tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-242287473841697642024-02-18T19:30:11.976-08:00First Generation Toyota 4Runner TurboIt's been a couple of years since I had a 4x4 I could play in the rocks with. I'm taking the opportunity to build this one with my kids!Eric Deslauriershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141401129055291393noreply@blogger.comBlogger55125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24228747384169764.post-15785303465671026272013-06-07T15:18:00.001-07:002013-06-07T17:37:41.560-07:00Getting the rear rear window to go up with tailgate switch.If you've been following this blog, you may remember my 4runner's rear window would originally not go up or down when I bought it. I redid the connections at the relay and got it to work with the interior switch, and now the rear gate key will bring the window down, but I can't get it to go up with the key.<br />
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I used to have an '88 Blazer and never had any rear glass issues, so I'm surprised with the number of issues first gen 4Runners have with their rear glass. At the end of the day, it's all pretty straightforward - once you know everything about them! :)<br />
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Since the truck has been relatively unmolested, I assumed something had gone bad. Err, no. In the process of diagnosing this, I started with the relay since it had had issues before, and also replaced the tailgate switch. The troubleshooting process for those two issues is linked at the end of this article.</div>
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<b>PROBLEM description</b></div>
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The switched Blue/Black-stripe thin wire to the tailgate has power at the relay, but not at the tailgate switch, checked where it exits the body and enters the tailgate, and again at the tailgate switch. If I ground it at the relay, the window goes up (trips the relay, and ta-da!). </div>
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<b>Things I learnededed [sic]</b></div>
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Anywhere I say "ground ... wire X" below, I mean I used a test lamp and it kicked the relay. </div>
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Example: I "grounded" the blue/black thin wire (tailgate switch wire) at the relay, causing the rear window to go down, ignoring interlocks - I was able to extend the window with the gate open. I only extended it a couple inches since breaking it is not high on my list of to-do's. Using the switches, interlocks work as intended. </div>
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Some wire color notes for my '87 SR5, colors at the master window relay, and before the center-console interior switch pigtail (chassis-side). </div>
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Any of the thin wires below grounded with a test light will actuate the rear window.</div>
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<b>Rear window down:</b></div>
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- Blue/White stripe : wire to tailgate, 12v at the relay </div>
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-- Thin one actuates relay, goes from relay to tailgate switch. 12v at the relay, 12v at the tailgate switch. </div>
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-- Thick one powers motor only, 12v at relay when relay is tripped</div>
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- Green/Yellow : center console switch. 12v at the relay at all times</div>
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<b>Rear window up: </b></div>
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- Blue/Black stripe : wires to tailgate. </div>
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-- Thin one actuates relay/ goes from relay to tailgate switch. 12v at the relay. I suspect it's supposed to have 12v at the tailgate switch.</div>
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-- Thick one powers motor. 12v at all times</div>
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- Red/Yellow : center console switch. 12v at the relay at all times</div>
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<b>Let's get on with it, then!</b></div>
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Here's the wiring diagram, colors match (L-B is Blue/Black)</div>
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Turns out there's a connector inside the jack compartment - which I'd completely forgotten existed. I'd thought I'd have to pull the whole side panel to get at the harness. Boy, was that a nice surprise!</div>
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Once inside the jack compartment, I found someone's method of testing wires involved slicing the insulation off. Or more. Here's the harness on the truck side, where they were looking for the wires to the tail-light. You know, the ones that exit the harness just below that and go to the tail light...</div>
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Following that harness straight down is a connector to the tailgate harness. Power on both sides for our little Blue/Black wire. Aha... Suddenly the fat part of the harness under the truck made sense.</div>
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I was able to pull the harness out of the body and work on the broken parts above the tailgate (See the hole where the "aftermarket" trailer wiring exits - there's a rubber plug for that hole - I'd pulled it out while working on this, and the connector is dangling below the truck. Don't leave it like that, the quarter will fill with rocks and mud).</div>
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In the bright SoCal sunlight, with the wires cleaned up, this was the extent of the damage. Look at those slices in the insulation (and the above pic shows the green wire completely cut through). I'm holding the Blue/Black wire - corrosion had damaged the 2 remaining wire strands.</div>
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After some splicing. I needed to use multiple butt connectors or completely replace the wires.</div>
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I used liquid electrical "tape" on the wires which retained their integrity but had their insulation sliced open.</div>
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After this pic, I also used the liquid tape to seal the butt connectors as this part of the loom hangs under the truck and gets a lot of mud thrown at it and will be under water from time to time using past experience to guide me.</div>
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My son, Andrew, was helping me as he always does. He found this floating around in the tailgate. Good thing, I can see it cracking the glass during some high speed offroading. I've been in there 3 times and never saw it.<br />
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A bit later, a friend of his came over, so they played some version of HORSE. That <a href="http://www.aluminess.com/trucks.htm" target="_blank">Aluminess bumper</a> sure is handy. And only like 60#, ridiculously light for a winch bumper. Let them know I sent you when you call over there, it's worth $50 off to you. They used my 4Runner for the firstgen Toyota template. Great shop, great guys. :)<br />
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It feels really good to have the window working from the tailgate switch.</div>
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Here's the <a href="http://m.yotatech.com/showthread.php?p=52084544" target="_blank">YotaTech thread</a> solving this, there is more detail and more pics.</div>
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Eric Deslauriershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141401129055291393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24228747384169764.post-19944971883333466692013-06-06T20:59:00.000-07:002013-06-06T20:59:20.101-07:00Catalytic Converter: followup; no warranty love...With the catalytic converter removed, the truck is running FANTASTICALLY. There's still some congestion in the exhaust, which I'll get checked out, but right now the vac/boost gauge is doing exactly what it's supposed to. But it's boosting up to 7psi consistently, and pulls pretty hard for a 4-banger. <b><i><u>Finally.</u></i></b><br />
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Not unexpectedly, the catalytic converter mfgr declined to warranty the converter, and the shop which installed it (also did my motor, look back through the posts for some serious whinging on my part) has not jumped forward to help me out and insulate me from their vendor - which they no longer use since they didn't come through on warranties very often. However, it's definitely a manufacturer's issue, so I'll be raising this one to the right associations to get some satisfaction.<br />
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I'll be taking the 4Runner down to <a href="http://www.edhansonsmuffler.com/">Ed Hansen's</a> to get the muffler checked for catalytic converter matrix detritus, and a Magnaflow cat (or whatever they recommend). They did a fantastic job on my motorhome - it's never run this good or gotten 8mpg before (amazing what we celebrate, eh!? Beats 6.5-7mpg tho!).<br />
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Next up - getting the rear window to go up using the rear tailgate switch.<br />
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And a teaser for upcoming posts... >:-)<br />
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<br />Eric Deslauriershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141401129055291393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24228747384169764.post-21167579613043660772013-05-27T12:17:00.001-07:002013-05-27T12:36:51.018-07:00Catalytic converter making ringing noises... that's not good!<br />
What happened to shops doing quality work, selling quality parts? A lot of the early posts reflected my<br />
frustration with the shops I've been using. A lesson learned is to no longer trust Yelp reviews since they're up for sale: <a href="http://www.buyyelpreview.com/">http://www.buyyelpreview.com/</a><br />
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And just so you don't think I'm a "Negative Nelly" about others touching my cars, here are some shops which have done exceptional work for me and my friends. I HIGHLY recommend every one of them.<br />
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<b>San Diego/Ramona, CA</b><br />
<a href="http://www.edhansonsmuffler.com/">http://www.edhansonsmuffler.com/</a> (exhaust work. My motorhome runs fantastic now, and sounds GREAT) They're getting my 4Runner this time.<br />
<a href="http://davesautoramona.com/">http://davesautoramona.com/</a> (general auto repair)<br />
<a href="http://www.sdbmwmc.com/catalog/">http://www.sdbmwmc.com/catalog/</a> (motorcycle)<br />
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<b>Portland, OR</b><br />
<a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz/line-up-shops-portland">http://www.yelp.com/biz/line-up-shops-portland</a> (alignment. They ROCK.)<br />
<a href="http://www.bmwportland.com/index.htm">http://www.bmwportland.com/index.htm</a> (fantastic experience and prices for my BMW car services)<br />
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<b>Green Valley/Tucson, AZ</b><br />
<a href="http://www.greenvalleychamber.com/members_detail.asp?ID=94">http://www.greenvalleychamber.com/members_detail.asp?ID=94</a> (general services) I learned the art of working on cars here and providing customers value for dollar paid. Rocky is the best. If he can't do it well, he won't. He's also an ex Alfa/Porsche/Mercedes/etc. mechanic.<br />
<a href="http://www.yellowpages.com/green-valley-az/mip/green-valley-radiator-ac-5843046?lid=5843046">http://www.yellowpages.com/green-valley-az/mip/green-valley-radiator-ac-5843046?lid=5843046</a> (Radiator and AC)<br />
The engine rebuilder I used there has changed hands, so I can't vouch for their current products, but holy cow did that place build me some great motors at some awesome prices.<br />
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When the engine was installed, I had a 2.5" exhaust setup installed. This replaced everything from the turbo downpipe (came as 2.5") back to the exhaust tip, including catalytic converter and muffler.<br />
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In retrospect, a lot of the problems I've had now make total sense. Let's start at the beginning.<br />
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Several months after having the exhaust/engine done, the truck started having boost problems. It would intermittently boost a max of 2psi. The dyno shop I'd gone to had told me the wastegate actuator on the turbo was messed up and very finicky, so I assumed that was it. Over time, the level of boost dropped even further.<br />
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What was weird is that it would do that from time to time, other times it worked great - but never over 5psi. I completely unhooked it, which should have had it boosting high pressures.... 5psi. Except when it boosted 2psi or less. Meh.<br />
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A friend who's good at this stuff (he's designed and built controllers for Banks and others) told me it had to be a constriction in the exhaust.<br />
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I took the truck into the shop and asked them to check. They used one of their little cameras and gave me a picture of the internals of a cat that was fine! (it's around here somewhere, you'll see why soon). Around that time, I'd noticed the back seat had MELTED from the heat of the muffler. The shop had, for reasons unknown, removed the muffler heat shield (the bolt areas were shiny and clean). Even so, that shouldn't have melted the seat. They put the heat shield back on and had an upholsterer patch the seat. Geez, Louise - it's so critical to have a GOOD shop work on your stuff.<br />
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Unfortunately, I didn't apply any logic to it at the time...<br />
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The truck's intermittently run well and poorly, turning in 13.5mpg average pretty regularly, which is miserable for one of these. Guys I wheel with are getting 19mpg on 35s. For a very short bit, it turned in 19mpg, but that didn't last. For some reason, as soon as I lifted the truck and installed bigger tires, gears, power went out the window and mpg settled into 13.5 mpg. I was confused, but my personal life and work was my top priority and I shelved this.<br />
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Fast forward months where work was running me 100 hours a week for months on end, and the 4Runner sat and sat and sat....<br />
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I finally got a weekend and headed out with one of my clubs to go on a light 4x4 trip. Had a great time, but all of a sudden, the boost dropped to 2psi on the way home. When I stopped in front of my house, admittedly a little firmly as I was kinda chapped, I heard a single "tong!" from under the truck. When I tapped the cat, it made rattling noises. The flex joint in front of the cat was ballooned out. And the cat only had a flange on the front.<br />
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Suddenly everything came together for me.<br />
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A) The muffler should not have gotten hot enough melt the seat. From the factory, the cat for 2000 Cherokees didn't have a heat shield. They worked great until you towed, then the could set fire to the carpet. More than a few Cherokees have burned to the ground because of this. My 2000 Cherokee started the carpet smoking climbing Grapevine with a 4000 pound load on a trailer, which is how I learned of this.<br />
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B) The catalytic converter had fallen apart, sending catalytic chunks into the muffler, where they did their job, getting hot enough to cook the seat.<br />
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C) There was a big chunk in the cat which was blocking the outlet, causing the 2psi boost issue and ballooning the flex joint.<br />
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D) The pic the shop had given me was only of the front of the cat. They were probably thinking of running lean, melting the cat, but since the truck is running overly rich, there's no way it would have melty damage.<br />
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E) The first thing I did after lifting and locking the truck was go climb things. Vertical things where all I could see was sky out of the windshield. The big chunk would have rolled to the back and ended up getting wedged in the pipe, creating the performance problem.<br />
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Check out these pics when the cat got cut off<br />
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Here's the front, the side with the only flange. Looks good.<br />
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Here's the back of the cat - the side without a flange, and which was not inspected when I brought it in the last time. 2 of the 3 bulkheads are broken.<br />
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Moral of the story - have them check BOTH sides of the cat if you think the cat's at fault. AND make sure the muffler gets replaced. After I posted this on FB, a friend pointed out that the Nissan Titans had a similar issue. Even worse, they would suck up some of the grit from the cat and cause engine damage. With a turbo, I'm a little less concerned about that, but inside, I'm expecting to start using oil at a prodigious rate any minute...</div>
