My first Toyota (1 Viewer)

[robustbambi]

I always ask to see if I need to beef the boxes up more... They are getting pretty close to meeting my expectations.. Afterall.. it is metal.. HA!

J

Yessir they were very well protected with all the foam padding! So much foam in fact that it took up most of the space in our 2 garbage cans lol.

 

[robustbambi]

Woke up earlier than usual, so I figured id get a couple hours of cruiser work done in preparation for tomorrows bumper modifying and tcase reseal.

I wanted to get all the worst parts done today so that tomorrow we'd just be able to dive right in, so i took the stock bumper off and ground the crossmember rivets off and smashed them out. Then when i ran out of usable grind wheel i decided to just cut the rest of the crossmember off and worry about making it pretty later.



Old and busted.



New and hotness.

(yeah i just watched MIB 2 last night haha)


Yeah.. its not even close to being on all the way...



Are FJ60 body mount brackets farther inward than FJ62's?

Ill weld the mount to the outside of the frame tomorrow then grind down the 4 remaining rearmost rivets. Having a welder turns giant headaches into non issues. I freaking love it.


One more just because.


If i can get everything finished tomorrow, most likely so, ill drop it off at ACC to be powder coated

And before i forget... I have a stock rear bumper or sale *organically bent by nature*

 

[The Phoenician]

Thanks for the pics and heads up. You're saying I should probably invest in a welder or see if I can borrow one. I'll worry about it when I get back home. How long did it take you to get cross member off?

 

[TRAIL TAILOR]

P, The 2 remaining rivets sticking out... You will need to buzz the heads off both sides and the bumper should slide on in...

J

 

[TRAIL TAILOR]

Thanks for the pics and heads up. You're saying I should probably invest in a welder or see if I can borrow one. I'll worry about it when I get back home. How long did it take you to get cross member off?

Mike, no need for a welder for you, just grinding wheels for the rivets..

J

 

[The Phoenician]

Mike, no need for a welder for you, just grinding wheels for the rivets..

J

Thanks J. I'm in money saving mode. Property taxes are coming in soon.

 

[TRAIL TAILOR]

For both of you..... Once you cut the rear crossmember out.. The rear frame collapses so to speak.. RennTechs frame pulled in almost 1/2".. from the measurements he gave me..., so either buzz the rivets or use a hi-lift and spread the rear back apart..

J

 

[robustbambi]

Thanks for the pics and heads up. You're saying I should probably invest in a welder or see if I can borrow one. I'll worry about it when I get back home. How long did it take you to get cross member off?

No need o buy one unless you got some fun future projects, but id still probably get someone to weld up the bracket just to be safe. And it took probably 2 hours to get it off. then probably another 30 minutes for me to get sharp angled pieces cut off and ground down. Not too bad, just watch out when circle cutting... Aidan took some paint out of the tailgate in the bottom left corner

For both of you..... Once you cut the rear crossmember out.. The rear frame collapses so to speak.. RennTechs frame pulled in almost 1/2".. from the measurements he gave me..., so either buzz the rivets or use a hi-lift and spread the rear back apart..

J

Yeah i didn't think about that when I first went to place the new bumper on the frame haha. Mine didn't more a 1/2", maybe a few mm, so it only took a little man handling to get it on there.

 

[TallCanDan]

Bad ass!

 

[robustbambi]

Thanks a bunch Danny


Pst... Jason... Check the sig line!

 

[TRAIL TAILOR]

I LIKE IT! KINDA CATCHY!!!



Jason

 

[GLTHFJ60]

For both of you..... Once you cut the rear crossmember out.. The rear frame collapses so to speak.. RennTechs frame pulled in almost 1/2".. from the measurements he gave me..., so either buzz the rivets or use a hi-lift and spread the rear back apart..

J

Strangely enough, when I cut out my FJ60 rear crossmember, my frame came in about 1/2" if not more. When I did the same to my FJ62 rear crossmember, it didn't move at all. Not sure if the boxed rear frame rails had much to do with that or not.

 

[TRAIL TAILOR]

Strangely enough, when I cut out my FJ60 rear crossmember, my frame came in about 1/2" if not more. When I did the same to my FJ62 rear crossmember, it didn't move at all. Not sure if the boxed rear frame rails had much to do with that or not.

Every rear I've sold, the frames have pulled inward. All have been different. The condition of the frame is the big contributing factor it seems.. from excellent, rusted, modified, all play in to the "pull". However, I try to build to the tightest tolorance and hope for the best when these crossmembers are removed.. Unless the customer pulls the crossmember and then measures for me (which I am more than happy to do this too)...it will always be an issue I'm afraid.

I'll have to go back and find it, but someone had told me/read it, that in the install directions on their aftermarket bumper said to brace the rear frame with wood and then break or cut the wood out once bolted in place. So, it is definitely an ongoing flaw IMO...

