Help prioritizing laundry list

Just acquired a 97 kzh106w, I need to get this thing buttoned up before my wife makes me get rid of it.

So far here's what I've compiled:
* Front passenger side frame bracket to the right of the front jack point is bent - looks like the van bottomed out or hit a curb and bent the bracket pretty good. I think it could be bolted on without too much fuss.
* Front and rear shocks are worn out, taking this thing through a roundabout is an adventure
* The inner cv boot on the drivers side and outer cv boot on the passenger side have both given up the ghost and puked their insides everywhere. I shored them up the best I could with a big ziptie but this obviously needs to be addressed. - I found a kit for a similar year 4runner - it looks like it might work.
* At least one motor mount is bad, the van shakes pretty noticeably at idle

Now the plan is for us to move out of state in a few weeks, and this timing is bad. I'm trying to figure out what I should prioritize here before the move in the next few weeks vs fix after the move, keeping in mind a 500mi drive or so in between.

What say you sage Hiace enthusiasts?

Good Afternoon Bordogna

Fair amount of work to address, but the boots are like 10 dollars and can ruin your day if not fixed. They do come on a 4Runner among other things:

TOYOTA 4RUNNER 1986-1995
TOYOTA CRESSIDA 1989-1992
TOYOTA PICKUP 1986-1995
TOYOTA SUPRA 1986-1992
TOYOTA T100 1993-1998

Good Luck and God Bless,
-Bryan

Thanks so much for the reply. Got the boot kit ordered. I noticed one more seemingly easy to replace part that I can’t find the name or number of - it’s the rusted support connecting the rear control rod(?) to the frame. Any idea how to get my hands on that?

I think…I think that is Toyota part 52295-26010 and is called generically “suspension brace RH”

It seems to be bespoke to the Hiace. I use mega zip and what not to source the foreign parts, but for something that obscure you can’t go wrong wherever you find it. List price is only like 20 dollars so cost is the smallest challenge.

Good luck Sir!

///Break///

I forgot to ask above. Is your van a limited model with the electronic suspension? If it isn’t, I’d measure the shocks and put a set of Bilstein’s on it and be forever happy.

Thanks again for the assistance. I got the part ordered, if Amayama will ever take me out of pending approval purgatory.

I don't have the limited (I lust after that digital dash), I'll check out the Bilstein option - I see Hiacesoutheast sells a set of Bilstein rear shocks but not the fronts, and they are pretty pricey.

One more question for you - I have a vibration at idle that I thought was a bad motor mount - the mounts look good so I've narrowed it down to the steering wheel/column. Is it worth my time to take the dash apart so I can see if there's anything to tighten down there or is there another common issue I'm neglecting to consider?

Cheers

Hello.

I think Amayama are closed for a holiday. Hopefully they’ll be back soon for you.

I bought my CV boots (inners and outers both sides) from Toyota and they were very pricey but they are top quality parts. Very thick rubber indeed, good quality bands and OEM grease. The parts I ordered are 04428-35012.

There’s a great Timmy the Toolman YT video on Toyota CV boots, see:


I think he makes a great observation to get as much grease into the bearings as possible rather than just in the boot.

I’ve fitted SACHS front shocks and will likely replace the rears with the same make when I do some other suspension work in that area. Bilstein shocks for my van would be ~£127 each so $300 a pair might be just the going rate, but as they say, “if that the rate, I’m going.”

If the main engine mounts are good, this is good, but don’t neglect the rear engine mount, which is fitted to the top of the transmission. Mine was completely worn out and was causing a lot of noise on over run. It might not be your culprit, but do rule it out. You can see how bad mine was in the pictures on page two of my show us yours thread, when I took out my gearbox. The mount is a generic one, fitted to many Toyotas etc and not at all expensive if yours needs doing. Other have said it is possible to replace the mount with the engine and gearbox (and presumably the rear drive shaft) in situ. My gearbox came out for other reasons.

I’ve not tampered much with the steering wheel or column in my van (other than the pump and reservoir) but fortunately a lot of it is accessible by removing just some of the lower trim pieces, I’ve read a few posts where people have said various bits of their system is loose and I’d expect the two main areas are where the column goes through the floor and where the column bolts to the big front cross member. The former is fairly easy to access; the latter needs a bit more disassembly. The floor area should also be easy to spot if loose and there would be some play in the wheel if it was loose at the cross member area, I think.

Hope this helps.

This is tremendously helpful, much thanks to you both.