Build Deer Slayer - KCJAZ's Build/Re-Build Thread

[kcjaz]

Currently here:

It won’t budge. I’ve watched a video and all the guy did was pry it out with a couple pry bars. I can’t find a position that my bars get any leverage. I may go and find a slide hammer.

 

[kcjaz]

Joy. Hit it with a little PB Blaster and figured out I could pry against the tin dust cover and it will just slide off.

Aftermarket bump stop in the way but easy to remove.

Unfortunately the new seal I have appears to be the wrong one. The old seal, seems to be in perfect shape. I did find a piece of non-magnetic hard debris that may have been the issue. I’ll post in the other thread with more detail.

 

[hoser]

If leaking out of both sides, check for clogged breather.

 

[kcjaz]

If leaking out of both sides, check for clogged breather.

Yes indeed. I had that on the rear. Didn’t think about here so thanks for the reminder.

 

[kcjaz]

I may be thinking of my 3rd gen 4runner, but the seals need to be at a certain depth, you can push them in too far and they will leak. The FSM should have the correct depth.

I’ve got the cruiser patch seal installed tool. You can’t over insert the seal using it.

 

[kcjaz]

I hope to finish up the CV reinstall and hopefully have none leaking CVs. When I drained the front differential, the oil looked pretty bad for less than a year and only about 7K miles. I told a sample and sent it to Blackstone. Got the analysis back today. Not great. Hopefully I haven’t trashed the diff too bad.

 

[kcjaz]

Continuing with my prep for Moab, at the suggestion if @bloc I went to take a UOA sample from the rear differential to compare with the UOA I did on the front. Since there was only 7200 miles on the gear oil, I wasn’t going to change the rear. Glad I looked at it, not glad what I found:

The gears (4.88s) have been in for 3+ years. During the component swap fest from my totaled rig to my current one (2 years ago), we moved the entire rear axle. I have been noticing a slight whine/whistle when coasting that started about the same we moved the axle and other stuff. Note sure it’s coming from the rear differential. Note sure what to do here other than button it up and roll on. Maybe I’ll take a short road trip and check the oil again. I don’t really want to be in the middle of the San Rafael and have my rear differential go out.

 

[kcjaz]

As I wait to get into the shop to have my diff looked at I’ve been working on a few other things:

I got the MM 3 SatGear mount for the Starlink this weekend and installed it. It required moving a load bar and drilling some holes, but the mounting system will be permanently on the rack and the MM3 has a semi quick disconnect to pull the starling off as needed.

I also figured out a way to mount Slee’s ARB Jack mount to my Dissent spare tire swing out:

I think I’ll either spray paint the brackets and the slotted square tube black or get them powder coated or something. I’m ditching the high lift.

 

[kcjaz]

Annual bath day for the cruiser. I keep the Rhinohide panels on all the time and they are doing there job keeping the paint nice and shiny. There are some scratches on the Rhino panels that would have been into the paint. The ceramic coat also holding up well and really makes washing easy. Just soap and rinse.

 

[kcjaz]

Spent the last day and a half doing miscellaneous odds and ends getting the rig ready for Moab. I ran into one hiccup in that I discovered my rear locker is not working after I had the pinion bearings replaced so back to the shop she goes. Pretty sure they crimped the copper tube inside the housing that goes to the locker. Everything else is working. I confirmed I’m getting air to the diff housing when I pull the tube off so it’s not the solenoid or compressor or a plugged line or a leak or any of that. Worst case is I have to do Moab without a rear locker. Not the end of the world, though I’ll probably want to locker at the Top of the World.

So the list of things I did is:

1. Modified and moved where I’m out the max tracks on my roof rack because of the Starlink.

2. Reinstalled all the bud built skids which includes chasing all the threads and reapplying anti seize. had several mounting bolts that actually got bent from hits. Replaced those.

3. After lots of gear oils research, for right or wrong I moved up to 85W-140 in the front diff to match what the shop and put in the rear. I did as much Internet research as I can stand on the topic there’s no definitive answer for the question “what oil should I use?” In the end I went with the recommendation of ECGS and the shop that replaced my pinion bearings. We’ll see.

4. Ground down the rear, diff plug protection, ring that the shop welded for me when they did the bearings and painted it to look pretty.

5. My Bud Built rear shock mount guards are really getting beat up. Also the shock mounts themselves are getting bent. I have fixed this before and blamed the ARB shocks for not having a sleeve in the eyelet that lack of sleeve weakens the amount pin, but I’m now convinced it’s the guard itself. That’s putting the force on the pin to bend it. I took a die grinder to the access hole so I could get a socket on the mounting bolts. If I need to if I had to replace a shock on the trail, I couldn’t have done it unless I took my grinder with me. Kind of hard to see in the picture, but the one with the socket on it shows the angle of the pen I’m gonna have to really fix this, but hopefully I can put that off till this fall.

6. My TrekBoxx second row platforms will not be here till the end of April so I made a temporary sleep platform nothing fancy, but I think it’ll work just fine for Moab.

 

[HSTexan]

Was getting the half-width cargo barrier a special order request? I'd love to be able to do something similar and utilize the passenger side to sleep when it's just me

 

[kcjaz]

Was getting the half-width cargo barrier a special order request? I'd love to be able to do something similar and utilize the passenger side to sleep when it's just me

Not sure it’s really a special request. He makes a platform for both sides. I actually ordered both. Not sure how I’m gonna use it or which one but it gives me options. He has quite a lead time though. I ordered mid February and it’d be the end of April or maybe middle of April when I get them.

I probably should’ve tried my homemade platform first before I ordered the real deal just to make sure that I’m gonna actually like sleeping in the truck what you see in the pictures about $25 worth of material and about half a day to figure out how to do it.

 

[HSTexan]

Not sure it’s really a special request. He makes a platform for both sides. I actually ordered both. Not sure how I’m gonna use it or which one but it gives me options. He has quite a lead time though. I ordered mid February and it’d be the end of April or maybe middle of April when I get them.

I probably should’ve tried my homemade platform first before I ordered the real deal just to make sure that I’m gonna actually like sleeping in the truck what you see in the pictures about $25 worth of material and about half a day to figure out how to do it.

Sorry, I didn't mean the second row platform I meant the cargo barrier ("headache rack") I only see the full width one available on his site

 

[kcjaz]

Sorry, I didn't mean the second row platform I meant the cargo barrier ("headache rack") I only see the full width one available on his site

View attachment 4114784

Yeah, he’s done it before so he has the design but it isn’t shown on his web site.