I am sorry, but that's just too easy a straight line for me to resist...
I always make sure my junk goes where it's supposed to! It's a guy thing.
Although if I had been more careful about where my junk got put, I wouldn't have 7 kids I know of for sure, by 3 different women.


I am truly sorry, but it was just too hard too resist.
Have fun! Your truck is coming back together beautifully. Keep up the great work.
​​​​​​​Pat☺

 

Ha, fair enough! 7 kids...at least all the junk in my truck stayed put and mostly out of trouble, that I know of...
Thank you, I'm trying and learning as I go.

Too hot today, we're in one of those heat warning stretches until Thursday, ugh.
My crazy husband bought us both some Lil Skip's gas tank skids. We both have bolt-on skids for our rockers so modification is necessary for the two to work together. He figured his out with some bracket cutting. I've still got to do mine.
Maybe my 'new' tank stands a chance at staying at full capacity for a long while, unlike the one I had to replace
.

 

I put my Lil Skip's skid on over the weekend. I had several dents in the bottom of my skid, I'm probably down a pint on capacity. But since it's not affecting the gauge or the pump, I just left those dents in place.

 

2002 Scotts Kohler engine 42" deck lawn mower L1742

Heh, my lawn mower is 6 years newer than my 4Runner...
I was mowing yesterday when the left wheel suddenly went for a left turn while the right side was still on the strait and narrow. The ball joint on the drag link separated.
I fixed it well enough to finish the acre I had left to do.
Viva la zipties!!!


It's just been one of those weeks. The heat warning extended into today so not much has been happening on the truck. I'm kinda at a stand still because I don't want to finish putting the dash together until I get the clutch slave and master, which are coming with the tranny.
If it matters we're about 2 working days away from painting the front right corner of the house!

 

The heat wave was supposed to break on Friday, but no. It was supposed to break Saturday too, but no. Hot and humid again today. MId 90's temps and a 71 degree dewpoint.

 

Well, if nothing else, the heat and humidity, always a nasty combination, are a pretty good excuse not to do too much any one day.
Reminds me, looking at the lawn mower, when did you last check the ball joints on the truck? Might be something to look at. I'd hate for the truck's tire to depart on it's own adventure!

Have fun, stay hydrated, and don't over do things!
Pat☺

 

It's a wet heat, but even with an index of 115 degrees I'll bet you often have us beat. We didn't do too much, a 35 mile bike ride that involved a winery at mile 30. We have bike bottles with gatorade and don't usually buy bottles of cold water before the bottle of wine, but today we did.
Got a little bit too hot, but still felt good to pedal.

ALWAYS A GOOD REMINDER-
Lower ball joints-
Right side @ 278,346 = around 42,xxx miles
Left side @ 286,415 = around 34,000 miles
Lower ball joint bolts more often than that.

I replace those more often than I probably need to specifically because of how they fail. The previous set had 50,xxx miles and 58,xxx miles.
You made me think and double check, which is good. I knew it hadn't been long, but these days things I think weren't that long ago....were!
And I'd hate for the truck's wheel to have any unauthorized adventures too.

 

Time to convert that old mower to high steer!
almost thought it was a steering system from a 79-85 with the POS push pull steering!

house projects, painting ...oh joy!

 

Ha, I know some Toyota parts look like they shouldn't hold up as well as they do but

 

We sure did when I lived in Yuma. I moved out of there about 15 years ago, when it got to the point I couldn't step out my front door without having a sidearm on, at least.
Usually Yuma was a dry heat, which is still friggen HOT. Turn your oven on it's lowest setting, and stick your head into it. That's close to what we'd feel all day every day outside. At least during daylight. Come nightfall it would drop to around 100-105°. That was the cool part of the day. Heh.
But during monsoon season, September through November, roughly, the humidity could skyrocket. Massive thunderstorms, etc. Usually we'd get 95% of the wonderful 3" whole inches of rain per year during the monsoons. Usually in one storm. It could get pretty miserable when the humidity goes up, and the heat is about 110°, though.

Other than that, it was a wonderful place. Nothing but sand, and if there were any plants they'd have thorns. So did the animals. Spines, poison, whatever. Lovely place to live. Lots of rattlers to go out shooting at though. No WAY anyone would take a 30 mile bike ride, either. They drop of heat stroke. I did after a 50 mile motorcycle run home from work one 125° day. That tell you anything?

I'm glad you had fun, though. I can see a stop at a winery, but I'd have a rough time riding home afterward. It might be 5 road miles, but I'd weave around so much I'd travel 10 miles. Just me, though. I tend to have a problem with drinking, so I just don't do it at all.

Take care, and have fun!
Pat☺

 

So like southern Utah, but even a whole lot more. We go there in July.
Yuma sounds....spiney, bitey, and shooty. That might be a nope.

1 bottle of wine over an hour or two, 5 miles of rails to trails (chat rocks). It's enough for the two of us, like a date except we've been together 23 years and married 19 of them so even better than a date. Glad to hear you know what works best for you, too.

 

Good, shortened, description of Yuma. If you want to go there, and there's some great off-roading around it, first, do NOT go in July. Maybe February, but not july. Unless you're absolutely certain of your AC system. After I'd been there for 15 years, which is about when I got my pickup, I just used the famous 2-55 AC system. 2 windows, 55 MPH. In fact, my AC belts have been off the engines since I bought them. I don't use it, so...

