Topic: Rexy Re-Do: SUPER SLEEPER 1ST GEN!

[H8PVMNT]

The reverse idler gear resides in the lower left of the back side of the intermediate plate.  There it is with a bunch of chewed up teeth. The reverse idler gear simply gets pushed forward to bridge the reverse gear (top) and the little gear to the right on the coutner shaft, to make reverse happen.

 Next photo you can see a little collateral damage taken by what is supposedly fifth gear, presumably from processing some of the reverse idler gear.  I would like to replace this in the near future but I think it will live for a while since I don't have bearing pullers or money right now.  Not like I am going to be doing teenage mud bog clutch drops in low range 5th or towing in 5th gear.  It didn't make any noise when I was running through the gears before so we will see if it lives a while.

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

Here is the reverse idler gear in the W55.  It's nearly identical to the one in the W56 other than the trough the shifter block rides in is a little smaller.  More on this later.  I don't yet understand where they keep 5th gear in the W55, but it's not in the way of the reverse idler so it's pretty easy to remove the reverse idler gear from that trans.  Your basically just a snap ring away and you have to take apart he reverse shift linkages a bit and it comes right off the revers idler shaft.

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

Removing the reverse idler gear from the W56 gets a little more tricky.  Looking at it you would think you have to remove the bearings and 5th gear parts and related shift collar.  I was stressing out because I don't have a good puller for this but a look at the half legible FSM diagram revealed you can take the front half of the case off by removing the deal the throw-out bearing rides on and the two big snap rings on the front of the bearings and then you can access the "reverse idler gear shaft stopper".  Remove that little bugger and then you can push the reverse idler gear shaft forward and out of the reverse idler gear.  You do have to remove the idler gear snap ring too.  Then it drops right out.

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

There is a little block on a dowel thingy that does the shifting of the reverse idler gear.  The 2WD version of the gear had a smaller trough that this rides in and a smaller dowel.  This means you can't just swap the thingy over as the 2WD block won't fit in the 4WD linkage because it has a smaller dowel. You also can't use the 4WD thingy in the 2WD gear because the block part is a bit too big.  My redneck solution (Gnarls you might want to avert your eyes now) was to whip out the flappy wheel on the side grinder and work slowly until the 4WD thingy fit into the 2WD gear. 

Problem solved.

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

So then I put it all back together with some Toyota red "DANGER" sealant.

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

So yeah there is this little shift socket sumbits'.  I put mine back on backwards and nothing would shift at all.  After a bit of swearing I had to partially disassemble the trans once again and put it on right.  This is the WRONG way   .  The correct way is in the earlier pic above.

 

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

And there it is ready to put back in for the third time...

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

More of the mundane,  I re-tubed the front driveline longer for the duals and used schedule, flippin' 40 so you can sit there and ghur on a rock with it, because the truck is low and will be on smaller tires most of the time.  It has my old all pro long spline in it so it's good for whatever the future brings.  Rear drive line is still regular tube with chevy joints.  Might build one with Toyota yokes and schedule 40 at some point.


Also got the exhaust piece that clears the high t-case cross member on. Put the O2 sensor in the bung.  The truck is QUIET with the Celica muffler.  Not sure about that.  T-case rubs on the tool box trans tunnel ever so slightly where I spotted the two tool boxes together.  I will hammer on it a bit more or shim the cross member 1/4" so I  don't get bad vibes.  The burm out clearance with 32s on is on par with a truck on 35s so I am happy to mess with it.  Totally worth the trouble for a pretty flat undercarraige.

So technically I can now drive around, but the seats aren't attached yet so that will be the next thing.

[Lewis Hein]

So technically I can now drive around, but the seats aren't attached yet so that will be the next thing.

Actually, it's probably better not to attach the seats. That way, when you try to accelerate hard the motion will pull the driver's seat back and let your foot off the pedal. And when you push on the brake the deceleration will make the braking even harder. 

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

Or I could go no seats at all for a nice core work out.

[helipilot77]

So you re-tuned your driveshaft yourself? Level up! How do you ensure good balance and alignment.

[300k]

So you re-tuned your driveshaft yourself? Level up! How do you ensure good balance and alignment.

