No, it was reasonable. I'm almost done fixing them and re-painting the "4WD" on the rears. I'll post a pic when I'm done.

 

Here they are...came out pretty good I think.

Scrubbed them clean, small patch of fiberglass on the rear of the holes, a dab of FIPG to fill the hole a bit, then Rustoleum Bed Liner to try and hide it more. I think it will fade out fine.

 

Wow they look brand new

 

Greg o, that looks freaking awesome! I'm going to read back and do the same on my rears and try to get them installed. I will use the same type of pen, but in red? I think on my rig, red might look better, like Richard did. I was wanting to do the Toyota up front as well... I have a lot of gas to much and so forth to do in order to get them to fit with my 35's and mad flex! Lol.

 

I have seen several other things that you have restored and you always do an amazing job. Those look great!!!!

 

Thanks, yeah, I think Red would look good on yours also. And if you need to, put some of that rustoleum bed liner stuff on to make it look new again! I was gonna give you a call on Friday, was in your area....Silver Spur and PV Drive North, had to visit a family friend and fix their computer.

WTH?! I don't care how much "gas" you have ...you can fart all you want but I don't think it's going to help them fit or give you anymore flex!!

 

Thanks Terry! hope you like the center console. Don't worry, if it doesn't meet your expectations I will give you a full refund, but I think it turned out pretty good.

 

Hahahahaha! Sorry man... Auto correct and vicodin! Lol......

What I meant to say was I have a lot of fabrication and such to do in order to get them to fit. The problem is when you will like I do, you are often completely stuffed and with the corner on the ground... What happens is you back up and drive right over the thing, as it pushes forward towards the tire as you are backing up against a rock or something. Its almost best to mount them off the bumper or something, that way, as you back up, even if they touch the tire they don't make enough contact to be torn off. Sorry about that. But I do want to touch mine up and try, at least for Pismo and so forth

 

That explains it!

On another note, I went and ordered a full set of upper and lower Sankei 555 ball joints. The cheapest I found were on Amazon w/free shipping and they had a $50 instant credit if I got one of their credit cards that gives you 3x points when you use it at Amazon. I'm one of those guys that pays the card off every month so they don't make any money off of me and am a regular amazon customer so it was well worth it. So I got all 4 for around $175.



I now have a brand new still in boxes full set of upper and lower Moog ball joints for sale. Two were made in Japan, but don't have 555 stamped on them and the other two were made in the USA. If you're interested let me know, I think they would make great spares to have on hand for the trail!

Also, to let you in on some good info and just as an FYI in case you didn't know. When I was in Japan I saw some gas station/repair shops with "Musashi" parts boxes. Didn't know about that company so looked them up and asked a friend to ask another friend about them and found out they are an OEM seal supplier. These wheel hub seal kits for my Camry cost half of what the cheapest online toyota dealer sells the same kits for. They even have the toyota part no. on them.





And I also found out at the same time that Stone is also an OEM supplier, they are a branch of Ishino gaskets. This rear main was also significantly cheaper than toyota and they also have the toyota part no. on them.



So save some money without sacrificing quality....In my book, Musashi and Stone have joined the ranks of Ishino, NOK, Aisin/Advics, Denso, NGK, Tokiko (TKK), Tokico, Koyo, Nachi, Bando, Sankei, Taiho, NPR, etc....as good manufacturers/oem suppliers.

 

Good to know that, Grego.

BTW, how did you search for the Sankei BJ's? By part number? TIA

 

Hey Ray,

Yes, by part no.....

W01331626414 -
$50.25

W01331625635 -
Woo Hoo...looks like they raised the price for this one to $61.49....I paid $52.35

 

I got the console today and it is in amazing shape. You did great on it and appreciate you sending it to me. Thanks!!!

I just posted on Marks part thread about his front end things. If he has sold them I will be interested in getting your ball joints soon. If some one else needs them go ahead as I am just gradually building parts up and it is gong to be awhile before I get to my front end. The weather is to cold here.

For what my driving style is those sound like they would work great. Being made in Japan I feel they would be great quality. I might have to go your route on Amazon. I can zip my way around ebay, but not so good on Amazon but hear they have great deals as well. I have a hard time find things on Amazon. Finding the time of day on the internet can trip me up as well.lol

 

Terry, glad the console will be appreciated! Don't worry - the ball-joints are yours, check your PM, it will be a great deal . I've been holding on to them for a while so glad they will be used.

 

Thanks, Grego. YEah when people from Yotatech buy things, prices go up. Remember the H4 conversion harness? LOL!

 

Oh yeah! that thing jumped $20 in one day.....

 

Finished my sorting/organizing project of smaller spare parts and bolts. It was perfect timing as it seemed both Amazon and Harbor Freight were having sales on organizers. Ended up using 14 different size Stanley and Harbor Freight organizers and filled them ALL up. The best deal was the larger deep ones which are Stanley 014026R SortMaster Organizers and are only $8.98 no tax and free shipping on amazon from seller "Bargain The People" , they take an additional $1 off each box when you add to cart. I actually ordered two more...

The Stanley Sortmaster Lite Organizer STST14021 are on sale for $4.99 at Ace Hardware online and free shipping to your local Ace Hardware Store (2 miles for me).

The Stanley containers are slightly better built than the HF, which was expected.

 

I currently have HF containers, but you will be surprised at how much quicker it makes when working on projects. Especially some of the ones I tie into or when working on someone elses truck and they have hardware store bolts or what is missing when POs have worked on their things before. So much nicer. A small and cheap investment that really pays off in the long run and does clean things up in the shop. You are going to like it.

 

Terry, this organizing thing was all from one of your pictures you posted on your build thread where you had your bolts/screws all sorted out in these storage boxes. I can already tell this is going to be much easier looking for parts. Previously I just had two huge plastic tubs filled with big spare parts (gauge clusters, axles, interior dash parts, etc...) mixed up with a bunch of zip loc bags of smaller parts. All the small parts are in these boxes now, much easier to find things now.

 

Woo hoo! a real update to my build!

On Monday I took a short drive in the truck and parked it in the driveway. My neighbor tells me there's "red stuff" under my truck. Crap....leak in the seam at the bottom. I had this original radiator welded up twice so far to fix little leaks. This time I said it was time for a new one.

Decided to go with an all aluminum from ebay and received it today. Read a few threads from a few years ago where other guys purchased the same one and seemed to be ok, but someone had a leak and had to warranty it. Seller has been around since 2007 and sold over 8,000 items with a 99.8% positive rating.....so I went for it. Uyunira is the seller.

So far so good...nice and shiny!

 

Man, talk about a clean engine bay! new radiator looks great