Another long day of working on the '99. Passenger manual hub installed, passenger side steering rack boot replaced, oil changed in the transfer case, NWF Eco-crawler case, and transmission (Redline oil), and the skids all reinstalled.

 

Aloha Everyone!

Is anyone selling or know someone that might be wanting to part ways with their first gen tacoma (1995-2004)???

I've been wanting to buy one for soo long and can't seem to find a decent running one here in Hawaii. Preferably I'm looking for a 3.4 V6 manual trans.

Willing to ship from California the farthest.

I love my 89' 22re single cab but I want to garage it for a little while so i can do some body work on it.

Let me know if anyone can point me to a seller!
Feel free to text me (808) 635 - 5369

Mahalo!

 

Howdy! Not sure how your search landed you here in this build thread for a 3rd gen 4Runner (or two) in the middle of the US contiguous. You definitely wouldn't want a tacoma from where I live, in the rust belt that is Missouri.
Maybe one of the regional threads that covers California, or even something in this section, but with a thread that has more to do with Tacomas?
Welcome to the forum, and good luck with your quest.

 

Thanks for documenting the rear door latch internals so well, Hab

I know it was way back, but the photos helped me fix mine without removing the latch at all, I was able to blast the crud out of the contacts, knowing where they were inside the latch body. My cargo light lives on!

 

Happy to hear that, thanks!

 

96 4Runner 321,695 miles

Finished routing the coax and buttoning everything back up.

For anyone who wants to know, there's a bundle of wires running down the left a-pillar


and nothing on the right a-pillar- except the front sunroof drain, one for each side. I used some tape to hold the coax and Roav camera wire in place until the trim piece is back on.


I used the right angle PL259 connector from my husband's cb since he took his out. It fits just right, I can easily get to both map light switches and the coax is routed around them.


Everything fits, buttons can be used, visors have room to work. There is a small air gap above the radio to help keep it cooler. The speaker being underneath makes it very easy to hear.
Now I need to figure out where to go with the mic.

 

96 4Runner 321,695 miles

Almost forgot...
Antenna. I used the old cb antenna mount that was on the back corner of the truck for awhile before I moved the antenna to the front bumper. I did have to drill out the hole for the nmo mount.
Pulled (and washed, that thing was clogged with debris) the cowl and screwed the antenna mount to the truck after multiple bouts of hammer time.
Somehow I forgot to take a pic, so sorta like this...


and cut a hole in the cowl (cover?) to re-install


Installed the antenna a few days ago, everything clears...




Laird nmo mount antenna, ngp, 5db, 32". I put dielectric grease in the antenna base and silicone on the nmo base (where the coax is soldered on) to help keep it safe from the elements.

 

Something's wrong...I was cleaning up the tools and found an extra 12mm...

 

LMBO! It's probably one I lost!!

 

Looking really good!
A thought on the mic, if I may: many truckers and so on I see have a bungee cord from a point on the roof area, in your case maybe hooked over the screw holding the radio in the mount. Make it just long enough to reach when you're using the mic. That way, you can grab the mic easily, and when you're done, just let go! If needed, a bungee from the mic down to the heater ducting, some place like that, to pull the mic back out of the way, in addition to the one up to the radio mount that pulls it up, out of the way. Just make sure they're both long enough, and retract far enough.

As to the socket: Do enough stuff like this, you'll have 2 complete socket sets

Keep up the good work!
Pat☺

 

Those are some great ideas, thanks!
(shhh! it really is coopster's 12mm)

 

96 4Runner 321,695 miles

Repaired a rear seatbelt mount- rusted/striped threads. The bolt simply runs to the wheel well, so I grabbed a longer bolt and a large stout washer and bolted the seatbelt in. No drilling required.

Finally got around to a wash and wax. It was a quick and clean job...


Noticed the clock was getting flaky partial numbers again. Sometimes you could see everything-ish, sometimes not. I last repaired it in 2011...


I pressed lightly on the circuit board and everything turned off.


Re-flowed the points shown below. It's been a long time, it appears the solder cracked again, this time the one on the bottom left for sure, too hard to tell if any of the others were cracked. I need a better soldering iron for this kind of work.


Not a difficult fix, 4 catches (2 each left and right, none top or bottom) hold the clock in the bezel, catches to open the clock, watch out for the buttons and their cushions, 2 tiny screws hold the circuit board in, watch out for the 4 tiny springs (mine had mild tension on the board= were good).


