Black798's 98 limited build thread

[Black798]

I went to Bozeman once for a week while snowboarding in Big Sky. Quiet af up there at night.

We went to a bar in Bozeman one night and walked past a car in the parking lot with a guy manually stimulating a fully naked, unconscious girl in the front seat of his car with the dome light on. Ever since then, Bozeman, MT has been referred to as the finger-banging capital of America between my friends and I. Never forget some things.

Circling back to read your building thread Lol

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

Being a college/ski town there are definitely some less than umm, ethical things that happen but what town isn't that way. All in all it's a pretty great place. I remember when we moved here 13 years ago main street would go to flashing yellow lights at 9 pm.

I'm not a fan of the growth recently but what can ya do. I live a ways out of town and spend most of my free time out in the mountains exploring which helps.

 

[octanejunkie]

I love that part of the country, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho - I'd probably only go into town once in a while if I lived there - too much other stuff to do.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

 

[Black798]

Went snow wheeling again in my usual place yesterday and had a great time. When I left my house around 8 it looked like it was going to be pretty warm with no new snow but once we got up on the mountain it started dumping.
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We decided to explore a different portion of the trail complex and came across a guy in an fj who had been looking for an area that some local jeep guys have been trashing and making huge ruts in so that he could report it to the forest service but he turned around since he was alone and didn't have a winch. He warned us it got pretty deep up ahead so I dropped down to 9 psi and we headed out
Once we got past his tracks the snow quickly got very deep and was just rolling up over the hood.

Stopping at one of the many lakes in the area...
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We continued up the trail for another couple miles and then turned around to start heading back to town since one of the guys that came with needed to be back fairly early.

View from the top...
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On the way back down...
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First recovery of the day, dragging the chase truck back onto the trail to get turned around.
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We made great time on the way out until we got down to the lower elevation where the snow had been getting pretty soft. To add to the slippery melting snow some snowmobiles had come in after us and ripped up our track making everything very unpredictable. Coming around one the tight turns my buddy's truck slid down almost going off the 15 foot plus drop the road was traversing. I turned around to try and winch him out but couldn't get a decent angle and we were quickly running out of time to get back to town on time so we piled all six of us in the 4runner and decided to come back later to recover the truck. When we came back a few hours later it was basically dark and the truck had since frozen in its tracks making the pull more difficult. We ended up using the 4runner and the winch to keep the truck from sliding off the edge while we hooked another truck to the rear with a snatch strap to slide the truck back onto the road.

Sunset and airing back down on the way up...
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Rigging for the recovery...
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3 hours later we had the truck out and were headed out. It took a lot longer than expected but no one got hurt and nothing broke, yet...

 

[Black798]

Nothing too exciting but figured I'd post just to keep everything up to date

First I added a wireless winch controller. After the last recovery I did I was getting fed up with the wired controller getting tangled in stuff. I'll keep it as a backup but the wireless controller is very nice. There is a little delay but it isn't too bad. Just turn the remote on and the winch becomes active. I mounted the box on the passenger kick panel.
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Second I installed an extended stainless brake line in the rear from wheelers offroad as another prep step for the new shocks that will be here very soon.
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[Kotrin]

Looks so much fun. I love snow exploring till it gets to the 4+ feet of snow. Going to attempt to go out after thanksgiving week to see if Ineed to start contemplating alternatives of the 4Runner..

Glad everyone made it off the mountain okay. Our last trip ended up similiar situation

 

[Black798]

Snow wheeling is so much fun just because of how much the conditions ca change in a short period and no trail will be the same twice when its covered in snow. Even though the last recovery was kind of a pain it was still pretty cool to get to use all the recovery gear, see it all work flawlessly, and have a good feeling of pride and knowing it was money well spent.
[MENTION=65505]Kotrin[/MENTION] best of luck with the medical issues man that's a really unfortunate situation. I admire your determination not to let it keep you trapped inside though, very impressive.

 

[TMP]

Just read your whole thread, good stuff..... can't wait to see what comes next!

 

[thenightman]

This thread is a great read, and you have a very cool truck. I admire how when you need a part, you get out the welder and build it yourself. All your projects turn out clean and professional looking. And it's only your first car build!

 

[Black798]

This thread is a great read, and you have a very cool truck. I admire how when you need a part, you get out the welder and build it yourself. All your projects turn out clean and professional looking. And it's only your first car build!

Thanks for the kind words! Ive learned a lot from building this rig and have really enjoyed it. There's still a lot of things Id like to do though and some stuff I will be redoing to make it cleaner. The list seems to never end...

 

[Black798]

Update

I'm a few weeks behind on posts so this will mostly be a picture dump. Im also still waiting on my king shocks for the rear. I ordered them from down south motorsports on November 6th and they have still not received the shocks from King and weren't able to give me an estimate on when they would get them. So that's starting to get pretty irritating.

