3rd gen 4runner/1st gen tacoma thread

[FleshEater]

I don't think I've ever cussed Toyota engineering as much as I have removing this stupid front dip that's wedged in between every goddamn component in the front end of the vehicle

I also noticed that the new diff has a bushing on the driver side that the CV rides on. I was kinda pissed and emailed ecgs about it. Then Google it, and guys are saying the bushing is better?

Looks used to me

They literally have an option to add the bushing. Did you not see that? It cost you $45.

 

[rockota]

Lift engine just a bit… makes the diff replacement much easier and is only 4 bolts.

I made a small engine holder that bolts to the crossmember and supports the engine up 1.5 or 2”.

I spent two days trying to get the damned diff out, arguing with internet peoples who said it’s easy. Liars.

 

[rockota]

I’ll

They literally have an option to add the bushing. Did you not see that? It cost you $45.

yup… Toyota bearing has a lot of slop.

 

[YotaAtieToo]

They literally have an option to add the bushing. Did you not see that? It cost you $45.

I remembered something, but I called in the order. I've had far better luck when ordering things like this by calling.

I guess I should have looked it up before I sent the email, but I swear that bushing is used.

Lift engine just a bit… makes the diff replacement much easier and is only 4 bolts.

I made a small engine holder that bolts to the crossmember and supports the engine up 1.5 or 2”.

I spent two days trying to get the damned diff out, arguing with internet peoples who said it’s easy. Liars.

I ended up loosening the rack, I have to redo the bushings anyway. It came out fairly easily after that.



Did Toyota farm the front diff out to a VW engineer or something? It's like they said, how wierd can we make this thing. Wierd clamshell design, huge Allen drain/fill plugs, gay ass reverse torx shit holding the tube on, then cram it into there as right as possible.

Also did this after getting impatient, at first I was like fuck it. But now I'm worried about it leaking vacuum

 

[YotaAtieToo]

Well it's all back together.

The gearing is a big improvement for sure. 4.88s would have been gay.

How it sits after ~30 miles of driving. The rear is a little higher, but it's about as empty as it ever is. Rides really nice also.

Potato pic

I was able to sneak the arb compressor next to the battery. Not a lot of options in these things. It's not the mini comp, but it's still pretty damn small. Fit decent, the only problem is that it kinda screws me for going to a larger battery like I did on my 2nd gen 4runner.

 

[YotaAtieToo]

Went on a little cruise today. ~70 miles, dirt, snow, highway, ect. The coils ride surprisingly well for having a much higher capacity. With everything for a day trip loaded in the back and all 5 of us in there it didn't seem to squat much at all. Enormous difference from the stock replacement moog coils in the back.

One dumb thing to think about is on the first drive I accidentally bumped the arb switch wile going about 35 mph in 2hi. You think it wouldn't be a big deal, but since the add causes the spider gears to spin opposite, it made a decent clunk. The switches are just in an easy to bump spot. Not sure if I'm going to try to change something to make sure it doesn't happen again. Would be bad a highway speeds.

 

[Slander]

I got my front diff out pretty easy, I don't see what you were struggling with, 10min job!

 

[Yotota]

Went on a little cruise today. ~70 miles, dirt, snow, highway, ect. The coils ride surprisingly well for having a much higher capacity. With everything for a day trip loaded in the back and all 5 of us in there it didn't seem to squat much at all. Enormous difference from the stock replacement moog coils in the back.

One dumb thing to think about is on the first drive I accidentally bumped the arb switch wile going about 35 mph in 2hi. You think it wouldn't be a big deal, but since the add causes the spider gears to spin opposite, it made a decent clunk. The switches are just in an easy to bump spot. Not sure if I'm going to try to change something to make sure it doesn't happen again. Would be bad a highway speeds.

I had a similar worry when I swapped an e-locker into my 3rd Gen using a LROR harness which could be engaged any time. For extra safety I ended up installing a safety capped SPDT toggle switch on the main power feed to the locker switch. I also installed a matching capped switch as an ABS kill switch because holy shit the ABS sucks in these trucks.

 

[rockota]

Went on a little cruise today. ~70 miles, dirt, snow, highway, ect. The coils ride surprisingly well for having a much higher capacity. With everything for a day trip loaded in the back and all 5 of us in there it didn't seem to squat much at all. Enormous difference from the stock replacement moog coils in the back.

