Stretch's 87 4Runner - Easy E
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Well Dixie Run was a bust as far as me driving the 4Runner. Got there, unloaded and hit the trail only to find out I had 3wd. The long side which I replaced with a warrantied shaft after Harlan still wasn't turning. I guess during my shakedown after putting it all back together a few months ago, I just didn't notice it not pulling since it was pretty dry at the house.
Went back to camp and pulled the whole front axle apart expecting that the locker was broken from when the shaft let go. Locker was fine minus some teeth on the ring gear being chipped/broken. So I found that problem but it didn't answer the original one. Took a break for a few hours and rode shotty. Went back at night and started reassembling everything with my spare welded diff. This is where I found my problem...Slid the long side shaft back in and went to turn the driveshaft...nothing happening out at the knuckle! Looked in through the passenger side with a flash light and sure enough, the damn inner shaft was not long enough to hit the splines. It was resting just before it on the adjusting ring. When Nitro sent me a replacement shaft, they must have sent me the wrong one.
Now I get to get a replacement again and tear the axle apart for the 4th time :uzi:
To do before the SHOP open ride:
Rebuild front axle
Install my Spartan in another 4.10 4cyl 3rd
Add a few leafs to my front spring pack
Front wheel spacers so the 17's don't rub on the V6 brake calipers
Cut sheet metal to fit the 40's
New battery
Went back to camp and pulled the whole front axle apart expecting that the locker was broken from when the shaft let go. Locker was fine minus some teeth on the ring gear being chipped/broken. So I found that problem but it didn't answer the original one. Took a break for a few hours and rode shotty. Went back at night and started reassembling everything with my spare welded diff. This is where I found my problem...Slid the long side shaft back in and went to turn the driveshaft...nothing happening out at the knuckle! Looked in through the passenger side with a flash light and sure enough, the damn inner shaft was not long enough to hit the splines. It was resting just before it on the adjusting ring. When Nitro sent me a replacement shaft, they must have sent me the wrong one.
Now I get to get a replacement again and tear the axle apart for the 4th time :uzi:
To do before the SHOP open ride:
Rebuild front axle
Install my Spartan in another 4.10 4cyl 3rd
Add a few leafs to my front spring pack
Front wheel spacers so the 17's don't rub on the V6 brake calipers
Cut sheet metal to fit the 40's
New battery
Well...just as I thought
Been fighting starting issues just as Daylon did. Thought I had it fixed but they came back when it was time to load up and go home from Dixie Run. Starter tested fine, so did the battery. Went ahead and threw in a higher cranking amp AGM battery from Napa for posterity sake especially with the winch. Cleaned up all of the terminals and replaced a few related to the starter. Fires up perfect now.
Been fighting starting issues just as Daylon did. Thought I had it fixed but they came back when it was time to load up and go home from Dixie Run. Starter tested fine, so did the battery. Went ahead and threw in a higher cranking amp AGM battery from Napa for posterity sake especially with the winch. Cleaned up all of the terminals and replaced a few related to the starter. Fires up perfect now.
I've needed to re-set my pitman arm for a while. The rig turns way further to the drivers side than it does the passenger side. Found a used hydro assist setup on Pirate so that is on the way so that should fix the fact it turns great to one side and like a schoolbus to the other all while saving my arms :lookout:
flyinhawaiian01
New member
Hit things hard today:
Brakes bled
Exhaust fixed
Tubed out the rear of the rig. Still have to cap the exposed tubes but its all welded up.
Nice rig!
Quick question for ya, do you like those diff breathers? I have one for my truck's front axle but haven't installed it yet. Any issues on popping off the housing?
Thanks. Its a constant work in progress haha.
Honestly, on the diff breather, uhhhh they work, I guess lol. Its been back there since the PO had it and was on there for a while even then. Seems to do just fine.
Got this thing out to the new RockCorps4x4 Club property on Saturday and shook it down a little. Did a fair amount of trail riding since most of the obstacles were either way over my head or had someone on it. It was kind of a cluster**** at the beginning of the day, but better than not wheelin at all.
-The brakes developed an air bubble at some point so I need to bleed those again and just flush the fluid. It looks pretty nasty.
-I still get some rubbing on the drivers side firewall and the rear fenders. BFH and Sawzall can fix that. Will assess after I get done installing the hydro assist as right now it turns WAY more to the drivers side than the passenger side.
-The truck started falling on its face at one point but I just disconnected the TPS, messed with the fuel pump wiring a bit and then it ran fine the rest of the day.
To Do before RBD:
-Install hydro assist and a large cooler
-Massage firewalls some more
-Cut rear fenders
-Maybe install some rear shocks
-Find this stupid oil leak. It seems to come and go.