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I'm waiting for the warranty cat (5 more days), and none too thrilled to have the same brand cat. I may get a Magnaflow installed and take the replacement for this one and eBay or Craigslist it. </div>
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In the meantime, there's a test pipe in place and I can say that the truck runs awesome. Boost now climbs and falls easily, and it hits 7psi every time. It runs MUCH better too. I was able to do 75 with at least a 30mph headwind on Saturday, with pedal left. That felt soooo good.<br />
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It feels awesome to be making progress.<br />
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Even so, that "boost controller" the dyno shop sold me? Doesn't work. I spent 20 minutes toying with it and have now just ordered a real one online.<br />
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I'm getting really excited again!<br />
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<br />Eric Deslauriershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141401129055291393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24228747384169764.post-86400106074971357232013-05-27T11:25:00.002-07:002013-05-27T11:25:59.446-07:00Time to fix the AC!When I bought the truck, the AC worked great, which I thought was awesome. When I got it back from the shop, the AC still worked. But weeks later, it died, quickly. That indicated a massive leak, not something simple. Rather than take it back to the shop and not know if it was done right, I decided to fix it myself. I'd done AC one time before with a friend who did things like that for a living, so I had a hands-on overview. And, I have to say, YouTube sure helps make it easier.<br />
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It took very little time to find that the condensor had a hole in it from a bolt in the grille. Someone leaned against it and it worked its way in over time. The solid motor mounts didn't help, I'm sure.<br />
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AC parts have come down tremendously and I was able to order a replacement condenser. At the same time, I decided to convert it to R134A since R12 has become so hard to get and I want to be able to self-service the system in the future.<br />
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Skeptically, I used the Harbor Freight compressor-driven vacuum pump and their AC manifold. It leverages the venturi effect to create a vacuum. It worked quickly and pulled a pretty decent vacuum, I must say.<br />
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Since I didn't take pics, I'll leave the installation part to some google searches. :) However, I feel it is very important to call out a very neat feature Toyota included in their AC setup - the ability to easily change the RPM at which the compressor kicks on.<br />
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After doing the install and conversion, the AC worked GREAT - underway. At stoplights, the compressor kicked off and the dash was quickly pumping outside air into the cab, bringing in heat and any humidity. Yech!<br />
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Behind the glovebox (snap down the vinyl), there's a little black or green (mine) box with a knurled aluminum knob poking out the top. Wish I had a picture for you. Warm the truck up fully and put it in Drive if it's an automatic (have someone standing on the brake so you don't get run over) or idle in Neutral if not, turn the headlights and any other power-hungry electrics on so the system is fully loaded, and turn the knob (can't remember the direction, was months ago) until the compressor kicks on. Then about 1/8 turn more just to be safe. NOTE: This assumes the idle VSV is working as expected.<br />
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R134 is inherently less efficient than R12, so long periods of idling will mean the AC isn't quite as cold, but once underway, it's quite good. It gets expensive trying to improve this, so you'll have to chalk it up to Treading Lightly on the environment resulting in reduced AC performance. While you could turn the idle up, there are lots of reasons that's not a good solution.<br />
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Another issue was that the AC would intermittently stop working. Nothing I'd changed would cause this. We were in Houston after a hurricane in 95+ degree super-humid heat when we found out this tidbit. Man oh man, was that uncomfortable!!<br />
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While adjusting the AC amplifier, I found a connector had hooked itself onto the glovebox light switch bracket and was intermittently shorting out. That must have been it, as it's been months and the AC works as expected. Thank goodness, I wasn't looking forward to trying to change some of the sensors under the dash!!<br />
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<br />Eric Deslauriershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141401129055291393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24228747384169764.post-75308842463102388192012-01-19T16:21:00.000-08:002013-05-27T11:00:21.417-07:00Wrapping up the front steeringAs a brief reminder, a while ago I went 4-wheeling in an automated car wash. It turned out the inner tie rod on the driver's side was completely wasted, allowing for some incredible toe-in under some conditions.<br />
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It had just been aligned no less than 2 weeks before that, so I was pretty upset since we had been jumping the truck across water bars on our last offroad trip (best distance - 22' from takeoff to landing - we measured in the wet dirt. Best height - only a couple feet, these 5100s are just 2" shocks after all AND we don't have a cage yet!!).<br />
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I was thinking stock replacements. Then it hit me - I'm only throwing more go-fast hardware at this truck, take the $300+ and put it towards some real good offroad parts.<br />
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Some guy had a used TC heim kit for sale, but didn't have the reinforcing tabs to go with. Since this was going to be on here long term, I wasn't a fan of used parts either.<br />
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ORW had my TC kit to me 2 weeks after ordering it. I got some other toys while I was at it (more when I get those installed!).<br />
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Two weekends ago I planned to do my Total Chaos heim steering upgrade.<br />
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I *strongly* recommend a tie-rod puller. I have always used pickle forks, and since I didn't care about the boots on the old tie-rods, got to town on it. No way, not even close. With the tie rod puller, it took 3-4 turns to get them to pop out, and I was putting some muscle into them. The were not willing to come out, and when they did, it was with a "pang!!" as they released.<br />
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I got to the point of installing the new parts, then realized my 5/8 drill bit was not in its home. By then, everyone in a 20 mile radius who had a 5/8" drill bit was closed, and everyone else only had up to 1/2". Sure, I could use my 5/8" mill bit... except I haven't replaced my mill yet... D'oh! I wasn't willing to do an hour round-trip for a drill bit at 8pm at night.<br />
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That left my truck looking like this.<br />
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This weekend was it!<br />
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Then, Friday night at 10:30p, I learned we had some critical work activities starting at 8AM on Saturday. OK<br />
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So Sunday... Err, no, 6pm Saturday saw us going into Sunday.<br />
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So Monday, which is a holiday for us...<br />
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I installed my TC idler arm. Man that's a nice piece.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSKksOD6YJKw49O5s5WfRN8upa4Ri674ydOSAbemtFvv-aMA4qdfxKvG3LyZlg3Kv4jXcePDopTjS-fm2tSmZLwdGXxlIefLXgpLRFVnfMa1ipuy_1KUJNyzLKDhKeVjkQcSgMcDEb8YE/s1600/395962_325715467451993_1824597115_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSKksOD6YJKw49O5s5WfRN8upa4Ri674ydOSAbemtFvv-aMA4qdfxKvG3LyZlg3Kv4jXcePDopTjS-fm2tSmZLwdGXxlIefLXgpLRFVnfMa1ipuy_1KUJNyzLKDhKeVjkQcSgMcDEb8YE/s640/395962_325715467451993_1824597115_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I did have to grind one weld away from a bolt hole (bottom hole on the arm in this shot), but I sent pics to TC and they're going to check their other arms. Mad Props to the TC guys. They are very nice over there and assumed I DID have a problem, not that I was mistaken. Usually the guy on the other end tries to explain to you in simple terms that you're an idiot, and finally recants after getting the pics. Probably because most of the time, that's the case. :lof:<br />
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Then it was onto the heim tie rods<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNBzvavekVaAnpDucZk6SusaGlUmZXrr50yKqxe88ji9v91q_tN4ia8jkVZWZA3BS9ErJXFTLtyG9Ou6n60vVqNYiOlSV6QNymtL26uDDNvLkJibpmBU4vYktBcqBPVohw2jPvbW0RD-c/s1600/405560_325719174118289_1631291982_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNBzvavekVaAnpDucZk6SusaGlUmZXrr50yKqxe88ji9v91q_tN4ia8jkVZWZA3BS9ErJXFTLtyG9Ou6n60vVqNYiOlSV6QNymtL26uDDNvLkJibpmBU4vYktBcqBPVohw2jPvbW0RD-c/s320/405560_325719174118289_1631291982_n.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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I didn't weld the braces on yet (makes the arm-side double-shear) as my welder is all the way in the back of the garage and I wasn't pulling the arms off and certainly didn't have the right extension cord to do it in the driveway. My garage is as far away from the breaker box as it can be and the wiring used is borderline for my power-tools. For heavy welding work, I usually take the welder to the other side of the house and do my welding there, with much better results.<br />
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The install is pretty straight-forward if you have a 5/8 drill bit. Harbor Freight had one since mine went the way of loaned out tools. LOL<br />
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Here's the beef installed (yes I also didn't have any black paint. Sigh.)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSNpeB04He3foXarI8qa-p_vJRCoxLc03AnIn078Lnoi9236f6NY3SVcum1EVp84hS8E6SBp-Ri2Xy2jzvd9DejnA85JHR5lWsrSRhLE5_9duWFoylzNQT0x28Ye79wTVeSvbjgMhmChM/s1600/400135_325692184120988_401579733_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSNpeB04He3foXarI8qa-p_vJRCoxLc03AnIn078Lnoi9236f6NY3SVcum1EVp84hS8E6SBp-Ri2Xy2jzvd9DejnA85JHR5lWsrSRhLE5_9duWFoylzNQT0x28Ye79wTVeSvbjgMhmChM/s640/400135_325692184120988_401579733_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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No more worries about my steering doing bad things on landings OR in carwashes! ;-)<br />
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Next up, more work on the rear!<br />
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Eric D<br />
87 4Runner Turbo!Eric Deslauriershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141401129055291393noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24228747384169764.post-44394835241248061582011-12-05T16:52:00.000-08:002011-12-05T17:14:02.547-08:00Aluminess beef - more details of the bumper!<div style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: yellow; font-family: verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Tell Aluminess "Eric D with the 4Runner" sent you and they'll knock $50 off your bumper or shipping (any bumper they make, not just 4Runner bumpers).</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: yellow; font-family: verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;">I've had a few requests for some more detailed shots of the bumper, so here they are!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">One of the interesting things about the SmittyBilt is how wiggly it was. It wasn't too bad offroad (not annoying, thank goodness!), but you could grab it and wiggle it easily. It flexed a lot when using it as a tow point for a tow strap (I'd loop a strap around a frame horn on either side since I'd replaced my tow hook with a bracket for my tow bar). The top two mounts of the SmittyBilt go on top of the rubber body mounts for the radiator core support (see pics below). I know you can get winch mount plates for the style SmittyBilt bumper I had, but have to wonder what other brackets come with it to tie it in more firmly.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPO0onMugjKyiKO9z_PdHVysSQVkamSsE1oW3jOP8-1EDFLwjs0gMZDbPtv-mI51C5fApDd_9SUw49e4e4-fR7jp6D9etSt8-Xj9LLeBCA2QW5FhOTNpBWevD_8Zr0csgVwZHNeNEjfA0/s1600/IMG_0711.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPO0onMugjKyiKO9z_PdHVysSQVkamSsE1oW3jOP8-1EDFLwjs0gMZDbPtv-mI51C5fApDd_9SUw49e4e4-fR7jp6D9etSt8-Xj9LLeBCA2QW5FhOTNpBWevD_8Zr0csgVwZHNeNEjfA0/s400/IMG_0711.JPG" /></a>One of the things I like about the Aluminess bumper is that the winch area is fully enclosed and lockable. Or you can leave it unlocked. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">The fairlead hole even comes with a powder-coated cover plate in case I'd like to convert it to just storage some day.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">The vents do a great job getting air into the winch so things don't rust, plus the 4Runner needs them since the bumper and AC condenser do hang down lower than the grille. A lot lower.</div></div><br />
It's easy to remove the rubber cover and unlock the winch cover. There's a trick to locking it - don't push down on the button (silver circle) otherwise you just unlock it and have to scratch your head a while wondering why it's not closing.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-73lq2nNfoyRomoVqcrDQ6xZicFrmwBoMly-3Wz2dCjUHu8qbBDSniH9aqtuG9aMsIrK7U6Rau1AshuPv53U9Anvq4njKqu35JKnTWm21NBIfkXNL7QuOyKt0lv8KygU6FdXDkZulSMg/s1600/IMG_0714.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-73lq2nNfoyRomoVqcrDQ6xZicFrmwBoMly-3Wz2dCjUHu8qbBDSniH9aqtuG9aMsIrK7U6Rau1AshuPv53U9Anvq4njKqu35JKnTWm21NBIfkXNL7QuOyKt0lv8KygU6FdXDkZulSMg/s400/IMG_0714.JPG" /></a>Inside the winch compartment is a lot more beef. Each side has 3 bolts holding the bumper on, and check out that clevis mount. The clevis has a straight pull to the mounting. Less twist on the frame or mounts. Check out those welds. I wish I could weld aluminum that pretty!</div><br />
Three beefy bolts on each side bolt into the front of the frame. My truck has a tow bar which reuses the tow hook frame holes, they're still on there.</div><br />
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This is the top mount I'd mentioned earlier, where the SmittyBilt mounted. This is shot between the bumper and the grille. Note that the SmittyBilt didn't have any other top mounts, hence the wiggling. I thought it was a nice touch for the Aluminess guys to tie it back into here, on top of the 3 bolts above.<br />
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<div style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3Kzs-tkzQ_N5JtIV1MVU46q-ssXiEtQKpPj-PS_M_4WSnHfJFTrCu8xte-rZ6DS4XbDhx1z2XSl8i83i4guPd65kUO3EeCoOVGmv_fdRRCtzo28R8OaTzR1VIR0itWQ90MO2U53Lr8_A/s1600/IMG_0715.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3Kzs-tkzQ_N5JtIV1MVU46q-ssXiEtQKpPj-PS_M_4WSnHfJFTrCu8xte-rZ6DS4XbDhx1z2XSl8i83i4guPd65kUO3EeCoOVGmv_fdRRCtzo28R8OaTzR1VIR0itWQ90MO2U53Lr8_A/s400/IMG_0715.JPG" /></a> </div><br />
Here's an underside shot of the same mount.<br />
<div style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtlCCUfr9btx5yXpqxDriZAUXSn6UDgfLey28EHm8WxL8H5N5ljUVm9jMiYCHSZ4uQuvRTLhAlBtI5EUrQA37rVya-i9aLoxW068StIxJPP3ZD4761zar8EP51tIheO0UwIKL57Dc4_TI/s1600/IMG_0716.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtlCCUfr9btx5yXpqxDriZAUXSn6UDgfLey28EHm8WxL8H5N5ljUVm9jMiYCHSZ4uQuvRTLhAlBtI5EUrQA37rVya-i9aLoxW068StIxJPP3ZD4761zar8EP51tIheO0UwIKL57Dc4_TI/s400/IMG_0716.JPG" /></a> </div><div style="clear: both; text-align: CENTER;"><a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img align="middle" alt="Posted by Picasa" border="0" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" style="-moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; border: 0px none; padding: 0px;" /></a></div>Eric Deslauriershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141401129055291393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24228747384169764.post-10607695026069046812011-12-05T16:33:00.000-08:002011-12-05T17:13:27.419-08:00Aluminess - purveyors of fine aluminum adventure bumpers!<div style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAsoLSOJNxoGVDz-duKi9krLCtLHVy8D6uNEEekI41JHtwwm9JeVo7z7zkaBHEuAPyRgQnMPKeLuXNvwyh5kGSzHXQh2NoJuuOMw4FMX2nvoAYUMzv4bAn-5bDvk-eDFTa1Xfwy3qAsaA/s1600/IMG_0131.JPG"></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: black; color: yellow; font-family: verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Tell Aluminess "Eric D with the 4Runner" sent you and they'll knock $50 off your bumper or shipping (any bumper they make, not just 4Runner bumpers).</span><br />
