Fenwick's "Build": The Resurrection of Stonewall Jackson!

Thanks dude! I love that I'm driving a fixer... feel rather accomplished of the work I put into it. This may be crazy talk, but I feel that my bond with my truck is super strong, because of all the work I had to do to it to get it running.


Oh, did the first oil change the day before yesterday. All I can say is f#ck the Toyota engineers for the placement of the oil filter on the 2.4. But I got it off. Eventually.

 

Yay, power steering pump is going. Loud as hell whining, and you can sort of feel pulsing in the wheel if you pay attention. Figures the parts I didn't replace would go within the first couple thousand miles after the rebuild. :/

 

don't ya know that's the way it always goes?

 

Yeah, it sure is. I figured something like this would happen, but knowing that it'll happen eventually doesn't make it any easier to fix it. But yeah, I figured that things would go real quick after I got it running. I mean, everything besides the rebuild has 150k miles on it.

 

Good news is, (I'm assuming) you know how to fix it yourself... I'm a total doof when it comes to mechanical stuff. I hate paying mechanic's but I have no idea how to fix stuff on my vehicles. Hell, I felt like mcgyver after replacing a battery in my truck.

 

sucks man , mine was doing the same thing

 

Yeah, I've replaced a couple power steering pumps, mostly in my dad's two stupid Dodge vans. Never replaced one on a Taco, but it should be a hell of a lot easier than the one in the 97 Caravan. That thing was a nightmare! O_____o
I don't profess to be a mechanical genius (I'm not) but I have overhauled a couple engines, including my own, and replaced probably every part you can replace on a vehicle at least once. I never stop learning, though. I'll do the pump myself, that's no problem. The problem is getting the new pump. Work sucks a$$ right now.

How long did it whine on you before it went out completely? Mine just started whining like last week. At first, it was only doing it for a few seconds after startup, but now it's nearly constant.

 

more than a month, but get it fixed before , don't let completely go out , mine wasn't as bad but it still had the whine

 

Yeah, I'm trying to not let it go out completely, but it may happen anyways- I'm pretty much trying to keep from driving the truck until I can get a new pump. Cheapest one I can find is like $95. I usually end up driving the truck relatively short distances at least once a day anyways, but I do try to minimize how much time I spend driving it right now.
I've switched over from mowing lawns to raking leaves, so the money is still sorta coming in, but there's even not much time left in that. It's hard to believe the summer went by so fast! (It's in the 40's right now, screw this! )

 

Got my coolant leak taken care of. The gasket around the thermostat got torn up, so it was leaking around it. Cost me like 8 bucks- the gasket was 2, and the RTV was 5 or 6.
So next project is make enough money to replace power steering pump but still be able to make insurance. Anyone know roughly how long a power steering pump will last before total failure if the truck is driven on average only 5-15 miles a day?

 

haha nice, the oil filter location on the 3.4 is a real bitch also. I walked by a new Tacoma with the 4.0 at the dealership a while back and saw that the filter is located on top of the engine right next to the battery, made me a little jealous.

 

Gah, that does make me jealous. And to think I've got many more times I'll have to do an oil change on this thing...

 

Well, a few weeks ago, the power steering got really bad. Noise almost nonstop, and sometimes I would have to strongarm the wheel at very low speed. So I bought a reman from Auto Zone, because Advance didn't have it. Installed it, rode okay at first. But within ten minutes of driving, I was back to strongarming the wheel, but this time it was worse. I had to strongarm it pretty much all the time. I checked belt tension, fluid level, and checked for bubbles in the reservoir, so I knew it was the problem- the blighters sent me a shitty pump. And I had to deal with it for about two weeks, because between work, home, and all of the funerals I've had to attend lately, I didn't have time. But the day before yesterday, I managed to turn this defective piece of shit in and get another reman and install it. So far so good. Never been able to turn the wheel so smooth.

 

Wow, been a minute since I posted in my thread.
That second reman power steering pump is already making noise. F@ck a reman.
Yesterday I installed a cheap little CB radio. Just a little Cobra. Definitely going to need a better antenna, the one that came with it sucks.
Still haven't figured out where I'm going to mount the mic bracket, so for now, it's in my cup holder.

Just ran the antenna cable along the weather strip of the passenger door.

 

So... TWSBA knows what's happening with Stonewall right now... Any guesses?

 

Paint?

 

this is my guess too

 

Yep ... I'll go with paint too.

 

I know what it is now.... hahah

 

Tis paint!