96 4Runner 316,048 miles

Vaguely wet day today, so junkyard run.
Found a set of horns out of a 2001 Tundra.
I had the 4 Cadillac horns for a long time, but the winch meant 2 won't fit any more, which left me with 2 horns and a relay and extra wiring. All the GM wiring is gone, the relay was left for later use, the fuse was pulled.
When I put that system in I purposely kept my oe connectors intact which meant the Tundra horns were plug n' play. They're louder and more American sounding than my original Toyota meep meeps.


I also picked a few little piddly bits for an instrument cluster mod I'll be attempting while I wait for parts.

 

96 4Runner 316,048 miles

The battery I bought from Batteries Plus showed up yesterday. Dated 9/20, nice and fresh. Batteries Plus really went to bat for me to get one that was under 6 months old and I didn't mind waiting. Not like I'm going anywhere anyways.

Had a minor issue installing it. The center section that sits towards the middle is longer than the original yellow top (purple arrow) so the hold down on the Ruff Stuff dual box wouldn't sit down in place. A little bit of filing of the top edge allowed the hold down to fit and all is good.


The other thing I did differently was leave the handle on. The yellow top is a lot heavier than the red top and its position makes it really hard to pull out. Having a handle on it will really help. Because of the box's sides the handle can't be put on after the battery is in the box.


Someone once asked if I'd do yellow/yellow or red/yellow. I think I said yellow/yellow. Noticing the weight difference between the two, I might just stick with red/yellow when the start battery needs replacing as that has worked well for me so far anyway.

Still working on the cluster mod...trying to find a wiring schematic for a 96, so far only have as early as a 98. I think I have most of the info I need.

 

96 4Runner 316,048 miles on the driveway ornament.

Worked a little on my 'let's see if I can make it work, then I'll write it up' mod.

Got a visit from Mightymouse! Always great to talk to him, he's got a lot of experience and knowledge, great stories, and is willing to share what he knows. Top notch guy.
Thanks to him and his connections I now have a transmission with a lot fewer miles and less wear on the input shaft. Some is there, but definitely less- and he was very upfront about it as he always is.


He also brought me a gas tank. Since oe is not doing it for me it's time to come up with a skid....well, after all this other stuff happens...


Otherwise, not much got done truck-wise.

 

Nice!
(It seems a 544 has taken up residence in the garage.)

 

Husband's...one of those spots is supposed to be mine...
I think you get extra points for not calling it a Ford.

 

96 4Runner 316,048 miles

Working on a cute little mod while waiting on parts for the cuter big mod(s), hoping to get this thing to work. It does light at the appropriate time. When it's good I'll do a write-up.

 

I've had that thing forever. Well, since the late 90's. It's sort of mildly pepped up. Double the HP (didn't start off with much), better handling and braking. You know, almost as fast as a modern minivan.

 

96 4Runner 316,048 miles. This clutch waiting-for thing isn't funny anymore. I know, I know, but still...

SO instead of getting that done and getting the driveshafts resized and all that good stuff I'm still tinkering with the cute mod.

We've got locker lights in the cluster, now it's time to do something about the switches.

This is as far as I got today, the locking part isn't wired up and the labels don't match yet, but this is the beginning...


these are kinda delicate...




Will work on getting the lighting to match...step one was to see if I could alter the label.


Trying hard not to whine, but I sure do miss driving my jalopy.

 

96 4Runner 316,048 miles

Got both oe diff lock switches in and working. They both match much better now. The lights in the dash both work too. Would like to get the truck out and use it to make sure everything is copacetic, especially with the cluster, but that will have to wait.

 

Looks like the factory did it!

Too bad there's not a square switch blank that would fit one of these:

 

IIRC there is- it's where the dual battery switch is currently.
NOTE: I don't know that as fact, so you'd have to double-check....

And let's put that one in your truck dear, when or if you want to go that route.
Looked at that, but like the idea of choosing whether I want the rear locked the same time as the front or not. The land cruiser switch doesn't have that option.

