Topic: lil blue and big blue

[sinbob]

89 F350 and an 85 toy gotta figure out how to post the pic though.  anybody know how to make them smaller??
Minisimp helped me out tks 
You can go below for the link to photobucket.
Everything I have done to the toy is in the sig block below and as I am lazy  ya can read it there
I am puter challenaged here  so with minisimp's help I have learned to post pictures to this thread...am kinda doing things back hear...well at least it is getting done

[jimbo74]

http://board.marlincrawler.com/index.php?topic=5512.0

[sinbob [OP]]

tks Jimbo, but I am really com challenged
I tried but can't seem to get it work. Maybe I can get someone to resize them on a disc for me 

[MiniSimp]

Just upload them to photobucket and link them to this page.

[sinbob [OP]]

ok here goes hope it works or I am sol
http://s236.photobucket.com/albums/ff5/sinbob_album/?action=view&current=b378365c.pbw

[MiniSimp]

http://s236.photobucket.com/albums/ff5/sinbob_album/?start=all

[sinbob [OP]]

tks minisimp i owe u a  or maybe 

[sinbob [OP]]

After these photos I wheeled it for a month and then put it back into the garage over the winter months of Dec, Jan Feb and Mar.   I cut all the extra crap  from the front axel and added a Shock flip kit, frontaxel gussets, fabed the front bumper w/wench mount, sliders and an exoskeleton.  Then   
I noticed one evening as I was standing outside admiring my handywork with a  that I had forgotten about the low garage door.  Now the cage was about 5 inches above the door.     Anyway I wound up pulling the rear wheels and rolling it out on my floor jack

[baconator]

 

[sinbob [OP]]

Hey bacon go to photo bucket 

This is for u buddy keep up the good work

[sinbob [OP]]

Ok, have some time today so I will put a little history to lil blue.

I traded a couple of utility quads with a trailer for it back in jan of 2005.  the son of a lady that I was dating had inherited it from his dad who had passed away from cancer 3 yrs earlier.
The bed was a thin sheet of plywood held on with c-clamps on top of some really bad frame work that was just patched together 
The inside of the truck was covered in about 2 inches of dust, spiderwebs and various nests.
The floor had about an inch of caked up dirt that had turned to cement.
There was wires every where connecting OMG everything inbetween that wasn't in it anymore.
There was some funky bar bumper on front that I took to recycling.

Of course, just like everyone else, I started by tearing everything out......seats, headliner, etc; bed, bumpers, doors, hood, wheels etc.etc.

[sinbob [OP]]

It was actually a sweet deal even though it didn't run. 
It already had:  The dual crawler, 5.29 gears, lockright front, ARB rear, skyjacker lift, high steer conversion, warn hubs, downey air and the extended ss brake lines.  It had 33 all terrain goodyears on it that I sold to a coworker and bought 35 Goodrich MTR's.  Wish now I had gone with 37's.  Oh well hind sight is 20-20.

I had it towed over to my house and some friends helped me push it into the garage.

When the previous owner tried to fab the bed, he bobbed the frame and really did a job of welding the cross member in.  He also left the frame rails open and none of the lights worked.


Here u can see the back of the body that I sanded down, rustolemed and then rubberized.  I did the same thing to the floor boards inside.  Took me a month just to do the inside as I guess he had lost his drive line sometime way back and there was a massive tear in the tunnel by the passenger seat.  I welded that up rustolemed and rubberized ever thing I could get to inside.


Here you can see the frame rails I have fabbed to hold the bed frame.  They are 4 x 11/2 x 3/8 channel.  Should be strong enough to hol just about anything.



I then took 1 1/2 x 1/4 angle and made the bed.  I wanted to do diamond plate, but wound up using 2 x 8 because of cost and treated the wood with water repellant.

Oh and take a gander at my custom work bench. 


Here is the bed almost finished.

[Tallchevy]

Thats coming out nice  Keep it up & the pic's coming   

[sinbob [OP]]

tks tallchevy350.  I am having fun it.

So anyway back to the history of lil blue. 

I finally figured out why it wouldn't run.  It was the opening circuit relay.  Had the right ohms but when I did the voltage test there was nothing.  Popped another in and she fired right up.

Got the bed finished and used the left over angle for a bracket that I tucked in between the bed and the frame rail (preotection).  Has license plate light too, that way smokie has no reason to pull me over.  Got a couple of trailer lights from walmart for tail and brake lights; then adapted some clearance lights (walmart) for my turn signals.


put the hood and doors back on


mounted my hilift, strapped down the spare and went wheelin

[baconator]

bed looks good sinbob keep up the good work

[sinbob [OP]]

tks Bacon

Another chapter in lil blue's history. 

1st time I took it wheelin the ARB wouldn't work, so a quick trail fix and I was locked again.  Was really surpised that it made that much difference.  With the ARB I had no trouble going up or over anything I tried, but without it man it was the pits.
Started using it as a daily driver and it was really fun to drive, although the skyjacker springs are sooooooo stiff    I started runnin only 20 lbs of pressure in the rear so my teeth didn't rattle out of my head.  Even then I could chirp the tires in 2nd.  Man this thing is quick.

