Just seen you were back and just checking in on you. A break is needed every now and then. Back orders tend to slow things down.

 

Wow, nice work, ........Parts?>>> 95$ and Cruiser? WOW, nice, ..... and yes, pretty darn good deal compared to some I've seen in CA.

Good seeing you here! KILL IT! LOL.

 

You're really low on the price of parts guess. I'll start with some clues. I already previously mentioned the cone washers were 6 bucks a piece at the dealer, and I ordered 4. The oil filters were like 6 bucks a piece. It's the fuel filters that were the pricey ones.

 

the x member looks great dutch you will be back at it hard and fast soon enough.

 

Ahhhh, ok.... 24$ plus 12$, ..we're already at 36$ Hmmmm, 8$ for the gaskets, maybe? 44$ so far with the guessing... Then fuel filters. Hmmm, I got mine from dealerdirectparts.com for 28$ each. I'd guess maybe 65$, but I'll go with 55$ so I don't go over? hahaha.....

154$?

Either way, sorry bout that, ..... hate having to dish it to them,...but I find most of their crap just lasts so much longer! lol. Now, that does NOT mean I would EVER pay 980$ for an AFM from the dealer, ....(700$ shipped from dealerdirectparts.com I think I remember)... or 650$ for an Igniter.... But at the rate these things seem to get bought up by CL lurkers, ...I might not have a choice some day, eh? hahaha.

LOOKING GREAT, seriously, and can't wait to see you fire it up, let along for the next phase!

 

Ok so apparently you didn't need any more clues. It was exactly 55 bucks per fuel filter, and the total before taxes came to 157.80. I'd say you win the guessing game. Your prize is paying for the parts. LOL!!!
I'm going to have to look at this dealerdirectparts.com site you speak of. Dealer prices make me cry, but yes, I bought dealer filters after a whole lot of threads, yours included, convinced me that filters are one thing you don't want generic brand for. I actually learned something the day I picked up the filters and gaskets, too. The guy asked me if I wanted to buy a couple oil drain plug gaskets if I was changing the oil. I didnt' know the oil drain plug had a replaceable gasket, I always thought that was just a washer. They were 80 cents. Which is still incredibly expensive for two washer sized pieces of compressible paper, but I bought two. Which I didn't mention. So take 1.60 from 157.80 to make a total of 156.20. You were only $2.20 off on your estimate. I'll never play poker against you.

 

HAHAHAHA! Wow, honestly, I was TOTALLY guessing by my experiences with OEM/Dealer! lol. I did NOT look it up, promise! lol. Yeah, try them out, just SPEAK TO THEM, know what I mean? They usually are really good about giving you a 'close estimate in time' to ship, etc.

Yeah, my buddy works parts at one....every time I pick up my oil filters for 4.39$ he throws them in the filter boxes, that way I don't lose them lol.

Right on, ...well, then, ....GIN RUMMY MAYBE? lol.

 

So I made a 1.5hr drive with a couple buddies saturday morning to see the guy about the 95 4runner with 4.56 gears. It was a pretty seedy industrial area. The address he gave me was for a garage bay. It was one of 13 bays in a row behind a auto wreckers, and I found the 4runner tucked in an alley past the last bay. I didn't see the guy I was supposed to be meeting, and after he was over 20mins late I started taking the diffs out. My buddies and I didn't see anyone except for this one guy who kept walking up to me and asking me if I was neil and then walking away shaking his head after I assured him that no, I'm still not neil, haven't seen neil, and have no clue who neil is. I almost had the rear diff out when the guy finally drove in, took my money for the diffs and left again. Removing both diffs took me almost 2.5 hours, and I took no pics because I was trying to make it go as quickly as possible for my buddies who I'm sure were more bored than they admitted. We then visited a few breweries in town, and a liquor/beer store that was about the size of a walmart. Unbelievable selection. Here are a few pics:



The end of the pinion nut is supposed to be painted yellow, but it isn't. Toyota painted them in the factory for easy reference. Pink for 4.10, blue for 4.30, yellow for 4.56, and white for 4.88. When I didn't see the yellow paint I double checked the axle code on the door sticker. It did say G254, so I'm safe. Here are a few links for those of you who were hoping I had taken more pics of the procedure: Front diff removal Rear diff removal
I also started taking out the bolts on the rear suspension, and promptly snapped a u bolt, so I guess I'll be getting new ones:

It's about time I started getting some more done. This week I'm hoping to swap out the rear leafs and put in all new brake lines. The front calipers need to be put on as well, and also the fuel line. After that I'd almost be ready to put the body back on.

 

OOOOH, almost ready you say? EXCITING!

Honest, I'm seriously anxious for ya! lol.

Far as the diff's, ...any conclusion? Did you count the teeth, etc.? If it's Blue, then it's like mine, 4:30's most likely from an Auto 22re.... I sure hope you got what you paid for, man! Look like they'd never been out, eh? Can't tell from here, really, but LOOKS that way to me, lol.

 

150 doesnt go far on parts these days. Glad to hear you got your diffs and sure your parts are about to arrive and know you will move fast.

