4RunnerAquasport
Senior Member
BhhaaddonnkaDONKA little progress
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aemravan's build thread - project TacoRunner
- Thread starter aemravan
- Start date
Thats awesome man! Glad it worked out for you too. I've been loving mine. How much fun did you have getting those arms onto the splines?? Lol
Did you need to do anything with lateral movement of the bar like I did? I would imagine for a properly ordered bar to begin with your metal tube was also correct length and didn't leave any gap for the bar to wander left and righ in?
Yesssir! Took a little beach trip last week so hoping to get back to some progress this week.
Modifying the shape to a different style is more labor intensive than I had thought.. so what I'm doing is sanding it flat with the bottom of the original flare, staying flat on the run vertically, and from there just rounding it out to the original top edge of the flare. Getting it to match the multi-step look of the front McNeil racing fenders is going to be too challenging and time consuming, not to mention then having to mirror on the other side lol. So I think I'm pretty happy with the general shape and bulge of these so as soon as I get some holes filled in and built out the small rear portion I should be able to cake it with some body filler and do a final shape-out.. or.. I may just go right into laying it with some carbon right over the top... I'm not looking to remove the foam from the inside, I want it to have some structure, so we'll see.. with a good inner structure of foam a single layer of carbon fiber would be more than enough to stiffen these. I'll need to measure and see what the final outcome is, but I think these are about 1-1.5" wider than stock.
Took a little trip to Carolina beach last week for my brothers birthday. Had a pretty awesome time considering how cold and windy it was. And made for some sweet new pictures lol.
The drivers side RCV axle is clicking away.. pretty upset about it considering how long it’s been on the car, and for the most part not even being used at all since my FJ t case swap.. going to reach out to them and see what needs to happen.. I don’t mind running it as is if they tell me so.. however I don’t want to get screwed if it grenades and they tell me I should have sent it in sooner.
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The drivers side RCV axle is clicking away.. pretty upset about it considering how long it’s been on the car, and for the most part not even being used at all since my FJ t case swap.. going to reach out to them and see what needs to happen.. I don’t mind running it as is if they tell me so.. however I don’t want to get screwed if it grenades and they tell me I should have sent it in sooner.
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The tube length of 48 inches worked out great! I went with your measurement and was pleased with the results.
Getting the arms onto the splines wasn't that big of a deal, was pretty straight forward. When the vehicle is sitting on level ground, the arms are about level which is what I wanted and what you originally wanted, I believe.
Very pleased with it overall!
Getting the arms onto the splines wasn't that big of a deal, was pretty straight forward. When the vehicle is sitting on level ground, the arms are about level which is what I wanted and what you originally wanted, I believe.
Very pleased with it overall!
4RunnerAquasport
Senior Member
The CV struggle is real. I've had good luck w the standard length OEMs, but we all know the price of those. Hit and miss w everything else.Took a little trip to Carolina beach last week for my brothers birthday. Had a pretty awesome time considering how cold and windy it was. And made for some sweet new pictures lol.
The drivers side RCV axle is clicking away.. pretty upset about it considering how long it’s been on the car, and for the most part not even being used at all since my FJ t case swap.. going to reach out to them and see what needs to happen.. I don’t mind running it as is if they tell me so.. however I don’t want to get screwed if it grenades and they tell me I should have sent it in sooner.
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Pricey, but there are these custom built CVs w proceeds going to a good charity. [MENTION=116156]TheWraith[/MENTION] has been running them, and knows the charity and story personally. Wonder if they would build a set of +3.5".
Really need to learn how to rebuild these things myself.
TheWraith
New member
They will custom build you any lenght you want.
Inv4drZm
Senior Member
Watch a youtube vid, that's all you really need along with some latex gloves and band clamp tools unless you use the screw drive clamps.
It gets a little trickier when you want to replace the axle shaft with a longer one. You gotta use enough force to break the clips holding the shaft to the outer joint. But if you're just rebooting its easy you don't have to remove the shaft.
IMO buy a set of used shafts from a salvage yard or ebay, reboot them, and you're good to go as long as you keep the grease in and dirt out of the bearings. Way stronger than any aftermarket CV axle.
TheWraith
New member
What take his RCV axle apart. It'll void its warranty. I would contact RCV first before taking shit apart
Inv4drZm
Senior Member
I was just replying to Mr. Aquasport. I don't believe he has RCVs.
But yeah be prepared to warranty RCV's they have been known to click.
Wish I knew about them before I pulled the trigger on the RCVs.. seems like a decent secondary option for a strong CV axle at a lower cost and for a better cause.. but.. I'm into the RCV game now.. Can't walk away from $2000 worth of axles lol.
