Project Beast

[Captain J]

did some  and alot of welding and some grinding, and cutting and finally got the front axle completly installed and the front shock towers put in place, I still need to trim the u-bolts and tighten them down some more.

I got the holes drilled and cut for the steering mount and will be welding that into place next week. I cut off the torque tube mount on the inside of the frame but need to grind down the excess so the steering box mount will sit in place right.

I am going to install the steering box and get the steering working so I can move the 4runr around the house and some wheeling while I save up for Hydro assist kit and later dual cases.

For now, this next trip home will be weld on the sliders,  new brake lines, finish steering, adjust/set timing and fix water leak and weld on the rear shock mounts.

that will leave buying new rear shocks and working on bumpers and a cage.

My cash flow is on fumes for now and with the Baby coming in September, I need to get as much done before.

On the lockout hubs, I put them back on and had problems turning the handle from free to lock, so I took them apart and put back together.
Now one side works perfect, but the other only turns from lock to 1/2 between?  I might just take them off and go to drive flanges and twin sticks instead.

[79coyotefrg]

   get r done, 


  my hangers  came 

[Captain J]

ok, here is an update, yesterday I got the new brake lines installed and bled the fronts and rear center. on the rear drums, both wheel cylinders are rusted and one side broke off when I tried to open the bleeder valve.
So today I will be getting new wheel cylinders and installing them I hope.

I took some new pics this morning, so now I am just waiting on photobucket.

I also reassembled my steering box and finished cleaning up the frame where it will be mounted.
I hope to weld the mount on today  I mounted it just for a picture so the sector nut is not all the way up for a reason.
Also I found that I will probably need to get a steering shaft extension ( 4crawler.com) cause when the 3" body was put on the shaft was adjusted to the ends of the spines and now with the different steering box, it reaches but just barely. Say good enough for a pic but not good enough for safe operation.
I was just happy that with the front end up on a jack, the steering wheel was able to turn the front wheels, the first time in about 4 months.
after all that, I just need to adjust the timing and fix a water leak and mount rear shocks.....but at least the list is getting shorter.

[79coyotefrg]

i extended  the flat  slip portion of the shaft  where its supposed  to crush in a wreck,  worked fine

[DTB]

Make your own extension! Heres how I did mine....







Then plug weld the holes and ends....easy peasy

[Captain J]

Perty new brake line (driver side) 26" lines from Marlin

Steering box mount, still needs welding

Head light wire kit from Roger Brown (4crawler.com)

Perty new brake line pass side

new tube door latches installed ( made by 4xinnovation.com)

Rear brake line, now with much more travel

Steering shaft all hooked up

See, not much splines left, I will need some kinda extension, might try Glens idea

new used AllPro bumper, Just got it home yesterday, still need to get bolts to attach it to the frame

but you get the general idea. Just dumb luck I was looking on craigslist and found this

next is a couple of pics of my rear springs......

If you see anything wrong with them, please let me know......

[Captain J]

My #1 supplier of Toyota rock crawling needs.......

[79coyotefrg]

If you see anything wrong with them, please let me know.....

time  for  some new springs me thinks


oh Jeff   ditch  the  LSPV  with the tires  you have  you need  full pressure to those rear brakes

edit:   ok  i see the  lift bracket  on the arm now, 

[79coyotefrg]

dont cut those u bolts  off till you get new springs 

[Captain J]

Glen, What about the lSPV, I have the extension, but how would I bypass it completely?
just disconnect it and zip tie it up?

on the springs, that is what I get for getting used springs I guess.

I have several extra leafs so I thought about adding some to see if they straighten out while I am saving up for new ones.

[MiniSimp]

Glen, What about the lSPV, I have the extension, but how would I bypass it completely?
just disconnect it and zip tie it up?

I cut mine down to 2" long and zip tied it up to the brake line directly overhead. Max rear braking.

[79coyotefrg]

 

[Captain J]

Well, no new pics, mainly cause nothing new to see, but I did wrap up a few of the things on the to do list.

