96 4Runner 333,733 miles

Oil change, new air filter.

Checked the transmission and transfer case fluid levels. Transmission was good, the taco box was missing a little, the oe transfer case was over-full.
The transfer case is still robbing oil from the taco box despite replacing the transfer case input seal last year as suggested by Marlin Crawler.
At least it's a manageable amount, I checked the taco box 3 times while we were out and about, minimal was missing each time, more was added to compensate.
I knew the rear case was overfull because the fluid had to be going somewhere and it wasn't on the skid.

I use a Slippery Pete fluid pump to add oil and kept it and my extra fluids in the bag that I attached to the spare tire. Using the shoulder harness and a bungee works pretty well, it's not made for a tire.
Since we live at around 700 ft above sea level I didn't use full containers, there's some room for expansion to try to avoid leakage. It worked pretty well this year.
The bag, nothing special, but it's been durable (even when the bear yanked it part way off a few years back). Got it from one of those military stuff stores, a Czech M85 rubberized vinyl backpack, for around $12 or so around 2007ish.

This pic is courtesy Jomoka and in Thompson canyon, heading towards Onion creek.

Adding room for expansion goes for the bike tires too, we lower tire pressure before we hit higher elevations. Learned the hard way...those things go off like a shot!

 

96 4Runner 333,733 miles

Junkyard run to replace the dome light with the melted actuator. The switch is a plastic lever with a small ball and spring for the contact. All I can figure is it got switched to allllmost off and that caused the issue? Not enough to light the bulb that I could see, but not entirely off, either? I don't usually use the dome light unless I'm trying to find something that would benefit from dome light intrusion.

Comparison of my melted switch vs the one that's not. They're both a ball and spring combo.


So I looked up the part number- Toyota 81240-12060, then looked at the fitment guide to see what other vehicles I can find these in because it's hard to find 3rd gens in the yard and even harder to find any version of grey interiors in them.
One of the choices is a Scion Xb 04-06 and one of the yards had 2 of them. The Xb is a lot easier to find in a grey (ended up with moon mist) and that's what I pulled. Perfect fit.
My blue grey on the left, the xb's moon mist on the right. Either color works with my headliner.


Now I have a dome light to rarely use again and it'll be easier to see than before because I added a brighter warm white led bulb.
Of course I'll be more careful to make sure it gets switched ALL the way off from now on.

 

96 4Runner 333,733 miles

My cluster bulbs have dimmed to the point of not being able to see the cluster even on the brightest setting. Instead of being normal and just replacing the bulbs with more 194s (there are 4 in the 96's cluster) I decided to try leds.
I started out with bulbs from Diode Dynamics, where I also bought the dome light bulbs. While dimmable they were also just one diode at the top, which caused terrible hot spots so I returned them.
Superbright LEDs is not far from DD, and they have smd leds. Also dimmable, but more leds on the bulb means better distribution of light. I chose blue.
Unfortunately the blue made it too hard to see the pretty red needles, so I had to pull those off, remove the red, and color them something lighter. I used a light blue similar to the azure blue, the daytime pic vaguely shows the colors.


Now I'm trying to figure out why the head unit microphone isn't working, and I also need to fix or replace the air chuck that's on the rear bumper because the valve in it isn't closing when it's supposed to, it can't build pressure unless hooked up to something.

 

96 4Runner 333,733 miles

When I use the mic on my Pioneer DEH-S4220BT people can only hear electronic gibberish. the mic cord was a little broken so I replaced it, same gibberish.
Decided to look on the Pioneer website to see if they had any updates for my 2020 radio, they had a firmware update. Followed the directions and ta-da! it seems to work fine now.

Though not as bad as yesterday it's hot out, I still need to figure out what's wrong with the air chuck but am not spending a lot of time out there. It'll be nice when the shade from the oaks finally reach the driveway and it starts cooling down some.

 

Here's a video of the crawl box/doubler on the '99 making something exciting (Hell's Gate!) look boring:

The doubler has been a game changer in doing harder trails, especially with a manual transmission. It just creeps on up (and down) big stuff with no stress, no clutch slipping, no engine lugging. Which is great, unless you're watching it unfold slowly in a video, lol.

 

Really. Not that big a deal. (j/k)
What sux with vids is viewer doesn't get real perspective of gradient. How steep is that?
So the truck was not straining, but was the driver? I'd bet I'd be leaning over into the steering wheel so I would not fall backwards.
Srsly, I have seen vids from outside a vehicle, and it looks pretty intimidating to me.

Good job.

 

Thanks!

Neither of our trucks had trouble walking up, we worked on keeping the hood pretty level. There's one spot where the right front wheel comes up a bit, but settles back down as you drive forward. At least, if you've got the tires in the right place.
This seems to be the biggest trouble maker via the videos.
As the hubby said, the doublers make a big difference with the manual transmission.
I think we both picked a gear and went. I was in 1st (transmission), high (oe t/c), and low (taco box t/c), plus my rear locker on.
Note: it was dry, no puddles to deal with or lessen traction.
I had to look up how steep, 20-30 degrees for the most part, with a couple of spots at 45 degrees, such as the one the right front came up on both our trucks.