One dumb thing to think about is on the first drive I accidentally bumped the arb switch wile going about 35 mph in 2hi. You think it wouldn't be a big deal, but since the add causes the spider gears to spin opposite, it made a decent clunk. The switches are just in an easy to bump spot. Not sure if I'm going to try to change something to make sure it doesn't happen again. Would be bad a highway speeds.

where the heck did you put the switches?

 

[Yotota]

where the heck did you put the switches?

Um, left side of the steering column but somewhere above the knee panel. I think the locker switch went where the factory locker switch would have gone. I'll see if I can find a pic.

Edit: shit, you weren't asking me.

 

[rockota]

Um, left side of the steering column but somewhere above the knee panel. I think the locker switch went where the factory locker switch would have gone. I'll see if I can find a pic.

Edit: shit, you weren't asking me.

 

[rockota]

I had a similar worry when I swapped an e-locker into my 3rd Gen using a LROR harness which could be engaged any time. For extra safety I ended up installing a safety capped SPDT toggle switch on the main power feed to the locker switch. I also installed a matching capped switch as an ABS kill switch because holy shit the ABS sucks in these trucks.

First thing I did the my 02 was the abs/VSC shut off. Was scary af to drive on our winding roads when the VSC kicked

 

[Yotota]

First thing I did the my 02 was the abs/VSC shut off. Was scary af to drive on our winding roads when the VSC kicked

My 98 didn't have VSC, only ABS, but that was still scary enough driving any faster than grandma speeds in heavy rain or snow. Or sand. Or gravel.

Yeah, that ABS sucked. And the kill switch was so easy to wire in that it was well worth the hour of work.

 

[YotaAtieToo]

I got my front diff out pretty easy, I don't see what you were struggling with, 10min job!

Pssshhhh, you probably copied me

I had a similar worry when I swapped an e-locker into my 3rd Gen using a LROR harness which could be engaged any time. For extra safety I ended up installing a safety capped SPDT toggle switch on the main power feed to the locker switch. I also installed a matching capped switch as an ABS kill switch because holy shit the ABS sucks in these trucks.

I was actually looking for a factory elocker button, since that would be hard to press on accident.

where the heck did you put the switches?

Above left knee, there's 2 pop outs already there.

 

[Slander]

Pssshhhh, you probably copied me

Shrink your head there buddy, i copied allenfab

 

[FleshEater]

Did you ever figure out covers for those ARB switches to make sure they don’t accidentally get turned on?

 

[YotaAtieToo]

No, and I actually bumped them on accident today on my way home.

 

[YotaAtieToo]

So we did an 850 mile trip on memorial day weekend. 80mph on the interstate, some crawling and tight trails, rough dirt roads, ect.

4runner did great. 16.6 mpg at 80 mph I thought was pretty good for 35s and loaded down. I even scaled it at about 5500 lbs with 5 of us and a bunch of crap

5.29s were definitely the right choice. I had worried a bit about how it would be at 70-80 mph. 80 mph was 3k rpm. A little high, but not loud and it wasn't sucking fuel. Hit some decent grades and it would only drop to 3rd, even at 6k' elevation. With 4.88s I'd be worried it might want to hit 2nd in some of these situations.

The one thing I want to improve is the high speed handling. It had a little more body roll than I'd like. I'm thinking that putting the front sway bar back in would definitely help, but also thinking a rear panhard bar bracket might help. I like the idea of lifting the axle side up by the amount of lift I have. There is a company that makes a nice piece, but they make you buy the frame side also for 4-6" lift and it's $100+ shipping. I like using nice laser cut pieces to save time, but I think I can just use 2 pieces of flat bar here

Also, I've decided I want to kinda outfit this thing for these type of trips. With 3 kids, it's almost impossible to bring enough stuff to camp for multiple days without a huge rooftop bag. We hit a ton of rain on this trip, so I'm glad we hoteled it. They trails in this part of country are usually fairly close to the highways and towns anyway. Compared to norcal where you might spend 3-5 hours getting way up into the woods. Might mess with cargo organization today.

 

[rockota]

I missed that the trip was to pickup 2”+ axles for the mid-travel POC…

 

[YotaAtieToo]

Anyone done wheel bearings on these? My driver side is toast and pass side isn't much better.

Google shows it being a giant pain in the ass.

 

[FleshEater]

Anyone done wheel bearings on these? My driver side is toast and pass side isn't much better.

