What did you do with your 4runner today?

[hutchison]

Today? , last 4 weeks..stripped off the rust inside and out with 3 x 30 hr soaks of kurust spray (its sticks like a gel.pretty good). grinding, wire brush, wire wheel. Pulled off all the brackets, stripped coated and repainted, + some new. New charcoal canister - finally ditch those dang obd2 codes :smash: .
Recoated with eastwood internal chasis paint, external chasis saver black. And internally and external with fluid film in places, new hardware antiseized. Dang that was nasty work, 50+ pairs nitrile gloves , Just piecing it back together. It aint perfect, without acid dipping the whole frame, you always going to have places in the frame with rust. Got some small holes mid & front frame, need to get cutting and put some good metal patches welded in spring. Its a waiting game, i think i give myself little more time at the rear.

 

[hutchison]

This is a little of what it was like.it doesnt look that bad but those little diamond piece were completely rotted, luckily it was blackfriday at mrT, and i got 2 for $30.

 

[hutchison]

In places the frame is pitted (lumps) rust just ate it, its key getting the loose rust off with grinders / wire wheels, wires brushes, screwdrivers :wtf: and acid based products, and getting good metal before you paint. Dont be believing that rust encapsulating BS , i tried that before it just blisters through. This time i got the majority off. But you cannot easily get inside the frame with hand tools so... Its all a band aid. They gave as an engine which outlast the frame :toilet3:

 

[hutchison]

+ greased up the driveshaft yokes. About 6 under there, some red n tacky grease. I do this about every hot / cold change of season.. there are 3 on each shaft, 2 on1 end and 1 on the other end. One shaft either side if the transfer case (6 total zirks)

 

[hutchison]

And actually today lol... Bed liner sprayed the center section of bumper skin and flaps , its going to clash bad with my toyota paint code - "sun bleached and laquer peeled dorado gold" .

 

[rdruss]

You got your car inspected by the famed CarCareNut?? I'm jealous! I'd love to have him give mine a once over to laugh at the insanity but also give more insight than any of my past shop experiences that treat "toe and go" as a guiding principle for everything.

Any idea what caused the wheel bearing failure? Was your guide pin the main killer for your pads/rotor?

Not sure on the pin, it was seized on the inboard side, the ant-rattle spring that it went through was broken and the inboard pad stuck in the caliper. The inboard pad was grooved up some, the inboard face of the rotor is trash, so I changed out everything.
The wheel bearing seems fine when removed, no grinding or even a slight rumble when you turn it, but ever so slight rocking to it which is magnified when it's installed and you use the tire to check it out.

 

[Ventil8]

Almost 21 years without engine issues until now.

So, after 20 years and 8months, I finally had a head gasket failure. I bought this 4Runner new in late Feb 2005, and it's been my daily ever since...so many good memories, getting the front/top end rebuild was a no brainer. Here she is after I got it back from my mechanic all wash up and with a set of new Michelin Defender tires. Planning to keep this 4R running forever and not planning to buy a new 6th gen 4runner until my 50th birthday(I'm 47). I might treat it this spring with some new wheels

 

[SocalSam]

...I bought this 4Runner new in late Feb 2005, and it's been my daily ever since...

On a side note, what's up with the tail pipe?

 

[Ventil8]

On a side note, what's up with the tail pipe?

HAHA!. I noticed that too when I took the pic and started looking for exhaust tips last night. I got rear ended in 2019 and the end piece got replaced. I didn’t really care at the time but after I took that pic, I noticed it and realized how bad it looks New exhaust tip going on ASAP!

 

[SocalSam]

HAHA!. I noticed that too when I took the pic and started looking for exhaust tips last night. I got rear ended in 2019 and the end piece got replaced. I didn’t really care at the time but after I took that pic, I noticed it and realized how bad it looks New exhaust tip going on ASAP!

I thought it was a trick anti-water ingress pipe, lol. I had a Sport muffler and tail pipe assembly in hand at the junkyard but left it behind. I've never seen anything about the Sport setup being less restrictive or sounding better.

 

[AuSeeker]

Replaced my Michelin Defenders LTX M/S2

Replaced my Michelin Defenders LTX M/S2 today with a new set, the last set had 60,000 miles on them with some thread left so I could of gotten another 20,000 out of them easily but one of them had a big screw hole that I plugged a few years ago but developed into a ply separation recently and was leaking, so I choose to replace 4 saving one old one for the spare.

 

[sport2004]

Replaced my Michelin Defenders LTX M/S2 today with a new set, the last set had 60,000 miles on them with some thread left so I could of gotten another 20,000 out of them easily but one of them had a big screw hole that I plugged a few years ago but developed into a ply separation recently and was leaking, so I choose to replace 4 saving one old one for the spare.