I think he uses pipe cutting tools to ensure a square end and welds it up.

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

So you re-tuned your driveshaft yourself? Level up! How do you ensure good balance and alignment.

Yeah if you use a pipe cutter, keep things in the same phase and maintain a slight press fit it's kind of hard to screw it up.  If there is a weight welded on I try to cut from the opposite end so you can keep whatever balance it had.  I have done this several times with good results so far.

On a front drive shaft it's not that critical because of the CV and the lower typical speeds.

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

Hay man!  Raked alfalfa last week.  So one machine mows it, then another rakes it into tall rows so it can dry out a bit, then, if it doesn't get rained on it can be bailed.  If it gets wet then you have to flip it over with the rake again or you get moldy hay.  If it gets to hot and dry when you rake it, all the good stuff falls off and it's  only sticks and stems.  A total game of timing.  That's what I did in the early morning hours last week.

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

Finished up the bed construction this weekend.  Still need to lead the seams on the bedsides. 

Got the bed on and immediately put the water tank in to see if I could settle the medium rate emu springs.  It took nearly 800 lbs to get what we would consider a reasonable shackle angle.  I am guessing this is about what ARB expects you to be hauling most days.  Might be good for someone who goes around unloaded to pull a leaf out.  For me this is perfect though.


The full 1,680 lb load just barely leveled the truck out.  I have a 2" bump pad extension and I still had about 1" to go before contact.  By this morning the springs had settled a bit and were about 1/2" into the bumps.

[Lewis Hein]

Are the seats done yet?

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

Are the seats done yet?

Not doing any seats remember? 

[Lewis Hein]

C'mon that thing is looking way too spiffy. It should look like this:

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

I like how there is another one in almost as bad of condition right behind it.  Are they in some kind of hammered old Toyota club or what?  I think they are datsuns aren't they?

[redneckcustoms13]

If so I guess I should join them.

[Lewis Hein]

Yes, they are Datsuns, although the one behind does have "Toyota 4x4" written on the side of the cab with a magic marker. The part of Lima where I live has quite a few '60s Datsun pickups scooting around, most in similar condition. I guess they don't rust out in the desert climate and Datusns don't wear out either... The only thing that gets them is having the body panels gently massaged by other vehicles in Lima traffic.

These particular ones belong to a hardware store sort of outfit, and earn their keep delivering sizeable loads of sand and 40' pieces of rebar. Sand goes in the bed (which has no tailgate) and rebar gets tied on to the undercarriage. It sags in the middle and behind, so whenever you hear steel grinding on pavement it's probably one of those two pickups making a delivery.

If I recall right they have one headlight between the two of them, but go on night errands just the same. That may have something to do with the dents in the body too.

Anyway, their general beat up appearance and constant use for hauling large loads reminded me of some pickup build thread I was reading. Thought you just might want to go for the "beat-up Datsun vibe" with Rexy. You know, it was a dealer option from Toyota back in '79, for only $8000 

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

Got my brakes bled last night.  Gotta love 1st gens with the single hard line to the rear, I was able to pour brake fluid, work the pedal a bit and pretty much gravity bleed the brake system.  Brake booster was stupid so I swapped it out for another from the shed, which luckily was good.

So with a loose seat, dangling wires and no lights anywhere I decided to get it up to highway speed.  The combination of the 22re performance 282 cam, the weber and the 5.29s with 32" tires really work for drivability. This thing is freakin' peppy.   

As a benchmark for comparison, there is this hill on the highway near my place where you pull up out of what we call "the sag".  In the 4runner with the hybrid in it's finest state of tune I could pull that hill at just under 60 mph in 3rd gear.  This is where I was pulling away from 300K in red last year.  He wasn't really on it but I was still proud of pulling away from a 3RZ with a 22r  .  With this truck I could pull it at 70 mph in 4th, so I could wax my 4runner with it.

Home-shortened driveline spins nice and true with no vibes.

Only bumber is that 5th gear makes all kinds of noise when you let off the gas.  I figure this would be the case because 5th gear has a little collateral damage from the reverse idler gear chunks bouncing around in there.  4th is a little noisy as well.  Noises are magnified because my t-case still rubs a bit on my trans tunnel.  I will shim it a bit.  The trans shifts well and doesn't pop out of gear or anything, but I will be tearing into the trans before winter I'm sure.

