- Thread starter
- #681
Yeah the bottom bend of the bar is nicely scrubbed. Nothing horrible, but it's kissed a few frogs.
Builds Gerry's Build thread: "If it happens again I'm buying an Abrams" (8 Viewers)
- Thread starter MongooseGA
- Start date
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- Thread starter
- #682
I finished the bushings projects over the weekend. I fought one of the upper arms quite a bit to get the lock nut free and the Johnny joint to turn. Long story short, I rebuilt all 4 arms entirely, with new bushings on both sides. I shortened my upper arms 4-6 turns each and brought my pinion angle from 3° down to 0.65°. There's a noticeable improvement in driveline feel. Overall, very satisfying job.
Mileage is just a little under 320k.
See the slop in the old bushing below?
The new bushings pressed in.
My solution to not having the Johnny joint tool: 1.5" socket to compress the joint on the press, then remove the snap ring around the socket. Works beautifully.
Mileage is just a little under 320k.
See the slop in the old bushing below?
The new bushings pressed in.
My solution to not having the Johnny joint tool: 1.5" socket to compress the joint on the press, then remove the snap ring around the socket. Works beautifully.
- Thread starter
- #683
Nothing super exciting going on. This week was 5k maintenance. Had a 5-tire rotation on Friday and did oil/filter/lube today.
I have some new silicone grease on order for the urethane bushings. So fun, I'll get to run 2 grease guns for regular maintenance
I did a road trip a few weeks back to VA for the weekend. Truck rode nice on the way up, but started to feel really s***ty my first day running errands around VB. Turns out my DS upper trailing arm decided it didn't like the bolt that was holding it in place, so it just ejected it. Head scratcher. So for a temp fix I grabbed from decent hardware from Depot and arrived home to a set of all new bolts and nuts for all of the rear trailing arms. While my oil was draining today, I swapped out the interloper bolt and added temporary thread locker to everything.
Mileage is exactly 320k.
What's next? Not much. @patchagan is going to help me troubleshoot my non-op rear locker, then the truck gets gussied up with armor and 35s for JizzMeater in June.
I have some new silicone grease on order for the urethane bushings. So fun, I'll get to run 2 grease guns for regular maintenance
I did a road trip a few weeks back to VA for the weekend. Truck rode nice on the way up, but started to feel really s***ty my first day running errands around VB. Turns out my DS upper trailing arm decided it didn't like the bolt that was holding it in place, so it just ejected it. Head scratcher. So for a temp fix I grabbed from decent hardware from Depot and arrived home to a set of all new bolts and nuts for all of the rear trailing arms. While my oil was draining today, I swapped out the interloper bolt and added temporary thread locker to everything.
Mileage is exactly 320k.
What's next? Not much. @patchagan is going to help me troubleshoot my non-op rear locker, then the truck gets gussied up with armor and 35s for JizzMeater in June.
The OEM washer for the rear control arms is cupped- that holds tension on the bolt. If you used someone else’s hardware from a kit, toss it and use the OEM. Not possible to use OEM bolts on the lower if you have the skids on outside the front mount but you can use the OEM washer.
- Thread starter
- #685
Thanks for that.
I don't recall what I did for bolts when I installed the skids. They've since been removed, though.
- Thread starter
- #686
Well oh boy, lemme tell ya...
So my rear (e) locker has been non-op since last year. I found out on a super slippery, hot peanut-buttery trail ride on Beasley Knob. Not fun, especially when coupled with finding out that my old MTs were toast for the "M" part. I thought I'd fixed the locker, but then it was on vacay during COTR in October.
@patchagan came over last week to help diagnose, and together we found that definitively, power was getting from the relay under the hood to the end of the truck-side wiring. We tried a bunch of fiddling and whatnot, no dice. So we decided the next move was to pull the 3rd member and see what was up. That's when Patch left me and I had to do the hard part alone
Over the weekend I did the thing. I've not pulled apart an axle before so it was a fun experience. Nothing eventful in pulling. Put the axle on stands, remove the wheels, drain the diff, remove e-brake cable ends, remove speed sensor, remove and hang calipers, remove and hang rear end of the drive shaft, and remove the 4 17mm nuts holding the entire brake/hub/bearing assembly to the axle. A couple friendly whacks and it's all out. Pull the shafts out 6" and rest (level) on a jack stand. No need to take it all the way out for this. @Wermz came over to look at it with me for about 20 minutes. We both determined, it's a diff.
4x17mm nuts and ABS sensor pictured here.
Entire assembled 3rd member is out. You can see the entire axle shaft supported on a jack stand in the background, just a few inches out from its home. IB4 someone says something about resting the axle assembly on the wheel stud. It was fine. Get a life.
