First car, lx450!

[tug123]

Popped out the tie rod, popped it back in and now clicking is gone. Not sure if maybe the grease just needed to go through a few heat cycles or what but I'm not complaining. Finally did an oil change and sent that off to blackstone, swapped diff fluid (i'll do one more time probably), and fixed the O2 sensors. Driving better than it ever has been.

There are some small things left (whining on acceleration, little brake rattle) but I think at this point I'm just gonna enjoy that my car is working and not worry about the small stuff. I've kind of decided that I'll keep it as stock as possible for the foreseeable future - seems like everyone is in agreement that stock is the upper limit for drive quality. I'll get new tires before the winter but this way I have some time to decide if I really want 285s.

It's been almost exactly a year since I got the car, really happy with how it's all turned out. Had never opened an engine bay, let alone turn a wrench, but thanks to pretty much exclusively mud I've become extremely comfortable wrenching. Now I'll probably have to buy a new one so I have something to do with my spare time.

 

[banjo1981]

Popped out the tie rod, popped it back in and now clicking is gone. Not sure if maybe the grease just needed to go through a few heat cycles or what but I'm not complaining. Finally did an oil change and sent that off to blackstone, swapped diff fluid (i'll do one more time probably), and fixed the O2 sensors. Driving better than it ever has been.

There are some small things left (whining on acceleration, little brake rattle) but I think at this point I'm just gonna enjoy that my car is working and not worry about the small stuff. I've kind of decided that I'll keep it as stock as possible for the foreseeable future - seems like everyone is in agreement that stock is the upper limit for drive quality. I'll get new tires before the winter but this way I have some time to decide if I really want 285s.

It's been almost exactly a year since I got the car, really happy with how it's all turned out. Had never opened an engine bay, let alone turn a wrench, but thanks to pretty much exclusively mud I've become extremely comfortable wrenching. Now I'll probably have to buy a new one so I have something to do with my spare time.

And the addiction begins . It’s definitely rewarding to work on and fix stuff on these old tanks.

 

[tug123]

And the addiction begins . It’s definitely rewarding to work on and fix stuff on these old tanks.

It's taking every ounce of self control I have not to pull the engine and rebuild it right now

 

[tug123]

As soon as I think it's all good, CEL comes in - P0116. I just cleared the code, will wait to see if it comes back. I replaced the tstat last summer so if it persists I'm guessing temp sensor. I did notice some squealing coming from my engine bay though this morning when I saw the CEL. I replaced the belts last summer too and they feel tight enough, maybe a tiny bit too loose. Could this be coming from the pulley as well, or is this usually always the belts themselves?

*Edit: found this, seems pretty similar, I'll pull the belts off and see if the bearings feel off. If not might as well just try swapping the belts to see if it gets resolved.

 

[tug123]

It all kind of resolved itself, code never came back and noises disappeared.

Quick question on oil though - I was running 5w-30, swapped to 10w-30 and noticed lower oil pressure, also smells at least like it's burning more oil. I don't want to run Xw-40 since it does get very cold here, I guess I could swap for winter but I like to keep things simpler.

At idle on 5w-30 it would sit dead center in the gauge, basically always stay there unless I'm in 2nd going downhill, it'd go right below the second highest mark (mark after H). Now on 10w-30 it always sits just above the L mark on idle, if I'm up to speed it settles out but definitely below what it used to be. I know these gauges aren't exactly high accuracy, but seeing the relative change definitely makes me wonder. Maybe just swap back to 5w-30 and not worry about it?

 

[ppc]

Besides ambient temp and oil viscosity you haven indicated what gauge readings are observing at cold startup and normal running temp.
What oil filter are using?

 

[BucketEighty]

I wouldn’t stress about the oil pressure. It probably is different and it doesn’t matter as long as there is pressure. It could be lower from the fresh oil, or from a fresh filter. I also wouldn’t stress too much about which oil you run. Just change it regularly. I’ve been running Shell Rotella T6 5W40 and it seems good. My oil pressure is at the lower of the two middle marks when the engine is warm and idling, and at the higher of the two middle marks when I’m cruising down the highway.

-Bucket

 

[tug123]

Besides ambient temp and oil viscosity you haven indicated what gauge readings are observing at cold startup and normal running temp.
What oil filter are using?

Stock oil filter, has about 2.5k miles on it. Been watching it the past couple of days, when it's cold idling it sits pretty centered, as it warms up it goes to the lower marks. Probably just gonna let it be at this point.

 

[ZackR]

Stock oil filter, has about 2.5k miles on it. Been watching it the past couple of days, when it's cold idling it sits pretty centered, as it warms up it goes to the lower marks. Probably just gonna let it be at this point.

Sounds normal to me. I wouldn't worry about it.

If you are dying to know if you are in spec you'll need to attach a real oil pressure gauge and measure the oil pressure per the FSM. It sounds crazy but idle spec is only 4.3psi+ .

 

[tug123]

Sounds normal to me. I wouldn't worry about it.

If you are dying to know if you are in spec you'll need to attach a real oil pressure gauge and measure the oil pressure per the FSM. It sounds crazy but idle spec is only 4.3psi+ .

