habanero

I figured the underside rivets would be the least consequential for being missing as both the bodies of the truck and latch would hold it all together. Also, the switch is reachable from that side without taking the rest of the interior apart, making life much much easier.
So far so good....I'm making a point of opening and closing it a lot.

I checked out your build thread and I like what you've done, like the JDM Honda side turn signals. Just went to the junkyard a few days ago looking for something similar. With all the pinstriping we get in MO whatever I choose has to be low profile with as little places to catch things as possible.

Merry Christmas to you and to aviator and all y'all's too! I highly recommend happy holidays for everyone.

aviator

Okay I gotta ask... what do you mean by "pinstriping"?...

here's a link for Toyota factory parts that are euro/jdm spec like side turn signals [they are called "wing repeaters"] they are based in Britain but shipping is very reasonable for a light item like these are.

http://www.roughtrax4x4.com/

Great people very helpful with information

more specific part link http://www.roughtrax4x4.com/?doc=11&cid=766
these are the ones used on the trucks they require only a hole for the socket and two small mounting screw holes.

The ones for the 4runner/surf need a lot more material cut out of the fender.
you can see them from the main page... look under "lights"

Hope this helps you hab

habanero

Pinstriping....branches scraping lines down the sides of the truck. It's annoying.

I'm going to spend some time looking at those links. My hubby found some that fit into a hole and the back has a flange that screws onto the front and hold it in place. A bit pricey for me, though. I'm also looking at trailer and truck bits. I'm not messing with those fenders until it gets warmer, just getting the figuring out done.
Thanks bunches, aviator!

aviator

ahh now I get it... I have a few suggestions on how to deal with that pinstripe problem...

1. get the stoker and hubby to trim the bushes in the driveway... I had to go there
2. don't drive down trails that are so narrow...
3. make a custom front bumper with vertically mounted hedge trimmer outriggers... [save your finish and perform trail maintenance/beautification at the same time... a double win.

Do you have a link for those repeaters your hubby found? I'd like to look at them meself...

habanero

Looking for the link but not finding it...also found some stick-on led turn signal strips with only a hole for the wires to drill but looking for more info. Why is it I don't think they'll stay stuck? I'll post up when I find that link...

I want hedge trimmer bumper a la Mach V! I've yet to find any other kinds of trails in MO, it's not like CO for sure.

Today I pulled the marker and turn signals off to see what's what. I may be able to use a different bulb/socket in the marker, not optimum but definitely easier to see from the side than the ones in the front bumper. The turn signal lenses weren't very reflective inside so I hit them with some chrome colored paint. Noticeably brighter now but my hubby says the new paint's going to catch fire.
Maybe that would make my signal more visible? Fire = I want to go thataway.

habanero

I want somebody to try fixing their cargo light as below and let me know if it worked. I'd do it myself but the 99's light still works and, well, you know what happened to the 96.
This is actually part of a pm (hopefully this isn't a problem), but here I am all curious as to whether results can be gotten in this manner. I will try it if the 99 ever has the courtesy to misbehave....

You can see in the writeup what the switch looks like that you're trying to work free. Lift your hatch and look at the uppermost (towards outside of hatch) left corner of the latching mechanism in the hatch. There is a hole there. The switch is below that hole, taking up the side to the left of the part that latches. Squirt a little dry lube (something that won't attract dirt and is ok for plastic) in through that and any hole on the left side of the mechanism and work the latching mechanism open and closed a bunch with a screwdriver. You may get lucky and unstick the switch. You'll be able to tell if it worked because you'll have the cargo light set to 'door' and it'll come on when it thinks the hatch is open. No unscrewing needed. You don't even have to work the latching mechanism with a screw driver if you don't want, just open and close the hatch until you lose interest or it works a few times.
This is assuming you've already checked for broken wires under the boot.
If it doesn't work then all you have is a lubed latching mechanism and a little lost time.

