RedneckwithanxB

So now that Im back in good ol florida, I decided that since I work nights, I need to fix a couple things with my 4Runner.

The short list of what my plans were
-AC, figure out exactly what it needs
-Fan, third gen Ford Taurus fan swaps right over size wise, I would have to build the relay.
-Find power steering leak
-Fix rear axle seal (and install locker, but shhhh)

AC, sure enough, bad compressor... Hmmm, many a junkyards here, Im bound to find a nice one somewhere... but holy hell, how hard is it for someone to have junked a 3VZ 4Runner, I could easily do a 22RE swap and have a ton of parts to do it, but I dont want to!

Fan, right, again, junkyards are filled with Ford Taurus', as florida is the rental car meca of the world, the third gen Ford Taurus was the most used rental car in the world, only problem, 98% of them are front end collisions where the fan is located somewhere around the dash board now. the other 2%, yup, someone beat me to it. I have found many a Ford forums, as I figure that for the time being, I want to run a cheapo this way if anything goes wrong with the wiring, Im not sending $115 up in smoke, plus, I needed a shroud so that would be an easy way of getting one. but damn. there is not one in the world for under $50...

Power steering leak, well, its not the pump, its of course, the line from the pump, which is by far, the most difficult thing to reach on the damn car, I swear step 14 of replacing it should be "Remove back seat and cut hole in floorboard to get your hand to the line"

The rear axle seal, where the driveshaft meets the pumpkin, is a $13 piece... the only problem, I broke a u-joint on the drive shaft, on well, the SR5 manual trans is the same, the transfer case is the same, in the 22RE as well as the 3VZ, great, back to the junk yard... only problem, the 3 Runners that were there all were missing that glorious piece, yes, another lovely setback! I found one in Daytona, and sure enough went to pick it up, and now Im just waiting for the locker to make it to my door to finish the install... thank you fed ex for screwing up delivery for the past 3 business days

In the mean time, while I had it in parts in front of my parents condo

-Someone stabbed the rad with a screw driver, through the grille, as at the time it did not have any body panels removed, not only did I get to go grab a new rad from Napa, I got myself a nice crazy long (18") #2 straight screwdriver.

-The parking brake no longer enguages, so its sitting there on a brick, as well as in 4low and in 1st gear

-My pass side rear door has decided that it likes being locked, and will not unlock via either the key in the drivers door, or the buttons on either front door... the only way to do it is to manually pull up on it, and well, that just wont do

-The rear tail gate no longer locks, as many of you without 4Runners dont know, the glass has to go down into the tail gate and then there is a manual lock to pull up before the gate will open as a tail gate, the only problem, mine no longer locks, where as I dont find that a big deal, as I rarely have the window down.

-Although I did use it to go and pick up 20 sheets of 1/2inch plywood and 40 2X4X12s on a trailer. Hooray using it like a truck!