theesotericone's Trails and BS Thread

[theesotericone]

First this happened:

Next this happened:

And then of course this happened. FML:

That nut and stud was the first one I torqued. I checked a few specs and non-elocked diffs said 54 ft/lbs. The first one snapped before that without any warning. I tried one more before I called bullshit and just torqued then by feel. I'm pretty sure I would have broken every one with that torque spec.

Once the rtv dries and I can get a left hand bit I'll get that snapped stud out. I also need to get to the dealer and get some studs, washers, and nuts. I'm thinking of replacing the whole system. It's probably fine but I just don't like how easily that thing snapped.

That's all for tonight.

 

[Scramble]

First this happened:




Next this happened:



And then of course this happened. FML:



That nut and stud was the first one I torqued. I checked a few specs and non-elocked diffs said 54 ft/lbs. The first one snapped before that without any warning. I tried one more before I called bullshit and just torqued then by feel. I'm pretty sure I would have broken every one with that torque spec.

Once the rtv dries and I can get a left hand bit I'll get that snapped stud out. I also need to get to the dealer and get some studs, washers, and nuts. I'm thinking of replacing the whole system. It's probably fine but I just don't like how easily that thing snapped.

That's all for tonight.

LOL, yea those studs aren't too strong. I snapped a few on removal. When I put my new diff in I tightened them all by hand until it was good & snug & the RTV squeezed out. Waited an hour for the RTV to cure & gave them all one more full turn. Been leak free since last Oct. You can replace the studs with bolts & run them out from the inside. There's write ups on this. I opted to stay with the studs since I have plenty with another axle housing in the yard.

Great job man I'm excited for you!

 

[theesotericone]

You can replace the studs with bolts & run them out from the inside.

That's what I'm about to start doing. I just don't trust the studs in their current state. I managed to source what I need and it's about time to pull that brand new diff again. The torque in the FSM is way wrong. Of course I found this out after putting it in. I really didn't think it needed to research something as simple as changing a 3rd but Toyota screwed me good on this one. lol

 

[Scramble]

That's what I'm about to start doing. I just don't trust the studs in their current state. I managed to source what I need and it's about time to pull that brand new diff again. The torque in the FSM is way wrong. Of course I found this out after putting it in. I really didn't think it needed to research something as simple as changing a 3rd but Toyota screwed me good on this one. lol

I'll probably get flamed for this but I think torquing is overrated. I do almost everything by feel.

(unless I was building an engine)

 

[octanejunkie]

I'll probably get flamed for this but I think torquing is overrated. I do almost everything by feel.

(unless I was building an engine)

Agreed, the cult of the torque is strong. Many fasteners simply require the right touch,for those lacking experience, torque specs, except for critical fasteners.

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[theesotericone]

So I took some time today to fix this whole diff stud issue. There's a few kits you can buy online that sell everything you need. I didn't get one. lol

I managed to find 10 of the correct bolts. Those would be M8 x 1.25 x 40 panhead with hex. I actually could only find 4 40mm so I cut down 2 50mm. The other 4 50mm I used on the top and upper sides. I thought having a slightly longer bolt there would make installing the diff easier. Turns out it did.

After we remove all the Toyota diff studs you end up with something like this:

After chasing the threads I started the first bolt. Here's what you'll be looking at. They also all got some loctite and a baby dab of silicone.

An hour later and we get this:

With that done it was time to reinstall the brand new diff. I hate doing shit twice but I'd hate to break on the trail so it is what it is.

The observant in the group may notice that the driveshaft is hooked up, the tires are on and it's no longer in the garage from that last photo. They would be correct in all those things. lol

Since I had to wait a bit for the RTV to dry once I hung the diff I figured I'd get it ready to drive. I got the axles back in. I bled the brakes. I ran the airlines from both diffs to the compressor. I got the spacers and tires back on.

Once the diffs where filled I got it off the jack stands. It was time to see if my 12 hours of work would be worth it. I backed out of the garage. That's a good sign. It moves at least.

