Bruce: the Great White 80 (2 Viewers)

[jynx]

So today was a Yuge day. We nailed it down.

Started the morning taking the front axle around to the truck bay for final installation.

Bolted the radius arms on and started lifting the axle back under. Installed springs and front shocks.

Then tightened up the hardware and installed the driveshaft, tightened the brake lines and started gravity bleeding the new front brakes while I was fiddling with some misc stuff. Then I tightened up the hub nuts and thru on the brand new @cruiseroutfit hubs.

Sexy!

And while I was fiddling with the axle @Mrsjynx was working on the battery situation. Out came the old busted box, the optima box and some other misc stuff and in went a brand new OE box, new bolts, bar and a fresh Odessy 27M.

I still need to tweak it a little, but it's in and solid.

So with the fresh battery in, I put 5 gallons of the co-ops finest non-ethanol in the tank, and pulled the coil wire and had Erin turn the motor over a few times to prime things up. Checked the oil and after a little prayer I reconnected the coil and had her fire it. I was super impressed, like 3rd roll it hit and fired right up. We let it idle for a few and then shut it down.

So then on went the a set of tires we got from a local guy.

They were a little low on air, so aired them up and topped off the diff fluid and we sat him down on all 4s for the first time in like 6 weeks.

I pulled it out of the shop and putted around the drive a bit. Runs, drives, shifts and stops, so I'm super happy, but we did discover a new problem. The T-case won't shift out of high. So that is the new thing to work on tomorrow.

 

[jynx]

Well, we had some running to do today, so I got at it a little later.

First had to pull the cover plate off the floor to access the linkages. Unhooked the t-case shift rod and the damn handle was stuck and would not budge. So 4 bolts and out it came.

I read online a guy put his in a vise and beat the hell out of it to loosen it up, In the absence of a vise, I screwed it to a wood top table and proceeded to use the red deadblow to beat the loving piss out of it.

I got it moving back and forth a little so I could drive out the roll pin, then after a lot of PB Blaster, a little heat, some pry bar persuasion and more deadblow action, I was able to work the crank out of the shift lever.

The steel shaft was corroded in the aluminum and had seized inside the housing.

So I wire wheeled the loose stuff off, then 220 grit and a scotchbrite to clean it up. Then I worked a green scotchbrite into the housing, tightened down the drill chuck on it and worked it over good. Cleaned everything good, hit all the bits with some moly grease and reassembled.

It moved better now than I think it ever has.

So with that done, and with a little prayer said, I took it out and bolted it back down and hooked up the linkage and BAM! clicked thru H-N-L like it just rolled off the line, maybe even better.

Some antiseize on the connections and I have to find a new clip since I mangled the old one removing it and then put the console back together and we are in business.

It's insured and Erin is going to get a tag for it tomorrow.

Other than that, I need to tie the exhaust up off the rear output flange, and we should be good to go. New exhaust will be a project for after we make our camping trip this weekend.

 

[Tennessee80]

wow, the truck is looking great. That front bumper is awesome, too

 

[jynx]

wow, the truck is looking great. That front bumper is awesome, too

Thanks Joel. It's amazing how my gearing changes when Erin sets a deadline...

The bumper is from Cruisin' off-road and is set up to hold an 8274 if I can ever line one up for it.

 

[jynx]

Well, I'm really bad at documenting the reassembly, but I got all the underneaths reconnected and it goes in gear, and we have low range now.

Took him around the long block to bed in the new rotors and pads. Sorry for the blurry picture, but it's proof it does move.

So now I just have to swap the rear tires, scrape the extra goo off the windshield, throw the floor mats back in and put some miles on it this week.

Then recheck all the bolts before we head out for a little camping trip this weekend.

 

[Hugh Heifer]

Where are you guys headed? We are going to Lake Hartwell for shenanigans

 

[jynx]

Text inbound @Hugh Heifer

 

[jynx]

Swapped the rear tires and threw the floor mats in and plan to drive it tomorrow.

Wish me luck.

 

[jynx]

Put about 150 miles on Bruce today. Came home with everything I left with. Best I can figure I got between 12 and 14 mpg. Speedo is way off, like showing 85 running 68 off. And an exhaust is the next major thing it needs.

 

[jynx]

Full trip report to follow. Made it home, roughly 200 miles and 36 hours in the truck, 4 highway, 10 trail, 7 sleeping, the rest parked in a killer camping spot.

@Onur finally got some of them parts back on the road.

Short list of MUSTs, and some other misc items that are on the to-do will be included.

 

[jynx]

So all this work to get Bruce back on the go was for a Cove trip for @BMThiker 's Birthday. Trip got postponed because I needed another week to finish everything. Anyone who knows the cove knows that a trip thru is basically the ultimate shake-down. Sand, lots of river rock, water crossings, Mud, ledges, climbs, you name it, the cove probably has it. And beyond that, it is haul it in and haul it out, so breakdowns are bad news.

