Greetings from L60Boerne,
As most of you know I can't do my own work, though most of you do or at least try. No doubt you will find answers here if you try yourself. However, BEFORE you waste your money educating a mechanic on Patrols, like I have, please consider sending your Patrol here. Use my money, I've spent a mountain of it developing two excellent
mechanics.
Rafael is trained on suspension and axles while Eddie does everything from brakes to carburetor. Based on my experience, even with full custom shops, it NEVER pays to spend money on a mechanic that hasn't worked on several Patrols. The best thing about Eddie was that he was trained to rebuild parts rather than replace them. More often than not new parts are not required as the OEM parts are generally very high quality.
I don't have a good answer for rebuilding a transmission or transfer case. I had one done last year and naturally "the best" transmission mechanic in San Antonio with a 2 month wait fouled it up, after 3 months at his shop, and then a second mechanic had to rebuild it again to get the horrible noise out of it.
If you are not a mechanic then pull or pay for a transporter to bring your Patrol here and eventually it will run perfectly like all four of mine. I think Eddie's rate is $110/hour. He doesn't work 8 hour a day just be patient and know you will spend your money just once to fix each item on your list. Personally, I'd just dump it off and say, "fix it", then wait till he calls you with a progress report or a question. He knows how they are supposed to run and sound like.
Rolling and Patrolling,
L60Boerne
