Wrenchin... Adventures under the hood... Put em here.

[Jong Lafitte]

Well this is unrelated to all your deep shit going on here, but I have a 4Runner, and while I was changing my differential fluids for the first time today, I noticed that either Toyota or Redline are bullshiting about their volumes. My rear differential, according to Toyota, takes 2.75-2.85 quarts, and should be filled until leaking out the fill, driven a short distance, checked again, and topped off if necessary. It took over 3 "quarts" of Redline to get it to leak, and after driving and re-checking, I was able to get 4 full Redline "quarts" in my rear differential.

Aftermarket "extra capacity" diff cover? I'm no toyota guy here, but this symptom spans over several types of axles and MIGHT indicate one or more failing axle seals. Any way left to measure how much came out? Do check that your fancy oil is not coming out of the hub end of the axle. Pull the wheels and look around. Axle seal failure seems common on certain generations. Look for diff fluid in the brakes. In bad cases, you'll see the fluid on the inside sidewall of the rear tire. Now, I really don't know if this is possible, but if the inner seals are leaking and the outer seals are not, it might be possible for it to take more fluid by letting it sit between the inner and outer seals. Adding a quart after driving is a lot and makes me suspicious. For the price redline charges, someone would have called them out long ago for shorting quarts. That's Weights and Measures shit there, not worth fucking with.

[El Chupacabra]

Toyota axles don't have removable differential covers. They are third member / dropout style, like a Ford 9".

You're filling through the fill hole, not the vent tube at the top of the axle, right?

[Jong Lafitte]

You're filling through the fill hole, not the vent tube at the top of the axle, right?

Woops! Filling through the vent would be a funny goof. Might explain it. Iffin you did that, I'd guess you could just pull the actual fill plug and let the excess drain out (into a pan and it can be re-used). Where did the extra quart go after driving though? I thought the "topped off if necessary" part was rarely "necessary" and people routinely skip that last step of checking to no ill effect, no? could be way off there, though.

Now's a good time to remind everyone of this "pro" (JONG) tip: Always pull the fill plug first.

Toyota axles don't have removable differential covers. They are third member / dropout style, like a Ford 9".

Oh yeah, that's true. Though, I suppose in rare instances, it could be a modded housing like Barnes'. Still, a quart "gone" after driving? Is that not a lot for this unit?

[tripice351]

Gear oil sticks to every surface inside the housing. You'd have to let it sit overnight to get an accurate reading.

Realistically, just fill er up til it pours out the fill hole. Put the fill plug back in when it's down to a slow drip. Done. If you end up adding too much, Nature takes over and it will relieve itself out the vent tube (or axle seals if you're unlucky enough)

[basinbeater]

Knocked out the front springs and shocks on the little bimmer tonight, only messed up one tie rod thread, so gonna hit up Pelican for that. Finished up the motor work and she fired right up an settled into the right idle.
Next is rear suspension and then upholstery.

[basinbeater]

Suspension is done, just waiting on tie rod end to throw the last wheel back on and lower it down. Got some high rings and hog ring pliers. Not looking forward to the upholstery.




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[Touring_Sedan]

Did a quick brake job on the beater truck last weekend. It still had the OEM pads on the front



It had been sitting for a few years and one of the pistons was stuck in the bore and burned up a pad and lunched a rotor.



I forgot how much I like working on simple, 2wd vehicles.



Does anyone else like the smell of good grease?



All buttoned up.



I picked these up off of the local classifieds a few weeks ago. Digital is good, but there's no replacement for the OEM paper manuals.

[Touring_Sedan]

Suspension is done, just waiting on tie rod end to throw the last wheel back on and lower it down. Got some high rings and hog ring pliers. Not looking forward to the upholstery.

I grew up with an 1990 E30 325is. God I hated cleaning those fucking wheels.

[basinbeater]

^^^ but at least you cared enough to clean them.

Funny thing about the brake job. Whenever I do a bunch of maintenance on a car, or upgrade something, even though it looks the same, I feel like it looks better, or sort of powered up if you will. I like it!

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[basinbeater]

Rear seat bottom done. Not too bad if I do say so myself. Haven't done this shit before. It is time consuming and a pain in the ass.




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[El Chupacabra]

FWIW, you can revive old seat foam with a clothes steamer. I did this last year on my GMC Sierra. You have to take off the seat upholstery and steam directly on the foam, but it comes back up and regains a lot of firmness.

I took the opportunity to add a little extra foam padding too while I was in there.

[basinbeater]

OK. I did not know that. Nowhere in my research had I come across that. Little bit of Google for steaming seat foam, bam, there it is. I will be doing this for the remaining seat cushions. Honestly though, I was surprised how good of condition the foam was in. But steam is now on the agenda.

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[basinbeater]

What up dromo.

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[Bromontana]

Leaning towards just doing my suspension myself. Thinking M030 or h&r coilovers. Want that and some louder exhaust bits to round out the build.