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I've long wanted an adventure-style front bumper, for every truck I've owned (my Blazer, the Cherokee, my wife's Yukon XL...). However, all the solutions out there I've looked at are steel, which is nice - but too heavy.<br />
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I first found Aluminess in <a href="http://www.aluminess.com/docs/4WD%20Magazine%20pg%201.pdf">Toyota Owner</a> where they built a front bumper for an FJ (great mag, you should get it!). Unfortunately, they didn't have a bumper for a 1st Gen 4Runner. Then I learned they were a meager 20 miles or so from my house!<br />
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Read on for the story of how a new bumper gets fabricated.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-GiR69eYVaNFG-pbp7QyQKq00DXi0Qckx-n6BAN67NmrOA-Z5lF0Tej5_vKjPbrkTOkxu652XuAL4ppXzznadNYHMAYSoVawwn9vc9Cu0v9jooaEd78VQg90gMZ1jbS0D7UcS-oaCEeU/s1600/IMG_0693.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-GiR69eYVaNFG-pbp7QyQKq00DXi0Qckx-n6BAN67NmrOA-Z5lF0Tej5_vKjPbrkTOkxu652XuAL4ppXzznadNYHMAYSoVawwn9vc9Cu0v9jooaEd78VQg90gMZ1jbS0D7UcS-oaCEeU/s640/IMG_0693.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-GiR69eYVaNFG-pbp7QyQKq00DXi0Qckx-n6BAN67NmrOA-Z5lF0Tej5_vKjPbrkTOkxu652XuAL4ppXzznadNYHMAYSoVawwn9vc9Cu0v9jooaEd78VQg90gMZ1jbS0D7UcS-oaCEeU/s1600/IMG_0693.JPG"> <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-GiR69eYVaNFG-pbp7QyQKq00DXi0Qckx-n6BAN67NmrOA-Z5lF0Tej5_vKjPbrkTOkxu652XuAL4ppXzznadNYHMAYSoVawwn9vc9Cu0v9jooaEd78VQg90gMZ1jbS0D7UcS-oaCEeU/s1600/IMG_0693.JPG"><br />
</a><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Day 1</span></b><br />
I initially spoke with Kenny Gorham about the overall process. A new bumper style means fabrication, test fittings, adjustments, more test fittings, and, finally, installation! I'd have to give up a couple of afternoons, but then I'd have a smashing front bumper.<br />
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I showed up at 1PM for my appointment. On my tour through their shop, the first thing I was looking for was organization, then product weld and fit/finish quality. Their shop is well organized with all kinds of finished bumpers, roof racks, rear bumpers, and the parts that make them up stacked up waiting for welders. The welders have curtained-off areas behind making it easy enough to walk through the shop without incurring eye burns. The finished parts looked fantastic. I started feeling pretty good.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQEcpto0UkfcJgG262EnO0VNg6Oi1AieNEWcAau7VVSrgicyf7bru_se5Gys45eDSx5l9QZjoWaPEKHjmE9YULhjKSiUKeKSn5lCtyw1sB87KnYAUTdhmMGaKNXzP5AScuBB9aZp3fJ9s/s1600/IMG_0132.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQEcpto0UkfcJgG262EnO0VNg6Oi1AieNEWcAau7VVSrgicyf7bru_se5Gys45eDSx5l9QZjoWaPEKHjmE9YULhjKSiUKeKSn5lCtyw1sB87KnYAUTdhmMGaKNXzP5AScuBB9aZp3fJ9s/s400/IMG_0132.JPG" /></a>Then we got to a newly finished FJ bumper in bare aluminum. I missed a picture, but it was on its way powder coat. They asked if I wanted to pick it up. I did, and about fell over. There was NO WAY this bumper was that light. I easily one-handed it.<br />
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Next thing you know, I've pulled my truck into the shop and they've pulled my Smittybilt tube bumper and have started measuring, pulling out some stock pieces seeing how they'd fit, then asking me all kinds of questions about what I wanted, writing down the answers. I loved the process.<br />
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This took about 3-4 hours, which was fine by me. I'm blessed to have a job where I can work remotely and the Aluminess team let me crash in their conference rooms where I could plug in my laptop and take/initiate calls. They generously offered me their network, but I already have all the toys to work remotely. I'd take the occasional break and drift be to see what was up, answer a few questions, then back to work! Whaa-cha!<br />
<div style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Kenny got measurements from Warn's site for this part of the process, but did ask that I bring my winch the following time.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">We talked about what to do about the blinkers because the orange things next to the headlights are just side markers. You can see the factory blinkers attached to the SmittyBilt (the white things poking out the back), etc. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">They bolted my bumper back up and sent me on my way, setting my expectation that this part would take a few weeks. I really wasn't in a rush, which I told him. I left at the end of the day feeling pretty good.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtxOFrJAEeXmqc4RUD5Vt0uNxy94se1yYDEJy9KXGOdUXVUBVecuCnVBonebEv_4P-j8X3p0dNEgqxL-sQiNPA8moXvUdqzR3zBf7RJQ8JnEhahzo7A9_aNeG2YtezeXdme57AJ2pmTgQ/s1600/IMG_0347.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtxOFrJAEeXmqc4RUD5Vt0uNxy94se1yYDEJy9KXGOdUXVUBVecuCnVBonebEv_4P-j8X3p0dNEgqxL-sQiNPA8moXvUdqzR3zBf7RJQ8JnEhahzo7A9_aNeG2YtezeXdme57AJ2pmTgQ/s400/IMG_0347.JPG" /></a><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Day 2</span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;">A few weeks later, as promised, I got a call from Kenny - "Hey Eric, when's a good time to come test fit the bumper? We'll need about 1/2 a day, and please bring your winch."</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">When I got to the shop, I saw this beauty laying on the ground. Right there and then I started thinking clear powercoat would look pretty cool.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Check out the attention to detail with the scallops to fit around the fenders. Man, I was pretty pleased.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">I'd brought my winch as requested, separating it from the Warn hitch-mount cradle it had lived in the past 8 year. It's an original XD9000i (the slow one), but it's been a great winch. I'm ultra-careful with the cable, so there are very few broken strands and it's in great shape, even though it's pulled some serious loads.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghAt2SHBqJj15RFvZDFCWU9LSVcOPXMeU5xJ01xH7kR_uDWgwYhZhkrQid-DM8O-l1qum_A4-lSyl8452ZbDishwBEjXtmQDpa_O7rGmmj73A9L-QSnwLWQa5ckv9CSEBFYKp6ZuXzVRQ/s1600/IMG_0571.JPG" style="text-align: center;"> </a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghAt2SHBqJj15RFvZDFCWU9LSVcOPXMeU5xJ01xH7kR_uDWgwYhZhkrQid-DM8O-l1qum_A4-lSyl8452ZbDishwBEjXtmQDpa_O7rGmmj73A9L-QSnwLWQa5ckv9CSEBFYKp6ZuXzVRQ/s1600/IMG_0571.JPG"></a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghAt2SHBqJj15RFvZDFCWU9LSVcOPXMeU5xJ01xH7kR_uDWgwYhZhkrQid-DM8O-l1qum_A4-lSyl8452ZbDishwBEjXtmQDpa_O7rGmmj73A9L-QSnwLWQa5ckv9CSEBFYKp6ZuXzVRQ/s1600/IMG_0571.JPG"><br />
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<div style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAbT3Mo1bXaC-32WPw55NBPw8SySGnhZqrlRNfXxusKy4KqnF0iqshG7c2yncYSllNUD_lJidM2NP2UE5vko4k9NaG_4tx3Kw_YpHwKnCa_oHD1fHkzaTNUkiONJas-V5dv34gMk4I9Pk/s1600/IMG_0352.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxI9yMU-iJ8ur7kCUJIypCdchIw4YkoXhe8P7LsSp_sKI756G65zmSK66WxxVrQ67kia9bVYwJJDaau69-bNfxmfvLrZPJYttQI5z3zJshFttH10fsfIG7dyONcdjNe6TAP50zyDKY5Lo/s1600/IMG_0349.JPG" style="text-align: right;"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxI9yMU-iJ8ur7kCUJIypCdchIw4YkoXhe8P7LsSp_sKI756G65zmSK66WxxVrQ67kia9bVYwJJDaau69-bNfxmfvLrZPJYttQI5z3zJshFttH10fsfIG7dyONcdjNe6TAP50zyDKY5Lo/s400/IMG_0349.JPG" /></a><br />
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<div style="text-align: left;">One of the important questions was what to do with the brushguard. I really liked that I could just barely see the top edge of my Smittybilt over the hood, making it easy to know when I was going to ram into the parking garage wall or start pushing the car parked in front of me backwards. I also wanted it to be as strong as possible in case I did happen to catch a cow, horse, deer, or 4-wheeled critter out in the wild.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5AKDx2oSWBvw764tWs9nUljPr9iIXPOnia7cj3fDHA44Ftc1Qd7qTSAJIiSYFUnrZw_-ox6QgvwB1SlPwBEXZpST3YCES3Yf-BMYVFO9gtDKUeS0rUzM4xubTW1Egwx7hRcjn1EDxQ0c/s1600/IMG_0348.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5AKDx2oSWBvw764tWs9nUljPr9iIXPOnia7cj3fDHA44Ftc1Qd7qTSAJIiSYFUnrZw_-ox6QgvwB1SlPwBEXZpST3YCES3Yf-BMYVFO9gtDKUeS0rUzM4xubTW1Egwx7hRcjn1EDxQ0c/s400/IMG_0348.JPG" /></a>I wanted the bars closer to the outside of the bumper, but one of the engineers, correctly, pointed out that would cause night blindness as the headlight reflected off of it. Their attention to detail was awesome.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">My next suggestion had him scratching his head. He wanted to be able to see the Toyota logo from the front. What if... I know beauty when I see it, but I'm not very good at describing what I think is good looking.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Pretty soon, we had a setup that met real-world needs, but looked good too. They mocked up a piece of tubing to show me what the center section might look like. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">More measurements and mounting planning. .</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: right;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghAt2SHBqJj15RFvZDFCWU9LSVcOPXMeU5xJ01xH7kR_uDWgwYhZhkrQid-DM8O-l1qum_A4-lSyl8452ZbDishwBEjXtmQDpa_O7rGmmj73A9L-QSnwLWQa5ckv9CSEBFYKp6ZuXzVRQ/s1600/IMG_0571.JPG"> </a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghAt2SHBqJj15RFvZDFCWU9LSVcOPXMeU5xJ01xH7kR_uDWgwYhZhkrQid-DM8O-l1qum_A4-lSyl8452ZbDishwBEjXtmQDpa_O7rGmmj73A9L-QSnwLWQa5ckv9CSEBFYKp6ZuXzVRQ/s1600/IMG_0571.JPG"></a></div></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghAt2SHBqJj15RFvZDFCWU9LSVcOPXMeU5xJ01xH7kR_uDWgwYhZhkrQid-DM8O-l1qum_A4-lSyl8452ZbDishwBEjXtmQDpa_O7rGmmj73A9L-QSnwLWQa5ckv9CSEBFYKp6ZuXzVRQ/s1600/IMG_0571.JPG"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDrq7VYS3UCj0Y3jmbyitGLSY9z_IHK-o5iFIrFYtvTdPAPodUp1HauCZhzIKZhzQJMSOVyo2A_Iycf15GuyoVcY7OnXbzJb3L6PYV8uamNfiisu9aBYdvRRoqauIH9-2aOfM2qk8n7kU/s1600/IMG_0351.JPG" style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDrq7VYS3UCj0Y3jmbyitGLSY9z_IHK-o5iFIrFYtvTdPAPodUp1HauCZhzIKZhzQJMSOVyo2A_Iycf15GuyoVcY7OnXbzJb3L6PYV8uamNfiisu9aBYdvRRoqauIH9-2aOfM2qk8n7kU/s400/IMG_0351.JPG" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghAt2SHBqJj15RFvZDFCWU9LSVcOPXMeU5xJ01xH7kR_uDWgwYhZhkrQid-DM8O-l1qum_A4-lSyl8452ZbDishwBEjXtmQDpa_O7rGmmj73A9L-QSnwLWQa5ckv9CSEBFYKp6ZuXzVRQ/s1600/IMG_0571.JPG" style="text-align: center;"> </a><br />
The guys were great and I left that day knowing we'd end up with an awesome solution.<br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Day 3</span></b><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqAo2BfspkcQjdGT9eBgUUXJLvQGl7p5XPKtl97N8xjz_dzCUJNbugZ663Fes3TmG1YCywg3grq_6rtEoWj3B6a2AC3gFgx1e5E6DNxsO9OEK-UKhnYuEG0s60JHiZ-t5F_9qQ_CsDoL4/s1600/IMG_0567.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqAo2BfspkcQjdGT9eBgUUXJLvQGl7p5XPKtl97N8xjz_dzCUJNbugZ663Fes3TmG1YCywg3grq_6rtEoWj3B6a2AC3gFgx1e5E6DNxsO9OEK-UKhnYuEG0s60JHiZ-t5F_9qQ_CsDoL4/s400/IMG_0567.JPG" /></a>A short time later, I get another call from Kenny. Time to spend another afternoon with him and his team!<br />
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When I showed up at the shop, this is what greeted me. How cool is this?! The brushguard looked even better than I had imagined.<br />
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<div style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghAt2SHBqJj15RFvZDFCWU9LSVcOPXMeU5xJ01xH7kR_uDWgwYhZhkrQid-DM8O-l1qum_A4-lSyl8452ZbDishwBEjXtmQDpa_O7rGmmj73A9L-QSnwLWQa5ckv9CSEBFYKp6ZuXzVRQ/s1600/IMG_0571.JPG"></a></div><br />
It looks heavy, don't it? It ends up that it's very close to or lighter than the Smittybilt that came off the truck. How cool is that?<br />
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</div>Getting it onto the truck was very quick, but they had some finish work to do on the mounting.<br />
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</div>Not too much longer and here's what it looked like mounted. Hey! That's way too clean!<br />
<div>As you can see, that fairlead has earned its keep.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghAt2SHBqJj15RFvZDFCWU9LSVcOPXMeU5xJ01xH7kR_uDWgwYhZhkrQid-DM8O-l1qum_A4-lSyl8452ZbDishwBEjXtmQDpa_O7rGmmj73A9L-QSnwLWQa5ckv9CSEBFYKp6ZuXzVRQ/s1600/IMG_0571.JPG"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><br />
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<div style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;"></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghAt2SHBqJj15RFvZDFCWU9LSVcOPXMeU5xJ01xH7kR_uDWgwYhZhkrQid-DM8O-l1qum_A4-lSyl8452ZbDishwBEjXtmQDpa_O7rGmmj73A9L-QSnwLWQa5ckv9CSEBFYKp6ZuXzVRQ/s1600/IMG_0571.JPG"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghAt2SHBqJj15RFvZDFCWU9LSVcOPXMeU5xJ01xH7kR_uDWgwYhZhkrQid-DM8O-l1qum_A4-lSyl8452ZbDishwBEjXtmQDpa_O7rGmmj73A9L-QSnwLWQa5ckv9CSEBFYKp6ZuXzVRQ/s1600/IMG_0571.JPG" style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghAt2SHBqJj15RFvZDFCWU9LSVcOPXMeU5xJ01xH7kR_uDWgwYhZhkrQid-DM8O-l1qum_A4-lSyl8452ZbDishwBEjXtmQDpa_O7rGmmj73A9L-QSnwLWQa5ckv9CSEBFYKp6ZuXzVRQ/s640/IMG_0571.JPG" width="640" /></a> <br />
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Here's are Before and After shots<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJk6i8kqHhlBzxx9Vbh1r9FB3JSwPgooBnwZ32wdzrXae51FTtzP_TTDDto-OX_-dGf-oGgVM8CUmeHOCZWOOEJ6yXanWpSYCsghMmy9Cg36VU1PbqIIwXuywVMfSBAp3FZAILLLIDdYk/s1600/IMG_0403.JPG" style="display: inline !important; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJk6i8kqHhlBzxx9Vbh1r9FB3JSwPgooBnwZ32wdzrXae51FTtzP_TTDDto-OX_-dGf-oGgVM8CUmeHOCZWOOEJ6yXanWpSYCsghMmy9Cg36VU1PbqIIwXuywVMfSBAp3FZAILLLIDdYk/s400/IMG_0403.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnJ-hlLK9mKTCwyurEEVDDuFy9vk15N3v8P5SEEiMwHMaA7xCGzXQeG3q34rdotJ3ip7BZNrfTW1S-C2xKTojBG1H_jD0V-tYTXK5Olb6wooncnavv98U5uHGi7zv7BBDzRkPsKSt6HNM/s1600/IMG_0572.JPG" style="display: inline !important; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnJ-hlLK9mKTCwyurEEVDDuFy9vk15N3v8P5SEEiMwHMaA7xCGzXQeG3q34rdotJ3ip7BZNrfTW1S-C2xKTojBG1H_jD0V-tYTXK5Olb6wooncnavv98U5uHGi7zv7BBDzRkPsKSt6HNM/s400/IMG_0572.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXK-VVbNysMdzk7-bJpzNijGrm-HrmW98ee7OctLkKnibiOGlYWD9SvZFGP2_fdLhFMV_-Na9SY4icKhKsfBdIlmYY0MMTZGrMMlNw-Wcco_go5lPTI2rnrs_ui630XVmMiwcryPXI3WI/s1600/IMG_0569.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXK-VVbNysMdzk7-bJpzNijGrm-HrmW98ee7OctLkKnibiOGlYWD9SvZFGP2_fdLhFMV_-Na9SY4icKhKsfBdIlmYY0MMTZGrMMlNw-Wcco_go5lPTI2rnrs_ui630XVmMiwcryPXI3WI/s400/IMG_0569.JPG" width="400" /></a> </div><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ0xpYv6Vm1YKLGTW4xngDCxflSsTe-SvM7EB2mFGOYvuJoUPvwCGJefMc5a9Ns4w3afSjhhVIr5BeVSyGskTU8YMPgNBvFpGMaCp8vjmMxbuuJ-qD48ENswWuO-wx1oX8QBrLvIFaKJ0/s1600/IMG_0587.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ0xpYv6Vm1YKLGTW4xngDCxflSsTe-SvM7EB2mFGOYvuJoUPvwCGJefMc5a9Ns4w3afSjhhVIr5BeVSyGskTU8YMPgNBvFpGMaCp8vjmMxbuuJ-qD48ENswWuO-wx1oX8QBrLvIFaKJ0/s400/IMG_0587.JPG" /></a>I just happened to go to Costco when this guy was parked in the lot. Unfortunately, the car wash was closed by the time I made it here so my truck's still muddy.<br />
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Same year, same color, same stickers, same Smittybilt options! His was clean. Which truck would you rather have?!<br />
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Here's my truck in action at the JustRuns 12/3/11 Corral Canyon run.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6bRqju-zXQNBNCUjH9jXBfzwooQom36LXKnTbKw6XJcn-gExKJmfqCC9BMWjY22OkAYUIyUW-S3Adgyvg57fRP71I2wawfzPeS6tlTKio8RwAbmhjgpaPERtlcTq1NiiVkwq9hM5jKYw/s1600/IMG_0689.JPG" style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6bRqju-zXQNBNCUjH9jXBfzwooQom36LXKnTbKw6XJcn-gExKJmfqCC9BMWjY22OkAYUIyUW-S3Adgyvg57fRP71I2wawfzPeS6tlTKio8RwAbmhjgpaPERtlcTq1NiiVkwq9hM5jKYw/s640/IMG_0689.JPG" width="480" /></a><br />
<br />
If you look carefully, you can see just above the passenger side marker light (next to headlight), some mud is missing. That was a big branch that would have reshaped the hood, and possibly the light. The bumper is already earning it's keep.<br />
O<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_pM63WcWYi7RIefaveIejf4B2VHr0Iz0B2DYbqEQX1ohtQCDfwdo3tnl922G39MixY7yn3cmt-dRICVAFaOqz7gVVk7wXbHN86t6cPCiVPl4MnCMlRtZ5a9dCaT_IXclKNNsLJSeoFzw/s1600/IMG_0704.JPG" style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_pM63WcWYi7RIefaveIejf4B2VHr0Iz0B2DYbqEQX1ohtQCDfwdo3tnl922G39MixY7yn3cmt-dRICVAFaOqz7gVVk7wXbHN86t6cPCiVPl4MnCMlRtZ5a9dCaT_IXclKNNsLJSeoFzw/s640/IMG_0704.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
<div style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;"><div style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqAo2BfspkcQjdGT9eBgUUXJLvQGl7p5XPKtl97N8xjz_dzCUJNbugZ663Fes3TmG1YCywg3grq_6rtEoWj3B6a2AC3gFgx1e5E6DNxsO9OEK-UKhnYuEG0s60JHiZ-t5F_9qQ_CsDoL4/s1600/IMG_0567.JPG"></a></div><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;"><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqAo2BfspkcQjdGT9eBgUUXJLvQGl7p5XPKtl97N8xjz_dzCUJNbugZ663Fes3TmG1YCywg3grq_6rtEoWj3B6a2AC3gFgx1e5E6DNxsO9OEK-UKhnYuEG0s60JHiZ-t5F_9qQ_CsDoL4/s1600/IMG_0567.JPG"></a>Side view<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBuIgSCejalcs5uizjUjQjVNVmlrLZB62lyDdmeJuUK4sR95k3pFMXIdJIX2EqU6ju5iCC_RHsFtdy3kxJ4ba4AjJXvgg8UJnYRnzA4LlQ1YtG_bMSiOJnq4JHcAgOyGa6pLLlCQi5EiA/s1600/IMG_0691.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBuIgSCejalcs5uizjUjQjVNVmlrLZB62lyDdmeJuUK4sR95k3pFMXIdJIX2EqU6ju5iCC_RHsFtdy3kxJ4ba4AjJXvgg8UJnYRnzA4LlQ1YtG_bMSiOJnq4JHcAgOyGa6pLLlCQi5EiA/s640/IMG_0691.JPG" width="640" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqAo2BfspkcQjdGT9eBgUUXJLvQGl7p5XPKtl97N8xjz_dzCUJNbugZ663Fes3TmG1YCywg3grq_6rtEoWj3B6a2AC3gFgx1e5E6DNxsO9OEK-UKhnYuEG0s60JHiZ-t5F_9qQ_CsDoL4/s1600/IMG_0567.JPG"> </a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqAo2BfspkcQjdGT9eBgUUXJLvQGl7p5XPKtl97N8xjz_dzCUJNbugZ663Fes3TmG1YCywg3grq_6rtEoWj3B6a2AC3gFgx1e5E6DNxsO9OEK-UKhnYuEG0s60JHiZ-t5F_9qQ_CsDoL4/s1600/IMG_0567.JPG"><br />
