What have you done to your 100 Series this week?

[mokrunka]

Eventually I need a full stainless exhaust but stock quiet—maybe with a valve . I love v8 sounds and a throaty exhaust but it’s not for me everyday.

Yeah, I have to say, in my old age, I like the whisper quiet smooth running 2UZ. I can really sneak up on people

 

[jeffinsalem]

Ben3DBuild comes through again! Love this middle row cupholder. It replaces the retractable cupholder that has never worked for me. Per usual, the fit and finish of Ben's work is excellent.

 

[Les Summer]

I used my locking rear differential twice yesterday and it's the first time I've had to use the feature since I bought my 2000 Land Cruiser about 3 years ago. We got about 15 inches of snow with an additional wintry mix that came down for about 4 hours, so it's the worst kind of snow heavy, slippery, and wet. The rear diff lock and ActiveTrac were all the difference. Driving any lesser vehicle I'd of been for sure stuck a couple of times. The BFG KO2's while not fanatically good at any one thing, were perfectly happy getting me around in the snow along with 3 of my co-workers who I picked up in the unplowed snowpocalyptic city of Baltimore. I'd wager that a set of dedicated snow tires would be a dramatic improvement, but this is the firs storms we've had in multiple years and we are supposed to get another one this coming weekend.

 

[harrydunn]

Fiddling around with onboard air after 20 Moab trips over the years. I got the two tire inflation system. I put a dummy male quick connect fitting on the handle of the compressor to lock it onto when I'm not using it. Rubber isolators. Two healthy bolts into the power steering fluid bracket keeps the base plate nice and tight. If it gets too hot under the hood and burns up then so be it. It's colder than heck here in Missouri and I needed a project!

 

[Aracobuilt]

Replaced battery today. Had a 24f Interstate and upgraded to a 27f Interstate. New battery looks of a higher quality just by looking at the exterior housing and it has a built in handle that sits flush, really clean design. It's a sealed unit, the 24f was not. I hope it performs as good as it looks.

 

[TahoeSlice]

Hoping I can find a little help… my spare tire carrier winch seized up on me yesterday (luckily after the tire lowered completely, and at home, and no pressing deadlines) and I’m looking for a new one but not paying over $100 for something I’ll likely never use again once I go to 35s next year. 33 barely fit so I know I can’t tuck a 35 under there, but not ready to bite the bullet on a rear bumper or tire carrier yet so back underneath it goes for the time being.

My question is whether anyone else has dealt with this issue. I heard rumblings of a manufacturer recall on this part and seemed to have located the NHTSB report on it, but it’s extremely unclear if this is something the dealer will replace under recall. There’s just so little info out there on real world experiences. Here’s basically all I’ve been able to dig up on it:

I can probably just call the stealership, but I don’t like them and they don’t like me. I’m dubious they would even give me a straight answer at this point. Any help is appreciated!

 

[Unrulykid]

Hoping I can find a little help… my spare tire carrier winch seized up on me yesterday (luckily after the tire lowered completely, and at home, and no pressing deadlines) and I’m looking for a new one but not paying over $100 for something I’ll likely never use again once I go to 35s next year. 33 barely fit so I know I can’t tuck a 35 under there, but not ready to bite the bullet on a rear bumper or tire carrier yet so back underneath it goes for the time being.

My question is whether anyone else has dealt with this issue. I heard rumblings of a manufacturer recall on this part and seemed to have located the NHTSB report on it, but it’s extremely unclear if this is something the dealer will replace under recall. There’s just so little info out there on real world experiences. Here’s basically all I’ve been able to dig up on it: View attachment 4076158View attachment 4076159

I can probably just call the stealership, but I don’t like them and they don’t like me. I’m dubious they would even give me a straight answer at this point. Any help is appreciated!

Photos of the “ seized up” tire carrier?

Have you tried any penetrating oil or other means to help it return to normal function?

 

[SmoothLC]

Hoping I can find a little help… my spare tire carrier winch seized up on me yesterday (luckily after the tire lowered completely, and at home, and no pressing deadlines) and I’m looking for a new one but not paying over $100 for something I’ll likely never use again once I go to 35s next year. 33 barely fit so I know I can’t tuck a 35 under there, but not ready to bite the bullet on a rear bumper or tire carrier yet so back underneath it goes for the time being.

My question is whether anyone else has dealt with this issue. I heard rumblings of a manufacturer recall on this part and seemed to have located the NHTSB report on it, but it’s extremely unclear if this is something the dealer will replace under recall. There’s just so little info out there on real world experiences. Here’s basically all I’ve been able to dig up on it: View attachment 4076158View attachment 4076159

I can probably just call the stealership, but I don’t like them and they don’t like me. I’m dubious they would even give me a straight answer at this point. Any help is appreciated!

PM me - I've got just the ticket for you.

