Builds Gerry's Build thread: "If it happens again I'm buying an Abrams" (9 Viewers)

[rampantwolf]

So sorry to hear about your loss. I enjoy your thread and have subbed for some time now. Hearing the news about the passing of your buddy Norman made me think about how much I appreciate my spirit animal Dogo Solo, a Texas hybrid (Blue healer/Australian Shepard). He is stuck to my side as Norman was to you. Constantly looking to me more affection/guidance.

take care buddy

 

[LexGx]

Just reading story and my heart breaks for you. To some they're pets but to others, (myself included) they're family. It sounds like you gave him the best life and that's all he could ever ask for. He'll always be with you in spirit.

 

[Berkut10r]

Goose,

Sorry to hear about your dog, my deepest condolences.

I just read the whole thread, took me a few days, and several questions came to mind in reference to the DS. After all said and done, you would not recommend Wood's DSs are at all? or just the keeping the rear OEM and getting the cardon just for the front? When you changed out your driveshafts & ujoints, what else did you freshen up?

 

[MongooseGA]

Goose,

Sorry to hear about your dog, my deepest condolences.

I just read the whole thread, took me a few days, and several questions came to mind in reference to the DS. After all said and done, you would not recommend Wood's DSs are at all? or just the keeping the rear OEM and getting the cardon just for the front? When you changed out your driveshafts & ujoints, what else did you freshen up?

Thank you.

I can't hate on the TW shafts too much at this point, though it's worth noting that they were way out of balance when I received them. For the price (I think they were comparable to new OEM), the thicker metal on the shaft is nice. The paint job sucks but that's not really that important.

Currently I've got a re-balanced TW rear shaft in, and a rebuilt OEM front shaft. I have the other 2 as spares. No special reason I have the OEM in front other than I never swapped the TW back in after having it balanced. The double cardon in the front shaft is pointless for our vehicle as there's no need for it.

To your last question, I think I replaced the flange on the rear diff when I did all of this. Don't quote me, though. In my case, it would have been due to damage, not necessary otherwise.

 

[MongooseGA]

Not a ton happening with Gerry but there's been a tad.

A few weeks ago I had my spare tire swung out from the bumper and noticed a pretty big disparity in the gap between DS and PS. Got under and inspected, to find that the two main bolts that hold the cross-member to the frame have straight-up fallen out. Wtf...

So I hit up my friend Mr. Carr and had him send me a few M14x1.5x60mm bolts, big washers, and some split washers to replace all of the bolts on both sides. Feels good, man.

I also had tires rotated this week at 290,400 miles. That's about 25k in 10.5 months, surely will finish the year over 30k on them. Still wearing well, I'd go with them again.

Oil change yesterday. I decided to stop being a friggin' moron fighting to keep my front skid plate on the truck and not covered in oil- bought a large form-a-funnel. Get the name-brand one, the off-brands from amazon are kind of chintzy. Worked like a charm, then just rolled it up and put with my other funnels.

I threw my grease gun in the trash yesterday because it's been a POS since I bought it. I'll need to pick up another to finish this 5k maintenance service.




Lastly, I'm breaking in a new trail buddy. After spending about two months mildly depressed and randomly definitely-not-crying while doing the dishes or whatever, I decided it was time to make a few phone calls. We brought this little guy home a few weeks ago and he's been a blast. Not positive what he's mixed with but I'm leaning toward GSD and Rotty/Dobie. Meet Edgar, 10 weeks old. He's got big shoes to fill but he's already a great car-companion and garage-buddy.

 

[ClassyJalopy]

Congrats on the new buddy! And that shop looks like a million bucks - must be fun to spend time working on your projects in a proper shop.

I know your truck sees more trail time than most here, but still pretty unusual to see bolts just walking off completely like that!! Have you used the red thread locker on them?

 

[MongooseGA]

Congrats on the new buddy! And that shop looks like a million bucks - must be fun to spend time working on your projects in a proper shop.

I know your truck sees more trail time than most here, but still pretty unusual to see bolts just walking off completely like that!! Have you used the red thread locker on them?

Thanks Abe! The garage is definitely nice, a welcome upgrade from the last place.