Here we can see the locker itself. It's the big bright silver chunk right in the middle. You can see the ramps and the pins that actually lock the diff. When open, it just spins free. When locked, the pins engage on the ends of the ramps and force everything to spin together. That's my layman's description. If I said something wrong, well the other people who don't know, won't know anyway.
Here's how it works:
OK so what was the problem with mine? Well, egg on my face, it ended up being a faulty connector. And wouldn't you know it, my gator clips that I used for testing were also faulty, so I was getting false info while diagnosing before pulling the 3rd. What an idiot, right? Probably. But it was not an unenjoyable project, and I feel more competent in my understanding of the truck and my capability to wrench (and **** s*** up).
I added some simple blade style connectors, then heat shrunk and taped the ever loving crap out of them. They're not goin' anywhere. Today I grabbed a new tube of red FIPG from Mr. T and got her all buttoned up. Filled the diff with 3.5-4 qts of Lucas 75-90. Tested everything and it didn't work. Took me a few minutes of fenagling, head scratching, and cursing to think to put the transmission in neutral. Brilliant! Everything works great. I also lifted the front end up, locked the CDL and front diff, and tested everything together. It's a bitch to turn but all 4 wheels move forward together. Great success.
TL,DR: I should have just swapped out the electrical connector on top of the pumpkin.
Next up is to put my sliders and skids back on, throw on the 35s and she's ready to kick ass and take names at JizzMeater in June.
So my rear (e) locker has been non-op since last year. I found out on a super slippery, hot peanut-buttery trail ride on Beasley Knob. Not fun, especially when coupled with finding out that my old MTs were toast for the "M" part. I thought I'd fixed the locker, but then it was on vacay during COTR in October.
@patchagan came over last week to help diagnose, and together we found that definitively, power was getting from the relay under the hood to the end of the truck-side wiring. We tried a bunch of fiddling and whatnot, no dice. So we decided the next move was to pull the 3rd member and see what was up. That's when Patch left me and I had to do the hard part alone
Over the weekend I did the thing. I've not pulled apart an axle before so it was a fun experience. Nothing eventful in pulling. Put the axle on stands, remove the wheels, drain the diff, remove e-brake cable ends, remove speed sensor, remove and hang calipers, remove and hang rear end of the drive shaft, and remove the 4 17mm nuts holding the entire brake/hub/bearing assembly to the axle. A couple friendly whacks and it's all out. Pull the shafts out 6" and rest (level) on a jack stand. No need to take it all the way out for this. @Wermz came over to look at it with me for about 20 minutes. We both determined, it's a diff.
4x17mm nuts and ABS sensor pictured here.
Entire assembled 3rd member is out. You can see the entire axle shaft supported on a jack stand in the background, just a few inches out from its home. IB4 someone says something about resting the axle assembly on the wheel stud. It was fine. Get a life.
Here we can see the locker itself. It's the big bright silver chunk right in the middle. You can see the ramps and the pins that actually lock the diff. When open, it just spins free. When locked, the pins engage on the ends of the ramps and force everything to spin together. That's my layman's description. If I said something wrong, well the other people who don't know, won't know anyway.
Here's how it works:
OK so what was the problem with mine? Well, egg on my face, it ended up being a faulty connector. And wouldn't you know it, my gator clips that I used for testing were also faulty, so I was getting false info while diagnosing before pulling the 3rd. What an idiot, right? Probably. But it was not an unenjoyable project, and I feel more competent in my understanding of the truck and my capability to wrench (and **** s*** up).
I added some simple blade style connectors, then heat shrunk and taped the ever loving crap out of them. They're not goin' anywhere. Today I grabbed a new tube of red FIPG from Mr. T and got her all buttoned up. Filled the diff with 3.5-4 qts of Lucas 75-90. Tested everything and it didn't work. Took me a few minutes of fenagling, head scratching, and cursing to think to put the transmission in neutral. Brilliant! Everything works great. I also lifted the front end up, locked the CDL and front diff, and tested everything together. It's a bitch to turn but all 4 wheels move forward together. Great success.
TL,DR: I should have just swapped out the electrical connector on top of the pumpkin.
Next up is to put my sliders and skids back on, throw on the 35s and she's ready to kick ass and take names at JizzMeater in June.
Well oh boy, lemme tell ya...
So my rear (e) locker has been non-op since last year. I found out on a super slippery, hot peanut-buttery trail ride on Beasley Knob. Not fun, especially when coupled with finding out that my old MTs were toast for the "M" part. I thought I'd fixed the locker, but then it was on vacay during COTR in October.
