cblackard

You can use a dremel tool with a cutoff wheel to make a slot in the head to allow a screwdriver to be inserted. My favorite is just to take a die grinder to the heads.

Ocell

That sounds MUCH better than trying to drill it out. Thanks!

Kingjerd

Awesom that you found a truck already ZUKed. I dig it. Can you tell what kind of shocks those are in the rear?

Ocell

Unfortunately the dremel slot for a screwdriver didn't work. I couldn't hold enough torque with the screwdriver.

I'm going to stop by Sears tomorrow and pick up a nut cracker.

kingjerd, I havent looked that close at them. I will look next time I'm under there and let you know.

Ocell

I went to Sears and bought the Nut Cracker. Unfortunately, it was too big and would just slip off the nut. I'll keep it, though, because I bet it will come in handy later.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ocell/7726944352/http://www.flickr.com/photos/ocell/7726944352/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/ocell/, on Flickr

I ended up cutting in to the nut at angles until I could pop it off with a hammer. The clearance just wasn't right for cutting it flat across.




I don't have the front bumper valance, and don't intend to add it, but the bumper cap mount brackets were sticking out on the sides with the mount points for the valance.



So while I had the Dremel out I chopped the lower mount point off, much cleaner now.




Here's the first cylinder spark plug from when I changed those out. Should I be worried?

Ocell

I also finally got around to swapping out the belts. Here's one of the belts I took off... looking pretty rough.

Ocell

When I got home from work yesterday I got the itch to install the new license plate cover bar I got from maco35. The one on the truck was busted and crooked. I forgot to get a photo of the "before". Having the top off made getting to the hardware holding the cover on much easier. I couldn't imagine having to crawl through the front doors every time I needed to get to the other side of the tailgate.




Old and busted - New and Solid




Whoever painted the truck with the black bed liner was too lazy to take this part off first, so I've got a crooked spot of white where the old bar was. When I test fit the new bar it had a ton of white showing above, not to mention the globs and runs.




I figured I would at least sand the globs down and run it with the white showing for the time being. Unfortunately I hit bare metal very quickly with the sanding block, so I ran and got some spray on Rustoleum Bed Liner. I'm pretty sure the truck was painted with Rustoleum roll-on bed liner. The colors match perfectly, but the textures are very different.

I haven't done a lot of spot painting at this scale, so the first time I masked it too close and ended up with hard edges.




So I remasked and hit the whole tailgate with paint.





I'm very happy with the results. Here's the straight license plate cover bar installed with the fresh paint.

Ocell

Last night I finally got around to trying the two-channel amp the PO included to run some 6.5" woofers and tweeters in the front. It works, but I need to spend some time dialing in the sound. The amp's under the front passenger seat right now, just laying loose. I want to move it behind one of the rear side panels. My panels are carpet covered plywood, so I'll probably screw the amp in to the back of it. Maybe that will keep it from getting gone.

Outsane

Or get a u-bolt flip kit

Ocell

I was looking at those... What happens to the bump-stops when do you do that? Would I lose the coils for the Zuk mod?


I was really just looking for a plug-and-play solution to make the thing road-safe in the short term. Long-term I'm looking to SAS the front, so I'd probably go with new leaf packs in the rear, lose the Zuk, and flip the u-bolts. But when I have time/energy/money to plan it all and make sure I'm doing it right.

Outsane

Well its $60 for the rear u-bolt flip kit from Marlin Crawler

and it would cost you $26 to order just the bolts from that website and you may need to get new nuts... I don't see why you would have to lose the coils..

So you could save yourself $26 bucks in the long run by spending an extra $34

Ocell

If the plate for the flip kit sits on top of the springs, what happens to the bump stop? The bump stop is what's holding the coil there. That's my concern. Thanks for the suggestions.

[update]
Is the bump stop held on by a single bolt through the middle of the plate? I haven't taken one apart (new to trucks and leaf springs) so that's why I'm asking.

Ocell

Another issue: "Please note the rear application will require replacement or relocated shock mounts." - http://www.marlincrawler.com/suspens...-bolt-flip-kit

I'm going to stick with the plug-and-play fix for now and just eat the cost if I go for a different set up in the future. Thanks again for the suggestion.

Ocell

I feel like a moran. The bump stop is on top of the leaf springs... I mentioned I'm new at this, right?

Resto-noob

iTrader: (3)

You mean morOn?

Hey man, I've been guilty of far worse. Also, those U bolts come with really nice nuts/washers. There is one thing-the bolts are slightly too wide to fit in the holes (on whatever that thing is called). I chose to open up the holes a hair to get the bolts to slide in easily. Took about 20 minutes total.

Ocell

I was assuming they were direct swaps with the factory u-bolts. But they've already come in, so buying a big enough drill bit to enlarge the holes is probably going to be quicker/cheaper than messing with return shipping and ordering another set.

I got the driver's side apart tonight. It took me a while since I'm figuring things out while I go. It took some work to get the existing u-bolts out, they were spreading hard. Threads are sheared off. I'm glad I'm getting them swapped out. I'll post pics soon if anyone's curious.

I guess I'll paint the plates black after I enlarge the holes, clean them up a bit.

Resto-noob

iTrader: (3)

I used: a SAIT 45005 Tungsten Carbide Die Grinder Bur SC1 Double Cut/Alternate Cut 1/4" x 5/8" x 1/4", with my die grinder.

One of those tools I just couldn't imagine being without.

dswag

Hey man nice 4runner! Its crazy some of the "fixes" people do. But anyways looks better than when you got it already ha

84'yota

Nice lookin 4rnr, I almost bought one as well. Just bought an 84 pickup so I figured why buy a 4runner yet.

Ocell

To be fair, looks like I'm not a moron. A u-bolt flip kit would still need some solution for the bumpstop, and I'm not clear on what that would be.

I got the new u-bolts installed tonight. I ran the plates to an auto-shop that had a drill press that could enlarge the holes for me (I just didn't have the tools on hand) and cut the u-bolts to the proper length with a hack saw after a test fit. I'll update with photos soon. I'm sure I'll tackle the u-bolt flip kit eventually, but I think I'll wait until I get a new leaf pack and get rid of the Zuk mod.

Next is to try and get the timing set properly, I picked up a timing light last night.

Thanks dswag and 84'yota. It's a bit frustrating that I've done quite a bit of work and very little of it is visual, but I guess I'm lucky that the 4Runner I found was already visually nice. I feel a lot better driving it around with the fixes I've made, so far. I'll be making it my own in the long term.