TiredIron's TLC build up

[Wrench]

MSGGrunt I would not bother with making all new mounts. That would be to much trouble like Tired said. You have all the brackets you need on your 80 axles. Just cut them off and weld them on the Volvos. Piece of cake. When you bolt the Volvos under you 80 I doubt you will ever want to go back. So there really is no reason to save your brackets. Sell the axles. Get money for them.
If you need help with anything let me know.

[TiredIronGRB]

Actually, I have been driving it as a DD but will soon start cutting back. The reason I don't want to use it as a DD is that the tires will wear out extremely fast on the highway and you just can't run by AutoZone for replacements.

[alkaline747trio]

So it handles fine, just tire related issues and the fear of breakage...gotcha!

[TiredIronGRB]

At 70 mph it tracks straight as an arrow. Not really fear of breakage just no need for unneeded wear and tear, I have a DD that is a more comfortable to drive but I just really enjoy driving the FJ.

[MSGGrunt]

Well, my Volvo Portal swap adventures begins tomorrow with a trip to Cruiser Parts in New Hampshire for a pair of axle housings to pirate the brackets off to weld onto the portals. I do have several questions... Some are generic and others will be for those that have done a similiar swap.

1. Cable or Vacuum operation for the lockers?

2. What was the emergency brakes like to hook-up?

3. Can the ABS on my 97 be disabled? And if so how? Just unplug and go?
New master cylinder from a non-ABS cruiser? It will not be a daily driver but still needs to be safe to operate on the street.

4. I'm thinking of keeping my current Slee 6" system, running the 5.99 axles with 39.5" or 40" tires.

5. Are there options other than the stock rims? I assume custom will be the way to go as the stock rims would not be wide enough for a 12.50 or wider tire.

6. Will my Slee double cardon drive shafts handle the pinion angles? My current rear pinion is pointed up at the transfer output and I have no vibrations. I assume with the portals that I won't be able to rotate them this way? The front uses Slee's Outback arms and I assume I will have to keep the axles within Volvo's specs?

Well, wish me luck. I will post a new thread once the axles and brackets are ready for surgery....

[alkaline747trio]

Well, I don't think I can help you with 1-3, but here's a shot at 4-6:

4: These axles are strong, and 39.5"s shouldn't show any signs of weekness in these, be careful though, and don't go hot-doggin it first run just to be sure. 6" might be a little much though, you will be way tall and way narrow comparatively, 11-12" is what you will have, would be way sketchy on-road or whilst doing any rock crawling.

5: Stock rims are NOT an option, these axles aren't 6 on 5.5", they are 8 on ??". New rims are a must. Custom, IDK about that, you might be able to find some 8 bolt 10" rims, haven't looked, but a google search should yeld some good answers.

6: When you put these axles on, you could weld the mounts at an angle to correct the bad pinion angle. Keep things within Toyota spec., the diff. sits in the same place as the stock LC axle would, the portals give the lift.

[TiredIronGRB]

I really like my vacuum setup, it is also backup for my brake booster if the engine dies.

I'm still looking at park brake options, I will probably go with a hydraulic lock on the rear brakes.

I'm not sure on the ABS, I disabled it on my Chevy 3500 by removing the fuse.

With the Volvo portals giving you 5" of lift, you should re-think the 6" lift. I have the 2" OME springs which gives me 7" of lift and with 38.5" tires that makes it pretty tall (45" to the center of the front wheel well). I think anything over the 38s would hurt the off-road performance and increase the chance of breakage.

With the stock Volvo wheels 11" wide tires are about as big as you can go without rubbing on the rear frame rails, so custom wheels with less backspacing would be needed for anything larger.

I think your driveshafts should work.


Can't wait to watch this build, I see this being a trend

[TiredIronGRB]

Originally Posted by alkaline747trio

5: Stock rims are NOT an option, these axles aren't 6 on 5.5", they are 8 on ??". New rims are a must. Custom, IDK about that, you might be able to find some 8 bolt 10" rims, haven't looked, but a google search should yeld some good answers.

Why not? I have the stock wheels on mine, nothing else is the same pattern so custom as needed for wider tires.

Originally Posted by alkaline747trio

6: When you put these axles on, you could weld the mounts at an angle to correct the bad pinion angle. Keep things within Toyota spec., the diff. sits in the same place as the stock LC axle would, the portals give the lift.

The portal boxes need to be vertical, if you change the brackets to correct pinion angle you will have to redrill the housing where the portal boxes mount to correct their angle.

[ridgerunner]

Originally Posted by MSGGrunt

1. Cable or Vacuum operation for the lockers?

I ran cables. Dug 'em.

Originally Posted by MSGGrunt

2. What was the emergency brakes like to hook-up?

You will loose your ebrake since it is attached to your factory axle. Linelock.

Originally Posted by MSGGrunt

4. I'm thinking of keeping my current Slee 6" system, running the 5.99 axles with 39.5" or 40" tires.

Over stock lift with Volvo portals is 4.5". Do you really want 10.5" of suspension/axle lift?

Originally Posted by MSGGrunt

5. Are there options other than the stock rims? I assume custom will be the way to go as the stock rims would not be wide enough for a 12.50 or wider tire.

There are a few companies making aftermarket rims. Bolt patern is 8 on 220mm, 7.5" wide factory. Unless you run an internal beadlock, you would want to be weary about low pressures insce there is no inner bead retainer on the factory wheels.

Originally Posted by MSGGrunt

6. Will my Slee double cardon drive shafts handle the pinion angles? My current rear pinion is pointed up at the transfer output and I have no vibrations. I assume with the portals that I won't be able to rotate them this way? The front uses Slee's Outback arms and I assume I will have to keep the axles within Volvo's specs?

