Some mer pics fer yer lookin





Updated my sig. Starting to run out of room

 

Nice work, man.... You beat me BADLY, lol.... I just can't do them until I get the CV's in... Seems like doing things twice, ya know? hhahaa. OH, and I have to clean up the bolts, BIG TIME! That painting job gave me an idea! I'll do them Alumicote, .... but I REALLY like the red bolts look....dang you! lol.

 

So you bought the outer cover gasket... and made the inner? Impressed... good work

 

Nice man. Looks really clean. Yours do to Chef. I'll be doing mine when I do this axle rebuild. Gonna leave it almost like new.

 

Thanks guys!

I actually did make the gasket between the body and the outer ring. I was going to use the old one, but I thought that would be a bad idea. It looked OK, but you never know. It was a pain to make, but it turned out fine.

 

Got my second tow hook for the front today. Tomorrow I'll clean it up and put a coat of paint on after work it and hopefully install them on Wednesday.

 

Hey Buddy..... Nice work! (I have 2 hooks as well, pick-your-part scoreeeee, lol)

The Lower gaskets from hub to hub were 2.60$ each at the dealer... I had material but not wide enough left... so I went down and they had them in stock! Woot. I'll post up the part number for those too if anyone wants em.

The Cover ones, which I wouldn't try to cut out without a lot of sheets of the right stuff, exacto blades and some spare time.... lol.... Those were a bit more pricey, FOR SURE! lol. All in all, considering what I paid for these working GREAT shape hubs.... I'm good with a lil Dealership Rape!

 

Got my tow hooks on Only took about a week to update though...and if you haven't noticed...they're red!


Also, I added some more crap to my classified thread: Click here

I'm back in school now, so there won't be much going on with the truck. Hopefully no shredding tires like last year

 

Trucks looking good man congrats!!

 

Thanks, man! Much appreciated

 

WOO HOO! Love having my 2 hooks too..... Not that I've needed it yet, but it LOOKS GOOD, right? lol... bUT SERIOUSLY, it IS more betta to have, I know.

DOES look sick, .......the old girl,...... as usual!

 

I just read your entire build thread. Love it and keep up the good work. I plan on doing BJ spacers and am currently working on my hubs as well. Great truck !!

 

Thanks! You won't regret any of those mods.

An update on the truck:

Between school and work, I have little time to work on it. It rolled over to 185,000 about a week ago. It's due for an oil change (Valvoline MaxLife and Purolator PureOne filter).

In the past couple days, it has developed an annoying squeal whenever I hit a bump. I'm 100% sure that it's coming from the drivers side front. I think it might either be the shock bushings that need grease, a control arm bushing, or one of the ball joints. If it's a control arm bushing, that would suck, especially if it were the upper since I'd have to deal with the torsion bars and all that nonsense. I'd also probably have to get it re-aligned after I put it back together. A bad ball joint would suck even more because I just replaced them in June when I put on the lift.

I'm going to take the shock off today or tomorrow, whenever I have a chance, and grease up the upper and lower bushings and the sleeve. The last thing I need right now is it to be the other two things...

 

Yuck! lol.... Sorry man.... but you'll knock it out, regardless of what it is... no worries, yeah? CA bushings aren't that bad.... DO THEM ALL when you're in there..... OEM, imho... I'm not much for squeaks, as you also seem to feel........ And Poly seem to be squeakIER lol... Sure, they'll last longer... but mine lasted what, 22 years before the first squeak???? MEH, lol... Got them pretty cheap at www.dealerdirectparts.com and www.toyotapartszone.com is probably better, as they're seemingly faster.

ORRRRRRRRRRR, you could be like some guys, and just use it as the excuse to 'SAS, BABY!' hahaha. JK,.... you don't seem to be interested in that, IIRC?

At least you're not hearing a 'ROD KNOCK' or the like, right?

PS> What's with the PurolatorOne? You prefer them to OEM? Just curious .... ALL THE TIME, that's all, lol. Why MaxLife? I've always had great luck with Castrol GTX 10W-40.... But WOW, what a loaded topic, right? .... Just curious... HIT ME WITH IT! lol.

 

A long time ago, when woolly mammoths walked the earth, Advance Auto Parts had a sale on Valvoline oil and filters and it had a rebate, limit 2. It would've been stupid not to get it At the time, I preferred Napa filters, but I've heard some good things about the PureOne filters.

I still haven't looked into the squeak...too much school work...

 

Well, I am absolutely convinced that the creaking noise is either the upper or lower ball joint on the drivers side. I know this because it creaks when the suspension flexes and when I steer. It wouldn't creak when I steer if it were a control arm bushing.

The ball joints I bought didn't have grease fittings IIRC (ebay ball joints ) and neither my dad nor I greased them when we put them on. We assumed that they already had grease in them. Bad assumption...

So, I'm going to try and find a syringe or something and try to squirt some grease under the boots and hopefully my problem will be solved.

Now remember kids, always buy genuine Toyota parts.

 

Aint it the truth! ^^^^^



OK< ....not ALWAYS,.... in some cases we can upgrade from Toyota's 'OOPSIES', lol.... Like I would NEVER buy an original leaf pack for my 4Runner... but I TOTALLY get what you're saying! Use a large injector like I have..... and then plug it up after cleaning with some TOYOTA FIPK.... It's VERY rubbery and if you smooth out the edges where it's meeting the boot... it should stay put. Just keep an eye on it?

Ebay, eh? How much did you pay? I think my lowers were 70$ ..... From toyota online vendors we all know of. Can't remember, I'd have to look back. Anyway, ... hope that works out for ya, Mista!

 

It was a kit that included upper and lower ball joints, inner and outer tie rod ends, and a pitman arm for $100. The only thing that had a grease fitting on it was the pitman arm.

So yesterday I completely removed my shock and greased all the bushings while I was waiting for my oil to drain out. No dice, as expected. Then my brother came home, so I had him bounce the front of the truck a few times while I was under it so I can hear where the sound was coming from. It sounded like it was coming from the lower ball joint. Then my dad came home and he said it sounded like it was coming from the upper. I trusted his judgement.

So we unbolted the upper ball joint from the control arm, slid the boot down and tried to get some grease in it as best as possible. After reassembly, it still makes noise. So when I get home today, I'm going to remove the lower and do the same thing.

I tried to get a syringe to apply the grease, but apparently you can't just walk into any pharmacy and buy one...thank the drug addicts. After thinking about it, I don't think the grease would have been able to be squeezed through it anyway. But it would have made it 10x easier.

 

Oh, ... I thought i'd mentioned.... "Syringes I got at Harbor Freight and Home Depot" for injecting 'solvents, etc.' ...... I even have seen guys use marinade injectors, burning a small hole in the boot and then sealing it back up with 'whatever' they used in each sitch. I think one even used liquid electrical tape????

Anyway, you've got it sussed.... so that's good news!

 

Well, it's been a full month since the last update. I pulled the boot off the lower ball joint and re-greased them by hand. It still squeaked for about two or three days. After that I haven't heard a squeak out of it.

Ummm...it rolled over to 186,000 miles about two weeks ago. I've added a decal or two and have been driving it to college and work just about everyday. Other than that, nothing's really going on.