Builds Zeke, the 1975 Wanderer and DD (2 Viewers)

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If you run the window regulator all the way up for removal, the drive gear will disengage from the driven teeth. This will cause puzzlement and make you wonder if you broke it/screwed up. All you need to do is to push on the arm until it engages the gear to correct this issue.

Now, both my key in the tailgate and dash switch work. Just need to fix that slight binding issue and I'll move on to the next issue.

Congrats! One thing I noticed while putting mine back together is if you do disengage the arms from the drive gear you have to be very careful about the alignment when you put them back together. The two sides do not go in at the same point on their radius to make the channels even (and ultimately the bottom of the glass). If you are one tooth off then the window may still go up and down but the glass won't be level (and probably won't slide smoothly). Just make sure your binding issue isn't due to this potential problem.
 
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Found this thread. Lots of good detail there.


Also this thread


That 2nd thread is a good one too. The first link featuring Gary's descriptions is pretty comprehensive, and a sticky. There was another one recently that asked some good questions. If I can remember that far out out I will put links to the these 2 threads in the Gary sticky.
 
So is it working now?

It's working, but it still slows down halfway up. I've been doing some other things around the house and not driving much, so I've not done any more work on it.

Once I get motivated, I will cut a bit of wood the size the right hand channel is supposed to be, and drive it through the channel to open it up to the correct size all the way up and down.
 
Well, it's been a bit, and while I've driven Zeke a lot, not a lot of work done on him, because frankly, he hasn't needed much work.

The locks are now giving me sporadic fits, but I've worked out something to reliably get them to function. Need to tear into them and lube them up good, I think.

I also did an engine change on my kids' 2008 RAV4. BTW, if you ever find a 2004 to 2008 RAV4 with a 2.4 L 4 cylinder for sale, do not walk, but run away. That 2AZ FE engine is a piece of utter garbage. Kind of surprising that Toyota would put out such a sh*tty product and then not really stand behind it. But I ended up buying a remanufactured engine for way too much money and getting it in; hopefully, with the manufacturing flaws eliminated in the rebuild, as the company promised.

I deploy again in another couple weeks, so am thinking on what to do next break. My wife and I have formulated a long term plan: Even though we bought this house a year and a half ago, we plan on building our own home in a couple years, with more shop space and a better layout. The housing market is so hot here, we should be able to easily build better with the profits we'll see on this house. Plus, years of investing and being careful with our money will see us very comfortably into retirement.

Once we are in that house, Zeke will get pulled off the road for the Big Rebuild. The goal is to create the truck I'd buy, if car manufacturers built the truck I wanted.

The SOA lift needs to go; the engine will be refreshed/rebuilt and fuel injected; the body will be made like new; ample insulation installed; power steering will be converted from current hack job to something better executed and air conditioning will be installed. Interior will be refreshed. Otherwise, I'm really happy with Zeke and look forward to many more adventures in him.
 
Well, it's been a bit, and while I've driven Zeke a lot, not a lot of work done on him, because frankly, he hasn't needed much work.

The locks are now giving me sporadic fits, but I've worked out something to reliably get them to function. Need to tear into them and lube them up good, I think.

I also did an engine change on my kids' 2008 RAV4. BTW, if you ever find a 2004 to 2008 RAV4 with a 2.4 L 4 cylinder for sale, do not walk, but run away. That 2AZ FE engine is a piece of utter garbage. Kind of surprising that Toyota would put out such a sh*tty product and then not really stand behind it. But I ended up buying a remanufactured engine for way too much money and getting it in; hopefully, with the manufacturing flaws eliminated in the rebuild, as the company promised.

I deploy again in another couple weeks, so am thinking on what to do next break. My wife and I have formulated a long term plan: Even though we bought this house a year and a half ago, we plan on building our own home in a couple years, with more shop space and a better layout. The housing market is so hot here, we should be able to easily build better with the profits we'll see on this house. Plus, years of investing and being careful with our money will see us very comfortably into retirement.

Once we are in that house, Zeke will get pulled off the road for the Big Rebuild. The goal is to create the truck I'd buy, if car manufacturers built the truck I wanted.

The SOA lift needs to go; the engine will be refreshed/rebuilt and fuel injected; the body will be made like new; ample insulation installed; power steering will be converted from current hack job to something better executed and air conditioning will be installed. Interior will be refreshed. Otherwise, I'm really happy with Zeke and look forward to many more adventures in him.

