What Did You Do To Your 3rd Gen Today?

[GhostRing]

Crawled around the front end a bit more and have a little laundry list of stuff to fix.

Dobinsons IMS lower shock bushings shot.
SPC UCA xAxis joints obviously also shot.
Inner OEM CV Boot (with stretch mod) ripped.

I think the latter may be due to my over-tightening the fancy
rounded CV style worm-drive clamps? Kind of wish I
had just left the cable tie - as it would weep ever so slightly,
but wasn't causing any damage.

That said - I found part # 04438-35041
Front Drive Shaft Inboard Joint Boot Kit
(pic for ref. - found cheaper elsewhere)

Seems like the correct parts, yes?
I don't need the entire kit, as the outers
are currently doing ok (for now...)

 

[XJeepguy]

Grille , Bumper and Headlamps

New bumper , new grille and new headlamps . New bug deflector on deck and Cerakote black trim stuff going on valance ( if the sun ever comes out again ) .

Spiffin' up the old girl

 

[HMGT4R]

Maintenanceeee

Nothing much new. Installed my lift kit a few months ago but never updated, installed some mini projector led bulbs, 10/10 recommend for a cheap easy projector light without having to build headlights. Caught up on maintenance this weekend, and went down to the beach. :high5:

 

[IndiGazoo]

added the TEQ underhood led kit but wired it to my switch panel and a bluetooth adaptor to the stock headunit

 

[96 ToyRunner]

Changed out my inner and outer tie rods with trail gear , also changed my factory brake master cylinder with another factory one , changed the driver side wheel bearing with a factory one with factory seals ( national wheel bearing only lasted 25,000) all of this done at 399,686

 

[2TH4IST]

Got all the parts to fix the left rear wheel seal and also got the hood louvers as well. Of course I mes my back up again at work so I'm down and out for a bit. Plus I didn't want to work in 103° sun anyways.

 

[pa_robert]

Got the son's 4Runner back from the shop. It needed suspension work and a few other things for inspection.

New front UCA, LCA, LBJ, UBJ, tie rods, sway bar links and bushings, shocks springs, rear UCA and LCA, sway bar bushings, track/panhard bushings, front calipers, discs, pads.

I've been working a lot so it was either take time off to do it myself or work and let my guy do it. It was a painful bill. But at least it's done and the boy can use it to get back and forth to school after he gets an alignment.

I went OEM with ball joints, front lower control arms. Delphi UCA's, Monroe quick struts in front, KYB gas-a-just and Moog 81041 in the rear, Mevotech rear UCA/LCA, and energy suspension for misc bushings. and a whole bunch of new hardware including new alignment/camber/toe cams.

PO did timing belt/radiator at 166K. It has about 181K now.

Before:

 

[pa_robert]

After pic.

Note: you'll notice the new hardware at the rear in the wheel well....shock relocation bracket...

 

[2TH4IST]

Yesterday finally tackled the leaking left rear axle seal. The old seal I had I guess was the old design. The new oem seal sits a bit further inboard then the old one. Replace wheel bearing, outer seal, replace retainers and put a bit of gear oil rtv on the retainer. The old seal was in perfect condition, but when. Pulling the abs tone ring and retainer didn't take any force. So I'm guessing the oil leaked between the axle and retainer, not the seal. All is done now, new pads, a bit more aggressive semi-metalic rear pads, and new parking brake pads and new rotor. Bedding went smoothly and zero leaks.

Move onto today. Tackled the hood louvers. I decided to move the outer vents a bit further forward due to the closeness to the outer support on the underside of the hood. It took a while to cut all the holes and drill the hols for the bolts. Get 2 louvers painted and run out of paint, flat black. Sigh but at the same time lol. I had a bit of the od green flat paint left. Paint the 2 other louvers od green. Turns out I painted 1 of each side a different color. LOL. But actually it looks good. I will repaint them when I repaint my hood. Test drive, Temps are more stable and trans Temps drop faster at speed. At idle there is lots of air exiting the vents. Parked even more hot air coming out. I might try to open up the hood scoop now too. Anyways onto the pics

 

[3bears]

...... . I might try to open up the hood scoop now too. Anyways onto the pics

when I bought my current 3rd gen the hood scoop was opened up, Sill has the screen, wondered why some previous owner did it, However in winter I have a cover I made for it As I dont neeed engine temps coolder then needed

 

[jmoskow]

Painted Rear Wind Deflector

Rear wind deflector looked a little beat. Decided it could do with some paint.

Removed from truck & did the following to both sides:
Sanded with 200 grit. Cleaned with water & dish soap, let dry. Wiped with rubbing alcohol on microfiber towel. Two coats of primer. Four coats of semi-gloss black. Reused all the hardware (careful not to lose plastic washers). Might take it back off to paint the four bolts but I'm happy for now

 

[wtfemery]

Went to straighten my steering wheel by adjusting the outer tie rods. Previous owner says he “got it perfectly aligned except the steering wheel being crooked. Turned one side 6 turns in and the other side 6 turns out. went to back it out of the driveway and one side popped right out!

