Topic: BigMike's "Return of the Project" [Updated 7/11]

[Cheesemaker]

Bigmike, you make me laugh!!  You've done so much to your truck that isn't posted in your build.  And your just gonna string these guys out teasing them.   

[BigMike [OP]]

Actually I've already got a rear disc brake conversion, had it for almost a year now and it's still not installed


Sent from my iPhone connected to the BigMike Network using Tapatalk

[tanabuse]

nice right on mike well thanks for talking wit me

Actually I've already got a rear disc brake conversion, had it for almost a year now and it's still not installed


Sent from my iPhone connected to the BigMike Network using Tapatalk

[tanabuse]

wow u did this wit no ram thats crazy

Pitman arm, don't forget your Sector shaft.

<--- I shrunk this image down to prevent confusion. This image is not from my truck It is a great suggestion from Slolyfe that the sector shaft could break if one is not careful! I have not broken my sector shaft yet -BigMike 7/24/2012

[BigMike [OP]]

wow u did this wit no ram thats crazy

Actually that is not my truck. Someone just posted that photo to this thread. I think I'll shrink the photo down to prevent confusion Other than my PS box leaking, I've never had any issues with it

[tanabuse]

Here Marlin is installing our new Oil Level Sight tube:

are these fitings just 1/4' air push in fitings  and did u drill and tap the case for the fiting

[BigMike [OP]]

are these fitings just 1/4' air push in fitings  and did u drill and tap the case for the fiting

I'll have to check on that

HEY LOOK!! UPDATES!!

March 26, 2009: Repositioned Pivot Blocks

For a while now I've felt my truck was too tall. So I began work on lowering my truck. My pivot blocks were mounted atop our Marlin Crawler Spring Perches, so I was able to lower the rear by about an inch and a half by mounting the lower pivot plate directly atop the axle housing.

[BigMike [OP]]

April 7, 2009: Removed anti-axle-wrap leafs from rear springs

Next was to remove the upper half leafs that help control axle wrap. This will help reduce the rear spring rate which will help lower the rear suspension a bit more and also provide more articulation from each rear leaf pack.



Now you see it


Now you don't!




Where it used to be

[BigMike [OP]]

Now you're probably asking yourself, Why in the World would BigMike remove a leaf that is designed to minimize axle wrap?

Well maybe this will cure your curiosity



Finally built & installed a rear anti wrap / trac bar. The design was inspired from the trac bar that we built for our Formula Toy.

Made a HUGE difference, mainly because I've now removed three leafs from each rear spring pack.



(That dent in my fuel tank is from the Hammers a few years ago. Somehow got a huge rock wedged up in there lol)

[BigMike [OP]]

June 24, 2009: What is that noise?

I am well aware of what a bad wheel bearing sounds like, so I promptly opened it up for an inspection.



Looks like the original rear axle outer rubber seal went bad and allowed water to get into the bearing.



Hmmmmm, not sure if this is bad or not



Oh, this must be how you service the ball bearings



Ahhh, I just need some J-B Weld





New Marlin Crawler bearing



Back together and good as new

[BigMike [OP]]

I then decided to start comparing BBs to tire weights. I've been struggling this whole time with BBs. Some days I feel they work while other days they don't.

I've been running 10 ounces of BBs in each tire, and now I decided to increase the weight of BBs in half my tires to 14 ounces while balancing the other tires using old fashioned wheel weights.

The trouble is that my tires are not perfectly centered on my beadlocks. I really need to reposition them but I'm too lazy to undo all those bolts...

New .3g BBs



Sucked out all the BBs to get a proper measurement


Increased from 10 ounces to 14 ounces. I just decided to increase the BBs and see what "too many" feels like, if indeed that is too many. At this time I was planning to then later decrease by 4 ounces to get a comparison. But for now I went up to 14 oz, which may be a lot, but I am simply experimenting here


Of my two tires that I placed wheel weights on, this was the worst.


Despite how excited I was originally about BBs, I am undecided if they are a good solution or not. Now I can compare half the tires with BBs and the other half with wheel weights. Time will tell as to which route I decide to use in the future.

[BigMike [OP]]

June 25, 2009: Started on Rear Cutting Brake System and also a Catalytic Converter Heat Shield

Advantage of a Toyota pickup: Long wheel base for climbing stability. Disadvantage: Turning radius. I don't have an Emergency Brake (it was removed when I installed the much wider rear Tacoma rear end), so installing line locks is a win-win solution.

Here is the premise:
1) You encounter a sharp corner or you desire a sharper turn-in for an improved line.
2) With the rear E-Locker disengaged at the beginning of the corner, come to a complete stop and apply full hydraulic brake force.
3) Flip the switch for the line lock of the inside rear tire.
4) Release the brakes thereby only having the inside rear tire locked up.
5) Proceed through the corner while you drag the inside rear tire + double the torque to the outside rear tire = much improved turning radius.
6) Turn the switch off to release the brake and resume Rock Crawling.