I spoke with them earlier when I first put these on and they burped grease because the band clamps were not very tight at all.. I asked what would happen if I wanted to replace them with worm-gear clamps, be pro-active about packing grease in and what not, possibly rebooting if it tore so that I don't destroy the axle, the response that I got wasn't a direct answer to my direct question.. but they basically said "if you're not intentionally going out of your way to destroy an axle, we stand by our life time warranty" but they did also throw in the word "usually" somewhere in there lol. So I'm kind of half-prepared to get f**ked on my request to have these serviced.
I can't get them to tell me where they stand on torn/rebooted axles. I've already spent $100 worth of their molly grease to put into these things, and at the rate I am going I am kind of wishing I just held onto my OEM set and worst came to worst did a damn trail fix lol. With that said, I don't expect these to grenade catastrophically by any means... they certainly did look beefy as hell inside, but it's not a mystery that a clicking axle is slowly eating itself alive and you can't expect to last forever.
I spoke with them earlier when I first put these on and they burped grease because the band clamps were not very tight at all.. I asked what would happen if I wanted to replace them with worm-gear clamps, be pro-active about packing grease in and what not, possibly rebooting if it tore so that I don't destroy the axle, the response that I got wasn't a direct answer to my direct question.. but they basically said "if you're not intentionally going out of your way to destroy an axle, we stand by our life time warranty" but they did also throw in the word "usually" somewhere in there lol. So I'm kind of half-prepared to get f**ked on my request to have these serviced.
I can't get them to tell me where they stand on torn/rebooted axles. I've already spent $100 worth of their molly grease to put into these things, and at the rate I am going I am kind of wishing I just held onto my OEM set and worst came to worst did a damn trail fix lol. With that said, I don't expect these to grenade catastrophically by any means... they certainly did look beefy as hell inside, but it's not a mystery that a clicking axle is slowly eating itself alive and you can't expect to last forever.
well.. warranty requested submitted.. and now we wait. 
on the bright side, I saw a couple of people wrapping their steering wheels with the east coast detailing leather and decided $50 bucks and a couple of hours of time was well worth it to freshen up the look. Could have done a better job stitching the thing together, but didn't feel like it. Love the results.
on the bright side, I saw a couple of people wrapping their steering wheels with the east coast detailing leather and decided $50 bucks and a couple of hours of time was well worth it to freshen up the look. Could have done a better job stitching the thing together, but didn't feel like it. Love the results.
Got a response back from RCV on my warranty claim for the ticking drivers-side axle. They said they can send me a shipping label to get the axle back to them to have their techs "inspect and POSSIBLY replace any parts that are worn or damaged parts prematurely"
Feeling optimistic.. but also half expecting to get a call that says "normal wear and tear/not enough grease/torn boot" or something similar. Which for a high mileage axle I could understand, especially if it has torn boots that were neglected, but these are what? A year old with barely any miles on them and I was very diligent about swapping out the one boot that developed a pin-hole leak. We'll see.. this will determine how I feel about my choice to go with RCV's... at $2000 it wasn't the cheapest upgrade to the rig and the entire intent was NOT to have to pull them out and swap them frequently :bluejump:
Feeling optimistic.. but also half expecting to get a call that says "normal wear and tear/not enough grease/torn boot" or something similar. Which for a high mileage axle I could understand, especially if it has torn boots that were neglected, but these are what? A year old with barely any miles on them and I was very diligent about swapping out the one boot that developed a pin-hole leak. We'll see.. this will determine how I feel about my choice to go with RCV's... at $2000 it wasn't the cheapest upgrade to the rig and the entire intent was NOT to have to pull them out and swap them frequently :bluejump:
TheWraith
New member
I know the feeling.
I have almost had the same situation with CVJ axles. And they lasted 2 days. The boots ripped and they wouldnt warranty it. They wanted me to replace the boots by myself.
So that was like $900 bucks down the drain. Luckily; I picked up a partial sponsoreship from Cash OffRoad and they gave me a set of their forge 300m axles. With lifetime warranty
That's awesome man. Don't get me wrong.. I don't expect to send these in to have boots replaced when torn.. I have no issues doing that myself. I already swapped a boot on the other one.. spent like 150 bucks between the boot and the molly grease to make sure its as factory of a job as possible. But I also don't expect them click and grenade because they burped grease one time either.. my OEM axles could be run damn near dry for quite some time lol.
Made a bit more progress today at lunch with the last rear piece. I think I like it.. and realistically to change the shaping much from this would be a whole lot of work. My initial thought was to build in hard body lines/flat faces, but after realizing how much work it would be to hand craft a straight line into a custom foam fender flare I don't think I am up for the challenge. I elected to more or less follow the factory faces/line and just sand out to the edges top and bottom and then go through and lightly round the transition in the middle. Should be pretty easily replicable on the other side. It is about a 1.5" wider than stock and flows pretty good with the rear bumper I think. Definitely a huge difference over the stock rear being super flat. These are a lot more bubbly. How does everyone feel about these?
