[aemravan]

Well.. today really kicked my ass, and im not even done yet.

Firstly, the dorman wheel studs I bought would never have gone into the nitro axles without a 20 ton press. I tried to set them with an impact gun and it was a no go.

I ended up using the press, tried to do all 6 and it wouldn’t go. Had to do 2 at a time. But they are in.

Doing the bearings on the axles was another story.. to make it short, everything went fast until I got to setting the lock ring. The groove wasn’t showing enough so I went back to the press. After 7 attempts and deformed tools and inserts later, I determined that there was just no way that I could seat the bearing any further. It was the same on both axles.

I think this is a nitro axle issue with not having the groove up high enough or having it big enough. Anyhow, I ended up shaving down the two rings just a bit to make it work. Even without the lock rings in place I can’t see these things ever coming off so it should be fine lol.


The axles are in, but now…. I need to put the parking brakes together. And can I just say that whoever designed these deserves to be shot. I gave up after an hour of trying and don’t have even one shoe on. I’ll give it another go in the morning because I’m at a point where I’m ready to break some things.






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[rdruss]

You are probably doing a couple of the more difficult maintenance jobs on a 4th gen and it is not fun! Not looking forward to either!

[aemravan]

Amazing what a little YouTube research can do… anyone doing the drum brakes should get some small zip ties and and pre assemble the spring retainers onto the spindles. You can the just slide the shoes in place and cut the zip ties. Did both sides in 30 minutes. Amazing.





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[aemravan]

so now that I finally have this all wrapped up and am a bit rested up I wanted to drop a a couple of comments..







1. Snap ring/snap ring groove on the Nitro axle: I've been thinking about this for a couple of days now.. and I frankly don't know how I could possibly have pressed the bearing and retainer down any further... this had to be just a slight difference between a factory axle and the nitro axle replacement.. I bent the tool I bought to remove and install the bearings.. along with a a few other things I've tried. The 20 ton press was literally at a point where it was starting to twist under load and I couldn't pull down on the pump handle any more without bending it. Maybe some of the coating that is on the nitro axles made it a much tougher press fit, the studs certainly took a bit to press in, but I don't know. I would be VERY hardpressed (no pun intended) to believe that the retainer has any hope at all of moving, even with no snap ring in place, and with normal driving condition I just don't see how the retainer can unpress itself, the shaved down snap ring should be perfectly fine. I think I just needed to talk that through for my personal peace of mind, but I don't see anything backing off/breaking here lol.



2. removing factory bearings: This was a monster.. the tool allowed me to take off the retainer and most of the bearing with no issue at all. However, the front side of the bearing/race never came off the factory axle.. I don't know what it would take to get them off.. but luckily for me I just needed the backing plate. If you're reusing the axles, be prepared for some work (either additional pressing or cutting off very carefully). to be able to reuse.



3. Drum brake/parking brake assembly: I can't stress enough how easy this can actually be, at least for me.. I used 2 small zip ties to compress the springs and assemble the whole thing onto each pin and twist it into the locked position. I was then able to pretty easily, but carefully, slide the shoe slots where they needed to go and use a razor blade to cut the zipties. I put both sides completely together in literally less than 30 minutes. The hardest part was not having a decent pair of pliers to stretch the 2 larger springs back on. I still need to make an adjustment to the parking brake. I thought I had did a decent job, but it doesnt hold one bit lol. The adjustment hole is a bit small.. and the new rotors I have a mis-aligned just a bit vertically, so you really need to have a good feel, but it's definitely doable.



4. Rear Wheel Spacers: I want to get away from running a 2" spacer. As much as I love the spacers and feel comfortable running them when done correctly, 2" is just too much. The only reason they were there was to clear the TK1 racing links when the tire is aired down. Since I very rarely rock crawl at 18 psi it doesnt make sense to stress the system with larger spacers... in order to clear these what I did was flip the link mount at the arm itself towards the frame. This is not ideal since the arms now aren't 100% vertical and I cant flip the lower mount to the inside because then it hits my bump stops... but we'll see how it does. I noticed that my drivers side axle tab already bent inward from the previous trip so I may have to beef these up anyway.. At the same time too, having these links at an axle may actually be better for distributing the force as the axle articulates since it doesn't go straight up and down.. so who knows, may be this is actually better. I have a set of 1" spacers on the way and will swap them on tomorrow while also adjusting the parking brake.





5. Boot clamps on the CV axles: When I first got the RCV's I noticed a little burping from the outer boot due to not very tight factory clamps. I "upgraded" to a worm-gear type clamp to remedy the issue, but in the process ended up putting a tear in the boot. I then got a rounded-edge worm-gear clamp and ran that for a bit. When I lost my wheel and shaved down the lower control arm the replacement I got for some reason WOULD NOT clear the extra height of the worm-gear clamp... I tried shaving it down, but it would still rub. Long story short... I went back to a regular clamp-style band clamp and after packing in a bit more grease and clamping down on the new clamp I haven't had any issues... don't make more work for yourself.. just use a regular CV Boot clamp with a proper tool and you'll be ok... lol.