I didn't use thread locker- mistake on my part. I'm still surprised they came out. Initially I thought maybe the captured nuts had broken and that was the cause, but they're still solid and in-place. On these new ones (I replaced all, not just the missing one) I went with threadlocker and split lock washers.

BTW are you going to be making it out to Windrock for the event next month?

 

[ClassyJalopy]

Thanks Abe! The garage is definitely nice, a welcome upgrade from the last place.

I didn't use thread locker- mistake on my part. I'm still surprised they came out. Initially I thought maybe the captured nuts had broken and that was the cause, but they're still solid and in-place. On these new ones (I replaced all, not just the missing one) I went with threadlocker and split lock washers.

BTW are you going to be making it out to Windrock for the event next month?

Dude, I'd love to come over and hang out at Windrock but the work schedule won't allow it unfortunately
It will be a blast with the mix of 100 and 200s and my LX is finally ready for prime time but I gotta keep my job too

 

[MongooseGA]

Busy busy busy! Gerry has been here there are everywhere recently.

A few weeks back, our usual local crew made a run out to one of our favorite trail/camping spots. We got a little rainy but was a good trip otherwise. @Wermz made a video for it here:



(BTW, if you haven't seen his channel Big City Offroad, check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUPejrAwi2mAU4QQ4ZhxtTw )

On that trip, I had 2 issues arise: 1- The guys stopped me out of the trail slinging gear oil from my rear pinion seal. Ok, can do. 2- My HID low-beams are just done. One too many baths, I think, in the mud. Or rivers. IDK, they were toast and I could not for the life of me get both projectors to fire at the same time. That blows.

So as soon as we got home from Coppinger, I had to get moving and prepping to leave for COTR. @Wermz put an OEM pinion seal in my truck and I just replaced my entire HID system short of the actual projectors. So new 55w ballasts (from 35w), new 6000k bulbs (from 5000K), new ignitors, and new relays. I gotta say, this combo is much more light than I originally had and I'm happy with it for now. This will prolong my plans to swap projectors.

With all of that out of the way and the truck ready for the next trip, we packed up and headed out to COTR at Windrock Park.

 

[MongooseGA]

My fiancee and I, along with little Edgar, rolled in to Windrock for COTR on Wednesday. I won't put all of the pics here, there's a thread for that, but here are some highlights:

 

[MongooseGA]

 

[MongooseGA]

Before I continue, I recently learned some think my name is Gerry.

It's not. Gerry is the truck. It's pronounced "Jerry". My name is G.A.


So at Windrock we made a ton of new friends and I can't wait to wheel with you guys again soon. When we got home, it was time to get Gerry cleaned up and assess what needed to be addressed. First order of business, let's figure out why this is leaking...

No that's not rust. That's a very consistent layer of Georgia on my truck.

Luckily the bolt was just loose. Very bizarre as I watched it getting torqued in after the pinion seal. If I had to guess, I whacked a pointy enough rock to push a corner of the bolt just enough to leak a little. Re-tightened and good to go.

Next up, these skids...

It's not very clear in the picture, but that skid is concave now. It should be flat. I appreciate that these skids exist, but they are no longer sufficient for my vehicle. Plan is to re-shape the original control arm mount, wrap it in more steel (welded on), and have a piece of slider bar run diagonally from the mount to the frame about a foot forward. This will give me something to slide on instead of just slamming that mount and skid in to rocks, and will give the necessary strength for when it's needed. I'm also looking to have extra steel welded to the bottom of the rear pumpkin, built up to match the height of the drain plug's protective collar.

Like this: 9.5" diff armor, it does exist! - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/9-5-diff-armor-it-does-exist.1012164/

(If any of our metal fab guys want to take a crack at this, I'm a buyer right away if you can put a sellable product together)

I also got a rock stuck in my brake at COTR, so the truck was making all kind of glorious sounds most of the week. (Sorry everyone).

 

[MongooseGA]

Over this past weekend, we went out to another one of our go-to spots in North GA. Video coming for that soon I imagine, but I was just so ****ing tickled that the trail was dry for the first time we'd ever seen. Guys, it's amazing what these trucks can do when there's grip to be had. I mean, rocks... They're basically big pieces of sand paper but when they're wet, they slip. Dry though? Holy crap I was impressed by my own truck. Damn, we really need to go out west.