Ideally it would be great to use the Emergency Brake system from a 2nd gen 4Runner, which has independent brake cables that run up each rear leaf spring, and then install two floor mounted e-brake handles. This is better because 1) It's a true emergency brake solution (it still functions in the event of hydraulic failure), and 2) They can be activated on the fly. Instead, what I am doing is installing electric line locks in my rear hydraulic brake system. It's inferior but I decided to go this route because I plan to upgrade to rear disc brakes which means ultimately I'll won't be using 2nd gen 4Runner e-brakes.

I know there are cutting brakes that some buggies use that are very similar to a Toyota floor mount e-brake lever, even with their own brake fluid reservoir, but I didn't want to get involved with a bunch of brake lines running everywhere so I took the easy approach



Each line lock was about $35, then I had to get adapters for my truck's metric threads




Driver's side is done


Both sides installed


I still need to wire them in so I don't know how well they work/don't work yet.

Also, I began building a shield to reflect catalytic converter heat away from my Marlin Crawler transfer case system

[BigMike [OP]]

June 26, 2009: Finished Line Locks

The next day I wired in the line locks. I don't ever intend to remove the locks from the axle, so I just tack welded them to the rear housing.

Here is a close up of the wiring: Ground wires attached to the housing and the power leads routed nicely up my rear e-locker loom. I mounted two switches to the left of my steering column to activate each lock 8)





THE VERDICT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh yeah Drum brakes suck. They don't have any static holding force. I already assumed this but that's okay as I'll be switching to disc brakes soon and then I'll be all set. They do provide some drag but it's not the effect I'm looking for. Looks like this project will be put on hold until I convert to disc brakes

[BigMike [OP]]

I was busy wheeling and enjoying the truck during the fall of 2009 so not much happened until winter...

December 20, 2009: More OBA progress

Ohhh look! I'm still trying to finish my OBA system which I first talked about 5 years, 1 month, and 21 days ago!!

Yes, it's true it's not done. The biggest reason why it's not done up to this point is that the RV2 came with a V-belt pulley but my 3RZ uses serpentine belts. So back at reply #29 of this thread I built an aluminum adapter with shims to mount a random serpentine pulley that I grabbed from a modern A/C unit at the wrecking yard one fine day...... But after testing with this pulley I discovered that it is BY FAR too weak to turn such a huge compressor as the RV2. So I was up creek without a paddle until I could find a serpentine pulley rated to run the RV2.

I did some research, learned about a $200+ Red Dot serpentine pulley but man that's a lot of dough, and later discovered that a 5-liter late 80s Ford Mustang uses a serpentine-belt-operated York A/C compressor. This is great news because the RV2 uses the same pulley mount as the York, it just needs a bracket to hold the clutch magnet in place!

It didn't take me too long to locate a Mustang in the wrecking yard (HAHAHAHA oh sorry Mustang fans) and soon I had the proper pulley!

First I needed to mount the York clutch magnet to the RV2 compressor

Here is the York clutch magnet up against the RV2 compressor



Building the bracket...







Done and painted with compressor brackets





Looking good!

[BigMike [OP]]

December 27, 2009: Small diameter serpentine pulley mounted

The next weekend I got around to mounting the new pulley!

Bracket


Magnet


Pulley!


Here is the original serpentine pulley I had custom-mounted nearly one and a half years earlier:


I selected to custom build using that pulley because of how small it is, but actually the Mustang pulley is even smaller! The reason why this is great is because I won't have to rev my engine as high to get the same RPM out of the compressor. I am very, very pleased with the Mustang pulley

Break down of all this:

Original dual V-belt pulley	Custom fitted random Serpentine Pulley	Nice and small Mustang pulley

The Mustang pulley has about an inch clearance near the charcoal canister; I am not worried about it contacting.

[BigMike [OP]]

December 23, 2009: Swapped from 14" shocks for 12" and swapped out shorter shackles

In between the above two weekends of working on the compressor, I replaced my front 14" shocks with 12" versions, and installed shorter shackles. I think I dropped down to 5" shackles instead of 6". I don't have any notes on this and don't remember exactly.

Reasoning for shorter shocks:
1) When I built my truck, I mounted short shock hoops as high as possible on the frame in conjunction with tall 14" shocks
2) Up travel was "okay" but could have been better
3) Now that I've been making changes of lowering my truck by nearly 2-inches, this limited up travel has now become an issue

On to the pics!