[aemravan]

was browsing various forums at lunch and came across, what I found to be, a hilarious question asked years ago on the FJ cruiser forums regarding swapping a 4th gen tcase into the FJ.. oh boy how confused they would have been at that time to learn that we actually want THEIR transfer cases swapped into our rigs instead. lol.

[aemravan]

Well, it's been a few highway rides now and luckily everything, so far, (knock on wood) is staying together pretty well. No leaks or weird noises.



I had to readjust the parking brake a few times. Got it super tight as the drum to the point where I could barely spin the rotor, and was getting break smell from driving, but it would not hold the car still, even in neutral.. come to find out we also have a parking brake cable tension adjustment in the center console. After backing the shoe adjustment some and tensioning the cable I am finally at a point where they'll hold it still. Great success! Live and learn as they say.



Glad to report that the CV Axle boot clamp has been holding great, no issues so far. Hopefully it stays that way and doesn't start burping up grease like the worm gear clamp did.





After getting my tires balanced out last time but a fairly good shop with a good track record, I still have a highway vibration that comes and goes. Has to be tire related for sure... so I decided to give balancing beads a shot to see if it will help. Some folks swear by them, while others laugh at the idea. For the money they cost I'm willing to give it a shot. Going to shoot for 10-12 oz of beads into each tire and see if it helps. I got the ones that go in through the valve stem, I know it can be a pain, but I'm willing to try it out so I don't have to pull all 4 wheels off and pop the bead to stick them in. They should be here tomorrow so I'll give it a shot. My biggest worry is what my tire guy will have to deal with next time







And onto my last rambling update... the last piece to my overlanding/offroading rig puzzle is finally putting together a trail tool kit. I finally acquired a set of tools that should take care of the more urgent repairs and am working through a way to organize them to carry them with me.. I quickly got away from a tool bag idea... packed it up.. and its HUGE and heavy and awkward and I just don't want to take up the limited space that I have left.. so my current idea is to utilize some of the unused/poorly used space in the right hand slide out drawer. My current plan is to use a trap mat to line the entire bottom section of the drawer to lay the tools down into, and then cut a wooden cover piece that will sit right on top and sandwich everything down. It will keep everything from moving around, and also still leave me with nice flat space for the remainder of the gear that will go on top of it.



The only downside, or two, to this is that I would need to have access to the drawer to get the tools out, vs just reaching in a grabbing my bag, and also would need to pull whatever is on top out first. But it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make to keep the out of sight and out of mind while leaving me with space for larger gear outside the drawer.



Everything should be here by Wednesday so I'm excited to get everything together and hopefully FINALLY get out and do some camping.


Edit.. here is a pic of the size of my tool bag bs what my vision is .. can’t forget the 4 stub shafts

[Inv4drZm]

I have that same tool bag thats in my truck 24/7. fits well behind the front seats. I never have any passengers so it works out.

For extended wheeling trips I also bring a small tool roll that gets thrown in with the recovery gear and spare parts storage tote. The tote gets strapped down on top of the sleeping platform.

It probably weighs 80 lbs.....

[aemravan]

Originally Posted by Inv4drZm

I have that same tool bag thats in my truck 24/7. fits well behind the front seats. I never have any passengers so it works out.

For extended wheeling trips I also bring a small tool roll that gets thrown in with the recovery gear and spare parts storage tote. The tote gets strapped down on top of the sleeping platform.

It probably weighs 80 lbs.....

If it's just for a wheeling trip, I have plenty of space, front and back seats, like you mentioned.. unfortunately for camping trips it's a full house between my wife and 2 dogs in the back seat lol. So I'm planning for a worst case scenario to see if I can get get it organized. I do like the roll-up tote idea in the stock tool compartment. I can't wait to get it this loaded up and see what it weighs... I'm a bit afraid to see the actual number... like you mentioned.. I will probably be adding in excess of 140 additional lbs between the added tools and stub shafts, which aren't the lightest thing I'm packing..

After blowing out my intermediate shaft up front I have been thinking about weight A LOT... and really think that some time down the road I will probably be looking at selling both front and rear bumpers and building out something more hybrid-ish that doesn't weigh as much. My guess is I could probably shave somewhere around 200-300 lbs... (maybe? is it even worth it? lol) would be nice if aluminum options didn't cost an arm and a leg... and if I had a spool gun to fab it myself.



who wants to take some bets on what my rig will weigh all packed out? lol. According to google.. an 03 v8 4runner can weigh in upwards or 5500 lbs... I don't think I have reduced weight in ANY portion of my rig.. only added. I would think that unloaded, I am easily over 6k lbs lol. Loaded down I wouldn't be surprised if I'm at 6700lbs.. steel bumpers, winch, 35's with spare, drawers, fridge, recovery gear.... hell.... 7k???