-Re-wire my trailer and install some new LED lights
-The brakes developed an air bubble at some point so I need to bleed those again and just flush the fluid. It looks pretty nasty.
-I still get some rubbing on the drivers side firewall and the rear fenders. BFH and Sawzall can fix that. Will assess after I get done installing the hydro assist as right now it turns WAY more to the drivers side than the passenger side.
-The truck started falling on its face at one point but I just disconnected the TPS, messed with the fuel pump wiring a bit and then it ran fine the rest of the day.
To Do before RBD:
-Install hydro assist and a large cooler
-Massage firewalls some more
-Cut rear fenders
-Maybe install some rear shocks
-Find this stupid oil leak. It seems to come and go.
-Re-wire my trailer and install some new LED lights
Pic isn't working but I think that is the same ram I have, and I copied the mount for my '85 axle and it was golden
Nailed it. That's the one.
Ram, lines and box are on. Just having a hard time bleeding the system. Lines are on correctly and the pump is working. Just a ton of air in the system.
Gotta get it bled one night before RBD. Hopefully take a stab at it on Sunday when I get back from a buddy's wedding that I am in or one night soon since I brought it back to Charlotte since I wont have time to go back up to the shop I usually keep it at before the trip.
Install was kind of a rollercoaster. I got the old box and lines off fairly quickly. I went to remove the pitman arm and when I separated it from the drag link, the FJ80 end got a little messed up and tweaked some threads (yes I used a separator). I tried to thread the castle nut back on but it just fawked the threads on that one too. Now I am effed. Called around to everywhere, even Bud, nobody had one in stock. Thinking I'm about to have to just load it on the trailer with the tractor I go digging through the glovebox and console...a Right hand thread FJ80 end (thanks Daylon)! Not the total solution, but a fresh castle nut might do the trick. Hit the original end with the flapper wheel to knock it down below the top two messed up threads and put the new castle nut on...fixed.
Onto the next problem...mounted the steering box...different style box needed to lengthen the shaft. No problem, have done it before so I pulled it all apart, lengthened the shaft and got it all back together.
Pitman arm...what I was dreading. The guy I bought the system from removed the arm from the box. It was a homebrew kind of job so I didn't even think 2x about messing with it. Considering it came off a Sammi/buggy kind of setup I didn't even think to see if it was for a tapered rod end. Just assumed he ran heims. WRONG. FJ80 rod end taper. Win and on it goes.
After that it was just nuts, bolts and welding all the tabs and brackets on which went quickly.
Gotta get it bled one night before RBD. Hopefully take a stab at it on Sunday when I get back from a buddy's wedding that I am in or one night soon since I brought it back to Charlotte since I wont have time to go back up to the shop I usually keep it at before the trip.
Install was kind of a rollercoaster. I got the old box and lines off fairly quickly. I went to remove the pitman arm and when I separated it from the drag link, the FJ80 end got a little messed up and tweaked some threads (yes I used a separator). I tried to thread the castle nut back on but it just fawked the threads on that one too. Now I am effed. Called around to everywhere, even Bud, nobody had one in stock. Thinking I'm about to have to just load it on the trailer with the tractor I go digging through the glovebox and console...a Right hand thread FJ80 end (thanks Daylon)! Not the total solution, but a fresh castle nut might do the trick. Hit the original end with the flapper wheel to knock it down below the top two messed up threads and put the new castle nut on...fixed.
Onto the next problem...mounted the steering box...different style box needed to lengthen the shaft. No problem, have done it before so I pulled it all apart, lengthened the shaft and got it all back together.
Pitman arm...what I was dreading. The guy I bought the system from removed the arm from the box. It was a homebrew kind of job so I didn't even think 2x about messing with it. Considering it came off a Sammi/buggy kind of setup I didn't even think to see if it was for a tapered rod end. Just assumed he ran heims. WRONG. FJ80 rod end taper. Win and on it goes.
After that it was just nuts, bolts and welding all the tabs and brackets on which went quickly.
Loaded on the trailer and ready for RBD.
There was a TON of air in the steering system. Got the truck jacked up and cycled the wheel back and forth about 30 times with the engine off and it drank about a quart and a half of fluid. You could hear the air working its way through the lines, then about 3 cycles later, an explosion out of the reservoir. Let it run for a few minutes, and topped off the system then shut it down and it burped some more after sitting for a few minutes. Topped it off again and repeated the process with the wheels on the ground. Took it out for a few laps around the field. It's nice being able to turn the same amount in both directions now.
Sam has a vacuum bleeder so we hooked it up to the brakes and pulled all new fresh fluid through the lines. It pulled a lot of air and trash out. It's still not 100% but will lock the tires up with ease now.
