Crazy's 1st gen build up

[crazykooter]

i'm trying to find #17 also......   
great looking build so far! 

I found one but she died before I could get the ring.  Damnit those 88 yr old women.  Guess ill try to 80 next time.

And thx I have put a ton of time into it and the progress has been fairly good for the short time ive been working on it. 
I have plenty of time just no money.  Cant seem to have my cake and eat it too !!!

[83 Crawler]

it sucks not working! i have no money to put in to my truck

[toyotanner]

so i tried to find something but couldn't whats with the cut rail on the tailgate?

[ajordan1975]

so i tried to find something but couldn't whats with the cut rail on the tailgate?

x2

[hilux-1983]

I bet it either fell off or he's in progress of welding it back on. Mine was loose and fell off while messing around at KOH and never found it. It's taken me a few months, but finally found a tailgate with the rail.

[crazykooter]

Mine fell off yrs ago and it had a sharp lip on it so I rolled the lip over and made it so it wasnt as sharp.  I have another gate but its in rough shape and I need to repair it before putting it on.  Its kinda at the bottom of my list.

[crazykooter]

Here is a few pics of the test flex I did today.  Mainly I was checking to see if anything would bind or break.  So far it looks fine but the stock shackles are limiting my flex BIG time.  I made one new rear shackle today and I plan on making the 2nd rear and the 2 fronts tomorrow.  I think if I get my shackles on I will gain another few inches of flex.  In the pic below I am a little over 24"s.  Not sure if thats ok or not since I really dont have anything to compare it to.  Once new shackles are in I will test it again and see where it goes.  My left rear is tucked pretty well but I am only running 31's so if I get a set of 35's I am gonna be rubbing the wheel well.  As for the front I have plenty of room with 31s but 35s im pretty screwed.  I guess we will have to see what happens after new shackles are in.
Next week I am gonna be welding up my extra 3rd and working on getting another 3rd to weld to put in the front for the round up.  Then save my money for gears and real lockers.









Here is my pretty new shackle I made.  I ran out of black paint so I just painted it red for now.  Anyhow not sure if you can see what ive done or not but I used the stock shackle bolts/pins which I knocked out and then drilled wholes in new plate which would require me to pound the bolts in.  So basically I have extended stock shackles.  I like not having the stock design since I consider it pretty reliable and simple.

[crazykooter]

Hey all well no new pics but I am repainting the shackles black.  I just wanted to get a coat of paint on them before they rusted.  I got the 2 front made and install yesterday.  I made them 5" hole to hole which I wasnt sure would work out or not.  The bad is that the stupid body mount is in the way so I am cutting it and then some how gonna make another mount to replace it.  If I had one side of the bracket cut out do you think I really need to worry about it ?  Seems like it would be fine but I dont want to screw it up.  With one side cut it gave me some decent shackle movement which the stock shackles lack big time. It also raised my front end 1" which leveled it with rear.  At least till I install the rear shackles today.  The rear I made was 5.5"s.  When I did the test flex my shackles ended my flex long before the rest of my suspension did.
Am I going about this wrong ?  Can someone post some pics of their front shackles so I can see how its done ? 
If I get time today I am gonna start welding my extra 3rd.  Still debating on running a lincoln in the front or not.  It would only be for offroad.  I am running out of time and I have sooo much still left to do.

[crazykooter]

Just a little update.  I got both front and rear shackles installed and the truck now sits 2"s higher.  Thing is almost ready for 35's.  I still think I might do a rears up front and sell of the 4" springs I have on there now.  I really need to move my axle forward 2"s.   Now if I can just sell some things I can get gears. 
At least I am pretty close to being ready for mcr. 
No pics since the camera I was using was a work cam and I no longer get to use it.  I will post some pics from my phone when I get the chance.

[studentwheeler]

Good lookin truck 

[crazykooter]

A little update........  I took off my pretty much brand new bfgs and put some older stock tires and rims on my truck.  I am hoping to sell them so I can buy a set of good used 33's.  Now only if I could get someone to buy this 84 and maybe I can get me some gears.  I tore down my extra 3rd and prepped it for welding.  Our arc welder carb is acting up so I am gonna have to rebuild it 1st I think.  The new shackles front and rear made a big diff in flex and ride height.  The truck now sits level.  So close to being ready for wheeling but soo far away too.





What do you think a fair price would be for these rims and tires ?



Ill post some more pics as soon as I get my new tires.  I am a tad bit worried bout my front driveshaft angle since I installed the longer shackles in the front.  I may have to do something with the spring plates.

[crazykooter]

Well A little update.  I welded that extra 3rd and posted pics here http://board.marlincrawler.com/index.php?topic=61464.0 Anyhow I am in the middle of making some tube doors but they really arent on the top of my list.  I do have a pic of my front drive line angle and wanted yalls input on it.  I know its a tad steep but I wont know if it will work till next weekend when I am heading to hollister to do a test run. 
On a cool note I am trading my 31 bfgs at's for some pretty much new 32"s bfg Km2s. Tho they are on aluminum rims.   I know size wise its nothing but tread design and well hey 1 inch and it should work well for my rig since I cant afford better gears.
Heres a pic of front drive shaft angle. 


