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This project has been idle for a couple weeks. Thankfully I got to do some more work on it today. But first I want to say I am not happy with the axle housing pictured in the previous message. It has suffered too much damage from rust. Luckily I have two other complete axle assemblies, one of which appears to have only light surface rust. It is from a 1989 four cylinder 4runner. As I understand it, It should swap over to the '93 without any issues. I am really just after the housing. I will reuse the axles and the bearings from the '93. I also have another third member that I sourced from a Southern truck, that is completely rust free that I will be installing after I install new gears. I plan to run 33 inch tires so I will probably install 4.88 gears. And finally, I have a set of used brake backing plates that I sourced from an eBay seller in Montana that are rust free. I think these components will go together nicely and do a lot for the overall restoration of this truck.
Now back to today's progress. In another thread on this forum I began to work on the rear leaf springs. The truck only has 113,000 miles on it and the springs were holding the truck up nicely, So I plan to reuse them. They look pretty bad with rust, but today's work convinced me that they will be okay. I carefully took apart one of the leaf packs and was pleasantly surprised by how easy they cleaned up with just a couple passes of a wire wheel on my 4-1/2 inch grinder. I think once they get a coat of paint on them and some new friction pads and bushings they will be a fine complement to the rebuilt axle.
I wish I would have taken before and after pictures of this overload leaf (below). A couple minutes with the wire wheel made a difference was like night and day. I will probably make one more pass with an 80 grit sanding disc and then finish it off with a quick sandblasting session. You won't be able to tell it from new when I'm done.
Last edited by wrenchtech; 10-11-2017 at 10:05 PM.
In an earlier post, someone suggested that I install Chevy leafs. I am looking forward to working with that, but it will be on my 1989 4runner. The current project's focus is just to restore the truck to a state somewhat closer to original, with some upgrades consisting mostly of wheels, tires and the correct differential gear ratios. My hope is to make the truck easy to sell for a reasonable amount of money, which I would then put towards the purchase of a roadworthy three-quarter ton truck for pulling a couple different trailers.
Love the attention to detail! I all so really liked you ingenuity with how you removed the bed from the truck. I am definitely going to steal that idea.
Hey Wrenchtech, its moving along I see. I am less than an hour south of the border. I am happy to see the Midwest portion of yotatech is staying busy. I have lots of gen 2 knowledge and still have some parts left. Not much motor related, I prefer the om617 over the 3.0. Better power and mileage. I do have a 93 ex cab sitting in my garage that I bought out at Fort Sheridan. I will need to fix the cab corners of course. Anyway keep pushing on that project. Winter is coming.
Love the attention to detail! I all so really liked you ingenuity with how you removed the bed from the truck. I am definitely going to steal that idea.
Thanks for the words of encouragement. One of the best things about it, Is that all of the lumber for the lifting frame and the boards that I put down for the lift to roll on are either scrap or off the dollar rack at Home Depot.
Hey Wrenchtech, its moving along I see. I am less than an hour south of the border. I am happy to see the Midwest portion of yotatech is staying busy. I have lots of gen 2 knowledge and still have some parts left. Not much motor related, I prefer the om617 over the 3.0. Better power and mileage. I do have a 93 ex cab sitting in my garage that I bought out at Fort Sheridan. I will need to fix the cab corners of course. Anyway keep pushing on that project. Winter is coming.
It's always nice to hear from people in the area. I am a former Chicagoan and lived for many years in Evanston.
I am lucky that my passenger side cab corner is still in good shape. The Driver side is not as good. I was going to order an aftermarket sheet metal cab corner, but now I think I'm going to try to produce a patch panel out of fiberglass. I have been working simultaneously on my 1989 4runner. I have been making some fiberglass quarter panel repair sections for that. I will start a thread here on yotatech about that shortly.
I'm also very interested in the Mercedes diesels. I have been looking long and hard at the OM606 that was available in the North American market in 1996 to 1999. That looks to me like an outstanding engine for Landcruiser conversions. The OM606 is the 2JZ of the diesel world. Enthusiasts over in Europe are getting a reliable 500 hp out of it. With that kind of track record, 200 to 300 hp in a Landcruiser shouldn't be too difficult. And oh how sweet it would be! There's also an in-line five that we never got here in North America, the OM605. If that's anything like it's bigger sibling it could pump out an honest 200 hp and be a great fit for a 4runner. Unfortunately there's little to no support for these engines in the US. I'm holding out hope that the OM613 that we got in the E class Mercedes cars in the US in 2005 and 2006 might find its way into the hands automotive hackers. It's an electronic common rail injected engine and the last of the in-line six diesels for Mercedes. As it is installed it, it appears to be part of a very complicated Mercedes electronic control system. I haven't heard of one running as a standalone, apart from the vehicle. You have to hope that some bright individual can find a way to run these things in swaps or to convert them over to a mechanical injection pump.
