Builds A Touch of Gray build

[concretejungle]

he's a tire whore

 

[jamesurq]

And now I know..... the rest of the story....

 

[jfz80]

ok.... another year and another lump sum update

Did I mention I was good at procastinating? Finally got around to pulling the scotch tape off the windows the PO used 11 years ago to hang his for sale signs

My battle with the cutoffs at high temps is not over but at least on hold now with a temp "solution" of a jumper in the Circuit Opening Relay found in the drivers side kick panel. Think ill be looking into the dizzy and the MAF signals soon to identify the culprit. For now its been great to be able to reliably drive again without concern of when and how long id be sitting on the road today. Somewhere in there I nearly burnt the rig down so frustrated on side of road I ran 12v straight to pump under carpet just to get home. Worked great till it grounded out and smoked the wire and everything it was touching for 12' :/ oops

But my battle with the evil spirtit that is electricity in general continues
Was exploring backroads of NC with LOTS of gravel road time and at some point I lost the inboard battery tie down J hook. When the battery shifted toward fenderit raised the hold down bar and perfectly connected the negative side to the inner fender and arc'd to the winch power line. Oops I guess I let the smoke outta this one; Dead winch now but just glad it wasnt any worse as it welded the tie down to the inner fender.

 

[jfz80]

Finally making some progress on the list of to do's as well.

Built a set of drawers on a whim one weekend; could definitely be more thought out and better executed but for a design/build as you go i was pleased with the outcome. Not only do i have organized storage it also made the 80 ride waaaaaay better. win/win. Two rear cubbies; one for fridge and one for 2 front runner wolf Pack boxes. Two front cubbies at second row for clothes and kitchen. And the forward space in footwell houses a front runner 14g water tank. Am adding tie downs for two more wolf pack boxes on top of drawers.

Part of the build was constructed around the purchase of a fridge which i didnt have in hand yet. Tight tolerences but thankfully it fit when it arrived. Even has room for a puma left beside it I voted for the 60qt arb because of the lower height despite my thoughts that footprint should be biggest concern in a limited space . Now that I preserved my view out I plan to add a ctr tire carrier nullifying the process.

I can tell the latch i added yesterday to secure the slide fully closed will not stand up to off-road use and will need re addressing

 

[jfz80]

Only other new toys/mods is an awning i picked up. After waiting 2 months for a front runner with no available update on even the potential of their arrival from SA i finally had to cancel the order and go with the arb. Front Runner Universal awning brackets worked like a champ though.

Other than rattle canning some stock alloys back to black most the other action has been maintenance related

Flushing 10+ year 100k + mile old ATF 285k

Changing the oil in the supercharger 285k. That old oil is some stinky stuff and appeared pat due for a change. I used the GM supercharger oil mostly because I live within walking distance of the dealer and was in stock

New windshield and gasket install. Thanks to Onur again!

Which warranted reattaching the snorkle in a more secure fashion to a pillar. Threaded rivets this time as the nutserts don't stand up to vibration. Took the opportunity to redrill and paint the stud holes. Apparently my snorkle shrunk, I guess that's normal with age

 

[jfz80]

Flushed the brakes again per annual regiment 285k and am starting to see a trend of the right rear caliper having contamination issues. This is the 3rd 80 I've worked on recently and all have had issues with this caliper. Is it because its position in system? Lowest and furthest away? Coincidence?

Last year concretejungle and I both replaced the right rear speed bleeders do to leakage around the threads and non functioning valve. A year later and we both have a small weep at the same bleeder. And when I flushed mine this year I got a bunch of crud out of that location as well. Any ideas?

Fluid from right rear caliper which was rebuilt ~5years ago

Added an old PCV catch can mud mod from a decade ago. Have held on to these mag lites for this purpose for ages but finally got off my butt and got it done.

And if one is good two has got to be more betterer actually only added the second because it sees boost and was my oily line of concern to begin with.

Which mostly catches me up and brings me back to the list still to come

-swing out build
-solve gas tank cracking dilemma
- gears 4.88 or tcase or both
-battery supplement, 2nd or solar
-go play!

 

[stevezero]

I think i have a use for my mag light now....