</a></div><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;"></div><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;"></div><div style="clear: both; text-align: CENTER;"><a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img align="middle" alt="Posted by Picasa" border="0" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" style="-moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; border: 0px none; padding: 0px;" /></a></div></div>Eric Deslauriershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141401129055291393noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24228747384169764.post-16398201641614751272011-11-05T20:02:00.000-07:002011-11-05T20:03:45.505-07:00Smog time again? Already?!? Let's play in the mud on the way home!!I'm always amazed at how quickly time flies when you have a busy life and a project like this truck.<br />
<br />
I'm relatively new to the ways of California, so I took my truck down to the place we use for all of our emissions.<br />
<br />
The scores were outstanding. And it FAILED due to visual.<br />
<br />
1. Timing was advanced 5 degrees more than the factory settings (duh)<br />
2. I had left the boost controller inline, even though boost is only 6.5psi max (factory) with it. Yes, new project.<br />
3. It was missing an important smog valve, and the bracket.<br />
<br />
After rectifying those things, I was good to go.<br />
<br />
This morning, AAA made the DMV trip easy, literally 3 minutes in and out.<br />
<br />
We spent the day running around and playing in the mud left behind from yesterday's rain storm. I did my best to drown it, but it wouldn't do it. Awesome!<br />
<br />
Here's the aftermath, including some relatively clean puddles cleaning the goopy mud off. The front tires sticking outside the fenders means you want to keep the windows UP! LOL<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pvIA5MyCg-U/TrX4qkbcUBI/AAAAAAAABLI/Fjd6VfYRgQk/s1600/11+-+1" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pvIA5MyCg-U/TrX4qkbcUBI/AAAAAAAABLI/Fjd6VfYRgQk/s640/11+-+1" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tKfrHHmr07U/TrX4qhAEZrI/AAAAAAAABLM/QrWd6ofouIg/s1600/11+-+2" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tKfrHHmr07U/TrX4qhAEZrI/AAAAAAAABLM/QrWd6ofouIg/s640/11+-+2" width="640" /></a></div>Eric Deslauriershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141401129055291393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24228747384169764.post-72218280772579756042011-09-18T15:40:00.000-07:002011-09-18T16:05:19.327-07:00Fuel gauge is good. A working one is better!My fuel gauge has, for some time, read empty after about 100 miles.<br />
<br />
Turns out it's pretty common due to the design. Pics below are not of mine, mine has no rust, being a California truck.<br />
<br />
I was bummed, however, that there were no parts fiches available online. Turns out that may be 100% due to Toyota limiting access. How unfortunate that's their position. See <a href="http://www.toyodiy.com/parts/">the December 2009 note here</a><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u225/toy4run/Toyota%204Runner/FuelSender-2a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u225/toy4run/Toyota%204Runner/FuelSender-2a.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The resistor wire wears through after years of wear as gas sloshes around in the tank:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u225/toy4run/Toyota%204Runner/IMG_0526.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u225/toy4run/Toyota%204Runner/IMG_0526.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
I thought I could fix mine. Bzzzzt. It was even more hacked than the one above.<br />
<br />
Looks like I need a part # 83320‑39735, which appears to be dealer-only. Since it's Sunday, looks like I'll be leaving the truck sitting until the part comes in since I'd rather not R&R the tank again. <br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #e6e6ea; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"></span><br />
<table id="t2" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><colgroup><col class="pn" style="white-space: nowrap;"></col><col class="pdesc" style="white-space: normal; width: auto;"></col><col class="pq" style="white-space: nowrap;"></col><col class="pr" style="text-align: right; white-space: nowrap;"></col></colgroup><tbody id="rw0">
<tr class="h" style="background-color: #d2d2d8;"><td style="cursor: auto; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: bold; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 2px; vertical-align: top;">83320</td><td colspan="3" id="tx0" style="cursor: auto; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: bold; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 2px; vertical-align: top;">GAGE ASSY, FUEL SENDER</td></tr>
<tr><td style="cursor: auto; font-size: 10pt; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: top;">83320‑39735</td><td style="cursor: auto; font-size: 10pt; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: top;">RN61..SRT, FUEL TANK:65LITER</td><td style="cursor: auto; font-size: 10pt; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: top;">1</td><td class="r" style="cursor: auto; font-size: 10pt; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top; white-space: nowrap;">$97.85</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<a href="http://www.toyodiy.com/parts/p_U_198610_TOYOTA_4RUNNER+TRUCK_RN61LG-PGZA_8401.6.html?hl=83320">http://www.toyodiy.com/parts/p_U_198610_TOYOTA_4RUNNER+TRUCK_RN61LG-PGZA_8401.6.html?hl=83320</a><br />
<br />
If this part is not available (bites knuckles), I may have to figure one out.<br />
<a href="http://www.yotatech.com/f116/approach-fuel-sending-unit-88-4runner-199822/#post51445117">The resistance of a Toyota sending unit is 3 plus 2 or minus 3 ohms (full) to 110 plus or minus 7.7 ohms (empty). Basically any ohmic readings from 0 to 117.7 ohms (full to empty) on a Toyota sending unit are within spec</a>.Eric Deslauriershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141401129055291393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24228747384169764.post-89152922809322133702011-08-27T22:23:00.000-07:002011-08-27T22:23:35.515-07:00She runs like the wind again!So it did in fact turn out to be a TPS.<br />
<br />
When I searched for "22re surge" or "22rte surge" I didn't get hits with answers. So many of the page hits I was getting all talked about a funky idle, which I was not seeing.<br />
<br />
So I changed by search to "22re surge -idle"<br />
Red herring.<br />
I picked 22RE instead of 22RTE since I figured the turbo wasn't relevant. This part was correct.<br />
<br />
Turns out "22re miss" or "22re hesitation" worked much better. I finally found a page which both seemed to describe my issue AND had an answer - TPS.<br />
<br />
I used 4Crawler's excellent site to troubleshoot the issue:<br />
<a href="http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTricks/TPS/index.shtml">Toyota 2.4L/3.0L Throttle Position Sensor</a><br />
<br />
<br />
Turns out this was the TPS. Measurements between IDL and E2 showed it had a problem, as did the ECU, throwing a code 7. And, because it's a turbo, it also blinked 14 times, which is very different than how it provides other codes (1 flash, pause, 4 flash is what I would have expected). Blinking 14 times is... Turbo overboost. Yep, I know all about that. >:)<br />
<br />
Some quick comparisons of how it runs with the new TPS compared to what it's been doing for the past few weeks:<br />
1. It's back to being as powerful as I expected<br />
2. It goes up steep hills in OD again, doesn't need me to shift it down to 3rd.<br />
3. The sproingy shifts into 3 and OD went away.<br />
4. Gas MPG is... well, that verdict is out still. My last tank was 13.5, so I'm REALLY hoping to see 17 on this one. Or more is good!<br />
<br />
<br />
<u><b>Adjusting or Replacing the TPS</b></u><br />
<br />
Carquest in town both stocked the part, and also had a great price.<br />
<br />
It was 99 degrees out here today, but also quite humid. It doesn't help that I have a pin backing out of my ankle. I spent most of the day on the couch with my foot up. It's not unmanageable, but I do feel it. Surgery is Wednesday.<br />
<br />
You get one guess which pin (aka screw) it is. :)<br />
<img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-qUbyr-UCJic/TlbGuzOgmaI/AAAAAAAABDU/5xI_JwtQaYo/h301/11%2B-%2B1" /><br />
<br />
Since it's hot and I'm not into moving a lot at the moment anyways, I didn't get to working on it until after dark. This means no pictures. <br />
<br />
I would have gotten to it sooner, but I had to run and get the part and close out a few honey-do's.<br />
<br />
4Crawler's site above has some pics, but let me add some additional detail.<br />
<br />
Last Christmas, the kids and wife got me a great LED headlight from Brookstone. I usually think they're overpriced on most of their stuff, but this headlamp has been awesome. It angles from straight ahead to 90 degrees down with positive detents, has a bright, low-beam, and SOS setting, and seems to run just about forever on 3 AAA batteries. I totally dig it. It sure beats sitting there with a AA (or D!) Mag Lite in your mouth! LOL<br />
<br />
<br />
The TPS uses 2 philips screws to hold it on. There is <u>no way</u> you're going to get to the bottom one without some work. 4Crawler sells allen screws, in case you want to use a wobble allen to adjust it in the future. I don't expect to touch mine again until it goes bad.<br />
<br />
To get to the bottom screw, you have to remove the throttle-body. It's pretty straightforward - 3 vacuum hoses, move the temperature sensor wire out of the way (remove it, don't forget to reinstall it!)<br />
<div><br />
</div><br />
If you have a turbo using the stock metal pipe like I do (I don't have a CT20, instead my metal pipe was extended to fit the TEC turbo by welding in a new section), pull the intake-tube boot at the throttle body. I assume for normally aspirated trucks there's enough flex, but it most likely will be easier to just pull the intake boot too.<br />
<br />
The trick with the boot on a turbo is to lubricate the metal pipe behind the boot, loosen the boot, and twist/slide it up the tube, rotate it about 180 degrees (throttle-body opening towards the front of the truck), then take it off.<br />
<br />
Pull the accelerator cables (pedal, cruise) out of the throttle-cam.<br />
<br />
There are 3 12mm bolts holding the throttle body on. The lower-left is a stud with a 12mm nut on it. Break all 4 loose and given them a little slack, then pull the 3 bolts out.<br />
<br />
Remove the nut, and the 4th vacuum line under the TPS.<br />
<br />
You can now loosen the two TPS screws if you're just doing an adjustment. Or, if you're replacing it, you're good to go.<br />
<br />
Good luck!<br />
<br />
Eric Deslauriershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141401129055291393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24228747384169764.post-74520823254340709582011-08-25T21:26:00.000-07:002011-08-25T21:32:13.063-07:00She starts hesitating and hitching/surgingAt the very same time I installed the gears, the 4Runner started hesitating when accelerating. It was like I was pushing and fully releasing the gas pedal, but very quickly. <br />
<br />
It was also running less well than before the gears. Now when a truck with 4.10s and 33s seems more powerful than after installing 4.88s...<br />
<br />
There were other indicators something was wrong:<br />
<ol><li>The 4Runner would not go as fast down the highway as before the gears/lift. I expect this to some degree since there's a lot more air being pushed with the lift. But the truck feels like it's driving into a headwind as speeds go up, and 75-80 is harder than it should be. This thing ripped with 225/75R15s and 4.10s, which calculate out to the same as 33s and 4.88s - something's up.</li>
<li>Further proof the 4.88s/33s are nearly the same as 225/15s - the speedo was accurate with the 225/4.10 combo, way low with 4.10/33s, and is now about 2mph high at 70 with 4.88s/33s. If anything, I now have a slight advantage.</li>
<li>It doesn't go up hills any faster or more easily than with the 4.10s</li>
<li>I could go up some hills at about 60 in Drive with 4.10s. The nearly 20% jump from 4.10s to 4.88s should mean I can run the same hill in OD (20% steeper than D). No way right now.</li>
</ol>At first the hesitation was was only present when it was cold, first thing in the morning. But it gradually started to do it when it was warm as well. <br />
<br />
Since it's easy, I decided to <a href="http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTricks/index.shtml#TimingCheckConnector">check for codes</a>. The word is that, even if the Check Engine light is not on, you may have codes.<br />
<br />
I'd never checked codes on this truck, so it was a learning process. Here's a couple tidbits I learned. :)<br />
<br />
22RE's generate codes as Flash, flash, flash...pause...flash...pause,pause,pause...repeats (or next code).<br />
It turns out 22RTE's generate some additional codes. A 14 is 14 flashes, not Flash...pause...flash,flash,flash,flash... it threw me for a second when it got past 9, then kept going... LOL<br />
<br />
A quick check of the ECU codes showed two in memory.<br />
<ul><li>14 - Turbo overpressure (hit the fuel cut - and it had with the old cam after the dyno shop finished adjusting it)</li>
<li>7 - TPS no bueno</li>
</ul>I'll doublecheck it with an ohmeter tomorrow since they're not cheap. <br />
<br />
Here's <a href="http://www.lcengineering.com/pdf/Throttle%20Position%20Sensor%20Adjustment.pdf">LC Engineering's thorough setup/verify/adjust procedure</a> - you CANNOT just remove the old one and install the new one.<br />
<br />
I'm checking on the right place to get a TPS now. I prefer OE parts, but they're sooo much more expensive. Time to ask my hookup at the local dealer if he can really hook me up! :)<br />
<br />
I'll be surprised if it fixes the power issue, but we'll see. <br />
<br />
I think it's amazing that these issues started at the same time I added gears. LOL<br />
<br />
I'll report back on the outcome!Eric Deslauriershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141401129055291393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24228747384169764.post-37307744032697953982011-08-15T21:15:00.000-07:002011-08-15T21:15:30.687-07:00Before and after picture montageSo... was all that work worth it?<br />
<br />
When I bought it<br />
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiySMKAXiAZTCstWVQzBxGiVFYBhFkD82-ztBSKMFBggKr3IqMTVQsLRcBxOM8kqQ62kKNGuvzzvWTNE8quZx17cPBhuBX9EOds1p9BJ0tz556S75zmjhBgExtmXMKHol_cMv4doC-EeA/s640/right_side.JPG" /><br />
<br />
After new tires<br />
<img src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/230225_207156115974596_100000406266697_606466_2816529_n.jpg" /><br />
<br />
After the lift<br />
<img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Wq8mwyBwWP8/TkgQTURAc-I/AAAAAAAAA-A/graqX3oJ7y0/11%252520-%2525201.jpg" /><br />
<br />
Wheel stuffing<br />
Before<br />
<img src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/225101_207155282641346_100000406266697_606458_5588122_n.jpg" /><br />
<br />
After (doesn't stuff up as far)<br />
<img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-dq0gUsZL9vA/TknHhG6Q3fI/AAAAAAAAA_E/h2gzUEQ1swA/s640/11%2B-%2B4" /><br />
<br />
<br />
How's the overall articulation? Remember the Before has the swaybar connected, the After does not.<br />
Before<br />
<img src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/230006_207155959307945_100000406266697_606464_4995980_n.jpg" /><br />
<br />
After<br />
<img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-RADjQxdU2IQ/TknKpHBbZVI/AAAAAAAAA_4/rPThGJh_ouY/s640/11%2B-%2B2" /><br />
<br />
I think this shot tells a lot about what's going on with the suspension at the front and back.<br />
The front goes up just as much - all the way to the bumpstops. One of the benefits of a long-travel kit.<br />
The rear drops just as far as it did before - it's being limited by the shackle length. I need to extend the rear shackle to take full advantage of the rear lift.<br />
<br />
Before<br />
<img src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/227891_207155049308036_100000406266697_606457_1132589_n.jpg" /><br />
<br />
After<br />
<img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-TWA-j-nXciA/TknHg49V29I/AAAAAAAAA-8/gIKi6HnEbCo/s640/11%2B-%2B2" /><br />
<br />
Front flex<br />
Before (swaybar is installed)<br />
<img src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/226000_207156845974523_100000406266697_606504_3345545_n.jpg" /><br />
<br />
After (no swaybar, long travel kit)<br />
<img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-NRLyMnIE2so/TknHtYB1RsI/AAAAAAAAA_U/j7er3SJW6KY/s640/11%2B-%2B2" /><br />
<br />
Rear flex<br />
Before<br />
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzRK9nMuAM5r2eIvgh-Lz-mZlHTueiQtR9MzsI2nfRu-PXeab-lx6QqtZPHWvbFoQlaqREWyf2aPj-g9EzC-5PLQwsJAs8GnbmHCulR_GYFNlVuBSrghr4O4gk7_hwXX3OGTHmyjnHH5M/s1600/4RunnerFlex-rear.jpg" /><br />
<br />
After (stretches even more!)<br />
<img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-srPMMMgtBZI/TknKpN2AYQI/AAAAAAAAA_0/uPYueWe0htM/s640/11%2B-%2B1" /><br />
