:)bestgen4runner's build page.

[Rockcrawlintoy]

But you have had one. I have never had one!

Yeah I had one because I got evicted and my house had yet to close.

[:)bestgen4runner]

Made some progress tearing down the t-case in My spare time today.

[:)bestgen4runner]

Got home and Ruff stuff box was sitting on the kitchen table.
Bump stops are going in. 
I was able to install the rears tonight.
Just need to measure, fab, and install the bump plates.
Progress!
Thanks to Rob (cranky crawler) for a tried and true rear bump stop setup to copy.

[:)bestgen4runner]

Shocks came in and man are they hard to compress.
Mock up install at the first position. 28 Deg 3 1/2" of shaft showing on 10" travel shocks.
Bilstein #33-185552

[:)bestgen4runner]

More of maintenance note than anything else. I like the Idea of keeping a record of everything that happens to Her.
The battery died for the third time after a full charging. I have been running the rock lights quite a bit while working on the rear suspension. The truck also sits a lot and I was blaming the dead battery on that, but after this last time I was slightly annoyed.
So a quick run to Costco for a replacement and I am back in business.
I'm considering a battery tender. Maybe?

[emsvitil]

Don't forget that the battery will go bad in 41 months...........................

[redneckcustoms13]

Interstate is not what it used to be. I give it maybe a year. I am a deka fan all day.

[Rockcrawlintoy]

Interstate is not what it used to be. I give it maybe a year. I am a deka fan all day.

I used the Orilys brand super start platinum also made by deka. They work well
 

[mudmaster]

Get a battery tender!

[:)bestgen4runner]

Update on 4.7 Transfer case build.
Ran into a snag, the clips for the output shaft and the countershaft bearings both ended up fitting loose after reinstallation. My originals measured out to be the smallest size clips available. There are 5 selectable size clips available for the output shaft. My original was marked 0 so I ordered mark 1 and mark 2.
For the countershaft there is only mark 0 and mark 3 available,  that mark 3 fits correctly or I might have to shave it down. All the clearancing is complete and once I have the correct clips it's reassemble time 

[300k]

I missed Bestgen buying an interstate battery lol. ORM brought home an interstate battery for Red one day after battery shopping without telling me. I sent him back and we went out and got a Deka

[:)bestgen4runner]

So I am noticing more vibration from My rear driveshaft then before I lowered the truck. Rear shaft is a cv style with long splines and has never been balanced. I know, why the long spline in the rear. It's a homemade unit that came with the truck when I bought it. It has worked for Me till this point and I had multiple bigger fish to fry when I took over this unfinished project vehicle.
It appears I am going to have to rotate the rear axle and have a new driveshaft made.
After questioning the shout box brain trust about potential replacement options, I decided an Oem Toyota shaft with a cv would be my best option.
Took the Wife with Me and headed off to the local wrecking yards to find some treasure.
Here is what We ended up with after 5 yards.
A front cv drive shaft from a 1995 4Runner v6 (My future rear driveshaft)
A radio bezel with all the correct screws and clips. I needed this for My Son Myles's 4Runner (his was cut out huge for a double din head unit)
Original radio brackets for My Son's 4Runner (He had none)
A quarts dash clock with the face broken off (plan was to transfer guts to Myles's dead clock)
Failure on the clock, it didn't work super bummed on that one. If anyone has one they would like to sell I am looking for one.
A completely uncut non radio bezel (never seen one in person)
And a piece of console that My Wife thought We needed to bring home.
Not to bad for $70

Went home and proceeded to fix Myles's radio/ Cb setup.
He comes home on leave tomorrow (Marine Corps) and He has been requesting the radio be reinstated. (handled!)
It looks good but I'll  go back in and make it perfect once He leaves in a couple weeks for his deployment.
More progress.

[:)bestgen4runner]

Managed to steal away an hour and a half to make some progress.
Measured, cut, and welded in My Left front bump stop pad.
Turned out really good.
I have the right side all cut to fit, just ran out of time before I could get it installed.

