1st Generation Toyota 4Runner's.....

[corax]

Steering stop replacement - front creak / squeak

So I finally got tired or putting grease on the front steering stops every other month and picked up a set of these steering stop caps off of ebay.
Total was ~$25 with shipping, but now I can forget about ever having to worry about that damn noise from the front with the wheel at full lock.

This is what I got a few days after placing my order:

It even had instructions on the inside of the flap

install took ~5 minutes with a few gentle taps of a hammer, these are NOT going to come off on their own

*note* the kit says it's for '89-95, but all IFS 4WD Toyotas from '86-'95 should be able to use these, mine is an '88

If you own a 1989 through 1995 Toyota 4x4 pickup (...and maybe even a 2-wheel drive, please check picture above to confirm you have the same style of suspension) or ‘89-95 Toyota 4Runner, or any model of T-100 pickup, you probably have heard the metal on metal creeking noise when you have turned the wheel all the way to one side to the other. This is probably because the cheap plastic bushings on the steering stops are weak flimsy plastic and have worn or broken off and now you have metal on metal rubbing (the metal on metal grinding sound is god-awful).... So I bought four stock new ones from the Toyota dealership (at the time they were ~$4 each for a total of $16... Now they are $7.64 each at the Pueblo Dealership) only to have them break off/wear through within less than a month! So I decided to make my own…I have had a set on my pickup for about 3-4 years now and no more creaking!

To install:

1) I recommend that you grind down or smooth out any rough edges on the curved metal surface (car side) that the steering stop bolt (wheel side) comes in contact with (this will help prolong the life of any plastic steering stop). If it is smooth, don't worry about this step. Remove any or all of the old plastic bushing on the steering stop bolt.

2) Secondly, turn the steering wheel all the way to the left and install the stop on the Front-Left and Rear-Right bolt. Use more medium hammer strokes rather than fewer heavy strokes. The stops have a recessed area (unlike OEM parts) to lock the stop in place. Then turn the wheel all the way to the right and install the stop on the Front-Right and Rear-Left bolt

NOTE: Because these stops are slightly larger than stock they might increase the turning radius slightly... but not too much. OEM is about 1/16" thick, these are about 1/4" thick. Compare this to the gap distance between the stop and metal plate...it is negligiable.

Also NOTE: If you do happen to wear through the stop, simply take some pliers and rotate the stop to a new, non-worn area, on all four bolts.

 

[4Rescue]

^^^^ OH BOY!!! Do I need some of those eh!!!!! With the MUCK here in the NW, I'm lucky if I get a month out of a good greasing... I use good white-lithium stuff and frankly I get SO tired of the noise letting me know it's already warn off... Good find Corax, I'll DEF. be getting a set of those.

That reminds me, I need to grease my rear shackles and front frame bushings/spring eyes.

Cheers

Dave

 

[java]

loving all the 1st gen action, makes me really miss my old truck

 

[PirateMcGee]

any guess on what the material is? I wonder if you could machine some out of brass

 

[corax]

any guess on what the material is? I wonder if you could machine some out of brass

HDPE maybe? The problem with brass would be getting it over the bolt head, the plastic deforms a bit to install (light hammer taps). The plastic just seems a much simpler solution, plus these caps are a bit thicker than the factory originals and should last quite awhile

 

[mr_crazy]

here's a few of me and my friends rigs
mine is the lil white one (last 2 pics)

 

[4307]

Welcome.

I'm trying to picture the trail your on in the pics, but can't place it... Minden?

Anyway, nice pics. Funny, we haven't seen these trucks before. Check out sontt.com

 

[mr_crazy]

bass lake and crystal lake rd trails lol

 

[corax]

just a thought / relocating ECM

I took off the dash today for some cosmetic repairs and noticed that there's a bunch of room behind there. So I pulled the ECM out from behind the passenger side kick panel to see how much room. 4crawler has already proven that the ECM can be relocated to the glove box to raise it up a bit higher, and that would probably be fine for 99.9% of the situations most of us would run into. The only problem is that I don't really want to give up the space in the glove box + I don't like the idea of the wires in my aging harness flexing back and forth every time I open the glove box (bend a paperclip back and forth a few times and see what happens).


Looks like it'd fit (might even be able to get the middle dash mount nut above the ECM back on):

So I set the dash pad back on and stuck the camera in the hole where the far right vent used to be.
Here's the clearance to the dash pad:

Firewall side clearance:

It'd be a little bit of work. Making brackets would be the easy part since there are holes at all 4 corners of the ECM to mount a sheet metal bracket to. The hardest part would be making the harness long enough to reach it, but I have an idea on that also. So next time I make a junkyard run I'm going to see if I can snag a new set of male ECM connectors and snip the female half of the ECM connector off of the board. From there I hope to epoxy the male terminals (in the female connector) into place so they don't move and just run wire between the two for a plug-and-play harness extension. You might be able to see in the pic below why I'll need to epoxy the terminals in place - the terminals don't move because they're all soldered directly to the board, there's no much in the plastic connector to hold them in place.

*NOTE* this ECM is for a 7MGE engine, but the 22RE ECM is the same size

Anyway, this is a project for further down the road and I'll need to gather some parts first, but I wanted to get everyone thinking about it a bit . . .

 

[corax]

cracked dash repair

fiberglass dash repair / modification


View from the driver's seat

Passenger's side

 

[Ruined Adventures]

Nice work corax. I especially like the raised lip for the recessed storage area. My dash has one of those little sticky pads up there. Does a good job of keeping my GPS and phone up there unless the road gets too bumpy.

Any 1G 4runners going to the Overland Expo? I'm about to sell a bunch of first gen interior parts and I'm wondering if it would be worthwhile to bring stuff to the expo...

 

[corax]

no affiliation, but I saw this one's for sale if anyone is interested - maybe a bit pricey for old steel, but it looks thoroughly gone through and stout

 

[corax]

I just saw TF finally posted finished pics of their new rear 1/4 panels to their site . . . time to start saving my pennies

:drool:

 

[FeelinIrie]

Yeah buddy!!

:ylsmoke:

 

[Toyotero]

Great looking 4R FeelinIrie... specs?