1986 4Runner Refresh

[GeoRoss]

Well crap, I was looking at the LSPV to see what I need to do to make a bracket to account for the lift. The arm was resting on the spare and it seems like I may have bent it up a little with the spare. This will complicate things.

 

[Mudder]

Zip tie it up to the body, or else go with an aftermarket adjustable one.

 

[GeoRoss]

Well, I haven't done much to the 4Runner other than use it.

I spent the past month working at an off-grid site in Northern Arizona. I have a new oil pressure gauge to put in, I just need to get a Yakazi pressure sending unit. I'm nervous about using the Sendei pressure sending unit as it doesn't behave like the FSM says it should. The test light blinks with throttle response, not increase in intensity as the FSM says it should.

The springs work great. I do need new shocks badly. I also need to crank the t-bar a little to remove some of the stink bug. I don't mind a little stink bug. I was hoping that a month of bouncing on rutted roads and the like would settle things out, but not yet.

I was super surprised how I never got stuck with these Goodyear ST street tires. They have too much tread on them for me to replace, I'm being cheap. I do have some 15" American Racing wheels I may use for some more AT type tire and just swap them out based on the trip. I do enjoy 20 mpg around town.

I am starting to get some transmission noise in 3rd and 4th. It is most pronounce when I let off the throttle. I'll change the oil and see if that helps. If not I'll try to find a local W56B (?) and/or rebuild it. I've never done it, how hard can it be?

I need to start getting ready for fixing the exterior and interior. My original idea was to start on the outside and work in. However, I am getting antsy and may start doing things to the interior just to start making progress.

 

[msahr]

Well crap, I was looking at the LSPV to see what I need to do to make a bracket to account for the lift. The arm was resting on the spare and it seems like I may have bent it up a little with the spare. This will complicate things.

Mine is a piece of metal about 5" long with holes in it same size as the mounting bolt. I originally had a 3" lift, now it's more like 4.5". Never "adjusted" the bracket. Just move the LSPV up the same amount of lift. Or leave it alone. Seriously I haven't touched mine in over 10 years.

This is from 4crawler... You can see this is a very technical piece of hardware requiring a engineer to design it.

 

[GeoRoss]

I ended up doing something very similar. I haven't taken out a bus load of nuns so all is good.

Mine is a piece of metal about 5" long with holes in it same size as the mounting bolt. I originally had a 3" lift, now it's more like 4.5". Never "adjusted" the bracket. Just move the LSPV up the same amount of lift. Or leave it alone. Seriously I haven't touched mine in over 10 years.

This is from 4crawler... You can see this is a very technical piece of hardware requiring a engineer to design it.

 

[GeoRoss]

Well, I finally found some time to work on some small issues on the 4Runner that have been bugging me.

The dome light wouldn't come on when the ds door opened, but would with the ps door. I seem to recall reading that unplugging the buzzer can cause this. I don't have any buzzer warnings so I thought this might be it. Nope, the buzzer is plugged in and functions according to the FSM. I checked the door switch. It wasn't plugged in. However, that didn't work either. The switch was filthy so I cleaned it with brake cleaner. SUCCESS!

The odometer quite working last month while I spent so much time on bumpy/washboard roads. I took the gauge apart and the pin in the odometer had come out. I guess I didn't fully seat it when I had it apart to correct the odometer and it now works again. SUCCESS!

The PO had put in an AT SR5 gauge cluster. The oil pressure gauge has never worked. It was a real rabbit hole experience, but what I have found is that there are two different senders. The FSM has an oil pressure sender test where you ground a 3.4W bulb to the oil pressure sender. It should increase in brightness with increasing throttle. Intermoter generic sender as well as an "OEM" sender made by Senkei I bought from LCE behaves differently. These two cause the light to blink and blink faster with increasing throttle. Toyota specifies two senders, one made by Yakazi and another Senkei. My gauge cluster is made by Yakazi. I bought a OEM Yakazi sender from beno and it behaves like the FSM says it should. I also bought an SR5 gauge cluster for a MT from eBay. It came with a faulty oil pressure gauge, failed the FSM and 9V tests. The sender sent me another oil pressure/temp gauge module. I now have a functional oil pressure gauge. I don't know if the other two senders shouldn't be used, but I highly recommend buying a Yakazi oil pressure sender from Toyota if you have a Yakazi gauge cluster. At least the Yakazi sender behaves like the FSM says it should.

There was drama, while the oil pressure gauge now works, the temp gauge on this new module didn't register any temperature. BOOOO! I thought I might be able to swap my function temp gauge I found that I don't think you can remove the needle without destroying the gauge. I then changed direction to see if I could fix the broken temp gauge. I took it apart and noticed that the resistor on the PCB board looked chalky. I swapped in the PCB from the module with the functional temp gauge and I now have a functional oil pressure and temp gauge. SUCCESS!