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Eric Deslauriershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141401129055291393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24228747384169764.post-67571898763239859802011-08-15T20:52:00.000-07:002011-08-15T20:52:26.308-07:00The rear moves up in the world, joins the front and we're done!I have to say the front of the truck was looking pretty good. I was eager to see what the rear would look like with a <a href="http://www.yotatech.com/f116/just-did-zuk-mod-215876/">'Zuk rear coil mod</a>.<br />
<br />
<br />
The driver's side took an hour to sort out as I wanted to be careful. The passenger side took about 25 minutes.<br />
<br />
I was going to swap the rear brake line for a longer one, but it proved unnecessary AND I was running up against our deadline to get to <a href="http://www.baronadrags.com/">the drag strip</a>.<br />
<br />
It's only 1/8 mile, but we got to watch some fast vehicles. Including this cool diesel which was chewing up and spitting out some street cars. High 90s and mid 7-seconds. <a href="https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=247836688573205">Check out this video</a> (sorry not inlined)<br />
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One of the things I wanted to change from the normal mod was to put something between the frame and the spring to manage any wear.<br />
<br />
I ran out to a "local" steel place (is 32 miles away local?). They had some neat stuff, but one of the things I found was this base-plate. I cut the sides off so it would fit between the uprights of the bump stop.<br />
<img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-E_pXRUFlaTk/TkgPXfhpP2I/AAAAAAAAA9w/a6SpiPl34kQ/s576/11%252520-%2525202.jpg" /><br />
<br />
Some of you will remember I used 14" 125# springs.<br />
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<div><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-zYIRxRt3bHc/TkgPXb5i6UI/AAAAAAAAA9s/QmFVQfnhS8E/s576/11%252520-%2525201.jpg" /></div><br />
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<br />
I started with the driver's side because it doesn't have all those scary brake lines, gas tank, etc. behind it. I figured do the easy side first.<br />
<br />
Once I got the bumpstop cut off, I found I needed to trim the front upright a bit more, then bend them out with my very large Crescent wrench and my 3' cheater pipe. I bent them out so I could barely screw the spring in about 1/2-way. I wanted them to stay tight. They're a bit too tight, you can hear the springs sproinging (sliding in and out) when it stretches out and flexes. It turns out it's the coil below the bracket binding on the corner. I'll chamfer them. <br />
<img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-PanP1wLL088/TkgPXq2LlrI/AAAAAAAAA90/SNMj6NezVq4/s576/11%252520-%2525203.jpg" /><br />
<br />
<br />
The passenger side went MUCH faster. Be VERY careful around those brake lines with your Sawzall. <br />
Here's how much I cut off the frame bump-stop thingy. Yes, it's a terrible picture (and backwards, compare to the pic above).<br />
<img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-xX4Sy1AKtms/TknHy0PJNjI/AAAAAAAAA_o/8k8SYuGlehQ/s640/11%2B-%2B1" /><br />
<br />
I removed the rear shock to allow the axle to drop as far as it can. Once I got it cut off, I inserted my bottle jack between the frame and the leaf. You can see my mondo-Crescent wrench. I still needed 3' of cheater pipe on it to bend the brackets without flame. Start in the middle so you give them a slight-round profile to help capture the coil spring.<br />
<img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-qRWqg4EoZ7Y/TkgQvBtJpbI/AAAAAAAAA-M/UW2oFYihO7Q/s576/11%252520-%2525201.jpg" /><br />
<br />
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<br />
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BE CAREFUL when jacking. Only jack enough that the leaf touches the leaf-spring bracket pin. Any more and I could bend the leave spring.<br />
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Here's the trick to do this quickly. Get a spring compressor.<br />
<br />
Barring a spring compressor being available, you COULD use the method below, but when you take off a finger or worse, just remember that I am NOT recommending it and that you would be stupid to do it this way. So don't do it. Like the Mythbusters say - don't try this at home!<br />
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Insert the top of the spring in the bumpstop perch. It's a tight fit and required that I screw it in, but that's how I wanted it.<br />
<img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-bw5OnlWJ-gE/TkgQvVETfUI/AAAAAAAAA-Q/HTBRV272c3s/s576/11%252520-%2525202.jpg" /><br />
<br />
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<br />
I needed a 2-hook tie-down and a ratchet strap in good condition.<br />
Use the tie-down to the leaf-spring bracket to hold the spring upright and keep it from bowing out when the ratchet strap is tightened.<br />
I looped the ratchet strap 3 or 4 coils down from the top of the spring and around the front of the leaf spring. I checked for sharp edges, then starrted ratcheting it down, cranking on the tie down as needed to keep it coming down straight.<br />
<img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-kFT66MQS_ZQ/TkgQvVSyr8I/AAAAAAAAA-U/_k1uCL2lpWk/s576/11%252520-%2525203.jpg" /><br />
<br />
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Just get it close. There's way too much pressure required to make it short enough to get under the bumpstop sides. Then I slowly popped it in place with a prybar. Notice my fingers are hardly even in the picture.<br />
<br />
Once it's in, I DID NOT release the ratchet strap go. It will hurt.<br />
Instead I slowly released the jack, checking the spring was going in. Then I put the jack under the axle and slowly jacked it up until the spring seated. Then I kept jacking until the straps started to loosen up. I took them off, dropped the axle to the right height and installed my new shock.<br />
<br />
My old shocks would have worked, but longer shackles will make it drop too far. And it needs longer shackles. The current shackle sits at a light angle when it's on level ground, so it's not topped out sitting there, but it definitely needs shackles.<br />
<br />
What's the height difference? Huge. I needed my HiLift to jack the truck up high enough to get the jack stands under the frame with the wheels off the ground. But I was able to use my floor jack under the rear pumpkin to get the truck off the jackstands. <br />
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On the passenger side, the truck sits completely level, measuring to the bottom body line (crease in the side panels)<br />
<br />
On the driver's side, it's about 1" lower in the rear. I haven't had a chance to figure it out yet, but I'll probably get in there this afternoon and sort that out. The springs both say they're the same, that's the only thing I can think of. Especially since the fuel tank is on the passenger side (heavier).<br />
<br />
I'm hoping it's not a spring problem. Both boxes indicate they're the same.<br />
<br />
It also handles surprisingly well in the corners. It used to oversteer because the rear was too soft, right now it feels pretty balanced, even without a swaybar. I still need to align the tires more than by eye (it doesn't drift and the steering wheel is straight, so goodie for me!)<br />
<br />
The front also still hits the tires at full droop, I'll probably look at that this evening. We have company coming and it's still hot out, nearly 100 today. While I grew up in S. AZ with hotter days, 100 is pretty hot out here and I'm not longer acclimatized.<br />
<br />
Here it is after about 14 hours of work!! Look how nice it sits!<br />
<img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Wq8mwyBwWP8/TkgQTURAc-I/AAAAAAAAA-A/graqX3oJ7y0/11%252520-%2525201.jpg" /><br />
<br />
It flexes well. Yup, the driver's tire is in the air. :)<br />
<img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-sBsTR8C0Fvg/TknHtPsBrCI/AAAAAAAAA_Q/7TvBUslOJ6Y/s640/11%2B-%2B1" /><br />
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Front stretch<br />
<img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-NRLyMnIE2so/TknHtYB1RsI/AAAAAAAAA_U/j7er3SJW6KY/s640/11%2B-%2B2" /><br />
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Eric Deslauriershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141401129055291393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24228747384169764.post-88621928217924787442011-08-15T20:33:00.000-07:002011-08-15T20:33:46.717-07:00Plumbing and wiring the lockers, the compressorDuring the workweek, Andrew and I were able to plumb the air lines, route them safely, and get the compressor installed and wired up.<br />
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This section will be a victim of the camera-phone that went missing. No pictures.<br />
<br />
The air line was pretty straightforward. TIP: Route any lines on sprung axles with the brake line.<br />
<br />
I'd decided to mount the compressor on the passenger fenderwell, so I routed the lines there, leaving plenty of slack so I could fine-tune the routing after the compressor was installed.<br />
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The hardest part is installing the dash switches. ARB does not include instructions or templates for the switch holes, which I found surprising. I cut some holes in cardboard until I had a hole for one switch. Then I had to google around on their site to find out that when you gang the switches up, you just cut out one hole big enough for the # of switches you need.<br />
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Armed with two templates, and after some careful measurement, I decided the axle switches would go next to the clutch-cancel switch cutout. I wanted to save the cutout for my future upgrade to a 5-speed and the factory switch.<br />
<br />
The compressor switch would go between the rear deck switch and the dash dimmer switch.<br />
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A Dremel with a cutoff wheel set to 25% speed made quick work of the big cuts without too much melting. A utility knife with a sharp blade let me finish the job. I cut the hole slightly undersized and used the utility knife to sneak up on the right height and width of the hole. The switches are nice and snug.<br />
<br />
BTW - install the switch faceplates LAST. After EVERYTHING is done and tested. I did and boy was I glad I did!<br />
<br />
We routed the wires through the ECU grommet in the firewall, along with every other wire we've routed into the cab from the engine bay, then across the dash. There was even a few feet left.<br />
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The dimmer switch is pretty wide behind the dash and needed to be rotated 90 degrees. Since it's clocked by a pin that goes into a hole, we had to recreate the hole. Rather than pull the lower dash panel completely out, I heated up a small screwdriver and punched the hole, careful not to go all the way through.<br />
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After that, there was a plastic brace that needed trimming to allow the compressor switch the depth it needed.<br />
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It took a few hours, but it looks really good.<br />
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While I tried to locate the dimmer wire for the dash, the only one I could find was the ground, which worked in reverse (bright dash, low power, dim dash, high power). I was hoping to dim the switches with the dimmer. It turns out they're not too bright, which is really nice. I can't stand distractions at night like bright switches.<br />
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One thing I found was that there's some kind of interlock and I can't engage the front locker by itself. I have to turn on the compressor, the rear locker, then the front locker. I'm OK with that, so I'm not going to try to figure out how to bypass that yet. Worst case, in the boonies, I just swap solenoid leads on the compressor if I want to lock the front by itself for some reason.<br />
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By Thursday, we were ready for the weekend's work on lifting the rear and clearancing the arms for the wider tires.Eric Deslauriershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141401129055291393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24228747384169764.post-63996583459662241742011-08-15T20:19:00.001-07:002011-08-15T20:19:19.468-07:00Sunday morning - time to do the front of the truck...<br />
This morning, here's what's left to pull off<br />
- swaybar<br />
- brake lines<br />
- axle shafts (gotta pull the c-clip in the hubs)<br />
- 2 bolts holding the 3rd member in<br />
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Oh, and putting all this stuff back on.<br />
<br />
We're watching monster trucks on TV while we wait for it to get late enough the air tools and radio won't aggravate the neighbors. 20 more minutes.<br />
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Before I go anywhere with the truck, I need the airlines attached to make sure we keep crap out of the air line bulkhead fittings. Our earlier drive used a zip tie and a nitrile glove, but I'm not good with that as a solution for much further than the first break-in run.<br />
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<br />
All right, the Blazeland portion, and the front gears/ARB are installed as of today. More details later, but I am totally shagged. I am no longer the young pup I once was. Good thing my son helped so much. He did a LOT on truck, really helping make it come together.<br />
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With 285/75R16s on stock Toyota steelies, the Blazeland hit at full stretch. A lot. And get much worse when turned. It wouldn't take more than a few feet to carve a big gash in the sidewall.<br />
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I took a grinding wheel to the edge of the upper control arm, making it flush with the uprights that go to the lower plate on the upper control arm. Pics later. The edge of the plate is now flush with the washers of the outermost plate bolts (gold), and matches the angle to the 2 upright pieces of plate going down to the lower plate.<br />
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That keeps it from hitting the tire at full droop with them pointed straight ahead. Barely. Like maybe by 1/8"<br />
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Any turning, tho, and I won't have a sidewall as the tire gets forced into the corners of the plate (front or rear). It only takes a few degrees.<br />
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I'm really prefer not to do spacers and I'm not considering a wider offset wheel for a couple of reasons. I'd need like 2" more offset, and that's quite a bit.<br />
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Sitting on the ground at the ride height I've chosen, there's plenty of clearance. I'll be taking a look at it next weekend to see what other options I might have.<br />
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There's no way to make the stock swaybar work, so I'll have to look into other options.<br />
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No driving until it gets align, which I'll probably do after I get the rear up. Lifting the rear is my priority, I can always just put some limiting straps on it to keep the tire sidewall from getting carved.<br />
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The used torsion bars I bought had the adjusters locked on. In the background are the used Blazeland arms.<br />
<img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-F77M-GCPr2Q/TkIeA5AVzWI/AAAAAAAAA8c/g41znzR3_TI/s576/11%252520-%2525201.jpg" /><br />
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I could wiggle them, but could not hammer them off with a dead-blow or with a sledge. And since I don't have a press...<br />
I drilled out the backs (there's a pinhole there to let air in which provided the guide)<br />
The wet shorts, btw, is sweat and water I poured over my head. It was very hot when I did this and, now that I'm 41 with a long term desk job, I sweat very easily.<br />
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<img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Er_bnAPKhvU/TkIeBJN90mI/AAAAAAAAA8g/aEyswAMyloU/s576/11%252520-%2525202.jpg" /><br />
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While I don't have a press, I do have gear pullers. Which is what I needed the hole for.<br />
<img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-dkGYuyWLR3w/TkIeBLFo6vI/AAAAAAAAA8k/qDAHQR8Pe2E/s576/11%252520-%2525203.jpg" /><br />
<br />
And the torsion bar came free! That's sand. Lots and lots of sand. The PO had not left the rubber caps on the torsion bar, and they packed up. Needless to say, I reused the caps from the old torsion bars!<br />
<img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-iKbFRhL5Ho8/TkIeBIPMXiI/AAAAAAAAA8o/TaOXE_hdb7c/s576/11%252520-%2525204.jpg" /><br />
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Pulling the control arms and front diff in the driveway in the heat was a lot of work considering there may not be more than 30 bolts which need to be pulled.<br />
<img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-mmyDMMZFn0g/TkIe4lUaqrI/AAAAAAAAA9A/bbsMQszN8YE/11%252520-%2525201.jpg" /><br />
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This is what most of the front diff oil on the ground looks like. The front diff fell off the jack and flipped the oil pan upside down. It did not speed up the operation.<br />