@patchagan came over last week to help diagnose, and together we found that definitively, power was getting from the relay under the hood to the end of the truck-side wiring. We tried a bunch of fiddling and whatnot, no dice. So we decided the next move was to pull the 3rd member and see what was up. That's when Patch left me and I had to do the hard part alone
Over the weekend I did the thing. I've not pulled apart an axle before so it was a fun experience. Nothing eventful in pulling. Put the axle on stands, remove the wheels, drain the diff, remove e-brake cable ends, remove speed sensor, remove and hang calipers, remove and hang rear end of the drive shaft, and remove the 4 17mm nuts holding the entire brake/hub/bearing assembly to the axle. A couple friendly whacks and it's all out. Pull the shafts out 6" and rest (level) on a jack stand. No need to take it all the way out for this. @Wermz came over to look at it with me for about 20 minutes. We both determined, it's a diff.
4x17mm nuts and ABS sensor pictured here.
View attachment 3324007
Entire assembled 3rd member is out. You can see the entire axle shaft supported on a jack stand in the background, just a few inches out from its home. IB4 someone says something about resting the axle assembly on the wheel stud. It was fine. Get a life.
View attachment 3324008
Here we can see the locker itself. It's the big bright silver chunk right in the middle. You can see the ramps and the pins that actually lock the diff. When open, it just spins free. When locked, the pins engage on the ends of the ramps and force everything to spin together. That's my layman's description. If I said something wrong, well the other people who don't know, won't know anyway.
View attachment 3324012
Here's how it works:
OK so what was the problem with mine? Well, egg on my face, it ended up being a faulty connector. And wouldn't you know it, my gator clips that I used for testing were also faulty, so I was getting false info while diagnosing before pulling the 3rd. What an idiot, right? Probably. But it was not an unenjoyable project, and I feel more competent in my understanding of the truck and my capability to wrench (and f*** s*** up).
I added some simple blade style connectors, then heat shrunk and taped the ever loving crap out of them. They're not goin' anywhere. Today I grabbed a new tube of red FIPG from Mr. T and got her all buttoned up. Filled the diff with 3.5-4 qts of Lucas 75-90. Tested everything and it didn't work. Took me a few minutes of fenagling, head scratching, and cursing to think to put the transmission in neutral. Brilliant! Everything works great. I also lifted the front end up, locked the CDL and front diff, and tested everything together. It's a bitch to turn but all 4 wheels move forward together. Great success.
TL,DR: I should have just swapped out the electrical connector on top of the pumpkin.
Next up is to put my sliders and skids back on, throw on the 35s and she's ready to kick ass and take names at JizzMeater in June.
Buy a house closer to me and come learn on my rig. I need 4.88s and some love for my TB so the control arms don’t slam when I almost jump (unload).
Your rig would look great at soccer practice and the mall parked next to mine.
Well oh boy, lemme tell ya...
So my rear (e) locker has been non-op since last year. I found out on a super slippery, hot peanut-buttery trail ride on Beasley Knob. Not fun, especially when coupled with finding out that my old MTs were toast for the "M" part. I thought I'd fixed the locker, but then it was on vacay during COTR in October.
@patchagan came over last week to help diagnose, and together we found that definitively, power was getting from the relay under the hood to the end of the truck-side wiring. We tried a bunch of fiddling and whatnot, no dice. So we decided the next move was to pull the 3rd member and see what was up. That's when Patch left me and I had to do the hard part alone
Over the weekend I did the thing. I've not pulled apart an axle before so it was a fun experience. Nothing eventful in pulling. Put the axle on stands, remove the wheels, drain the diff, remove e-brake cable ends, remove speed sensor, remove and hang calipers, remove and hang rear end of the drive shaft, and remove the 4 17mm nuts holding the entire brake/hub/bearing assembly to the axle. A couple friendly whacks and it's all out. Pull the shafts out 6" and rest (level) on a jack stand. No need to take it all the way out for this. @Wermz came over to look at it with me for about 20 minutes. We both determined, it's a diff.
4x17mm nuts and ABS sensor pictured here.
View attachment 3324007
Entire assembled 3rd member is out. You can see the entire axle shaft supported on a jack stand in the background, just a few inches out from its home. IB4 someone says something about resting the axle assembly on the wheel stud. It was fine. Get a life.
View attachment 3324008
Here we can see the locker itself. It's the big bright silver chunk right in the middle. You can see the ramps and the pins that actually lock the diff. When open, it just spins free. When locked, the pins engage on the ends of the ramps and force everything to spin together. That's my layman's description. If I said something wrong, well the other people who don't know, won't know anyway.
View attachment 3324012
Here's how it works:
OK so what was the problem with mine? Well, egg on my face, it ended up being a faulty connector. And wouldn't you know it, my gator clips that I used for testing were also faulty, so I was getting false info while diagnosing before pulling the 3rd. What an idiot, right? Probably. But it was not an unenjoyable project, and I feel more competent in my understanding of the truck and my capability to wrench (and f*** s*** up).