Why does SOA need to go?

Asking for a friend, literally...
 
Why does SOA need to go?

Asking for a friend, literally...

The high profile is getting to be a pain in mountain driving, the wife has serious trouble getting into it, and it is literally killing my dog jumping up into it and down out of it.

Plus, I really wasn't looking for a 15" lifted vehicle when I found this one.

I'm a huge fan of the moderately lifted (3" or so) FJ55 and the way it looks. My wheeling for the foreseeable future is going to be typical farm trail stuff.
 
The high profile is getting to be a pain in mountain driving, the wife has serious trouble getting into it, and it is literally killing my dog jumping up into it and down out of it.

Plus, I really wasn't looking for a 15" lifted vehicle when I found this one.

I'm a huge fan of the moderately lifted (3" or so) FJ55 and the way it looks. My wheeling for the foreseeable future is going to be typical farm trail stuff.
All sounds about familiar.
He wasn’t looking for an SOA rig, but it checked a lot of boxes for him.
His wife is pretty darn short as well.
We are going to try to get the rooftop tent off the roof rack this week and see how he likes that.

As for dogs, I lift my 80 lbs GSD out of the 100 just so he doesn’t land on his front shoulders. While I am doing that, our Border Collie jumps out. Sometimes she waits for me to lift her out, but she is very competitive, has to beat the Shepherd.
 
All sounds about familiar.
He wasn’t looking for an SOA rig, but it checked a lot of boxes for him.
His wife is pretty darn short as well.
We are going to try to get the rooftop tent off the roof rack this week and see how he likes that.

As for dogs, I lift my 80 lbs GSD out of the 100 just so he doesn’t land on his front shoulders. While I am doing that, our Border Collie jumps out. Sometimes she waits for me to lift her out, but she is very competitive, has to beat the Shepherd.
I grew up with Australian Shepherds, so was unfamiliar how hard jumping down from a car is for a more muscular dog.

Lela fell jumping up into Zeke a couple days ago, and it knocked her breath out of her. Was a bit of a wake up for me, and the vet says jumping down is hard on the bigger frame dogs to the point that it shortens their lifespan by years.
 
I grew up with Australian Shepherds, so was unfamiliar how hard jumping down from a car is for a more muscular dog.

Lela fell jumping up into Zeke a couple days ago, and it knocked her breath out of her. Was a bit of a wake up for me, and the vet says jumping down is hard on the bigger frame dogs to the point that it shortens their lifespan by years.

Yep, I try to get the Border to wait for me to lift her out, but she is a real piece of work. Anytime we are going somewhere, they are convinced it will be The Best Day EVER!!! So mayhem typically ensues...
 
I've done amazingly little to Zeke the last few months, so have posted nothing. Recently, though, my job in Afghanistan went away, and I found myself back home working a 4 x 10 work schedule, so should have more time to spend working on him.

I recently had my year old NAPA Premium take a dump, which I described in the thread here: Zeke's starter took a dump... again. - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/zekes-starter-took-a-dump-again.1260996/

Resolved that, but not after causing an issue I induced myself. I also ended up running a dedicated ground from the bottom bolt on the starter, which improved starting greatly.

I also made my muffler go 'splodey, so replaced the stock exhaust system with a simple glass pack with a turn down just forward of the rear axle. This combined with doing some judicious work on the carb eliminated the gassy smell I was having in the cabin, especially with the rear window down. Much, MUCH better driving experience, now.

I notice the back of the clutch reservoir is slightly moist with light oil, so that may be a sooner or later job.

Once the exhaust system from the axle back was gone, I did another survey on the state of rust, and have decided it wasn't as bad as I thought. I'm going to start by patching the driver side floor board, then fabricating the support that comes off that piece. Once that is dealt with, I'll patch the front fender holes and weld in the supporting pieces under those. Then I will replace the rockers, which are merely angle metal welded over the old rusty rockers. I'll tear those completely out and make my own out of the sheet metal I already have in storage, matching the profile created by the front fenders more closely. And after that I'll fix the lower rear quarters and the body supports that are connected to those.
 
And then I retired. Last Thursday, I had a little chat with my investment advisor, and decided driving long distance for work wasn't worth it.

Today, I started messing with the driver side floorboard and decided I need to figure where the water is coming from so it just doesn't rust out again once I patch it.
 

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