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These are the new ball joints from NAPA. They are made in China (what isn't?) but i am happy they came with hardware and both have grease fittings.
... I started feeling around, moving hoses and noticed when i squeezed the rubber elbow in front of the throttle body...
so for now i wrapped duct tape around it to stop the leak....
How I roll now right before Route 66 trip. I think I'll keep it that way until my intake-battery swap.
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Originally Posted by Melrose 4r
...Supposed to be 4 bolts holding the ball joint in. Not two!
Moving right along. She'll be fit as a fiddle in no time. We still have my 86 that i bought originally. My youngest son has it now, but all three kids had a crack at it. Great to see that your wrenching with your son.
My son did it mostly by himself, while i gave instructions.
LOL. That's pretty much how we operate. He's the one daily driving it and he needs to learn. This past week we/he put on a cat back exhaust and he painted the frame with Eastwood frame coat. If you get a front end alignment I think Firestone still does the lifetime one for about $180. You can go back for infinity. I'm about to get it on my 2008 4Runner when I get new tires mounted.
My front end parts on the '89 look only slightly better than your old ones. I'd like to replace the stuff later this summer.
LOL. That's pretty much how we operate. He's the one daily driving it and he needs to learn. This past week we/he put on a cat back exhaust and he painted the frame with Eastwood frame coat. If you get a front end alignment I think Firestone still does the lifetime one for about $180. You can go back for infinity. I'm about to get it on my 2008 4Runner when I get new tires mounted.
My front end parts on the '89 look only slightly better than your old ones. I'd like to replace the stuff later this summer.
i love the idea of a lifetime alignment because i tend to keep cars a long time. Will have to see if there are any firestone shops around here. My goto is Town Fair Tire chain. They give you a nice colorful printout of before and after.
my son has a frame painting job in his future also. I think i will have him pressure wash it then us rust converter on the surface rust. I dont plan to drive it in the winter, though. They put some real nasty stuff on the highways here.
Well, after a long, hot day, the 4runner is back on all four wheels again!
Did all the ball joints, tie rod ends and one wheel bearing. I eyeballed the alignment and its pretty good but will take it in before putting any serious miles on. Took it out for a test drive with my son with the top down and picked up my friend and his daughter for a spin around town. My son said he thinks we're cool because we have this truck. I told him, yes, i agree... Iam cool..😎.LOL.
There is still one problem i need to fix before going back for MA state inspection. The rear lisence plate light is not working. I believe there should be two fixtures but there is only one for some reason, and a small dangling wire. So, i think i can get the one working pretty easily. I already checked the bulb and it's good, So i think i have to run the rear window up to get to the wiring that goes to the plate light. Easy, i hope.
Moving right along. She'll be fit as a fiddle in no time. We still have my 86 that i bought originally. My youngest son has it now, but all three kids had a crack at it. Great to see that your wrenching with your son.
being an original owner is awesome. My dad bought a red 4wd extra cab new in 1986 and i loved driving that truck (on occasion) when i was 19. He left it to a friend when he passed away.
Last edited by Melrose 4r; 06-26-2017 at 03:12 AM.
Took off for the tire shop to get an alignment this afternoon. My son had just put on the new EFI intake elbow that arrived in the mail from Summit.
driving up the street the truck would not rev, had no power and i knew something was wrong. Felt like a big vac leak. I inspected his work and it seemed fine.
i had just tightened the backlash on the steering box and i couldnt get my head around how that could make it run bad.
After looking under the hood for a while, i found it. I had removed the snorkle tube from the radiator support to the air filter box and when i reinstalled it, it was jammed against the rad support *not* through the hole! Doh! It couldn't breathe! Easy fix. Have to wait until morning for the alignment, though.
Had the first appointment for alignment this morning and the tech did not have to touch much. He adjusted the caster and camber a bit and the toe that I set by eyeball was nearly exact. It feels better going down the road but there is still a lot of play on the input side of the steering box so I'm considering the best way to deal with that. I think I have adjusted all the backlash that I can out of it. It has 178k miles on it and appears to be the original steering box.
