It's a pretty fun hobby eh.

 

It sure is!


Hey Mark, here's what the top of my upper ball joint looks like:





Can I just swap that our for a straight zerk fitting? I'm guessing so? I'm new to the grease-able parts game.

[edit] Of course I can. I hadn't thought of that! I'll fix that when I install the rest of my ball joints.

 

I've been slowly tearing in to the 4Runner to get the brake rotors, pads, brake lines, and ball joints replaced.

Last night a drunk driver decided to destroy my other car (and then take off after the accident) so my repair schedule on the 4Runner has been accelerated against my will.













That's the drunk driver wearing my rear bumper on his truck right before he took off.

I wanted to get the 4Runner all fixed after work today, but right as it got dark I found out I have a frozen brake caliper, so I've got to hunt down new calipers this weekend.

It has been a frustrating couple of days.

 

Oh man! I'm really sorry to see that, C! Holy crapoli, u ok? Did someone get his plate? Clearly his front plate was blocked. ... Did he drag your bumper off with him for a ways?

Did you think about getting a calipers rebuild kit? I did a write up on that. good to rebuild OEM I'd you can.

I hope they catch on quick man! keep us updated and let us know if you're OK

 

You alright though? No injury?

Sorry to hear some drunken moron decided to drive home.

Get any info on the guy?

 

Thanks guys. There aren't any real injuries. My neck is sore. My passenger's back is hurting, but hopefully that will clear up.

The guy was blocked in by traffic long enough for us to get good photos of his rear plate and a look at him through the windows. He DID take off with my bumper still attached to his truck. It fell off a couple blocks away.

I'll look in to the caliper rebuild kit. Time is kinda important, though, so I may have to buy some remanned units just so I can get back on the road.

 

Sorry to here about your car!! I have straight zerts in mine

 

So to recap... after this:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ocell/10002806006/http://www.flickr.com/photos/ocell/10002806006/, on Flickr

I've been scrambling to get my 4Runner back on the road as a dependable daily driver, as soon as possible.

I had a bad ball joint, and I didn't want to risk folding a wheel under me on the highway, so I've had it parked until I could get them swapped out.

It took a couple evenings of solid work, but I've got the truck back on the road. I did all new ball joints, new brake rotors (old ones were very, very thin), new calipers, new pads, and one new brake line. I rounded off the fittings on the driver's side hard lines, so I want to wait until I can bend new hard lines to replace the soft line on that side.

I was scratching my head on the spindle nut for a little while, but after some searching here I figured out the right way to hit it with a hammer/screw driver to get it off without buying a 54mm socket.

Unfortunately, I've also realized that my tie rod ends are bad, so I'll be replacing those soon. Probably after I get back from a road trip to Florida to buy a new car later this week. Plan is to pick up this 1991 BMW 318is that's been built for track/autocross. I'm pretty stupid excited about it.




Some progress shots on the ball joint/brake job for anyone interested.







This is such a great trick for torquing the bolts holding the rotor on to the hub! The wheel studs are holding things on the wheel.






I forgot to get a pic of the new calipers installed. I also put the hard top back on since I can't switch to my Prelude when it's raining.

 

Today I ordered new tie rod ends (both inner and outer) as well as adjuster sleeves (they were cheap enough). My whole truck is going to be new replacement parts before long!

 

Interested to hear more on the Beemer! Good. News on all the new parts.... Less squeaks, soon! Lol. It will handle much better.

Once again, I'm really sorry about the car getting smashed. Any news on catching that guy? I assume they will ask you to testify I'm sure. Glad you're okay though man!

 

Thanks, Mark.

I don't know if the guy got "caught" by the cops, but my insurance has made a claim with his insurance, so they at least figured out who owns the truck. I'm hoping to hear from the police any day now.

My insurance totaled my car. Now I'm trying to get them to pay me what it's worth.

I was already going to get the BMW before any of this happened, so at least I got lucky with the timing.

The BMW has been built up by a friend of mine. He makes solid mounts and bushings himself, so it has all of the parts he makes: solid (M3 offset) control arm bushings, rear subframe riser mounts (to fix camber) and he'll throw in some solid engine/transmission mounts that I'll probably need to install myself.

Otherwise, it's got Recaro seats, a Momo wheel, lightweight flywheel from a M20 BMW engine, ECU chip, coil overs, adjustable Koni shocks, camber plates front and rear with new shock mounts, working A/C, Ronal Turbo wheels (pretty rare and awesome)... I think that covers all the "mods".

It needs some love on the outside... the paint is pretty bad. And I'd like to drop a LSD in. I want to drive it a bit with the stock 4.10 gearing and figure out what ratio I want to put in.


Anyway, this isn't a BMW forum, but those are the details for anyone interested. I'm sure I'll get a thread going at www.r3vlimited.com soon enough.

[edit]Oh yeah, I'm hopping on a plane tomorrow to go get it![/edit]


I don't know if it's in my head, but on my drive home from work today the steering in my 4Runner felt looser than normal. I think I'm just paranoid about the tie rods.

 

On the way home from work last night I decided to tap on the dash to see if I could get the climate control lights to blink back on. After a couple taps my fingers went right through the graphic panel.

Well, I guess the lights came on, at least.

 

mine is broke like that also. they get fragile.

 

I believe that climate control face is still available from Toyota. It's $45, if I remember correctly, and I'm pretty sure the Redeth has the part number. I sold all mine or I would get one out to you as quickly as possible. That's funny, that and the SR5 gauge clusters don't last 24 hours... I can't hold on to them! Lol

 

Mark,

The reason I'm so bummed that I busted through this one is because it's one I bought from you!

 

Oh yeah, I got all the tie rods (inner and outer with new adjustment sleeves) swapped in a couple weeks ago. The job was super easy with a tie rod end puller. My alignment is a bit off, but I haven't had time to tweak/drive/tweak/drive and get it perfect.

Mark, if you're interested, I've got a built thread going for the 318is here: http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=302249

 

I will check it out... And yeah, I'm sorry about that... That one was really clean too. Even new they break fairly easily, gotta be careful. Obviously you know that already, sorry. Lol.

 

Sorry to hear about your prelude, They great cars.
Got a question for you, when you took of your selector part of the your hub was there a bolt going in your axle shaft? I have it on mine and wanting to replace the rotors just not sure whats best way to stop shaft from spinning. Thanks

 

Thanks, man.

I get that bolt off by putting the transfer case in gear. That will lock the axle and keep it from rotating.

 

Ah, will have to see if I can do that, My truck is still down, haven't started it in awhile and have a blown out tire on the rear I gotta replace. Thank bud