You can rotate the volvos, but it'll require some work. You'll either need to cut the end flange off the housing and re-weld it back on, or to redrill the flanges on the end of the housing (what I would do to make sure they're true). I have a picture of that somewhere, but I cannot find it.

Personally, I'd lower the truck a bit and perhaps do some fender trimming/ bumpstops/ body lift.

[alkaline747trio]

Originally Posted by TiredIronGRB

Why not? I have the stock wheels on mine, nothing else is the same pattern so custom as needed for wider tires.


The portal boxes need to be vertical, if you change the brackets to correct pinion angle you will have to redrill the housing where the portal boxes mount to correct their angle.

When he said stock, I thought he was referring to the stock LC wheels, not the stock Volvo wheels, sorry.

About being vertical, I think he is talking about with the Slee lift, his LC axles aren't orientated as they should be (meaning that his pinion points slightly up). When he welds up the brackets, if he sticks with the slee 6", his portals will not be vertical if he mounts them at the same angle as the LC axle, mounting them at different points on the Volvo axles will eliminate this if I am thinking correctly, I may be looking at this wrong, so feel free to correct me.

[TiredIronGRB]

Yea, that would be a job to make the FJ wheels work. I really believe he would be better off selling the 6" lift and the old axles which would almost pay for the swap.

[MSGGrunt]

Back from getting the axles. I went up to New Hampshire this evening to CruiserParts.net and I can't say enough good about these people. We talked Cruisers, swapped old Army war stories and in the future if they have what I need they will get my business. Thanks Guys....

I was thinking stock Volvo rims but, I will want a wider rim than 7.5 inches as I will probably run a 12.50 or wider tire so it looks like custom rims will be the way to go.

Line Locks/hydraulic locks will not pass inspection here in MA... The E-brake has to be mechanical so some engineering will have to be done to mate the stock LC cable to the Volvo brakes/axle...

I too am concerned about the height of my 6" Slee system combined with another 4.5 from the portals but would this be as much of an issue if I widened the track width with wider tires that would still fit in the wheel wells? Say 12.50's or 13.50's? I see Action Jaction is running 40's MTR's and I'm thinking why not me. I know he has a body lift instead of all suspension.... I just hate to sell the Slee System only to have to buy 2" OME springs. I'm thinking of 39.5x13.50x16 Irok's and the more I think about it selling the Slee system and going with 2" of OME sounds more road/trail worthy... Decisions, decisions....

The anti lock brakes still concern me and maybe a new thread will get that question ironed out.

So, TiredIron, with your set-up you have no complaints from your u-joints? Are you still running stock driveshafts? I guess from here I will start a new thread documenting every detail of this swap from removing all the old brackets to the final test drive.

Nothing ventured nothing gained.....

[TiredIronGRB]

You could go with the OME J springs and have 3" for a total of 7.5"-8".

On the park brake you could run a disc brake setup on the rear of the transfercase.
Like this


My U-joints are happy so far, same angles as a stock 80 with 2" springs.

[ridgerunner]

Rotated housing:

[TiredIronGRB]

I've seen that before, it's on a Land Rover isn't it?

[Wrench]

You can disconnect the ABS by pulling the fuse.

[ridgerunner]

Originally Posted by TiredIronGRB

I've seen that before, it's on a Land Rover isn't it?

To be honest, I cannot remember. I think I found it 2 years or so ago when I first started my swap. Probably not a bad guess though.

[TiredIronGRB]

Here it is...

Or was it this one?

[concretejungle]

Originally Posted by TiredIronGRB

You could go with the OME J springs and have 3" for a total of 7.5"-8".

On the park brake you could run a disc brake setup on the rear of the transfercase.
Like this


My U-joints are happy so far, same angles as a stock 80 with 2" springs.

That's what i was going to chime in on. Use a pinion brake.

[alia176]

Incidentally, www.rovertym.com does this sort of caster correction on LRs. FYI.

[best4x4xfar]

Originally Posted by TiredIronGRB

Got the ARB and MileMarker winch on...

Curious about the winch install. Generally they mount with the motor on the passenger side of the truck and cable spooling off from the “bottom” of the drum through the bottom winch fairlead mount in the ARB bumper. Is that “reversed” mounting a Milemarker thing? Oh, and great job with the build up, very nicely done...

[TiredIronGRB]

The control box would only fit underneath if I mounted the other way, the ARB is made so you can mount it either way and it does get the fairlead up out of the way and the control box higher out of the water.

[ridgerunner]

Originally Posted by TiredIronGRB

Here it is...

Or was it this one?

Naw, the lower one wasn't even a thread then, but has some awesome Rovers. I think the Yellow rover wasn't complete then either. Not too sure.

[beno]

Nothing really technical to add to this brilliant conversation and transformation (great job man on this rig)--

But Badlands Off Road park in Attica, IN has Volvo Portal axles for sale.

I know some of you might be getting the urge to follow in TiredIron's footsteps (I know I am tempted now that I have a reliable DD), so I figured I'd post here.

Best...
-onur
Akron, OH

http://www.badlandsoffroad.com/forsale_axles.asp

PS: I'll be there (as will lots of other MUD folks) on the first weekend of Dec. I'd be happy to look at them if anyone wants....or help in transportation if one so desires.

Later.

[MSGGrunt]

The pinion brake would solve lots of problems with the E-brake issue having to be mechanical. I have seen many bolt on kits for the earlier TC's but, is one available for the later 80 series split case or would that have to be custom fabricated?

I think selling the Slee 6" kit and going with OME 2" with 39's is the direction I am heading.

Thanks for the info on the ABS...

Another question; do I have to strip the axles down to the bare housings before welding on my brakets? I've heard many different opinions.