Thermos' LC100 Build/Maint. Thread

[Thermosmcjug]

Hey All,

Figured I'd start a build thread for the LC.

After hunting for a few months in Japan, I picked this 2UZ powered 2001 river rock green met. with just under 160k km on the clock. The dock workers boosted it backwards and blew the main 40A fuse, made a makeshift bridge for it, swapped around a couple of other blown fuses that they took out before the main bit it, and managed to drive it home with no other woes.

Below is how it arrived, I immediately tried on a set of box flares I had on hand... As I presumed, didn't like the look, if anyone wants a set in Western Canada, lmk.

It was running kind of crappy when I first got it, and after a good bit of troubleshooting, found the maf hot wire had a big booger of dirt on it - cleaned up (when cool) with CRC MAF sensor cleaner, paired with some new plugs and coils - runs like a top.

I live in a somewhat rural area, and night time lighting wasn't great, so I decided to get some Morimoto projectors and LED DS2 bulbs... The Depo housings aren't the best, and there are things I'd do differently this time around, so eventually I'll swap the kit over to the nice OEM glass housings:

It came on good dedicated winters, and the rims/offsets weren't really to my liking, so I tossed on some 4x4 Engineering Bradley V's (16x8.5 0 offset) with some 33" Cooper Discoverer XLT's. Cranked up the TB's a bit (the rear was already high after pulling out all the Active Vacation kit) so this leveled things out nicely. Also had to trim the front mudflap within the wells a bit to clear at full lock.

 

[Thermosmcjug]

Been driving off and on for a year or so, and discovered the driveline making a couple of clunks and vibes.

First and foremost, I tried to get the alignment dialed after the slight TB crank up, but I'll need to go and have the toe set correctly by a shop, as I get a minor wobble at speed, and it doesn't seem to be the balance.

Second is the usual 100 series clunk - checked the rear DS slip joint and yeah, definitely a bit of play, adding some grease this evening... with any luck that solves it.

Third,the dreaded front left intermittent vibration - I've already done the front brakes and there's no play in the wheel bearings/grease is new etc. However while inspecting for any slop in the driveline, I found more axial play in the front LH outer CV where it enters the knuckle than I'd like to see (definitely more than the RH) - so I'll be replacing the needle carrier bearings, seals and bushing.

Tying to that, the front DS had some serious slop in both UJ's, so those have been ordered and will get tossed in as well once they arrive.

 

[Thermosmcjug]

Greased up the driveshaft yokes and the U joints and it definitely helped/Slack to on throttle clunk all but gone - Based on the advice of others here, I pumped up the main driveshaft yoke until it wept a littel out the seal, and then bled it to ensure it wasn't overextended and bottoming out in the transmission or rear diff.

There's still a vibration present in the front left due to the aforementioned needle bearing/bushing wear - the jury is still out on the CVs, so we'll see - Not really in the market to pay top dollar for a boot kit if the CV shaft is shagged from wearing on the bushing due to needle bearing death.

Figured I'd list the job part numbers below (I usually order from Partsouq, Amayama, or Impex - This time Partsouq won):

Needle Bearing Replacement:
Needle Bearings (Toyota OEM): 90364-33011
Steering Knuckle Bushings: (Toyota OEM) 90381-35001
Knuckle Inner Oil Seal(Musashi): T1444 (OE, made in Japan, have a zinc coating)


Driveshaft UJ's:
Front Driveshaft UJ's (GMB Japan): GUT23
Rear Driveshaft UJ's (GMB Japan): GUT17

Once all this junk arrives, I'll get her into the shop for the teardown/rebuild - hoping to document it well for future ref./entertainment purposes - will record any number of new curses I come up with too.