My video is from the dash cam at the top of the windshield.From my perspective, being taller but having a very short body, it was mostly sky that I was seeing.
I used the tire marks and, when going up, the top 3rd of my spotter which was all I could see of him (thank you dear) as a guide!


The entrance was a little alarming at the top, I asked for a spot based on that. The truck slipped a tiny bit up there, the rest wasn't too exciting, just steep. I was falling forward but for the seat belt.
Even at the lowest setting when it deathgrips me the seatbelt sits at my collarbone and the base of my neck, I really need to get that sorted.

 

96 4Runner 333,735 miles (I went grocery shopping!)

Addressing the leaking Milton V-style coupler for the OBA.
Near the end of the trip the coupler stopped sealing when not in use. It wasn't a big problem, just had to hook up my tool of choice before I turned on the compressor, and once I was done and removed the tool the air leaked out. IF I had needed my front air locker I would have stuck the blow gun on the coupler to hold the air in. Where I've got the coupler mounted to the bumper it would have fit in front of the hatch and been protected by the bumper itself.

So, I took it apart because that's how I roll...
There's probably a better way to grip the edge of the coupler, the vise grip chewed it up a little.


When you get it apart do not pull the outer barrel off, there are 6 tiny balls in there just waiting for freedom. I knew about them and had a controlled workspace so they couldn't escape.

I had two problems, the o-rings are both a bit misshapen and
the small o-ring that fits in the groove below the pointy end of the seal was on the long part. No wonder it wasn't sealing well, with the o-ring flopping about there.


I flipped the o-rings and put the thing back together for now and get a new one
I enjoyed messing with it.

 

96 4Runner 337, miles

My little convex mirror that I stuck on the driver's side mirror when I bought it flew off about 2 miles from home as we began our out west trip. Stuck one back on yesterday.
I also took off the cap and put the resonator back on the muffler. The Walker Overland system is not very quieter, but it has piped down a bit from initial install. I like the slightly deeper tone of the resonator vs the cap.

Some more pics courtesy Jomoka...
one day we started from near Silverton, headed over
Ophir pass


which took us close to Telluride, where we started up
Imogene pass


over to Ouray, up the 550 a little to
Mineral creek
where we followed this cool truck for a bit
and passed a jeep asking for a belly rub.

I'll bet that driver was thankful for the trees!


There's a blob of rock, maybe a couple feet high at that spot. If you hug the wall our little 4Runners can drive on top of it, but anything wider would have trouble staying off the tilty drop-off side.
It looks like the Jeep might've fallen off it on the way down, putting them off camber enough to roll on over. May have been a little too much speed involved? It's a lot steeper than it looks.
Oof, those trees don't look comfortable...


And finally over Cinnamon pass. We camped at a little FS campground closer to Lake City.
It was a long and beautiful day of driving.

 

This is the best I can get picture-wise of the leds in the cluster


There are hotspots, but I can't see them as well as the camera can.

 

Hmm. (Forum acting weird today) Anyway that looks pretty good. LEDs can't be dimmed tho, right? Is it too bright, or sometimes not enough? I do like the color. IIRC I had a bmw that was blue and they were much easier on the eye at night.

I need to search your post for "fuel guage calibration adjustment". I need to do that when I get a chance. Red dot comes on ~ 3/8 tank. Hope you two are doing well.

 

These are dimmable so I'm able to adjust so they're not too bright. The multiple leds on each bulb helps minimize the hotspots. they're there, but they're not very noticeable to me.
As far as the fuel gauge goes, I about ran it out of gas then moved the needle to the about-out-of-gas spot. Not very scientific
We're getting by fine, trail building season is always fun. Hoping things are good for you, too.

 

"Moved it" like - just pulled cluster out, and bent it sort of? Been trying to find if there is some sort of resistance tweaker or something. Altho don't want to pull cluster back out. Somehow last time I lost the key surround plastic thing.

Altho do need to again because my hood/bonnet release cable has somehow stretched.

 

Pulled the cluster and very carefully pried the needle up off the post, set it back on where I wanted it. It did require removing the parts of the speedo that occluded the fuel gauge needle. I'm trying to remember what year yours is, the 96 is primitive compared to, say, the 99 and its problematic fuel gauge issues. There's a fix for those, though I'd have to look for it, and if it's the 95 I haven't seen one of those in pieces.

 

Thanks Ms Hab.
Gona get some of my kids that know how to read, and go back thru you Encylopedia.

 

96 4Runner 334,280 miles

GHOST!
I'll be JDA (just driving along) when the brights indicator will randomly vaguely come on ghost-style. The headlights do not get brighter when it does. A wiggle of the stalk and the indicator goes off.
Some days later I turned on the 96's headlights on in the driveway....but they didn't light up. Huh? Multiple tries with no luck, they came on after I moved the stalk from low to high beams, then back to low.
Yesterday we were coming home when the high beam indicator ghosted on again. We happened to be passing a reflective street sign which the hubby noticed went dark, then bright again at the same time I wiggled the stalk to get rid of the indicator light.