Actually, I forgot to mention that the switch is on the left side of the mechanism and closest to the hatch just behind the inner plate. There is plastic and stuff between the outside plate of the mechanism and the switch. the whole thing is not air nor water tight so I'm thinking lubing is possible without invading it.

Another thought: Because the block that is the switch is always pushed down when the door is closed and has to rely on a tiny spring to push the block up to create contact for the light you are simply hoping the jostling of the block when moving the latching mechanism and added slipperiness of lube will allow the block to free itself and move up. I think a stronger spring here would have been better since having the non-sealed switch's spring compressed when the door's closed gives the plastic block greater chance of becoming cockeyed, de-lubed and stuck. I guess better stuck light off than light on.


Jason- so far my latch and light are working primo.

habanero

Met another member with an 89 1st gen 4Runner while camping at Berryman yesterday. Nice truck, had an issue that required some head scratching. He had a good thinker on his shoulders and did fine. The truck's nice with some of the typical cancer of a MO truck but not as much of it. It's got things that need fixing and replacing but what fun project doesn't?
Dude, Dave, wherever you are, nice meeting you. The hubby, kiddo and I enjoyed the diversion and conversation.

terminator

iTrader: (1)

Good info on that PM Habanero, my light works when if feels like which is more than it was! I'll try that tip, I sprayed WD40 in it when I fixed the wires so I'll try some electrical contact spray and see what happens.
Thanks for the details in that PM!

jason in tn

I gonna try this tom hab glad to hear yours is working good.

habanero

No problem terminator and cool guys, thanks and let me know!

Jason- IF you go whole hog and grind the rivets my husband said he had to go just a tad below the surface of the plate and then pop the plate off with pliers because of the way the rivets are mushroomed. You can see on the pic that shows the painted plate. I'm hoping you try the easy way first just so we can see what happens. Sounds like you'll be busy with a cv shaft anyways. If you haven't had the pleasure, they're pretty easy (I've got some pics in here somewhere). One thing I know, be careful not to knock that seal on the dif when you're putting the new one in. I'm guessing that's what I did once and I've got a couple pics of that, too.
If you've been there, done that well then never mind!

I've got to learn to be less scared of that stupid grinder!

jason in tn

just gonna try to free it up from the out side first hab and if that dont work I will dig into it more latter on.
the cv deal will be a first so any advice is apreciated doesnt sound to hard but I know how things go for me LOL.
glad to hear yaall had a good time, pin stripeing sucks sucks my has a bunch and the dark color it really shows.

aviator

Happy new year Hab

depending on what kind of sticky stuff they use it might stay stuck very well a lot of auto trim these days is just stuck on with 3M tape type stuff and it stays very well...

habanero

CVs. Not too bad, hardest part for me is popping them in and out. I love my 3' pry bar, it's almost perfect for setting in the lip on the joint and being able to have room to whack on it. I've done both sides multiple times and other than boot issues and one seal issue it's been not bad. I'm learning all this stuff too.
Start here:
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f200...1/index13.html

There's torque specs and further down pics of what's going on. Not as many as I should have but I was too greasy and didn't want to keep cleaning up to take a pic.
If you're really brave skim all the way to something like post 385 (ignore the antenna thing and the corn chowder recipe unless you're really hungry). There's a pic of the seal in the dif that I had to replace because I'm a clumsy oaf or really because I didn't realize I needed to be more careful there. I only knocked one of the two askew and boy is it hard to get the new one in there just right. Somewhere in there's also info on my cv boot saga. The lobes on my inner cvs rubbed holes into each other. I've 'stretched' mine unconventionally until I come up with a better plan and so far so good. At least I've bought myself some time. Will you have the same problem? You've got a different set-up so hopefully not. At least you'll know to watch for it.
Oh yeah, and take it easy on the oem dust shields on either side of the cv shaft. Some companies have you knock them off and re-use them on the 'new' shaft.

habanero

True...and a Happy New Year to you too!

habanero

Very Heavy Skid Removal:

Step one. Put spare tire on jack stand. Better if you have one that you don't have to bother pulling off the truck and even better if it's lightweight like the donut out of the hubby's car.
Step two. Lift spare up to gently press on skid, trying to center the potential weight as well as possible while not covering any essential bolts.
Step three. Remove bolts, lower skid while balancing it on spare. Tire holds skid better than floor jack alone and keeps skid from getting scratched up because we both know there's a time and place for scratches and that's not it.

