Well it has been awhile since I was on here but just go9t back from California helping to settle my parents estate. Still have my 1998 4runner with all her mods. So while down there I found a pick and pull which had a 1997 4runner which appears toi be desert dune metallic. I was able to score both driver side doors and fender to replace the one that were on mine but were not OEM parts but rather after market. NOTE to newbies: All factory Toyota removable fenders, doors and such will have a Toyota sticker with the VIN, so now begins the transplant process. The paint seems to be a dead match. Hopeing to get this done in about a week. Any suggesti8ons are always welcome .First off, I have noted that the rear door window switch connector is different then the 98. It appears the wires are the same color codes so am thinking if I unpin these two connectors and put them in the correct orderand put the wires in the 98 window switch I should be good. As for the driver door, seems some one got in there and in their zeal to get the master door switch they cut all the connectors for it off, so I will possibly be looking at swapping the door harness? Any sygesstions?

 

Glad to see you back and I have no help for you. I did to the new-to-me heated mirrors what you are thinking of doing for the rear doors to make the mirror connector work with the truck's and that worked well- it makes sense to try.
As for the driver's door it also makes sense to me to swap your harness to the new door. It seems like that would be the simplest route. Compare connectors as you go along, either swap your components over or make the connector work with the existing components.

 

Thaks habanero. With the fact the dweeble that took the door switch unit from the driver's door decided he wanted the connectors, so he just cut the door harness, so it necessitated me swapping out the original door harness. Was a bit time consuming but after figuring out some of the in's and out's, well let's just say that door latch is a bugger! so having to swap out EVERYTHING in the old door, well let's just say I learned a lot. All put back together, and cables routed through the door and into the cab and connected up everything seems to be working. Just a tip for anyone who needs to do this or replace a broken window, be sure to grease the rails and rollers for the window actuators, great preventative maintenance. Now I only have the front fender to replace and that is going to be a bit more complicated then just a "normal" fender replacement as I have the VW Beetle side marker mod. But ended up with a near perfect match on the color of the doors. 97 Desert Dune Metallic same as 98 (whew). Whatever Toyota does to the OEM parts, I can tell you this. I have done almost no waxing to my truck (really should do that) and finding these parts in a wrecking yard in the harsh California sun, well it is holding up really well.

One thing I noticed when taking the driver's door off, my truck was in an accident even there is no record of such an accident, the dirvers doo was inf act a Toyota part but was post assembly production as it's interior is painted flat black and has the TOYOTA stamp in the door. It was used to replace the OEM door damaged. Very pleased with the result.

 

Well finished the transplant of the driver's door into the replacement 97 door. Getting all the components and the harnesses out was a challenge along with the the door lock mechanism. All back together and all is working great. Very please with the results. Now have the driver's side fender to do. Will be a bit more of a challenge as I will have to locate and cut out the location for the 2001 VW Beetle side marker. If memory serves I will have to disassemble the entire front end of my truck to get to the the bolts and such, so I may just have to finish up the other mods I have been putting off.

The big one is the transmission oil cooler mod I came up with without having to go the route of the aftermarket coolers. Ford seems to make some pretty solid items (my Taurus 2 speed fan is one) So I ould pair of tranny coolers that came out of I believe to be early 90's Explorers. I found two and made up a couple of brackets to mount them forward of the radiator and my thinking was, if one is good two should be better? They are not that big to start with so right now they are mounted and connected to each other with the "inlet and outlet" ends plugged to prevent debris from getting in. So now I need to decide which end is going to be the return from the transmission to the cooler and which end is going to be the cooler return to the transmission. I have to look , but I don't think it matters whether the high side or low side goes either way. Any suggestions on that is appreciated. The plan is once I deccide which end is going where, I will get a couple quarts of the proper tranny fluid, pump it thought and flush the coolers then hook them up and top off the transmission fluid and give it a test run. I no longer have a Photobucket account as they did away with all the free accounts. Anyone have suggestions on where I could upload pics? Would be fun to share again. So that is the latest. Stay intouch andlooking forward to getting critiques from my fellow Yota-tekkers

 

Pictures, yes please! You've come up with some very nice mods and I'd love to keep up on what you do with this truck.
I've been using imgur since photobucket went wackadoodle. So far it's been okay, the site is a little awkward to work with and doesn't like to edit. It does have image links with size choices at the bottom of the link list- I use 'large thumbnail'.

 

Would love to include pics but I do not have an account that will host my pics anymore as Photo Bucket does not support "free accounts" anymore.

 

Imgur.com is what I'm using now, it's been okay. I like the part where it's free, and that I can choose what size the image will be before I copy the link to paste in a thread.
Yotatech is hosting some of mine too, but they will use what you upload if they want. Don't know what else is out there though.