After the alignment I drove to the office, 50 miles in 70+ mph traffic and decided I have to make some additional changes to make this truck more highway friendly. Around Boston you don't get on the highway unless you can keep up and that is pretty much 65- 80 mph at all times. I have one rear tire that is out of round and contributes strong vibrations at 65+ mph. They are old BFGs so I'll have to find a swap meet replacement or buy a whole set and if I do that, I'll buy a more highway friendly choice such as Yokohamas.
Also, I've learned the truck has sway-away torsion bars and KYB gas-a-just shocks on it. I know the valving in those model KYBs is awful for the street. I had the same on my 67 Camaro and they felt terrible on our bumpy, potholed Massachusetts streets. I went to KYB GR2's on the Camaro and it was night and day. I would consider trading these Sway-Away bars for stockers if anybody is interested. The shocks I will give to a metal scrapper.
Also, maybe tonight, I'll get around to throwing a timing light on it. I have always suspected it's a bit retarded but I have not done anything related to a tune up yet. We shall see.
I elected not to drive the 4runner to work today, hoping if I left it home my son would take on a couple small tasks by himself
1) remove passenger side speaker to get ready for new speaker spacer rings.
2) investigate whether the spare tire winch works or is rusted up.
We shall see if he even remembers to try either one. Place your bets... he is almost 13 years old...attention span is short.
Glad i did not bet too heavy. He had not left the house all day😡
when i got home my wife informed me that my Loctite 480 i bought from a seller in Korea through Amazon had arrived by mail. I dont think it took a week. This is the stuff you need to fix a Toyota steering wheel where the grip is separated from the core. This has been a problem on many Toyotas i have owned and it's really ticking me off on the 4runner. So my son learned how to use the steering wheel puller and i drilled 5/32 holes about every 2 finger grips on the back of the wheel. After i had squeezed the glue into several holes it occurred to me to insert a paperclip in the hole first to make it easier for the loctite to travel deeply. It dried in about 15 mins and is much much better but i think i will have to go back for a couple sections tomorrow to make it perfect. This stuff is black and nasty. I have no idea how to get the spots off my hands!
I decided the easiest way to clean the sun visors was to remove them. The headliner is just as dirty. It's like soot or something...
i used fast orange with pumice had cleaner and a scrub brush and rinsed with HOT water.
here's an after/before shot. Much better now. I will probably have to pull the headliner. I was planning on installing a sunroof as soon as i find a deal on one. Also bought a map light set off ebay so i'll have to install that.
Last edited by Melrose 4r; 06-29-2017 at 06:47 PM.
Also another small victory to report, thanks too another member here's helpful post i was able to find the Toyota p/n's for the prop rod bushing and holder and ordered them from the Toyota dealer near my office. Their warehouse had 20 of each and they will be in tomorrow but i won't, so now i have a reason to look forward to going to work Wednesday.
Went hard on the truck last evening after work and most of today despite the hot humid day.
last night, i cleaned the headliner(with fast orange) , reinstalled the cleaned-up visors, and pulled all the non-funtional stereowiring out.
i had this many cables under the rear seat.
One of the previous owners had a really bumping system in this truck at one time. At this point, none of it works so out it comes.
the stock am fm radio worked after i plugged it back up and it played through the stock in-dask spkrs. That would be fine for me but the tuning knob doesnt work so i'll take it apart and see if i can fix that. The sony head unit is old enough that it doesnt have a line input on it so i may junk it.
The two are bracketed together.
Today, put the truck up on jackstands an ran it to investigate the rear tire with the alleged bump that was not really balanceable at the shop.
yup, its out of round. So i'll keep watching craigslist and swap meets for a deal on one bfg a/t 32x11.5r15.
then i pulled the rear brake drums for inspection. The po had a receipt for rear brake work and they looked good inside. Took the opportunity to dump the brake dust that in my experience accumulates in there and makes the brakes not work as well. Then got the boy to spray paint the drums and we put new center caps and high quality chrome lug nuts on.
Before wheel
06-23-2017, 06:10 PM
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