What Did You Do To Your 3rd Gen Today?

[fatherohenry]

Today I appreciated my '96 SR5 with 251,941 miles.

Just put 1400 miles on her driving from Sacramento to Portland and back. Been hunting an oil leak for weeks. Did a complete valve cover gasket job before I left but that wasn't it. The dye in the oil made it look a lot worse than it really is. I brought 5 quarts with me, just in case, but only had to add 1/4 of a quart one time to get it back to the max fill line. Used H4 once to get up an icy street in PDX. First time in 10 years I've taken it out of 2WD. I was expecting trouble but had none. Had my first sunroof leak. Turns out it was just a leaf blocking the front left drain hole. Only managed 19 mpg the whole trip but that's about 4 better than the last time I drove to Portland a year ago. I brought a shit-ton of tools with me, just in case, but didn't have to touch a single one of them. If only I could find a woman half my age that treats me as well as my 25 year old 4Runner!

I'm very grateful I found this forum (and Tim (and Sean)) to help me learn I can maintain and repair my 4Runner myself. Thank you!

 

[giguchan]

Oil Change today.

 

[2chains]

She's earned it! Hooked her up to the trickle charger -30c here the last week or so.

 

[giguchan]

That's chilly.. whoa brother..

 

[dannance34]

Replaced the factory head unit with a new JVC double din. 6 1/2'' Rockford Fosgates in the front, 6 1/2'' kickers in the rear. Took a couple of days as I put Kilmat in the inner and outer door panels.

Very pleased with the results!

 

[superhomunculus]

Today, I am getting ready for the big snow storm rolling in.

 

[2chains]

^^I call it 4runner weather, lol.

 

[superhomunculus]

^^I call it 4runner weather, lol.

The 4runner weather ended up being a bit of let down, but the drifts were fun!

 

[superhomunculus]

I got play in the snow for a little bit today.

 

[5 Speed Dave]

Roscoe roof racks

A few days ago, completed installing NEW Rhino Rack heavy duty cross bars to the factory roof rack. I regularly haul a couple kayaks in the summer and the factory cross bars metal got fatigued on the ends. Was an accident waiting to happen. New racks are extruded aluminum and do stick out past the brackets but are definitely up to whatever I want to put up there.

 

[5 Speed Dave]

Factory E-Locker

at 305K miles I lost the seal on the rear axle passenger side. Pretty good service life. I have been wanting a Factory E-Locker for a while and it seems like a great time to do that. The adventure begins......

First axle the local yard located, I went to pick up and was the RUSTIEST axle I have ever seen. Also, it was not a Factory Locker so I did not accept it. They spent a month or so looking and couldn't find one with a 4:10 ratio.
I did some looking on line and found one in El Paso Texas. Shipped to my driveway for the same price the local yard wanted for me to pick up so I ordered. They delivered to my driveway right in front of my Runner. It was in great shape. Still had original factory paint and almost NO RUST. The gear oil looked very good when I drained to replace. Brakes and seals looked great too. Checked the electrical operation fine. Found out it was the WRONG RATIO at 4:30.

Well, it was too nice to send back. Installed with NEW White Line bushings and end links. Also NEW rear shocks. (2" Dobinson's lift on order).
I will have to go thru all my front end in the Spring when weather gets warmer.
Locker works great! Can't use 4X4 until I get the FRONT gear box ratio corrected.

 

[Von22]

Brake upgrade

I ordered all the parts today for my tundra brake upgrade on my 2001 3rd gen.

 

[giguchan]

A few days ago, completed installing NEW Rhino Rack heavy duty cross bars to the factory roof rack. I regularly haul a couple kayaks in the summer and the factory cross bars metal got fatigued on the ends. Was an accident waiting to happen. New racks are extruded aluminum and do stick out past the brackets but are definitely up to whatever I want to put up there.

I did something similar but i went with the Thule Kit. Sadly mine stick out too but the New Load Bars will see me through Bike, Kayak, Rod holders.

 

[wtfdissux2]

swapped the last lights on the ENTIRE truck over to LED and tried again to get my ABS light to go away (so far replaced all four speed sensors and now looks like might be a wiring problem near the ABS comp.)

 

[Devbot]

swapped the last lights on the ENTIRE truck over to LED and tried again to get my ABS light to go away (so far replaced all four speed sensors and now looks like might be a wiring problem near the ABS comp.)

throwing a code at all? Fwiw you can find used ABS modules on ebay for like $50 all day long, I forget the part number but it's printed clearly on the unit
Was it on before swapping to LEDs? If you did your dash and found it's constantly illuminated now it could be a current bleed

 

[wtfdissux2]

has been on for a few years lol but after a few close calls sliding on ice decided it was time to get into it. am thinking the wires for both left side speed sensors might have been hacked by a stereo shop that put a new head unit into it about 5 years ago ( right before the light came on). the green wires they jumped so the DVD player would work look a lot like the ones from the LF harness.

