Finally got one... (11 Viewers)

[liljlandon]

Finally got me a pickup! Drove it 1254.7 miles home. Girlfriend and I left West Palm Beach around 3:30 pm Friday, and home about 9 p.m. last night...

Flew down to West Palm Beach on Friday with my girl, saw the beach, then drove it home...
Specs;
Factory locking rear differential, unmodified.
2 Inch suspension lift by Sway-Away 2.0.
1" rear block
Bilstein shocks in rear.
ARB heavy duty front winch bumper (Prado version).
Heavy duty custom fab'd rear bumper.
Milemarker 8,000 lb winch.
Hella off-road lights (with correct relay wiring).
Magnaflow exhaust muffler.
Pioneer CD stereo with hidden XM tuner installed and working properly.
Cobra in dash CB (looks factory, nice clean installation) with removable K40 roof mounted antenna.
Very cold a/c.
Automatic transmission.
3.4 V-6 Engine
Power windows, doors, steering and mirrors.
LT265/75/R16 Firestone Mud Terrain tires with only 7k miles on them.
2 full sized spares (can’t recall brand right now).
Another set of Hankook street tires with black steel wheels, with high mileage.
Spray on bedliner (could use a couple of touch up spots.
Two waterproof tool boxes (large ammo boxes) in bed.
Sliding rear window.

All maintenance has been kept to date, including replacement of timing belt.
Guy changed the oil every 3,000 miles and drained the tranny and refilled tranny fluid every 3 oil changes or so.

The guy was very very anal about how his vehicle was maintained, carfax came back clean, talked on the phone with him... Gotta say, I wish all sellers were like this! Honest and to the point...

Only issues I have found;
Slight lean to drivers side
Front Driver tire wears on the outside (not horrible, but noticeable)
Few dents
Plug wires are Autolite brand. Will get some Toyota or better before to long...
Power steering pump whines a little

I averaged 16.7 mpg over 1254.7 miles. I paid about $250 in gas, the florida DMV slapped a $187.50 temp tag fee, and I paid $8000.00 for the truck.

The only two things that went wrong on the trip;
Low tire in Marianna, FL. Aired up and had some food, had'nt lost pressure so we were off... (still hasnt lost pressure)
A semi passed me on the left, while i was speeding (6mph over) and chunked something into the windshield, which cracked about 6" long under the "toyota" label.

Im super pumped the truck is home, and now i have to pay on it...

Here be pictures!

My biggest question at this point is... Is that ARB made for that truck? "Prado" Version makes no sense to me... But, I'm 1st/2nd gen guy...

And, is there a down side to the 'grey' wire mod?

New Taco owner,

J. Landon

 

[liljlandon]

One from yesterday evening...

 

[Happy Trails]

Congrats!! Looks like a "killer" rig!

 

[ken_79-fj40]

Cool rig and a pretty good deal. The Prado is a non-US market Land Cruiser that's roughly the size of a 4Runner. Might even be the same thing, not sure. But the bumper looks to fit OK. Your mileage seems about right. My 98 and my 95.5 V6 5 speed trucks with 33x12.50's on them got about 17 and they didn't have big heavy bumpers on them. It does look like the tires aren't wearing the greatest. Toyota set these trucks up originally with a little bit of positive camber in the front suspension from the factory. I had tire wear issues with the 98 I had on the outsides. When I put the Pro Comp lift in it the directions specified to set the camber at zero. So when I had it aligned they zeroed out the camber and I never had tire wear issues with it again.

 

[liljlandon]

Grey wire mod...

Done

Now, A snorkel!

 

[Duane]

the ARB looks to stick out further than a Taco made ARB should I think... here is a pic of a taco ARB on my 96 runner as that was the model I was told to order.... the front edges fit quite tight to the front fender and are inside the fender flare... I didn't notice how yours fit until you pointed that out either. Good looking truck for sure! Might be interesting to see how it was mounted to the front of the frame rails?

 

[liljlandon]

I made my first payment today...

Rear Main seal. Most def not valve covers, as i've made sure no oil was leaking there... Only other thing is rear main, so im diving in tonight!

 

[d0ubledown]

nice lookin taco you got. the prado bar is usually put on 4runners LTDs or other trim that has the big flares on them. (sport, highlander..etc). its about 4" wider than the tacoma bar, has different mounting points, the front is a bit different, and (at least mine did) had a "W" cut out to mount a warn solenoid box flush behind the bumper. doesnt seem like it sticks out too far on on your setup.

no downsides to the grey wire mod. unless you botch it. its handy though, as you can lock in 2H, and 4H.

 

[liljlandon]

I did the rear main. took about 11 hours, with some down time for lunch, dinner, and off loading a semi and reloading with black walnuts. Its already leaking.

i used a fel-pro seal. I have had issues with them in the past. I used one on the rear tcase output shaft when i went to 4.7's on my mini. It leaked.

I paid 47.00 for the Toyota one and bought some FIPG to slap her on with... I hope the crank bearings aren't disintegrating and making the seal leak...

I wonder how long it'll take me this time? Im thinking no more than 6 hours... We shall see!

 

[pillguy]

Goog luck with It.

 

[liljlandon]

6.5 hours, 7 if you factor in waiting on help to get the tranny down. Just didnt want it to fall on me.

The seal fit SO much better, but... I still had a good half dollar size puddle under it when I drove to work. (the FIPG had over 6 hours of cure time, installed at 10am left for work at 4:30 pm and drove 50 miles.) So i doubt its that... Maybe oil left from the other seal being bad that i didnt get clean?

