An Angle walked knocked on my door!

[Fiveo]

An angel knocked on my door

If any of you have follwed some of my recent posts, I have had a run of bad luck as of late. My power steering gear box sprang a leak. Two weeks a go a went to recharge my AC just to have it all leak out 45 mins later. Then my alternator died. Which is not all that big deal except I have almost zero wrenching skills.

Today I decided to see how far I could get with at least getting my alternator out. After an hour of pulling on vacum hoses and trying to get belts loose, my neighbor knocks on the door. he says he droppped something over into my back yard. He sees my frustrated look on my face and asks what im doing. I tell him im trying with not much luck to pull my Alt out of my Land Cruiser. He says much to my surprise, "I worked as a Toyota Service Tech for three years'" SWEET!!!!! Short story, the Alt was out in a half hour, Ran and picked one up, (had to skip on OEM for now) and an hour later the ALT was back in and truck is running. Truely a blessing!!!! Thanks for all the guys who helped with the questions.

 

[e9999]

oooh.... who would not want to have a Toy Tech as a neighbor....

some serious presents are in order!

 

[Fiveo]

Yea he didnt seem to excited when I asked if he knew how to do BIRFS.

 

[NorCalDoug]

lol.

ask him if he wouldn't mind drinking your beer and guiding YOU through the process of repacking your birfs

 

[CodyRx7]

 

[CreepyCrawler61]

Birf's aren't that hard. Just get the drawings from Toyota, or by an FSM. As with anything. Take your time, and on complicated stuff, take some pictures as you go, so you'll remember how to put stuff back together.

 

[Dynosoar]

Its an Angel Angel!


Dynosoar

 

[jonheld]

Hey 5-0,

Have you gotten your FSM yet? Almost every question you've asked is completely covered in there. You can get one from Toyota Publishing.

 

[MarkIowa]

5-0,

You are on your way now. Every one wrench needs a mentor. Keep an eye on your neighbor, when he is painting the house, digging a hole, picking up dog poop or whatever, get over to help him!! Get him a comfortable chair for your garage, stock a garage fridge with his favorite beverages and snacks and take him and his wife out to dinner…..

To the extent possible, you do the dirty work and just let him give the advice.

I am glad you did not give up on the cruiser. You will be to!!

Three pieces of advice for you: (1) Many years ago, my father told me to be careful of damaging parts by applying too much force. Start all threaded parts by hand to make sure you do not cross thread anything and when removing stubborn nuts and bolts, be careful to not round off heads. (2) Take lots of digital pictures of your projects before and during disassembly. (3) Never rush, take shortcuts or let yourself get frustrated.

 

[john_eckels]

It's great to have nice neighbors. Be sure to get him a case of his favorite beer as a thank-you

 

[Lka1988]

That's awesome! Many to him.

 

[3sacrwd]

Way to go.

I hope you paid attention to how the alternator goes in and out..Because if you didn't buy an OEM, then you will be putting another one in, in a year or two. It definitly pays to buy OEM, especially in alternators. I purchased a NAPA alternator and about 2 1/2 years I had to change it out. I wish that I had a Toyota Tech living next to me.

 

[flintknapper]

Yeah, but what does "Walked Knocked" mean?

 

[Fiveo]

i did pay attention. I know I'll have to change it again. But I had a window and and help right there and wanted to get my truck running to take my boys to camping at Sedona this week for Spring break. Besides I figure if I do cahnge the alternator again, it will be to upgrade to more amps. Side note. I miss be 30 mins from the ocean in Ca. But being a bit over an hour away to Sedona is not so bad....