 

96 4Runner 316,......048 miles

Working on the stereo receiver now. It died suddenly 2/3rds of the way across MO. There's a service message on it. I dunno, something like 'send help' or 'impending doom' or 'I demand more macaroni pictures'.

Today I pulled all 4 door panels and checked continuity for all the speaker wires, looking for broken ones. All had continuity between the plugs.
That leaves me with the radio as being the culprit, I'm thinking.

For funs, the fronts are Pioneer KT205 6" and the rears are originals.

 

96 4Runner 316,048 miles

Marlin has the clutch kit again! Marlin has the clutch kit again!!
Was getting worried I'd be doing the work in the snow again...

Also chose a Pioneer DEH-S4220BT receiver, lower end Rockford Fosgate speaks for the front and more lower end Polk for the rear. NOT an audiophile, just want it to sound okay-er than it was. Had enough Swagbucks to make the receiver part free, yay that.
Now we wait on shipping.

 

96 4Runner 316,048 miles

Clutch supposed to come tomorrow.
Finished installing the stereo. The Pioneer 4220 was a tad big for the dash, but a file and missing couple of millimeters fixed that.
Front speakers was 6 1/2" Rockford Fosgate component w/tweeters. The woofer was easy and fit right in.
The tweeters required surgery. I used a utility knife to remove the surround grille


Then enlarged the hole to accept the RFos. tweeter surround.


The tweeter fit in and ta-da


The rears were another story. Stock is 5 1/4", I went with 6 1/2" Polk.
There was a bit of figuring and some surgery. The door pocket will need something to block the now open end, but I can live with it like that since it's rear.


Crutchfield sent brackets that I needed along with the mount bracket that came with the speakers


I used the speaker surround that came with to measure where to cut out the door pocket. After checking I cut everything still in the way.

 

And the switches match now...

 

96 4Runner 316,048 miles

Rear main seal was slightly oily so it got replaced
Superseded Toyota #90311-A0027 is not as tall as the original but otherwise similar in dimension.
Also threw the pilot bearing in.

Both sat in the freezer while I prepped the area, then came out one at a time as I needed them.

I tried the bread trick with an old hamburger bun out of the freezer...AND IT WORKED!
I just kept stuffing bread in and tamping it down over and over until the bearing popped out. No excessive force, not a whole lot of time.

And that's it for now.

 

96 4Runner needs to be able to put more miles on it!

Marlin clutch kit is in, disk is flange/spring side towards the flywheel. This is per the FSM for the 3.4 v6.
Flywheel bolts, loc-tite and torqued in a star pattern to an eventual 61 ft lbs.
Pressure plate bolts torqued to 14 ft lbs and loc-tite in a pattern as described in the FSM


It took awhile to get the dumb transmission back in last night, but it finally slid-wiggled into place. I am so sore today!
I hand-tightened some of the bell housing bolts and left the tranny supported by the scissor-style (not hydraulic) jack because it was late.
Today it got down to the upper 30s and rained at least a couple of inches so it's stuck there waiting to be finished.

Still putting the Tacobox set-up together. Am waiting on a missing seal from Marlin, will bolt transfer case to box in the meanwhile if we don't all float away first.
I plan on doing a write-up on the tacobox because I had a lot of trouble finding info for the r150f manual transmission-tacobox-chain drive transfer case combo.
It's of course from the point of view of someone who's not done this kind of thing before and doesn't even play a mechanic on tv.

 

Well color me impressed. I knew you were redoing the clutch, but I didn't know you were throwing a tacobox in as well! I'm excited to see the write up. (And don't tell the other people on here, but at the moment I'm more excited to go mountain biking, my almost 8 year old went with me for a 15 mile downhill ride on a fire road and is really excited about it.)

 

She's gonna have sooooo many shifter levers now.

 

Tell ALL the people because that is something to be excited about! Hope you two have many many terrific 2 wheel adventures!
(8? Already??? Turn your back for just a second...)