markjw

This is promising..... http://cgi.ebay.com/400-SHOP-RAGS-CLEANING-TOWELS-RED-BRAND-NEW-/260733307092

Thanks for the Great ideas. I went over to harbor freight last night to see what they'r shop rags looked like. The pack seems small (50 ct.) for the money ($13). I figured them at about 28cents a piece. I looked around online and found a place that ships for free, the same rags, for 19cents a piece. http://imagetextile.com/shoptowels.html The only thing is, you gotta buy a minimum of 500 of them. Still, less than $100 and probably enough to last me a year. I'll probably go this route. I never think to look around at garage sales for shop rag material. I'm gonna try that this summer. I'm gonna look a little closer at the paper rags. I never thought they were strong enough. Maybe thats a good way to go. As far as using t-shirts and socks and stuff, that doesn't appeal to me at all. I wrench too much to wonder where my next shop rag is going to come from. The expensive, white ones at Costco are probably a good deal if a guy could wash them and re use them. They are hardy shop rags and would easily stand up to it. But, where do you wash them? I guess any machine used for that purpose would be tainted pretty quickly. Found this quote on a "shop rags for sale" website. It definitely reflects what Ben says above about the price of cotton. "The phenomenal rise in cotton prices have made all towel items extremely higher in cost than they have been in the past 1 year." Doesn't sound too promising for finding cheap shop rags.

I had the same thing going on with a loyale 5 speed. I replaced the gear oil with a qt. of Rislone Engine Treatment, topped off with gear oil and the thing actually started shifting much better over a period of a month or so. I read about that "Fix" on the board here. It worked for me.

I have bought the ones at Costco for years. They sold the red one's in a Jumbo pak for about $12, up until about 8 yrs ago. Then they switched to some Really nice, white one's. They were more expensive. About $15. Last summer, the white one's went up to $18 and I really had a hard time paying that much. Now, they are $25 ... So, I'm looking for a better deal or a better way. What do you guys do?

Pretty simple....It didn't move before he changed out the ATF, either.

I played around with a legacy auto tranny and torque converter at a wrecking yard recently. The motor was gone, so it was really accessible. I can tell you for certain, I was able to seat the TQ so the bolt ears were at least 3/8" aft of the mating surface. This is my only experience with seating a Legacy TQ.

Here's a pic of the top of the Toyota strut as it's mounted on the wagon right now. The wagon has no extra weight in it. I measured the amount of piston rod that is showing on a no lift, bone stock '88 GL wagon I have, and it's about 4" compared to the 2" this yota strut has.

I should mention that, the reason I went with the Toyota struts in the first place, is because the wagon "squats" in the rear when I accelerate. Mostly in first and second gear. This squatting thing during take off lifts the front of the wagon, and the steering becomes unresponsive for those brief seconds. I gotta fix that some how. My thinking is, I need stiffer struts in the rear. The Toyota struts are not the answer. Has anyone ever overcome this problem?

Yup...The strut conversion didn't work out at all. The shocks bottom out easily. That's surprising to me, because I would have thought beings they are front struts, designed to handle the weight of the Toyota V6 engine, they would not bottom out on the rear of a lightweight wagon. I'm waiting on some KYB GR-2's for the rear. Maybe it has something to do with the lift kit. I had to trim the shifter console a bit to accommodate the new angle of the shift linkage, but in the end, it all looks very stock. I like the black, RX plastic, too. I gotta figure out a way to center the rear wheels in the wells. I can't stand the look. I have a fab buddy that lives in Nehalem. I'm gonna take the old rear end stuff down to him. See if he can build custom, longer trailing arms.

I'm not too sure what you mean about "just the lens"...It really needs to be replaced as a whole unit. I guess a person might be able to take one apart,but it's just not worth it because it'd be difficult to seal it back up. They are cheap and plentiful in the yards around here. About $12. Only held on by two 8mm nuts, accessed from within the vehicle. There is a obvious panel, easily removed to gain access to the nuts. The real problem is, they are also glued in place. Some are easier than others to remove as the glue ages or fails in some way, but sometimes they are a bear. If yours won't come off easily after removing the two nuts, use small ply bars of some kind to pry the tail light off the car. Steady, and slow on the prying as the glue that is used really is more like a rubber cement that really never cures. Be careful not to scratch the paint.

I'm sure the front and rear ratios match. Everything came from a daily driver and I helped pull all the parts. This guy couldn't get a title so he parted the RX. A real shame. It Was a nice car. I'm really leaning towards the EJ tranny. The shortening of the drive line seems like not too big of a deal. The Toyota strut conversion isn't working out. The struts are bottoming out. It takes a good bump to do it, but it's pretty much unacceptable. I think I'll go back to stock struts unless I can come up with some KYB's.