Well this trip almost ended before it started.

Making rounds on the way out of town, noticed a drip, one of the rear heater hose clamps was giving up and I had to make an emergency repair in the hobby lobby parking lot. Hot coolant burns and a clean shirt later and I was seriously debating calling it. But we pressed on. Figured we'd get lunch, then check it out and make a call.

Met for lunch at the Dutch Maid Bakery in Tracy city before heading in on the Palmer side. The goal was to stay on the north end to avoid the water from all the rain the week before. Trip in went well, couple ledges and a few hours and we found a nice spot down by the river just off the main trail and set up for the night.

Hannah got the eno, we slept in the truck.

Street tacos by the biolite.

First real good burn on the biolite. Puts out excellent heat, very efficient use of the wood. And after close to 6 hours of run time, the battery pack was still at 75% charge (3 bars).

And while we sat around enjoying whiskey and cigars, Hannah got tired of our adulting and built a boat.

Now, I'm gonna tell you all, this made me super proud as a dad. She squirrelled away and did this all by herself. We successfully launched it in the creek the next morning. It did very well in the flat water, but the rapids were a different story. We all went to bed and had we known what the next day held, we would have likely had more to drink and slept later...

 

[FJCRAWLER]

Ok, two question…
1) Did you say you have a battery operated fire pit/grill?
2) What happened the next day? I feel like an election chad.

 

[jynx]

Lol, sorry for that @FJCRAWLER and before we go much farther, I did a terrible job with pictures, we were mostly just working our way thru the woods and the phone, was in the console and I didn't bother with it most of the day. Just grabbed a couple pics here and there.

So we started out good. I tightened my power steering belt, which had started to squeal and checked the fluid. And after a successful launch of the SS tinytanic, We took out and I noticed that the fan was buzzing the shroud. Pretty sure the drivers side motor mount is shot. This will become important in a few hours. Anyway, We had to head further south to the split to make our way out on the tracy city side. So as we made our way south we kept finding more and more mud holes with random bypasses. So at one point Towers in his hundy ends up in front of Rick and ends up staring at 2 big mud holes. He picks a line and...

So Rick picks the alternate line and...

So Rick pulls line and drags himself and that giant log out of the hole. With him thru, Dugan makes a run, and pulls cable. Then Brian pulled Towers out. So then I tried to avoid those holes, but put a giant dent in the drivers door, so not stuck, but dented door. Think I should've just took the cable.

So out of that mess, we eased along watching Gaia like a hawk. We had to cut some fallen trees and finally got to the split, only to miss the first turn, but just barely. I wish I had gotten a picture of all the random paths that the SxS crowds have cut thru the woods. It is maddening to be honest. Anyway we found the way and made our way thru to the church. At the church the map makes it look like there is a road out, never tried it, no logs on it, but it looks like it's there, so ready to get out of the woods we gave it a shot... IT IS NOT A ROAD... for the record. Might have been, but it ain't no MO. So after turning 4 trucks around about 3/4 way up the side of a mountain, we were back at the church and on our way out. Again, SxS bypasses, highcentering a log and a jack-knifed trailer which busted a tail light got us off trail. A little jockeying and we got back on the path. Then there was the next mud-hole checker game. We hit a stretch where it was about 10 holes in a row, just had to chose your line and make a run for it. Fortunately we all rolled thru and after a little while we were at the base of the climb out. Just as we made the turn to start up I glanced down only to notice my temp is pegged in the red.

So remember when I said my motor mount was bad and letting the fan contact the shroud, well it moved enough that it basically wedged the fan between the rad and shroud, so no air moving equals over heating. So in order to get it free I basically had to take a pair of pliers and destroy the top of the shroud... I'll have to get a pic of that carnage, and I hope I can find another shroud. So with that, Temps started down and we start the long climb out.

Then on a ledge, the truck walked and this happened.

The picture doesn't do it justice. I felt like I was about to flop, but the rear diff was planted on the ledge and I was turtled. Brian turned around and with a little smittybuilt assistance I was up. Then it was just the Slow chug to the top. 2nd gear low range for what felt like ages. We hit the gravel at around 5:30ish. We left camp at around 10ish. So roughly 8 hours of plugging and chugging.

Then while airing up Brian discovers this,

Something managed to basically break about 4" of the lip off his front drivers wheel. Quick change to the spare. It was amazing that it was still holding air. Towers also found half a log wedged in his front Passenger wheel so he swapped to his spare as well. And with everyone aired up we said our good-byes and everyone made a bee-line for home.

It was a great trip, but I think we were all ready to be out of the woods.