Imagine an FJ60 like this powered by the in-line six Mercedes diesel.
Save
Last edited by wrenchtech; 10-15-2017 at 02:18 PM.
I do like how the om617 is all mechanical. The downside is its only 60% efficient. Limited power potential. Its still a good choice for 4,000#s or less. It is an improvement over the 3vze. It has the ability to run other sources of fuel as well. I looked at some of the more "advanced" mbz diesels too. I really like to stay as low tech as possible for reliability. I lost my alternator belt on a trip to Iola Wi in my 94 4runner w/the om617. I just kept driving. 5 days later, I charged my battery and drove home. Its nice to have a rock solid vehicle that just goes no matter what! Anyway, Its good to find another capable member. I will be watching to see how the 63" springs go.
I put the leaf spring project aside for the moment. We had some excellent weather around here with temperatures in this upper 60s and Low 70s, so I tried to turn my attention towards some bodywork (on the 4runner too) that I want to get done before it gets much cooler.
This is behind the passenger side cab corner. It's a place where a lot of body sections come together and get plastered with seam sealer at the factory. I have the side of the cab corner covered in masking tape because I'm getting ready to pull a fiberglass mold off of it so I can make a repair panel for the driver's side cab corner.
I also want to get the truck standing on its own wheels as soon as possible. That will only happen when I go out to the farm where I store my parts trucks and retrieve a better axle housing off of one of them. Knowing that I would be harvesting the best parts from two or three axles, I decided that I should have my own press fixture for separating the backing plates and bearings from the axle shafts. I made a shop project out of it by building my own with good results.
The gas tank on this vehicle was in terrible shape. The same gas sat in it for years and it seemed to have collected quite a bit of moisture. Corrosion was working from both inside and out.
I found a wrecking yard in western Kansas that had a ’94 Xtra Cab pick up that rolled with only 46,000 miles on it. Cars have quite a bit less corrosion out there on the High Plains so, for $75, plus shipping, I decided to take a chance. A new aftermarket tank would have cost twice as much and probably have been of lower quality. I remember that the last aftermarket tank I bought didn't even have a drain plug or any provision for one. I figured a lightly used original tank might be better. The tank that arrived was virtually as good as new. My luck with used parts bought over the Internet has been very good so far.
The tank arrived without a fuel pump or fuel pump bracket. At first I thought I would buy a new bracket as I have done in the past. Toyota dealers get about $180 for the pump bracket and the few wrecking yards I contacted to try to locate a used one thought I was nuts for even asking about it. My budget is tight, so I took a second look at the bracket that was in the original tank. Pretty scary looking! As a resident of the Rust Belt however I am not easily deterred by such things. I decided to resort to one of my favorite new tools, a little gravity fed sandblasting gun from Harbor Freight. It took all of about three minutes to transform the bracket into something that would be passable for even the most discriminating Toyota 4 x 4 enthusiast. After sandblasting I treated that part with a phosphoric acid etching solution in preparation for paint. I plan to use the gas tank internal coating product from the folks who sell POR-15.
Ka ching! $180 saved by just a few minutes worth of work.
Below is the paint product I'm using to coat the fuel pump bracket.
I highly recommend the Harbor Freight sand blasting gun. They sell for $19.95!!!! This tool has really made a huge impact on my projects. I lets me do all kinds of restoration work that I though would require thousands of dollars of equipment. I'm still finding new uses for this that I never imagined.
Last edited by wrenchtech; 10-22-2017 at 11:29 AM.
Some parts came today for my Makita 7" grinder that make it possible to use thin (1/16") cutting wheels. My Makita GA7001L is what I like to call "The Mother of All Grinders". This model has been around for at least 30 years. It has a ginormous metal body, it is heavy and it is powerful. So what better thing to do than to use it to help part out an old Toyota. I needed to get the rear axle from my '84 Xtra Cab (the axle in it is from a '89 4runner) to use in my 1993 Xtra Cab restoration project. After trying to loosen the various nuts and bolts that hold the leaf springs on, and finding them uncooperative, I turned instead to cutting with the grinder. I cut the shackles, I cut the spring hanger ears, I cut the "U" bolts. And finally, I cut the frame rails. Boy howdy! The big grinder cut the old steel like a hot knife through butter. So now I have another axle housing, this one in much better condition than the one coming off the '93. I also took a quick look at the V6, 8" differential that I sourced from Virginia a few years ago. No rust at all on that Puppy. The only thing it needs is to have the bearings checked and 4.10 gears replaced with 4.88s.
