Crazy's 1st gen build up

[crazykooter]

Ive considered the 63"s but honestly I am not a big fan of them on daily drivers.  I need to do some more searching to see what I can come up with.
I do know my pinion angle is a major issue for me right now.  I might even lean towards it causing the noise in 5th since the trans was fine until I did the swap. I didnt get around to it today but tomorrow its 1st on my list.  Going to make a new cross member which will lower the it down an 1" and correct my pinion angle.  If that doesnt help then its time to lower the truck.
I did do a little body work today. Used bondo on a few dings and dents, then flap disk the rest of the dents so they are ready to be filled in.  Not gonna take much bondo to do it.
Ill get some pics up tomorrow morning.

[jimbo74]

[crazykooter]

Bite me jimbo !!!!!!

Here is a few pics.  I managed to redo my cross member and I think it helped some.  My drive shaft angle is a little better on the tcase side but still very steep imo.  I still need to lower the rear some but thats not a big deal for now. 

Nice pic of the under side. Tho this was with the older cross member setup.


What do yall think of my trucks ride height ?  I think its bout 2"s to high but my brain is over loaded.


Here are my new front shackles thanks to steve925.  Fit perfect !


Spent a few mins cleaning up my air cleaner.


Here is a pic of the cross member and drive shaft angle.  You can see how steep it is still.  Also I tilted the cross member backwards a little to help.


Here is a few pics of the body work ive started on.  so far ive done 3 spots and have about 3 more on other side to do.  I need to get some primer on it before rain hits.

[hilux-1983]

IMO, I like it!!!! . I do agree that the DL angle is still too steep. A CV would be great.  What springs on the rear? Got anymore pics of the front axle and it's angle from the front?

[jimbo74]

good work on that front fender, it is clean

[crazykooter]

I finished removing one leaf from my rear springs.  When I took them apart the rust was pretty bad so I removed the rust and repainted them.  Look good now.   I can not tell for the life of me if it is sitting lower.  Ive compared pics but without an exact location and angle pics its hard to tell.  The drive shaft angle at the tcase isnt good so its time to get a cv shaft made or make one myself. 
Here is a few pics.

This is after I removed the leaf.  Tell me if you think it looks lower. 


Here is my drive shaft angle.


This is shackle angle. Its not totally right since my truck leans when I turn due to spool. 


And my pretty new looking springs. 

[RockRescue]

By looking at the tire and your Exhaust pipe in the first pic  and then after the leaf removed it looks lower to me   

[jimbo74]

good work josh

dont forget to save me some parts for my runner build

[crazykooter]

I might have a 87 runner for sale or should I say my buddy might.  It runs great and looks great too.  I guess there was some goof on the dmv paper work but it can be fixed.  I think he may sell it for 1500 or less.  Ill ask him.  The engine isnt that old either.  I think it has like 20k or less on it.

[jimbo74]

that would be sweet, and pretty much just what i want, but i wont have $ until after we get into a house and i come back from the desert, about this time next year.... i am in no hurry to get what i want though

[91 ex-cab]

looks like it is still sitting about the same, It's pretty hard to tell though because those pictures are completely different angles. I'd say as long as your driveshaft angle is good and your happy with it.

[superyota]

weight til you get some weight in the bed and break the springs in.  it'll probably settle a bit.

[crazykooter]

The springs are near 4 yrs old so I am sure they wont be settling any more.  My drive shaft angle is the best its gonna get until I cv or I lower it more.  I took out one of the main arc leafs so I sure it would drop some.  When my buddy shows up tomorrow he will be able to tell if it dropped any.  Plus I need to drive it some more.  I do see my shackle angle is leaned back more.  Now all I really need is my trans fixed and its a good daily driver again.

[T.Rex]

ITS CAOME A LONG WAY IN JUST A SHORT TIME LOOKING GOOD.

[crazykooter]

Been busy helping on this YJ project here at the shop.  I drove bout 90 miles yesterday and my truck was all over the road at freeway speeds.  The rear is def a few inches lower and much softer.  I didnt have shocks on it since where they were located before gave them no travel at all.  I plan on sending in my gift cert to marlin and getting a pair of 14" shocks.  I made mounts and what not so they would bolt right up.  Heres a few pics of what I did today.  Kind of odd for some but I liked how they turned out.  Heading to the store now, well see how it rides.

[santa cruz crawler]

sweet

[crazykooter]

Here is the trans I picked up from a local wrecking yard.  Turns out its been rebuilt a while back but had been sitting for a while.  I took the top off and it is extremely clean inside.
The syncros look perfect. So maybe I finally got lucky.  Gonna install it today.  Its just so bloody cold out!!  Heres a few pics of it.

[jimbo74]

get crackin!

trans looks good......

[crazykooter]

Trans is in and I just need to take it out for a test drive.  The only other thing I need to do is install the drop front hanger.  With the weather getting colder I may just rattle can the primer and call it good till it warms up again. 

[jrock]

So, with the shocks, does it still drive "all over the road"?

[crazykooter]

So, with the shocks, does it still drive "all over the road"?

The rear shocks helped keep me a lot more stable at freeway speeds.  It still likes to steer where it wants to.  Mainly due to my caster angle.  Once the spring hanger is done then it will drive straight down the road.

I test drove my trans today and wow this thing is tight.  It feels like its brand new trans.  It needs some breaking in big time.   Tho I NEED to build a cv rear drive line soon since the steep angle is causing vibration.

[jimbo74]

muahahahahahaha

[jrock]

Your not running duals yet are you?

[91 ex-cab]

Your not running duals yet are you?

[jrock]

Ah, yeah, get cracking on that CV rear!

[crazykooter]

I ended up with 2 side jobs today.  So I dont have time to mess with it.  Also I need to find another donor shaft to use.  I dont want to cut up the one im using now in case my cv shaft isnt right.

[jimbo74]

muahahahaahaaaaaaaaaaa

[crazykooter]

Jim your a pain in the ass !!!

Get your ass here to help work on my truck.  I need really cheap labor.   

[jimbo74]

haha, gotta clear that one with my boss..... my days off are her's now

the rest of my days belong to the gov't

[hawaiilux]

very nice i got the same truck want to have some fun with it not sure what im going to do yet