It goes back up pretty much the same way though it helps to have someone maneuver the floor jack to the right spot while you aim from underneath. The truck but not the skid. Potential ouch.

jason in tn

thats a great Idea hab thanks, and thanks for all the info on the cv job as well Im trying to do some reading up on it doesnt seem to bad. but haveing never done it I want to understand as much as I can so thanks again.

Dezarno

Great info!! I have a prob and sounds like you might be able to help!! My backdoor light works perfect when I open the doors but when I'm driving and I have the windows open the car thinks the backdoor is open because of the wind pressure against the door. When im driving down the highway the rear dome light flashes!! When the car is parked i can press on the rear door from the ouside and turn on the dome light which causes the alarm to go off. I thinks it's to sensitive and I need to take apart put some bugs in there to jam it up a little j/k.....any info or ideas would be great!!!

Thanks

aviator

Sounds like the contacts are a little too sensitive... might be some gunk in the switch preventing it from breaking contact 100%...
IK I'm not who you were hoping for an answer from but I saw it first lol...
hab will have a better answer I'm sure...

habanero

Works for me aviator!

That's weird because the switch is activated by the latching mechanism, being held closed by a pin on the mechanism itself- mechanically closing. The block that holds the contacts has to come up about a half inch via a lonely little spring before contact is made for door open and the pin on the latch has to be moved by the opening of the latch or the block cannot physically move. Because of the way the switch is designed I would think it pretty hard to fail 'door open' unless the latching mechanism isn't working right. Not, however, saying impossible.
It is conceivable the latch mechanism could be even mostly open and the light still go off, the contact point in the switch is very small and requires the block to be moved pretty much fully up to show 'door open'.

I'm no mechanic and electronics are my weakest point but I would wonder more about the latching mechanism than the actual switch because of
A) The light working correctly until you start moving
B) Being able to press on the door to make the light go on
C) The light and door flashing with wind pressure from driving.
That or a short.

Is it closing all the way around the striker bolt or is it stuck partially open, allowing movement of the hatch???
Are the bolts on the striker and latching mechanism tight?
What happens when you close the latch mechanism yourself, as with a screwdriver, rather than actually close the hatch. The hatch only knows whether it's open or not by that switch. How about doing the same with the window open?
Do you have a broken wire(s) (look under boot that goes between upper part of truck and hatch before you open the hatch panel as that's easiest) that is causing a short? After looking there you can also unbolt the latching mechanism to get to the wires for the switch, maybe close the latch with a screw driver then wiggle the wires gently to see what happens, then lower the window and do the same, see if it makes a difference. I really doubt a soldering problem there, but maybe?

Does it really only happen with the window down and no other time? If that's the case I would look for a short having to do with what happens when the window is rolled down. Just don't pinch off any fingers or things if you're messing with the window with the panel open.
EDIT: Just realized you meant other windows. Forget that then, unless you have this one open too.

Start with that, that's a lot of questions to answer. I'm prolly putting you up to way too much work but again, not a mechanic, this is just the sort of head-skritching I would be doing.
keep me posted because I'd love to know what you come up with.

You don't say what you've got so I'm assuming 3rd gen....
and the world needs bugs. Maybe not switch inhabiting bugs though...

habanero

I think I might've scared that guy? How will I know what he did and if it got fixed???
Oooh, the curiosity....