These are small things, but have been bugging me for some time so I am pretty happy. Now on to making new door panels.

 

[GeoRoss]

Last week I got a fix-it ticket for a broken windshield. I'm pretty sure it was a pretext stop as I had a two week beard and was dressed like a hobo and looked pretty sketchy.

I had always planned to replace the windshield but wanted to wait until I painted. Rust in the usually spots with only mild pitting. I wire brushed and primed. Sadly I broke the right a-pillar trim. I'm pretty pissed about that. The chrome windshield trim came out pretty easy.

I'm torn about pulling the windshield when I paint, but I would like to address the rust a little better. I'm also going to look a better windshield trim. I've seen lots of different solutions.

At least I'm legal now. Now onto a new clutch and brake job. I think I can then move on the the giant laundry list of stuff to do to the Land Cruiser. I have until the end of December so I can smog it.

 

[GeoRoss]

The rear brake shoes have been replaced with Napa premium and new Napa hardware. The kit didn't come with a new stud for the parking brake/adjuster so I reused. The wheel cylinders looked fine, just dirty so I didn't replace them. When I was putting in the new front shoe on one side I compressed the wheel cylinder a little and brake fluid leaked out. I'll buy some new ones and replace.

I put the brakes back together and adjusted the brakes so I could move the 4Runner. Setting the adjuster to its minimum and cycling the parking brake took much longer than I thought it should. I'll take my drum measurements and then approximate the adjuster to speed things up next time. All-in-all I still hate drum brakes.

I also took the time to clean up the engine so I can chase down oil leaks. The PS is leaking. It looked like some of the problem was the low pressure hose at the pump. I tightened it up and took it for a little test drive. That area is still dry, but the PS is still leaking. Due to time I'll have to farm this out. A little bummed and hope the alternator's life isn't too badly reduced. It is now filthy.

I also can't rule out an engine oil leak. I use 1/3qt of oil or more per fill up. The pan bolts at the front are all wet. Above the pan it is just filthy. After I get the PS leak dealt with I'll fully degrease the engine. I really hope it isn't the oil pan. It doesn't look like fun to reseal.

 

[pappy]

Oil at the front of the engine is probably the crank seal.

 

[GeoRoss]

Oil at the front of the engine is probably the crank seal.

I sure hope that's it. I'll know more once I fix the PS leak and degrease the engine. It is an ugly mess down there. <insert land rover comment>

 

[GeoRoss]

Annnnnnd, I'm an idiot. I really should have asked what the shop time charge is on changing a PS pump.

If I'd know I would have made the time. On the bright side all is good there now. I just need to find out what is leaking. I get a drop of oil forming on the hard coolant pipe under the exhaust manifold. I cleaned that back up hoping it is just remnant PS fluid. I can't for the life of me think what could be leaking from the engine onto that motor mount directly above that coolant pipe.

 

[KLF]

O-ring on the distributor?

 

[GeoRoss]

O-ring on the distributor?

The guy who did my ps pump pulled the distributor and put a new o-ring in. There were no drips over night. A full degrease job will help. I hope I do find where my oil loss is. I'd rather be loosing externally than internally.

 

[KLF]

I hate leaks, no matter how small. Good luck.

 

[GeoRoss]

Well, I'm no longer pissing ps fluid. No more drips on the driveway. I have ordered a new crankshaft seal and oil pump gasket, but there isn't a hurry to get it done right now. This is great news as the Cruiser is down for a lot of work that is taking much more time than it should.

 

[GeoRoss]

Well fudge, I think I may be a moron. I started getting off throttle noise in the transmission awhile ago. It goes away when I push in the clutch. I ASSUMED it was the input bearing and have been looking for a reasonable W56B. Today I realized that the noise appeared after I put the OME springs in. I bet my pinion angle is off. As i understand it, the pinion angle should be horizontal. Is that correct? Putting shims in will be a lot easier than swapping in a new transmission.

 

[Mudder]

Is this in 4 or 2 wheel drive? I don't have any off throttle noise after installing my OME lift but I do have a vibration about 50 mph when in 4 wheel drive and I let off the gas.

 

[GeoRoss]

Is this in 4 or 2 wheel drive? I don't have any off throttle noise after installing my OME lift but I do have a vibration about 50 mph when in 4 wheel drive and I let off the gas.

Only in 2WD that I am aware of. All the 4WD I've done has been under 20 mph and I don't have any vibration/whine at that speed in 2WD.

 

[jgranthevagrant]

I have no vibration or noise in 2 or 4 with my OME springs. But I will be watching this with interest, just in case.

 

[txlonghorn]

I got vibes post old man emu lift as well. Either tilt the pinion up and run a dc shaft or tilt it down to match the angle of the transfer case and run the stock shaft.