Builds What did you do with your cruiser today? (1 Viewer)

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The folks at Apex are great people. Their turn around when I drop batches off is usually less than 72 hours. They charge by the lot so if there is interest, I can always coordinate a plating group-buy to share the cost. I frequently end up with several small brackets, and misc. hardware that doesn't quite justify plating... but if others had parts they wanted done....
 
How did you prep it? Did they ask you to blast or degrease the parts first?

Most I had sand blasted before dropping it off, some wasn't badly soiled (dust and dirt, no oils) and the acid baths Apex does cleaned it just fine.
 
I picked up my u-bolt flip kits and shackle plates from my powder guy today. I had them done in a semi gloss to match the chassis black Georg used on the axle housings.

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I also attempted a repair on the cracked parking brake handle.

Before
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After
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I used a clear resin so you can still see where I filled in the larger crack. I need to do some touchup on the smaller crack, but overall I am quite happy.

The handle is a good practice run for the OE steering wheel as I am thinking about reusing it rather than my aftermarket idea. But it needs a lot of work and I don't really need a 16" wheel now that I have power steering. We'll see.

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I have a nice parking brake lever assembly (somewhere) if you decide you don't like the results of your repair.

Thanks! I plan to dip the handle into some rubberizing coating.


This is the stuff tool mfgs use on handles for pliers, adjustable wrenches, ECT.
 
Finally feeling well enough to wrench on Alita a bit. Just did the brakes seeing as they were squealing like crazy (PO had told me that one set, he couldn't remember, were in need of replacement). Well that turned into another short list of #$&@ that needs to be replaced due to poor shop work.
Randomly though brakes, front and rear aside from e-brake which I did not check, were just about brand new Toyota OEM. Thought it was weird that they squealed so much but passenger front did have some weird markings and exterior pad edge was crumbling. Went ahead and replaced all of them with BOSCH Quiet pads and squealing is gone now. So either it was contaminated front pad or just all pads were dirty.

But now I get to add the following to my list of ^&*% to fix from the PO.
- Swaybar links
- Upper Ball Joints
- Rear DS caliper main slide pin (stripped)
- New Axles
- New axle C-clips (because some numbnutz decided to grind down the edges of a random cir-clip and place on axle end)
- New hub flanges with all related hardware
- Grease flanges and everything associated
- New outer (probably inner too) TREs

Looks like I am going to be doing a full front end rebuild in the near future here as the axles were cheapo "SurTrack/Import Direct" axles that are grinding and making noise above 55mph. Have someone looking at axles on a parts rig for me to see if they are OEM and if splines are good. Cruiser also has standard 100 series R-D-R clunk which means front diff bushings are shot (and have video'd it myself to show hub flange backlash and bushing movement) so that is on agenda as well.
 
Build Party! Come on man... take advantage of your club, that's why we are here. :)
LOL... if the club wants to fund all that right away sure thing!!!
 
Finally feeling well enough to wrench on Alita a bit. Just did the brakes seeing as they were squealing like crazy (PO had told me that one set, he couldn't remember, were in need of replacement). Well that turned into another short list of #$&@ that needs to be replaced due to poor shop work.
Randomly though brakes, front and rear aside from e-brake which I did not check, were just about brand new Toyota OEM. Thought it was weird that they squealed so much but passenger front did have some weird markings and exterior pad edge was crumbling. Went ahead and replaced all of them with BOSCH Quiet pads and squealing is gone now. So either it was contaminated front pad or just all pads were dirty.

But now I get to add the following to my list of ^&*% to fix from the PO.
- Swaybar links
- Upper Ball Joints
- Rear DS caliper main slide pin (stripped)
- New Axles
- New axle C-clips (because some numbnutz decided to grind down the edges of a random cir-clip and place on axle end)
- New hub flanges with all related hardware
- Grease flanges and everything associated
- New outer (probably inner too) TREs

Looks like I am going to be doing a full front end rebuild in the near future here as the axles were cheapo "SurTrack/Import Direct" axles that are grinding and making noise above 55mph. Have someone looking at axles on a parts rig for me to see if they are OEM and if splines are good. Cruiser also has standard 100 series R-D-R clunk which means front diff bushings are shot (and have video'd it myself to show hub flange backlash and bushing movement) so that is on agenda as well.
Save the old hub flanges and have them milled out. If the Front diff breaks you can drop the front drive shaft and replace the hub flanges with the milled out flanges. Lock the center diff and you can get home in 2WD.
You probably want to take a peek at the rear upper shock studs and bolts, just saying.
You didn't mention it specifically but did you look at the e-brake bell crank?
 
Save the old hub flanges and have them milled out. If the Front diff breaks you can drop the front drive shaft and replace the hub flanges with the milled out flanges. Lock the center diff and you can get home in 2WD.
You probably want to take a peek at the rear upper shock studs and bolts, just saying.
You didn't mention it specifically but did you look at the e-brake bell crank?
That is actually a good idea. I wasn't sure what to do with the old ones.
Ok I will check those the next time I have the wheels off back there.
And no I did not check the e-brake bell crank? Does it seize like the FJ60s? My e-brake seems to function properly.
 

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