My brakes made more god-awful noises so I resolved that when I got home, I'd take the rear calipers apart and clean them.

Good thing. There wasn't a rock.

I'm pretty sure these Toyota pads that came out were only a year, 25-30k old. Not really impressed if they're wearing out that quickly, but I suppose the truck does see more 'use' than most.

So new pads from Mr. T and we're back in business with quiet, smooth, powerful brakes!

Mileage is 293,375.

Then a real bath because she's worth it and in the garage next to the next project.

Side note: I've had Gerry for 3 years last week. It's been fun!

 

[craaaazzy]

Over this past weekend, we went out to another one of our go-to spots in North GA. Video coming for that soon I imagine, but I was just so f***ing tickled that the trail was dry for the first time we'd ever seen. Guys, it's amazing what these trucks can do when there's grip to be had. I mean, rocks... They're basically big pieces of sand paper but when they're wet, they slip. Dry though? Holy crap I was impressed by my own truck. Damn, we really need to go out west.

View attachment 2833581

My brakes made more god-awful noises so I resolved that when I got home, I'd take the rear calipers apart and clean them.

Good thing. There wasn't a rock.

View attachment 2833574
View attachment 2833575

I'm pretty sure these Toyota pads that came out were only a year, 25-30k old. Not really impressed if they're wearing out that quickly, but I suppose the truck does see more 'use' than most.

So new pads from Mr. T and we're back in business with quiet, smooth, powerful brakes!

Mileage is 293,375.

Then a real bath because she's worth it and in the garage next to the next project.

View attachment 2833577
View attachment 2833576


Side note: I've had Gerry for 3 years last week. It's been fun!

What’s the plan for the SC300? Had one years back that I install a Boostlogic kit along with meth and it was a fun car…heavy but fun.

 

[MongooseGA]

What’s the plan for the SC300? Had one years back that I install a Boostlogic kit along with meth and it was a fun car…heavy but fun.

Something along those lines. Maybe not to the point of meth injection but I've got an arbitrary figure of 500whp in my mind. I expect to need to replace the existing w58 trans in it to safely run that, though.

I'm still waiting on a large bill to finish out my 560 but until then I've started little cheaper projects on the SC. Started with a TRD shift knob. Had ceramic tint put on. This past week I broke down a set of LS400 front calipers to send out for powder. I'm still shopping for a nice set of used oem Supra TT rears. Will probably put in an HID projector retrofit after the holidays... It'll look like this build thread with less impact related damage and more forward propulsion.

 

[craaaazzy]

You’ll want to replace the w58 especially if your goals are at the 500 rwhp range. I went with the r154 (from memory) and a nice clutch. Meth was used to provide additional fuel, not cooling in my instance.

 

[MongooseGA]

You’ll want to replace the w58 especially if your goals are at the 500 rwhp range. I went with the r154 (from memory) and a nice clutch. Meth was used to provide additional fuel, not cooling in my instance.

In my early research, it looks like the move now is to go with a Nissan cd009 from a Z car. 6- speed and evidently good for 800+ hp. And still available well under $2k.

This won't be a quick process, but I've been wanting to build an SC since I had a 400 in high school.

 

[MongooseGA]

Just updating. Did an oil change and 5-tire rotation the week before last at 295k. I've since done a round trip to VA, will be driving to OK and back this week, and a round trip to PCB in 2 weeks. Old girl will be at 300k by the end of the month!

 

[MongooseGA]

We did it, boys! Since the 295k we've had trips to VA and OK, lots of rolling. Gerry rolled 300k on Thursday night last week. Did an oil change and headed out on a road trip to Florida. I'm sitting at the shop while the tires get rotated again. "Didn't we just see you like 2 weeks ago? " I've got a new Toyota HMC 300k sticker on the way in.

She also got treated to a new vanity tag. Some dickbags in VA have taken every single good version of "100" so we got creative.

Just waiting to break one of my Mercedes out of the shop and @Wermz gets the truck for 300k service. Pretty positive I'm over due for new CVs, they are feeling pretty crappy now.

 

[Wermz]

Bring it on!!