Then I took it for a slow drive around the block. Then it went on a 10 mile highway run. I got home happy and left it in the driveway.

Here's some first impressions on the 5.29's with my 33.3's. It gets up and moves now. Off the line is a huge difference and I haven't been able to really step on it yet cause of that damn diff break in period. But for normal acceleration there's a noticeable difference.

I engaged 4x4 and that works flawlessly still. After verifying that worked it was time to hit the highway. I took it up to 75 MPH on my GPS and set cruise. In 3rd it was holding just over 4000 RPM. In OD that dropped to 2800 RPM. Here's the best part. It was able to easily hold OD in areas it never could before.

So far I'm very happy I went with 5.29's. All that's left to do is connect the air lines to the compressor, hook up the electric for the lockers and clean the garage. That's all easy flip flop work so I'm stoked.

 

[Road Bull]

Come on break in period!

Good job getting addressing the issues, and getting it all back together again. Congrats. Those RPMs aren't too bad. I never really drive beyond 70 mph anyway. Do you think that if you knew you were going to stick with 33" tires that you might have opted for 4.88? I know you are taking things a step further with a crawl box and whatnot, but if I regear, that's what I would be looking at.

Can't wait to see those lockers in action in the dirt.

 

[theesotericone]

I never really drive beyond 70 mph anyway. Do you think that if you knew you were going to stick with 33" tires that you might have opted for 4.88?

I haven't really had enough time with them yet to give an informed answer. I do know I'm one of the few guys that went with 5.29's on 33's. I do know that so far I really, really, really, like what they did for my low end. If your never going to a bigger tire though 4.88's is probably what you want. There's a reason most guys go with them for 33's.

Once I get some more miles on it I'll give some real impressions. So far my plan is to keep the 33's on for daily driving and most wheeling. I'll end up getting a second set of rims and mount 37's on them. Those will only go on for hard wheeling.

 

[theesotericone]

I just got done with all the compressor and electrical work. It came out really well and best of all the lockers work. I managed to run the airlines about as clear from anything hot as you can in this vehicle. Anywhere they rubbed something sharp they got a very heavy wrap of Gorilla Tape.

Here's the compressor all wired up:

I leaned the manifolds to the right to help with hood clearance. Both lines come in from the front to keep everything tidy.


Here's the first test of the lockers:

I moved my compressor switch over to where the factory locker switch would go. It's about as out of the way as it gets. The lockers can't activate without the compressor so it was a safety standpoint. I don't want the wife accidentally hitting them while driving.

I also decided to leave ARBs factory wiring for now. It requires the rear to be active for the front to engage. Another safety feature. There's a very easy mod that bypasses that feature that I decided not to do. There are times when having just the front locked can be helpful but they are few and far between. If I ever need that I can just pull the switches and swap leads pretty quickly.

ARB has a leak down test that I used to verify all the plumbing was solid. They have you energize the compressor and both lockers. Then you wait 15 minutes. If the compressor doesn't kick back on you pass.

While performing this test I took the time to button the dash back up. I also ate lunch. I also forgot I had the test going till 45 minutes later. The compressor never kicked back on so I'm calling it good.

This 500 mile break in is gonna kill me. All I want to do right now is hop in my rig and go really fast, do locked burnouts, and hit some hard trails. Yeah, basically, I want to act like a teenage driver again. Maybe that break in period is a good thing. lol

 

[theesotericone]

So 60 miles into my break-in period and I'm so happy with the gearing. I went up a grade the other day that I used to have to be in 2nd doing 4500 RPM's to hold 55 MPH. I was able to be in third at 3500 RPMS and it held that speed without dropping. It's like having a stock rig again power wise.

I also got a call from Eric at Yotamasters today. He's working on my crawl box and it'll be done next week. We ended up BS'ing about Bishop and fishing for ten minutes. He might actually drive it up here and deliver it. Then I'll show him some prime trout water that never has any gumbies on it. It's gonna be a win/win if it works out.

