A decade in the making. (1 Viewer)

[John Young]

Maybe it is just a pin that is press fit in, like the pin at the back of a seat track in some models of LCs?

 

[TRDdrew]

hold the back side with vise grips, and hit it with an impact

 

[D21FJ60]

hold the back side with vise grips, and hit it with an impact

Sadly don’t have an impact gun strong enough. Only one I have is an electric junk one that can’t even break lug nuts off

 

[TRDdrew]

well its only a 14mm if you hold onto the backside with something you should be able to crack it loose

 

[D21FJ60]

Well some forward progress.
While I don’t have a proper impact gun, it occurred to me I’ve had new In it’s case for the past two and a half years or so a tekton torque wrench I bought to do the engine swap in my 4runner that never happened.
Got it out and cranked it to about 120-140lbs and gripped the washer with some vice grips, and broke it free.

The other side chose violence as shown below.

 

[lx4nhalf]

Great thread as I look to getting a high mileage(235k) lx470

Do you regret this purchase? Or still in love with after all the tlc you’ve been giving it?

 

[D21FJ60]

Great thread as I look to getting a high mileage(235k) lx470

Do you regret this purchase? Or still in love with after all the tlc you’ve been giving it?

It's a love/hate. At the time I had the money to buy one that was in better shape, but I was excited so I went with this one thinking id be able to give it a lot more time and attention.

If my time wasn't always so highly accounted for, I would probably enjoy it more. However time and money are rather tight at this point in life so it's frustrating to see the cruiser sit because I can't necessarily afford to pay someone to fix everything, and I can't seem to find 8 hours to get it all done at once.

So, I've deduced as others have, you're going to do 1 of 3 things:
-Buy a truck for a little less, and pay someone a good bit of money to get it up to speed
-Buy a truck for a little less, and plan on spending potentially a substantial amount of time and less money doing the work yourself
-Buy a truck that has had a lot of the big ticket items done recently and that isn't rusty, and be able to enjoy driving it

*Edit: just saw you're in FL so rust isn't going to be an issue for you, which may make getting a truck that needs work less intimidating.

 

[lx4nhalf]

It's a love/hate. At the time I had the money to buy one that was in better shape, but I was excited so I went with this one thinking id be able to give it a lot more time and attention.

If my time wasn't always so highly accounted for, I would probably enjoy it more. However time and money are rather tight at this point in life so it's frustrating to see the cruiser sit because I can't necessarily afford to pay someone to fix everything, and I can't seem to find 8 hours to get it all done at once.

So, I've deduced as others have, you're going to do 1 of 3 things:
-Buy a truck for a little less, and pay someone a good bit of money to get it up to speed
-Buy a truck for a little less, and plan on spending potentially a substantial amount of time and less money doing the work yourself
-Buy a truck that has had a lot of the big ticket items done recently and that isn't rusty, and be able to enjoy driving it

*Edit: just saw you're in FL so rust isn't going to be an issue for you, which may make getting a truck that needs work less intimidating.

Yes, as I get older, I really see how precious time really is. If I could be 18 again….

My goal is to atleast find something that may need some tlc but still able to be brought back without feeling like a sink/loss relationship. I also can’t swallow paying 20k upfront with the possibility of still overhauling it cause” it’s rare and will last forever.”

No rust is my biggest thing. The only issue is…folks are relocating down to south Florida and bringing there rusty stuff with them.

 

[D21FJ60]

Yes, as I get older, I really see how precious time really is. If I could be 18 again….

My goal is to atleast find something that may need some tlc but still able to be brought back without feeling like a sink/loss relationship. I also can’t swallow paying 20k upfront with the possibility of still overhauling it cause” it’s rare and will last forever.”

No rust is my biggest thing. The only issue is…folks are relocating down to south Florida and bringing there rusty stuff with them.

True, and the recent hurricane probably totalled a lot of florida trucks.
Best thing to do is make an account at
toyotaowners.com
Lexusdrivers.com
you can input the VIN once you make an account and pull down all dealer services done to the vehicle. This in addition to a carfax and owner records is a good way to figure out what you can expect. I bought mine from the second owner who had owned it since like 2007 or something, so they had a lot of small shop paperwork, not as much done at dealers

 

[D21FJ60]

I lold because I look at my cruiser and say “baby how much are you worth”

 

[D21FJ60]

For anyone who follows this or cares, no real new updates except I discovered the body rust on the driver quarter panel behind the wheel where the bumper meets, its had time to do its thing while the cruiser has been sitting.
My wife asked me how much it would cost to wrap the cruiser, and honestly looking at it, no sense in wrapping it. Her thought is why not have a nice shiny vehicle...so...maybe I can convince her buying a 200 is a good idea, we just need to find that pot of gold.

