YotaDave85's Exo Cage and Bumper Build (& Wheelin pics)

[MisfitDave]

No I haven't checked it for straightness. What would have tweaked it?  Other question is can I fix it?  I ground out the welds and dropped the whole hanger with springs still attached and this is what I get.  I marked the frame and hanger with a silver marker and a speed square before I pulled it off.  This is where the springs put the hanger comfortably, its almost an inch off!  This is turning out to be a Nightmare truck!

You can barely see the lines but its off less than an inch.

Goodbye push pull!

Bottom line I need to get this truck done asap, its my DD and I'm toast without it.  Any suggestions?

[Paulie]

find a good measuring point. measure ccenter bolt hole from front hanger and with the help from a friend measure center of your shackle mount on your frame. you probably have to use a straight edge to bring the center of the shackle mount down because your body mount is in the way. if thats the same measurement on the sides, then measure across (making a big "X") and make sure everything is square and straight. should be fixed that way you wont have troubles crab walking down the road. build looks good, do lots of build-up reading so you can solve every problem before you hit the trail (menaing: drivelines falling out, steering box bracing, possibly hydro assist, etc.)

Good clean build, keep it up. 

[AaronB]

find a couple referance points on each side of the frame and measure the distance. I just ran into this problem on my rig and I found out the frame was tweaked bad. Good Luck

[MisfitDave]

So if the frame is tweaked what do I do? Put the hanger where it should be or where the springs want it to be?

[DTB]

So if the frame is tweaked what do I do?

not the answer you want to hear.......buy a different truck....that's what i would do

[Fearofrunner]

What other problems would he run into if the frame is tweaked besides eating those spring bushings?  If the truck drives straight and the handling isn't altered i don't see why he couldn't keep trucking with it?  and the bushings should only wear out if he wheels it alot DD wont flex the springs nearly enough to cause those bushings to wearout??

[Gittinit]

Did the truck run strait down the road before?  If so I would put it where its supposed to be and call it good, you will never notice while driving. You might get some premature bushing whear. If the truck drove crooked to begin with the follow dtbs advice as cruel as it sounds. If you decide to weld the hanger off center your steering will be affected.





Ya beat me to it Fearofrunner but here it isany way. Oh by the way my frame was/is tweaked way worse.

[DTB]

and the bushings should only wear out if he wheels it alot DD wont flex the springs nearly enough to cause those bushings to wearout??

Daily driving would wear them faster. more use.I wouldnt think it would matter how much they are flexed out.

If you decide to weld the hanger off center your steering will be affected.

that was my only concern

[topar]

These are the pics I took of my power steering.  Make sure you have a 3 grove pulley.  Let me know if they help or you need anymore.

[topar]

another

[topar]

more steering

[topar]

Last one.

[DTB]

sorry, mispost...disregard

[topar]

He asked me to put pics of my steering up for him.  Look on the first page.

[topar]

No problem

[DTB]

No problem

sorry, i noticed that after i posted.... no worries mate! 

[MisfitDave]

The truck drove straight as an arrow before, and even had less freeway wobbles than a 91 4runner i had.  So I'll weld it back where it was before and not lose anymore sleep.  I appreciate all the input and advice you guys, I couldnt do it without it!

Topar you freakin rock! I owe you.  One question though how does the crank pulley mount on top of the others?  4 bolts and if so do you know the size? or just does it just mount with the center bolt??  Once again thank you! 

[topar]

Its been so long since I did it I don't remember.  I think it was 4 bolts but would have to look.  I will be working on the truck again on Monday.  I am currently doing a V8 swap on my other truck so if you need any parts for the power steering let me know and maybe I can get them to you.

[Yota87Truck]

Lookin good so far, keep the pics updated.

[jrock]

keep it up. looks great!!!

[YotaJosh]

Greeny, I got the holley carb from downey and it is far from bolt on and I haven't got it tuned for the best performance, it runs real rich right now and I just havent had time to take it to get it tuned.  but to answer your question I'm still not sure if it was worth it, I don't think th power gains were noticable enough for the amount of money I spent on the carb, intake and exhaust.  The good thing is with the Holley I will order one of the vent chimney for it and that will help the carb work at steep angles. Plus it looks sick as hell under the hood!

