Unner's Build, 2001 T4R 4x4

[Chuckles89]

How many days was your Moab trip? I'm starting to plan mine...

 

[Unner]

How many days was your Moab trip? I'm starting to plan mine...

[MENTION=97483]Chuckles89[/MENTION]

The entire trip, including the days driving there and back was 10 days. I say go for as long as you can, leave as soon as you can, and don't come back until you have to. Try to hit some fun stuff on the way back too if you can.


I just got back from another longer trip, this time not as much outdoorsy camping stuff, but still some. Also didn't go west this time, but north. And to another country. Another 3,000+ mile trip successfully done. I had my driver side rear axle seal start seeping a little just a few days before I was going to leave so I had the wheel bearing and everything changed at the dealer because I didn't have time to deal with it. Now I have 2 trip reports to write, and lots of pictures to sort through and edit.

 

[Chuckles89]

[MENTION=97483]Chuckles89[/MENTION]

The entire trip, including the days driving there and back was 10 days. I say go for as long as you can, leave as soon as you can, and don't come back until you have to. Try to hit some fun stuff on the way back too if you can.

Mine is only 7 days unless I can leave earlier (which is doubtful). Looks like I can get in a lot of the stuff you did I'm ordering the Charles Wells book and a DeLorme atlas tonight!!

 

[BrianSD_42]

Your truck is really looking great and has come a long way man. Black on black with matching flares nice .... I'll admit I"m a biased. That front bumper looks sick! Going through the thread in more detail now. I'm on pg. 13 of 33. North Carolina looks really beautiful, I plan to get there someday, even if its in a rental.

Small side note .... You've got the same Axe model as me. Mine's worked out great so far, it was gift from my Dad. Btw Sonoran Steel also sells a similar set of bumpstops. And .... I'm hoping to see some projectors once I get to the end!

BTW, where did you buy these clips described below.

I put new clips on this little protective piece too. I had to break the stock clips off when I retorqued my UCAs, I went with the plastic rivet screw things to hopefully make removal of this piece easier in the future.

:wink2:

 

[Unner]

Well this morning I was laying on the ground tightening up my rear sway bar links (they loosen up after several thousand miles for some reason, even with lock washers and lock nuts) and noticed a drip coming from my skid plate. Then I noticed the transfer case was pretty wet. After inspection and research here I believe that my shift lever gasket on top of the transfer case is leaking. So I'll order those two gaskets, and a new oil deflector incase I mess it up when I pull it.

This weekend I also need to: Change oil, rotate tires, spark plugs (if I get to them), Driver side CV axle and diff seal (tore a boot in Colorado, replacing the seal because I don't want to risk damaging on old seal when pulling or inserting the CV's), flush my brake fluid, and spool my winch to make sure it's still functioning and healthy. That should keep me busy in this nasty heat...

Mine is only 7 days unless I can leave earlier (which is doubtful). Looks like I can get in a lot of the stuff you did I'm ordering the Charles Wells book and a DeLorme atlas tonight!!

Good stuff. How long will you actually be out there? It's a pretty good haul for us from this area.

Your truck is really looking great and has come a long way man. Black on black with matching flares nice .... I'll admit I"m a biased. That front bumper looks sick! Going through the thread in more detail now. I'm on pg. 13 of 33. North Carolina looks really beautiful, I plan to get there someday, even if its in a rental.

Small side note .... You've got the same Axe model as me. Mine's worked out great so far, it was gift from my Dad. Btw Sonoran Steel also sells a similar set of bumpstops. And .... I'm hoping to see some projectors once I get to the end!

BTW, where did you buy these clips described below.



:wink2:

Thanks man! Black is such a great color, but I got a good bit of pin-striping from my Colorado trip and while I was up in Canada too. Gonna need to learn how to buff paint sometime this fall I suppose

Glad someone is making use of me switching all my stuff over to Flickr after the whole Photobucket situation.]

North Carolina is very pretty. It's pretty mountainous, but not like rocky mountains. Everything is covered in some sort of plant, unlike in the rockies where there's just the trees and not much thick undergrowth. West Virginia has some very pretty mountainous areas as well. I passed through there coming back from Canada and wished I had some time to explore some old coal mining roads I'm sure they've got around there.

You must have a different posts per page setting than the default, 20 I think? I show 42 pages right now. Hopefully by the time you get to the end of the thread I'll have my two most recent trip reports finished and up.

I love that axe. It's been great for what I've needed it for, and I like that it fits inside my storage box in the back.

Unfortunately, no projectors yet. I'd like to do them, but when I retrofitted my MK3 Supra I had all sorts of issues with ballasts and such even though I got everything from TRS. Maybe one day the 4Runner will get a pair, but I also worry about longevity of them with driving over rough/harsh terrain. For now I just added more lights up front

The clips I used to hold that piece in were just some that I picked up from the generic section of clips at Autozone. If you want a picture of them I can grab one for you.

 

[LittleCaesar]

South Carolina is hot and humid at the moment; not sure if it gets this hot in Alabama.

The Appalachians are nowhere as grand as the Rockies. The first time I saw the latter at 14 I was like, well, the Blue Ridge mountains have nice foliage.

I am sure [MENTION=65101]BrianSD_42[/MENTION] could give you many pointers on the retrofit if you PM him. His headlights have always looked killer; they fit well with the rest of his rig.

 

[theesotericone]

The Appalachians are nowhere as grand as the Rockies. The first time I saw the latter at 14 I was like, well, the Blue Ridge mountains have nice foliage.

To be fair the Appalachians are 400 million years older than the Rockies. lol

 

[Unner]

South Carolina is hot and humid at the moment; not sure if it gets this hot in Alabama.

The Appalachians are nowhere as grand as the Rockies. The first time I saw the latter at 14 I was like, well, the Blue Ridge mountains have nice foliage.

I am sure [MENTION=65101]BrianSD_42[/MENTION] could give you many pointers on the retrofit if you PM him. His headlights have always looked killer; they fit well with the rest of his rig.

The weather between the two is pretty much the same. Only difference is in Alabama we have a lot more tornadoes.

His headlights have always looked good. I know I've looked through his DIYs before. It's something I may do one day, but not a priority right now. Lots a little things I want to get buttoned up first and then I might look into it some more. Maybe a Black Friday deal will get my attention.

To be fair the Appalachians are 400 million years older than the Rockies. lol

You do have a valid point...

 

[Unner]

Almost all maintenance is done.

I changed the transfer case shifter gasket and made a short write up here: http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-g...ota-4runner-transfer-case-shifter-gasket.html

I installed speed bleeders on the front TBU calipers to make brake fluid changes easier. I also noticed that the passenger side original bleeder was kinda rusty on the inside. Makes me think there was some water in there. The rears are already easy on 01-02 4Runners. Just push the brake pedal down and crack the bleeder open. The fluid will push itself out until you close the bleeder. Now I'll probably change my brake fluid more often than the 60k Toyota recommends, just to keep it fresh.

IMG_20170826_145247853 by Unner Unner, on Flickr

I plan to do another fluid change in a couple weeks. The fluid wasn't totally clean coming out of the bleeders, but I did put 44 oz through it. I also noticed the fluid in the master cylinder was really clear at the front, but still dark at the back. Now that it's been driven a few miles it's not as much of a difference, but it's still there. The brakes do feel a little better though so that's nice. They had seemed just a little off since I had the rear wheel bearing done at the Toyota dealer, I think he may not have bled them correctly. He also didn't adjust the ebrake at all...

Here's what the brake fluid looked like coming out. Left is the first set, right is the last fluid to come out. Hard to tell in the pictures, but there was a pretty good difference in color. I'd like to get it better still though.

IMG_20170826_145237800 by Unner Unner, on Flickr

I also changed my oil, greased my driveline, tightened my skid plate mounts (they also get loose and make a horrid clunking) and installed a new air filter.


IMG_20170826_115522818 by Unner Unner, on Flickr

And also changed spark plugs. Next time I do plugs I'll change the wires again. They have 90k on them now. I might change the coils next time to as preventative maintenance. I noticed some corrosion on the two front cylinders on the passenger side. The corrosion was where the spark plug wire plugs into the coil pack. I'm not sure why there was corrosion, but I cleaned it up as best I could and coated it in dielectric grease.

Here's what the plugs looked like with about 32k miles on them. They are arranged as if you are standing infront of the truck.

IMG_20170826_114917383 by Unner Unner, on Flickr

I also think my oil cap gasket needs to be replaced. I'll have to look and see how much the gasket is versus a whole new cap. It's not a bad leak, but moreso a very slow one. Probably not even measurable, but I like things to be right.

Tomorrow if I'm up to it I'll swap the driver side CV axle as well as the seal on that side of the diff as good measure, and then rotate my tires. Then I should be good for awhile!

 

[fourfive]

[MENTION=116877]
DSC07461 by Unner Unner, on Flickr

Now carefully hit the pinch weld over until it is flat. The lower part can be bend a little more than 90* to provide additional clearance. Be careful not to hit the plastic plug. I did and it cracked, so I had to seal it up with RTV since no one had a plug locally.

Thanks for the write up & updating your pics, used it this weekend to fold over my pinch weld to make room for a wider wheel, was very helpful. I managed to avoid hammering on that plug for the most part but think I slightly deformed it with the heat gun :doh:. Would you happen to have the part number for that plug?

 

[Unner]

Decided to replace my CV axle today. I started at 8:30. At 9:15 I had everything disconnected and was ready to pull the axle. Then I spent the next 4 hours trying to get the stupid axle out. I pried with a 36 inch pry bar as hard as I could. I put both feet on it and still couldn't get it to pop. I went to Lowes and bought some 3/32" and 1/8" steel cable to try and make one of those rope slide hammer, CV axle puller things that I've seen. That didn't work... Broke the 3/32" cable and the 1/8" cable wasn't budging it. I rented a slide hammer and some attachments, none of which fit our CVs...

Then I decided to pull my skid plates to try and put a pry bar on one of the notches and hit it with a hammer. I got the skid off (pain in the butt, that's why I was avoiding it) and decided to pry at it real quick with the short pry bar I have that's maybe 10". POP. That got it out of all the things I tried. It took hardly any force. Maybe the angle I was prying at with the skids on wasn't ideal, but that was really frustrating. 2.5 hours later it was all buttoned up with the diff seal replaced, diff topped off, wheel spacer reinstalled, and skid plates back on the truck. Nothing like job taking 7 hours when it probably should only take 3...

Also, this time I put the c clip on the diff side of the axle with the opening downward this time. It is so much easier this way rather than the opening facing up like I read a lot of places back when I did my first axle.

No vibes or issues up to interstate speeds, and no leaks so far. Lets hope I don't pull any CV axles for a long time now.

Thanks for the write up & updating your pics, used it this weekend to fold over my pinch weld to make room for a wider wheel, was very helpful. I managed to avoid hammering on that plug for the most part but think I slightly deformed it with the heat gun :doh:. Would you happen to have the part number for that plug?

Glad you were able to use it!

I don't have the part number. I didn't replace mine. Just put a lot of RTV on it and called it good. I didn't want to take it all apart again just to replace the plug. If I have to go back in there and think about it in time I will order a new plug and replace it then.

 

[Chuckles89]

I got a really awesome retro TEQ oil cap to replace my leaky one. It's pretty cheap

https://www.toyotapartsdeal.com/oem/toyota~cap~sub~assy~oil~filler~12180-13010.html

Edit: here is COB's on his supra http://www.toyota-4runner.org/all-other-vehicles/173045-cobs-89-supra-turbo-8.html#post2221687

 

[Scramble]

My PS CV took hours to get off too & that was in my buddies shop, on a lift with a 4ft crowbar. I did the DS in my neighbors driveway a year later & it popped right out with a little 18" crowbar. Seems to be the luck of the draw with these things.

 

[ToyotaBrah]

That axle ordeal sounded horrible. We ran into a similar poop storm with changing my mom's Accord passenger axle. The old axle was as reluctant to get out as a kid from Toys R Us. We tried everything to remove it without damaging the seal. Finally, we had enough playing patty cake with the car and just pulled on it like hell, while my brother was pushing on it with a pry bar and it popped out. That snap ring was one tough cookie.

However, putting the new one in took like a minute hah! That whole job put me in a mood to not want to work on a car for a month.

You're making solid progress on this truck! Let us know how those speedbleeders hold up. I might have to get those for mine. You also reminded me to change out my air filter!

P.S. big fan of your second car. Supra is on my bucket list of cars I need to own.

 

[Unner]

I got a really awesome retro TEQ oil cap to replace my leaky one. It's pretty cheap

https://www.toyotapartsdeal.com/oem/toyota~cap~sub~assy~oil~filler~12180-13010.html

Edit: here is COB's on his supra http://www.toyota-4runner.org/all-other-vehicles/173045-cobs-89-supra-turbo-8.html#post2221687

That's pretty neat and the price is right. I might pick one of those up! Thanks for the tip. I was looking for a new oil cap all together to see if they were available, but according to Toyota our OEM caps have been discontinued.

My PS CV took hours to get off too & that was in my buddies shop, on a lift with a 4ft crowbar. I did the DS in my neighbors driveway a year later & it popped right out with a little 18" crowbar. Seems to be the luck of the draw with these things.

Yeah I guess you have to have that c-clip in just the right position. Definitely frustrating since I started in the morning because I know the sun doesn't hit the driveway until the afternoon. It got pretty miserable in the sun wrestling the CV out, and then wrestling the 50 pound skid plate around.

That axle ordeal sounded horrible. We ran into a similar poop storm with changing my mom's Accord passenger axle. The old axle was as reluctant to get out as a kid from Toys R Us. We tried everything to remove it without damaging the seal. Finally, we had enough playing patty cake with the car and just pulled on it like hell, while my brother was pushing on it with a pry bar and it popped out. That snap ring was one tough cookie.

However, putting the new one in took like a minute hah! That whole job put me in a mood to not want to work on a car for a month.

You're making solid progress on this truck! Let us know how those speedbleeders hold up. I might have to get those for mine. You also reminded me to change out my air filter!

P.S. big fan of your second car. Supra is on my bucket list of cars I need to own.

Yeah once I had the old one out getting the new one in was a breeze. The speed bleeders are pretty nice. I've always wanted to try them, but never got around to it. I stuck the original ones in the glovebox with my rear driveshaft grease zerk (I have a set screw in there for gas tank clearance) just incase I have some issue down the road.

Thanks for the compliments on the Supra. It doesn't get driven much, I'd like to drive it more, but it's hard to find the time. It needs just a little work to be 100% perfect, which is also something I'd like to do, but again, it's hard to find the time. One day I'll get there.

 

[xdustin]

I got a really awesome retro TEQ oil cap to replace my leaky one. It's pretty cheap

https://www.toyotapartsdeal.com/oem/toyota~cap~sub~assy~oil~filler~12180-13010.html

Edit: here is COB's on his supra http://www.toyota-4runner.org/all-other-vehicles/173045-cobs-89-supra-turbo-8.html#post2221687

Hell yeah, digging that for sure! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Blackdawg]

DUDE! Why are all you photos on Flickr Private!

 

[Unner]

DUDE! Why are all you photos on Flickr Private!

[MENTION=141769]Blackdawg[/MENTION]

Sorry man, those were the initial settings I chose when I set the account up and I guess they kinda stuck. I'd like to change it to where friends and family can see it at least, not sure if I want it all public. That way if anyone here wants to see stuff they can friend me and see it. Although my only two friends on Flickr are you and Ben haha.

Any idea if I can change the settings to my albums from private to friends and family without destroying all my URL links? I just had to go through this entire thread and re-link all my old photobucket pictures after that mess a couple months ago and I don't want to do that again at all...

 

[Blackdawg]

[MENTION=141769]Blackdawg[/MENTION]

Sorry man, those were the initial settings I chose when I set the account up and I guess they kinda stuck. I'd like to change it to where friends and family can see it at least, not sure if I want it all public. That way if anyone here wants to see stuff they can friend me and see it. Although my only two friends on Flickr are you and Ben haha.

Any idea if I can change the settings to my albums from private to friends and family without destroying all my URL links? I just had to go through this entire thread and re-link all my old photobucket pictures after that mess a couple months ago and I don't want to do that again at all...

No if you change the permissions it won't break the links. Just changes your flickr page so people can see them there and share them themselves.

 

[Unner]

Thanks for the part number and suggestion on the oil cap [MENTION=97483]Chuckles89[/MENTION]

I installed it today. Easiest "mod" ever.

2017-09-12_07-06-09 by Unner Unner, on Flickr




Also working on photo editing. About a third of the way through Colorado pics. Wish I was back out there...