[awhitney1]

When I'm fully loaded down with me and one other person along with my camping gear and paddle boards, i'm weighing over 7k!

Originally Posted by aemravan

If it's just for a wheeling trip, I have plenty of space, front and back seats, like you mentioned.. unfortunately for camping trips it's a full house between my wife and 2 dogs in the back seat lol. So I'm planning for a worst case scenario to see if I can get get it organized. I do like the roll-up tote idea in the stock tool compartment. I can't wait to get it this loaded up and see what it weighs... I'm a bit afraid to see the actual number... like you mentioned.. I will probably be adding in excess of 140 additional lbs between the added tools and stub shafts, which aren't the lightest thing I'm packing..

After blowing out my intermediate shaft up front I have been thinking about weight A LOT... and really think that some time down the road I will probably be looking at selling both front and rear bumpers and building out something more hybrid-ish that doesn't weigh as much. My guess is I could probably shave somewhere around 200-300 lbs... (maybe? is it even worth it? lol) would be nice if aluminum options didn't cost an arm and a leg... and if I had a spool gun to fab it myself.



who wants to take some bets on what my rig will weigh all packed out? lol. According to google.. an 03 v8 4runner can weigh in upwards or 5500 lbs... I don't think I have reduced weight in ANY portion of my rig.. only added. I would think that unloaded, I am easily over 6k lbs lol. Loaded down I wouldn't be surprised if I'm at 6700lbs.. steel bumpers, winch, 35's with spare, drawers, fridge, recovery gear.... hell.... 7k???

[aemravan]

Originally Posted by awhitney1

When I'm fully loaded down with me and one other person along with my camping gear and paddle boards, i'm weighing over 7k!

oh man.... I would guess that I'm technically in need of a weighted tag fully loaded then haha

I have a dump yard not far from me that has a scale, I need to drop in one time and get a measurement.. got me really curious now.. man.... that is HEAVY .. in the grand scheme of things trying to trim up the bumpers doens't sound very cost effective vs the % I will end up saving..

[awhitney1]

Daddy needs all the beef he can get!

Originally Posted by aemravan

oh man.... I would guess that I'm technically in need of a weighted tag fully loaded then haha

I have a dump yard not far from me that has a scale, I need to drop in one time and get a measurement.. got me really curious now.. man.... that is HEAVY .. in the grand scheme of things trying to trim up the bumpers doens't sound very cost effective vs the % I will end up saving..

[aemravan]

Originally Posted by awhitney1

Daddy needs all the beef he can get!

Rig looks sweet loaded down man! Hell.. I guess you're not all that much heavier than me in theory, looks like we pack out just about the same so I doubt I'll be much heavier. Got me excited to get it weighed! haha

[awhitney1]

It sure is loaded down, I have the 701v dobinson rear springs and need to get the 749 like you have, I tend to sag a little bit loaded up.

Originally Posted by aemravan

Rig looks sweet loaded down man! Hell.. I guess you're not all that much heavier than me in theory, looks like we pack out just about the same so I doubt I'll be much heavier. Got me excited to get it weighed! haha

[aemravan]

Counteract beads arrived today and I again was overly ambitious about a project.. what a pain lol

Long story short is that I ended up using a multi tool with some electrical tape on the blade to help vibrate the stem since it kept getting clogged with beads. All in all not TOO terrible but my spare tire that is now in rotation ended up having a much smaller inner diameter valve which made vibrating them in impossible. I did that one for about 30 minutes with the squeeze bottle.

Mistake number one was pulling off the weights from the wheels before test driving I think ..

Mistake 2 was probably not getting enough. I went with 12 oz as per the instruction but after seeing the amount of lead weights I pulled off I think I should have gone more..I have 4 6oz packs on the way and will add some.

I did a quick test drive and considering that I pulled all my balancing weights off the wheels it rode pretty decent. Just not AS smooth as I anticipated. Maybe leaving the weights on to start with was a better idea.. though they suggest not suing balancing weights.

I’m also running some elevated psi.. 40 in the rear and 38 in the front .. this was another big change and maybe that’s what I’m feeling as well .. I’m gonna drop it down some across both front and rear tomorrow and see how it does and then pour in the 6 additional oz when the packs arrive. That should net me 16-18 oz of beads, which is way high compared to their chart, but you also can’t go too heavy on them .. at some point it’s just becomes wasteful. Hate that I have to do it again but hopefully it yields a smooth ride from here on out.








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[kcirtap813]

Originally Posted by awhitney1

Daddy needs all the beef he can get!

this has to be one of the coolest yotas ive seen, mad respect!