[MountainBrew]

Rear brakes

Per the suggestion from phattyduck I pulled off the rear brake drums and the brakes looked like they had seen better days. So I decided to replace the most everything back there. As I mentioned Napa is running a "spend $250, get $75 on a visa card" deal through 6/30/2020 so I picked up everything from them. That combined with my corporate discount made for a pretty good deal on the Ultra Premium line of parts. I did all the hardware/springs, wheel cylinders, shoes, drums and auto-adjuster parts. I even had to add a master cylinder to hit the $ amount needed for the promo. If anyone needs one let me know, I'll sell it to you below cost. Otherwise it will live in the backup parts bin. Here's the part.

Napa Ultra Premium master cylinder

Anyways...I pulled off all the parts and got back to the bell crank and the thing basically disintegrated when i unbolted it from the backing plate. I haven't pulled back the boots yet but a ton of metal bits and dust dropped out when it came off. I ordered this part which should arrive today.

Dorman parking brake bell crank

In the meantime I replaced everything else and greased all the contact points. Before and after...





Side note: You can see a few other things in those pictures. First, the sexy looking Toytec/Elka rear shocks. Second, the Durobumps which have already proven to be awesome when I take the big dips a bit faster than I should. Third, my expert level duct tape job to keep the noise from my disconnected sway bar down. The new Overland Custom Design ones arrive tomorrow. Finally, the PCK from EIMkeith which, when combined with the next sway bar links, should make for a pretty solid on-road experience (hopefully).

I replaced the wheel cylinders since I was in there, but I am going to keep the old ones and rebuild them so I have some OEM backups.

I forgot to take a picture of the drums, but the new ones appear to be cast very well which I was a bit concerned about with non-OEM. I've been fairly impressed with Napa's Ultra Premium brake line overall. Would I buy it without getting the $75 gift card? Probably not.

[Ryance39]

Wow, you certainly dove straight in. Looks good so far. As another non-welder, I feel like doing all 5 pieces would be very daunting. Good work!

[phattyduck]

Keep a close eye inside the drums - that looks like you might have leaking rear axle seals.

-Charlie

[rescue ranger]

Lots of fun reading through your post. Thanks for sharing!

Any pointers on the PCK install? Was it fairly straightforward?

[MountainBrew]

Originally Posted by phattyduck

Keep a close eye inside the drums - that looks like you might have leaking rear axle seals.

-Charlie

Thanks Charlie,

I figured I will have to do the bearing and seals at some point but going to hold off on it for the time being and just make sure the diff oil is topped up regularly. I don’t really want to dive into the whole operation of pulling and pressing the bearing from the axle. To be honest I will probably just bring the axle and new bearing/retainers to the shop my company works with and have them press everything on and off.


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[MountainBrew]

Originally Posted by rescue ranger

Lots of fun reading through your post. Thanks for sharing!

Any pointers on the PCK install? Was it fairly straightforward?

I appreciate the words.
PCK install was very straightforward but there isn’t a lot of room for error from what I’ve read. It seems to me (and I am next to clueless compared to most of the folks on here) that the pan hard would bear the brunt of almost all the lateral force applied to the rear wheels. As such those welds need to be solid. I used a 230v welder and welded inside and out. Seemed to get good penetration. Mtbtim did a great video on it, of course. I liked his method of installing a piece on angle iron to reinforce the axle side. I can’t tell if the ride is any better since I didn’t drive the truck without it after installing the lift. After I get the brakes done and the truck off jack stands I’ll take a picture of my pan hard bar angle sitting at rest and post it here


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[MountainBrew]

This is the new angle of the panhard bar. The trails I went on yesterday were pure dust so everything has a nice coat.
If anything the PCK almost went a touch too far but not nearly enough to be concerned. That configuration is for 3” of lift according to EIMKeith. I ordered the 3” lift toytec springs but also have the steel bumper with a tire carrier and 10 gal of gas so I’m sure it’s closer to 2.5” or even 2”.

Note: I put a few coats of rattle can on the PCK brackets after I took this picture...must’ve done the last paint job post six-pack



I also finished the brake job and it stops on a dime! I’m still not happy with the parking brake but I also haven’t done enough research on how all the components work together. I’m thinking I need to adjust the stop screw on the bell crank bracket until there is less slack in the cable inside the brake drum, and then adjust the cable stops attached to the parking brake handle.