<img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-0GwA8YWna98/TkIe4g8ML6I/AAAAAAAAA9E/tomigzmPBbg/11%252520-%2525202.jpg" /><br />
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A little Dawn and a whole lot of scrubbing with a push broom when I was done and you can't even tell oil was spilled there. Whew!!<br />
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As I mentioned, my phone went missing with a lot of pictures. Take my word for it, it went back together that day. It was a long day, but well worth it.<br />
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When it was done, we had both sets of gears swapped out, the front lifted and new balljoints installed, but with a clearance problem at full droop with the wide tires, and the rear drooping since it was at its stock, sagged height.<br />
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That was the end of Sunday.<br />
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Eric Deslauriershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141401129055291393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24228747384169764.post-71854346857928446072011-08-15T20:08:00.000-07:002011-08-15T20:08:16.146-07:00Time to put the lift on!The last parts I was waiting for arrived!<br />
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During the build, between weekends, my phone went missing, along with a whole lot of pictures. I'd uploaded a few to Facebook and G+, so I'll be able to reuse those here.<br />
<div><br />
</div><br />
After all the research, I decided a <a href="http://www.yotatech.com/f31/blazeland-jd-fab-total-chaos-230279/">Blazeland</a> long travel kit coupled with a <a href="http://www.yotatech.com/f116/just-did-zuk-mod-215876/">'Zuk rear coil mod</a> to the rear would provide the best bang for the buck while still meeting my design goals. I'll eventually replace the rear with leafs, and may replace the fronts with Total Chaos uniball units when I go to high-end shocks, but for the near term, this setup should let me learn more about what I do and don't like while I keep upgrading the other parts of the truck.<br />
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<div>Here's what the Blazeland kit comes with. Used, I had less to start with, so needed a few more parts.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v221/kenfrancisco/blazeland1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v221/kenfrancisco/blazeland1.jpg" /></a></div><div><br />
</div>Front setup<br />
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<ul><li>I bought the Blazeland control arms and tie-rod extensions used from an inmate. It turned out they were the original style and the newer ones are set up to allow clearance for wider tires. More later.</li>
<li>I found the torsion bars used on Craigslist.</li>
<li>Balljoints were new Moog units. </li>
<li>Axleshafts were reman units from CarQuest. I was time-constrained or I would have bought the new ones, but they were about a week out. I'll buy one new one and carry it as a spare.</li>
<li>Brake lines were part of a Trail Gear lift package of brake lines - 1 rear, 2 fronts</li>
</ul><br />
Rear setup<br />
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<ul><li>14" x 125# Black Magic springs</li>
<li>Rear brake line</li>
<li>2 fence base plates from a local metal fab shop to use as upper spring mounts</li>
</ul><div>At the same time, I was installing new 4.88s and ARBs to match the 33" tall TreadWrights (285/75R16). A lot of the parts came from <a href="http://api.viglink.com/api/click?format=go&drKey=203&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.yotatech.com%2Ff116%2Fblazuk-installing-blazeland-zuk-stuff-235368%2F&v=1&libid=1313459892819&out=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.davezoffroadperformance.com%2Fcontact.html&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.yotatech.com%2Ff116%2Fblazuk-installing-blazeland-zuk-stuff-235368%2Findex2.html&title=BlaZuk!!%20-%20installing%20Blazeland%20and%20Zuk%20stuff!%20-%20YotaTech%20Forums&txt=Dave'z%20Off%20Road%20Performance&jsonp=vglnk_jsonp_13134630731521">Davez Offroad Performance</a>. They're a small shop so their turnaround isn't overnight, but they come recommended. Additionally, his pricing was strong right out of the gate. I hate having someone throw me near MSRP, then drop their price when I tell them I've been shopping around. Just give me a fair price from the get-go.</div><div><br />
</div><div><div>I was feeling under the weather the Saturday I started, so I didn't get started until about 1PM with anything. SWMBO's truck needed an oil change, and I needed to mess with the pool filter. But no way I was going another weekend without at least getting the gears installed. And how much more work would a couple of control arms be, anyways?</div><div><br />
</div><div>My 11yo son, Andrew, was ready to help. He's constantly tinkering with his bicycles, moving things from one to the other, so he's always a help.</div><div><br />
</div><div>We started by fixing one of the jack stands. Its ratchet-mech shield had broken off the last time we used it. I broke out the welder, and Andrew welded the left side of the shield after I showed him how to weld the right side. It's amazing how the paint on that orange thing flamed up. :)</div><div><br />
</div><div><div>Since the rear diff was the easiest, we started with that. </div><div><br />
</div><div>Andrew jacked up the truck, put it on jackstands, and pulled off the rear tires while I drained the rear pumpkin and pulled the driveshaft. </div><div><br />
</div><div>The truck ate the last set of front pads I'd put on it. This usually means the rear brakes aren't doing much.</div><div><br />
</div><div>When I got the rear drums off, I found the shoes had a lot of material, but the material had a lot of heat cracking. Which was a surprise since the drums looked great and didn't have any heat marks at all, or any scoring. Cheap shoes was my best guess. I'm going to put rear discs on here as soon as I get the $$ for a full-float kit (so I can flat-tow it), but I'm a big fan of good-working brakes, so that wasn't going to do.</div><div><br />
</div><div>One surprise when removing the axles was that I had to disconnect the rear brake lines since the backing plate is sandwiched between the bearing and the flange. I'm used to Ford 9" semifloats where you go through the axle flange to remove the nuts and the backing plate is separate from the axle assembly. </div><div><br />
</div><div>For 223K miles, the gears in the rear 3rd looked great. The fluid came out in decent condition with very little metal on the drain plug. The original owner took great care of this truck. I checked the splines on the axle shafts, and they were straight and in great shape. Awesome.</div><div><br />
</div><div>The new carrier is a V6 carrier. My truck is a turbo and the 3rd casing has the same extra ribbing found on the V6 carrier. Given my build goals, having beef is part of the plan. Extra $$, but worth the peace of mind. </div><div><br />
</div><div>It was a snug fit getting the new carrier into the housing. I went slowly and easily as the last thing I wanted to do was damage the copper air line for the ARB. With some gentle persuasion and careful twisting, it snicked into place. </div><div><br />
</div><div>Air tools are a godsend when you're faced with that many nuts and bolts, and it was quickly secured. We pushed the axles back in, secured the backing plates, and attached the brake lines. </div><div><br />
</div><div>Next up was to attach the driveshaft. Err, the flange bolt pattern is bigger than my driveshaft's. Well, that's not good. </div><div><br />
</div><div>I considered swapping flanges, but really didn't want to mess with the staked pinion nut (I hate reusing those and prefer a new one), and then I figured I'd have to make sure I had the preload right, and then, and then...</div><div><br />
</div><div>While tinkering with it, I realized the driveshaft self-centers in the flange. Ooohhh... This'll be easy!</div><div><br />
</div><div>I found that I did not have the 25/64th (9.9 mm) drill bit I needed. And I needed rear brake shoes anyways. </div><div><br />
</div><div>Since SWMBO and the girls were out shopping/working with the oldest's car, we rolled the rear tires into the garage, tossed the tools in there too, and headed for town in SWMBO's truck. Since it's nice, we cleaned up. A bit. Sorta. </div><div><br />
</div><div>True Value had a nice and expensive drill bit.</div><div>Carquest had some cheap shoes that I liked.</div><div>I already had plenty of brake fluid and brake cleaner</div><div>We were missing something... Ah, lunch! We didn't have lunch!</div><div><br />
</div><div>By now it was about 4 and Andrew had been doing a great job so I decided to treat him, so off we went.</div><div><br />
</div><div>When we got back, we both crawled under. While I worked on the flange, Andrew filled the rear diff.</div><div><br />
</div><div>I decided to offset the new holes 45 degrees from the existing holes in the flange, so I marked the first hole and drilled it. The driveshaft seated nice and snug in the center hole of the flange, enough I'd have to work it out. </div><div><br />
</div><div>Even so, I ran a bolt into the first hole, marked the second hole (the one directly across from the bolt), spun the shaft back over to the bolt, and pulled the bolt. Just as I set the bolt and air-ratchet on the ground, "CLONG!" went the driveshaft as it came loose from the flange and dropped on my right eyebrow. Oww. I squirmed for a few seconds, then started cracking up. Andrew generously didn't start laughing until he was able to determine which way I was going with it. At nearly midnight, I had a nice goose-egg. </div><div><br />
</div><div><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/--J6jJqIVQXU/TkIeX2N1K1I/AAAAAAAAA80/7mWMtSPaU2A/s640/11%2B-%2B1" /></div><div><br />
</div><div>I would not be making this mistake again... LOL And, sure enough, the driveshaft would not longer sit in the flange by itself. Three more holes and the rear driveshaft was on. Sweet!</div><div><br />
</div><div>Next, we swapped on the new brake shoes. Andrew has only experienced disc brakes, so this was his first set of drum brakes. He had to put his back into it to get the spring retainers off the locating pins. </div><div><br />
</div><div>I'd forgotten how intricate Toy rear drums were with the horseshoe clip for the eBrake lever, and the way they route their springs makes it so my brake spring tools don't work. Good thing I have a great set of pliers for that with tiny teeth that don't hurt the springs.</div><div><br />
</div><div>When we moved to the driver's side, we found the backing plate adjustment hole plug was missing, which had allowed more sand than desired into that side. That sand found its way in there from our trip through <a href="http://1stgentoy.blogspot.com/2011/05/before-you-build-test-pinyon-canyon-feb.html">Pinyon Canyon on a rainy day</a>, where we splashed through miles of wet sand wash. I wish I had better pics, that trip was AWESOME. I'm totally doing that again next wet season. This time, no strap will be required... for us!</div></div></div><div><br />
</div><div><div>Next up was bleeding the brakes. </div><div><br />
</div><div>I was surprised, and a bit shocked, to find the master cylinder nearly empty. I'd seen the right rear dripping the whole time into the oil pan, but I really expected that the master cylinder would be separated between front and rear. I'll need to check to see what happens when one end leaks. All my Chevy's have seperate master cylinder wells so if one end leaks, the other end is unaffected.</div></div><div><br />
</div><div><div>Once the brakes were bled until the fluid ran clear, it was time to throw on the rear tires, drop it, and go. </div><div><br />
</div><div>"go" included cleaning up the tools and putting them back in the garage for a bit. Most of the meta shavings were on a couple of paper towels I'd put down, making it easy to toss them in the garbage.</div><div><br />
</div><div>With 4.88s and 285/75R16s (33s), the GPS told us the speedo was once again accurate. A nice side-effect was that OD was once again useful at speeds under 80mph. </div><div><br />
</div><div>No whines. No vibrations. No grinding feelings. No leaks. Success!!</div><div><br />
</div><div>To add a little icing, the brakes actually worked well again!</div><div><br />
</div><div>We racked up about 40 gentle miles, then ran back home as the sun was setting and the colors were dulling. </div><div><br />
</div><div>The next step was to clean up the remaining metal shavings. Out came the shop vac since a broom is not always effective with those little metal bits. As it was, I ended up with one in my heel (I often work barefoot). It came out at the end of the evening with a very minor assist from a needle.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Since it was going to be best hold the truck up by the frame, out came the big jackstands. I have a pair of these I use every once in a blue moon. I hate to store them in between, but have zero complaints when I need them.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Andrew jacked it up again and we set the stands on the frame. Andrew took off the front wheels while I laid out all the parts to make sure nothing was missing.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Hmmm... that was a lot of parts.</div><div><br />
</div><div>First up was relaxing the torsion bars. Passenger side, break the jam nut loose, add some impact wrench (Shhhh! No, you're not supposed to!), and brrrrrrr-ziiiiiii, it was off.</div><div><br />
</div><div>The driver's side has the cat running by it. It was still a mite warm, but not super-hot by now. The cat on this thing cools off pretty well. The muffler stays hot however. The shop who'd rebuilt the motor had, for some reason I'm still not sure of, removed the muffler heat shield when doing the 2.5" exhaust, causing the rear driver's seat to melt. Keep those shields up, Scotty!</div><div><br />
</div><div>The cat was still hot enough that if I kept my hand on it for more than a couple of seconds, it was time to take it off. And the jam nut on this side was ON. Wrench here, wrench there, puulllll! Nothing. To top it off, the edge of the heat shield for the cat is right where your hand will go when it breaks loose, probably opening it up. </div><div><br />
</div><div>To make things worse, it was now dark and still a bit warm under the truck, I was sweating so much my head-light wouldn't stay on my head. Andrew held the LED mini-mag on the nut while I worked on the problem. That's a pretty bright little torch.</div><div><br />
</div><div>The only way to tell the jam nut from the holding nut was the faint line between them as their flat edges were perfectly aligned. I could turn the bolt by hand and hold both nuts with a wrench against the frame, but that was sooo hard on the bolt I really didn't want to go the 2"+ that way. Plus I hadn't had my Wheaties, so it was going to wear me out. If this was my last resort, I would definitely not use the impact gun on it. That sucker puts out more than 600 ft/lbs at max setting, I wouldn't notice something was going wrong until it was way wrong. </div><div><br />
</div><div>Finally, I got smart and put a wrench on the bottom nut, braced it to the frame, and TIGHTENED the bolt with the air hammer (set to 2 of 5, which is about 80-90 ft/lbs). After a brief fight, the jam nut stayed where it was while the bottom nut moved away from it. Move the wrench to the jam nut, and the bolt was in my hands seconds later. Hoorah! Man, that took a while.</div><div><br />
</div><div>I used to be a lot faster, but nowadays I sit behind a desk and hold down a chair for hours on end. </div><div><br />
</div><div>For giggles, we found a yellow crayon and marked the control arm shims. Off came the bottom control arm bolts, the top control arm bolts, the steering arm adjusters, the front shocks, driveshaft (since the swaybar acts as a d-shaft hoop, no worries about getting clonked on the head!).</div><div><br />
</div><div>Around then we called it a night, put the tools and parts in the garage, closed up, and took a shower, cleaning up the thick grease off our arms and legs (shorts, of course!). By now it was about 10pm.</div></div><div><br />
</div><div><br />
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Eric Deslauriershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141401129055291393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24228747384169764.post-71486117228181992542011-07-11T22:45:00.000-07:002011-07-11T22:45:19.596-07:00While I'm in here, that radio has been annoying me...So I was on quite a roll this evening. I got my blower motor working, I got my AC problem narrowed down. I need a couple parts for the turbo, so while I'm waiting, I decided to tackle the radio.<br />
<br />
I had gotten quite a windfall of parts in<a href="http://1stgentoy.blogspot.com/2009/09/lets-start-fixing-things.html"> September of '09</a> from someone who was parting out his truck for Cash4Clunkers. His was real nice, I felt bad. But I feel good about the parts I saved from the wreckers. :) What's amazing about this blog is the timeline. I can't believe how long I've had this truck and how little I've done. It really speaks volumes for where my priorities have been.<br />
<br />
One of the things I got was his radio out of his truck. I liked it because it was decent, but not desireable. Since the top comes off the truck, the last thing I want is people breaking the dash up to steal stuff.<br />
<br />
