Hello Mudders,
My power steering box has had a leak for two or three years, although it was never serious. I was never satisfied with that, and found it a bit of a challenge to find all the necessary seals, gaskets, O-rings, etc., but i didn't try too hard. CruiserAddiction scored a steering box from a BJ73, which fit no problem. The only difference, as per Toyota manuals, is the minimum pressure required: the HZJ75 one wants 1209psi (8336 kPa), while the BJ73's requires 1067psi (7355 kPa).
The replacement box fit no problem, it came off a vehicle with 160,000km, has no leaks, and works a bloody charm. Very happy about that.
The mechanic i go to in southern Ontario, while not a diesel type, is fantastic: tell him of an issue and he'll find it. My front end would wiggle every so often (especially under braking and once recently rather disturbingly), and he looked and found the damned culprit: the nuts and lock nuts holding the front axle hub bearings were loose. You always leave his place with an improved car; mine feels wonderfully tight now. I also replaced the tires as i had about 82,000k on the five old ones. They would've been fine for another season if it was spring, but it ain't spring. Got the same size, make and model. Love the peace of mind (also replaced the engine oil, its filter, and the gear oil).
He also found that my right front brake caliper was seized, and happened to have a pair of calipers from an '88 4Runner that matched. Awesome. I still want to replace the front rotors, and therefore calipers, as the brake shoes do not cover the exterior circumference of the rotors (about 5 or 6 mm of it).
As an aside, my car's VIN is nearly useless (i might as well get custom licence plates that say, 'FRANKENSTEIN'), since so much of it has been replaced.