I've been toying with this idea of making my own cable shifter set-up for the transfer cases. I'm still looking into it but it might be the way to go. Having an auto that would allow me to put the shifters where the j-shifter is now. I wouldn't have any tunnel clearance issues since the cables would be mounted before install and they can be run below the top of the case.

Basically I need to get this thing built on a bench and start brainstorming. I don't want to reinvent the wheel here but I also don't want a body lift. lol

 

[Black798]

Fun fact about those ARB locker solenoids, if you remove that little silver nut with the wire mesh in it, they will make a nice whistle when you disengage them. Probably doesn't matter but I like being able to hear when the locker disengages but that's just me.

Im excited to see this crawl box setup go in. Your truck really went from average to wheeling monster real quick.

 

[Unner]

All this talk about regearing and better driveability makes me want to regear... Did you keep track of your MPG before hand? Just curious how the new gears will effect it.

 

[theesotericone]

Im excited to see this crawl box setup go in. Your truck really went from average to wheeling monster real quick.

Thanks man. June 9th will be two years of ownership.

I can't wait to get the dual cases in but at the same time I'm not looking forward to the install. I see a lot of clearance issues I'm going to have to deal with. Plus it's a lot of work that I don't really have time for right now. Once it's done though I'll be stoked so I'm just gonna do it. lol

All this talk about regearing and better driveability makes me want to regear... Did you keep track of your MPG before hand? Just curious how the new gears will effect it.

If you feel under powered currently a re-gear is worth it. I can't believe how much more fun my truck is to drive now that I've got some torque back. It really is like a different vehicle.

I do keep a mileage record. I'm curious as well so I'll post up after a few tanks. It's hard for me to be really accurate though. I don't think my rig has ever had a tank of gas that doesn't have a decent amount of wheeling. Lots of stuff I do requires low range and that kills MPG fast. Still, it'll be close enough.

 

[rkntoy]

Thanks man. June 9th will be two years of ownership.

I can't wait to get the dual cases in but at the same time I'm not looking forward to the install. I see a lot of clearance issues I'm going to have to deal with. Plus it's a lot of work that I don't really have time for right now. Once it's done though I'll be stoked so I'm just gonna do it.

Just do the body lift. It will make it much easier to access everything and it will be that much less trimming to fit your 37s.

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[theesotericone]

Just do the body lift. It will make it much easier to access everything and it will be that much less trimming to fit your 37s.

I like to do things my way. So the day the body lift gets installed is the day I have admitted defeat. lol

 

[theesotericone]

I've been thinking a lot about the shifters I'm gonna use for my dual cases. Last night I had the idea to just forget the triples. The real advantage of triples comes from the fact you can get 2wd lo/lo. The problem is I have an auto and there will be clearance issues with the trans shifter. Also, as you all know by now, I do not want a body lift.

I've toyed with the idea of a cable linkage. While having it's pro's and con's I just don't know if I want to fab something myself. No one I can find makes a cable triple for the 3rd gen.

That leads to my next idea and the one I'll probably go with. Leave the crawl box with a single shifter. Then twin stick the rear case. FRO makes a twin stick kit for the V6 chain drive case.

If my math is correct that would put the twin sticks just in front of the center console arm rest. It would also mean that the parking brake handle might be in the way. That would be easy enough to solve be bending the twin sticks to allow them to clear the parking brake. That would retain the factory parking brake and allow for 2wd lo/lo just like a triple stick set-up.

Thoughts?

 

[Black798]

I've been thinking a lot about the shifters I'm gonna use for my dual cases. Last night I had the idea to just forget the triples. The real advantage of triples comes from the fact you can get 2wd lo/lo. The problem is I have an auto and there will be clearance issues with the trans shifter. Also, as you all know by now, I do not want a body lift.

I've toyed with the idea of a cable linkage. While having it's pro's and con's I just don't know if I want to fab something myself. No one I can find makes a cable triple for the 3rd gen.