On my thread, I put some info about how our temp guages jump up to temp all of a sudden and why that maybe. That we were talking about awhile babck Still looking into it. Also you were asking about the tailgate and back door light. I put that up to. If you have any questions just let me know.

Looking forward to this week, Im sure you will get it togther quick.

 

So I thought I'd be able to pick up U bolts today, figuring that would be one thing that I'd be able to find easily, and was wrong. The auto parts store doesn't stock them, Toyota wants 50 bucks for one bolt, not including nuts and washers, and my local fastener store only had U bolts with 3/8 shank. I'm going to try some trailer places in the next few days. I called National 4wd for another update on the back ordered bushings and torsion bars. They had told me last time that the bushings would be July 8, it's now July 11 and they still don't have them. They previously had no eta on the torsion bars, but now they tell me the torsion bars are in. I asked them to find out what was going on with the bushings, and get me a shipping quote on the torsion bars. This conversation happened at 1:20pm. They still haven't called and now they're closed. I will never work with this company again. I'm treated better by the people that screw up my coffee in the mornings. I also had another issue that needed to be resolved. I took the top off the rusty daily driver yesterday, and the panel that covers the tailgate popped off from the wind. I almost lost it. These plastic retainers that the screws go into just weren't holding inside their places:

I went to the auto parts store and picked up the pieces that looked the most like those plastic pieces. They were for GM rear license plates:


Here's a comparison:


They were such a tight fit I had to tap them in, which was ideal. They seemed perfect. Cost me like 5 bucks and was the first cheap fix I've had in a long time.
So I decided it was about time to put on the soft top for the year:





I've always liked this soft top except the back piece is held to the tailgate with velcro, which doesn't hold. I need to put some snaps or grommets or some other fastener on there. Also the tailgate has a piece of stainless riveted to the top edge for the velcro to attach to, and you can see it's rusted right out every spot a rivet was put. It's really too bad. Its why I'm really looking forward to finishing the '88. I really love my daily driver, but there's way too much rust to make it worth fixing up.

 

Ahhhh, ok, read that last sentence and fhew, I'm no longer confused on the "dd" thing, lol.

Right on, and that thing is REALLY NICE! Can't wait to see what's next and root you on, man!

 

Dutch:
Regarding the u bolts, if you have a spring works near you that repairs truck springs they can make up u bolts for you! That's what I did when I built my 86 a few years back!

 

I really like that top dutch nice, you say the Velcro wont hold along the tailgate, makes me wonder about the design I was working on for the rest of my top.
Sorry to hear about the continued delay on parts, hope they get to ya soon.

 

Thanks Jason, I've always loved this soft top, I got it with the '89. I just think the design needs a few tweaks. All those pieces are zippered in separately, it's just velcro around the box of the truck. The velcro works ok across the sides. I think what I might do when I finish the '88 is instead of riveting the stainless to the top of the tailgate to put the velcro on (which rotted out the tailgate around the rivets) I'd like to attach a piece of something rigid to the bottom edge of the soft top that goes across the top of the tailgate, and then put some grommets in the corners that I could drill and tap into the tracks with a bolt and a wing nut or something. I tried to put a paint pic together to help describe this. The red lines would be the studs/bolts that I would sink into the tracks that sit on the bed rails, and then the white line would be the aluminum or stainless plate that I'd fasten to the inside of the soft top back. I'd have to put some rubber strips or something on it to go easy on the tailgate paint.

Heres the pic that could show you the tracks that would need the studs/bolts drilled and tapped to go through the grommets on the soft top:

I think if I made those changes the soft top wouldn't flap like crazy at highway speeds along the tailgate, and also wouldn't rot out the tailgate like my daily driver did. /fingers crossed

 

I don't know a specific spring works nearby, but I know a couple places that make custom trailers, and replace trailer axles, so I'm hoping they'll be able to help me out. I could bend the bolts myself if I could find a piece of 1/2" round the proper length with enough thread at the ends. My shop doesn't have a bar/pipe threader, so I'm stuck looking out of house. If those places don't work out I'll have to look for a spring works in a nearby city.

 

tht top is awsome. i want it lol.

 

That is a neat cheap trick. I will be keeping that in mind. Hoping to get carpt soon. I am missing some for my rear carpet by the tailgate.

How I want a softtop. Would be nice for summer time.

 

Have you tried Industrial Velcro? That stuff is rated at 100mph. ... And I have some that is HARD TO SEPARATE! lol. But yes, something more "zipper" or "Button" or otherwise mounted would be more practical. Besides... sucks having to remove the sewn in velcro and put in new when it wears out eventually! lol. Still... the stuff is INSANE, Dutch! haha.

 

I could replace the velcro and it would work just fine. I haven't done it because I'm not willing to stick or glue anything onto the tailgate of the 88 so I'm hoping to work out some modifications while it's still on old rusty. Couple updates. The torsion bars came in last night which is awesome but I still don't have all the bushings for the leaf springs. I didn't find the u bolts I needed so I ended up buying 4 that were meant for 5200 lb trailer axles and bending them to the shape I needed. hoping to get back out there tonight and make some progress.