TWT -- The Wrenching Thread (3 Viewers)

[Fort Knox]

Let's see them at 4psi. I can't believe how stiff those sidewalls are and always thought they'd "break in". Looks great and a very well added performance upgrade!

Here they are at 4 psi.

I’m pretty happy about the fact that all 5 tires were still at the same pressure I set them at 2 weeks ago before airing down to take these pics. The sunny side was actually up a couple of psi.

 

[lt1fire]

Having multiple spare batteries in the garage I get tire of moving them around without a handle or strap. I had a local guy make a universal battery strap for me. When I need to move them for whatever reason it will be easier now.

 

[mtweller]

Having multiple spare batteries in the garage I get tire of moving them around without a handle or strap. I had a local guy make a universal battery strap for me. When I need to move them for whatever reason it will be easier now.

View attachment 2638505

That's a hot solution... well, it's going to be.

 

[lt1fire]

That's a hot solution... well, it's going to be.

Its shocking at how easy it was to make

 

[FJ Noob]

2 days before the end of our 1,300 mile spring break road trip I started hearing a u-joint going bad. She made it home fine, but my Monday evening was a bit more active than I had originally planned.

 

[FJ Noob]

That escalated quickly. We went from “let’s remove the stock bumper and prep for tomorrow” to “screw it, start handing me parts” very quickly.
Ordered a NW Trail Innovation’s diy bumper that came in last week. Tacked it all up last night. My wife welded for the first time during the initial build. We’ll probably wrap up the finish welding in a day or two and she’ll get even more practice.

 

[pkniland]

Shared this with Dave, but tge crank pulley failed and took the oil pump gasket with it, H&H doing the wrenching. They put a used one on and so far so good

 

[joyRidaz]

CRR prepping... Got a little motivated with the 40 now that the weather is perfect... first charged up the battery, cleaned out the whole interior that had become a small storage unit.. then drove her to get coffee Friday am... the experience was amazing but I quickly remembered why I fear for my life about 45mph... the dreaded death wobble

So Friday night I finally got around to tackling a project that @fj40alex and I started a year ago that @FJinTegaCay so graciously sponsored with a baggie encrusted with red and white labels on it.. swapped out the brittle black dust that once were called leaf spring bushings for some oem rubber ones... was so proud I tackeled this by myself and then quickly went for a test ride... sadly no change, the death wobble continued... so started diving deep into the depths of mud research

Saturday decided to tackle my loose steering since I had never tried to tighten it up and since I don’t have any new TRE’s laying around... went against the mud wisdom and went the hack route by tightening up the adjustable screw on the steering box... well I did that after about two hrs later after a lot of degreasing, pb blasting and rust reforming... then filled it with a bunch of 90w gear oil courtesy of @MBest75

proud to say that I took it for a test drive and the steering is way way way better and tighter at low speeds, and the best part is I’m fairly sure that it also cured my death wobble much to my surprise! Why didn’t I do this years ago? Simple and free!

I Even took kid #1 out in it and I think for the first time she now understands my addiction..pretty sure she smiled for a quick second when I wasn’t looking. :0) thank goodness I have a few more yrs before she can drive!

tooks some serious engineering to tackle this solo but got it done... even used some rust reformer to make it easier for the next owner...

I think there’s a steering box under that 43 yr old mound of gunk

all cleaned up... tons of degreasing and wire brushing and then I could finally see what lutked

initially I never thought I’d use this stuff but it came in completely clutch... and man my box was dry...

She finally thinks our pile of brown glitter is cool!

 

[fourtrax]

Made some progress this weekend. @Soju stopped by sat and @MyWhiteSheep stopped by today.

 

[FJ Noob]

Found a few minutes today to address the rusted out rear bumper on the 80. It went really smooth since I bumped up to a 220v capable welder. It was too dark to get a picture of the end result, but it looks like there was never a problem. I’ll treat the inside with some rust bullet in the next day or so and then move on to fixing something else.

 

[joyRidaz]

CORRECTION: Death Wobble remains... apparently I didn’t get to a fast enough speed... seems to kick in around 50mph. Gonna start to explore other culprits, center arm, TREs, wheel balance etc... oh well, wouldn’t be called a project if there wasn’t a list of stuff to do! Haha

CRR prepping... Got a little motivated with the 40 now that the weather is perfect... first charged up the battery, cleaned out the whole interior that had become a small storage unit.. then drove her to get coffee Friday am... the experience was amazing but I quickly remembered why I fear for my life about 45mph... the dreaded death wobble

So Friday night I finally got around to tackling a project that @fj40alex and I started a year ago that @FJinTegaCay so graciously sponsored with a baggie encrusted with red and white labels on it.. swapped out the brittle black dust that once were called leaf spring bushings for some oem rubber ones... was so proud I tackeled this by myself and then quickly went for a test ride... sadly no change, the death wobble continued... so started diving deep into the depths of mud research