Edit: forgot about the bell crank picture. Think I found the problem





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[JohnOfTheJungle]

You name yourself after my favorite beer Mountain Brew (aka a very cool brew!)?




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[MountainBrew]

Question for you all...

I didn’t think about this before but when I replaced my wheels I reused the lug nuts that were on the steelies that came with the truck when I bought it. I’m not sure what year the FJ wheels are so I have t been able to definitively tell which style lug nuts I need. It looks like I may need mag style lugs rather than the conicals I have. Any thoughts?





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[phattyduck]

Originally Posted by MountainBrew

Question for you all...

I didn’t think about this before but when I replaced my wheels I reused the lug nuts that were on the steelies that came with the truck when I bought it. I’m not sure what year the FJ wheels are so I have t been able to definitively tell which style lug nuts I need. It looks like I may need mag style lugs rather than the conicals I have. Any thoughts?

You need the washer / flat seat lug nuts for those wheels. The OEM steel wheels use the conical seat style and won't be safe on the aluminum wheels.

-Charlie

[MountainBrew]

Yeah, I’m a jackass. Definitely supposed to use the mag style lugs with washers. They fit perfect. Glad the wheels didnt fall off.


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[MountainBrew]

Some additions...I mounted the traction mats and hi lift jack



Couldn’t figure out a good way to mount the mats so a ratchet strap primary with a climbing rope secondary are going to have to do for now.

Also built a platform drawer system...


Pretty happy with the way it turned out considering I didn’t have any plans, but I did have a 6 pack. Lumber was cheap but the 36” drawer slides were well over $100. Oof.

Next up is my custom 4 tire filling/deflating system. I use all sorts of draft beer components and have a pretty good system worked out that keeps all 4 tires at exactly the same pressure. Modified version of what 4Crawler sells.


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[MountainBrew]

Just got the compressor mostly installed. I had done this once before but the first gen 4R 22re has a lot more extra room in the engine bay than the 3rd gen 5vz so I wasnt sure where to install it and settled on the plate bumper. It ended up working pretty well but I am going to give the compressor the snorkel treatment since it’s a bit lower than I want.




It’s slightly visible in the first pic, it’s mounted pretty much right behind the turn signal I. The second pic.

The ARB on/off switch fit perfectly in the stock switch cutout.



Now I just need to do some research and figure out which wires to tap into for ignition(on) and headlight on.


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[MountainBrew]

More updates...
Installed an awning I got from Costco. Seems to be pretty well built and was fairly cheap.



Also installed a snorkel. Is it necessary? Well the reason I don’t have my first gen anymore is because I hydrolocked my 22re driving through a puddle (read: mini lake). A few weeks later I threw a rod through the side of the block leaving a 3 inch hole. The only thing left is an ashtray I made from one of the piston heads. RIP Millennium Falcon.



This part was pretty nerve racking




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[MountainBrew]

It's been quite a while since I posted on this but the truck is doing very well on the trails, and not terrible on the highway considering I haven't re-geared it yet.

A friend of mine got stuck in the snow at about 11,000ft last week so I went up to pull him out, and it quickly became obvious my electrical system isn't up to the task of running my winch while pulling on an F-150. So, I figure it's time to do the big three wiring upgrade I should've done a long time ago and replace the 7 year old lead acid battery. I'm also considering upgrading the alternator but that discussion is for another time...

I used to have a 1st gen, and always really like the setup 4crawler did with his dual batteries mounted under his vehicle.
Dual Battery Installation

I searched far and wide and haven't found anyone who did that on their 3rd gen yet. Since my spare tire is now mounted on my rear bumper I have tons of spare room back there where I could mount a couple of batteries. I've pretty much decided to go with AGM Interstate batteries from Costco because the price is good and the warranty is better. I would wire it pretty standard for a dual setup with an isolator and some remote battery terminals up front for jumping, etc. I dont plan to weld with them so I wouldn't do the series/parallel setup 4Crawler did.

Thoughts? Stupid idea? Part of me is saying just do the wiring upgrade and get a better battery and call it good, but the other part wants to do a sick mod.