View attachment 3922295

Dang I coulda sworn I saw someone say it was like 7PSI, that is a lot lower than I expected. I think I'll just let it be and swap to 5w-30 before the winter.

 

[tug123]

It's been awhile, which means nothing's blown up on me. I've been swapping my tie rod ends before I get new tires next week, but this one on the pitman arm has taken up too many hours of my life.

Honestly it was this bent when I first took a crack at it, but it snapped my tie rod tool, pickle fork doesnt do anything, beating the pitman arm with a hammer does nothing, and no amount of torching and penetrating oil does anything. I'm about 5 hours into trying to remove this, hasn't budged at all. At this point I'm about to just order a new pitman arm and move on with my life, but figured I'd check and see if anyone has any final tips.

 

[ZackR]

With how bent that thing is my only tip is to start soaking the upper end with kroil so the whole thing can be removed. Once it's on the workbench it'll be a lot easier to deal with.

You might get lucky by cutting the bent part off so its flush and then pressing it out.

 

[tug123]

With how bent that thing is my only tip is to start soaking the upper end with kroil so the whole thing can be removed. Once it's on the workbench it'll be a lot easier to deal with.

You might get lucky by cutting the bent part off so its flush and then pressing it out.

Yeah that's fair, that was my nuclear option. Either way seems like I'm gonna have to pull the arm so might as well do that and see if I do get lucky.

 

[mudgudgeon]

Yeah that's fair, that was my nuclear option. Either way seems like I'm gonna have to pull the arm so might as well do that and see if I do get lucky.

I "borrowed" a set like this recently to change ball joints on my f150.
Very effective, and versatile.

I think we had to pay full price, but it was refunded in full when i returned it a few days later

 

[tug123]

My friend came over today and somehow knocked it out with heat and a hammer in about 2 minutes, so didn't have to pull the arm. I was surprised by the nut on the pitman arm, I didn't even have to break it loose. That's supposed to be 130ft/lb so glad I found that.

 

[tug123]

Got tie rod ends all replaced, new tires (285s) on, and an alignment as well. Toe was unsurprisingly pretty off, main thing that jumps out to me is caster seems a little low. I'm on OME 2861/2862 with stock shocks. I'm thinking maybe if I just replace the radius arm bushings with fresh OEM bushings it'll get me to within stock specs. Would love to not need any other form of caster correction.

 

[tug123]

Happy thanksgiving! Turns out someone scraped by car today, its really all exterior moulding and the bumper extension piece. All of this is NLA though, so not much I can really do here?

 

[clx16]

Well you can heat it up and some of the form will come back. Where it is still dented, you can sand and fill with various two part fillers. If you do some searching on youtube, people will show you the various types of filler that are good for plastic bumper covers... same concept.

I will say it took a lot of work to find a color code for mine, and I am not sure if your's is the same, but you can paint and clear when done. its fixable.

here is he color code for mine Light Grayish Beige Metallic (Cladding) UCA46

 

[sterinn]

It's been awhile, which means nothing's blown up on me. I've been swapping my tie rod ends before I get new tires next week, but this one on the pitman arm has taken up too many hours of my life.

Honestly it was this bent when I first took a crack at it, but it snapped my tie rod tool, pickle fork doesnt do anything, beating the pitman arm with a hammer does nothing, and no amount of torching and penetrating oil does anything. I'm about 5 hours into trying to remove this, hasn't budged at all. At this point I'm about to just order a new pitman arm and move on with my life, but figured I'd check and see if anyone has any final tips.

View attachment 4020047

I took this exact end off the other day while getting to some bushing bolts. SnapOn CJ83-02 is what I used and it came right off. Here's a link to one on ebay (not my link.) Snap on Pitman Arm Puller Part# CJ119B CJ83-2, CJ66-15-3 | eBay - https://www.ebay.com/itm/185731352863
In my opinion, this tools been worth it's weight in gold, originally got it with tierod ends on an F150 that had seen hell and back. Pickle forks only work so well and then you have to have one of these. I've used it on several vehicles over the years.

 

[tug123]

Well you can heat it up and some of the form will come back. Where it is still dented, you can sand and fill with various two part fillers. If you do some searching on youtube, people will show you the various types of filler that are good for plastic bumper covers... same concept.

I will say it took a lot of work to find a color code for mine, and I am not sure if your's is the same, but you can paint and clear when done. its fixable.

here is he color code for mine Light Grayish Beige Metallic (Cladding) UCA46

Much appreciated, thats solid I'll go after bumper repair stuff. Yeah the paint worried me since it's not the body color, that's a fantastic great starting point. This is gonna be a lot more effort than I wanted.

I took this exact end off the other day while getting to some bushing bolts. SnapOn CJ83-02 is what I used and it came right off. Here's a link to one on ebay (not my link.) Snap on Pitman Arm Puller Part# CJ119B CJ83-2, CJ66-15-3 | eBay - https://www.ebay.com/itm/185731352863
In my opinion, this tools been worth it's weight in gold, originally got it with tierod ends on an F150 that had seen hell and back. Pickle forks only work so well and then you have to have one of these. I've used it on several vehicles over the years.

That looks really beefy, issue I usually have with pitman arm pullers is they're too big for tie rod ends. This looks like it'd fit though, and I learned the hard way that solid construction is important on these.