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today's project: making that back window removable. I've been wanting to do this for a while now. this vice grip tool was a big help. Without it I was going to need to take the top off to hammer the snaps in place. It did kind of spread the snap heads out a bit so I used a regular vice grip to tweak them a bit to tighten them up. They were releasing too easy. I just used my soldering iron to make the holes.
ahhh another camping trip with the 4runner. If it had a hitch it would have been the tow vehicle this time. We got rid of the old Shasta because the roof leaked and destroyed the ceiling. I switched to a roof top tent mounted to my utility trailer. The day before the trip I had a rear caliper dragging on the FJ. Quickest fix I've ever done. I got remand calipers from NAPA like both the 4runner and FJ have in the front already and new brake hoses. It was back to being the main tow vehicle in an hour! It would be nice to have a hitch on the 4runner, the trailer doesn't weigh much but the receiver is way too high for that trailer. Maybe I'll lift the trailer and put on bigger tires one day........
Just some 4th of July shenanigans with the 4runner. Another bear spotted out in the western part of the state in People's Forrest. We took some friends to see the little bit of trails out there. They haven't seen it yet. We even found a road we never got to the end of before. The black spot to the left is the bear and somewhere are two cubs. Our friends got this photo behind us. Leave it to my son , finding frogs at the scenic overlook.
Great looking rig. Brings back memories of my old 87 4Runner. It was also white with a 22re, 5 sp, and a soft top. I've haven't had a vehicle since that was more fun (or more frustrating). Does yours have a solid front axle?
Solid axle yes, 1985 was the last year of Solid axle and first of EFI. I didn't know about this stuff until about 15 years ago. The 4runner was a high school dream of mine when new right after a Marty Mc Fly extra cab. Back then I thought people modified them to put a solid axle. I remember this kid had a 4runner in them days and it was so cool with the top off!
one of my favorite shots of last Sunday that my friend got of us on the road he wanted to explore. This section with all the ferns looks like something from Jurassic Park. Any minute a T Rex is going to jump out😅
Speaking of dinosaurs, I'm sure you've heard about dinosaur state park in CT but I just found out a few years ago about dinosaur foot prints in Chicopee MA . It's free to go and see the footprints by the side of the Connecticut river. We need to get out there again. Haven't been in a while
Back in May or April we got news from the owners of Frog Rock Rest Stop that they were selling it this year due to health reasons. It sold fairly quickly and the new owner is carrying on the tradition complete with the VW show that I started about 10 years ago. We had to make a stop there, it is now known as Frog Rock Summer Shack. I needed to test the whole belly clams.
so it looks like the time to visit Mansfield State Park is Friday afternoon! I've never seen it so quite. Of course we had to get some pizza from Blaze Pizza in Stors on the way. The 4runner looks so normal right out front 😁 On the way home, had to stop for a photo.
Yesterday just cruising around Granby CT
Last edited by Damion812; Jul 10, 2022 at 06:57 AM.
scouting out the next VT trip with the 4runner! We're currently up here on vacation, I wanted to bring it but we took the FJ instead. First time we've been wheeling with it in a long time thanks to 4runner. I am ashamed to say in all the years we've been going to VT I've never really been out in this park of the Green Mountain National Forrest. I saw it on the map in the 90s and always wanted to get out here but just never did. We'll fix that!
One day back from VT and we're already back wheeling with the 4runner.
I had to get a photo of how clean the back seat came out. If water gets spilled on it it looked like a massive stain because of the dirt that ends up on the seat. I took it to the car wash and used the vacuum and upholstery cleaner and it made the seat worse. Then I just sprayed dawn and hot water and used a scrub brush with the shop vac. Much better.
We're 7 days into this heat wave ( first week after vacation 🤔 so we decided to go north. It was a little cooler plus I jumped into the Deerfield river. That helped. I routed us around as many dirt roads to make it more scenic. Then we made a stop at Hogback Mountain only to find out that part of route 9 was dirt now also due to construction. If you zoom in to the right of this photo you can almost see the road we too to get up here. Its a field in the photo.
Then another 29 miles of dirt roads in the Green Mountain National Forrest plus a few side roads for a little bit of wheeling.
I was thinking yesterday about how we haven't seen a first gen 4runner in a long time then we spotted one on 91 south bound near Deerfield MA . White and all, sounds like it was a turbo 4runner or had a turbo!
We saw another white first Gen 4runner last night on a trailer heading to Agawam MA!
So I on our way back from an ice cream run last night we stopped to get gas and the fact that I still have not gotten around to adding a starter relay caught up to me. Got the click no start. We tried a couple times but no go so I said to my wife" alright we got one chance at this, I'm going push it you put it in second and pop the clutch " once she finally let off the brake I got it rolling pretty good, it was at the top of a slight incline with about 50 feet or so to the road. She decided to turn the key instead, and it started 😙 oh man we got lucky there.
So this is the next project. I've been enjoying just driving it and not working on it for a while now. https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116.../#post52422426
Also need to see why one headlight is out also happened last night. I did the headlight relay wiring harness and wonder if a relay is the problem. The headlights are fairly new.
we took the 4runner on another beach trip and camping this time. No it didn't tow the utility trailer. We would need to drop the hitch about 15 inches for it to even hook up the trailer.
On the way back we got the top on just before a monster thunder storm hit Middletown CT compete with flash flooding!
I was half thinking with the heat we have been experiencing lately it would have dried quickly if I didn't get the top on but that storm looked like a 10000 foot purple mountain in our path. Looking back we should have just waited it out in the church parking lot that we stopped in to put the top up. It would have moved on before we got there.
Other fun cruising yesterday to a favorite restaurant then to a wildlife preserve in Vernon CT.
then tried to blend in with other old stuff.
A little bit of door repair today. The driver side window has been bouncing around for a while now and I thought something may have loosened up. The front track was a bit loose and the door had some stress cracks from that. The crazy stuff you have to do to hold some copper behind it, lol
Jun 16, 2022 | 10:59 AM
so we decided to go north. It was a little cooler plus I jumped into the Deerfield river. That helped. I routed us around as many dirt roads to make it more scenic. Then we made a stop at Hogback Mountain only to find out that part of route 9 was dirt now also due to construction. 