Thank you. I haven't seen a 4 speed box in a while.

I can tell by the linkage that it is a lever shifted Hi/Lo of some sorts. Mostly I'm hoping someone can tell me if it's a 5 speed or a 4 speed just by looking at the pics. I don't have direct access to the tranny,and the owner doesn't know for sure. I wanna buy it if it's a 5 speed. I don't want to waste my time if its a 4 speed. Can anyone tell?

Thanks for clearing it all up for me, guys. I was given some bad dope on what tranny this was. Well, I went out for a test drive and, it kinda sucks. I don't know. I think I'm so use to driving my AWD 5MT legacy, that this FWD thing ain't workin' for me any more. I know the D/R has benefits and the LSD is suppose to be something special but really, it ain't doing nuthing for me. The car seems unstable. Especially during hard acceleration. Squirly and light in the front end and it's easy to spin the front tires on wet pavement. I'm going to tackle the EJ swap next month. Maybe I will install a EJ AWD 5speed at the same time. I'm diggin' the rear disk brakes. This thing stops like it's suppose to now. Even with the 26.4" tires. Of course, it's my wifes ride. She'll drive it tomorrow and probably love it.

Ok...I'm an idiot. The linkage was binding. I cleared that up and now I have three distinct positions. All the way back transfers power to the front wheels and both positions forward transfers power to all four wheels. That Neutral position was Right before it went into FWD mode. So. This Is a regular D/R 5speed with No center diff lock? Regular meaning the same thing that would be in a say, '86 D/R wagon?

With both front wheels in the air, lever pulled all the way back, I have power to the rear wheels. Push the lever forward one click, I am in a Neutral position. Engine running, tranny in first, clutch out and just sitting and idling. Lever pushed forward one more click, and the last click, power to all four wheels again. I couldn't find a lever position where only the front wheels got power. What's the deal with that Neutral position? Maybe this is a regular D/R 5 speed. A regular Broken one.

Yeah, the whole Neutral thing is weirding me out. I'll go lift the front of the car, see what happens. Good idea. Thanks.

"The drivetrain featured a 3.70:1 rear Limited Slip Differential as well as a locking center differential and two speed transfer case. The gearbox also featured a 1.592:1 low range activated via a center console mounted lever." I got this off of Wiki...It's talking about the RX tranny. It just doesn't make any sense to me. The placard on the console doesn't match this info, does it? And what about the "neutral" position I have? Is this tranny suppose to have a neutral?

It's a ball and socket joint where the ball, with the stud attached, will move in all directions freely. But, as soon as the ball can "rattle" around in the socket, it's Past time to replace it.

1991 Loyale So, here's where I'm at. (this is my wife's ride, btw) I installed the complete rear end out of a '89 RX sedan. 3.7 LSD, rear disk brakes and also, I did Jeszek's Toyota rear strut upgrade. It's stiff in the rear end for sure, but it seems a good improvement. I like the heft of the Toyota struts and the lower mount is a ball type socket that pivots easily. I also installed the tranny out of the RX. I really don't know what tranny I installed so this is where I need some help. I thought all RX's came with a Full Time 4WD transmission with a locking center diff. But, the placard on the shift console indicates to me that it is a regular GL D/R 5 speed. If I lift the 4wd lever all the way up and forward, it seems to engage in 4wd. If I pull it back one click, it puts the car in neutral, and even with the tranny in first gear, it won't move. If I pull the lever all the way back, I have gears again and it moves fine. So, my question is, is this a regular D/R 5speed, or is it something else?

I agree. Seems like I am a half a tooth off every time on one side or the other. It always works fine.

You shouldn't have ANY play in the tie rods. Removing them doesn't necessarily mean you need to replace them.

I bought a vacuum pump at Harbor Freight and the retrofit adapters at autozone. I put about 8 lbs of vacuum on the system with the pump then dumped in a 12 oz. can of r134. I started the car, ran the motor with the A/C on high, put in another 12 oz. can of r134. Been working Really good every since. It's been a couple yrs now. I didn't change a thing. Except the fittings. I forgot to mention, I added 4 oz. of PAG oil, too.

Did you pull off the distributor cap? Make sure the rotor is in place and the screw holding it on didn't back out. I know you sid you have spark at the coil, but worth a look.

Alright...Thanks, guys. I was going nuts trying to count inner hub splines on several different hubs I have.