I've been meaning to get started on this for some time, but working on the cruiser has consumed most of my free time.....go figure. At this point, I've completed a lot but I'll start from the beginning and try to get caught up with the thread over the next few weeks.
We adopted her on 2/21/16 in Denver. My wife and I caught a flight out from St. Louis and had a little mini vacation in Colorado Springs before driving her back home. The whole "adoption" process happened here on Mud with another member and all went smoothly. The PO agreed to drop her off at CTS for a prepurchase inspection and everyone there was hugely helpful. After finding a laundry list of problems with her, the PO and I worked out a deal that would allow me to purchase the truck and have CTS do just enough that we would be confident she would make it back, so here is where it begins. Of course I don't have any pictures of the work but here is the list of repairs:
Funny thing is, after her running like a top on our drive out to CS, when I went to fire her back up.....damn it was a hard start....hmmm. She still started, but it took a little bit. This would only happen when it was cold. I chalked it up to something I could figure out back in St. Louis and went on to have a few great days. On maybe the second day I noticed that should would die 1 time in 5 chances at idle. Okay, another little problem to address back in St. Louis.
As we hesitantly left Colorado on the 12 - 15 hour drive back (12 hours in the 4Runner and 15 in the 62) everything was going well and we were running at 65 MPH smoothly. At our first gas stop, I went through he normal gas pump check on tires and fluids. I knew that we had an oil leak, but damn it looked 3/4 of quart down from when I picked her up....hmmm. I topped her off and I was doing so and looking down...damn if it doesn't look like there is another leak...yep only this time its transmission fluid dripping from the connection of the trans cooler hoses to the new radiator. I screwed around with tightening the hose clamps and at least slowed the leak. When I was messing with it, I realized - why are there hose clamps here and why do these cooler lines looked so hacked....I'll address it when I get back to St. Louis. We get back on the road and all goes well. The next time we stop for fuel is in Saline KS....normal check results in adding another 3/4 quart of oil, but it looks like the trans leak isn't nearly as bad...I check the fluid and we look good to go. I'm doing that last check before I close the hood to make sure I didn't leave anything unbuttoned. In doing so, I notice a tiny little drip up around the EGR valve. I think little of it, since its the EGR valve. I tighten the valve onto the manifold and some clear fluid drips out. I run the smell test and damn if it doesn't smell like fuel and damn its dripping right on the exhaust manifold. I think there is no way that can be fuel...right but decide to buy a fire extinguisher just in case. Luckily for us, with a little more oil and some white knuckles we make it back to St. Louis unscathed.
I'm not the type of person that can easily let that kind of thing go, so now the work started.....lots more to come.
We adopted her on 2/21/16 in Denver. My wife and I caught a flight out from St. Louis and had a little mini vacation in Colorado Springs before driving her back home. The whole "adoption" process happened here on Mud with another member and all went smoothly. The PO agreed to drop her off at CTS for a prepurchase inspection and everyone there was hugely helpful. After finding a laundry list of problems with her, the PO and I worked out a deal that would allow me to purchase the truck and have CTS do just enough that we would be confident she would make it back, so here is where it begins. Of course I don't have any pictures of the work but here is the list of repairs:
- New Radiator and Hoses
- Completely Rebuilt Birfields with all new bearings and Marlin Seals
- Complete Tune Up
- New OEM Wires
- New Plugs
- All New Filters
- All and I mean all new Synthetics throughout including the diffs
- New 33" MT MTZ Baja P3
- Valve Adjustment per the FSM
- Valve Cover Gasket
- Front Main Gasket
- New Belts all around
- New Rear Brakes
- Transfer Case Seals
- So many gaskets, that I can't even remember and I'm not motivated enough to go look at the ticket
- New thermostat and housing
Funny thing is, after her running like a top on our drive out to CS, when I went to fire her back up.....damn it was a hard start....hmmm. She still started, but it took a little bit. This would only happen when it was cold. I chalked it up to something I could figure out back in St. Louis and went on to have a few great days. On maybe the second day I noticed that should would die 1 time in 5 chances at idle. Okay, another little problem to address back in St. Louis.
As we hesitantly left Colorado on the 12 - 15 hour drive back (12 hours in the 4Runner and 15 in the 62) everything was going well and we were running at 65 MPH smoothly. At our first gas stop, I went through he normal gas pump check on tires and fluids. I knew that we had an oil leak, but damn it looked 3/4 of quart down from when I picked her up....hmmm. I topped her off and I was doing so and looking down...damn if it doesn't look like there is another leak...yep only this time its transmission fluid dripping from the connection of the trans cooler hoses to the new radiator. I screwed around with tightening the hose clamps and at least slowed the leak. When I was messing with it, I realized - why are there hose clamps here and why do these cooler lines looked so hacked....I'll address it when I get back to St. Louis. We get back on the road and all goes well. The next time we stop for fuel is in Saline KS....normal check results in adding another 3/4 quart of oil, but it looks like the trans leak isn't nearly as bad...I check the fluid and we look good to go. I'm doing that last check before I close the hood to make sure I didn't leave anything unbuttoned. In doing so, I notice a tiny little drip up around the EGR valve. I think little of it, since its the EGR valve. I tighten the valve onto the manifold and some clear fluid drips out. I run the smell test and damn if it doesn't smell like fuel and damn its dripping right on the exhaust manifold. I think there is no way that can be fuel...right but decide to buy a fire extinguisher just in case. Luckily for us, with a little more oil and some white knuckles we make it back to St. Louis unscathed.
I'm not the type of person that can easily let that kind of thing go, so now the work started.....lots more to come.
