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Thread: YotaFun's Tess (97' SR5 4Runner)

  1. #41
    When I had my axle completely out, I found it was much easier to remove and reinstall with the tires off. I did mine with a few jackstands and a jack.
    2005 Lexus LX470 - Stock for now...

    1998 Toyota 4Runner SR5 V6 4x4 + a bunch of goodies. Lifted, Locked, Illuminated and Armored. Winner,"Best Offroad Truck" - 2010 Pismo Jamboree. It's been upside down and still drives me to work.

  2. #42
    Next was to get the front done, which has brought about another whole mess of issues thanks to that glorious thing that I just can't escape in my area.... rust....

    First of all the new frame coming apart, and getting everything out, not a lot of pics since again it was just me:


    There is a lot of stuff missing there....


    Coils in, I adjusted the preload a bit before putting it in the truck, I figured if it was too high lowering it would be easier then raising it.

    That is all I have for front install kits.
    I got the diff moved over sans diff drop due to the fact the spacer is stuck to the bolt and the threads got stripped (I think I can retrace them and save them but the nuts are definitely done and I will have to replace them)....

    Also missing from the front end is my all-pro upper control arms -_-....
    The bolt that goes through the arms and the shock tower is frozen to the bushing sleeves...
    This is due to me being all gun-ho with the air gun when I first installed them, mushroomed the bolt into the sleeve a little, plus some rust just spells disaster...

    Called up All-pro to get new sleeve, I tell you those guys there are great gents, and good sense of humor, especially if they can deal with a nut like me lol!

    Ordered new a-arm bolts due to the fact I would rather have new ones in there while I am at it, and also some shock to lower arm bolts and nuts (I just had what I could find thrown in since when I was doing it I was running back and forth between the two truck and loosing my mind)

    But she is lifted.... again....



    She is high on the passenger side, I will have to crank her down a bit, I will do that once I get the upper arms swapped over, but oh what a feeling to sit in her and feel up high again!

    I'll have the before and after measurements after the arms are in and its aligned
    Last edited by YotaFun; 08-23-2013 at 04:55 PM.

  3. #43
    Quote Originally Posted by Seanz0rz View Post
    When I had my axle completely out, I found it was much easier to remove and reinstall with the tires off. I did mine with a few jackstands and a jack.
    Sean it made it a lot easier for me in this case to keep the tires on since I could roll one axle to the one truck and the one to the other, I had them lined up good but getting the bolts through the links proved to be a pain especially since there was some tension on them still...

  4. #44
    With the 4Runner lifted again, and me having a few bad weeks, I really wanted to get out in the woods for a bit...
    I don't have much pictures of the days events I was riding solo in my truck (still with a group though)

    The begging of the trail is easy and then there is an 'S' turn before the real tough stuff, still has some intricately placed rocks.
    Well I picked a bad line and this was the outcome:


    That is the tire shoved into the body.....

    This is what was the result of my damages:



  5. #45
    More pictures of the carnage:




    How its suppose to look:


    This is a bad pic but dirty hands make it hard to take good pics, that is where the bottom of the shock is split:

    When I removed the shock the bottom came right off:


    Bent Shock and broken link (broke as I was trying to get it off the trailer -_-:


    Axles out:


    So is the diff:











    I am sleeving the upper control arms to beef them up and putting new bushings in, while yes I could have made adjustable ones, I really have no need as of right now, I don't plan to lift the rear any higher and the current geometry of the set up works well when I don't break it.
    So this is what I did:





    Boom:



    Comparison:


    Done:

  6. #46
    With the upper links out of the way it was time to see what to do with the lowers,
    Since rebuilding my old Rubicon Express links from Sonoran Steel was proving to be a major pain in the ass I decided to make my own, cutting off the end of the links and doing something my way:





    What I am doing for one end is welding on the frame side is weld the stock link end to that side:


    On the other end I am going to do as so:
    http://www.ballisticfabrication.com/...nt_p_1966.html

    Its pretty amazing how flimsy the stock links are:

  7. #47
    So I sourced a rear axle for $50 from a local u-pull, it was a little rusted, cleaned it up and painted it, and put a little truss in:
    It is even, just the way this picture was taken make it look otherwise:





    Finally got the parts from ballistics and the bushing off amazon:

    I forgot to take pics of the bushings for the links but here is the link to the amazon page that has them:
    Lower:
    http://www.amazon.com/Febest-Bushing.../dp/B00C6MYBAA
    Upper:
    http://www.amazon.com/Febest-Bushing.../dp/B00C6MVPH2

    New Links:
    Upper:


    Lowers:



    Now just have to clean them up a little, paint the housing and links with a good final coat and that part of the project will be done.