That is exactly what I did on my new to me 5th gen, used one of the good ones to replace the original spare. If I did the same as you, I must be doing something right. :thumb3:

 

[cwilliams563]

Here’s what I’ve done to my 4Runner the last 2 days.

Put some LED strips inside my RCI sliders that I just installed a couple days ago. The LED’s are tied to my interior lights (same place I tied into the MAP Light mod) so they come on and off as the doors open/close/lock & unlock. They work well for courtesy and approach lights. Work awesome when working on or underneath 4Runner as well.

Video of the courtesy lights in action. My driveway is crazy slanted so that’s why it is leaning so bad.

Installed a couple 3.0 chargers. One inside my center console and one on the center portion. The one in the console was put in for the wireless charger I bought from Etsy

The cord that is coming out of the console is where I plug my phone into and is tied to my Apple CarPlay which there is a USB for (factory location) that I have running to my Pioneer head unit

Replaced my old rear LED’s that were on the tow hitch bar. In a bad spot and just got beat up and bent while wheeling. The new ones aren’t super bright or a broad light, but they are slim and will stay out of the way now. My hitch plug was kind of busted up and just hanging, got it at least zip tied up for now and almost looks normal….ish lol

Before

After

Then the last few weeks I installed my Victory 4x4 Blitz bumper with Smittybuilt 12K X2o winch w/synthetic cable and my RCI rock sliders w/top tread, and a second battery

These additions added over 300+lbs

 

[cwilliams563]

Installed my Bilstein 6112’s w/ Bilstein 650lb springs, and brand new OEM LCA’s as well as had my alignment done today. Gained a little height and overcome all the extra weight I’ve added in armor, winch, and battery recently

5100’s and 600lb springs a couple days ago

Today with the 6112 & 650lb springs and new LCA’s before alignment

 

[cwilliams563]

Dang this 4th Gen forum sure has gotten a lot slower since I used to frequent it a few years ago. Is there just less 4th gen owners now, or because this site is so buggy and spammy now?

Anywho….

Installed an under hood LED switched light strip with an on/off lighted toggle.

Video of it in action

Link to the video if it doesn’t auto play or has troubles
https://i.imgur.com/cQOz8k2.mp4

 

[CookieRoe]

Alternator Change

Well, after 20 years of working fine, alternator finally gave out. Symptoms started about a year ago, I changed the battery and all seemed ok. I have a USB charger (cigarette lighter plug) with a volt display and it read 13v. Didn't think much of it when I noticed the readings displaying 12-12.2v. Then the grinding noise started in late October and then the battery died. Parked it in my garage in November.

After purchasing a reman from Toyota ($260), I finally installed it (week ago). The most problematic part was unscrewing the electric harnesses out.

Out with the old.

Windex ready (dirty under the cover, I'm a freak, I know). Good beer, some light I was good to go!

Old vs. New (reman)

Displaying 13.9-14.3 lately, so I'm happy.

 

[AuSeeker]

Well, after 20 years of working fine, alternator finally gave out. Symptoms started about a year ago, I changed the battery and all seemed ok. I have a USB charger (cigarette lighter plug) with a volt display and it read 13v. Didn't think much of it when I noticed the readings displaying 12-12.2v. Then the grinding noise started in late October and then the battery died. Parked it in my garage in November.

After purchasing a reman from Toyota ($260), I finally installed it (week ago). The most problematic part was unscrewing the electric harnesses out.

Out with the old.

Windex ready (dirty under the cover, I'm a freak, I know). Good beer, some light I was good to go!

Old vs. New (reman)

Displaying 13.9-14.3 lately, so I'm happy.

I like your work light, it's really a classic!!

 

[88Center]

The lamp :trophy:

 

[Jeebus]

Unsure what's happening, but can't access any pages after 99.

Been a busy bee lately, starting to prep for some solo camping trips this upcoming season.

- Currently planning on disconnecting the rear 12v socket and creating a rear power panel. I purchased the wrong amperage power button and am currently waiting for a new higher rated button.

- Battery finally went kaput this past week due to a cold snap. I thought I had more time since my last battery test (Aug '25) showed 850CCA on my 750CCA battery (production/installation date unknown, faded on battery). Purchased a Yellowtop.

- Purchased some insurance for my new battery - Noco Gen5x1 to plug it in when it gets colder than -20C, and a HKB electronics voltage booster to keep the battery happy on a daily basis.

- Installed a LC100 snorkel, only to find out that I could have gotten a 4th gen specific one for an extra $20 had I searched a little harder.

Then, I went down a rabbit hole and have an Auxbeam 8-gang panel on the way as I'd like to clean up the spaghetti mess in my engine bay, but that's a future Jeebus problem.

 

[Jeebus]

test!