And we're good to go until the solder fails again. It's a cruddy pic, but things are back in order again.


NOTE. If you have the 99+ clock (in center of bezel between the vents) and it was working, but then you had to unplug it for whatever reason and when you plugged it back in it doesn't work at all check the plug, there's a look-a-like plug in there that often is mistaken for the real thing.

and worked on a mic mount for awhile, but now it's very very sunny and also hot. Should be shady enough in another hour or so.

 

96 4Runner, it's been a long day...

Mic holder for the GMRS radio.
I sure struggled with where to put this one. It hung pretty nicely over the rearview mirror, but not a good spot when wheeling, swinging around loosely up there.
Not on the backside of the mirror, unless I wanted to adjust the mirror every time I grabbed the mic.
There was nowhere on the ceiling that wouldn't be in the way of the visors or sunroof or radio itself.
Not attached to a seat, it'd get in the way if I needed to reach back for something.
Not where there's bolt holes for a grab bar on the driver's side above the door, it'd droop into my field of vision.
Same for the a-pillar oh-heck bars.
That pretty much left down on the dash.

I've already got the home brew cb mic holder there, so I added to it....


No new holes, easily reversible if I come up with something better


both mics are accessible and play well with each other


My view of the cockpit that cord is not in my way


it's a lot further forward than I am


I may add a support for the mic cord at some point, one of those retractable deals. As it is right now the straight part of the mic cord is all I can see in the rear view, don't want to raise the larger coiled part into the picture.

 

nice!
What GRMS radio did you go with? that is one of my many planned additions for my tacoma

 

96 4Runner 324,727 miles
Home!

Anytone AT-779u/v 20watt. Smallest radio I could find. Wouxun and Midland make as high as 50 watt, but they won't fit where we wanted our radios to go (and they cost a lot).
We just spent 2 weeks truck-to-truck simplex with good results. It can receive NOAA weather, but I use my cb for that. Today I used my cb to find out from the truckers which lane was open after someone crashed on 70, and the GMRS to relay the info to my husband.
So far so good.

Teaser for a future report-
Top of the World, after you get to the Top this is from the lollypop loop to go back down...
This is a wall of a few steep steps, here I've gotten my front wheels to the bottom, my handsome hubby is standing right in front of the hood...I normally wouldn't see anywhere near that much of him...he reached down to grab my bumper hoop

 

The CB's were, for whatever reason, always flaky in past trips. One or both were usually not working correctly. And when they did work correctly, the range was pretty limited and the sound quality horrible. The GMRS radios were crystal clear. We never really tested the range, but we stayed on lower powered channels and never needed the higher wattage.

And I absolutely LOVED the new transfer case doubler on the '99. It's a real game changer, at least with a manual trans. Going over really rough obstacles with regular lo range was always a choice between slipping the clutch or going faster than I wanted (bash/smash/crash), but now, just slip it in 1st/lo/lo and you are *creeping* through at a snail's pace. Idle up or down just about anything without bashing into things. AWESOME!

 

96 4Runner, 99 4Runner
17 days
A hair over 3,000 miles of driving
We were dry, wet, snowy, cold, hot, really hot.
We hiked 3 trails
Mountain biked 4 trails
and wheeled:
Rabbit/McInnis canyon/part of the Kokopelli trail a little past the Dewey Bridge
Top of the World, Utah
White Rim, Canyonlands NP, Utah
Hurrah pass, Utah
Chicken Corners, Utah
Lockhart Basin, Lockhart Canyon, Utah
Elephant Hill, Needles Canyonlands NP, Utah
Black Bear Pass, Colorado
Imogene Pass, Colorado
Engineer Pass, Colorado
Marshall Pass, Colorado
Hayden Pass, Colorado

All in all, a good trip. Damages don't seem to be too bad this year, haven't gone over all the things yet.
Pics later.

And a thank you to the road crews that worked to clear the flash flood debris on Camp Bird Road and all over the area due to heavy rains.
We missed the worst of the flooding and didn't encounter anything too dangerous to driver over or through, but decided to skip going up Mineral Creek because of the flooding and slides in the area that afternoon.

 

96 4Runner 324,727 miles

Oil change. Installed an EZ-103 valve this go-round.

 

Tipperary Loop


McInnis/ Kokopelli






Top of the World

 

Moab area










White Rim Trail, Canyonlands NP