Friendly reminder to hammer down the edge of the inner tie rod washers to the flat spot on the tie rod itself, after it’s tight. That would’ve prevented this from happening!! Although, it took like 10-15 turns to screw back in so it may have almost happened on its own!! Especially seeing the grease all over the threads, i suspect it was partially unscrewed already.

anyway it’s all back together the correct way and the wheel still isn’t straight but it’s better lol

 

[Endlessblockades]

Got all the parts to fix the left rear wheel seal and also got the hood louvers as well. Of course I mes my back up again at work so I'm down and out for a bit. Plus I didn't want to work in 103° sun anyways.

Sorry about your back! I'd be interested in some hood louver pics when you feel up to it. I have a non-scoop hood I'd like to experiment with. A 'Summer Hood', perhaps. Did you take it to a rod shop or do it yourself?

 

[2TH4IST]

[MENTION=373697]Endlessblockades[/MENTION] I posted up some pics a few posts above. Let me know if you can see them. You have more options then I do with louvers as I have the sport hood. I would have gone with these if I didn't have the hood scoop.

Race Louvers

Yes pricy, but they are great quality. You will have to cut out a big portion of under hood support, but once the louvers are bolted in place it regains "some" strength.

I went with race louvers as they didn't have the center rib like the track speed louvers do. Our hoods are curved quite a bit where the vents need to be (an inch or two behind the fan shroud).

 

[2TH4IST]

Replaced all the drive belts and the 25 year old starter. Nothing wrong with the starter besides being old. I'll rebuild it with oem parts. Also while doing that, I found my rack to be leaking a bit on the passenger side. Now time to save for a new rack.

 

[2TH4IST]

Friday I put in that new starter, it now cranks over with a passion!

Well on a wild whim I decided to hit the trail yesterday. I decided to run "white mountain" as it seemed what I wanted to do, chill and cruse in the fresh air and pine trees. Looks can be deceiving. The official trail # was 3N14 a docile wide fire road. What I didn't know was it transituoned to 4N16 then turned rifht to 3N17 before it started to head east. 3N14 is a nice easy trail, that I use to reset and get vibes.

Now 3N17 is marked as as most difficult (black diamond) according to the big bear trail rating. I double checked on onx, rated as a blue 4 (why can't we standardize these trail raitings). Ok read the trail reports, all side was easy fire road. One review said it was a moderately difficult trail, who said it was truly 3N17 (more on this later). Well I took the risk and headed up the trail. A large washout continued by large loose rocks, some bed rock, steep loose rocky climbs. I was not expecting that. Trail wide enough for the 4runner, not wide enough to turn around. So I pressed on. Lots of loose rock climbs, holes up to and over my axle. Quite difficult with no spotter.

I did finish the trail, it was the wildest trail I have ever did so far (got to start somewhere). I did go solo, I know I should go with people. But people don't want to use their 4x4's or always decline. Anyways, about the confusion on the trail. Onx labels this as white mountain, which it does take you to and the view is beautiful! It lumps (onx) into one trail and gives it what I call a average trail rating. Doesn't mention your covering a black diamond rated trail, just mentions that the trail is easier east to west, of course I went west to east.

This was my mistake as I should have done more research, lesson learned. I will drive that trail again. Some day. I had a blast, it was fun, hit my rear diff and scratched a rim, nothing bad. Until I got home. I noticed my rear swaybar was looking a bit funky. Checked it out and I broke/bent the sway bar riser and damaged the oem mount. I think the countersunk bolt loosened and snapped the weld nut, then bent the oem bracket and snapped the lower bolt. Easy fix, some hammering, locktite, a new bolt and rechecked the adapters.

Cleaned up one of the shooting ranges, got about 10 pounds of brass (YES! Score, what I reload) picked up some trash and about 100 or 2 shotgun shells. Not many pics as I was focused on driving. Sirius xm worked perfectly, in heavy trees and deep valleys. No signal loss.

 

[ch1966]

I accidentally made a wrong turn today and almost ended up off road.
It was scary.

 

[jmoskow]

Changed Fuel Filter + New Snow Drive Video on Blizzaks w/ POV & Pedal Cam

Changed my fuel filter with OEM replacement (part #23300-62030). Very easy to do with 19mm & 14mm flare nut wrenches, 10mm socket for fuel filter bracket & to disconnect battery. Only other things I used were drain pan & shop rag.

When I first started the engine there was a small leak on output side of fuel filter, which was solved by snugging up the flare nuts. Took about 15min and the truck feels better. I imagine the fuel filter was never replaced in ~178k miles.

I also recently posted a new video:

Bridgestone Blizzak DM-V2 - Snow Storm Mountain Pass - Manual 4Runner - POV & Pedal Cam
YT Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mKTDaCLtqY

Happy to answer any questions!

 

[bullshawrk]

2000 4runner sr5 4x4 limited here with manual windows. Some say i have a unicorn, but to me I am having trouble locating the manual window piece for my driver side. Anyone here have the same experience and point me the right way please?

 

[2TH4IST]

What piece are you missing? The hand crank arm?