The one that was in my truck is a 1998 Pioneer, just like the one I put in my '81 Honda Prelude around then. The front was grimy from the PO (see the link above for the condition of the carpet). The left speaker worked intermittently, and the crackling wasn't pleasant. It's a good deck, this one had just seen far better days. It MAY get transplanted to our Rhino if not tossed outright. The deck in there got caught in a sandstorm and quit working.<br />
<br />
When I got the truck, the radio was in its hole, cockeyed. As part of making up all hte issues, the shop that rebuilt my motor had "fixed" my deck. It definitely was straight, and it definitely looked better. <br />
<br />
So you can imagine my surprise when I pulled the deck out and found the wires were an outright mess. Some taped, some with wire nuts, some just twisted together. Not the worst wiring job I've seen, but a definite runner-up. The plug for the deck had a screw rammed into it, why, I don't know since the clip works fine.<br />
<br />
Happily, they didn't butcher the factory harness, instead using an adapter, allowing me to unplug the absolute mess and plug in the new deck and harness. Click/snap, done!!<br />
<br />
While I was in there, I found one more fuse and relay behind the radio at the transmission tunnel/firewall junction (wondering if it's for the rear heater). Toyota put fuses <strong><em>everywhere </em></strong>in their trucks, man!<br />
<br />
While I was under the dash, I noticed the RCA cable was routed over the brake pedal rod (no, really) and came down near the gas pedal. I rerouted it over the AC ducting, getting another 5", making it easier to put the deck back in. The cable no longer goes to anything, it looks like a PO swapped out a lot of the nice stuff in there before selling it.<br />
<br />
<br />
A quick 20 minutes and I had a new-to-me deck installed and ready to go. Even better, both speakers are working and sound fine. The deck is about 7 years old, but it works well and sounds nice. And it's not fancy enough someone will want to steal it. <br />
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It doesn't put out nearly as many watts as the Pioneer (about 1/2), I'll see how it sounds next time I drive it. Here's hoping it's OK. If not, another candidate for the Rhino and the sand gods!Eric Deslauriershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141401129055291393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24228747384169764.post-70449538904969618562011-07-11T22:24:00.000-07:002011-07-11T22:24:09.856-07:00AC is intermittent...My AC has been intermittent since I got the truck. It works, it doesn't work. It's been annoying, especially when it's truly hot and humid out, like when we were in Houston (it played toad behind the motorhome after disconnecting the rear driveshaft).<br />
<br />
Not long after the new engine, I had the AC converted to R134a.<br />
<br />
Lately, the AC hasn't worked at all. I used to be able to get it to come on about every 2nd-10th try. Guessing that a borderline part had finally given up the ghost, and with the heat of summer coming, especially when you get out to the desert surrounding San Diego, it was time to fix it!<br />
<br />
<br />
I tell you, troubleshooting issues is so much easier with forums and with Google than it used to be. I searched around and learned some things it could be.<br />
<br />
A quick note for anyone troubleshooting electrical problems. You need both a meter AND a test light. <br />
<br />
Meters are awesome. I spent about an hour one day troubleshooting my sister's 1981 Celica and why the headlighs wouldn't work when they had 12v running to them (13.6 actually). Scratching my head. Taking more readings. Scratching my head some more. Finally I broke out my test light and tested a headlight connector. The problem was immediately noticeable as it barely lit up. Following the wires back to the connector at the battery showed a wire that had corroded nearly all the way through in a hard-to-spot way, 2 meager strands providing the 12v it took to fool my meter into thinking all was well. <br />
<br />
The <a href="http://www.ncttora.com/fsm/87-4Runner/toyota_truck_and_4runner_88.pdf">FSM (Factory Service Manual)</a> is a must for anyone working on this stuff. This one is a 1988 version instead of 1987, but usually that's close enough! The wiring diagrams in books like these are great, but what's missing is... where is that silly relay/connector/fuse block/switch/etc. actually located on the truck! I have a Haynes to go with the FSM.<br />
<br />
So... back to the AC.<br />
<br />
In my case, the AC button lights up, but nothing happens. The fact it lights up at all was a little weird I thought, but it turns out it seems to just mean the button is pushed in.<br />
<br />
Since getting the switch out looked to be a pain, and it lights up 100% of the time it's depressed, I figured I would start with the AC relay. Hopefully it was easier to get to and I could check for current from the switch with my handy-dandy test light.<br />
<br />
The AC relay is directly behind the glovebox, on top of the evaporator housing, just to the right of centerline (unlike the left a forum post had indicated - that's the <a href="http://www.camryforums.com/forum/ecu-electronics-12/1990-c-amplifier-38752/">AC Amplifier</a>). The glovebox was easy to get behind, pulling down the flap (gently!) and popping the box itself down past the left and right catches (gently again!). When I flipped the switch on and off, the relay clicked merrily. Hmm.... That's good, but not for me. :)<br />
<br />
I <a href="http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTricks/22RE_Engine_Pix/20.html">borrowed this picture from 4Crawler</a><br />
<br />
The little black button is the light switch for the glovebox. <br />
He's marked the AC low pressure switch connector.<br />
The connector below it is for the thermistor. <br />
<img alt="p1020657" border="0" height="480px" src="http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTricks/22RE_Engine_Pix/p1020657.jpg" width="640px" /><br />
<br />
My thermistor connector was jammed behind the glovebox switch, wearing through the white/blue wire's insulation and causing a short. Since no fuse was damaged, and looking at the wiring diagram, it appears to be on the ground-side. However, it could certainly explain the intermittency since it runs back into the AC Amplifier at that point. The AC Amp controls compressor lockup.<br />
<br />
<br />
I taped the wire up, then moved the connector up higher and used some of the wire clips available to keep it there. <br />
<br />
Unfortunately, that did not change the behaviour - the compressor still wasn't coming on.<br />
<br />
Well, the low pressure switch is right there, let's check it. Hmmm, power to only one side (red wire, incoming).<br />
<br />
I pulled a cap off the compressor and just touched the schrader valve. Nothing. Held it down. Nothing.<br />
<br />
The system is totally empty (standard pressure). Crap, time to find the leak... It's been converted to R134, so it'll be easy to rectify once I've sorted out the leak. When it was converted, it held vaccum and worked for over a year, so this is a new problem.<br />
<br />
Hopefully it's not the compressor (cha-ching!!).<br />
<br />
It wasn't a total loss, I got to tear into the truck a bit and learn more about it. <br />
<br />
At the same time, I found the heater and AC fuses <u>behind the dash</u>. No, really. Not hard to get to, but you have to pull the glovebox out (2 minutes) to get to them.Eric Deslauriershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141401129055291393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24228747384169764.post-61925864271899217402011-07-11T21:34:00.000-07:002011-07-11T21:34:08.992-07:00The blower only blows on the last 2 positions.Ever since I bought my 4Runner, the blower only worked on positions 3 and 4. 1 & 2 were nonfunctional. Like everyone, I assumed it was going to be the switch. The thought of tearing into the dash wasn't exciting me, so I kept putting it off.<br />
<br />
It turns out it's an easy fix for the 4Runner. Toyota wanted around $30 for the part, local parts store as cheap as $10.xx. I went with that option. Plus they're local!<br />
<br />
4Crawler's site has provided a wealth of information. May it never go offline. <a href="http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTricks/Blower.shtml">Here's the hot tip on replacing the blower resistor</a>. <br />
<br />
It's tucked up in front of the blower motor, getting the screw back into it was a bit of a chore. I had the old one in my hand in about 2 minutes. It took me about 10 to work the screw back in and make sure the resistor was properly seated.<br />
<br />
Ahhh, now my blower blows on 1 and 2!Eric Deslauriershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141401129055291393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24228747384169764.post-80439399782165437712011-07-11T09:23:00.000-07:002011-07-11T09:25:06.825-07:00The turbo goes loose... again.<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Well, the lift and lockers are on hold as the truck is not driveable. Oh, sure, if the monsters were chasing me or a monster earthquake happened, but an exhaust leak has the opportunity to screw up some of my hoses and wiring, so it's going to stay parked.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">My turbo has gone loose again. You can tell it's coming loose because it start squalling in a "I need a bearing!" kind of way. That's really just air leaking by the exhaust manifold/turbo junction, as it got looser on the ride home, it quit squalling and the sound of a massive exhaust leak took over. Boost plummeted to 3 bars on the gauge.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Last night I dug into it a bit. For a newly rebuilt motor and turbo, this thing sure has a lot of oil leaks. :(</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">The turbo lost one stud, the other 3 range between loose and very loose. The exhaust pipe to turbo has a nut that would have come off if it had the room to do so. The exhaust manifold had a stud underneath that might have been hanging on by a thread at most. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">I have a feeling I'll be retightening just about every bolt that shop touched (intake side was already done by another shop - scan down for that saga). Since the machine shop, which has a solid reputation, did the bottom end, I'm not worried about a connecting rod coming loose. And I retorqued the head bolts when I put in a new cam, so I know those are good.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Since my phone is not grease-proof, I may not get a lot of pictures.<br />
<br />
The upside is that I'll be happy with how well it runs when I'm done!</div>Eric Deslauriershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141401129055291393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24228747384169764.post-32012130195220791382011-06-13T16:29:00.000-07:002011-06-13T16:29:22.619-07:00The lift is ordered...<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: yellow; font-family: verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">After weeks and weeks of research, I've decided I'm going <a href="http://www.yotatech.com/f31/blazeland-jd-fab-total-chaos-230279/" style="color: #dddddd;" target="_blank" title="Blazeland or JD Fab or Total Chaos">Blazeland</a> and <a href="http://www.yotatech.com/f116/just-did-zuk-mod-215876/" style="color: #dddddd;" target="_blank" title="Just did a Zuk Mod...">Zuk mod</a>.<br />
<br />
I'll be the first trying to get 4" of lift out of the Zuk mod, we'll see how that goes! <img alt="" border="0" class="inlineimg" src="http://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/src:www.yotatech.com/get/images/smilies/smile.gif" style="vertical-align: middle;" title="Smilie" /><br />
<br />
When I buy parts, I prefer to go with the guy who gives me their good price first, not the one who I work down the most. Quoting me MSRP is the fastest way to get me to move on, no matter how good their end price will be.<br />
<br />
I always prefer to work with people who are willing to set a price which makes them a decent profit, have great customer service (I will pay more for this), and a solid reputation.<br />
<br />
I bought the arms used from an inmate, and everything but the springs and some of the balljoints from <a href="http://www.davezoffroadperformance.com/contact.html" style="color: #dddddd;" target="_blank">Dave'z Off Road Performance</a>. He and his team really know their stuff, were super competitive from the get-go, and have a great reputation. Dave and his team also had a great sense of humor while we worked through the purchase process, and they had no problem throwing me a quote and then waiting for me to come back when I was ready.<br />
<br />
They won my business. Disclaimer - just a satisfied customer with no other relationship to Dave and his team.<br />
<br />
My parts should be here over the next week and I'm excited!</span>Eric Deslauriershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141401129055291393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24228747384169764.post-57844221272612279242011-05-17T10:58:00.000-07:002011-05-17T10:59:59.785-07:00BlaZuk - Installing Blazeland arms and a Zuk mod rear coil on my leafs!After weeks and weeks of research, I've decided I'm going <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.yotatech.com/f31/blazeland-jd-fab-total-chaos-230279/" target="_blank" title="Blazeland or JD Fab or Total Chaos">Blazeland</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span>and<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.yotatech.com/f116/just-did-zuk-mod-215876/" target="_blank" title="Just did a Zuk Mod...">Zuk mod</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">.</span><br />
<br />
I'll be the first trying to get 4" of lift out of the Zuk mod, we'll see how that goes!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> <img alt="" border="0" class="inlineimg" src="http://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/src:www.yotatech.com/get/images/smilies/smile.gif" style="vertical-align: middle;" title="Smilie" /></span><br />
<br />
When I buy parts, I prefer to go with the guy who gives me their good price first, not the one who I work down the most. Quoting me MSRP is the fastest way to get me to move on, no matter how good their end price will be. <br />
<br />
I always prefer to work with people who are willing to set a price which makes them a decent profit, have great customer service (I will pay more for this), and a solid reputation.<br />
<br />
I bought the arms used from a <a href="http://www.yotatech.com/f1/">YotaTech</a> inmate, and everything but the springs and some of the balljoints from <a href="http://www.davezoffroadperformance.com/contact.html" style="font-family: verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Dave'z Off Road Performance</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">. </span>He and his team really know their stuff, were super competitive from the get-go, and have a great reputation. Dave and his team also had a great sense of humor while we worked through the purchase process, and they had no problem throwing me a quote and then waiting for me to come back when I was ready. <br />
<br />
They won my business. Disclaimer - just a satisfied customer with no other relationship to Dave and his team.<br />
<br />
My parts should be here over the next week and I'm excited!Eric Deslauriershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141401129055291393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24228747384169764.post-18542547534602868022011-05-17T10:49:00.000-07:002011-05-17T10:50:35.675-07:00How to disconnect the front sway bar?Since the lift I'll be going with doesn't have a good swaybar option, I'm going to start to focus on how to put a swaybar on it. Here's some details on the disconnect mechanisms available, and why we need it.<br />
<br />
In fast offroad sweepers, or when coming into a corner on the brakes, the rear of the 4Runner wants to come out and has to be caught. Last weekend, in a sand wash doing about 30-40, we spent a lot of time sideways - much more than was intended or preferred!<br />
<br />
Its on-road manners are similar, and oversteer is the least desirable trait for onroad driving. Car manufacturers generally dial in understeer when they deliver their vehicles; it's the safest of the available choices.<br />
<br />
From the details below, you'll see this means the front is too soft. So we'll need stiffer springs or swaybar. And that means less flex. Which means we need to be able to disconnect it.<br />
<br />
Ok, so we know we want to disconnect the front sway bar. How does one do that on a Toyota?<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.off-road.com/aimages/articlestandard/toyota/422005/186221/swaybar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" j8="true" src="http://www.off-road.com/aimages/articlestandard/toyota/422005/186221/swaybar.jpg" /></a></div><div></div>This gentleman put together <a href="http://www.larsdennert.com/4runner/swaybar/history.html">a very comprehensive list of swaybar disconnect options</a>, and also walks us through his DIY efforts. Unfortunately, like so many other great pages which have been around a while, links to other sites/pages are broken. So I'm going to use a common practice and copy some of his content here in case his page goes away.<br />
<br />
At one point, his prototype broke, leading to this comment:<br />
"Originally I constructed these disconnects out of 3/8" hardware. After crossing up the vehicle off road with the disconnects I was able to snap one side. For the street the 3/8" hardware was strong enough but if you wheel with the disconnects installed they will break. Hence, I built bigger ones shown above. You can also see the difference in hardware size from the other picture below. "<br />