I got the water leak from the thermostat housing fixed with a helicoil.
I got the timing set, at least by ear, I will fine tune that soon.
I got the rear brake cylinders replaced, and bled all the brakes
I also got the drivers side slider assembled and installed, and the pass side slider assembled minus about 2 inches welding plus installing

left to do :
modify the LSPV to get full rear brakes (done)
lenghten steering shaft 2 inches(done)
Tighten down and recheck various bolts and nuts (done)
fill front 3rd with fluid and check rear 3rd. (done)
grease up front knuckles and top off grease where needed along chassis (Done)
mount rear shock mounts and install shocks
Mount passenger side slider(done)
Add a long AAL for rear sagging springs
move front blinkers to corner lights (done)
trace electrical prob with rear window (lowered with a jump to motor, removing tail gate for now)
get new cat and muffler installed ( maybe Monday)
clean trash and leaves out of interior and remove hard top, install soft top.(done)
wheel it!!!!! ( next time off the boat)

I think I am going to cruise over to the local walmart and ramp up in their loading bay to flex out the rear and measure for new rear shocks.

[Captain J]

Got alot done today, but have new problem.

Ran today, drove all over my neighborhood and even wheeled alittle in the easment behind my house.

purred like a kitten, and preformed great.
Then get back to the house to fix someother thiings and when I went to restart the motor, it just spins and spins but wont catch. and sometimes I hear a loud tick. The sound is not consistent like a broken valve or a broken rod, but more like every other rotation.....

this is agrivating.

also started leaking gear lube from drivers side front knuckle. I guess I didn't get the axle seal seated right

[79coyotefrg]

hard to say what your "tick" is  without more detail

i hope you did fix your steering shaft,  it NEEDS to be all the way down on that spline part

i wonder if you/ME can flip the drag link to the top of the pitman

[Captain J]

Ok found the problem, although I fixed other parts in the troubleshooting process.

there is a set of 3 wires to goes from the Igniter/coil assembly over to the fuel rail. this tells the fuel injectors to squirt at the correct time.
One of these wires had broken and was arching on the valve cover ( the tick sound) and causing the injectors to not work ( no fuel)

I called an friend of mine that is a toyota tech, and he walked me through some test before we found the broken wire.
I replaced the fuel filter which needed to be done anyways, and also the spark plug wires cause one had a crack in the insulation.

now that I know the problem, I am going to get some more splicing connectors and lengthen the 3 wire set so it is not under a bind.


Glen, I think if I were to rotate the drag link to above the pitman arm, it would rub or hit the frame.

I did lengthen the steering shaft, I found that it was slipped in about 2.5 inches at the slip joint and I moved it out to reach putting much more splines in thier places and still leaving about 1 inch in the slip joint.


updated to do list:
change out cat and muffler
fix horn or bypass to another push button
grind clean front cross bar and weld on receiver hitch
re-torque head bolts, seems to have a small leak
built new front bumper or buy one. still deciding on MC or 4xinnovations ( they make thiers for body lifted trucks)
install rear shocks and shock mounts
rear add a leaf
build a swing out tire gate

[Captain J]

Well, everything is on hold for a while now. About 2 weeks ago I had a wreck while towing the 4runr on my trailer ( no body hurt).
The 4runr is still on the trailer and is being stored at my dad's place and my truck is in the body shop getting repairs from $7500 dollars damage.

here is what happened.
we were planing a trip to the local offroad park for Sunday, but Saturday, we had a wedding to go to so I loaded the 4runr up friday.
Then I got this hairbrain idea that I needed to take it to the CB shop to get the CB tuned so we could use it Sunday.

Thankfully the CB shop is only 15 miles away, so me and son went to CB shop, got everything fixed on 4runr and fixed on my truck and were heading back home when a tire blew on the trailer and it started to wag. Before I could do anything, the trailer was wagging the truck quite violently and ended up taking us off the road, through the median and across a street sign.

Had it not been for the street sign, I might have rolled, or might have been able to drive away from the accident and just change the flat tire, but I hit the sign on the passenger door and all down the passenger side, Some how this also trigured the Air bag to go off too. For this reason only, The police said it had to be towed.

anyway, long story short, I won't be working on the Beast for a while.

[79coyotefrg]

at least your ok THANK GOD

[DTB]

sorry to hear about the wreck! sounds scary....

are ya gonna weld up that steering box plate all the way to the frame? Or is it still in mock up stage?

[Captain J]

ya, it is fully welded, I just didn't take any new pics.
I did buy a Winch plate from Budbuilt and am in the process of designing a front bumper ( basically, I am taking pics from other members and picking out the features I like.

So far, this is pretty close to what I want: ( don't know who this truck belongs to but I am sure Glen does....he knows everybody)

[79coyotefrg]

i'm not sure who's that is,  it  looks  very familiar