flush, and replacing ALL hoses.
Friday after work I went to the shop to check the balance in my new TRD rims (I was getting bad shake at 40-50mph. I assumed a wheel weight came off or something. Turns out the old tires that came with them didn't wear evenly, and that's what's causing it to shake. I was piecing my lift together this month anyway, but that accelerated the process for me, and I ordered almost everything I needed from Toytec on Friday:
Eibach 3" coils (already had)
Rear OME 890 Coils
Rear Bilstein Shocks
Front Bilstein Height adjustable 5100 shocks
Extended Rear Brake Line
Front Differential Drop Kit
Front shock replacement bushing/washer kit
I also ordered a set of prothane bushings for the following:
Front sway bar
Rear sway bar
Steering rack
So I was in a great mood Friday - I love buying upgrades!
Then Saturday morning came, and me and 5 of my buddies decide to take 2 cars from Huntington Beach up to Lake View Terrace to go to the shooting range for the day. I offered to drive one of the cars, so we piled in my 4Runner and my buddy's SRT8 Jeep. We drive the 55miles up there, and the 4Runner did great. No problems at all - all gauges reading totally normal. I park in their lot, and "BOOM"...
Steam is coming out of every area of the hood, and the car is dumping the worst looking coolant I've ever seen like a garden hose:
We start trying to hunt down where this came from, and we finally see that its the heater hose at the back of the block (in a VERY hard place to reach/get tools):
I borrowed the Jeep and drove around for over an hour to 4 different stores trying to find the right hose, and also a few gallons of new coolant. Came back, and finally go the hose off.... looks like this might be a problem
So we finally got the hose swapped out with a $3 pair of pliers, refilled with coolant, and burped the system. Let it run for a good 15-20mins to get everything cycling again, and the gauge was once again reading normal... So we decide that everything looks good, and we're going to drive home. My only concern is that we couldn't get a new worm clamp on it (no room), so we reused the factory spring clamp.
We made it about 8miles on the freeway before the clamp popped off, and she dumped the coolant again! At this point we were no where near stores, so I just called AAA.
So I left the car there, and I'm picking it up today. They shop is doing a full coolant flush, and replacing ALL hoses.
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waketek516
New member
The saga continues... The shop called me back and said that despite the coolant flush, its still got the bad rusty/gunky water coming out of everything. Their mechanic thinks that the previous owner wasn't running much coolant at all (just water), and now the radiator is rusting from the inside out. They wanted several hundred dollars to replace the radiator, and at this point I couldn't spend that. I know I can do it cheaper myself.
So my buddy rented a flatbed hauler from the Uhaul and towed it back to Orange County last night. Once I got home I ordered a new radiator, B&M Tranny cooler (might as well do it while I have it apart), new hoses, thermostat, & Radiator cap. I'm hoping to have most of the parts by this weekend or early next week. At least now I'll have peace of mind knowing that the whole cooling system is brand new after this.
Not happy its still down....:redbrick::redbrick:
My Ass - haha
So between the lift, tranny cooler, and radiator - I have PLENTY to work on for the next few weeks :ak472::gun4:
So my buddy rented a flatbed hauler from the Uhaul and towed it back to Orange County last night. Once I got home I ordered a new radiator, B&M Tranny cooler (might as well do it while I have it apart), new hoses, thermostat, & Radiator cap. I'm hoping to have most of the parts by this weekend or early next week. At least now I'll have peace of mind knowing that the whole cooling system is brand new after this.
Not happy its still down....:redbrick::redbrick:
My Ass - haha
So between the lift, tranny cooler, and radiator - I have PLENTY to work on for the next few weeks :ak472::gun4:
waketek516
New member
Well.... I decided since the truck is down, and I'll have the whole radiator out, I'm going to replace the timing belt & water pump as well as some other items that are needed. This way i know that almost all of the maintenance items are brand new!
So the plan over the next two weeks is:
Radiator
Thermostat
Hoses
Water Pump
Timing belt
Pulleys
Tranny Cooler
Heater Core
Gauges (Trans Temp, Water Temp, & Oil Pressure)
Spark Plugs
Spark Plug Wires
Diff Breather
and a new horn! haha
Updates and photos will be coming as each project is tackled!
So the plan over the next two weeks is:
Radiator
Thermostat
Hoses
Water Pump
Timing belt
Pulleys
Tranny Cooler
Heater Core
Gauges (Trans Temp, Water Temp, & Oil Pressure)
Spark Plugs
Spark Plug Wires
Diff Breather
and a new horn! haha
Updates and photos will be coming as each project is tackled!
