Replaced starter, fuel filter, all belts, and threw in an oil change while I was at it. Thanks to my friend who let me use the lift and compressor at his house the pff and starter were a breeze...took less time for the two of those than to do the belts!
Pulled the roof rack, still working on getting the holes/nutserts patched up. I also bought some SS bolts to fix my rusted ass cat heat shield but it rained all day so it will continue to rattle until it dries up.
Took off steps, front and rear diff oil change, greased chasse, greased wheel bearings, new cab light bulbs, electrical taped the steering wheel, hung the exaust... preping for a road trip next weekend.
fixed my ac by discovering that the relay in front of the battery box had gotten unplugged!
installed a locking latch on my home made fridge slide so that it would stay closed and not slide back and hit the back gate of the 80 every time I accelerated.
mounted the fire extinguisher... not in the best place, but at least it's hard mounted and not rolling around now.
Started on the transmission swap. Picked up a tranny about a year ago with lower miles than mine. Plan to swap it and tcase soon. For a learning experience may rebuild the old tranny and tcase. Could be fun. Current tranny is leaking fluid from front seal, I assume. Seeing tranny fluid slowly dripping out of the flywheel view port. Pic attached is the replacement tranny on an engine stand. Will make servicing the pan and filter a lot easier. Need to decide if I am going to mount the tcase to the tranny before I put it in.
Plugs
Wires
Air Filter
Distributor Cap and Seal
Rotor
Fuel Filter
PCV Valve
Ventilation Hose #1
Ventilation Hose #2
Transmission Full Drain, Filter Clear and Flush with Synthetic
Transfer Case Fluid Change
Front and Rear Differential Fluid Change
George's LED all Around the Roof
Super Bright LED's in the Doors
I went camping with my 5 yo for the first time in mine. Slept in the LC two nights and despite temps in the low 50s/high 40s was toasty warm with the rear sliders open all the way. Played all day Friday and then explored most of Saturday in the Tillamook State Forest - not the side with most of the full size trails though.
Went to Windrock in TN. It was wet & muddy. My friend almost flopped his JK on trail 6 (those are 35" tires for reference). I went through in my 80 right before him. A little driver error on his part but the slippery red clay and severe slope and ruts didn't help. My levoguage was pegged at 45* when I went through it...we were very tippy as well. Too much sliding around to have full control.
Btw...due to all of the variables that we were up against, that was a very delicate 1.5 hr recovery that ended after dark. If we would have had someone behind him to pull him backwards, it would have taken 10 mins. There was no way for me to get behind him.
What a weekend! No 'wheeling' like I wanted, but I did get to drive around the Fossil Rim safari with the family and travel gear all loaded up in the 'cruiser. Roads were paved but broken up enough in certain spots that I could get my jollies "offroading" now and then (as long as you pretended that Camry up ahead didn't also easily drive on the same roads)..
Thankfully all that idling around 5-15 mph didn't overheat the engine....until after we were away from the animals, and literally ready to drive out to the highway. The needle was halfway between 1/2 and the red mark. I noticed this only after I thought I smelled some hot metal. Immediately, I asked my family to bear with me as I blasted the heater and popped the hood. The coolant had all filled up the overflow reservoir and within minutes the engine sucked it back up as the temperature needle backed down to the usual 1/2 way spot.
Thankfully all this was outside the animal area. The rest of the 100* Texas day, about 3 hours of the engine running on and off the highway, I did not see this problem again. Thank god for A/C (and a very slow leak only) that's all I can say.
Pulled the roof rack, still working on getting the holes/nutserts patched up. I also bought some SS bolts to fix my rusted ass cat heat shield but it rained all day so it will continue to rattle until it dries up.
I finally did my plugs wires distributor cap and rotor..... but that was on Thursday, this 'weekend' I went fishin.
The plugs all looked good if old, just a uniform faint tan haze on on the tips for all cylinders. The wires seemed fine even though they, like the plugs, probably had at least 50k on them, if not closer to the full 159k on the odometer since I have lots of PO records from the dealership but none indicating a tune up. The rotor was pretty badly carboned up and worn as were the contact points in the cap. I used a Bosch cap with NGK wires and plugs. She idles much smoother now and noticeably more eager to rev out on the road.
It was quite a busy weekend for me... A friend of mine helped me install an after market alarm and removed the factory.
Then I found this Apline head unit for $89 and grabbed it and installed it as well. Probably not the best but anything is better than the stock unit!
Since I am behind the panel already (kind of broke some of them and glued them back using thin Cyano Acrylate), I dropped in the aux cables already, planning to put an amp and replacng the factory sub soon. Well, there is no factory sub, it never worked for me...
What i forgot was to plug the CDL switch (since that would be next) but ehhh... next time... and i'm sure i'll pop somehting again...