Old 14" shock bottoming out VS new 12" shock bottoming out:


Old droop VS new droop. Notice how the shackle is now fully visible


Old compression VS new compression


The following day I removed the shock shaft bump stop for even more compression. I'll just use normal bump stops instead of the shock shaft bump stops, and this gained me another inch or so of compression!

Before

After (with shock bump stops)

Final Setup - Tape measure no longer fits!

I'm very pleased with the results! My truck is now both lower and has more articulation

[BigMike [OP]]

Hmmmmmmmm

Looking through this thread, I see I am missing my front Sway Bar installation, the integration of my front bumper with my shock hoops, and a new under the bellhousing frame cross member. Looking through my photos I don't have any record of these mods. I'm sure I took the pictures, they must not be filed correctly. Looking through the photos I do have, my best estimate is that the front Sway Bar was installed between March and June of 2009, and the other stuff was done between May 2008 and March 2009

I'm gonna have to dig around for those photos.... Until then, here are two photos that I can use to describe what I did.

Sometime in mid to late 2008: Integrated front bumper with Shock hoops and installed a cross member beneath my bellhousing

I'll start with the following image. Please ignore the sway bar for now which is discussed further below



What's going on?

Bumper-to-Shock hoop Integration: The end of my Marlin Crawler bumper deflects a bit, as expected since its the furthest point away from any solid mount. I never had any intent to remove the bumper so I had it hard-welded in place during installation. We were able to cross-weld it to the cab's front body mount, and over time these welds have had to be re-welded because they are taking the load of supporting the outer most end of the bumper.

The solution? Connect the bumper to the shock hoops. Now the ends of the bumper are VERY rigid and the shock hoops gained additional support as well. Moreover, the bar adds an upper tire limit when fully compressed in a full-lock turn. Now I don't need to do any trimming and I don't have any fear of my drag link interfering with my oil pan. It really worked out great.

New Cross Member: Toyota Rock Crawlers should be aware of the cracking cab issue that occurs along the inner fender wall above the front tire in the engine compartment. In examining the cause for this, I've concluded that it's due to a lack of frame support around the 1) heaviest and 2) torque developing object: The engine. If you think about it, what cross members do you have on your own truck? You have (1) your front spring hanger .... and then nothing until (2) your transfer case cross member...

...What's worse are people like me who do not run a stock style cross member like a BudBuilt, who instead have a highly custom transfer case cross member that is raised within the frame rails that cause no expense to ground clearance. Enter your side-to-drive train side crossmember. These cross members are not mounted to the frame, have rubber bushings that either divide the transfer case from each side cross member bracket OR separate the crossmember from the frame itself (such as a Front Range Off Road crossmember), and as a result provide no structural support. Indeed even the FROR crossmember does not offer support for the frame as it is isolated with two large bushings.

The end result for my truck is that it has (1) a front spring hanger cross member and then (2) the factory horse-collar cross member that is all the way back above the rear drive line that holds the front of the fuel tank!! What?! This is a huge void in frame support right where it's needed the most! All that weight and torque of the drive train and the body is the primary object keeping the two frame rails aligned.

I therefore installed a cross member beneath my bell housing hoping it will better support my frame rails to help reduce the amount of flex and stress on the body. I believe it has been a good addition to the truck (other than weight its not as if adding additional support(s) throughout could hurt in a practical sense), HOWEVER, since I've installed it I have lowered my truck about 2 inches as discussed herein this thread above. THEREFORE, I now have an issue of my front drive line's yoke (at the pinion flange) contacting this cross member. When it was installed this was never an issue, not only for the former increased ride height but also because I had those tall 14" shocks that kept up travel in check. So while I've been making changes to lower my center of gravity and increase my articulation, I've encountered this issue that in late 2009 remains unresolved.

Sometime in Spring 2009: Installed Front Swaybar

What I did here was I measured the distance between my front leaf springs, and then went to the wrecking yard to find a suitable bar. I planned to mount the links directly to my U-Bolt flip plates, which would give me plus-or-minus ~5inches to play with in finding a candidate.

There were a lot of bars that would work but many of them had bends to clear drive train components, but I specifically wanted a straight bar. The match was found using a first generation 4WD Ford Explorer. The bar wasn't as large a diameter as other bars I had found, but I figured it would work well...........AND OHHH MAN yes it does!!

HUGE difference with the sway bar on. Considering how loose I've made my suspension by removing leafs and using the rear pivot block, and my mountain road driving style as derived from my Supercharged MR2, I don't know how I ever lived without this.

Here is a good picture of it disconnected. The mount at the u-bolt flip plate is elementary, and all I did to mount the sway bar to the frame was make a flat plate and weld on some nuts to the frame. Done.
To disconnect the sway bar, I drilled a small pilot hole in the end link's lower bolts connecting to the flip plate where a removable pin is used to hold the bolt in place. When I hit the trail, all I have to do is pull the pin, then remove the bolt, repeat on the other side, and then lift the sway bar + end links up to the frame rail and hold them in place with a small bungee cord.