On to better things. A couple weeks ago I went snow wheeling with some local land cruiser guys and had a ton of fun. The snow kind of sucked because there was a 6-inch crust that dropped into really sugary stuff so getting anywhere was very challenging since even at 8 psi I couldn't stay on top.
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I also headed down to Denver to see some family for Christmas, and as usual, no trip to Colorado is complete without some wheeling so I headed up to Yankee Hill and played around in the snow for a while and tested out the DJI Mavic Pro named "Dug" that I got for Christmas.
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[AssBurns]

I wish we had the opportunity to do some decent snow wheeling down here in So Cal. I live at the base of the mountain but as soon as there is a slight chance of snow, the local trails get flooded with idiots that shouldn't be there. Looks like you got some great snow wheeling up there.

Also on the King shocks. Are you able to cancel your order on the Kings and order something somewhere with better lead times? After hearing so many issues with King's lead times I would go with a different company. ADS shocks are just as good as King, if not better with much better lead times and customer service from what I've seen and heard.

 

[Black798]

[MENTION=118730]AssBurns[/MENTION], I'm considering canceling the order if I can find someone else that has them in stock to build them. I know they're good shocks but two month lead time is just f ing ridiculous. Problem is I looked at the ADS shocks and they were like 300 more for the same product and my budget really can't swing that extra cash right now and I won't go fox, I've seen too many people have issues with them.

 

[BigFishAllDay]

Hey Phoenix,

I was just going through your updates from the last few months. What are your impressions on those SPC x-axis joints so far. I'm going to need a solution for the same issue, and am weighing options.

Also, do you have a link for that wireless winch controller? It looks like it has seen some use, so have you found it reliable? I've seen those at HF before, but haven't really looked elsewhere.

I'm jealous of all the snow. We're going on 90 days in NM with no measureable precipitation. It sucks.

 

[Black798]

Hey Phoenix,

I was just going through your updates from the last few months. What are your impressions on those SPC x-axis joints so far. I'm going to need a solution for the same issue, and am weighing options.

Also, do you have a link for that wireless winch controller? It looks like it has seen some use, so have you found it reliable? I've seen those at HF before, but haven't really looked elsewhere.

I'm jealous of all the snow. We're going on 90 days in NM with no measureable precipitation. It sucks.

Hey Nick thanks for checking out the build, I have spent many hours drooling over the 01 and using it for inspiration.

So far I really like the x axis joints, they made the rear end much tighter and allow it to articulate much easier. They were the most affordable of all the options I looked at. Buying new rokmen arms, building my own with johnny joints, ruff stuff heims (didnt like the idea of these because they're exposed to the elements).

The part number I got was 15616 from lowrange offroad. The only downside to these was that as they come they will not fit into the stock Toyota bushing size. They are oversized by about .2mm. My solution to this was uniformly grinding down the outside diameter of the x-axis joint with a flap wheel and also slightly enlarging the eye on the control arm with a carbide cutter like the one you used for your rear bumper fitment.

It wasn't ideal but I have not seen any negative side effects and I have put about 2,000 miles on them since install. If I were to do it again Id cut the stock bushing eye off and just replace the ends with x-axis joints that have a threaded end. That is a little more expensive but I think would be worth it.

The main reason for choosing the x-axis joints was that they are sealed from the elements whereas a johnny joint is not

Heres the link to the winch controller

Basically the same as the HF model just looks a little more rugged. The install was a breeze and it has proven very reliable. Ive never found the range to be too short for what Im doing and have done quite a few long pulls with it

 

[BigFishAllDay]

Hey Nick thanks for checking out the build, I have spent many hours drooling over the 01 and using it for inspiration.

So far I really like the x axis joints, they made the rear end much tighter and allow it to articulate much easier. They were the most affordable of all the options I looked at. Buying new rokmen arms, building my own with johnny joints, ruff stuff heims (didnt like the idea of these because they're exposed to the elements).

The part number I got was 15616 from lowrange offroad. The only downside to these was that as they come they will not fit into the stock Toyota bushing size. They are oversized by about .2mm. My solution to this was uniformly grinding down the outside diameter of the x-axis joint with a flap wheel and also slightly enlarging the eye on the control arm with a carbide cutter like the one you used for your rear bumper fitment.

It wasn't ideal but I have not seen any negative side effects and I have put about 2,000 miles on them since install. If I were to do it again Id cut the stock bushing eye off and just replace the ends with x-axis joints that have a threaded end. That is a little more expensive but I think would be worth it.