That leads to my next idea and the one I'll probably go with. Leave the crawl box with a single shifter. Then twin stick the rear case. FRO makes a twin stick kit for the V6 chain drive case.

If my math is correct that would put the twin sticks just in front of the center console arm rest. It would also mean that the parking brake handle might be in the way. That would be easy enough to solve be bending the twin sticks to allow them to clear the parking brake. That would retain the factory parking brake and allow for 2wd lo/lo just like a triple stick set-up.

Thoughts?

It all makes sense to me and seems simple enough. Could you possibly extend the twin stick for the rear case up to be in the factory location or would you start having clearance issues? I agree with your mentality of no body lift, I'm not a fan of them.

Another thought is to wire the ADD system to a switch. What I did on my 98 was disconnect the sensor wire on the transfer case that tells the 4wd computer to engage the 4wd when you shift into low range. This gave me the ability to use 2wd low range just by controlling the ADD system with the stock 4wd switch when I want.

Would it be possible for you to just do the dual case, have a shifter for each, and use a factory knob that has the 4wd switch on one shift lever that is wired to control the ADD? It might take a little figuring on the wiring but would give you 2wd or 4wd low and double low with the push of a switch.

I believe this will work on any transfer case you use, whether it is a J shift or multimode because you're basically just "unlocking" the hubs when you want to.

 

[rkntoy]

That leads to my next idea and the one I'll probably go with. Leave the crawl box with a single shifter. Then twin stick the rear case. FRO makes a twin stick kit for the V6 chain drive case.

If my math is correct that would put the twin sticks just in front of the center console arm rest. It would also mean that the parking brake handle might be in the way. That would be easy enough to solve be bending the twin sticks to allow them to clear the parking brake. That would retain the factory parking brake and allow for 2wd lo/lo just like a triple stick set-up.

Thoughts?

Might as well - you aren't loosing cupholders. Since you are trimming up that console piece you could switch to a 99+ parking brake lever that would shift it to the passenger side and clear out the middle.

 

[theesotericone]

It all makes sense to me and seems simple enough. Could you possibly extend the twin stick for the rear case up to be in the factory location or would you start having clearance issues? I agree with your mentality of no body lift, I'm not a fan of them.

Another thought is to wire the ADD system to a switch. What I did on my 98 was disconnect the sensor wire on the transfer case that tells the 4wd computer to engage the 4wd when you shift into low range. This gave me the ability to use 2wd low range just by controlling the ADD system with the stock 4wd switch when I want.

Extending the twins to the factory location is exactly what Rad Designs triple sticks do. There will be clearance issues without a small body lift. Either way you have to remove the interlock pin from the stock t-case to allow independent shifting of 4x and lo. I'm still thinking it will be less work and custom fab to just use twins on the rear and the stock shifter on the crawl box.

As far as a switch goes that a great idea if your only running the stock t-case. Since I'll have twins on the stock case it'll be as simple as pushing a lever to get 2wd lo. Pull the lever on the crawl box to lo and it's now 2wd lo/lo.

Might as well - you aren't loosing cupholders. Since you are trimming up that console piece you could switch to a 99+ parking brake lever that would shift it to the passenger side and clear out the middle.

Thanks for thinking of that. I never really looked closely at the 99 center console mod because I can drive with my coffee in the 97's cup holders without spilling a drop. . That might just be the exact solution needed to clearance the rear twin sticks. From looking at it the 99+ online it appears that the center console ends up slightly further back as well. If that's the case it's the way to go for this install.

If anyone has a spare 99 e-brake handle and center console laying around post up.

 

[4Runner4Leon]

From looking at it the 99+ online it appears that the center console ends up slightly further back as well. If that's the case it's the way to go for this install.

If anyone has a spare 99 e-brake handle and center console laying around post up.

I have a '97 and a '99 console sitting in the garage (don't ask) - I'd be happy to take some photos or measurements for you. The '99 e-brake handle is indeed shifted and angled slightly to the passenger side. I don't think the '99 console sits any further back though.