Ugh...



Ahhhh... so much better.

 

I finished the auto-locker install last night. All I really needed to do was get the differential back in the truck, but that's a bit of a task when you're doing it by yourself. I'm looking forward to a test run, hopefully this weekend.

The unit is much smaller than I had anticipated:


Here I've popped off the bearing caps and entered what I called "Nervous Land".


Thankfully my friend's vice was the perfect size to hold the assembly while I broke the ring gear bolts loose, and subsequently torqued them back to 75lbft (threw some red Loctite on there too, mimicking what Zuk does on his gear installs site.)


Spartan installed! Before I put the ring gear back on. I had to take the ring gear off to get the center pin out.


Here it is all back together before I put the cover back on.



I took it for a quick trip down my gravel alley way, but it's a straight alley so I couldn't really test out the ratcheting.

 

I guess I need to get that tube rear bumper if we are still going to match..

keep up the good work

 

So, congrats, pics of your rig have made on to tumblr!

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Well that's cool. Who's Tumblr?

 

It's time to get organized.

Not the best quality tool box, but the bearings are the drawers are nicer than most of the big-box stuff (Craftsman excluded) and the price was right at $300.

 

niceee, what brand?

 

It's a US General from Harbor Freight.

 

˟˟˟˟yeahliftedtoyotas.tumblr.com

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It's a photo blog site.

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Sup Buddy? Got my V6 Upgrade done... etc. Also, slapped in those same bump stops. Thanks for the part number.

Have a great Humpday, sir

 

I had a GREAT time out at Hidden Falls this weekend with my buddy Kenneth. He's got a basically stock first gen 4Runner and tackled everything we threw at it.

The Spartan locker was much smoother than I expected. It kept both front wheels spinning together in a straight line, but I was still able to make very tight turns with hardly any audible clicking or popping. It almost felt like my turning radius DECREASED, but that could be my brain playing tricks on me.

Here's a few clips of our trip. We did some more gnarly stuff, but didn't get video of it. The last bit of the clip is Bronco Buster... and it really felt like I was going to roll at any moment. The video doesn't do it justice.

 

Great video! Really looking good with the dawgs and all else you've done to get. Liking the locker up front, eh? NICE!

 

Good job on the front locker. Do you have one in the rear? If you don't be carefull you could get into a situation in which one front wheel is doing all of the work and putting a lot of strain on one front axle and CV.
(eg. one front wheel is off of the ground and one rear wheel is slipping = almost all of the work being put on the front wheel that is still on the ground.)

 

Yeah, I've only got a locker in the front. Thanks for the heads up. It's performing smooth enough that I'm starting to consider one in the rear too.

 

I lucked out and got to hit up Hidden Falls AGAIN this weekend. I'm getting much more comfortable with the truck and pushed things MUCH further. I'm getting a feel for how sideways I can get, and the front locker is constantly amazing me.

My friend Jeff's CK5 rock crawler is having some steering issues, so he brought his full-size Ram out. It couldn't get through the narrow trails, but could climb plenty with all open diffs.

Here's a little camera trickery making my 4Runner look like it's just as big.



I think this photo is a bit closer to the truth:





These are the worst parking jobs I've ever seen.





This is the most flexed I've gotten photos of so far. The fronts low-pro bump stops were almost touching. I've finally got that lower arm pointing upward, not just horizontal.












This was a tight spot, and another limited pushed in learning how far I can lean. The front and rear bumpers, combined with my wheels sticking out just enough, kept the wall off of my body panels. I'll be getting sliders with a kick-out for sure.






The front locker REALLY paid off getting out of this spot.

 

I have a new demon to chase.

During that last trip I had the following issue:

As I was climbing the truck would start lurching/bouncing. I've seen this happen, and had it happen to me, just from the driveline loading and unloading as you're gaining and losing traction trying to climb. You know, where people end up breaking things. I figured the added traction from the front locker was the culprit, so I was trying to be careful.