Bear in mind, if you do go there, that it's one of the major crossing points into the US from Mexico. Heck, when I lived there, my property was less than 1/4 mile from the river (read border). We had one of the biggest chop shops in AZ right next door. Plenty of dog fighting went on too. I was always finding illegals on my property. Some even spoke Spanglish. Some spoke middle-eastern languages. Hmmmm...
Oh, yeah! We did find a burnt car at the end of access road one morning. Only 4 bodies in it though. Right at the kids bus stop. Nice, huh? I'm sure it's much worse now, with the sudden influx of "people" across the border.

Beware.

If you do go, though, eat at Mr. G's. Phenominally good food. You can guess what kind...

My wife and I have been together 24 years, married 19. Very cool to see yours is so close. Second for us both. I hope yours lasts forever

Pat☺

 

Pretty sure ive dated all 3 of those girls at some point.

 

And they're all either named either Toyota or Mazda?

 

More and more spiderwebs are showing up on the truck but today great news! I got a ship notice from Marlin!!! Amazingness!! Next week the spiderwebs are gettin' cleared and here we go again

 

Sounds great!
Spider webs are definitely NOT authorized on, or worse, IN, a Toyota. These trucks deserve better than that!. Not only the webs, but the spiders MUST go as well. No rides for spiders. They can take a bus...

Have fun getting the truck back out there, get it nice and dirty again, and loose the spider webs. It's what the truck wants, and really, deserves.

Take care!
Pat☺

 

any word on what the issue was?

 

I sent the transmission back with their coupler, housing, and seal that I'd installed still on it. They said it all looked correctly done. The seal was in good shape. I did toast the transmission (because I'm an idiot and I am kicking myself for it) by running it near out of oil until it was too late to save. That last long drive from mid Colorado to eastern Missouri (with added oil) definitely did not make it any better. I kept checking the taco box in the mornings when it was cool, but not the transmission. No good very bad me.

They left the coupler housing as is because I'd installed it correctly, moved the coupler over to the new output shaft (so pleased I don't have to do that again!) and I noticed the new seal they installed is different. More metal, less not metal. I guess they've decided to give a different type seal a try since nothing looked wrong. Anything that works is fine by me!

I got home from work and installed the transmission on Thursday evening, but I ended up with another shifter base that was too short and it won't work with my oe shifter. They've located my original base and are sending it to me.
Once again the shifter initially wouldn't shift into any gears so I had to move the reverse shaft rearwards via the hole for the reverse light switch, but that's easy enough. Apparently it's common for it to move during shipping. Once I did that I found the problem with my shifter being too long for the base and binding up against a shaft in 4th gear. If I pulled the shifter partially up it would shift again until it went into 4th gear.

You know I'll be watching for fluid and checking ALL the things if it happens again!! I'm not a fan of feeling stupid.

 

96 4NotRunner 320,123 miles

Waiting on the transmission shifter base after installing the transmission and starter. Soon, I have fingers crossed, soon.

In the meantime I also bought a clutch master and slave cylinder. I'd already replaced the clutch hose. It wasn't hard to do.
First I removed the pin that holds the clutch master shaft to the clutch pedal arm.
For room I removed the moo box (charcoal canister) from the engine bay.
After removing the bleeder valve from the clutch slave and draining the system
I removed the hard line from the clutch master.
There's just two nuts that hold the clutch it to the firewall.
There's a paper gasket in between, one didn't come with the Aisin part. I used a little FIPG since I didn't have gasket material on hand to cut one and didn't want to wait for the local parts department to get one in. It probably could have done without especially with my drain keeping most of the water out of that area, but there you go.
Next I removed the hard line from the clutch slave, then unbolted and removed it.
The new parts went in easy enough, I made sure the 'U' that fits around the clutch pedal arm went in the right place, then bolted the clutch master to the firewall.
I also tried to match the new and old clutch master actuator shaft length so adjusting would be easier.
Next I re-installed the hard line to the clutch master,
then bolted the clutch slave to the transmission,
re-intalled the hard line to it,
opened the bleeder screw and gravity bled the system.
Closed the bleeder screw and checked the fluid level in the clutch master reservoir.
This morning I double checked for leaks and put the pin back in through the clutch master 'U' and the clutch pedal arm.
I'm using the clutch pedal spring delete, so installed the 'new' spring.

And that's that.

 

96 4Runnerish 320,123 miles

YAY! Transmission....that I can't get to via the front door. I went round via the back door and a dolly because it weighs nearly as much as me.


Re-installed the bell housing I took off before I shipped it in. 9 bolts, 27 ft lbs. I did it in a pattern though it probably doesn't need it.


The clutch master tucked away in the left rear corner of the engine bay. You can also see my half-round of silicone hose stuck to the firewall to prevent water from coming in through the wiring grommet.


And the pretty new blue clutch slave bolted to the side of the transmission. There is a large bolt that holds the bracket, plus two small bolts that holds the hard line to the transmission


Clutch master exploded because I can't help myself


Clutch slave exploded. At least I have an M.O.


The clutch master had some nasty black goop at the bottom of the reservoir. The clutch slave seals were rubbing off a little black goo on my fingers.

My clutch pedal arm with the 'U' keepered in and the clutch spring mod in place.


After that was all done I put my dash the rest of the way back together, bolted up my steering column, finished my a/c ductwork including the bits cooler (I don't have those other things to cool).


I also got some of the wiring under control.