The cutting wheel is almost finished. It did a lot of work and only cost $2.97.
Look, the axle even has some black paint left on it!
Last edited by wrenchtech; 10-26-2017 at 03:44 PM.
That's one choice axle tool. Make more and sell them. The one I bought off of ebay was crap. It required lots of mods to work right -- I had to mill a recess so the bearing retainer would clear, I had to counterbore the stud holes so the nuts would fully thread on and had to mill two flats in the upper flange so I could actually fit it in my 20-ton shop press.
That's one choice axle tool. Make more and sell them. The one I bought off of ebay was crap. It required lots of mods to work right -- I had to mill a recess so the bearing retainer would clear, I had to counterbore the stud holes so the nuts would fully thread on and had to mill two flats in the upper flange so I could actually fit it in my 20-ton shop press.
I saw an axle tool offered on Amazon.com. A customer review included some pictures of the bottom plate bent at the corners. I didn't want to make something like that, so I made mine extra strong. The bottom plate is 3/8 and it's gusseted with another piece of 3/8. if I was to offer tool for sale I would want to make sure that it could Service different generations of Toyota trucks. I would have to study the axles with the ABS ring on them and try to make a tool that would work with both abs and non-abs. Thanks for the kind words though.
I was already aware of your project. It really is something special. I'm going to try to aim for that level of quality but I don't know if my budget will get me there.
Yes, I understand -- a multi-model axle tool is the best way to go. Remember, whatever you put into your truck is well worth it. Check this north western truck for sale:
Also worth mentioning is that on the way home tonight, I think I drove past Aviator's truck (the former Yotatech mod, silver '94 5-speed). It's all fixed up and sharp! I don't know if Aviator owns it still but it was straight and immaculate. Next time I see it, I'll pull over and take a picture.
Good results today. I got that rotten tube/crossmember that the gas tank hangs from out of there and replaced with a shiny new section of schedule 80 pipe. It is nominally 1-1/2" pipe, which has an outer diameter of 1.90" and a wall thickness of 0.20". As far as I can tell, the outside diameter is an exact match for what is being replaced while the wall thickness is greater.
Welded some pieces of angle iron cross the frame from side to side. Temporary braces so that the frame doesn't move when I take out the crossmember.
A good enough tack weld for a gimp with a 110 V flux core welder.
So much salt inside that it is just oozing out
The Sawzall was my tool of choice for this cut. Took about 20 seconds per side.
This is what poured out of the tube when it came down.
New tube in place!
Last edited by wrenchtech; 10-26-2017 at 03:38 PM.
Yes, I understand -- a multi-model axle tool is the best way to go. Remember, whatever you put into your truck is well worth it. Check this north western truck for sale:
Also worth mentioning is that on the way home tonight, I think I drove past Aviator's truck (the former Yotatech mod, silver '94 5-speed). It's all fixed up and sharp! I don't know if Aviator owns it still but it was straight and immaculate. Next time I see it, I'll pull over and take a picture.
I have been watching the classifieds too. It is not unusual to see a first-generation 4runner going for more than $10,000. Land cruisers are through the roof too!. Whenever I see a second-generation truck I miss my 84 Xtra Cab. I drove it for 20 years and it served me like no other vehicle I've ever owned. It wasn't fast, it wasn't flashy but it always had this Zen feeling of all things working in harmony and being, somehow, more than the sum of its parts. Upgrading it with 22RE fuel injection, an R151F transmission, land cruiser brake rotors and V6 calipers, and an IFS width rear axle didn't hurt either
There is something else that I really get a kick out of when it comes to working with these classic Toyota 4 x 4's. I like to carry some parts forward from each vehicle to its successor. I like to put one or two pieces from my retiring vehicle into my current vehicle.
This '93 is going to get the rear axle that I was running in my '84 (which is actually from a 1989 4runner that I parted out, and which was the donor for all of the 22RE parts I used to convert the '84 over to electronic fuel injection) and the awesome Wisconsin sesquicentennial license plates, the only Wisconsin plates I have ever thought of as attractive.