 

[BlackHeart]

Been a long 3 months but finally got the time to fix LC. I performed the dreaded water pump & timing belt replacement job and other items that have been needing to be done… Nope. No pictures cuz I was only concerned in getting it done and getting my girl back on the road. I did a shyte job of time management and took tooooo long to get done, but did the following at 321,648 miles:

Replaced the water pump (don’t buy the cheap water pump kit, get the Aisin kit. It has everything in it except the camshaft seals)
Replaced the timing belt (in the kit)
Replaced the idlers bearings and pulleys
Replaced the camshaft seals
Replaced the heater T’s again (with metal ones this time)
Replaced the Thermostat seal (pinched the last one when replacing the thermostat previously and was leaking)
Replaced the radiator & coolant reservoir (aftermarket radiator I found on online)
Replaced upper and lower radiator hoses
Flushed & Filled with new Peak Toyota coolant
Replaced valve cover gaskets and a missing bolt. (Explains the oil leak I found)
Found a crack in my K&N cold air intake tube - Sealed the crack.

It was more time than I wanted to spend, freezing my balls off, putting it on hold for other things and a whole lotta cussing to get it done, but I still love this rig. She runs great now and no over heating. The oil leak that I couldn’t find & was too lazy to run down properly is fixed. Hopefully she’s got another 300k miles in her.

Word to the wise: Check your heater T’s and replace timely. Those are a ticking time bombs and will catch you at the least opportune time. I suggest replacing them with the metal ones from Cruiser Teq so you don’t have worry about it. Good news is I did get to buy a new torque wrench and a few other tools though. Can’t have too many tools. I would suggest that you get a crankshaft pulley puller or an electric impact gun to remove the crankshaft bolt. Does makes life easier.

 

[LowDrag82]

I used my locking rear differential twice yesterday and it's the first time I've had to use the feature since I bought my 2000 Land Cruiser about 3 years ago. We got about 15 inches of snow with an additional wintry mix that came down for about 4 hours, so it's the worst kind of snow heavy, slippery, and wet. The rear diff lock and ActiveTrac were all the difference. Driving any lesser vehicle I'd of been for sure stuck a couple of times. The BFG KO2's while not fanatically good at any one thing, were perfectly happy getting me around in the snow along with 3 of my co-workers who I picked up in the unplowed snowpocalyptic city of Baltimore. I'd wager that a set of dedicated snow tires would be a dramatic improvement, but this is the firs storms we've had in multiple years and we are supposed to get another one this coming weekend.

I also spent the last few days driving my 06 LX around with ko2’s unsticking people with the kinetic recovery rope and shuttling people to the store and work in central VA. I sure wish I had a rear locker though!

 

[Raymond525]

I also spent the last few days driving my 06 LX around with ko2’s unsticking people with the kinetic recovery rope and shuttling people to the store and work in central VA. I sure wish I had a rear locker though!

I pulled my daughter's minivan and my son-in-law's work van to the top of their driveway the other evening, because they had 50' of sheet ice. Stuck it in low (probably didn't need to), hooked up a soft shackle and told him to leave it in neutral while avoiding obstacles on the way up the drive.

Easy as pie and super fun to see the look on his face!

 

[wrigh003]

Finally replaced the worn-out momentary switches on the HVAC controls. Did the AC, recirc, defroster, heated mirror, and rear fan buttons. Wow what a world of difference this makes!

View attachment 4073923
View attachment 4073924
I used TE FSM4JRT switches from Mouser. They're dirt cheap. Highly recommend this upgrade for anyone who's comfortable with simple PCB work.

I need to do this too. Parts are here, just gotta get one of those round tuit things. :/

 

[frinesi2]

I need to do this too. Parts are here, just gotta get one of those round tuit things. :/

A yes, the illusive round tuit. Those are in critically short supply these days.

If it helps motivate you - turning on my AC this morning to clear the fog off of my windshield was an absolutely joy. 10 out of 10, would do again.

 

[Gartenmeister]

Finally got around to replacing all plugs and coils as PM since I had a misfire on #1 back in December, exact cause unknown. Old coils were Toyota OEM, plugs Denso SK20R11. Age/mileage unknown. Old parts look mostly okay, what do you think? Minor cracks on five of the coils. Some brown boots. No drama getting them out. Plug gaps we're fine except for #6.

I've read about the counterfeit issues but the current Amazon offering is sold by Amazon itself. Should be legit?? I will give you that Denso does not list them as a retailer as they do sparkplugs.com aka densoproducts.com

So here's what I did. Ordered 4 of each from Amazon and densoproducts. Will report back if they are identical or not. Price with shipping/tax came to $58.17 for Amazon and $67.73 for densoproducts.

Went back with Denso 673-1303 coils and Denso SK20R11 plugs. As far as I can tell the coils from Amazon (with Amazon.com as the seller) and densoproducts are identical. I did receive the densoproducts ones quicker and the packing was better.