So. Ghosty high beam dash light = no headlights at all.
A wiggle of the stalk or move from low to high beam and back again = headlights back on.

Because the initial ghost indicator light seemed not right and is pointing to a worn stalk I went ahead and picked up a 'new' stalk out of a 97 on last week's boneyard jaunt, along with the pigtail to compare wiring, in case I have to re-pin. Haven't installed, pics when I do.

 

96 4Runner 334,280 miles

Time to change the headlights/turn signal stalk using one out of a 97 (top) for my 96 (bottom). The connector is pinned in the same spots with the same colored wires so this is a plug and play for me. The light bulb picture is all worn off on the 96's stalk.


Unscrew the column surround screws (pink arrows). I loosened the bottom panel and let it droop to get better wiggle room for removing the surround. There are 3 screws. One is on the bottom of the column surround, 2 are accessed by turning the steering wheel this way or that until a screw head is exposed.


There are 4 catches on the surround. Yellow arrows are where the screws were, red are where the catches and their mates are. It was pretty cold out so I warmed the cabin and therefore the plastic. The front catches are just below the screw holes.


Super simple replacement. There is a connector at the bottom to disconnect and 2 screws on the stalk (orange arrows), one screw on the top and one on the bottom. The stalk slides out horizontally, make sure your wheels/steering wheel is straight to engage cancelling, slide in new, add screws, plug in connector. For what it's worth the washer stalk appears to be the same sort of affair. It took more time to gently remove the column surround than replace the part.


I haven't taken the 96's stalk apart yet, but am expecting a worn connection somewhere inside. The stalk actions themselves still feels almost as crisp as the 97's does, didn't seem to have any sag where it shouldn't have.

 

96 4Runner 334,280 miles

I was adding a couple of license plate covers to the backside of the 4Runner when I noticed the wiring for the license plate light (aftermarket, on the 4xInnovations spare carrier) had degraded. It wasn't working. I tested the light too and it was also a no-go.

So today I replaced the light with an Optronics LPL55CBP from Superbright LEDs because they had it in stock and I'm close enough for a pick-up. The old one from Amazon had a metal bracket, 2 leds, and was filled with dirt. This one has a plastic bracket, 5leds, and is not filled with dirt.. I can't tell if the lights are as bright because it's still daytime. Either way, it works and that's the main goal. I need to put a dab of sealant where the wires are, to try to keep the muck out.
EDIT: The old one was brighter on the plate *but* the new one lights more of the side areas up, just outside the rear tires. I think I like that a little more. At least I'm legal again.
I replaced the wiring from it to the truck's taillight wiring since the other stuff had degraded at the plate end.
I also replaced the right rear taillight bulb because the old one was working, but only -ish. The new one is brighter. The right side taillight wiring was where I tapped to power the license plate light back when I did the original lights that 4xI provided.
Old


New

 

I had to use 4wd and both front and rear lockers to get out of the driveway today.
Didn't drive anywhere, just smooshed the snow down in the driveway and moved the sheet of ice plus all the snow off the truck so it'll (hopefully) be easier to leave for work tomorrow.
My red-top start battery was door nail dead, had to use the house to start it. Love being able to push a button and crank it up.
I had left the obd II reader switch on, plus all that headlights on while checking/replacing the license plate light, that could be the problem.
Glad today is a snow day!

EDIT:
96 4Runner 334,281 miles
There's a reason the redtop is door nail...


Time sure flies when you're having fun!
Off to buy another redtop (optima battery box)

 

I occasionally post things in the what did you do to thread on T4R. I'm glad I posted about replacing the redtop because of the inquiry from
Endlessblockades: "it's 9.5 years old? Do you have any Alt output mods installed?"
and schooling from
2TH4IST: "It is a voltage booster for the alternator. As agm's need higher charging voltage. And it bumps it up to 14.6- 14.8v"
Me: "Ah, thanks to you now I understand. I've read something about the higher charge voltage needed, but I suppose I should actually look into that."

Looking into that...
Optima states:
YELLOWTOP Type: D51 & D51R - D35 – DS46B24R - D75/25 - D34 – D34/78 - D27F - H6 - H7
Recommended charging information:
Alternator:
13.65 to 15.0 volts, no amperage limit.
REDTOP Type: 34 & 34R - 34/78 - 78 - 25 & 35 - 75/25
Recommended charging information:
Alternator:
13.3 to 15.0 volts, no amperage limit.

This is my mostly daily short driver as well as occasional all day long driver for moderate messing around. Looking at the yellowtop requirements and knowing my output is likely under (will also look at that) the 13.65 minimum for the yellowtop ,
I am looking into the pop-in use of parts from GM or Ford or ??? ...off to cram some info into my noggin.
Insights/info always welcome!

The new Red top is supposed to show up today, was supposed to be yesterday but it keeps snowing so there was a delay. With the winter break and snow days I've been to work 1 day the past 3 weeks. Kind of oof and yay all at the same time.