J

 

[TRAIL TAILOR]

P, also... that toggle clamp is set for fab only... Once you get the tire on it, tighten it and then after a few miles check and tighten it again. Just like wheel spacers, I do this a few times until I know the "stretch"/seat is out and I feel comfortable with the set up tension.

J

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Every rear I've sold, the frames have pulled inward. All have been different. The condition of the frame is the big contributing factor it seems.. from excellent, rusted, modified, all play in to the "pull". However, I try to build to the tightest tolorance and hope for the best when these crossmembers are removed.. Unless the customer pulls the crossmember and then measures for me (which I am more than happy to do this too)...it will always be an issue I'm afraid.

I'll have to go back and find it, but someone had told me/read it, that in the install directions on their aftermarket bumper said to brace the rear frame with wood and then break or cut the wood out once bolted in place. So, it is definitely an ongoing flaw IMO...

J

Completely agreed. I was just saying that it may or may not happen! I would always recommend putting a high-lift between the frame rails when cutting out the crossmember, like this. My high-lift fell out because no pressure was put on it.

 

[robustbambi]

Spent last week thinking, "hey I've been inside the split case before, this o ring replacement is gonna be a 3 hour job.. tops!" yeah... took more than 3 hrs.

So, the easiest part, taking everything apart.
I was able to lower the tcase, remove the rear half, and get down to the tranny/tcase seal without issue. When i got in there i found that the oring was the original triangular shaped factory one, and also that it was cracked to s*** and hard as a rock... can't imagine that doing a very good job a sealing so i replaced it with a new one i got from ACC.


Heres the chunk i was trying to manhandle back into position, it just really didn't want to cooperate with me this time...


Finally gave up, and decided to whip out my handy dandy FSM... wish i had done it sooner. Turns out lining gears up one at a time, is a lot easier than trying to line up EVERY GEAR all at once lol. So on they go.




HOPEFULLY a happy split case.


Just need to clean everything up so i can tell if this thing wants to leak again.. I mean look how nice and relatively clean everything was the day i got Woody a couple years ago... s***s gross now lol.



Anyway, while i was messing with the tcase, Aidan was doing something to help get that tire out of the trunk area.

He started off by welding the latch nuts to the inside of the swing out arm so that he could weld the opening shut.




Came out really good in my opinion.


When i looked at the quarter guard pieces and the bumper, it seemed they wouldn't line up straight, I should've sent Jason a PM earlier because he managed to come up with a solution pretty much instantly lol. Anyway, i let Aidan get a little creative with the end caps because i didn't want the bumper to just sort of end, it needed a little extra. He cut up some card board and roughly mocked up what he was going to do.


It was the only tape we had!!!!!!! LOL


Aidan also welded a long horizontal strip along the bottom of the bumper so that when it comes down on a rock, it won't hit the edge of a piece of plate and possible bend... I did that to Aidan's front ARB a couple weekends ago lol.


The arm isn't on fully, but that looks SO FREAKING GOOD!!! we still need to weld up Aidan's end caps, and the rotopax mount off to either the right or left side of the tire, and maybe even a hi lift mount. idk... ill decide by this weekend so that i can hurry up and get it off to paint next .


It sets the truck off so well. i can't put into words how happy i am with it.




Cant see s***! Its perfect!!!


Temporary tag placement. Don't wanna get pulled over lol.



Overall, this weekend went really well. I at least got the tcase done, so i can drive the truck around and not worry about destroying my transmission. And the bumper work is mostly finished, so I'm super happy

 

[Slow Left]

...we still need to weld up Aidan's end caps, and the rotopax mount off to either the right or left side of the tire, and maybe even a hi lift mount. idk... ill decide by this weekend so that i can hurry up and get it off to paint next .

...or maybe a mount to hold that umbrella?...

Lookin' good RB! That bumper looks real good and props to you for replacing that seal without having to drop the transmission...!

 

[robustbambi]

...or maybe a mount to hold that umbrella?...

Lookin' good RB! That bumper looks real good and props to you for replacing that seal without having to drop the transmission...!

LOL! yeah, I'm planning another swing out just for that umbrella hahaha!

And thanks for the props But if i ever have to do this BS again, I'm dropping that damn transmission/transfer case and @beno convinced me and everyone else at the ACC invitational of just adding an H55 and new split case LOL... price would be a slight issue though... tad bit more expensive than a $15 seal and o ring

 

[TallCanDan]

"Can't see s***! It's perfect!!!"

I Lol'd, that looks really really REALLY killer on there dude!
https://flic.kr/p/prmHpE <--- this pic is perfect! (Side view)

 

[TallCanDan]

Umm, yep, I want 37's