Having travelled the requisite 500 miles to break in my new 4.88 gears (you may want to read "New Gears - 4.88's and an ARB front locker" and "the first 500 mile break-in" if you haven't already), it was high time to change the oil in the rear diff - hopefully uneventfully - to clean out any metal and other gunk that may have been present as a result of the break-in. Toyota conveniently calls for 90W oil in the differentials, and that's hard to come by - at least for me, locally - so I decided on Lucas 80W-90,…
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January 6, 2018 For every vehicle I've owned, I've kept a gas/mileage log. Every bit of gas I've put into those vehicles has been recorded - originally into an actual log book, and now directly from the phone into an Excel spreadsheet. There are lots of good reasons to do this - but perhaps the best reason is that gas mileage is a great indicator of overall vehicle health - you should do it for that reason if no other. But I'm a data geek, and recording this mileage info enables my OCD to kick in - to calculate all…
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Before leaving JT's Parts & Accessories, I'd gotten the rundown from Jared and Chris on how to best break in the gears they'd just installed. Essentially, it boiled down to what gear manufacturers recommended as well... Break in Procedure New gear sets MUST be broken in correctly to prevent damage. Not following proper break-in procedures will lead to overloading and overheating the ring and pinion as well as breaking down and ruining the gear oil. Not following proper break-in procedures can be determined during inspection and will void the warranty. Please follow the below guidelines to ensure a proper break-in…
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December 6, 2017. Over the last 17 years, the truck has been amazing. Truly a joy every time I get in it, work on it, or even just get all googly-eyed looking at it. But, as we've started bigger and longer adventures, and turned it into an adventure truck as much as an around-town-mobile, the truck has slowly gotten to a point where it was time to do something about the drive train. Big Tires = Big Problem …and by slowly, I mean it was about like this: And that cliff, right there at the edge, was the installation of…
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September 09, 2017. With a low mile truck that's been stored in ideal (covered, underground) conditions it's entire life, maintenance for me has been minimal. With regular oil changes (done at the dealer until 2016) and services, I've pretty much done nothing. But the last couple years have seen more off-road use of the truck. And, knowing that more use means more maintenance, I've started learning to do things myself… because dealership maintenance is not cheap. So, I decided that my next order of business was going to be to grease my zerks. And I decided that because it's fun…
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One of the things about starting to use the truck on more trips is that it ends up with a lot more miles. And more miles mean more frequent oil changes. In the past, I've always taken it to the Toyota dealer. I figured, "Why not, it's only $29, and then I don't have to worry about having the right tools, spending the time, and they'll do it best - with a lift, etc." Of course, what really happened was that they cross-threaded my OEM skids several times when they re-installed them (it's easier to change the oil if you…
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June 12, 2016 Epic journey behind us, it was time to find out what was wrong with the engine and get it fixed. Step 1: Read the error code. To do that, I bought a Kiwi3 OBDII adapter and the DashCommand app. Error code P0131 - which in mechanic-speak is "bank 1 too lean" and in human is "dirty air intake." Side note: these two gadgets are an awesome combination. With them, it's like having a car from 2010 - instant fuel economy, average fuel economy, and all sorts of stats, coming directly from the computer. Sweet. Step 2: Fix…
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July 26, 2013. We're headed home from work, just about to get on the freeway and I push the clutch in to change gears. The clutch never comes up. I reach down while trying to keep an eye on the road, squirm my fingers behind the pedal, and physically pull it back out. I'm now in 3rd gear. Not happy, we pull over before getting on the freeway and I give the clutch a try again. The clutch never comes up. At this point I know something's wrong, but I have no idea what, so I put the truck in…
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