This entire modification is so simple its stupid

The truck responds so much sooner to any steering input and its very stable in a high speed corner. I highly recommend doing this to any Toyota Rock Crawler. I think the sway bar only cost like $20 from the wrecking yard, something like that. Cheap, easy to install, and increases occupant safety. What else could ya ask-




That's it for now. I had a fun time posting some updates! I'll see if I can continue with some more updates over the next few weeks

Regards,
BigMike

[fordh8r]

  Very cool, Mikey!    How are these mods just now making it to your build thread?    I will certainly look into doing the sway bar mod. I've been itching to do something about that. My rig handles decent with no cargo in the bed but when I see loads of about #500 or more it really gets sketchy.    I wonder if the same sourced part will fit a Nissan Pathfinder.  My buddy and I did a SAS on a '95 Pathfinder and he has some real handling issues that could use some resolve like this. We did a custom flipped Toyota solid axle for the SAS and it really came out sweet. We linked the rear end with Leafs up front and it flexes like crazy. Thanks for the sway bar idea! Can't wait for more! 

[Wainiha]

More

[Cheesemaker]

It's about frickin time you slacker!!!   

I really wanted to look your truck over at Moonlight, but I was having such a blast talking to you, Chris, aka Tranny Guy, and all the great people that stopped by the booth!!   

[BigMike [OP]]

hahaha Tranny Guy

[hansi530]

hey big mike is there a write up on your rear pivot blocks? if not is there any chance u would be willing to write one up?

[koppersvette]

This is a sweet truck.

[Phazertwo]

JUST realized this has been updated since 2009... That was good....

[BigMike [OP]]

While at the Central Valley Crawlers club meeting last night I was informed that my truck was in a Rubithon 2013 ad of this month's Toyota Trails

Check it out! Thank you Toyota Land Cruiser Association!

[BigMike [OP]]

hey big mike is there a write up on your rear pivot blocks? if not is there any chance u would be willing to write one up?

I don't believe I have any formal write up, but here are some images and discussions...

When I installed the original (smaller diameter) version, June 2006:
http://board.marlincrawler.com/index.php?topic=11671.msg264834#msg264834

...and broke them that same month
http://board.marlincrawler.com/index.php?topic=11671.msg270698#msg270698

There was some such posts found on this page regarding what could be done on a second version Pivot Block:
http://board.marlincrawler.com/index.php?topic=11671.msg270822#msg270822

Here are some pictures with measurements of the second version Pivots from MiniSimp:
http://board.marlincrawler.com/index.php?topic=11671.msg299229#msg299229

Here I mentioned installing the new 2nd gen Pivots, Feb 2007.
There are pictures of them in action at TDS towards the bottom of this page:
http://board.marlincrawler.com/index.php?topic=11671.msg350534#msg350534

Transferring the 2nd gen Pivots to my new Tacoma rear housing, June 2008:
http://board.marlincrawler.com/index.php?topic=46211.msg585130#msg585130

Regarding my one-way lockout...
http://board.marlincrawler.com/index.php?topic=46211.msg586092#msg586092

Some pics of my lower shock mount that also include the two different Pivots I've ran:
http://board.marlincrawler.com/index.php?topic=11671.msg572273#msg572273

So the first version only lasted 1 Rubicon trip and the second version has lasted now 5-1/2 years of a lot of wheeling, daily driving, mountain road driving, and long highway driving. They are certainly not mainstream and have their own quirks about them. They have survived 1 trip through the Rubicon with a trailer as well as one trip into Thompson Lake at Dusy/Ershim with a trailer. I love em!

Version 1 installed and destroyed, June 2006:


Version 2 in action at TDS (old IFS rear axle), March 2007:


Version 2 transferred to my new Tacoma rear axle, March 2008:


Version 2 in action at the Hammers (new Taco rear axle), April 2008:



Regards,
BigMike

[John Doe]

I believe I heard that you were going to be installing a new rear disc kit on your truck, any luck with that?

[BigMike [OP]]

I believe I heard that you were going to be installing a new rear disc kit on your truck, any luck with that?

Yesiree, got rear discs installed about a month ago and have already ran Dusy/Ershim twice with them Sorry, I don't have any pics but we will start selling a kit pretty soon

[John Doe]

If I remember right I know where you got them and do not need to see pics, but I am sure everyone else would love to see them.

[bleakhorizon]

geez.... i havent looked at this build up in forever, i need to make me some of those pivots......

but while im here, i just noticed this.. i know this isnt the thread, let alone the same millenia this picture was taken, but any info on that beast?