Gatorgrl's Grand Gen2 4Runner makeover

Thanks for the props. Was actually looking at that pesky headlight last night and it appears I will have to do a bit of grill removal to get to it. The fun never stops.

 

The fun should never stop, as long as the funds never stop. Or,
As long as the funds never stop, the fun never stops.

 

Really loved reading this thread, hope your troubles end soon, and it will become a reliable daily for you.

 

Thanks, I joke and kid but I love the Runner. If I had one complaint...it would be the cup holders. Bad location, right in front of the a/c vents. If we both have coffees, then the a/c cools the coffee, instead of us. Like I said, that's really my only complaint thus far. Just waiting to hit the open road and start using her for more than the highway.

 

There’s a lot of 3.0l knowledge in here, so here is a question.

on a warm start, it takes longer to start and has a lower idle. Idle is set to 900 and drops to about 500 when the above happens. Time frame is about 30-60 minutes after engine shut off to starting back up.

I know I need a new thermal vacuum valve that goes to the evap canister. Could that be the issue? Other ideas?

 

Yeah I hate that too. My biggest complaint is the small fuel tank and of course the total lack of power.

 

That would be our best guess, too. Good luck.

 

Well today we got some more things accomplished on our Runner.
First, she got new headlights and of course we took the grill off to replace them both.


Then we turned our attention to finding a good place to install the 3 liter air compressor for my air horns. Found a suitable area above the spare tire. Completely virgin territory.



Welded two little brackets and it's now installed. Safe and sound.

Will hopefully have the airhorns mounted tomorrow.
Stay tuned............

 

Well we got everything mounted today. Compressor and horns are both in place and all the wires have been loomed and ran. We just need to get a switch and fuse and hook them up to power. We put the original spare tire back up and you can't even see the compressor now. And with the Runner on the ground, you can't see the horns at all. total stealth surprise....just waiting for a dumbass.

 

The only down side is the compressor is a bit loud and you can definitely hear it from inside the vehicle, even with it running and the radio on. We tested it and can get 3 good horn blasts off the full compressor before it cycles to increase pressure so hopefully it won't run too often...unless I encounter a bunch of dumbasses in one sitting.

 

Not even funny!
Some old guy just hit us in the Runner and fucked it up!



WE were in the outside lane and this old guy was ahead of us in the inside lane. the guy in front of him was turning left, he didn't see this and didn't slow down, hit that guy in the ass then rammed into us as we were passing, pushed us sideways and hit us again in the rear tire. We nearly flipped as we spun around into oncoming traffic.



And here is the broken rear wheel.

He was on his phone and didn't even know he had hit 2 cars! THIS is why I wanted the fuckin airhorns! I have them onboard and wires ran, we were going to complete the install today but had to run out to the grocery store because of this Kungflu bullshit and thats when we got hit!
Now we have to get new wheels and tires since those tires are KO's and not made anymore.
FUCK!

 

Nooooo!

 

His insurance better cover it. And when you submit a claim to the insurance, tell them they have to buy you 4 new tires because these tires are not available for direct replacement anymore. They should buy you four new tires and fix your vehicle

 

Due to the age of the vehicle, they are not gonna pay to fix it, they will just total it and take it.

 

Well this sucks, sorry to see this happen to you guys after all that work.

 

Oh, she WILL be rebuilt. Thankfully nothing mechanical is damaged. It's just bumpers, lights and a few side panels, paint and new tires and rims.

 

That's great news Gatorgrl.

 

Priced it all out and it should be about 2k in replacement parts, wheels and tires and another 2k in paint and body work. Given the state of affairs right now, we might wait to fix it and hang on to our $$ until all this passes. Mechanically its unharmed as far as we can tell. Will have to put it on the lift to confirm. The rest is just cosmetic. It's just the point. Like the headlights are brand fuckin new, hadn't even turned them on yet and are now busted. We have done so very much on this Runner and things that are now broken, were things we didn't originally need to address.

 

They will still pay you if they total it, and you can keep it, they will take the total value, subtract the value they think they would get at auction for the wrecked vehicle, and you can keep it but it will have a salvage title.

 

Don't want a salvage title. Found out today the new rear end is broken. Guess by him hitting the rear tire, it pushed the axle into the spider gears. Dealing with their insurance company already. Should be interesting.

 

Hit the ole faithful junk yard this morning to start the rebuild and harvest some parts. Here's the story:

Found this poor poor 92 Runner that was apparently driven from the North and left here to die

We needed the rear pumpkin but she was a rusty beast, so......


We wound up having to cut the entire rear axle out and dragging it home to harvest. Poor Rav had to identify as a truck. That thing was freakin heavy....and rusty!
Got it back to the shop, where the poor crippled Runner was.

