Adventures in 4Runner'ing

[DaveInDenver]

Couldn't say but you're probably right about it being aftermarket. Maybe it's something that was built up custom at a radiator shop, too, if the neck got ruined on the original one or something.

I ran the brass tank Performance Radiator (their part number 50CBR) and it seemed to be a reboxed version of the OEM V6 with A/T tubes. Said made in Malaysia and so I always assumed it probably came off the same Denso line as what was made for Hiluxes. The stamping in the tanks looked exactly like the original and all that. It was about 1/2 the price of the dealer, though.

Which, BTW, reminds me, the original brass and copper radiators have been substituted in the official chain I think with plastic and aluminum, so don't bother with the factory parts anymore and do NOT ever toss out the one you have. It can be rebuilt.

 

[ScaldedDog]

I wonder what other surprises are in store. Maybe not really 5.29:1 gears? Maybe a dash panel full of drugs? So exciting! I never know what's around the next corner.

Count the spark plugs. Maybe you got a 3.4!

Mark

 

[DouglasVB]

Count the spark plugs. Maybe you got a 3.4!

Mark

LMAO!!!!

I'm pretty sure I only counted four...

 

[DaveInDenver]

Could be a 3RZ-FE conversion. That would be cool.

 

[DouglasVB]

The distributor cap is in the same place as on the 22RE engine in Goldilocks (my old gold 4runner). I think the 3RZ-FE has a pretty different layout?

Something has been done to the engine one way or another though. It has much more power when accelerating on the freeway even with the big tires.

 

[AxleIke]

Could be a 3RZ-FE conversion. That would be cool.

With a 22R valve cover, no less! LOL!

 

[DaveInDenver]

With a 22R valve cover, no less! LOL!

Ha! Weirder stuff has happened.

How about a I6 valve cover cut to hide coil packs on a LS crate engine.

 

[DouglasVB]

Okay I took a quick video of the truck in various t-case configurations here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYZC6VS96e8 NOTE: I had the transmission in 2nd gear because I'm dumb.

It looks to me like I do in fact have 4.7 gears up front but I want to make sure. It would help me if a few of you could watch the video and give me your opinion. No, I can't only have the front case in low range due to the shift rail problem. Do you agree that I have 4.7 gears in the front and 2.28 gears in the rear T-cases?

Also it appears that I have a leaking radiator cap/filler area still:

Any thoughts on what might be going on there?


I went over to Slee Offroad this afternoon. They said they *could* do the work but they figure at least 10 hours depending on how involved it gets. It didn't sound like they were super eager to work on a mini truck.

My two main concerns for doing the work myself are: 1) how do I get the t-cases safely lowered out of the truck and 2) how do I press off bearings from gear sets if it comes down to that. Time will be of the essence as well because I don't have enough room in the garage to keep both 's car inside and the truck inside.

Regarding concern #1, I think I might be able to use an ATV lift from Harbor Freight with some cribbing to reach high enough.

Regarding concern #2, I suspect that I can either swap the locations of T case 1 and T case 2 or swap the gears without pressing on and off bearings between T case 1 and T case 2. Thoughts on that?

 

[AxleIke]

Couple of things here.

1. The tcases are not that heavy. You can easily do the removal with a rented Trans jack. I usually don't bother, as I find it easier to just lift them (by the time you screw around with the jack getting everything lined up, you end up half lifting them anyway).

2. There are 6 bolts holding the cases to the trans, so removal is very quick.

3. You don't need to swap any bearings. You need to pull apart the rear case down to the reduction part of the case (the front). You will have to swap the aluminum cases. the 4.7 gears are larger, so the case will be ground. As such, you do not even need to remove the low range shafts from the housings. Put the 4.7 stuff into the rear case reverse of disassembly and the 2.28 in the front, again, reverse of dissassembly.

Marlin used to have good instructions on his site for the teardown of the transfer cases. Speciality tools you will need aren't many, just make sure you have a 30 mm socket (I'm pretty sure), and two new stake nuts (order those from toyota probably). You will have to remove the input and output flanges and those nuts may or may not be reusable.

VERY helpful to have an impact wrench.

May want to get new input/output seals for the flanges as well.

 

[White Stripe]

You could always call Joe again, but its kinda far for you it sounds like.

 

[DouglasVB]

Couple of things here.

1. The tcases are not that heavy. You can easily do the removal with a rented Trans jack. I usually don't bother, as I find it easier to just lift them (by the time you screw around with the jack getting everything lined up, you end up half lifting them anyway).