Google shows it being a giant pain in the ass.

Do these not have hubs like most trucks?

My wheel bearing is smoked on the 09’ Corolla I got for free. It’s rusted up and probably going to be awful on a press. However, Rock Auto sells loaded knuckles for almost the price of a new bearing. It won’t be a quality Japanese bearing, but way easier and less time consuming for a simple DD.

I would see if they sell any pre-loaded options for your 4Runner.

 

[YotaAtieToo]

Do these not have hubs like most trucks?

My wheel bearing is smoked on the 09’ Corolla I got for free. It’s rusted up and probably going to be awful on a press. However, Rock Auto sells loaded knuckles for almost the price of a new bearing. It won’t be a quality Japanese bearing, but way easier and less time consuming for a simple DD.

I would see if they sell any pre-loaded options for your 4Runner.

No, it's a very weird design. Although I'd like to say it's retarded, they apparently last 300k+ miles....

No body is selling loaded knuckles, I don't want China junk bearings anyway. Might just throw the extra knuckles I have on. They probably have another 100k miles left in them anyway.

 

[FleshEater]

No, it's a very weird design. Although I'd like to say it's retarded, they apparently last 300k+ miles....

No body is selling loaded knuckles, I don't want China junk bearings anyway. Might just throw the extra knuckles I have on. They probably have another 100k miles left in them anyway.

I would just do that. If they weren’t lying out in the rain they should be fine. Squirt some WD-40 in there and run it.

 

[rockota]

No, it's a very weird design. Although I'd like to say it's retarded, they apparently last 300k+ miles....

No body is selling loaded knuckles, I don't want China junk bearings anyway. Might just throw the extra knuckles I have on. They probably have another 100k miles left in them anyway.

Loaded knuckles are available… but they are insanely expensive.

I talked to the folks who make the loaded unit bearings for the 2nd gen (blue-something)… they said it’s not possible to make a kit for the 1st gen.

I paid the dealer to do mine.

 

[FleshEater]

Looks like all you need is a bearing splitter and press.

 

[Yotota]

Looks like all you need is a bearing splitter and press.

Or pull the spindles and take them to a machine shop, friend with a press, etc.

 

[YotaAtieToo]

Looks like all you need is a bearing splitter and press.

Like I said, I don't want parts store junk. I'm not great with maintenance at all, so when I do replace something, I'll spend the extra money for oem/koyo. Especially something that gay to change.

The write up I saw, it looked like a pain, he cut the existing wheel hub with a Sawzall to get through the bearing retainer. Then press this way, cut wms off, press that way, then back together. All with a specific kit to do it.

But ya, I'll probably check out those extra knuckles

 

[Squamch]

Guarantee you would not be able to tell blindly riding in a truck with E rated tires vs others

I ran 235/85r16 e range on an 89 toyota. Punched a chunk of rebar through one, and was not aware after an hour of highway travel, until I stopped at a buddy's house and he pointed it out.

I don't think that would be the case with a c range tire.


Fer fucks sake, a 3 year old post. Well, I'll assume you have seen the error of your ways and understand tire ratings by now.

 

[FleshEater]

Like I said, I don't want parts store junk. I'm not great with maintenance at all, so when I do replace something, I'll spend the extra money for oem/koyo. Especially something that gay to change.

The write up I saw, it looked like a pain, he cut the existing wheel hub with a Sawzall to get through the bearing retainer. Then press this way, cut wms off, press that way, then back together. All with a specific kit to do it.

But ya, I'll probably check out those extra knuckles

I know what you mean about junk. This looks similar to the nightmare the Corolla bearings are. They’re huge, and buried in the steering knuckle, and rust makes it worse. It’s got 250,000 miles on it, so my plan is to buy the preloaded knuckles, then soak the factory knuckles in rust remover, and when the junk parts store bearings get smoked I can press in new Koyos. Basically just to have a continuous cycle of swapping knuckles.

From what I found this is the same as the Corolla. No reciprocating saw, just some fun time on a press.

 

[Slander]

I ran 235/85r16 e range on an 89 toyota. Punched a chunk of rebar through one, and was not aware after an hour of highway travel, until I stopped at a buddy's house and he pointed it out.

I don't think that would be the case with a c range tire.


Fer fucks sake, a 3 year old post. Well, I'll assume you have seen the error of your ways and understand tire ratings by now.

No,.and I stand by my original comments!