[Gnarly4X]

...
Only bumber is that 5th gear makes all kinds of noise when you let off the gas.....

Cheap temporary noise reducer .... I'd put in a bottle of this:  http://www.stp.com/products/transmission-treatments/High-Mileage-Transmission-Stop-Slip-Leak-Repair

It can't hurt and may buy you some extra time on it.

Gnarls.

[300k]

  This is where I was pulling away from 300K in red last year.  He wasn't really on it but I was still proud of pulling away from a 3RZ with a 22r  .  With this truck I could pull it at 70 mph in 4th, so I could wax my 4runner with it.

Wonder how Rexy would do against a 6.0 Yukon pulling your old 4runner

I better get a ride along!

[redneckcustoms13]

I'd bet it goes alot further without stopping every 194 miles for fuel.

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

I decided to take the truck out on the highway one more time before making my final decision on the trans.  I ran it up to 82 on the speedo (which was easy  ) and the noises in 5th gear made me want for a flack jacket.  Then I rev matched and dropped into 4th and it sounded just as bad.  I went back to the barn (muddy spot with gear oil puddles next to the house) and immediately peeled things off and dropped the W56 out while it started to rain again.  I can't get a break with this project.

I think I will wait until I have an outbuilding and rebuild the W56 right.  Time, need for a vehicle and money are not in alignment to rebuild the W56 at this time.  I could probably cheese it now and just throw a new 5th gear on, but I would rather wait and do it well.

A quick wrestling match in the shed and I drug out a known good L52 I bought from a buddy (this guy:  http://board.marlincrawler.com/index.php?topic=78730.msg925033#msg925033 ) a few years back for $100 when he parted out his '83.  I got to drive that truck right before he took it apart so I have intimate knowledge of the condition of this trans.  The L52 is shorter, which is nice but its also taller which will make more work necessary.  Since I couldn't just put a trans in before and I HAD to attempt a flat belly installing this trans will require additional trans tunnel surgery.

Oh well.  This morning I stuck the L52 on the back of the engine by hand, I'm getting good at this, and got out the side grinder and the Sawzall...

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

Did a bit of an inventory on to do now. Four and a half inch shorter trans made a lot more work than I expected.  I have to re-do the re-done trans tunnel (almost done), then tweak the cross member a bit to fit in the tapered, narrower part of the frame, re-do mounting points for cross member, re-redo drivelines, seat mounting, then it's just easy stuff like making all the lights work, gauges, interior niceties which can be done on the fly.  I do have a new windshield and gasket to make it stop raining inside the cab.

Caleb's truck wouldn't start this morning.  Something stupid, seems like no fuel. I am almost to the point if I can take a day off I could be driving the '80 to work instead.  We'll see how it goes.  I am tired.

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

Busted a$$ on the trans tunnel, cross member and got the L52 trans up in there.  Put together a drive shaft with the schedule 40.

Went to put her in gear and found I was stuck in low in the crawl box.  I forgot one of the most common mistakes when you swap in a crawl box.  I made the crawl box from the '86 t-case so it worked with he '86 W56, but the shift rail hits when you swap to the L52.   

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

Dropped the t-case back out AGAIN, so I could trim this little bit off the shift rail...

Might make it into a key chain or something so I don't forget this next build.

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

After all that I had to go farming, well welding farm equipment, so I put the truck into service at 5:00AM all loaded down with the metal shop.  The schedule 40 was just a little too big for my pipe cutter to fit on so I had to make the cuts with the chop saw.  It did not turn out well at all.  I could go about 45, after that is felt pretty unhealthy. 

So yesterday I scrounged up some flanges and put in fresh u-joints.  I cut down a stock shaft and made a sleeve for it, which I tightened up with a big hose clamp and welded up.  I took great care to phase the yokes by laying the whole thing on a flat surface.  Amazingly enough this actually worked out pretty good.  I would still re-tube and balance it some time because it has a little vibe at higher speeds and it's really sketchy looking, but I can live with it for a while.