Post that 3 series listing when you're done btw, looks like a fun build

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[Obstruction]

Finally got around to replacing the worn bearing wheel assembly on my daughters 07 outback. Turned out it was passengers front not rear. Paid to get an audio diagnosis from a local Subie independent. While it was shot it wasn't falling apart yet so I was being uncharacteristiclly proactive.

Top lesson learned - I need a compressor and some air tools if I'm going to keep screwing around with suspension work on old cars. Shit is nasty, rusty and fused up under there. #2 lesson is: Just buy the mounting hardware with the part. (Why Timken didn't include it is beyond me). Had to run out to two separate Subie dealers to buy the four mounting bolts.

Instead of air I used a breaker bar, pipes, cold chisels, BFH, navy jelly, PB Blaster, break cleaner and grease to undo the wheel assembly mounting bolts and the to get the bitch free of the steering knuckle.

A couple of the stars of the day:


Finally got everything where it belonged.


Only to find that the slide pins on the caliper bracket were fused solid. Ended up just buying a new caliper bracket, pins and bushings because I figured even if I got it apart I'd never tame the rust.

Long day but success was achieved and a penny saved etc.

[basinbeater]

Leaning towards just doing my suspension myself. Thinking M030 or h&r coilovers. Want that and some louder exhaust bits to round out the build.

Post that 3 series listing when you're done btw, looks like a fun build

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You should do it yourself. At least the 911s stopped using torsion bars a long time ago.
If you need a hand, holler. I have spring compressors as well if you need them.

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[Mazderati]

Solid work, boys. Solid work.

[El Chupacabra]

OK. I did not know that. Nowhere in my research had I come across that. Little bit of Google for steaming seat foam, bam, there it is. I will be doing this for the remaining seat cushions. Honestly though, I was surprised how good of condition the foam was in. But steam is now on the agenda.

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It definitely helped on my truck seat foam. Didn't make it like new, but solid improvement.

I left the foam sitting out for a day to dry out, before putting the upholstery back.

[El Chupacabra]

Finally got around to replacing the worn bearing wheel assembly on my daughters 07 outback. Turned out it was passengers front not rear. Paid to get an audio diagnosis from a local Subie independent. While it was shot it wasn't falling apart yet so I was being uncharacteristiclly proactive.

Top lesson learned - I need a compressor and some air tools if I'm going to keep screwing around with suspension work on old cars. Shit is nasty, rusty and fused up under there. #2 lesson is: Just buy the mounting hardware with the part. (Why Timken didn't include it is beyond me). Had to run out to two separate Subie dealers to buy the four mounting bolts.

Instead of air I used a breaker bar, pipes, cold chisels, BFH, navy jelly, PB Blaster, break cleaner and grease to undo the wheel assembly mounting bolts and the to get the bitch free of the steering knuckle.

A couple of the stars of the day:


Finally got everything where it belonged.


Only to find that the slide pins on the caliper bracket were fused solid. Ended up just buying a new caliper bracket, pins and bushings because I figured even if I got it apart I'd never tame the rust.

Long day but success was achieved and a penny saved etc.

You can get electric impact wrenches too, if you don't want a whole compressor setup. I haven't used any but have heard that they work pretty well.

I like air tools.

[Obstruction]

I've got a cheap harbor freight electric but it must be at least 18 inches long. It's good for lug nuts but I can't use it most places.

[Bromontana]

You should do it yourself. At least the 911s stopped using torsion bars a long time ago.
If you need a hand, holler. I have spring compressors as well if you need them.

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Thanks, I'll be in touch later this summer . Definitely need to borrow the spring compressor, appreciate it.

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[ill-advised strategy]

You can get electric impact wrenches too, if you don't want a whole compressor setup. I haven't used any but have heard that they work pretty well.

I like air tools.

I got a cordless impact driver last year. It's awesome.

[basinbeater]

I got a cordless impact driver last year. It's awesome.

I got a nice big Dewalt one a while back, and while it is quite good, and served me well at the track when I used to race, for nasty ones you need the air. When I had to remove the flywheel on my 944, the electric wouldn't cut it. So I picked up a big air gun, and all nine flywheel bolts came spinning off like butter.
I do still use the cordless more than the air.

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[Jethro]

I got a nice big Dewalt one a while back, and while it is quite good, and served me well at the track when I used to race, for nasty ones you need the air. When I had to remove the flywheel on my 944, the electric wouldn't cut it. So I picked up a big air gun, and all nine flywheel bolts came spinning off like butter.
I do still use the cordless more than the air.

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Second that. A few years ago my big compressor died and a I bought a smaller one for tires and air guns. It doesn't run my impact gun for long, so I bought an electric dewalt impact gun from a pawn store. I use it to remove almost any lugnut torqued to 85 ft/lbs and corroded on. It doesn't touch the Dodge M37's lug nuts at 300 ft/lbs though

[basinbeater]

Ack. Fuckin upholstery. Still haven't gotten to the main event, the sport seats... Makin progress I guess, fuckin hassle factor elevated.
Need more hog rings.

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