Carnage report included:

Rick's FJ- I think just a busted tail lense. He did find a loose starter lead, but I think that had been an issue previously, just found it. His trailer spare did give it up after being drug thru the mud and over a number of ledges.

Towers Hundy - I think he just had the tree in his tire. He did awesome. On basically street tires, he pointed that thing and it pretty well went up, over and thru everything he aimed it at. The hundy with some MTs and a winch will be a force to be recon'd with.

Brian's GX - he had the busted wheel and I think his rear e-locker wiring came loose, but since his last time, he made it a plug, so just had to plug it back in.

My 80 - actual trail damage is the massive dent in the drivers door. The fan shroud was a casualty of the bad motor mount, but it is trashed either way.

So what's next.

1. New motor mounts. Got to keep all 67 of those horses at bay.
2. New fan shroud. You know once I get the mounts fixed.
3. New exhaust. It's total junk. Needs to be redone from the manifolds all the way to the tailpipe.

Once I get that stuff sorted I need to go thru and check all the bolts to make sure nothing else is loose. Towers noticed my wobble and diagnosed it as a loose Panhard. Simple fix, but need to check the rest of the bolts. Then I need to go thru the AC. It likely needs all the things. I'm pretty sure either it's still on R22, so I'll need to convert it. And then I need to get a winch and a rear swing out tire carrier. That kind of is the immediate and interim lists. Long term, I have more interesting plans.

Whilst sitting around the fire we got to talking. (And yes Rocky, it is a battery powered camp stove, and it is rather amazing. The battery actually powers a fan that keeps the fire stoked, kinda like an old forge). So the old 3FE is getting long in the tooth and finding injectors, MAFs and pretty much anything for the fuel injection is getting hard to do. We kicked the tires on rebuilding the 3FE, doing an LS swap, heck even a 1FZ out of a newer 80, but the thing that kind of caught my ear was to do a 3F carb manifold swap with a holley kit. So I am currently investigating sourcing a non-NA 3F carb head, with manifold and then topping it off with a sniper. Get rid of all the Toyota efi and go to a simple more modern system. Then have the trans rebuilt and add a wholesale automatic nomad valve body and back all that up with the part-time t-case I have. Seems counter intuitive to go back to a carb head, but the 3FE was kind of a bastard child for like 4 years, available in the US market and carb'd 3Fs were in 4 different models in the rest of the world for several years, so they are out there. I'm doing my research and we'll see how it goes.

Main thing now is to get mounts ordered and find a good, and I mean good exhaust shop that wants to tackle trying to build a complete exhaust for this thing.

I'll get a picture of the shroud and door tomorrow.

So now it runs and drives and I'll probably start driving it more and working out the kinks as I go.

All in all, to have sat for close to 6 years, have not moved from his spot in the corner for the last 2, to then be asked to do what we just did with basically a fresh axle, some new plugs and a tank of co-ops finest non-ethanol 87, I'm pretty damn proud of him.

He needs a bath and then I gotta get the thermostat swapped in the WarPig and get it ready for Crawl coming up in 2 weeks.

 

[FJCRAWLER]

Oh boy, I’ve been on them trail rides before, not fun. Glad everyone was able to drive home.
I kind of feel bad. When I seen the old fan and shroud l started to mention you probably have a broken motor mount. Ran into the same fan and shroud issue on my 40 years ago. Makes a heck of a noise.

 

[Hugh Heifer]

We have a really good shop down the street. They did a custom set up for my last 40 from the headers on back. It was cheap and very well done. They did it in half a day.

 

[jynx]

Funny thing is, I was pretty sure it was a motor mount when it blew out originally, but I took a chance on it. New mounts and a new shroud are being ordered this week.

 

[BMThiker]

HAHA, yeah, it was a long day on Sunday!
Here's what ground we covered in the two days (18 miles total and <6 hours of moving time!)

Day two:

And here's what some of those tracks look like zoomed in on day two, negotiating mudholes, going around trees, dead ends explored. . .

 

[BMThiker]

The BioLite firepit in action - basically a large battery powers a forced air induction manifold above and below the flames to cut down on smoke.

Our camp near a creek was spacious and temperate.

I took some damage on the suicide door, squeezing by a tree.

Took a sharp right turn down a slippery mudhole and the trailer mounted awning kissed my rear tail lens. I also took out the front blinker assembly trying to - you guessed it - squeeze by a tree.

 

[BMThiker]

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[BMThiker]

Something managed to basically break about 4" of the lip off his front drivers wheel.

I'm pretty sure it happened on the last big hill climb before it levels out a bit and you got hung on that ledge. I reviewed some video of us getting through the last of the mudholes (when Towers inadvertently took lead) and Dugan's wheel was fine at that time.

That hill climb is super rocky and steep enough that you just want to maintain speed and keep rolling through whatever is in your way. We climbed about 500-600 ft in elevation in less than 1/2 mile.