FWIW I am actually not really a new member but cant get into my old email address anymore so starting over. and am a shop manager in the Auto service industry just never much time to deal with my own truck

 

[busmup808]

at 305K miles I lost the seal on the rear axle passenger side. Pretty good service life. I have been wanting a Factory E-Locker for a while and it seems like a great time to do that. The adventure begins......

First axle the local yard located, I went to pick up and was the RUSTIEST axle I have ever seen. Also, it was not a Factory Locker so I did not accept it. They spent a month or so looking and couldn't find one with a 4:10 ratio.
I did some looking on line and found one in El Paso Texas. Shipped to my driveway for the same price the local yard wanted for me to pick up so I ordered. They delivered to my driveway right in front of my Runner. It was in great shape. Still had original factory paint and almost NO RUST. The gear oil looked very good when I drained to replace. Brakes and seals looked great too. Checked the electrical operation fine. Found out it was the WRONG RATIO at 4:30.

Well, it was too nice to send back. Installed with NEW White Line bushings and end links. Also NEW rear shocks. (2" Dobinson's lift on order).
I will have to go thru all my front end in the Spring when weather gets warmer.
Locker works great! Can't use 4X4 until I get the FRONT gear box ratio corrected.

Where are you? I. Have a front 4.30 box that I removed out of my 98 4runner due to sasing my truck in October. If your interested. I’m in WA


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[jeff88]

Testing a theory...

Back in January I put in new shocks and springs, including OME 906s and the Rancho adjustable in the rear. I've been trying to dial them in ever since, including some scary jumping around in the rear over bumps while at speed.

A couple of weeks ago I drove my FILs 4runner up the hill by my house so I could come down the windy, bumpy, fairly steep grade (why do they put manholes in the middle of the f-ing street???), trying to find out what the rear end does when hitting those bumps. Truck was solid, even though it (probably) has original shocks and springs from '97.

Tonight I drove to Lowes, picked up a few bags of concrete mix and put 100 pounds over each rear wheel well in the cargo area. Drove up and down the same hill testing if the rear end keeps jumping around while hitting those bumps. Truck was solid like my FILs. My theory is correct.

Now I have to figure out if there is a spring with a lighter duty rating (even though the 906 is supposed to be the correct spring for a stock 4runner) or figure out how to get some weight back there. It will probably be a while before I get a drawer or steel bumper back there, but I might have to bite the bullet now. Maybe I'll go buy some cheap wood and build a mockup drawer system until I can get around to building the system I really want.

Time to sleep on it.

 

[JohnMc]

Got a fun present from my wife. A set of manual hubs (from certain base model 4X4 Tacomas) for my 4Runner. And a box full of new parts to rebuild them.

I'm going to take these hubs apart and rebuild them around a pair of ABS steering knuckles (already fetched from a 2003 Sequoia in the junkyard) and have them read to quickly bolt on in the spring.

Then I can crank up the front suspension a bit more, I've have the coilovers set where the ribs on the CV joints don't touch when driving straight, to stop them from getting chewed up. No more full-time spinning of the CV shafts - no need to avoid that as much.

 

[Bad Luck]

at 305K miles I lost the seal on the rear axle passenger side. Pretty good service life. I have been wanting a Factory E-Locker for a while and it seems like a great time to do that. The adventure begins......

First axle the local yard located, I went to pick up and was the RUSTIEST axle I have ever seen. Also, it was not a Factory Locker so I did not accept it. They spent a month or so looking and couldn't find one with a 4:10 ratio.
I did some looking on line and found one in El Paso Texas. Shipped to my driveway for the same price the local yard wanted for me to pick up so I ordered. They delivered to my driveway right in front of my Runner. It was in great shape. Still had original factory paint and almost NO RUST. The gear oil looked very good when I drained to replace. Brakes and seals looked great too. Checked the electrical operation fine. Found out it was the WRONG RATIO at 4:30.

Well, it was too nice to send back. Installed with NEW White Line bushings and end links. Also NEW rear shocks. (2" Dobinson's lift on order).
I will have to go thru all my front end in the Spring when weather gets warmer.
Locker works great! Can't use 4X4 until I get the FRONT gear box ratio corrected.

The majority of factory e-locker axles from 3rd gen 4Runners will be 4.30 gear ratio. You can try looking for a factory 1st gen tacoma rear e-locker 3rd member to use in the 3rd gen 4Runner e-locker axle housing. Most of the 1st gen tacoma factory rear e-lockers are 4.10 gear ratio. Easiest thing to do would be getting matching front and rear diffs so you're 4.30 gear ratio front and rear.