Topic: 84 reg cab CO: HALT! Now an 85 Runner

[wakkjobb]

Got everything cut-n-welded today; took my sweet time though... almost missed dinner!  The shocks are about 2" lower than before and I think this will allow more down travel. I think... ? I almost buzzed through the rear brake line with my grinder after it slipped back from its temporary holding palce. Next time I'll use zip-ties instead of "hope". All in all it looks pretty decent; I'm happy with it. I do want/need to change out the shock bolts to something that is normal sized; the lower bolts are too small and let the shock float around a bit. But they'll do for now... I hope.
Tomorrow we're going up Eagle Rock with Quick Draw and some other folks; here's hoping nothing catastrophic happens!

>>Dan

edit: woo-hoo, page 17! 

[wakkjobb [OP]]

That was a good trip; nothing major broke... but another guy smoked his clutch early in the run. I was getting worried about mine since the smell was becoming worse after a while but then I realized I was downwind of the dying/dead clutch. Mine's fine. I finally used my sliders! At the first right-hand turn on Eagle Rock (top of hill with big rocks) the left side tires hit a rock and slid the truck into another rock on the right side. The slider caught it and pivoted my truck more to the right... where I wasn't planning on going. Luckily the gas pedal was present and I was able to throttle out of it. The trail is finally clear of snow so we were able to do the whole thing for once.
Now I want to go out again!

>>Dan

[YotaNate]

Awesome Dan!  I'm jealous because my virgin sliders still look pristine on the Runner!  I'm just saving money for my wheel/tire combo and then it will be my turn to post pic's! 

Nate

[Quick Draw]

Yeah your truck looked great on the trail!  With some t-cases it will be walking everything no problem.

[wakkjobb [OP]]

Yeah, duals would be nice... so would a carb that doesn't stall out at just the wrong time/place. It's all on "The List". 
I kind of want to go out again before the Jambo but I'm afraid I'll break something because it's Murphy's Law and all that.

>>Dan

[wakkjobb [OP]]

Trying to get another engine/RUFs/better seats this weekend; just gonna get 'em, not install yet. Now I'm thinking about keeping my rig all 22RE and giving up on the 3.4 swap; call me lazy. And a complete engine/harness for $50 is a little too good to pass up even if it needs to be rebuilt.

I'm thinking 20R/22R hybrid... can that be done with EFI?
>>Dan

[Quick Draw]

Dude, I thought you had EFI stuff?  Let me buy that engine!  LOL.

[wakkjobb [OP]]

I still have the EFI stuff but it was sitting outside for a while so it's got corrosion on the aluminum bits and the throttle butterfly was stuck closed... so I'll clean up that and sell what I can and swap in this next engine over the winter. The wiring was a little hacked up and some of the plugs are AWOL and I don't know exactly what year it's from. The ECU looks like it has been opened; there's one screw missing and the sticker with the part number is faded/worn off. So it has some "issues" even before I try to install it; I say "screw it" and get a complete engine and wiring while I can. It needs to be rebuilt but I'm checking to see if I can run EFI on a 20R head somehow so I can have a better set-up than just going with a stock 22RE head. Like bigger valves and all that good stuff, like the cool kids do with the 20R/22R hybrid combo... but having EFI as well so I'll be cooler. 

>>Dan

[wakkjobb [OP]]

Picked up today:
complete 86 22RE w/ auto trans and t-case
rears
nice new(er) seats

Plans:
check into duals for auto case (I know, "good luck")
RUFs after Jambo
seats before Jambo, like tomorrow
sell/trade current EFI stuff

>Dan

[Volcom]

Plans:
check into duals for auto case (I know, "good luck")

Talk to Jeremiah (DIRTCO) at the Jambo about running duals behind an auto.  He likes his setup minus the stalling at extreme angles (like the far left line on Chinamans aka Whale Rock or anything on BV Carnage).

[wakkjobb [OP]]

His Runner is sick and is what makes me think "an auto trans for wheeling is possible". Is he ever on Marlin? Inchworm has an adapter (I think) to run geared t-cases behind the auto trans but I think it's in the neighborhood of $400 or something like that... which isn't anywhere near my 'hood, yo.

>>Dan

::edit::
the adapter is $550 and I'd have to tear apart the trans itself to get stuff working... no thanks.

[wakkjobb [OP]]

After some research I'm gonna scrap that auto/case since it'll be waaaaaaaaa-aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more expensive to bulid duals behind it compared to a manual trans. Plus I can get used duals/parts/adapter/cases etc much much much easier than for autos. Guess I'll get a tough clutch whenever I get around to doing duals/engine replacement/magically fart out $100,000,000,000.