Began the long process of taking the pumpkin out of this rust bucket. We also removed our axles and found out the one side was locked up and the new wheel bearings are toast and to make matters worse....the entire axle housing is bent!

WHAT BULLSHIT!
This perfect original axle:

Now has to be swapped out with this rusty shit:

Kill me now.
On the plus side, the gear oil that came out of it looked good and zero metal found in it or on the magnetic drain plug!
Judging by how rusted the rear brake drums were, I would say this poor Runner hadn't been driven in a very long time.
What a shame!
So we take the gear set out of the donor axle and give it a good cleaning. It appears to be 4:56 in great condition. Unfortunately we have 4:10 gears in ours. We were afraid the rear hit caused the axle to jam into the spider gears and break them, but it appears the new rear end we installed in July is ok. Will disassemble and take a better look
tomorrow. So heres a look at them both.

The saga continues. I am just sick over having to replace a perfect original piece and put that rusty shit in my ride. the issue is we have the wheel speed sensor in the rear end and Toyota only did this for a short time and as a buyer option. Both these rear ends have this wheel speed sensor. At least i know our rear end will come apart easy since it's not a rust bucket and clean as a whistle.

 

Sucks big time. Please keep your eyes on the prize.
And about the Rav, our old '10 Rav4 had to identify as a truck more than a few times and also a toad behind a Moho.

 

Oh trust me IF my 06 RAV was a manual, it would have been the toad to begin with.

 

Finally spoke with the adjuster today and as luck would have it, he is a Toyota nut as well.
He agreed to let me send him my pictures via text and made the assessment from that. He also appreciated the pristine condition our Runner was in and the fact that we didn't utilize a rental and are doing the work ourselves, he was able to have the vehicle total value increased. He also understood our desire to NOT have it totaled and made the estimate just under the total valve....which was more than I originally thought it would be. We were all set to eat this whole shit sandwich ourselves so really any amount the insurance gave us would be a bonus. Sure it's not enough to totally fix it but it's a huge help in that direction, plus WE get to do it ourselves and not be at their mercy.

 

Great to hear he was at least working with you..........uhhhh are you done yet?

 

Very funny.Will be working all weekend and beyond, believe that. Have spent my evening sourcing out parts and making a list. Went to Toyota first to get their price and availability and out of the 8 things I had her look up, they still carry only 3. So now I have been on eBay, Parts geek and car-part.com to see who has what we need and the best price. Will likely spend the weekend media blasting the donor rear end and hopefully making it look half assed enough to paint and install, so we can at least get the Runner off his lift. Without a rear end, we can't even move it.
Hubby did harvest the 2 drivers side doors from our junk yard Runner as well as the front drivers side fender. Will have to Frankenstein the doors together. Donor doors don't have the inside door panels...raped days ago....so we will use our own, just have to marry them and install them. Will be a busy weekend. Once the check gets here, then it's time for tires, rims and paint.

 

You know i was just jackin with you a little right?

 

I know, no worries. I am sure I surprised the adjuster when I started explaining all the work we had done to the Runner previously and all the damage it had now. I am sure he doesn't get too many wives that are this mechanically inclined....lol Gotta look at our spider gears this morning and see if they were damaged when the axle was shoved into them. Cross your fingers.
Happy to say I shopped and shopped last night and if my math is correct, we should be able to cover the repairs with the check they are sending us and only have a small amount out of our own pockets. Happy about that!

 

Well the rebuild is going well. I worked all day yesterday and today on the donor axle housing getting as much rust and scale off as I could.

This was the start. Used a media blaster with baking soda, a few floppy sanding discs on a grinder, some sand paper and a few metal brushes. Very messy. My sinuses are toast.

Then I got it to this stage:

After it dried from it's pressure washer bath, I painted it with a rust inhibitor primer.

And then I started with the first of a few coats of Black Satin:

It's still quite wet in this picture, hoping the gloss tones down once it fully dries. Will see in the morning.

Managed to get the original, once perfect axle housing out of the Runner. Felt a little sad.

Hubby worked on setting up the center section. He transferred our 4:10 gears to the donor center housing since our original one got a bit stretched out in the accident and the bearing was spinning under the cap.

Slowly.....but surely... she will be reborn.

 

Well I was alone in the shop for most of the day and got a lot accomplished. Rear axle housing painting was finished, center section was painted, took the front bent bumper off, cut my finger in the process and also took the drivers front fender off. Hubby finally showed up (was helping a friend install a water heater) and helped me install the axle housing in the Runner. He also worked on beating some bent body back into shape so the new sheet metal will fit properly.
Tomorrow we will drop the axles off to get the bearings pressed out and the new ones pressed in. We also need to get some new side bearings so he can set up the center section and install. Ordered everything we should need off eBay, except the new tires and wheels. Still not sure what I'm going with yet. Making progress.....