There was a TON of air in the steering system. Got the truck jacked up and cycled the wheel back and forth about 30 times with the engine off and it drank about a quart and a half of fluid. You could hear the air working its way through the lines, then about 3 cycles later, an explosion out of the reservoir. Let it run for a few minutes, and topped off the system then shut it down and it burped some more after sitting for a few minutes. Topped it off again and repeated the process with the wheels on the ground. Took it out for a few laps around the field. It's nice being able to turn the same amount in both directions now.
Sam has a vacuum bleeder so we hooked it up to the brakes and pulled all new fresh fluid through the lines. It pulled a lot of air and trash out. It's still not 100% but will lock the tires up with ease now.
Hydro assist and the sticky tires worked really well this weekend. Rode Morris Mountain on Friday and Choccolocco on Saturday.
Did a lot of riding and only took pics on about 2-3 obstacles or trails.
Rest of the weekend's album:
RZRFest and RBD Freedom Ride
Did a lot of riding and only took pics on about 2-3 obstacles or trails.
Rest of the weekend's album:
RZRFest and RBD Freedom Ride
About 5.5 Hours. You do gain an hour on the trip down and lose it coming back. The trip was good and both parks make for a good weekend trip. Morris Mountain is more obstacles than long trails, but Choccolocco has everything you can think of from trail riding to weepow straight up rockbouncer hills.
Going to try and get a little work done on this thing over the next couple of long weekends.
Ordered some 14" Bilsteins for the back (FINALLY) so I'll have to figure out how I'm going to mount the upper end. The PO had some cut down TG shock hoops on there like you use on the front, but they ripped off the frame leaving some holes long ago. I may just get some tabs and some more tube and tie them into the cage. I just want to leave the center of the cargo area open for when I go to mount a fuel cell and my action packer stays there most of the time. So a crossbar going through there is pretty much out of the question.
Also have some ARP studs and hardware on the way for the hubs. I figure the stock stuff is the next weak link now that I have gone to drive flanges.
A buddy in Shelby has another set of fenders for me so I'll snag those, spray bomb them black and get them cut to fit since I lost one at Morris Mountain.
Final little detail is upgrading the hardware that holds the winch down. One of the chinaking bolts that came with the HF winch decided to snap off while I was getting pulled out of the woods at Morris Mtn. So the winch is down one mounting point and is kinda wonky right now.
Ordered some 14" Bilsteins for the back (FINALLY) so I'll have to figure out how I'm going to mount the upper end. The PO had some cut down TG shock hoops on there like you use on the front, but they ripped off the frame leaving some holes long ago. I may just get some tabs and some more tube and tie them into the cage. I just want to leave the center of the cargo area open for when I go to mount a fuel cell and my action packer stays there most of the time. So a crossbar going through there is pretty much out of the question.
Also have some ARP studs and hardware on the way for the hubs. I figure the stock stuff is the next weak link now that I have gone to drive flanges.
A buddy in Shelby has another set of fenders for me so I'll snag those, spray bomb them black and get them cut to fit since I lost one at Morris Mountain.
Final little detail is upgrading the hardware that holds the winch down. One of the chinaking bolts that came with the HF winch decided to snap off while I was getting pulled out of the woods at Morris Mtn. So the winch is down one mounting point and is kinda wonky right now.
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Good day of rev limiter fun at The Flats yesterday. It was pretty sloppy in the AM and got tacky later on. The sticky tires definitely made a difference from the last time I was there on the TSL's. Finally made the right ledge on Tank Trap.
Still need to get the shocks and other hardware swapped out, but I'll probably leave that til my pre April Fools Day Crawl prep.
Rest of the album: The Flats Open Ride
Still need to get the shocks and other hardware swapped out, but I'll probably leave that til my pre April Fools Day Crawl prep.
Rest of the album: The Flats Open Ride
Well...hell hath frozen over...this rig has rear shocks. :laugh: I do need to go back over some of the welds where it all ties into the cage and frame.. I got the brackets burned in with pretty beads and it got progressively shittier from there. Turns out the tank was on its last few psi of gas. :tsk:
Got that done, put a new fender on the front and replaced a trailer light that got annihilated when I had the blowout on the way to RBD/Choccolocco. Still need to install the ARP Hub studs.
Got that done, put a new fender on the front and replaced a trailer light that got annihilated when I had the blowout on the way to RBD/Choccolocco. Still need to install the ARP Hub studs.
With the DPG ride postponed, I took the opportunity to hit the shop and get some more work done.
Checking wheel bearing preload
Replaced the hub studs with ARP's and all new hardware
Got the drivers harness mounted
Finished the welding on the shock mounts
Started pulling Justin's trans
Pressure washed the rigs
Checking wheel bearing preload
Replaced the hub studs with ARP's and all new hardware
Got the drivers harness mounted
Finished the welding on the shock mounts
Started pulling Justin's trans
Pressure washed the rigs
