Timmy the Toolman Invitation
- Thread starter mtbtim
- Start date
mtbtim
Elite Member
Looks like a pretty involved job. I don't think I'd want to do it on my rig and I'm sort of guessing Sean would pass too. But, if some dude local to us hits us up for help with this, there's a good chance we'd help him and film it.
JZiggy
Senior Member
Hey Tim,
Yes indeed! Here is what's involved:
Remove the inner tailgate trim to get access to the cables and connectors, and undo them all:
Remove the three screws holding the latch and take the latch assembly to a workbench:
Lift up the rubber cover off the mounting surface of the latch assembly:
Now you can see the two rivets. Grind those suckers down:
Now separate the two halves, so you can see the internals:
Take out the switch assembly:
Now you need to figure what the issue is - some folks had bugs stuck in there, mine had nothing so obvious. So I disassembled it down to every piece part, cleaned off corrosion where I saw it, and lubed it all up with dielectric grease:
Reassemble everything (no need to worry about the rivets, the screws hold everything together):
Have a brew.
Hey Leon,
I found this old thread on YT where they talked about a metal tab that can get corroded and stop the latch from operating. Did you see anything like this? The one picture the guy took in the thread is awful.
Faulty rear door latch: 3rd gen 4Runner - YotaTech Forums
My hatch is working fine but it would be nice to know what to service if I ever have to take it apart.
4Runner4Leon
Senior Member
Hey Jordan,
I didn't have this issue, the latch itself worked great (probably due to being a CA truck). I did lube everything in sight when I had it apart, just in case!
Hey Timmy - if you're interested sometime over the summer I could maybe help with this video. I just rebuilt mine in a 99.
I sent you a PM just now about the glass alignment, but didn't get any sort of confirmation on the message. If you didn't receive it, let me know I'll try and resend.
mtbtim
Elite Member
I'm interested. If you're not able to get the glass alignment right, I'd be willing to help you pull the headliner down and see if we can figure it out together.
Sounds good! I still have the headliner out, haven't wanted to put that back in yet until I get the glass alignment correct.
I took the entire panel apart, piece by piece and rebuilt it using mostly new parts. I didn't think to take a lot of good pictures throughout, unfortunately. I have a lot of before pics of my rusted parts but not of the rebuild.
The nice thing is that when ordering the worm drive cables, (at least from Toyota) they come with the entire assembly that slides in on each side. So really, the main pieces are the main H-frame, the plastic tub (with the four drain holes), the two sliding rails with worm drive cables, and the copper tubes (one piece) that the worm drive cables slide into. Toyota printed me the parts schematic paper too I can send you if that helps.
Also, I still have my old H-frame and plastic tub assembly if anyone is interested.
T4topher
Member
That sounds odd, I replaced my entire moon roof assembly and changed out the glass from the assembly when I did it too. Got it from a part out on Craigslist. From what I remember it should be pretty self aligning. Just bolted it back up to where it was bolted to. Did you take the assembly apart at all?
Endlessblockades
Senior Member
I have a troubled sun/moon/star roof that I'm afraid to deal with myself. Close to laying a bead of sealant around it and calling it a day.
When I got my 4Runner three years ago the sunroof worked fine! A little slow but it opened. Fast forward to now and its dead it it's tracks. I live in the PNW so i had to plug it up. I would love to see a fix on this!
Yes, my H-frame was rusted so I pretty much built a new panel assembly from scratch. The only thing I ended up using from my old setup was the rear cross-catch piece, and I think a couple screws.
I ended up getting it aligned today. I manually put the glass in the closed position, then unbolted motor and ran it to closed position. Bolted motor back up in that place, and it seems to be aligned right now!
Well, if it's a 99-02 I can probably give some tips if you need. 97-99 is the same I think the controls are different though, separate slide and tilt, so the internals might differ.
The best thing is to pull your headliner and drop the entire panel out. Makes it really easy to work on / troubleshoot - although try the simple things first before going to all that work. Run weed-whacker line down your drains like Tim shows in his video (if it's a leaking issue); if it's a movement issue, it's probably rusted somewhere if not maintained.
For maintenance I think you should grease the tracks once a year at least. The white lithium grease can dry up and harden, not allowing the worm drive cables to move.
If you need some help let me know. I can try. I'm no expert, but I just got done taking mine out and rebuilding it entirely.
fatkushblunts
New member
I live in the Bay and need to do Valve cover gaskets. Also doing a full build, full icon 2.5 cdcv suspension, spc UCAs, aftermarket rear links, need to weld a panhard correction kit on, true north bumpers, full skids, 4.88 nitro gears already installed, need to mount and run an arb compressor to the locker in the front, spod needs to be installed and lights ran to it. Lithium starter battery 60 ah and another lithium 100ah deep cycle need to be installed. Manager 30 red arc battery management system will monitor everything, Redvision display unit, m8000s Warn winch needs to be mounted and wired along with cb radio and antenna. It is alot of work I am trying to knock out in this next month and any help from knowledgeable t4r peeps would be much appreciated. Cheers!
I just replaced the upstream o2 sensor and went from 14mpg to 17mpg highway. Pretty sure the sensor that came out was the original one at 275k miles.