Heres a pic of me turning over 200k on my truck ! LOL 82 just now breaking the 200k miles is pretty sweet. 

[starrunner]

ha thats a sick truck good job 

200k on an 82 is good!

[swapped89]

Good build thread. i really like what yer doin  to her. My dads got a stock 81 he bought bran new i've always wanted to build it but he wont let me touch it lol.

[crazykooter]

Ok I had a very busy weekend working on my truck as well as a 91 yota to make some extra cash.   Anyhow I got my marlin inner axle seals in on friday and so I tore down my front axle and went at it.  What a mess birfs are.  Anyhow I will let the pics tell the story.  I did how ever remove the dust shield which makes the front end look totally diff.
As soon as I can find some gears I will be doing them.  I want some 4.88s before MCR but that doesnt look like its gonna happen.  My extra 3rd is welded and I am gonna take it to Fordh8rs place next week so he can learn me on setting up a 3rd.  If I had a dial gauge I could do it myself I believe. 

[CrazyYota]

What a mess birfs are. 

When I did mine i could not see the Knuckle studs or the nuts under all the grease.

[crazykooter]

LOL ya mine was pretty bad for a while there then I steam cleaned the whole underside of truck so I was lucky to only have a little bit of grease and grime.

ON a very good note I got a sick deal on some gears today.  I have a brand new set of 5.29s with master install kit for 100 which isnt the good part.  I am picking up the other half of the gears which happen to be installed on an 83 yota.  I am getting the whole 3rd with a spool install and new gears for 200 bucks. 
Ok so they arent Yukon gears but for the price they will work perfect !!

[Jud]

They're still lifetime warranty.

I run Genuine Gears front and rear.

[chim]

They may be lifetime, but when they break you still have to do all the work and pay for setup again... but I heard that genuine gear has a newer lineup that's supposed to be better? I dunno...

[Jud]

They may be lifetime, but when they break you still have to do all the work and pay for setup again... but I heard that genuine gear has a newer lineup that's supposed to be better? I dunno...

People always say that, who cares? Your gonna break gears no matter what. The majority of gears I've seen break were Yukons actually. It all depends on if they're setup correctly and how you drive.

[SloCrawler]

Looking Good...

[crazykooter]

No pics to update but I am working hard on getting a hiem high steer setup before mcr.  At this point I have 33x12.50 MTs and 529 gears going in with a spool in the rear.  So for the most part I think ill be ok traction wise.  Not enough money to get a dual case setup.   Really the only thing I am lacking besides high steer is a co pilot since it looks like my buddy is gonna bail on me.   I think I am gonna meet up with a few guys and run in with them.  Plus I have to break in these new gears in the rear before I put them up front.  So time wise I have little to do the rest of the stuff that isnt a must for the trail.  Tho I really need to work on my tube doors soon.

[crazykooter]

OK I got both 3rds one with a nice spool and other open.  Gonna install them both today and start breaking in the new gears and get my 500 miles on it before mcr.   
Someone local come help me bob the bed on this thing since ive never done it and I dont want it to look like utter crap.   

[Jud]

OK I got both 3rds one with a nice spool and other open.  Gonna install them both today and start breaking in the new gears and get my 500 miles on it before mcr.   
Someone local come help me bob the bed on this thing since ive never done it and I dont want it to look like utter crap.   

What would be local for you? lol

[fordh8r]

She's coming along just fine.  Now if you can get her to the springs and back in one piece you'll really be doing good. 

[crazykooter]

Well I picked up part of my high steer today. Its more or less an adapted dana44 setup.  Very strong stuff.  plus it was half the price or more.  I will be getting the last piece weds if I can get my ifs pump welded up.  Starting to have major doubts I can even make it to mcr this year.  Bumming me out.  I have way too much left to do and no time left nor money. Oh well I guess I will be ready for wheelin sometime soon.

[crazykooter]

Tho I am not sure if I will be even making to MCR this year I went ahead and bobbed my bed.  Ill say this !! I am not a very good body man.  Blah my cuts came out off so it made for a lot of extra work.  Anyhow the drivers side is some what done and I still need to finish welding the passenger side.   I just need it to hold out long enough for me to make the run.  Then I am gonna finish it right.  
I also finished my tcase crossmember the other day. I have the mount sitting on the plate which lowered my tcase and trans 2"s.  So I cut apart the stock cross member and used the mount to raise my tcase back to where it is suppose to be.  
Tomorrow I am gonna deal with my 3rds and poss switching them.  I wish I had the kit for the IFS box.  Its the last real thing I need to do before this weekend.  







and heres my horrid bob job.  










Thought I would add a pic of the steering arms and pitman I got yesterday. 

[sirhc0306]

Thats a real clean 1st gen. keep up the good work.

[hilux-1983]

Nice job!!! Lets see a full side profile shot. How much did you take out?

[crazykooter]

I took out 12"s.  I will take some better pics once I get the welds finished.