Builds Big Red Toy

[The Phoenician]

Could add a lot of wear to your tie rods and steering components if its the front end you feel it in...

It's the back right, at least I think it's the right side.

Just took the wheels off, the spacers are still tight, checked the oil in the t/c, everything looks good. Also on a personal note, I finally got the last tiny piece of shrapnel from my forehead out, it only took 7 years. Big day overall.

 

[The Phoenician]

Nothing big, I just took the wheels to get the tires turned 180 degrees so that I can better balance them. Got most to 0 the worst one was 1.25 ounces off. Over all it rides much better on the highway. Now That I have spacers on I'm really paranoid about retightening them. They have however improved handling and turning at higher speeds (wider base). I also wanted to show the PVC inserts that help make these tires a double beadlock tire in case anyone is interested in getting these in the future.

 

[The Phoenician]

Took Big Red to hidden falls today. Had a blast, didn't do anything too major, mostly stuck to level 3 and one level 5 by accident. Had to turn around in the tightest spot after some two wheel teetering. Splashed around in some puddles from last nights rain, was very impressed with the 4bt's torque and 4 low. Had a tire puncture, fixed it and continued the rest of the day. Most of the pictures were from the very beginning of the day when my "spotter" was still excited. Towards the middle to the end of the day the novelty wore out and she gave up on spotting and filming or reading a map.


this is just to show how much you can stuff a wheel. I changed the tires back to the bias plies before heading there


water fun


more fun

 

[The Phoenician]

had a flat coming up this hill. Plugged it, took a quick pit stop, air back up and continued.

 

[The Phoenician]

I don't know how to enbed a file so here's the link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4G9aRMC440

and another one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_SEoTtcVf8

and another one

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZK7Q5193Xgs&feature=youtu.be

there's more I need to upload, but I'm gonna eat first.

 

[The Phoenician]

a few more random ones.


here the scenery reminds me of Lebanon. Hills and greenery. I used to wheel with the land rover club back then.



this is right as I started one of the trails.



And this is right after the plugged the tire leak and aired it back up. I'm so glad I remembered to grab my fix a flat gear from the shed before heading out this morning.

 

[The Phoenician]

found the rear breather hose detached this afternoon. Ended up replacing it with a 3 ft hose just so it doesn't come off when the rear flexes again. The rear valve on it is one way, which makes me wonder how does air get back in when the temps cool? Anyway now I suspect that I might have some water in the rear diff, but not too overly concerned about it since it's the one that moves constantly and I'll be replacing it with the 3.7 once I get the money lined up.

EDIT: it's not letting me attach pictures. Will try again later.

 

[The Phoenician]

ok now it's letting me post pictures. so after doing this



I found this breather hose detached from the axle nipple




ended up buying a 3ft hose and replacing it, now it looks like this



now I'm thinking maybe my rear brake hose also needs lengthening.

 

[TallCanDan]

I'll send you this one if it works for you, it came with the 4+ lift from MAF and I went with a longer one. Ran this one a couple months. Measures 15 1/2" from clip to bottom of the hex.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

now I'm thinking maybe my rear brake hose also needs lengthening.

Looks like you needed an extended brakeline before you took that clip off the frame!

Get a longer line on there and make sure the hardline is still in good shape, no kinks

 

[The Phoenician]

Thanks TallCanDan. I'm gonna see if I get a longer one just in case. The rear travels quite a bit and I'd rather have too much than too little.
GLTHFJ60, There isn't a kink per say in it, but it does bend downwards. I'm hoping it will last a couple more weeks before I tackle it. Got a couple of deadlines on other stuff that's coming up.

Now that the major things in the rig are working, the littler stuff are becoming more apparent. I'm sure more stuff will pop up.

 

[90FJ]

 

[The Phoenician]

90FJ, thanks for posting that up, I need to learn how to embed videos. I think that's what I'll end up doing, just using another factory rear brake line. For the record I bought the rig with the short brake line already in it. I should have fixed it a while back, but it just never was a priority until now.

 

[TallCanDan]

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MeqSGE6P-0">YouTube Link</a>

Well that's just awesome! Do the whole truck for 40 bucks, sounds like a best mods under 50 buck thread entry to me!
Watching the video I thought "mine are good enough, right?" but after the comparison with all the different added layers of the factory lines I'm thinking a little differently now.
Didn't mean to hijack ya Phoenician!

 

[90FJ]

That said I just ordered some extended lines from the local parts store, I think it was less than $40.

Wheeliepete the youtube poster is a buddy of mine and helped me build my first Tacoma, check out his other vids. Super smart and helpful guy.

http://m.youtube.com/#/user/WheeliePete?&desktop_uri=/user/WheeliePete

 

[The Phoenician]

Well that's just awesome! Do the whole truck for 40 bucks, sounds like a best mods under 50 buck thread entry to me!
Watching the video I thought "mine are good enough, right?" but after the comparison with all the different added layers of the factory lines I'm thinking a little differently now.
Didn't mean to hijack ya Phoenician!

Hijack away buddy, I'm learning from you guys. I'm gonna drive down to the local land cruiser shop now to see if I also need to change the hardlines.

 

[The Phoenician]

ok now I'm obsessing over this brake line hose. The longest hose I was able to find was this from Man-a-fre.
http://www.man-a-fre.com/parts_accessories/StainlessSteelBraidedDOTBrakeLines.htm

I think it's the same one that TallCanDan has. Any ideas on where to get longer ones? If I can't find one I'll just have to use a bracket to secure the hard line and use the Man-a-fre one. I like the video where you add two OEM ones together, but my paranoia is telling me that it's only one more place it can leak from. Open to ideas and suggestions.

 

[The Phoenician]

anyone have experience with this?

http://www.sor.com/cat086b.sor

 

[The Phoenician]

Look what I got in the mail today!





Had a bracket put in to keep the metal brake line from flexing and installed the new brake hose from SOR.Here's a before and after, the picture doesn't do it much justice, but the new hose is a few inches longer

Before



After



on a separate note, started my first batch of biodiesel. It's not a huge quantity, just enough to get the process down.

 

[The Phoenician]

Here's a question for the diesel guys. My rig usually runs at 190*. With the AC on it can get up to 200* on a hot day. Today with the Texas summer heat at its peak and the ac running and me accelerating hard I managed to get to 210*, but it would go back to 200ish when I'm cruising again. Now I don't feel any change/loss in power or boost or anything, ( yes my EGTs are still kinda high), but I'm wondering what's the normal operating temp supposed to be? I tried looking at 4btswaps, but there are too many different answers and too many other variables. I want to know what the guys with Land cruisers and 4bts are getting. Thanks.