    I have to now install the diff and all the brake lines and e-brake lines.
    Order some shocks and re-install the rear and she will be rolling again.

    I will be going back to just being open in the rear again till I can afford to regear to 4.88s.
    Since I only have a 4.10 ope diff, I will have to switch the front back to 4.10 as well, a lot of work yes but I unfortunately do not have a time line as to when the funds will be available for the 4.88 and I would rather be open open and have 4wd then no truck at all.

  8. #48


    You have no idea how hard it was to do this job with only the factory bottle jack, with changing jobs and the holidays there was really no money to get a proper floor jack -_-

    In that picture I was still waiting on shocks to get in the mail as well as get axle seals cause the ones I had sucked and would not go in right, pretty much note for the future its Toyota seals or its Toyota seals, everything else has a coating of some sort on the outer edge that prevent it from going it right as such:


    But once that was sorted out:


    No seal in that pic I know but they are installed because:


    She is up and running finally!
    She needed a few things though before I could take her down the road safety:
    Brakes bled
    All bolts tighten (actually have to go back and back them off then torque them since I just went good and tight and that was my mistake first time around...)
    Oil change (I ran half a can of seafoam in the oil since prior to this she hadn't run since september)
    Charge the battery (was stone cold dead but I was able to bring it back to life)
    Test Drive it.

    First initial test drive found the only two problems that needed to be resolved.
    The issues came from and ass end that liked to pitch itself one way on acceleration and another on braking, making this a very scary rid especially if you had to panic brake.
    This was a result of one of the links being a half a turn out of adjustment and the other, the bolts I used on the ballistics end-link side was too small. Half a turn and new bolts later and she is driving around beautifully.

    Hopefully soon enough I'll have 4WD and the build can start to continue as normal -_-

  9. #49
    Doing a front diff on your own on a cold garage floor is now easy task but the motivation of 6"+ of snow lights a fire under your butt to get it done!

    Not many pics but:



    This light makes a 4 Wheeler very happy:

  10. #50
    I haven't updated much on the build and honestly all I have done is changed my gear ratio to 4.88 and added a roof basket.

    However it comes with a heavy heart, and a lot of sleepless night trying to make a decision and I am sad to say that this build has come to an end and Tess will be a 4Runner I cannot save....

    There is more body rust then I thought and the structural integrity is compromised on the driver side, the rocker is almost 100% gone and the inner rocker is on its way out and not attached to anything that has remained. The passenger side rocker in the rear is gone and the inside floor side resembles the driver. Also due to the numerous windshield replacements in her life time (5...) the top or the windshield sheet metal has rusted away to the point that when it rains, it rains inside the truck as well -_-
    Take all of this and add an engine that needs head gaskets, it is just time.

    I swore when I first got this truck that I would do whatever I could to make sure I keep it, but have grown up and matured and realized that some things aren't meant to last forever. I am sure with some astronomical amount of money that I don't have I could save it, but I don't have that.

    I have been blessed with 12 and a half years and 163k miles of memories with her. Thanks to Tess I have met some amazing people and she has helped shaped me into the person I am today. She will live on with some parts being transferred over to my 2000 4Runner Annabelle so memories can continue to be made.

    On to the pictures:
    On my Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/open?id=13f...fqiGXYjdotXZLC
    Drivers Side Rocker and Quarter Panel:














    As far as the part out, I will be transferring what I want to Annabelle and then taking the truck apart as much as I can (try to stock up on spare nuts and bolts) and then cut up the body and scrap it, and maybe sell the frame ;-)

    I have had a few guys ask me how much I want for the whole truck, but if I can't have it whole I really don't want to see someone else driving it around, yes a little selfish but it would be hard for me to swallow seeing.
    Last edited by YotaFun; 05-15-2018 at 11:10 PM.

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