Saturday decided to tackle my loose steering since I had never tried to tighten it up and since I don’t have any new TRE’s laying around... went against the mud wisdom and went the hack route by tightening up the adjustable screw on the steering box... well I did that after about two hrs later after a lot of degreasing, pb blasting and rust reforming... then filled it with a bunch of 90w gear oil courtesy of @MBest75

proud to say that I took it for a test drive and the steering is way way way better and tighter at low speeds, and the best part is I’m fairly sure that it also cured my death wobble much to my surprise! Why didn’t I do this years ago? Simple and free!

I Even took kid #1 out in it and I think for the first time she now understands my addiction..pretty sure she smiled for a quick second when I wasn’t looking. :0) thank goodness I have a few more yrs before she can drive!


View attachment 2656321
tooks some serious engineering to tackle this solo but got it done... even used some rust reformer to make it easier for the next owner...

View attachment 2656324
I think there’s a steering box under that 43 yr old mound of gunk

View attachment 2656337
all cleaned up... tons of degreasing and wire brushing and then I could finally see what lutked


View attachment 2656333

initially I never thought I’d use this stuff but it came in completely clutch... and man my box was dry...

View attachment 2656320

She finally thinks our pile of brown glitter is cool!

 

[FJ Noob]

Not many wrenches involved today, but a lot of cutting and welding. After poking at it, a small rust spot on the frame became a big one on the 80. The hard part was that it extended up under the front lower control arm mount. After trying to figure out a way to avoid it, I finally decided the only way to do it right was to cut the mount off and get in after all the bad metal. Not sure if I could have done it as easily without the plasma cutter I picked up last year.

This is part of what came out of the bottom of the frame.

A couple hours later of cutting, grinding, welding, and grinding we’re good as new...our at least better than it was yesterday.

I’ll be happy if it’s a long, long time until I have to weld while laying on my back in confined space.

 

[Pick]

Wasn't sure whether to put this in the wrenching thread or the rant thread but I haven't given up on the Sequoia yet so I'll keep wrenching on it... We were a domestic car family, especially mini-vans while the kids were little. Those things SUCK!! The 1st gen Sequoia was our first Toyota a couple years ago and what a difference in quality, we'll never go back.

Our '06 Limited has the adjustable height control, basically air bags as springs in the rear with an air compressor and switch. There is a little linkage piece from the top of the axle housing to the body so the systems knows how high the rear is. It keeps coming loose, even with double nylon-lock nuts. The little flexible joints on each end were seized and I guess they absorb enough vibration to keep the ends from coming loose?? $110 MSRP but found it online at Apex Toyota for $90, but still $90 for this?!? Any way, I've swapped it and hopefully it stays now. I replaced the airbags last year because of dry rot but still have a slow air leak to track down; I think its from the top hose which requires removing the airbag again

We found the Sequoia in DC and while it was undercoated really well, it does have a little bit of rust but we couldn't pass it up for the price. We will likely get another one when we need another car.

 

[roadstr6]

Before and after wrenching.

 

[fourtrax]

Getting close. Fired her up today.

 

[Malleus]

Just got Sarah's green '94 back from CarsMetrics. I wish I could post a picture that does the paint job justice. It went in to correct peeling clearcoat on the hood and roof. It came out looking better than new (I remember what my first '94 looked like in '98 and it really does look better). This is probably Toyota's hardest color to mix and paint from that era and they got it right.

Jeff and his crew are real professionals. I highly recommend their work to anyone.

 

[Hokie LX]

Put in some rear spring spacers in the LX and some new towing air bags this afternoon. The panhard bar had to be rotated in the mount to get the bolt through so this was my solution.

Pressures remain perfect F&R.

 

[jynx]

@lt1fire was it you that suggested a good source for vw parts? I just stopped by the dealership to grab a filter and I'm pretty sure they have gone up more than double what I recall. So while I'm thinking of it I'm going to order some to have when the next time comes around.

 

[Hokie LX]

Check out FCP Euro if you haven't already.

@lt1fire was it you that suggested a good source for vw parts? I just stopped by the dealership to grab a filter and I'm pretty sure they have gone up more than double what I recall. So while I'm thinking of it I'm going to order some to have when the next time comes around.

 

[lt1fire]

@lt1fire was it you that suggested a good source for vw parts? I just stopped by the dealership to grab a filter and I'm pretty sure they have gone up more than double what I recall. So while I'm thinking of it I'm going to order some to have when the next time comes around.

Idparts fixmyvw Boraparts

For filters I mostly use rock auto and buy Mann or mahle