The main reason for choosing the x-axis joints was that they are sealed from the elements whereas a johnny joint is not

Heres the link to the winch controller

Basically the same as the HF model just looks a little more rugged. The install was a breeze and it has proven very reliable. Ive never found the range to be too short for what Im doing and have done quite a few long pulls with it

For sure, man. I've always followed your thread, but never commented before, I guess. There are a few younger guys on this forum like yourself who are taking on way more ambitious projects than I ever dreamed of at a similar age. You're doing things at 19 that I didn't take on until my late 20's / early 30's, so I can only imagine what you'll be doing in 10 years.

Thanks for the feedback on the SPC joints. I'm not sure which way to go on my rear arms because my uppers are extended, but fixed length and running OEM bushings, and my lowers have the old style Toytec skids welded onto them and OEM bushings, so I don't really want to start from scratch. I've always liked the feel and reliability of OEM rubber bushings, but am open to options that perform similarly. Welding on a new bushing eye is something I hadn't thought about.

Thanks also for the link on the winch controller. I need to get the controls up and running for the winch on my Tacoma and I wanted to do in cab controls like the 4Runner. Unfortunately, there is a clutch master cylinder in the spot where I ran the wires on my 4Runner (auto trans), so I'd have to punch a new hole in the firewall to hard wire the controls. That wireless setup is perfect because I can just mount it in the engine bay.

 

[Black798]

[MENTION=44220]BigFishAllDay[/MENTION] fwiw when I installed the spc joints I didnt notice any increase in vibration or noise over the OEM rubbers. They just feel more stable and the axle seems more planted so to say when going over bumps and expansion joints in the highway

I also dont think adjustable lowers really are a necessity, the stock links are pretty short and have a limit on travel before they really start pulling the axle forward but extending them 1/2 or 1 inch wont really make much of a difference. I see the benefits of the extended uppers for pinion angle but Id stay stick with stock length lowers. There isn't much room to improve without doing completely new frame mounts to fit longer links

 

[BigFishAllDay]

BigFishAllDay fwiw when I installed the spc joints I didnt notice any increase in vibration or noise over the OEM rubbers. They just feel more stable and the axle seems more planted so to say when going over bumps and expansion joints in the highway

I also dont think adjustable lowers really are a necessity, the stock links are pretty short and have a limit on travel before they really start pulling the axle forward but extending them 1/2 or 1 inch wont really make much of a difference. I see the benefits of the extended uppers for pinion angle but Id stay stick with stock length lowers. There isn't much room to improve without doing completely new frame mounts to fit longer links

The only thing I don't like about those SPC joints is the fitment issue. I don't like to modify the rig around wear items because I like to have the option to try something new if "option A" doesn't work out. I would hate to bore out the ID of the arm ends or weld on new bushing eyes only to find out I didn't like the joints.

I would never drop coin or time on adjustable lowers. They just need to be beefy enough to carry the weight of the rig without bending as they slide over a rock. I built my uppers to fine tune the pinion angle, and it's perfect. The rear end is pretty much dialed, it's just getting noisy (squeaky) so I know bushings are coming due. The top contenders are Whiteline polys, OEM replacements, or the Strongflex polys that SS sells.

 

[Black798]

The only thing I don't like about those SPC joints is the fitment issue. I don't like to modify the rig around wear items because I like to have the option to try something new if "option A" doesn't work out. I would hate to bore out the ID of the arm ends or weld on new bushing eyes only to find out I didn't like the joints.

I would never drop coin or time on adjustable lowers. They just need to be beefy enough to carry the weight of the rig without bending as they slide over a rock. I built my uppers to fine tune the pinion angle, and it's perfect. The rear end is pretty much dialed, it's just getting noisy (squeaky) so I know bushings are coming due. The top contenders are Whiteline polys, OEM replacements, or the Strongflex polys that SS sells.

All very valid points, especially about modifying around wear items. For me, it was more of an experiment to see if I could do it and to test the joints out. I most likely will put threaded ends on my links that will be compatible with any builder joint next time but that wont be for a long time

 

[Black798]

It appears I will be on the hunt for a new front diff. My 4wd has been acting kinda odd. It finally came to a head in Denver when I went to engage 4wd and was met with an awful grinding. This happened a few times and I was not able to use 4wd at all driving home which really sucked since I was driving through a blizzard. Made me really appreciate the awesome winter performance of the falkens.

Anyway, I initially suspected the ADD system, which did have a leaky vacuum line that has since been replaced. I decided I wanted to pull the actuator though to make sure nothing internal was damaged so I pulled the drain plug on the diff and was met with this...
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Im not really sure when this happened which is what really pisses me off, I generally am pretty easy on my driveline, I dont let the truck wheel hop and use the skinny pedal very sparingly so Im not sure how the diff started grenading. So far the initial damage I can see is at least one chipped spider gear and several others that are cracked

 

[Black798]

This morning I received word from Down South Motorsports that my shocks finally shipped and will be here early next week along with another package from a certain gear supply company. Looks like next weekend will have a lot of work going into the rear end of this thing