The foam is stuck on pretty damn good to the flares themselves.. and with how thin I have it shaved out to the edges I don't think I want to try and take it off. I could make a "shell" of fiberglass that would come off of the foam and then work on sanding the foam completely off but I really don't see a point.. I feel like what I may do is go over all of this with some fiberglass reinforced body filler and smooth it all out and start shaping the flat transitions. One thing I am not certain on is how "permanent" the bond is between the foam and the flare (not to mention I have painters tape under it so its not a direct adhesion).. so without taking some fiber glass and "wrapping" it around at least 2 edges I don't know if these will hold on permanently so I still have some figuring out to do.. It may be enough to sand through a couple of foam spots all the way down to the plastic and just fill those voids with the reinforced bodyfiller.. we'll see.
The foam is stuck on pretty damn good to the flares themselves.. and with how thin I have it shaved out to the edges I don't think I want to try and take it off. I could make a "shell" of fiberglass that would come off of the foam and then work on sanding the foam completely off but I really don't see a point.. I feel like what I may do is go over all of this with some fiberglass reinforced body filler and smooth it all out and start shaping the flat transitions. One thing I am not certain on is how "permanent" the bond is between the foam and the flare (not to mention I have painters tape under it so its not a direct adhesion).. so without taking some fiber glass and "wrapping" it around at least 2 edges I don't know if these will hold on permanently so I still have some figuring out to do.. It may be enough to sand through a couple of foam spots all the way down to the plastic and just fill those voids with the reinforced bodyfiller.. we'll see.
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Out with the new in with the ….old.. ? Wait.. that doesn’t sound right .. lol. Hopefully RCV can get this axle right again, I trust the reman axle on the trails with 35s about as far as I can throw it..
Also, not sure what happened.. but I had the hardest damn time putting the old axle back in. The snap ring just did not want to seat itself. Last time I did this job it literally took under an hour start to finish on both sides.. I spent 3 hours trying to first finesse and then beat the axle in. Also looks like I’ll need a new axle nut when I swap this back in. Hopefully the arb locker isn’t super fragile, but I just didn’t see a way around hammering this axle back in ( not super hard.. just didn’t feel good having to resort to the hammer )
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Also, not sure what happened.. but I had the hardest damn time putting the old axle back in. The snap ring just did not want to seat itself. Last time I did this job it literally took under an hour start to finish on both sides.. I spent 3 hours trying to first finesse and then beat the axle in. Also looks like I’ll need a new axle nut when I swap this back in. Hopefully the arb locker isn’t super fragile, but I just didn’t see a way around hammering this axle back in ( not super hard.. just didn’t feel good having to resort to the hammer )
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While pulling out the RCV axle I noticed how small and flimsy the factory rack/tierods are.. not to mention already feeling like they are developing some slop after just minor use.. I keep looking at the LC200 rack sitting in the garage and finally decided that I need to start making progress to get this thing installed.
Spent some time to find a 1.200" tapered reamer for ball joints this morning. Not cheap at $90 shipped, but looks like it is LC200/Toyota specific and should work like a charm to open up the knuckles a bit.
My plan is to not custom fab the outers using heim joints so that I can readily replace with factory outer tie rods if needed. I don't believe that the extra tie rod length vs stock will be an issue.. it looks like I should have plenty of cut-down material once I pull the actual measurements on each side so nothing that some bandsaw action can't handle. My hope is to only cut down the outer tie rods so the inner stays unmolested, and this way, if/when I end up going LT I should be able to just slap on a set of Tundra outers to make up the extra length. and if I wanted a set of spares for the trail I can get get another set of LC200 outers and cut them down ahead of time.
I already have the new engine mounts on hand, as well as the spacer plate material that i'll need to plasma cut and have ready on hand. Could be a good project to tackle along with my cam tab replacements coming up shortly..
Spent some time to find a 1.200" tapered reamer for ball joints this morning. Not cheap at $90 shipped, but looks like it is LC200/Toyota specific and should work like a charm to open up the knuckles a bit.
My plan is to not custom fab the outers using heim joints so that I can readily replace with factory outer tie rods if needed. I don't believe that the extra tie rod length vs stock will be an issue.. it looks like I should have plenty of cut-down material once I pull the actual measurements on each side so nothing that some bandsaw action can't handle. My hope is to only cut down the outer tie rods so the inner stays unmolested, and this way, if/when I end up going LT I should be able to just slap on a set of Tundra outers to make up the extra length. and if I wanted a set of spares for the trail I can get get another set of LC200 outers and cut them down ahead of time.
I already have the new engine mounts on hand, as well as the spacer plate material that i'll need to plasma cut and have ready on hand. Could be a good project to tackle along with my cam tab replacements coming up shortly..
while on lunch break I also decided that since I'll plan on swapping in the LC200 rack sooner than later it would be good to go ahead and order the lower steering shaft (steering selector shaft?) so that in case I have to modify anything I have an extra one on hand, and if nothing ends up being modified at the very least I will start with a brand new, OEM shaft with fresh joints and all. Getting excited about getting this tackled.