As the day progressed, the lurching got worse. Then, I figured maybe my foot was accidentally moving down on the gas as the truck jumped. Then the engine started stalling.

At the end of the day it got real bad while trying a steep climb. I knew it wasn't my foot, and the engine kept stalling out. Before all this I had felt like things were a bit sluggish on the road, but I figured it was just my butt-dyno needing calibration. Now I think it's the same issue.


Whenever I search for "surging engine" I get a bunch of TPS threads. I'm not done searching, but it has been hard to find someone else with the same issue.

I don't think it's my TPS. Calibrating it was one of the very first things I did when I got this truck. I just checked that it wasn't out of calibration by starting the truck up and holding the engine at various speeds. It never surged at any speed.

I just checked the air filter (it's a K&N, probably fewer than 5k miles on it). It doesn't look brand new, but I can see plenty of light through it, so I don't think it needs cleaning.


My guess right now is fuel filter, so I'm going to order one and swap it out. Any thoughts you guys have are greatly appreciated. Otherwise, I'm just thinking out loud.

 

IACV can cause lurching as well. They can get stuck open and subsequently pull more air in. Easy test, IF YOUR LARGE VACUUM TUBES AREN'T LIKE MINE WERE, HARD AS ROCKS! lol... You simply give it gas, like 2K rpm, then pinch off the IACV vaccum that goes up into the throttle body just behind the plate. If it stops surging, then 'unmetered air getting in' is not your issue. Doesn't sound like it from the crappy running, IMHO, but it's something in the P.O.E. to rule out.

Fuel filter is CERTAINLY often a culprit.

AFM can also cause issues.... I've just read(can't find it of course) a thread where I guy with the K&N CAI kit in the original location had fried his AFM, as his header things so hot in there that when he touched the AFM it literally singed his hand to leave a mark. The Ambient Temp Sensor Cone in there must have become messed up or something, throwing variable readings in there.

Filter is simply good maint...... Do that first, anyhow. OEM!

Easiest TPS test is to just simply unplug it while running. You can drive like that for a while, just not forever, as it goes to closed loop and runs really rich(will eat up your CAT).... but IT WILL RUN WELL, ........MAYBE, if the TPS IS the problem. I say "MAYBE" simply because there are many things involved.... so it could be something else or multiple things working against each other....BUT, it's worth trying, ya know? It should idle up and be smooth, when pulling the TPS.... BUT, as I said, since the TPS works in junction with other things, it may not be the problem... It just shows you that by going back into open loop, you've taken 'whatever it is' out of the picture, yeah?

 

Thanks for the thoughts, Mark.

The truck idles fine... and revs through RPMs smoothly, so it's hard to diagnose while under the hood.

I replaced the fuel filter this weekend. It looked like an IMPOSSIBLE task (it's really hidden in there under the intake manifold) until I found a great step-by-step on Pirate. Had be cracking up too, so well written: http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/4719985-post21.html

After reading through that it only took me about 10 minutes.

Unfortunately, it didn't fix the problem at all. I went out to test it out and got this video showing the problem. I can only get it to happen while doing a hard climb in 4-low. I put it in 2-hi and tried to drive up some stuff and just spun my wheels, but the engine felt solid. It has happened to me a couple times doing quick left turns from a stop in traffic, but otherwise it seems to drive alright. I can still hit 75mph on the highway.

Here's the video:
My friend thinks it may be the EGR. I just redid my vac lines with silicone, but I can check them over to make sure nothing came loose.

 

You can diagnose an EGR modulator malfunction by disconnecting the vacuum to the EGR valve. This will indicate if the modulator or the modulator-EGR line is pluged up.

Could be the clutch. it'll slip more at higher RPM.

Could be the chain tensioner, low oil pressure, this will go away at higher rpm.

Now I gotta go read that filter change thread. Knew there had to be a simple way to do it. thanks!