TW's active 4runner builders BS thread

For sure. I'm gonna try and leave Tuesday afternoon/evening to get a head start and try to get across Oklahoma, Arkansas, and all that boring stuff as fast as I can. Then I'll have 2 days to do fun stuff in Arizona/Utah before I go to Vegas, pick up my girlfriend at the airport and go into California.

How was Death Valley last week?

Fair enough, if this one doesn't work or doesn't get here in time I'll just do that. I wanted to get it before hand because I figured they're ungodly expensive there.

 

That sucks. Not how you want your trips to go... Hopefully it's nothing too serious.

Any road closures or anything that I should be aware of in Death Valley?

 

That's good that it seems fine. At least you finished the 2017 wheeling season with a bang haha.

I think I remember you posting something before about a 4x4 way to get into Joshua Tree NP to skip the lines, and maybe even the fee to get into the park? I know there's a road like that for Arches NP. I wish I would have known about that before I paid $25 and sat through the lines to get into the park...

 

Thanks, looks pretty simple from a quick glimpse on google maps. Are they just dirt roads, or are they like rock crawling trails?

Any idea what happens if the ranger finds you without a pass? Do you just have to pay for a pass, or is there a fee/ticket/headache involved?

 

Sounds good. Thanks for the info! I might call and see what they say about coming in on a dirt road.

I might be bothering you with more Death Valley and SoCal questions over the next week. I'm hoping to get most of it planned out this week.

 

I'd definitely be interested in that! Goal is to stay away from large crowds for most of this trip. The weather is looking pretty good, and the moonrise is after midnight everynight so there should be some good stargazing.

 

Is this better? @MattJakobs

 

Wrong thread

 

Just replaced my clutch, went to a local shop to have it done. $1100 when it was all said and done. A different local place quoted me $1500+. New clutch kit is Luk brand.

Clutch was original. Over 225k!!
Old clutch plate was down to the rivets, and the pilot bearing was completely seized.

Only bummer is the new throw out bearing makes noise now, and I can't get rid of it by adjusting the pedal. Already brought it back. Kinda bummed, taking it to the dealer wasn't really an option.

 

I’ve had my clutch replaced 4 times by a number of places and 3/4 it squeaked after. The 4th time I bought all the parts directly from the dealer and no squeak.

 

Damn it. Lol

The throw out bearing every time?

 

Yes, but not to the point of failure or anything, just a little annoying when idling with the windows down. My original disc started slipping at 160k ish, had that replaced, and then started having a lot of issues going into first 10k later. So I started chasing the problem, throwing parts at it, clutch after clutch, god knows how many slave and master cylinders. Cleaned out the lines, replaced the hardline, never got any better. Actually got so bad I couldn't get into first at all without turning the engine off. Ended up finding one on craigslist for $400 and threw in an OEM clutch kit and its never been smoother.

 

I guess my silver lining is that it is making the noise right away. That way I can take it to the shop after 5 miles of driving.

I could hear it inside over the sound of my music, so annoying.

Just got a text from the shop. They say it was the shift fork on pivot. Lubed the pivot and the noise is gone. We will see how long that lasts.

 

Noise gone for now. Hoping that solves it.

I can't stand where the clutch engages and how light the pressure is, but I will just have to get over that!

 

I would have sold my truck a long time ago if it was an automatic. It was the only thing that made it fun driving around on 31's when I was in high school.

 

its not a race car, im 100% ok with my auto. Especially in my daily traffic commute

 

Ya but before I knew anything about 4Runners or even off-roading. My clear coat faded, leaking every fluid possible, pos 4Runner wasn’t exactly cool in high school

 

Someone’s comfy @4x4runner2002

 

its still not cool