 
>>Dan

[wakkjobb [OP]]

In other news...
Picked up square tube to whip up a front d-shaft this weekend, found out I have 3 good u-joints to build with, got another voltage regulator that didn't fix anything, had another dream about getting new tires (yes, I'll keep dreaming...    ), getting more and more tempted to build my bed storage box and equally tempted to throw on the springs I got for RUFs and am going to double-check everything before our next outing next weekend. Still gotta re-do the passenger side shock hoop before it breaks too. 

>>Dan

[Volcom]

His Runner is sick and is what makes me think "an auto trans for wheeling is possible". Is he ever on Marlin?

It is sick.  The auto has its pro's & con's.  He's experienced the con's (stalled out on the left line at Whale Rock).  Not a good place to have your tranny stall, could be deadly.  He doesn't post here.  He goes by DIRTCO on yotatech.

[wakkjobb [OP]]

Got my square d-shaft bult up today; wasn't as hard as I thought. The most confusing thing was sorting through the amount of info online and finding what works for you. There are plenty of builds and pages of info but it's just a lot of reading which gets tiring and easily confuses me. It was helpful to have another rig that has a square shaft when I had some questions along the way.

So here's what I did:
I started with the t-case side FWIW
Got the U-joints chopped off; I left about 2" to 3" on each joint
Measured out a chunk of 16" of 2.5" square, beveled the edge to be welded
Cleaned the joint for welding; tacked on tube, checked squareness and finished welding
Burned my hand getting the thing into the cooling tank... dammit
Moved on to the diff side
Ground the joint to clear the 2" square, that was fun...
Notched the joint for the inner weld on the square
Beveled the square and tacked it to the joint
Checked for squareness and welded that sucker on

I measured 16" on the female side and did 15" for the male end. This gives me 4 to 5 inches of uptravel and a good 10-12 inches of drop; we'll check it at Eagle Rock and Saran Wrap this weekend. I thought about painting it but... why bother. I'm going to try out a few ideas to minimize the clanking that seems to be inevitable with square shafts. I do have to drill the t-case flange for this joint though; not a big deal.

A-yup...
>>Dan

[wakkjobb [OP]]

Can't forget the peek-tors...
Started with this:


So I can replace this POS:


Chopped and cleaned joint:


Tacked and square:


It's a little bigger and better...

[wakkjobb [OP]]

Moved to the diff side...

Ground and notched for the seam weld in the square:


Bang; it's on there now!


Welded joint to tube:


Bigger is better:


Extended length with 2" remaining in the female side:


Collapsed length:

[wakkjobb [OP]]

..and how it sits on the truck:


I still have to drill the case flange; that's why it's not bolted to anything.

Looks good, eh?

>>Dan

[wakkjobb [OP]]

Took the pile up Eagle Rock today; found out the diff armor works, the sliders still slide and worn-ass MTRs are pretty dang good at 10psi.  To minimize the annoying clank-clank-clank of the square d-shaft, I ran a 1/2" wide bead down each side of the male end and ground it to fit inside the female end. It still clanks a little but nowhere like it did at first so I can tolerate it. I'm also going to stitch on more exhaust piping because my truck is too loud when I'm engine-breaking on the trail. Like WAY too loud for me; I almost want it to be stock-quiet. Almost. I may weld in some baffles before or after the muffler in an attempt to get it quieter. I also have a bent chunk of 2.25" left over from another project that should fit behind the muffler and will point the exhaust out behind the bed.
This week is gonna be fun; a whopping 4 days (5 counting Sunday) to finalize my POS before the Jambo...   for sure!

>>Dan

[Quick Draw]

Nice square shaft!  If the clanking really gets to bothering me, sometimes I pack more grease in there, and it quiets down for a little while.  But I hardly notice it anymore.  If you didn't already pack a ton of grease in there, I bet it would help in addition to the bead you ran.

It gets a bit dirty...and you really have to do your best not to touch it when you're working on other stuff....but meh, whatever.  It works.   

[wakkjobb [OP]]

I'm in the process of replacing the left birf housing since the calpier mounting holes are both stripped. Once I tore it apart I was greeted by a nice light-brown goo once known as "grease" mixed with diff fluid. Awesome. Looks like the axle will get a complete tear-down and rebuild this winter; no snow wheeling for me next year.
At first I thought I could drill and tap to make some 12x1.75 bolts fit but one hole was already filled with heli-coil goodness so that plan is shot. Lucky I kept the spare pieces from the axle that came with the truck, eh? If not, I don't know what I woulda done... probably try to throw some welds in the holes and attempt to rethread them.