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waketek516
New member
Not sure if anyone is still following this, but I'll keep updating...
Entire coolant system has been replaced. Radiator, water pump, heater core, thermostat, hoses, timing belt, etc has all been replaced! now i just have to clean up all the rusty water stains in that engine bay:
More news.... The lift finally arrived, and I'm just waiting on my new tires so i can install everything, and get it realigned. the new shocks look awesome!
One of my horns was out (the low one) so the notoriously weak sounding horn was just downright comical. So I ripped those out and installed a new Air Horn setup I got for cheap off eBay. Its definitely WAY louder!
Next up was my new Curt Cargo Basket & Lights. We plan on doing a bit of camping with it so I wanted something that could light up the trails at night, and also carry a bit of cargo up top if we needed to:
TEST FITTING IT
Mounting it, and adding the lights. They're just the Auto Part store 4x6", but I used to run them on my Jeep, and they do the job without breaking the bank.
Only thing I'm going to change is the thumb screws that hold it down. I want to get a set of real bolts so that I can tighten them up a bit better than just by hand:
I still have to wire the lights, and will probably run a painless 7-circut kit since they're pretty easy to wire up without splicing into the factory system. I'll post pics of that once I get it done.
Next up is the lift & Tires. I have my tires on order and decided to go with the Treadwright MTs. With all the issues I had with the cooling system, my tire budget went out the window. These were a great cheap alternative, and seem to have gotten really good reviews on a lot of different forums. At the very least they'll do the job till i can afford a better set:
Entire coolant system has been replaced. Radiator, water pump, heater core, thermostat, hoses, timing belt, etc has all been replaced! now i just have to clean up all the rusty water stains in that engine bay:
More news.... The lift finally arrived, and I'm just waiting on my new tires so i can install everything, and get it realigned. the new shocks look awesome!
One of my horns was out (the low one) so the notoriously weak sounding horn was just downright comical. So I ripped those out and installed a new Air Horn setup I got for cheap off eBay. Its definitely WAY louder!
Next up was my new Curt Cargo Basket & Lights. We plan on doing a bit of camping with it so I wanted something that could light up the trails at night, and also carry a bit of cargo up top if we needed to:
TEST FITTING IT
Mounting it, and adding the lights. They're just the Auto Part store 4x6", but I used to run them on my Jeep, and they do the job without breaking the bank.
Only thing I'm going to change is the thumb screws that hold it down. I want to get a set of real bolts so that I can tighten them up a bit better than just by hand:
I still have to wire the lights, and will probably run a painless 7-circut kit since they're pretty easy to wire up without splicing into the factory system. I'll post pics of that once I get it done.
Next up is the lift & Tires. I have my tires on order and decided to go with the Treadwright MTs. With all the issues I had with the cooling system, my tire budget went out the window. These were a great cheap alternative, and seem to have gotten really good reviews on a lot of different forums. At the very least they'll do the job till i can afford a better set:
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zgensler31
Senior Member
Awesome man. Sucks when stuff goes down like that but seems like you did it right and covered all your bases to get it done right once. Keep up the work
Whitson Metalworks
New member
I can't wait to see it with the lift and tires on, and that laundry list of fixes would suck! But at least its all fresh and good to go now...
NewVillains
New member
Wow... rig is looking legit. Coolant leaking sucks and what a mess. Glad you got it all taken care of. Did I read that correct, you are from HB? That's where I am, I don't have my 4runner out here, I have an '03 sport, I wish I could bring it out. I need it back in Ohio for when I travel there frequently to work. I'm looking right now for a 3rd gen, hopefully I can find one out here pretty cheap. Although everything I see is 2wd. What's up with that, you can't find a 2wd truck in Ohio. hahaha. I know... no snow here. Anywho, once I get my rig, we'll have to hit the trails.
waketek516
New member
Yeah - It blew my mod budget apart for a bit, but I'm glad it happened before any of my big trips this fall.
waketek516
New member
Yeah me too!!! Hopefully in the next two weeks (tires are back-ordered). The fixes definitely sucked, but at least its all done now!
waketek516
New member
Yeah for sure! I'm over in Costa Mesa. There's very few 4x4s out here in the beach cities. I bought mine off my boss and its originally a midwest car. So its got all the 4x4 goodies:guitar2:
