What Did You Do To Your 3rd Gen Today?

[thennen]

Working 2 jobs 7 days a week leaves me with almost zero time to tackle any of this myself. I work in the automotive industry and have several hookups with professional shops.

I have the best of the best quote me $700 to do the upper and lower ball joints and an alignment if I supply the OE parts which I can get at a discount for about $300 if I remember correctly. So that's $1000.

Admittedly didn't shop the timing belt job but figured $1500 off the top of my head.

Add the $100 radiator plus coolant and installation probably $300.

So $2800 is about what I figured.

The new numbers have me sitting closer to $2000. More reasonable but still a chunk. We'll see how the project looks going into winter when my schedule frees up from 50+25 hours to about 45+25 hours.

I can understand your perspective. When you're working your tail off and have no free time, you just want everything simplified. Been there too.

I have another perspective. If you're in Reno, I'm guessing frame rust isn't a big problem with your 4Runner. If so, you're in better shape than we midwesterners. Here, it's often the reason someone bails out on major repairs.

So with rust not a concern, you're looking to replace mechanicals that, for the most part, have lasted 225k miles. It's not unreasonable to assume you'll get another 150k-200k out of the parts you replace. And you'll be spending $3k (being realistic - my estimates for whatever I work on are always low by 25%, so I pad a bit. Better to guess high than low in my book.). I think you'd need to spend a whole lot more to get a vehicle you trust to replace this one, and it'll have used parts and potential problems too, unless it's new.

I have a 2001 with 260k on it, and I'm going to have the frame looked over really well. If it passes, I plan to do the things you're looking at, plus a few more (actually, have them done). I may be into it for around $4k, but then should have a paid-off, reliable vehicle that I can take to the 400,000 mile club. Many cheap years of driving that I would never get if I spent 4-5 times as much on another vehicle.

Just my perspective here. Best wishes!

 

[I_bRAD]

Took the family out for a nice scouting run today. Made it to our destination and had a nice picnic/swim. Decided to press on to another spot we've been meaning to check out and it started to get pretty rough and slow. Ran out of time and turned back, but checking the satellite view after we got home looks like we were only 1km from the trail junction we were searching for. next time!

Ran into a real nice 3rd gen on the way in with snorkel and the full kit. Wonder if he was coming out of the lake we were trying to get to. Hi guy if you're on here. We were aiming for whitefish lake.

Edit: 1000th post!

 

[calimobber]

Relocated my volt meter to a more permanent location with better visability.

It's fuse tapped to the ACCY. fuse so it comes on and displays battery voltage whenever the key is turned to ACCY or IGN. It also has a calibration function so it is calibrated to match battery voltage across the battery terminals. It's nice to be able to check battery voltage just by turning the key.

I know my battery is reading low. Sorry about the big photo.

I love that little volt meter. I have one also. Helps me keep an eye on things with the fridge always running/

 

[nchacon1984]

Bought Torque Pro (OBDFusion for IOS) to monitor performance on long trips.

 

[Lamer]

bought a set of horns off of a 1996 Cadillac Fleetwood. Horns A D C and F for $15.

got home and tested them, the C horn didnt work. but the remaining 3 should be loud enough. in process of installing and wiring them. will be completed tomorrow with a sound clip!

 

[Dezert4Runner]

Ran it through the car wash today but before I made it inside one of the car wash employees tried buying it off me! He knew 5 speed 4WD black Highlanders are very hard to find. I told him I’m attached to it and the blue book (and local market) value isn’t worth crap with all the miles (350k+) and paint starting to fade so I said I’m keeping it :thumb3: I have lots more trails and adventures to put it through!

 

[Mudeprived]

Tore out all this wiring. Some of the connections were not connected and HOT.

WTF

 

[theesotericone]

Bought Torque Pro (OBDFusion for IOS) to monitor performance on long trips.

It's a very useful app. I use it more than the Pornhub app. Well almost at least. lol

 

[loafer]

The front skid plate needed to come off as it had a rust hole in it the size of a half dollar.While I was down there I took off the other skid plat that sits behind it.took it to the shop and did a little repair work. Then i had both skid plates powder coated black along with the receiver in the back. It was a bit rusty too. Its in the shop for some sway bar service. new ends and brackets with bushings. Wifes truck 2000 Highlander. Loves it

 

[Ironman707]

I did something today... new stop tech tundra brakes

 

[Jason B]

I did something today... new stop tech tundra brakes

I fixed your photo for ya

Now, I want to know how much better it feels, and how big of a difference?