I just hope its not leaking, cause I paid a pretty penny for that toyota one, and if three fail in a row, then I have crank issues.

Who needs help pulling their tranny? I've got the bolts memorized!

 

[KayakPanic]

wow.

how would this be an issue, mechanically, unless it was wrecked or high-centered really badly?

-Andy

 

[liljlandon]

The rear main allows oil to leak into the torque converter (not a big deal, unless it was a manual and leaked into the clutch). Im just anal retentive about oil leaks.

If every vehicle leaked oil on the road, how much oil would be leaked each year? I don't have an answer, but I would venture to guess it'd make BP look like a glass of spilt milk.

 

[liljlandon]

For refererance- The minimum number of bolts that need to be taken out to pull the tranny, do the rear main is 81. 10 sensors (in my case), 2 cooler lines, one shift cable and one linkage need to be removed.

The super easy way to do this;

2002 TRD Taco. 3.4 Auto

Unhook battery
Remove Skidplate (6) 12mm
Remove carrier bearing mounting bolts (2) 14mm
Remove Rear Dshaft to xcase bolts (4) 14mm
Remove Front Dshaft to diff bolts (4) (Push dshaft up towards trans and you will have enough room to slide it out. Now tie the remaining 5" stub to a bracket on the tranny) 14mm
Remove shifter linkage (do this at the middle, where the part from the actual shifter meets the super long linkage. Pin.)
Remove Sensor plugs/Brackets. (lots). There is one hidden plug on top of the tranny, all but two plugs (VSS and the BIG one) came undown with finger like strength) 10-12mm
Remove shifter from body. Remove 4wd shift knob. You will have to remove console (8 4 +, 4 10mm) then you will have 8 10mm bolts holding shifter. 1 sensor. Wiggle it out.
Remove 4bolts holding 4wd shifter in. Be sure to get 1 vac line (wtf?). Stuff rag in hole. You now have access to the hard sensor.
Remove Shift cable (1) 10mm. Fold around to tail of xcase.
Remove Cooler lines (3bolts holding them in place, must remove those before removing lines. 1/2 quart will drain)
Remove Tranny Filler (1) 10mm
Remove starter (2) 14mm
Remove inspection cover. (5bolts) 12mm
Remove Torque converter bolts. (6) 14mm. I used a 1/2 drive on the crankpully (19mm) to spin until i had a bolt lined up. I made a 1/4" drive with a 14mm head and a 8" extension (used 1/2"socket slid on the handle of ratchet, use extension to create length) I then braced it against my stomach and turned the crank. Once they are broken loose you can put them in the right spot and use a swivel joint 3/8's if you want..
Remove Xmember bolts (4) I broke them all loose and lifted the tranny with the jack to take tension off of them. I also recomend using a deepsocekt 14mm for the nuts. Remove two.
Remove tranny mount bolts (4) 12mm
Set down tranny without mount bolts on the two xmember bolts you left in.
Remove transmission mounting bolts. (6).17mm I loosened them all and then hand tigtened the bottom two (one on each side), then took the rest out.
Placing the jack is crucial. I recomend using a 8x12 1/2" plywood peice if you do not have a tranny jack. put the plywood against the tranny mount, sitting flush on the pan. Now place your jack on the rear corner (still under the pan) driver side of the trans. It should balance nicely (atleast in my case).
Jack up tranny.
Remove xmember
"wiggle" tranny to break loose its grip.
Slowly move tranny back towards driver side. The sway bar (i think) will be in the way. The very front of the bell housing was resting on the bar before it would slide back anymore.
Move tranny back as far as possilble.
Remove Flywheel (8) 14mm
The rear main seal (TOYOTA ONLY Part. FelPRO seal DOES NOT FIT! I know from experience!) is i think 8bolts. Two are into the oil pan. Once they are removed you can pry the seal housing from the top passenger side with a screwdriver. 10mm.

Note- When reinstalling the rear main be sure to tighten the oil pan bolts (2) last.
Install the forward most cooler line First.
I greased the flywheel where the torque converter slides in for ease. Does not have to be done. That I know of.
There is a torque converter bolt with different color kinda army green with a knurled head. Put it in first. It lines the rest up correctly
It appeared to leak oil immediately after starting, I didnt clean the oil in the bell housing well I guess. No leak after a week. (knock on wood).
DO not overfill tranny.

6.5 hours. Only help was dropping (literally pulling tranny back and setting it down) i did EVERYTHING else.

 

[liljlandon]

Pics for the driving i've been doing...

 

[KayakPanic]

YEESH....

the only vehicle I've ever owned that did'nt leak oil is my '95 Tacoma with 180K+ on the 2.7 Ltr, 4cyl...

Thr rear main of the '84 FJ60 leaks oil, so does the oil pan.

Also, the front seal is leaking on my '95 Tacoma transfer case now...

 

[KayakPanic]

The rear main allows oil to leak into the torque converter (not a big deal, unless it was a manual and leaked into the clutch). Im just anal retentive about oil leaks.

If every vehicle leaked oil on the road, how much oil would be leaked each year? I don't have an answer, but I would venture to guess it'd make BP look like a glass of spilt milk.

... think of how much each SEMI leaks onto the road...and then think about how at least MOST vehicle oil is spilled onto the middle of a lane of road...

 

[liljlandon]

How long has this leaked? Before I fixed it.
Fel-Pro s***ty replacement
No pics of the new one, cause its not leaking (knock on wood!)