I'm interested in the Holley setup as well. I had one on my old 302'd Ford truck, and I'd tear that thing down once a week trying new jets, accel. pump nozzles, accel. pump cams, etc. You probably need to jet it down, and add a smaller accel. pump nozzle so it doesn't dump as much gas when you get on the pedal 

Holleys are very tuneable , and work great once tuned. I like them for all the goodies to tune with 

Oh, and I'm interested in your spring hanger issue / possible tweaked frame. I might have that issue with my 79.

[MisfitDave]

I said hang it with the frame being tweaked, since it drove straight before I hope it will do the same after.
Sorry its been a while guys, dealing with girls makes building a truck near impossible!  But I'm back on it whole heartedly again!  So here's what I've done lately.  I cleaned up the front axle, bolted it up with the ubolt flip kit, I have the ifs steering box mount plates welded and the paint is drying as I'm typing this!  I also started toying with ideas for the placement of my rear shocks.
Axle before and after pics!

Side view, and you can also see the steering box mount. And my new found love of welding took over as I defiled my truck!
I hid it behind the spring hanger!

[MisfitDave]

I want to weld the bolt to the angle iron, then the angle iron to the tube frame running underneath the bed in the rear for the shock mounts.  But this won't work will it, because they need to be able to follow th path of the axle when it flexes and they can't do that at that angle. so since there is not anything to weld the new mounts to directly above the axle do I need to come up with my own or am I wrong?  Will this work with the /\ shock setup and the angle I have them at in the pics?


What do you guys think?

[Gittinit]

I think it looks good.

[Fearofrunner]

hey man what's up, it's been awhile since you've posted looks like your making some progress on the big blue beast.  Those axles look good when you take the twenty plus years of road grim off and put a new coat of paint on em huh?  and I'm really glad to hear you just said f it and bolted the springs back up.  It'll run just fine down the road I'm sure of it.

As for your shock placement in the rear i would read over Shoyrtt 4runner build up if you haven't already.http://board.marlincrawler.com/index.php?topic=18832.0  

Maybe PM him and ask how he did his rear mounts, it's lookin like he cut and bent new tube for back there??? good luck and keep posting pics

[blackdiamond]

Are your frame tubes installed correctly?  Just an idea as I didn't notice it being mentiond already. 

I just looked back and noticed that you didn't use frame tubes.  Are you sure the shackle mounts are installed far enough inboard?  If I remember correctly, the frame tubes go flush with the outside of the frame and protrude inside a bit.

[MisfitDave]

No blackdiamond I didn't put the new tubes in, I was told they were only for a SAS and not for a stock solid axle.
Hey fearofrunner I looked all over at pics of rear shocks and came across shoyrtt's the only thing is I haven't got a tube or bender.  So I'll try my deal first and in the spring when hopefully I can fab my flat bed I'll change the setup if I end up needing to.
It's official I'm locked front and rear! and with 5.29s to boot!  I tore into the front axle to rebuld it and once both axles shafts were out I pulled the stock diff, siliconed the housing and bolted the new diff in!

Sorry I never got the camera back out to take a pic of it actually bolted in it was getting late. But it is a beautiful thing, it almost took my mind off my next problem I came across!  Like so many newbs I've read about I didn't mount the steering box far enough forward! And I welded the hell outta the mounting plates, so do I let it chill for now and just get my blue beast back on the road and figure whenever I stuff that side I'll lose steering? Or are there any options besides ripping the mounts off and doing it all over again? Cuz my DD sitting in the garage all tore up is killing me!

[yotadork83]

yeah it sucks when you start working on your daily driver. also take a pic of were you mounted the plate so we can see how bad it is. you probably could get away with it like that as a daily driver. but if not make sure you get a bunch of grinding wheels get remove the old one, unless you are really good with a acetylene torch and a gouging tip.

[MisfitDave]

Here are the pics of my mistake.  It's not boletd on yet but its close to the postion it will sit once bolted on, also the pitman arm is only snugged on so it will sit a little higher once I tightn the bolt.  I think i have come to the decision I'm gonna run it like that for now and just not do any extreme crawling till I fix it.  I'll have to order new parts or try to salvage these and like yotadork said I'll need to pick up a grip of grinding wheels.

And here's the diff setup with Lock Right locker and 5.29 gearing!

[Fearofrunner]

oh that sucks man, have you tried hooking your steering shaft up to the box? It looks like it's gonna be at a hell of a bind from the pic? Either way i hope you can salvage that plate enough to be able to use it again. 

That third member looks brand new, and I'm jealous of what you got in it.  Keep plugging away at it though you'll get it right soon enough.

Good luck

Patric