 

[JKD]

Did front wheel bearing/LBJ/UBJ on passenger side.....driver side to come this weekend, also doing tie rods.

Getting new tires today, went with Goodyear AT Adventure, stock P265/70/R16, since she's my daughters daily driver not an off road monster.


Judging by battery performance last night, will also be buying a new battery today... :-/

 

[Lamer]

installed an inline 15 amp fuse for my new caddy horns. really like those things.

also had the 255/85/16 tires mounted and balanced to the new-to-me tacoma steel wheels. The wheels will bolt up without rubbing, but once you turn to full lock, they will touch the front part of the upper control arm, and turned the other way, they will rub the frame at full lock. so I bought some Trail Gear 1" spacers/adapters. if these don't solve this issue, then ill return them and get the 1.25" spidertrax.

I really want to keep these wheels tires inside the fender and get rid of my black plastic sr5 flares.

 

[LittleCaesar]

Moved it to the garage before getting the torque converter replaced next month. With the AC on, I could feel the cold air through the door handles. Never knew that before.

 

[Gearhead4]

I just ordered my lift kit from Sonoran. After a lot of research I choose the 1.2 Classic. So stoked to get this sucker on!

 

[2ndhandyotaman]

I had a long hard honest assessment about what I want to do with mine, how I should modify it ( if at all ) and what I should be realistically expecting out of it. All of this because I found a decent '94 FZJ 80 that is within my budget. I can only have one or the other, so I need to figure out which one would be best suited for my current and future needs.

 

[flipty]

Did my starter yesterday in about 7 hours including breaks, but man is that not fun to do by yourself. Really would help to have 4 hand and 4 eyes.

A helpful hint that no one brought up in tutorials or youtubes: You can get the old one out and the new one in from the bottom relatively easily. It does help to disconnect the brake line mounts just for access for your arms, but I don't think it's 100% necessary. I ended up having to sawzall my upper mount where the "L" fitting is between the hard lines.

Also now I know why that passenger side front line has the "coil" in it.

 

[PoshSnoop]

The Snoop had a coolant leak at the water pump after 6.5 years and 47k miles. Previous shop appeared to have done an extended 90k service poorly with wrong parts, not putting the thermostat jiggle valve at 6 o'clock (if they used the right thermostat at all), wrong spark plugs not torqued & wires and coil packs poorly installed, etc. The ScanGaugeII regularly reported coolant temps in the 204-207 range, with 214 max.

So, my lazy bone flared up and I had a local independent shop that I'm hoping to be able to trust do the following with "all OEM parts" (claiming they're the same parts that show up in the "genuine Toyota parts" bags):

• Timing belt kit w/ water pump
• Thermostat
• Flush and replace coolant
• Front crankshaft seal
• Camshaft seals
• Radiator - reasonable time to replace the original
• Inspect frame for rust - surface rust spots found
• $1910 total, 2yr/24k mile parts & labor warranty

Post-repair interstate & town driving results in coolant temps in the 186-190 range so far. Truck feels generally good, happier, quieter. There had been some unpleasant bearing-like complaining noises coming from the water pump area.

Next up:

• Bridgestone Dueler A/T Revo 3 tires, probably (they have that all-important M+S / Mountain Peak & Snowflake symbol that gets us past our DOT when going over the mountain passes in winter)
• Valve adjustment, gasket, and spark plug seal replacement
• Figure out good way to preserve frame and do it
• PNW winter explorations!

 

[JKD]

Fed up of the power antenna breaking in carwash....lost my third one, first one at the dealer, one by me (it stuck in up position) and one by my daughter who was too busy grooving to notice it was up! :-D

This was astoundingly expensive for what it is but I'm super lazy:

 

[JKD]

Did my starter yesterday in about 7 hours including breaks, but man is that not fun to do by yourself. Really would help to have 4 hand and 4 eyes.

A helpful hint that no one brought up in tutorials or youtubes: You can get the old one out and the new one in from the bottom relatively easily. It does help to disconnect the brake line mounts just for access for your arms, but I don't think it's 100% necessary. I ended up having to sawzall my upper mount where the "L" fitting is between the hard lines.

Also now I know why that passenger side front line has the "coil" in it.

It's a PITA. I wish I'd taken a picture of how it came out but that sucker is heavy to manipulate.

I looked at dropping the sway bar and out the bottom but did mine through the passenger wheel well.

It only comes out in one orientation but I believe I read on the forum to disconnect the brake line mount first. It still took me 2 hours figuring and wrenching it off...20 mins to rebuild and 10 mins to replace it.