 

[jfz80]

the cad (chalk aided design) program i was using for the swing out build was working great till it rained
need to upgrade to cardboard soon but i hear it doesnt fair to well in the wet stuff either

Not a fan of square tube and layout but it's something I'm capable of cutting and welding so just noodling to see if I find a layout I could live with. Otherwise I need to find a tube bender

 

[jamesurq]

Is that single or dual swing out?


Sent from my iPhone

 

[jfz80]

Doh. Another year already?!?

Slowly working down the list but it never gets any shorter it seems.

Swingout. Check
Gas tank. Check
Go play. Check

Still could use some gearing and some power supplements.

Is that single or dual swing out?

That was a single but as youve seen was not the final solution. Really did not like square tubing so enlisted help from a Olde north state member with a bender. Many thanks to @Mtbcoach for the bending and brainstorming assistance.

Cutting the box to match the spindle shell

Straight n easy angle. Not gorgeous but within my skillset under a time crunch. Bolt on jerry can holder

Bending up some 1.75" tube

Original plan was to ctr tire and copy @pandathrust carrier which i thought was super well executed and liked the angle matching the rear hatch

Until i realized that was gonna be a giant pain (literally) to lift a 35/7 MT up that high....

 

[jfz80]

So a bit of mocking up different arrangement ensued untill i found one i was happy with.

Chose tomput the tire weight closer to spindle and try to preserve a little visibility out the back window. Also switched to the cradle design to assist in loading tire. Can lift tire on to main beam for a pause and then adjust and secure while not holding weight of tire

We all like gussets. Was gonna add some lateral ones as well but this thing does not budge!

Stop pin setup to hold carrier at 90* and 180* open

Getting in a rush but decided on a non lug dependent mounting system. Stainless 5/8" all thread. 2 heights for 35 and 37

 

[jfz80]

Tire carrier wrapped up its time for a 6 hour drive to see the man the myth the legend. @beno graciosuly offered up his gas tank from the now retired raisin. Thanks bro!!! This one doesnt leak unlike mine, plus its been Mrs. Cdan modified

Not sketchy at all

"New" custom 23 gallon tank without stress crack and with rattle bombed skid that I promised would live on for more great adventures

Ugh what a saga. 3 tanks. 5 repairs. All end up with same crack even after replacing charcoal canister

But i got the swap down to a svelte 2 hours by now.

 

[jfz80]

I mentioned my procrastinating skills right?

I guess i should mention that @concretejungle and i have a cross country trip planned and were leaving in a week!

Soooooo no time like the present to do a axle rebuild with new birfs and brakes. Picked up a set of terrain tamer birfs from Onur while I was there as well as some OEM pads n discs.

Wished i had the funds for spindles as i think they are next on the list and sending me back in to the axle soon

Nice quality units!

2 days till departure

Was hoping to get rid of a small shimmy i was guessing may be the DBA rotors i let a pad get low on with some scoring. The DBA werent terribly bad but had over 10 yrs and 100k miles on them

Went ahead and did a quick bearing pack in the rear axle while apart for rotors and pads. Plus picked up some new ebrake pads to go with a fresh rotor ..... unfortunately still not getting good hold from ebrake :/

 

[jfz80]

Things you dont like seeing the day after you button up and axle build Whoops. Its ok Were not leaving until tomorrow right.

Regaining access to drain plugs for a diff fluid swap. Added allen head plugs while i was at it.

More gifts from Beno

Mostly buttoned up and off rhe jackstands only to find this well no time for that crap. Mark and monitor it is. Now time for a spin

 

[baldilocks]

Seems like you suddenly stopped procrastinating. It's amazing how motivated we become right before a trip.

 

[jfz80]

Well ok. Its tomorrow now. We are supposed to depart by 9am for a BIG kickoff day of driving from High Point NC to Little Rock AR

Buuuuut......Well crap! Front brakes are dragging and heating up the hubs. I picked up 100 series front pads but with the brand new rotors apparently they are too thick to work with the calipers that must have a happy range of motion for the pistons. So if you do new rotors and new 100 pads you may want to consider new or reman calipers at same time. Of course its d day and no 80 pads to be found at dealer and the F me moment of all this OEM goodness getting topped off with generic parts store pads :/ but they fixed the drag right away

I should mention as i swap pads 830 am day of; clock is ticking, fridge is packed, and concrete is in the driveway with his truck idling by now. Motivation. Got it

Hey. Less than an hour late. Not bad for me

And for the record we did make little rock!