Anyway I drove it the whole summer and had a few problems...puter, fuel pump etc etc. Then in the fall I deregistered it and stuffed it back into the garage to begin workin on it in earnest again.

Here is the front axel with all of the on it.

Here it is with the flip kit and all purtied up.

Same with the rear axel

Here it is all purty. 

O yeah I almost for got my two helpers. ya can see how helpfull they are  lololol


You will notice under the after rear axel pic the tubing and sliders.  Those are on and just as soon as I get another camera I will post some current pics of lil blue in all her regala .

[sinbob [OP]]

After reading one of the other guys buildups, not sure which one it was  I have decided to switch the rear shock mount around so the shocks mount on the top of the cross member instead of below the cross member.    Should give me 4-6 inches more of shock travel

[sinbob [OP]]

So now some history of Big Blue.

89 F350 with a 351 windser modofied.  5sp, 4x4, dana 60 front and a sterling 10.25 rear with 4.10 gears.  Goodrich 35 MTR's, Hella driving lights, viair with 3gal tank and a warn 9500 winch.  Kenwood tunes and alarm.
It got the moter rebuilt 4 yrs ago along with the airconditioning system converted over.

I used this to whl with for the first couple of years before I got my utility quads.  It did pretty good.

Here we are starting up hollywood hill.

Here we are about half way up.  It is sooo steep that the washer fluid was running out onto the windshield

[baconator]

how about pics that arent looking out the windshield so we can actually see the truck?? 

[sinbob [OP]]

ok Bacon this ones for U

[baconator]

thanks sinbob.  i feel special (ed) when i get pics just for me

[DTB]

thats funny i was expecting a Toyota! 

[sinbob [OP]]

What is really funny is when I come wheelin by a bunch of fellow wheelers and they just stand there with their mouths open wondering how in the hell I got that big ole thing in there lolol.
If u are from Cali u will know about red and coyote lake.  Go to red all the time and have only went to coyote once as my truck is too wide to make it through the rock and the hard spot there.  Messed up both doors on that one...lolol The gate keeper got my right rear 1/4 panel but by god I goter in....lololol had a big bunch watching that one they couldn't believe it if they hadn't seen it for them selves.......

Hey they said I had to grow old, but they didn't say I had to grow up!!!!!!

[Hammerhead]

Are you waitin' for your old camera to come back or are just gonna get a new one?

[fatt_matt]

you got that ford350 past gatekeeper?? did you complete the rubicon in that...

i'd think there were some narrower parts you couldn't fit it through?  congrats on that man.

[sinbob [OP]]

Hello fat matt, no I never have done the rubicon. 

The gate keeper I am talking about was on the trail to Coyote lake.  On the map it is just east between Hunington and shaver lakes.  You take hwy 168 to Red Mountain trail head and then about 3 miles in it turns really knarlay.  There are spots that are class V.  Once you get to Red lake the coyote lake trail starts behind it and once past the gate keeper there it isn't to bad except (I think) squeeze rock.  I smashed both doors there and it was as far as I could go.

[fatt_matt]

my bad.. still really impressive.. both of your rigs are awesome

[sinbob [OP]]

tks   fatt matt

[sinbob [OP]]

I know this thread is about rigs but i didn't know where else to post it.

My very close friend and long time companion Buddy passed on to a better place this last weekend.   He was only 5 years old and unfortunately his passing was not of natural causes.  He did not desreve to die such a hidious death and he suffered greatly until I finally laid him to rest.  If I ever find those responsible well - enough said.






His motto was love me play with me!!!!!
He loved to go bye bye.  He would perk up and get very excited when I would get his collar out.
He loved the water and especially loved to chase the fishies in the creeks we would come to while either fishing or hunting.  One year along he was responsible for me not getting 4 bucks....but I didn't care he/we was having fun together.






He also was my 4 wheelin buddy/shotgun although he sucked as a spotter lol
When I had my quad, I would put a laundry basket on the back and he would jump in and off we would go.  When it became to rough he would jump out and walk/run beside me.
When he was with me I never had to worry about anything/anybody, I could always rest easy as he was on guard.
The kids in the neighbor hood would come down when I would get home from work and ask if
Buddy could come out and play.......he was loved by many.






Rest in peace my friend, my Buddy.  I hope you are chasing the fishies in many creeks.  You are missed very deeply!!!!

[sinbob [OP]]

Wow it has been two weeks since my Buddies passing and I can't believe he is really gone.  I come home and expect him to be ther to greet me as always......

Well, life goes on and I am now getting ready to start my engine pull and rebuild.  I am new to Toyotas and it has been 30 years since I have done anything like this so I am gonna take my time and try to do it right.  You all can expect me to be asking alot of questions pertaining to what I should or shouldn't be doing. The problem is though is that I am so ignorant that I do not know which questions to ask

Last night I finished orgainizing my tools and the garage.
I bought a almost new 1ton cherry picker last night for 80 bucks and this payday I will get an engine stand from harbor fireght.

ALL of YOU that know anything at all about dos and don'ts feel free to put your  in at any time.

I also hope to be able to post alot of pictures of what is going on and of the damage I did to the motor I am replacing.

I have talked to CJ at marlin and he has given me some shops around the city here that I should be taking my head, block and crank to.  Don't know why I should do it but I should take them there.