My '89 4runner is getting the front fenders, the glovebox door, the transmission tunnel opening, the clutch and brake pedal assembly, part of the center console and the rear Bilstein shock absorbers from the '84.
I don't think I could consider the manual transmission conversion on my 4runner complete without this glovebox and its diagram for the transfer case shifting procedure which is from my '84 (or maybe from the '88 4runner I parted out).
Last edited by wrenchtech; 10-27-2017 at 03:22 PM.
I decided that the axle that came off the 93 was too heavily rusted to be a good candidate for restoration. It was too heavily pitted in the rear cover over the ring gear seemed dangerously thin. So, looking around at what I have on hand, I decided to pull this axle from my 1984 Xtra Cab. It's not the original axle, it is a later IFS width housing that I ran for a while on the 84. I think it will clean it up nicely.
About 20 minutes worth of work with a couple different wire wheels on my grinder and it's cleaning up quite nicely. The four-cylinder differential has to come out and the rusty backing plates are scrap. I have some nice parts to replace them with.
I decided that the axle that came off the 93 was too heavily rusted to be a good candidate for restoration. It was too heavily pitted and the rear cover over the ring gear seemed dangerously thin. So, looking around at what I had on hand, I decided to pull this axle from my 1984 Xtra Cab, which I declared rusted beyond hope in 2010. It's not the original axle, it is a later IFS width housing that I ran for a while on the 84. I think it will clean it up nicely.
About 20 minutes worth of work with a couple different wire wheels on my grinder and it's cleaning up quite nicely. The four-cylinder differential has to come out and the rusty backing plates are scrap. I have some nice parts to replace them with.
if you want to keep that 4.30 to match the front clamshell, I've found that most 3.0 dlx model 1st gens have 4.30 ratios. not easy trucks to find..but could help find the 3rd
There is something else that I really get a kick out of when it comes to working with these classic Toyota 4 x 4's. I like to carry some parts forward from each vehicle to its successor. I like to put one or two pieces from my retiring vehicle into my current vehicle.
This '93 is going to get the rear axle that I was running in my '84 (which is actually from a 1989 4runner that I parted out, and which was the donor for all of the 22RE parts I used to convert the '84 over to electronic fuel injection) and the awesome Wisconsin sesquicentennial license plates, the only Wisconsin plates I have ever thought of as attractive.
My '89 4runner is getting the front fenders, the glovebox door, the transmission tunnel opening, the clutch and brake pedal assembly, part of the center console and the rear Bilstein shock absorbers from the '84.
I don't think I could consider the manual transmission conversion on my 4runner complete without this glovebox and its diagram for the transfer case shifting procedure which is from my '84 (or maybe from the '88 4runner I parted out).
i am restoring an 87 runner at the moment, and found the p/n for this decal. i went to toyota and they determined that there are 2 left. i got one after about a week and took it to the local print ship. they're making new decals for me. gonna be selling them for about 5 bucks to cover the print cost. I'm also making replica greasing instruction cards for the sun visor.
if you want to keep that 4.30 to match the front clamshell, I've found that most 3.0 dlx model 1st gens have 4.30 ratios. not easy trucks to find..but could help find the 3rd
i am restoring an 87 runner at the moment, and found the p/n for this decal. i went to toyota and they determined that there are 2 left. i got one after about a week and took it to the local print ship. they're making new decals for me. gonna be selling them for about 5 bucks to cover the print cost. I'm also making replica greasing instruction cards for the sun visor.
I'm going to swap out the 4.30 geared differentials front and back. I am going to go with 4.56 or 4.88 gears. I can lay my hands on a complete used front axle/differential assembly, with those ratios, around here for very little money. In the rear, I am going to try my hand at changing out the ring and pinion myself. I have been studying Zuk's http://www.gearinstalls.com website for a while and gathering up the tools he recommends here http://gearinstalls.com/gearinstalltools.htm
Good idea to reproduce those stickers. These old Toyotas are getting pretty attractive to collectors. It wouldn't surprise me if prices for clean first gen 4runners were to get up into the tens of thousands of dollars in the not too distant future.'ve
I've got this V6 diff to build up with new gears. Got it from Virginia, nice and rust-free. It has 4.10 gears now.
Last edited by wrenchtech; 12-29-2017 at 07:43 PM.
10-11-2017, 06:42 PM