View attachment 1394042

 

[jfz80]

lets just say this was only the beginning of an epic drive and even more incredible journey to come.

Awesome-o-city for sure.

We have our radar set on grand canyon, hole in the rock, and moab and whatever else we can find along the way.

Little rock while west of the mississippi was less than epic but were in travel mode crunching some miles.

Night 2 however is getting good. Palo Duro canyon texas. Second biggest canyon in us. Awesome spot that could deserve some more time that we dont have.

Back on the road texas is kinda big and flat but haeld nothing on the winds and long gentle grades of new mexico. First time we saw single digit mpg and struggled to run the speed limit loaded down for weeks the road. Constant 15% left turn to go straight and near matted to maintain 75.

But we make Homolovi indian grounds for camp that night finally. Filet mignon and cinnamon rolls for sunset.

Luckily next morning while departing i give one last glance back at camp as we pull out and question a wetness where i was parked. Tried to shrug it off but pulled over at camp hosts site to toss trash and sure enough...... spirting coolant like blood from an artery. The culprit is a torn throttle body coolant hose. Luckily i could just pull off block, cut off last inch and half and reinstall. I love easy fixes ..... esp when that could have got ugly on a long arizona drive.

Time to burn up some asphalt. This is awaiting our arrival by afternoon

 

[jfz80]

I could dump incredible pics here for a while but will try and keep it simple and more of a summary than trip report

Two days on the north rim of grand canyon were great. Unfortunately we arrived the day before the gates were unlocked :/

Word of caution. It is a loooong drive from the south rim (where we had to get permits cause north office wasnt open yet) to the north rim of the canyon but incredible scenery ....for about 8 hours

Still got a couple nights on the edge with what seemed like the whole canyon to ourselves. Our rally speed run to try and catch susnset at firepoint camp took a lil "new" off that shiny clear windshield but ive probably never quite had that much fun behind the wheel. And the new windshield never squeaked once. Win.

Waking up on the edge at Firepoint camp the next day

Working the new kitchen setup for the first time the next night at crazy jug. The partner stove was my big splurge for the trip. No regrets!

Even the drive back out via an interior road was incredible amongst the poderosas.

However the reintroduction to public was harsh lol. Finally found civilization and fuel up only to come out and find the attendant trying to go the extra mile for a tip...by washing my truck with the window squeegee. Wth?!?

 

[jfz80]

Back on asphalt its time to boogie. We are meeting a group of mudders in glen canyon rec area in two days.

We breeze through monument valley passing valley of the gods and up the Moki Dugway. Holy poop. Now thats a road. And quite the rewarding campsite at the top of the dugway. A touch of tech or at least gear chat. The front runner wolf pack boxes shown here proved awesome to keep the truck organized and gear accesible with the need to empty and repack truck daily for sleeping

Trail repair 2 and 3. Its true. Duct tape and JB weld CAN fix about anything LOL. The waterjug surprised me but it held for the next 2 weeks over incredible terrain without fail. Both deserve a place in the tool bag.

Almost a shame to pass through these places so fast but we have a schedule to keep. We pack up and head for glen canyon and pull in that afternoon to find the whole crew already there. Amazing how you can meet complete strangers that youve "known" on MUD for years and feel like good friends from the first step.

Time to wash down some dust before hitting the trail to avoid paying for a night in the camp with wilderness at our fingertips. Desert staple

 

[jfz80]

We hit the Hole In The Rock trail for 8 days of wheeling bliss. There really arent many words to describe this trip but 3 come to mind. Fawking Mind Boggeling.

Full trip report there ^ thats worth spending a few hours scrolling through.


Soooo remember that screw? Yup. Evidently it was happy at 40 psi but onced aired down not so much. The next morning awoke with a flat.

Trip repair 4 and another two items to have. Tire repair kit and air source on board. Both saved the day here so we could get on to better things .... such as