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Last operation for today, i decided to put the new ebay el cheapo chrome bumper and brackets on. First the brackets were not even the same as the ones i took off, so they were not going to work. I hammered the bent mount, bracket and bumper filler piece back into shape. Then mounted and shimmed up the main brackets with a body shim set i bought from Harbor Freight. They also work great as alignment shims on old cars and the assorted box costs around $10, iirc.
for some unknown reason, the square holes on the top of the bumper are slightly smaller than the ones on the front of the bumper.???
i guess the reason is crap quality control. I am happy with the result nonetheless.
One small thing that made me very happy today was i discovered the second lisence plate light fixture in a box of parts the PO had given me. Don't know why it's out but it's going back in!
This is the last thing i need to fix before it will pass MASS state(annual!) inspection.
Last edited by Melrose 4r; 07-01-2017 at 07:35 PM.
Today i had one goal: to get the lisence plate lights working again.
first, get to it by running up the rear window. I ran jumper cables from the battery and
wired it right to the window motor.
Once i got it apart, i could see why there was only one fixture. The plastic mounts were broken off somehow.
too grungy, i have to clean this...and figure out a way to make new mounts.
Last edited by Melrose 4r; 07-02-2017 at 07:28 PM.
I looked around the garage for some donor plastic. This old bumper end looked good. To quote The Grinch, "if i can't find a reindeer, i'll make one instead."
Last edited by Melrose 4r; 07-02-2017 at 07:33 PM.
I cut it apart using a Dremel with a cutoff wheel. One of my favorite tools. I made two brackets, drilled a hole in each and attached them with Gorilla glue.
Last edited by Melrose 4r; 07-02-2017 at 07:38 PM.
Then all i had to do was solder the wires back up run to Autozone for some fresh bulbs and test it out before reinstalling it.
20 watts of compliance, officer...now it should pass inpection with no trouble!
u
Last edited by Melrose 4r; 07-02-2017 at 07:45 PM.
Working on the original AM/FM radio today. It would play, but the tuning knob had no effect, and the indicator didn't move. I felt there can't be too much wrong with it and asked some of the wizards I work with and they all said it was probably the thread that runs from the tuning knob to the tuner itself for control. So I partially disassembled it at home and brought it in to the office today where my friend Scott who has repaired well more audio things in his life than me set to work on it. Just for reference, I have repaired more audio things than most people I know. Scott has probably repaired five times more than that!
After we got it apart we could see there is no thread for moving the tuner; it's all gearing. There was old (31 year old!) dried up grease that was pretty glue-like on the mechanical parts. After cleaning that with alcohol and a brush and a bit of scraping with an exacto knife, everything is moving as it should now. So I'll add some new grease after I get home tonight and throw it back in the truck and hopefully have radio for driving to work tomorrow.
So in typical Toyota fashion, after 31 years, the radio didn't fail...the grease did!
This is why 'YOTAS RULE.
Buttoned up the radio and threw it back in last evening. It works great! The stock speakers still sound nice and this is the best car AM radio I've ever heard.
My son and I took a cruise about 9pm with the top down.
Next up, I'll be getting some ball joint lift blocks from 4crawler and new shocks so I can crank down the sway-away torsion bars to try for a better ride. It's awful right now.
I want to keep the lift but I know very well how a stock, street driven 86 yota 4x4 should feel(from my dad's truck) and we have a ways to go to get back to a comfortable ride.
Good progress today. The boy installed two plastic cup holders in the rear using two of the existing bolt holes and bolts from the hard top.
then "we" learned how to change the oil(it was at least a qt low!) and filter and set the timing. At first we had trouble shorting the connector with a paperclip but we did eventually get it to respond correctly.
i remembered there was a distributor cap and rotor in the apple crate of stuff the previous owner gave me and it turns out they were new genuine Toyota parts. What's better than that? To my surprise i also found a New-in-the-bag distributor O-ring gasket in the box! So since my disti was caked with oil and dirt, i pulled it out, cleaned it up, removed the cooked o-ring and reinstalled it with the new o-ring, cap and rotor and reset the timing. That box is the gift that keeps on giving! I see the name of the person i believe was two owners ago on some of these parts. It seems he bought some parts and never did anything with them. He handed them off to the guy i got the truck from, who never did anything with them either.
Next, i investigated the spare tire and the winch worked ok, better after a bath in WD40. The spare had 10psi in it. So i blew it up and cranked it back up in there. While i was under there, i noticed the truck has greasable shackles on it! But they dont look like they were ever greased. The fittings were pretty rusty so i hit them with a wire wheel on a drill. Borrowed my neighbor's grease gun, i am not sure any grease went in. Then i broke the grease fitting trying to remove the hose. So now i probably need to replace all 4 of those if i am going to see any benefit from greasable shackles.
about this point, i went in for lunch then decided to go fishing for a few hours at the golf course pond up the street.
since the engine oil was low, i was starting to get a little paranoid about the tranny and transfer case so decided to check/change the oil in them.
i could not for the life of me get the fill plug out of the trans! What Size is this darned fill plug??? It seems to be 16mm, but somebody rounded it off, probably because they didn't have a 16mm and i only have a 12 pt 16mm, not a 6pt. What if i drain it and then fill it through the shifter hole? I think i did that on my old 4runner but it's a vague memory.
somebody stop me if that wont work!
i'll work on it more tomorrow.
Last edited by Melrose 4r; 07-09-2017 at 03:26 AM.
... somebody rounded it off, probably because they didn't have a 16mm and i only have a 12 pt 16mm, not a 6pt....
... What if i drain it and then fill it through the shifter hole?
Can be filled through the shifter hole but you'll need to know exactly how much to re-fill it with.
P.S. In 1986 I bought a 100-parts Craftsman set (for maybe $50 back then?). I never had use for 12-point sockets since then. A couple of years ago, I sold all 12-points and English wrenches from that set and made $35
Can be filled through the shifter hole but you'll need to know exactly how much to re-fill it with.
P.S. In 1986 I bought a 100-parts Craftsman set (for maybe $50 back then?). I never had use for 12-point sockets since then. A couple of years ago, I sold all 12-points and English wrenches from that set and made $35
great! That's the plan for today, then.
I admire your swap meet savvy, Rad4Runner!
On the way home, stopped for a photo opp then spent some time picking up a few items at Harbor Freight.
got a wave from a family in a wicked orange Jeep. People don't seem to know what 4runners with the hardtop off are around here.
Last edited by Melrose 4r; 07-09-2017 at 07:22 PM.
07-01-2017, 07:25 PM
