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What did you do this weekend?
As part of a weekly series, these topics are a place for users to casually discuss the things they did — or didn't do — during their weekend. Did you make any plans? Take a trip? Do nothing at all? Tell us about it!
I bought a truck! 2007 F-150 Supercab with about 106k miles on it. I’ve already got a list of things I’d like to replace/upgrade, but I need to sell my old 4Runner and/or travel trailer before I can do that.
Hi Autumn!
That's some nicely low miles for the year. Why the F150? V6 or V8? If the latter 4.6 or 5.4, if former did you get an automatic or manual?
What's on the list of replacements/upgrades?
4.6L V8 automatic. Gosh, I'd love to drive a manual car again, but I doubt I'll be doing that anytime soon. I'll probably get an ebike for mid-length trips where I don't need to take the dogs.
I bought this as an upgrade so I can pull my larger trailer (Winnebago Micro Minnie, 1700BH) more safely. The 4Runner can pull it, but it struggles up inclines, and I wouldn't trust it in any sort of windy situation. It needs a new running boards, hitch receiver, and ball installed (current stuff is a bit rusted, despite the rest of the truck looking pretty good). I'm going to change the 5-pin connector to a 7-pin and add a brake controller. Or rather, my partner is really excited about doing the electric work, so he's going to do that stuff. The current head unit is trash (some off-brand thing that doesn't support CarPlay or Android Auto, and I can't get the Bluetooth connection to work), so that'll be replaced as well.
The love of manuals is felt strongly here as well and is one of the major driving forces behind my projects. There's nothing wrong with the Honda Accord I run errands it, but good god is it boring.
Googled, because I know nothing of trailers, that Minnie looks perfectly accommodating. What's the travel trailer you're thinking of getting rid of? What year is the 4Runner? Don't know what you paid for the pickup, but depending on age and condition of the 4Runner you may be able to break even when you sell it with the pretty dedicated community behind the Toyotas.
The old trailer is an Aliner Ascape ST. It's more along the lines of a teardrop trailer, but it has a shower and toilet, which was a must for me. They're actually not producing them right now, due to limited production capacity while they focus on their traditional A-frame popups. When we got a third(!) dog last year, I started casually looking for a larger trailer, and the exact make/model I wanted popped up locally, so I jumped on it.
The 4Runner is a 2008 and in great shape (a few minor scratches/dents, all cosmetic). I have a feeling I'll come out ahead since the truck was bought at Kelly Blue Book value ($9400) from a family friend. The 4Runner only has ~86k miles on it, since I rarely ever drive. It has gotten a lot of interest, but I realized I lost the title, so I'm waiting for the duplicate to come in before I list it again. Somebody came to look at it yesterday, and he still seems interested, despite having to wait on the title.
Oh yeah, you should come out way ahead then. High mileage 4Runners are well into the teens and it takes one knocking on 300k miles to drop near $10k. That plus selling a no-waiting-list teardrop trailer should have the F150 and any changes be effectively a profitable venture. Obviously the extra money should be spent on treats and toys for the triple pup crew.
I had a flying lesson on Saturday and Sunday. I'm nearing the end of my private pilot's license training and should be getting my check ride in the next month or so. Saturday was a mock check ride and, I pretty much bombed it.
Sunday was a solo flight and I worked on these things a bit more. Not all my landings were great but I think I have a better idea of what I should be doing next time. My next flight is on Wednesday with a different instructor so I hope I can get more pointed feedback for my next solo flight on Friday. Then another session with the mock check ride instructor on Saturday, and another solo flight on Sunday.
Saturday: Little of this, little of that, mostly just trying to stay out of the heat while waiting for Sunday's weather because if there's anything welcome in Texas, it's a cold front in May that drops temps by over 30F from our usual high 90's. All that was really done was verifying the caliper brackets I purchased off eBay would fit (they do) so I tossed them in the blasting cabinet and sand blasted them down to bare metal to remove all the rust and decades of caked on brake fluid/dust then hit them with some high temp paint. Then dinner and grocery shopping that night so my wife and I could have the cool weather Sunday all to ourselves before dinner with friends.
Sunday: Work on the Tercel continued in the workshop while my wife blissfully hammocked the day away. First up, comparison of the size of the pistons in the brake calipers; larger pistons + larger brake pads + larger rotors = greater area for friction to work it's magic turning momentum into heat to slow the car down at a greater rate than could have been achieved prior. Test fit the brake pads to make sure they aren't sticking out above the rotor or interfering with anything and then test fit the calipers for the same reason and to make sure they're centered. All is well, part one of the big brake kit is done, the harder part is finding an upgrade for the brake booster/master cylinder combination that doesn't use discontinued and/or used parts. Now take it all off as you have other stuff to do.
