Well, it could be worse....

[Flagslack]

After that, it's easier to disregard rational thought and start the spending spree, all for the sake of refurbishing what's arguably the pinnacle of simplicity, durability, and capability in 4wd automotive design.

Yes, I have issues.

Best. Thing. I've. Ever. Heard.

I'm off to Cali for a slackline competition... when I get back I'm gonna be jonesin' real hard for my parts. I've already got the shakes.

 

[harrydunn]

I highly recommend the KOYO. I've had good luck as have others. Fit up with no problems.

https://forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-tech/430825-radiator-replacement-flush-question.html

 

[Flagslack]

I'm back in town, the parts are in, it's gonna snow on Friday, and I'm springing into action.

Today I removed the drive belts, crank pulley, idler pulley, and cleaned a ton of gunk down to beautiful raw metal, then *barely* managed to remove only TWO of the oil pump cover bolts, even after PB blasting, heating with a torch, and solidly tapping the phillips bit in with a hammer (purty solidly, since the rad is out). That damn little gasket was just beyond my reach

Three more bolts are just about to strip and are not coming out without drilling, or... I need to get someone to come to my house with a welder to tack some phillips head on like in scrowley's thread.
My friend knows a guy who should be able to do it if he's free and I'm insanely lucky. I've never drilled out a bolt and I think this would be a risky spot to try to learn on, so I'm counting on the welding.

Since I couldn't progress with the oil pump cover anymore today, I replaced the thermostat real quick and went to vote The thermostat has definitely been replaced relatively recently, but at least now I know what's in there.

By the way, bumping the starter is a great way to loosen the crank pulley bolt. I used a 1/2'' dr x 18'' breaker bar and a 30mm axle socket that I rented from Autozone. I read lots of people say that they had broken 1/2'' drive breaker bars trying this, but it worked fine for me. The axle socket is very very meaty and a tight fit for the bar. I secured the bar to the frame with tight climbing webbing and felt very safe. Remember to disconnect the wire that powers your distributor so that your engine does not start when you bump it.

If I can't get my oil pump cover bolts welded tomorrow, I'm going to tackle the PHH workaround. I crawled inside the DS wheel well today and suddenly understood the ...peskiness. I should take care of the crank seal tomorrow too, but it looks like it's going to be tough unless I can get my steering dampener off... gotta do some research in the morning on that one. I figure it's simple, but I just discovered that taking off the nuts and tapping the bolts with a hammer is not enough....

There are only a few things that really MUST be done by Friday to beat the snow and get driveable, but I have very little mechanical experience and every single thing is a learning process. It also doesn't help that my tool set is "young" and growing piece by piece for every job I tackle, one fifteen minute bike to Autozone at a time. So I'm intimidated, to say the least. It'll be a quadruple espresso morning.

 

[PoorHouse]

Seems like a post is missing here - I thought you had an update about wrestling with the oil pump cover screws.


How's it going?

 

[Flagslack]

Yeah sorry about the delayed response. After working on those bolts for 4+ hours, I managed to remove all but two, which finally stripped on me. I then proceeded to call every shop and handyman in town to see if someone could come out to me to extract/weld them, but to no avail. I then proceeded to break off an extraction bit in each bolt and shake my fist at the sky. In the end, I had to get it towed to the shop for TWO **** BOLTS.

It's still there now, the bolt extraction is done, but I'm waiting on a couple other small things. This shop is pretty busy. At least I can have them reinstall the crank pulley for me. I wasn't excited to tackle that.

So, hopefully I will get it towed back to my driveway today and be able to finish the radiator install this weekend. Before I had it towed, I managed to complete the PHH workaround and the replacement of the thermo, and HCV/related hoses in about 4 hours total. If it weren't for those two bolts on the oil pump cover, I'd be driving now with an almost completely refurbished cooling system. Well, that's life.

One good thing that did come of this is that I discovered that the PO had indeed taken it to Toyota for all its scheduled maintenance, as he claimed - zero sludge/buildup anywhere in the system, Toyota red in there, and practically everything (hoses, HCV) was original but somehow in very very good condition. In the end, most of the work I've done could have waited quite a while - but at least now I'll never need to worry about anything in there again. Valve cover gasket and HG another story...

I'll be updating again when I get it back and get some more work done.

 

[Flagslack]

Oh yeah, and there was a ton of Locktite on all of the oil pump cover bolts. To anyone planning on taking on this job: DON'T DO THAT, or someone will hate you for it later. Probably yourself.

 

[Flagslack]

Update

So I got the Cruiser back from the shop just before I went on my Thanksgiving trip. I am now back and am hoping to be up and running by tomorrow.

To my surprise, I discovered when I was reinstalling the Alternator idler pulley that it is completely locked up! It must have happened JUST before the whole radiator incident, because the belts and pulley are just barely worn. Lucky! About a week and a half before it stopped running I smelled a distinct hot/melting rubber smell from the engine compartment, but my roommate assured me that it was just because I had cleaned a bunch of gunk off of the engine.... I call BS!

Anyway, got that ordered from the local dealer for only $10 more than I could get it on Ebay (it would have been $20 more had I not mentioned Ebay...) and will have it by this afternoon. Then everything finally goes back on! Finally! What a ridiculous turn things have taken....

 

[ftbshop]

At least the weather is staying nice. We'll have to go wheeling when you get it done!

 

[Flagslack]

Most definitely - but we're going to have to wait on the lift Should be done by the end of January.

So I finally got everything reinstalled and my baby is back up and running as of Friday. It only took a few hours to finish putting it all back together and refill the coolant. But this would have been done weeks ago if it weren't for those two dirty bolts.

So here's a recap:
New Koyo Radiator and associated hoses
New OEM fan clutch, thermostat, HCV, water pump gasket, oil pump cover seal, and crank seal
PHH workaround with Gates green stripe, silicone hoses on both sides of the U-pipe
Painted some front trim since it was off and I had two weeks of down time....

Dealer removed two of the oil pump cover bolts and reinstalled the crank seal - for a dismaying cost of $220

Anyway, this was the first serious automotive project that I've ever undertaken... so I'm feeling pretty proud and empowered However, I'm now extremely paranoid about everything on this vehicle and I'm feeling a strong desire to tear it apart and rebuild absolutely everything as PM.... but I blame that on this website.

 

[Flagslack]

Oops, add the alternator idler pulley to that list.