 

[John Young]

We care.

I prefer the look of rattle can primer to wrapping on an old truck. You can give the impression that you are 'workin on it'.

I am sorry this is turning out to be such a challenge.

 

[D21FJ60]

In a rough spot in life right now, so I find myself able to say "i'm working on the car at 1am" like i've been wanting to for months, and noone stops me- kids in bed, spouse in bed. Proving my theory that all i needed was an 8 hour saturday right pains me, but im glad i've gotten this far.
Updates-
Work space- trying not to shine my walmart work light that was making heat on this 30-40 degree night into the neighbors windows proved challenging, but I perservered:

Got the old, brittle crusty radiator. Remember back in March when the alternator saga began and I found a hairline crack under the cap and slathered it in JB weld?

Fan clutch after a 20 min battle, had to use a soft mallet and a few breaker bars to get it free:

 

[D21FJ60]

Moar:

What I ultimately used to break the fan clutch off- I got the nuts off using the 2 wrench method- 1 boxhead/crescent head holds one nut, and another loosens the other.

Said fan clutch, I bought a 4seasons replacement to go on. The resistance of the new one vs. the old is night and day, old one spins freely new one doesn't hardly budge.

The bolts that held the fan in came out surprisingly easy with my DeWalt impact driver, not even an impact gun. Thankfully just the heads were crusty but the body was unphased. I bet this fan clutch served through 7 presidential terms in office.

 

[D21FJ60]

Moar!

Man it's a cakewalk removing the alternator and PS pump with no radiator, fan shroud, fan, fan clutch, or serpentine belt in the way...

Accursed pump itself, note the abysmal condition of the soft line. The replacement line I bought an inline filter for.

Where I left it. Bought a new OEM thermostat to put in.

Bonus - realized the air box makes a nice tool and nut holding station.

 

[D21FJ60]

I did get stumped and will need to research changing the serpentine belt tensioner assembly, looks like I have to take the timing cover off? Hopefully I am mistaken.
I wish I had a proper pressure washer because there is so much gunk, grime and dirt under here its awful. I also wish I had the money to buy all new hard lines because htey will need to be done in the next 6-12 months

 

[D21FJ60]

We care.

I prefer the look of rattle can primer to wrapping on an old truck. You can give the impression that you are 'workin on it'.

I am sorry this is turning out to be such a challenge.

Don't think I could get away with rattle canning it, i'd be better off buying a paint gun, proper compressor and then try and sand down the truck and spray it myself. I know a guy who has experience painting, could hit him up...

No worries, as seen above 2.5 hours saw more updates than the last 8 months.

Appreciate your friendship and encouragement

 

[D21FJ60]

No further developments aside potential set backs. Was in the hospital for a week and discharged with a drainage catheter from my abdomen, so I can't be reaching/stretching twisting myself around engine compartments.

So instead I ordered a bunch of little bits and pieces from partsouq and other online toyota dealers. Mostly things like radiator mounting bushings, bolts, nuts, radiator bolt, and new fan clutch nuts since those were so crusty. Snagged a cheapo air filter from rockauto also, so the only things left that I really want is the cooler hose thats behind the grill since mine is rusty, and a few of the oil cooler lines. Worse case scenerio ill get bulk transmission hose rated for 250 degrees.

Also got a PS reservoir from ebay, aftermarket brand for significantly less. It fits up to the OEM one, and feels like the plastic is thick enough but I won't know until I install everything....

 

[D21FJ60]

Aforementioned PS reservoir

 

[D21FJ60]

I have an extra set of rear coil springs that were included included in a box of parts I got from a mud member now almost 3 years ago. He said they have maybe 125k-150k on them. But, a friend of mine offered to sell me his new in box OME heavy springs, so maybe I will get those. Need to get some new torsion bars as well...but lets get this thing running first. Driver seat is really thrashed too...