The front hub assembly needs to be removed to install all the polyurethane bushings and while it's out I'll be replacing the tie rod ends and ball joints as well. Tie rods connect the hub to your steering wheel (and therefore the road), they're one of those things you absolutely, positively, do not want coming undone, so castle nuts are the standard. Castle nuts have little cutouts along the top of them to allow a cotter pin to go through the threaded ball joint connection to ensure the nut cannot come loose. As with most things that are highly secure, it also means they can be a pain in the ass to remove, especially when rust has tried to permanently meld it with other parts. Bend over the long leg of the cotter pin so it is as straight as possible, grab the looped end, and pull while cursing your god of choice for inventing iron oxide. If lucky, it'll come out and not break. The photos you see here are of the only one that didn't break. Thankfully cotter pins are made of much softer metal than the nut, so if they do break you just try to get them as flush with the threads as possible, grab your big impact wrench, and spin the nut off over them. This would be a problem if you were going to reuse the ball joint/tie rod, but I'm not, so it's not. The tie rod/ball joint is a purposefully tight fit that has had a few thousand heat cycles that makes it not want to separate from the upright. The correct way to separate them is a ball joint separator (a second claw type, not the one I have shown in previous updates). The fun way is with a small sledge hammer; beat it like it owes you money and it'll pop out.
Back in the day, lower ball joints had bolts to hold them to the hub and were easier to remove by getting the hub out of the way. These days penny pinching accountants learned that those two extra bolts cost a couple of cents per vehicle and ball joints are considered "lifetime" items (as in lifetime of the car's warranty and therefore someone else's problem by the time they wear out) and are pressed in. Undo those two bolts and set the hub aside to clean up later. Ball joints use a ball, socket, ball stud, and boot assembly to allow smooth movement through a range of motion while driving. The boot keeps dust/dirt out and lubricating grease in; these boots
are made for walkinghave torn and are doing their job in reverse so need to be replaced. Same process as before on the castle nut, only this time, since you're also removing the control arm, you can use the arm as the hammer and smack the threaded ball stud against your anvil until the ball joints pop out satisfyingly.In the Tercel, the anti-roll bar is also used for locating the forward/rearward position of the control arms (usually done by having upper and lower control arms or having more than one mounting point for the control arms) and so goes through the control arm. Clever engineering, but not the best from a handling standpoint. That said, a 4WD Tercel isn't a sports car, so "handling" is more of a suggestion than a goal. Zip the nut off and pull the anti-roll bar forward out of the control arm, take note that the bushings holding it in place have seen much better days. Remove the lone control arm bolt and drop the arm out as well. Now clean up all the decades of gunk on the hub so it's somewhat respectable when you put it back in.
Since you spent last week deciding what hardware you wanted to order and not actually ordering it, move on to something that still needs doing, but is unrelated to what you've done so far: The driveshaft.
Remove the four bolts holding it to the differential and make sure not to point out to the fine readers on Tildes that you took an out-of-focus picture partway through the process so only one bolt remained. Don't look at me like that, I promised
high qualitycontent, not continuity. Drop out the carrier bearing next to release the driveshaft from the chassis. Carrier bearings are comprised of a bearing floating in a rubber surround that allows a vehicle to have a multi-piece driveshaft; which is less prone to vibration than a single piece driveshaft and has better ground clearance on 4WD vehicles where it's important. This one isn't completely gone, but it has served it's purpose valiantly and is a little off center now and ready for replacement.Multi-piece driveshafts are balanced as a unit, you'll want to mark the flanges so that it's reassembled in the same orientation once the carrier bearing has been replaced and undo the flange bolts. Once undone you'll find the intermediate shaft inside the flange with a big nut staked into place to prevent it coming loose (because a shaft spinning at a few thousand RPM under your car coming loose is a recipe for a bad time). De-stake that nut and remove it so you can separate the intermediate shaft from the flange yoke and tap out the intermediate shaft from the carrier bearing. Like I said, it's only a little off center... but aren't we all a little off center?
Pay attention to the carrier bearing being asymmetrical and the Toyota Service Manual's instructions on which direction it should face. Lube and reassemble in the reverse order of disassembly. Much better.
Last item of the day before dinner with friends is installing the polyurethane bushings into the control arms. To avoid the bushing flying out and assassinating a bug midair, remember an old trick of running a bolt and washers through the bushing and arm so that it has nowhere to go while being pressed into place. Lube, press, marvel at your genius, take a shower, go out with friends, eat meat on sticks, drink beer, and celebrate your wife getting a new, work from home, higher paying, lower stress job.
Hiked Silver Falls State Park in Oregon with my dad Saturday, hit almost all the falls, except Twin Falls. 5.5 miles all around, and my calves are dead (I also stumbled the 2 miles into downtown Salem today, making it a bit worse). We drove some students to their tour group who was waiting for them, as well, and they were grateful.
Sunday we went to Mt. Angel, a little town outside of Salem, to go to Mt. Angel Sausage Company, this cool German shop that makes its own sausages and pastry, as well as a German/European food store (a boon for my dad's GF so she can get all those good German condiments).