Dammit...
>>Dan

[wakkjobb [OP]]

The clanking is minor so I can deal with it; I don't want to try greasing it since that'll trap dirt, rocks and small woodland creatures and possibly make it louder.

Since I have the birf out I'm trying to figure out if it's an actual Longfield or not; I was told it is but I want to make sure. It has LF stamped on the flat part of the bell and EMPI TO-128 1293 around the edge. Any guesses?

>>Dan

[Volcom]

The clanking is minor so I can deal with it; I don't want to try greasing it since that'll trap dirt, rocks and small woodland creatures and possibly make it louder.

I greased mine once, when I built it and installed it 3.5 years ago.  Never greased it again.  It clanks like a MOFO and has a ton of dirt in the grease.  Works just fine.

Since I have the birf out I'm trying to figure out if it's an actual Longfield or not; I was told it is but I want to make sure. It has LF stamped on the flat part of the bell and EMPI TO-128 1293 around the edge. Any guesses?

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=872312
http://www.marlincrawler.com/axle/front-axle-parts/chromoly-um07-marfield-27-spline

[wakkjobb [OP]]

Thanks Aaron, usually Ryan has all the answers. He must be sleeping or  .

So should I run them until they break and save for 30-spline Longs (with hubs)? I am planning on bigger tires (40x13.5x17 MTRs) and duals so I can stop rock bouncing and start rock crawling. I have a spare set of stock birfs; now I'm thinking about packing them along whenever I go out.

Damn I hate decisions and options and choices...  

>>Dan

Oh, got my axle back together too; now the brake caliper will stay on a while longer. Anyone got a 37" spare I could borrow?  

[COToy91]

Thanks Aaron, usually Ryan has all the answers. He must be sleeping or  .

So should I run them until they break and save for 30-spline Longs (with hubs)? I am planning on bigger tires (40x13.5x17 MTRs) and duals so I can stop rock bouncing and start rock crawling. I have a spare set of stock birfs; now I'm thinking about packing them along whenever I go out.

Damn I hate decisions and options and choices...   

>>Dan

Oh, got my axle back together too; now the brake caliper will stay on a while longer. Anyone got a 37" spare I could borrow? 

Those are original LF's and have a ring welded on the end of the birf and are heat treated. The inner axles are chromo and you should have nothing to worry about there. I ran these for years and never broke them.

On top of that I have heard of people calling bobby after breaking the ones you have and him giving a discount on new ones.

Oh and I was at work so I was slow on the answer lol

[wakkjobb [OP]]

I could tell they were heat-treated from the discoloration/bluing around the inner end but I didn't see a ring welded anywhere? I'm probably just looking in the wrong place.

At any rate, I may not make it to the Jambo since the trailer I thought I could borrow is now in use. I'm afraid to drive my truck that far since the charging system is still screwed up. But I do have 2 batteries (not duals, just a loose spare)... those should last until Saturday or so.

dammit
>>Dan

[COToy91]

I could tell they were heat-treated from the discoloration/bluing around the inner end but I didn't see a ring welded anywhere? I'm probably just looking in the wrong place.

At any rate, I may not make it to the Jambo since the trailer I thought I could borrow is now in use. I'm afraid to drive my truck that far since the charging system is still screwed up. But I do have 2 batteries (not duals, just a loose spare)... those should last until Saturday or so.

dammit
>>Dan

Just go or you will be sad like me

[Volcom]

What about installed a battery disconnect switch and use it all the time, even when parked on the trail?
http://www.google.com/products?hl=en&rlz=&q=battery+disconnect+switch&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=0I1RTIrjHsP6lwfutPSLBg&sa=X&oi=product_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CEQQrQQwAA

Scotty will have a generator in camp, do you have a battery charger?  Take it, ask Scotty nice to turn on the generator, throw him a couple bucks for fuel, and charge your batteries. 

[wakkjobb [OP]]

Went, had good times, got lots of inspiration for making my pile better, had too much  , found my new favorite cheap beer, decided to say "screw it" and will swap engines/wiring this winter instead of farting around with my current POS charging crap.

And I need duals and tires like nobody's business.
>>Dan

[coloradocrawler]

did you go crazy listening to your square driveshaft?