<br />
Can you imagine what would happen if you were in a fast sweeper and the front sway bar link broke? Front swaybars keep the rear from coming out. I borrowed the bullets below from the <a href="http://www.ozarkpca.org/docs/techofit/TechArticle_OverUnderSteer.pdf">Ozark Porsche Club's suspension document</a><br />
<ol><li>To induce oversteer because your car won't turn in quickly enough:</li>
<ol><li>Stiffen the rear of the car with bigger springs, shocks, anti-sway bar, or some combination of these or. . . .</li>
<li>Soften the front of the car with smaller springs, shocks, anti-sway bar, or some combination of these</li>
</ol><li>To induce understeer because your car is "tail happy", reverse the above:</li>
<ol><li>Stiffen the front of the car with bigger springs, shocks, anti-sway bar, or some combination of these or. . . </li>
<li>Soften the rear of the car with smaller springs, shocks, anti-sway bar, or some combination of these </li>
</ol></ol>Breaking a swaybar link offroad flexing across a rut means it was NOT OK for the street, it was in fact dangerous, risking an accident.<br />
<br />
Ok, so we want a strong and safe part. :) Some of the other things to consider:<br />
<ol><li>Disconnects work by making part of the link that connects the swaybar end to the truck or suspension part removable. This often requires that you have a zip tie handy to tie your swaybar up. Somehow, much of the market is OK with these solutions. The product I used on the Blazer included a frame mount where you just reused a pin to lock the swaybar to the frame while you wheeled. No zip ties.</li>
<li>Gosh, wouldn't it be nice if I could do this with a button in the cab?</li>
<ol><li>This fellow has done it, but has provided <a href="http://members.iinet.net.au/~ozrunner/Suspension2.html">very little detail on the parts he used</a>. After a surprising amount of searching, this looks to be a device found on a Nissan Patrol GQ or Y61. MSRP appears to be in the $1,000-3,000 range depending on the unit.</li>
</ol></ol>Eric Deslauriershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141401129055291393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24228747384169764.post-53910612872798282132011-05-04T11:32:00.000-07:002011-05-04T13:30:21.493-07:00Improving offroad capabilites. Starting point... Flex!<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1ur8634ZfaOHzrHcRsK32thqR9GUrdl6e7IMgzZU2s2vP6h6E4c0tM0cgd0m1qkn6tEjcKsUmNHTtbEcgfky3eIIO_3Tzmgec3we4sO-rVuBsadGIzERP2W9scpnhzbscQJmk_m5yWG4/s1600/4RunnerFlex.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1ur8634ZfaOHzrHcRsK32thqR9GUrdl6e7IMgzZU2s2vP6h6E4c0tM0cgd0m1qkn6tEjcKsUmNHTtbEcgfky3eIIO_3Tzmgec3we4sO-rVuBsadGIzERP2W9scpnhzbscQJmk_m5yWG4/s320/4RunnerFlex.jpg" width="320px" /></a></div>As we saw when I was stretching the 4Runner out to see where the new tires hit, my truck exhibits very low levels of flexibility in it current configuration. <br />
<br />
With open differentials, keeping both the left and right tires on the ground makes an enormous difference to how far you can make it offroad. Open differentails provide power to the tire with the LEAST amount of traction (e.g., the one in the air spins, the one on the ground does nothing)<br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">To the right is my truck, fully stock except with larger tires, fully flexed out. </div><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">The red box shows the truck is relatively level, but down in front a couple inches. The blue line shows what the height difference from the bottom of the front tire to the bottom of the rear tire. If the truck were fully level, that means it only has about 14-16" (the wheel is 16" in diameter) difference from front stuff to rear droop. I didn't bother with the other pics and doing the math, this was depressing enough. LOL</div><br />
Left to right flex in the front was definitely nothing to write home about either. It's a few inchest at most.<br />
The rear did a lot better.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQwbAkobcp-clkspBcZEBFu7CMJHiBOD_7iIB5hsu8zk8ituMpdMweLTqHFn30gVcSNA_K4VgUL6B0XwyJ4fMGQfdwysZBKbTWtOPywYizw8zvlM0c_OznGjIAmGSAtqJXruyv2lxOgKw/s1600/4RunnerFlex-IFS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQwbAkobcp-clkspBcZEBFu7CMJHiBOD_7iIB5hsu8zk8ituMpdMweLTqHFn30gVcSNA_K4VgUL6B0XwyJ4fMGQfdwysZBKbTWtOPywYizw8zvlM0c_OznGjIAmGSAtqJXruyv2lxOgKw/s400/4RunnerFlex-IFS.jpg" width="400px" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzRK9nMuAM5r2eIvgh-Lz-mZlHTueiQtR9MzsI2nfRu-PXeab-lx6QqtZPHWvbFoQlaqREWyf2aPj-g9EzC-5PLQwsJAs8GnbmHCulR_GYFNlVuBSrghr4O4gk7_hwXX3OGTHmyjnHH5M/s1600/4RunnerFlex-rear.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzRK9nMuAM5r2eIvgh-Lz-mZlHTueiQtR9MzsI2nfRu-PXeab-lx6QqtZPHWvbFoQlaqREWyf2aPj-g9EzC-5PLQwsJAs8GnbmHCulR_GYFNlVuBSrghr4O4gk7_hwXX3OGTHmyjnHH5M/s400/4RunnerFlex-rear.jpg" width="400px" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>Compare the pictures above to my Blazer at its pinnacle, from a suspension perspective, with 32" tires. Huge flex. It's not even fully stretched out yet and can do better. The top of the rear tire would be almost even with the bottom of the front tire at full flex. That's around a 32" differential. Much better than what the 4runner is seeing now. This is one reason solid axles are a frequent conversion option for IFS trucks. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/20478_102849223071953_100000406266697_66400_3529203_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480px" j8="true" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/20478_102849223071953_100000406266697_66400_3529203_n.jpg" width="640px" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Here's my Blazer on 36s in a similar situation to the one the 4Runner is pictured in at the begining of this post. Same suspension setup as the Blazer pic above, just bigger tires. The sway bar is connected. Any further up the rock and the right front tire started to come off the ground. This is how good it was in street trim. :-D</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480px" j8="true" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/20478_102849336405275_100000406266697_66406_911175_n.jpg" width="640px" /></div><br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Obviously <a href="http://www.off-road.com/aimages/articlestandard/toyota/422005/186221/swaybar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" j8="true" src="http://www.off-road.com/aimages/articlestandard/toyota/422005/186221/swaybar.jpg" /></a>we can't leave the 4Runner like it is! Off to Google to learn more about what this truck can really do! Here's a<a href="http://www.yotatech.com/f116/ifs-flex-pics-dial-up-ye-warned-88708/"> great thread</a> showing various YotaTech IFS trucks' capabilities when it comes to flex. Some are stock, some are modified</div><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">To improve offroad articulation, disconnecting the sway bar is the first change to make, and can yield substantial results. Offroad.com has a good overview of the parts we're talking about.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Sway bars work by keeping both tires relatively level, from side to side. As one side gets compressed in a corner, the sway bar pulls up on the other side. There's an awful lot more to engineering a good handling car than that but, in rough terms, is how a sway bar works. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">While my passenger tire in the pic above is stuffed in the fender, it's not quite as far as it can go. And it's pulling the driver's side tire up via the sway bar. And the driver's side tire is pulling the passenger tire down. Great in a corner, not great offroad when crossing uneven terrain.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">With the swaybar disconnected, my driver's front will droop lower, and the passenger front will stuff up even more (which, I'm sure, means more tire clearancing activities as we take this step).</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">A surprising number of folks recommend removing a swaybar entirely. That's really not recommended and I would hate to be in an accident and have that come up as a possible reason. I need a vehicle to handle well on pavement at all times. My car is a BMW M3 and it is just flat out phenomonal on curvy roads. While I don't expect similar performance from an SUV, it is important that it is above all else safe for any of my family members to drive. Predictability is a critical component of "safe".</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">So... the swaybar stays. And, given its current road-handling manners, the truck probably will get a beefier front and a rear sway bar added at some point since current handling still leaves a bit to be desired.<br />
<br />
Next - what options do we have?</div>Eric Deslauriershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141401129055291393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24228747384169764.post-33168364174290065612011-05-02T10:32:00.000-07:002011-05-09T15:15:11.111-07:00Baby gets new shoes, finally!Edit May 9, 2011 - added highway noise videos to bottom<br />
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<br />
Given the 4Runner would be used offroad on a regular basis, I wanted to get an aggressive tire. I've always loved my BFG MTs, but that tread pattern is no longer available. The Goodyear MT/R has also been quite interesting. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNyJQgBa9RQlOl3k9aHkts6O6BMHMpU1rbXz7YjL72_k6D-RsGI8wQO5WN1ETHmzBOgV3YYEEouD__p7ElYd5X7E1ACSQV9AzJUaTZ-NTCLy9NTqosutLzsx47hsgm0KHs3IUCeNhkNOo/s1600/DunlopAT20.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNyJQgBa9RQlOl3k9aHkts6O6BMHMpU1rbXz7YjL72_k6D-RsGI8wQO5WN1ETHmzBOgV3YYEEouD__p7ElYd5X7E1ACSQV9AzJUaTZ-NTCLy9NTqosutLzsx47hsgm0KHs3IUCeNhkNOo/s1600/DunlopAT20.jpg" /></a></div>About 4 months ago, I scored some 2010 4Runner takeoff wheels and tires (245/75R16 Dunlop AT20) from the local Toyota dealer. Wheels, tires, lug nuts, center caps. <br />
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As you can imagine, a tire that looks like this really doesn't turn out to be exactly good offroad. :)<br />
I've already racked up 800 miles on these tires. And chopped a 2" gash through the inside cords of the RF tire playing Ivan "Iron Man" Stewart on my way home from an offroad trip (we were late for SuperCross). I smacked a rock at speed, bending the steel rim. I still can't fathom which rock. :) It still holds air, and it got me home (slowly!!), but the bubble extends from the tread to the rim. It's non-repairable. The wheel banged out quite easily.<br />
Unfortunately, somewhere along the way, truck tire prices have gone stratospheric. 10 years ago, I could buy a 265/75R16 Bridgestone Dueler H/T for about $70 or less. The same tire today is over $200. And that's just a road tire.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNRuRK-R5dpifXg-xyPR2urwXxJK_85a-yM6XO0i5UB8cLD17QRV_W9YIu3RaY8tzuyXVvR4smkEm9PnEM5wNtrqDlRIQXVpNod95KilBLdE5RjWiVKS0njGSJ3r9BB1PVi0rzng89QZ4/s1600/MichelinPilotRoadCT2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNRuRK-R5dpifXg-xyPR2urwXxJK_85a-yM6XO0i5UB8cLD17QRV_W9YIu3RaY8tzuyXVvR4smkEm9PnEM5wNtrqDlRIQXVpNod95KilBLdE5RjWiVKS0njGSJ3r9BB1PVi0rzng89QZ4/s1600/MichelinPilotRoadCT2.jpg" /></a></div><a href="http://sites.google.com/site/ericdeslauriers/Home/k1200s">My daily driver </a>is a BMW K1200S motorcycle. The rear tire is a 190/50R17, speed rated to 186mph. It's the size of a car tire. It has an immense amount of technology in it (compared to even just 10 years ago, this tire is better in every conceivable way). I run Michelin Pilot Sport IIs, which are both a premium tire, and dual compound. Yet, it somehow "only" costs $136 for a rear tire.<br />
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All other tires prices have gone up. Offroad tire prices have gone stratospheric. <br />
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The 285/75R16 Goodyear MT/R has a best internet price of around $238/tire, the BFG KM2, in the $220 range. Plus shipping in many cases ($65 to $220 for four). <br />
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For 4 Goodyears, I came up with about $1070 for 4 tires, delivered to my door, ore over $1200 locally (installed).<br />
Try as I might, I was unable to find a prices I was comfortable with for what is, arguably, mostly a toy.<br />
<br />
But then I found <a href="http://www.treadwright.com/default.aspx">TreadWright</a>. I was able to get four 285s for under $600 delivered to my door, on sale (about $12/tire less).<br />
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Long ago, I learned that spending extra for a good product is nearly always the better investment. I've had particle board. I've had real wood. My Bentwood bedroom set was fanstatic and looked as good more than 10 years after we bought it as the day it came home with us. I still miss <a href="http://www.lodgecraft.com/bw-br-125.html">my nightstands</a>.<br />
The other is that no matter how good the product, it may have issues. How the company backs their products is just as important. One of the benefits of the internet age is you can find out how a product/company is treating their customers. <br />
<br />
I found almost no issues with <a href="http://www.treadwright.com/default.aspx">TreadWright</a> products, and the one or two I found were related to tread chunking. <a href="http://www.treadwright.com/default.aspx">TreadWright</a> sent one guy a whole set of tires because one tire had a problem. As you can imagine, he was an avid fan.<br />
<br />
But I wasn't able to find anyone I knew who had run a set, or someone they knew personally who had run a set.<br />
<br />
For ~$500 in savings with few findable issues and what appeared to be great customer service, I went ahead and ordered up a set of <a href="http://www.treadwright.com/p-55-285-75r16-guard-dog-m-t-d.aspx">285/75R16 TreadWright Guard Dog M/T</a> tires for the 4Runner. They were on backorder, so I had to call them to order. I ordered Goodyear casings since I wanted to try them. I wasn't in a rush, I had great tires and my list of lift parts wasn't complete yet.<br />
<br />
After a few weeks, they called me and let me know my tires were next up, but Goodyear casings were hard to come by - did I want BFG casings instead? Since I was mounting these black side out, I didn't really care, so I agreed.<br />
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Before, 225/75R15 stock wheels and tires (the rears are Nittos and were old enough to be originals!)<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiySMKAXiAZTCstWVQzBxGiVFYBhFkD82-ztBSKMFBggKr3IqMTVQsLRcBxOM8kqQ62kKNGuvzzvWTNE8quZx17cPBhuBX9EOds1p9BJ0tz556S75zmjhBgExtmXMKHol_cMv4doC-EeA/s320/right_side.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiySMKAXiAZTCstWVQzBxGiVFYBhFkD82-ztBSKMFBggKr3IqMTVQsLRcBxOM8kqQ62kKNGuvzzvWTNE8quZx17cPBhuBX9EOds1p9BJ0tz556S75zmjhBgExtmXMKHol_cMv4doC-EeA/s640/right_side.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />
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After. Man, they look good.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/230225_207156115974596_100000406266697_606466_2816529_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" j8="true" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/230225_207156115974596_100000406266697_606466_2816529_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
With no lift, they fit. Sorta. :) Here's the driver's rear at full stuff. It's just touching the bolts that hold the rear mudflaps on.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/225101_207155282641346_100000406266697_606458_5588122_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" j8="true" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/225101_207155282641346_100000406266697_606458_5588122_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
The LF hits the back of the fender when turned 1/2 way to the left and with any bump. Since the metal wasn't going to cut the tire, and wasn't well supported, I let it self-clearance. <br />
The RF just touches the back of the fender.<br />
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Pics as I figure out how to resolve this.<br />
<br />
Here are a few more pictures of the 4Runner in action.<br />
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As you can see, I was eager to try them out. The old tires are still in the back, we didn't even make it home. :)<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/230006_207155959307945_100000406266697_606464_4995980_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" j8="true" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/230006_207155959307945_100000406266697_606464_4995980_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/227891_207155049308036_100000406266697_606457_1132589_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" j8="true" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/227891_207155049308036_100000406266697_606457_1132589_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Check out how they sound on the road! </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Couple of videos. #2 has me speaking in a normal voice for reference.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">At this point, I have about 250 miles on 'em and I am quite pleased.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/LYEKAHwywPo?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div>Eric Deslauriershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16141401129055291393noreply@blogger.com0