Side note I went back to flux core welding. Not sure Why, but for some reason I just seem to get better results with flux core. When I was tacking the upper and lower rear shock mounts I just wasn't happy with the level of penetration I was getting from the mig welding. Any input from the welders in our group.

[:)bestgen4runner]

Right front bump stop pad installed.
I realize now how horrible my previous bump stop pad picture was, so I took a couple of the right side. Welding commentary accepted. 
Latest Marlin order came in. I had to get one of the glasses. So cool 

Tech tip # 762
I stuffed boards in between the opposite side rear bump stop to help in compressing the front spring.
Worked great for properly locating the bump stops and pads.

[:)bestgen4runner]

Started working on My rear bump stops tonight after work. It's sure a lot of work cutting and shaping metal without the correct tools. Measured and made My pads. I'm happy with the results for what I had to work with.

[:)bestgen4runner]

progress tonight (left rear)
5/8 grade 8 u-bolts cut to length and torqued to 150 FtLbs
Spring center bolt torqued  to 40 ftlbs and excess cut off.
Bump stop pad welded together and welded in place.
Hopefully right side tomorrow

[:)bestgen4runner]

Have been dreading this part of the project for quite a while.
Steering box moved. More info to come.
Two small projects remain and a full check over then She's 100% ready for June 30th

[:)bestgen4runner]

A couple tips when moving your steering box.
The forward most bolt should be cut down to avoid interference with the radiator. I cut mine a bit shorter than I needed.
This set of high speed burs helped immensely when I was removing material from the core support. I highly recommend this method.

[emsvitil]

That nyloc looks like no nylon is on the bolt....

[SqWADoosh]

That nyloc looks like no nylon is on the bolt....

Beat me to it. Needs more grip length to engage locking feature.

[:)bestgen4runner]

My words "I cut mine a bit shorter than I needed". I know 
I also made the mistake of trusting the torque value I grabbed quickly offline during the process. Picture of smoked bolt in My first post.
I knew better than to trust the first post I found and should have just looked it up in the book. 
Thankfully the hardware store that Carson works at stocks the exact same bolt and nut as Sky provided in their kit. I need to replace the other two bolts due to over torqueing them.
In new news I removed and corrected My pitman arm position last night. It was just slightly off. I wish sky would mark their pitman arms like the factory does. Sure would make it easier. It's on correctly now with the steering wheel and box centered. Went to adjust My drag ling and found it has quite the bend in it. Not sure how or when that happened? It's a trailgear part that came with the truck so I don't mind replacing it with an upgraded part. Recommendations?  One more item to add to the list.

[Rockcrawlintoy]

Went to adjust My drag ling and found it has quite the bend in it. Not sure how or when that happened? It's a trailgear part that came with the truck so I don't mind replacing it with an upgraded part. Recommendations?  One more item to add to the list.

Marlin Marlink?

[:)bestgen4runner]

Jesse has that  and one end stripped out on him. He had to weld it in place. Other options?

[Rockcrawlintoy]

Ruff stuff? front range?

[Willard]

Switch to 7/8" heims. Got my stuff from Barnes.....legit. 1.5" 1/4"wall is beef!!!!!!!!!!!

[mudmaster]

My AP is holding strong. Probably a TG part now 

[joeyf]

Like Willard said, Heims would be your upgrade. I would just straighten the link and sleeve it. Then tac weld the jam nuts

[redneckcustoms13]

I have 3 tg , 1 marlin, and 2 I built and am running heims from barnes. All seem fine. Even my tg havent bent after several jumps and ramps.

[emsvitil]

You could be ok with the torque on the bolts.

There's the torque spec that Toyota gives you, and a generic torque spec for a bolt that you look up  (grade, threads, size)  when you don't have the manufacturer torque spec (Toyota).       If you're more than Toyota, but less than the lookup value, the bolts are fine.

[:)bestgen4runner]

Toyota spec is 105
I torqued them to 130 (thank You Yota tech)
one of the nuts couldn't handle it and tore out the threads