Mstudt's 01 Toyota 4runner SR5
- Thread starter MStudt
- Start date
Thanks! This is kind of what I do for a living. I work for myself doing remodeling and workwooding. Although, use MDF is not my forte to say the least.
E-brake Issue
Onto another issue that came with the car. I'm getting ready for a state inspection on Friday and I wanted to see what was up with the emergency brake. The handle only goes up two clicks, three if I yank up on it. My first thought was it just needed to be adjusted, no dice. I put the rear on jack stands, took off the tires, and pulled the drums. I quickly found out what the problem was.
These were so corroded they wouldn't budge with a hammer. I spent and hour just trying to loosen one of them up enough to start moving, and that's just the beginning. I spend the next couple hours trying to located these locally. Call the stealership and they wanted $150 per side. Ended up finding them at O'reilly's for $46, just have to wait a day for them. eBay has them for about the same price, but who knows when they'd show up.
O'Reilly's has these under a "Parking Brake Hardware" kit, which comes as a kit with every component needed to build new ones. If you call the dealer, you have to order individual parts to build them.
Onto another issue that came with the car. I'm getting ready for a state inspection on Friday and I wanted to see what was up with the emergency brake. The handle only goes up two clicks, three if I yank up on it. My first thought was it just needed to be adjusted, no dice. I put the rear on jack stands, took off the tires, and pulled the drums. I quickly found out what the problem was.
These were so corroded they wouldn't budge with a hammer. I spent and hour just trying to loosen one of them up enough to start moving, and that's just the beginning. I spend the next couple hours trying to located these locally. Call the stealership and they wanted $150 per side. Ended up finding them at O'reilly's for $46, just have to wait a day for them. eBay has them for about the same price, but who knows when they'd show up.
O'Reilly's has these under a "Parking Brake Hardware" kit, which comes as a kit with every component needed to build new ones. If you call the dealer, you have to order individual parts to build them.
Why MDF? It was free. When MDF is properly covered it will be just fine. I didn't have to spend a single dollar on my entire platform. Everything that was used on my platform was from left over material from remodeling and woodworking jobs I've had. If this thing falls apart in a year then so be it, I'll rebuild it then. I'd most likely will go with something a little more sound then plywood, and with more rigidity then MDF. The characteristics of MDF do pretty well with water, just as long as you're not going swimming with it. The sections I have built will have a plywood deck to it, and will be carpeted.
Correct! If I had to do it again I'd spend the extra money and build a frame from 80/20, and finish it off with some oak plywood. This is really nice stuff, and not very expensive when considering the cost of wood these days.
PetitFrereArmada
Explorer
Nice build so far. Keep it coming.
I know what you mean about those parking brake levers. When I purchased my used 4Runner, both were seized on and the dealer wanted $150/side. I ended up just trying to un-seize them myself. The trick is to take a chisel and hammer away at the sides of the lever to expand the casing a bit. Then once the lever is un-seized, lubricate the heck out of them and put it back together.
I tried this, and gave up after the 2 hours I spent on one side. I ended up finding a complete replacement kit at O'Reilly's for $45. It's a Dorman kit that they order directly from Dorman. I went this route after I cracked the cast housing I was trying to clean out.
Ordered a few more items this morning for the interior. I ordered 3 used tan dome lights from a 94-97 Honda Accord ($5 each on Ebay). I plan on adding one to the rear hatch, and one on each side where the cargo cover mounts were. Also order some LED bulds from SuperBrightLED.
94-97 Honda Accord lights.
DE3175 4 SMD LED's for all the dome lights.
194 5 SMD LED's for the instrument cluster.
74 3 SMD LED's for the instrument cluster, key ring, and center dash area.
94-97 Honda Accord lights.
DE3175 4 SMD LED's for all the dome lights.
194 5 SMD LED's for the instrument cluster.
74 3 SMD LED's for the instrument cluster, key ring, and center dash area.
LED install
I was able to get some of my LED's done last night. For those of you that are thinking about changing some of your dash lights to LED's, be careful. It seems that a few different years of the 3rd Gen's do not have the same style bulbs as others. My 01 is going to be different then a 99 and 00. I'm starting off with the shifter, rear window, ECT, and climate control buttons for now.
You need to remove the center section of you console. I'm not going to explain how to do this since most of you should already know how.
I didn't take a picture of this but the shifter bulb is on the wire in red, and bulb is located around where the yellow is. Just turn it counter clockwise and pull it out. (#74 LED)
Next, pull the knobs off the climate control, and also remove the cover plate. They both should just pull right off, nothing tricky about it. Take out the 3 screws marked in red and disconnect the 2 plugs in the back.
Remove the three screws in red and remove black cover.
Remove the 3 bulbs marked in yellow. No need to remove the 4 screws marked in red unless you have issues with the bulb to the far left. (NEOx LED)
I then replaced the ECT and rear window LED's. Remove the 2 bulbs marked in yellow (might be difficult to get out). (https://www.superbrightleds.com/mor...ulb-high-power-instrument-panel-led/221/1007/)
Now just put everything back together. I'll try to get the instrument panel LED's tonight and give another write-up on those.
I was able to get some of my LED's done last night. For those of you that are thinking about changing some of your dash lights to LED's, be careful. It seems that a few different years of the 3rd Gen's do not have the same style bulbs as others. My 01 is going to be different then a 99 and 00. I'm starting off with the shifter, rear window, ECT, and climate control buttons for now.
You need to remove the center section of you console. I'm not going to explain how to do this since most of you should already know how.
I didn't take a picture of this but the shifter bulb is on the wire in red, and bulb is located around where the yellow is. Just turn it counter clockwise and pull it out. (#74 LED)
Next, pull the knobs off the climate control, and also remove the cover plate. They both should just pull right off, nothing tricky about it. Take out the 3 screws marked in red and disconnect the 2 plugs in the back.
Remove the three screws in red and remove black cover.
Remove the 3 bulbs marked in yellow. No need to remove the 4 screws marked in red unless you have issues with the bulb to the far left. (NEOx LED)
I then replaced the ECT and rear window LED's. Remove the 2 bulbs marked in yellow (might be difficult to get out). (https://www.superbrightleds.com/mor...ulb-high-power-instrument-panel-led/221/1007/)
Now just put everything back together. I'll try to get the instrument panel LED's tonight and give another write-up on those.