2. There are 6 bolts holding the cases to the trans, so removal is very quick.

3. You don't need to swap any bearings. You need to pull apart the rear case down to the reduction part of the case (the front). You will have to swap the aluminum cases. the 4.7 gears are larger, so the case will be ground. As such, you do not even need to remove the low range shafts from the housings. Put the 4.7 stuff into the rear case reverse of disassembly and the 2.28 in the front, again, reverse of dissassembly.

Marlin used to have good instructions on his site for the teardown of the transfer cases. Speciality tools you will need aren't many, just make sure you have a 30 mm socket (I'm pretty sure), and two new stake nuts (order those from toyota probably). You will have to remove the input and output flanges and those nuts may or may not be reusable.

VERY helpful to have an impact wrench.

May want to get new input/output seals for the flanges as well.

Haha you're giving me courage to do this myself! Looks like between what I have on hand and Stevenson Toyota, all of the seals I would want to replace are available locally. I think I'll give it a shot this weekend.

 

[DouglasVB]

New interesting twist:

The front seats on the truck are out of a 1990-1993 Honda Accord 2 door. The cable for the rear seat release on the passenger side is broken and it appears they no longer exist as new parts. Now I'm trying to figure out how to build a new one. The local bike shop can't do it. They can't get the ends I need for the cable. I am going to go try at the local hardware store and see what they have.

Still need to figure out why I'm getting coolant leaking from the radiator cap area. Might need to do a pressure leak-down test or something similar.

 

[DaveInDenver]

Picture of the cable?

 

[DouglasVB]

I believe it is P/N: 81235-sm2-j01

I'm going to run over to Home Depot to see if they might have anything similar in the lawn mower section. Both ends should look the same on this cable.

 

[DouglasVB]

The interior cable is 1/32" diameter.

 

[DaveInDenver]

That looks generic enough that I bet Dorman has something. If you have time hit a NAPA and flip through the catalog.

For example, the Dorman 905-525 looks kind of like it. Too short, but similar otherwise.

http://www.dormanproducts.com/itemdetail.aspx?ProductID=67965&SEName=905-525

But otherwise, yeah, lawn mowers are probably a good bet, too.

 

[DanS]

That looks generic enough that I bet Dorman has something. If you have time hit a NAPA and flip through the catalog.

For example, the Dorman 905-525 looks kind of like it. Too short, but similar otherwise.

http://www.dormanproducts.com/itemdetail.aspx?ProductID=67965&SEName=905-525

But otherwise, yeah, lawn mowers are probably a good bet, too.

I'll bet McMaster Carr carries something that would work too.

Dan

 

[DouglasVB]

Looks like I can build something that will work with parts from McMaster. They have the correct size of cable and I think I can use some compression sleeves to make loops with that can stand in for the ends of the original cable.

 

[ToyodaTocco]

New interesting twist:

The front seats on the truck are out of a 1990-1993 Honda Accord 2 door. The cable for the rear seat release on the passenger side is broken and it appears they no longer exist as new parts. Now I'm trying to figure out how to build a new one. The local bike shop can't do it. They can't get the ends I need for the cable. I am going to go try at the local hardware store and see what they have.

Still need to figure out why I'm getting coolant leaking from the radiator cap area. Might need to do a pressure leak-down test or something similar.

Make sure your hood is not pushing down on the radiator cap. My aftermarket radiator was too tall and doing the same thing.

 

[ToyodaTocco]

Do you agree that I have 4.7 gears in the front and 2.28 gears in the rear T-cases?

From Marlin's site:
In our opinion, the Ultimate setup is when a dual transfercase is built with one set of stock gears (2.28:1), and one set of Marlin Crawler's 4.70:1 gear sets. This is known as the Dual Ultimate Crawler. In a 21-spline application, due to the excess torque generated by the 4.70:1 gears, we will only build a 21-spline Ultimate Crawler with the 4.70:1 gears in the back case. But in a 23-spline application, the factory 23-spline input is much stronger, and therefore, the 4.70:1 gears can be placed in either the front case or in the rear, the choice is yours. In any of the available applications, two sets of 4.70:1 can be used to achieve a low range crawl ratio of nearly 500:1! More than 9 times lower than stock! We call this a Dual Ultimate Overkill Crawler since such a low crawl ratio is merely for bragging rights.