$587.20 later there is no change in the car's behavior but after that misfire I guess I feel better about having them all done. Torquing the valve cover bolts while I was in there was pretty rewarding; a lot of them were not even hand tight. I think I actually got the covers to quit leaking.

 

[Trapper50cal]

... Torquing the valve cover bolts while I was in there was pretty rewarding; a lot of them were not even hand tight. I think I actually got the covers to quit leaking.

I forgot to do that while I was in there. Wish I had.
But I think I was absorbed with not harming the threads in the head as my plugs were welded in with baked anti-seize.

 

[Medrybstrange]

Did this last weekend but still important. My truck's steering got really stiff awhile back and i flushed the fluid and found a slight improvement. After the holidays i had two weeks off work where i didn't drive the truck much and when i started driving again daily, i noticed the steering was really stiff after turning in past a certain point both left and right and would stay stiff on the return until centered and "wiggled" it was also tracking on the road poorly and the steering input felt very poor.
After a lot of reading and research i narrowed it down to a bad rack, or lower steering u-joint. Visibly the joint looked okay, totally dry but was not visibly messed up even when turning the wheel with the tires off the ground, but the shaft itself did seem to have a lot of deflection through the firewall.

Finally yanked the shaft off and the lower u-joint was almost completely seized in one direction and very stiff in the other direction. Truck has 127k miles and has been in California its whole life so i wasn't expecting it, but i have played in plenty of mud and water crossings the past year so i think it's been dry a long time and the water intrusion really cooked it.
I was surprisingly able to bring it back to life by rinsing out the bearings with penetrating oil, kroil, trips to the solvent tank, compressed air, and then used a needle greaser to pack grease back into the caps, using a heat gun to warm it all up so it would move a bit better. After about an hour of articulating it, all the rough spots were completely gone and it wasn't binding at all. There was also no play in the joint. Will keep and eye on it going forwards but happy to save over $400 on the part (Why is it so expensive!??) If anyone has rebuilt theirs before and has the specs for what trunnion will fit it, let me know!!

Since repair the truck drives like a dream again, i was 2 handing it down the freeway constantly correcting it, now it's back to the 1 handed grip, drives straight, wheel centered correctly. Big sigh of relief.

 

[LowDrag82]

Did this last weekend but still important. My truck's steering got really stiff awhile back and i flushed the fluid and found a slight improvement. After the holidays i had two weeks off work where i didn't drive the truck much and when i started driving again daily, i noticed the steering was really stiff after turning in past a certain point both left and right and would stay stiff on the return until centered and "wiggled" it was also tracking on the road poorly and the steering input felt very poor.
After a lot of reading and research i narrowed it down to a bad rack, or lower steering u-joint. Visibly the joint looked okay, totally dry but was not visibly messed up even when turning the wheel with the tires off the ground, but the shaft itself did seem to have a lot of deflection through the firewall.

Finally yanked the shaft off and the lower u-joint was almost completely seized in one direction and very stiff in the other direction. Truck has 127k miles and has been in California its whole life so i wasn't expecting it, but i have played in plenty of mud and water crossings the past year so i think it's been dry a long time and the water intrusion really cooked it.
I was surprisingly able to bring it back to life by rinsing out the bearings with penetrating oil, kroil, trips to the solvent tank, compressed air, and then used a needle greaser to pack grease back into the caps, using a heat gun to warm it all up so it would move a bit better. After about an hour of articulating it, all the rough spots were completely gone and it wasn't binding at all. There was also no play in the joint. Will keep and eye on it going forwards but happy to save over $400 on the part (Why is it so expensive!??) If anyone has rebuilt theirs before and has the specs for what trunnion will fit it, let me know!!

Since repair the truck drives like a dream again, i was 2 handing it down the freeway constantly correcting it, now it's back to the 1 handed grip, drives straight, wheel centered correctly. Big sigh of relief.

Nice wheels. What’s the offset on those in your profile pic?

 

[imperium]

Had an almost empty quart of oil in the trunk for the past few weeks. Went to clean out the trunk and realized that the remaining quarter quart of oil had spilled out and went under the carpet via the 3rd row seatbelt bolt hole.
How easy is it to take the rear carpet out? It's less than 20 degrees here in the DC area so not looking forward to doing this, but there's some oil floating around down there and I need to know what got coated.

 

[rbrave]

The jute(?) underneath is going to soak up whatever spilled. It is really straightforward to remove the rear carpet though, if I recall it is easiest if you take the D rings out, uncoupling the plastic trim and lifting it out.

 

[ODSTbee]

Had an almost empty quart of oil in the trunk for the past few weeks. Went to clean out the trunk and realized that the remaining quarter quart of oil had spilled out and went under the carpet via the 3rd row seatbelt bolt hole.
How easy is it to take the rear carpet out? It's less than 20 degrees here in the DC area so not looking forward to doing this, but there's some oil floating around down there and I need to know what got coated.
View attachment 4077361

@cruiserpatch has a great video on how to take apart the interior. Look for his channel under the same name on youtube.