I added some simple blade style connectors, then heat shrunk and taped the ever loving crap out of them. They're not goin' anywhere. Today I grabbed a new tube of red FIPG from Mr. T and got her all buttoned up. Filled the diff with 3.5-4 qts of Lucas 75-90. Tested everything and it didn't work. Took me a few minutes of fenagling, head scratching, and cursing to think to put the transmission in neutral. Brilliant! Everything works great. I also lifted the front end up, locked the CDL and front diff, and tested everything together. It's a bitch to turn but all 4 wheels move forward together. Great success.
TL,DR: I should have just swapped out the electrical connector on top of the pumpkin.
Next up is to put my sliders and skids back on, throw on the 35s and she's ready to kick ass and take names at JizzMeater in June.
How long have you been going to GSMTR?
Im pretty sure i recognize this rig...
- Thread starter
- #689
I've even got the license plate for it!
I have been to one or two, I think. First one was in '20.
s*** maybe not. I think that was the covid one? i missed that one.
In any event i'll see ya out there! Im leading a moderate trail ride at some point so i'll be out and about.
Normally one of just a handful of tacomas out there. Apparently there's gonna be 150-200 rigs this year... Gonna be insane.
- Thread starter
- #691
Looking forward to it!s*** maybe not. I think that was the covid one? i missed that one.
In any event i'll see ya out there! Im leading a moderate trail ride at some point so i'll be out and about.
Normally one of just a handful of tacomas out there. Apparently there's gonna be 150-200 rigs this year... Gonna be insane.
Well oh boy, lemme tell ya...
So my rear (e) locker has been non-op since last year. I found out on a super slippery, hot peanut-buttery trail ride on Beasley Knob. Not fun, especially when coupled with finding out that my old MTs were toast for the "M" part. I thought I'd fixed the locker, but then it was on vacay during COTR in October.
@patchagan came over last week to help diagnose, and together we found that definitively, power was getting from the relay under the hood to the end of the truck-side wiring. We tried a bunch of fiddling and whatnot, no dice. So we decided the next move was to pull the 3rd member and see what was up. That's when Patch left me and I had to do the hard part alone
Over the weekend I did the thing. I've not pulled apart an axle before so it was a fun experience. Nothing eventful in pulling. Put the axle on stands, remove the wheels, drain the diff, remove e-brake cable ends, remove speed sensor, remove and hang calipers, remove and hang rear end of the drive shaft, and remove the 4 17mm nuts holding the entire brake/hub/bearing assembly to the axle. A couple friendly whacks and it's all out. Pull the shafts out 6" and rest (level) on a jack stand. No need to take it all the way out for this. @Wermz came over to look at it with me for about 20 minutes. We both determined, it's a diff.
4x17mm nuts and ABS sensor pictured here.
View attachment 3324007
Entire assembled 3rd member is out. You can see the entire axle shaft supported on a jack stand in the background, just a few inches out from its home. IB4 someone says something about resting the axle assembly on the wheel stud. It was fine. Get a life.
View attachment 3324008
Here we can see the locker itself. It's the big bright silver chunk right in the middle. You can see the ramps and the pins that actually lock the diff. When open, it just spins free. When locked, the pins engage on the ends of the ramps and force everything to spin together. That's my layman's description. If I said something wrong, well the other people who don't know, won't know anyway.
View attachment 3324012
Here's how it works:
OK so what was the problem with mine? Well, egg on my face, it ended up being a faulty connector. And wouldn't you know it, my gator clips that I used for testing were also faulty, so I was getting false info while diagnosing before pulling the 3rd. What an idiot, right? Probably. But it was not an unenjoyable project, and I feel more competent in my understanding of the truck and my capability to wrench (and f*** s*** up).
I added some simple blade style connectors, then heat shrunk and taped the ever loving crap out of them. They're not goin' anywhere. Today I grabbed a new tube of red FIPG from Mr. T and got her all buttoned up. Filled the diff with 3.5-4 qts of Lucas 75-90. Tested everything and it didn't work. Took me a few minutes of fenagling, head scratching, and cursing to think to put the transmission in neutral. Brilliant! Everything works great. I also lifted the front end up, locked the CDL and front diff, and tested everything together. It's a bitch to turn but all 4 wheels move forward together. Great success.
TL,DR: I should have just swapped out the electrical connector on top of the pumpkin.
Next up is to put my sliders and skids back on, throw on the 35s and she's ready to kick ass and take names at JizzMeater in June.
Sorry you had to go through all that but I am glad you got it sorted. I did enjoy your narrative!
- Thread starter
- #693
Little update. Today I adjusted my shocks. After putting my armor back on over the weekend, I wasn't loving the ride feeling. Thanks to @CW100 for sharing his. I pretty much copied, and I'm happier with thy highway feel now.
New settings front:
HSC- 6
LSC- 6
Rebound- 6
Rear:
HSC- 6
LSC- 8
Rebound- 8
Heading out dark and early for a camping trip in the VA Blue Ridge. 8 hour drive to the site. I think she'll do well.
New settings front:
HSC- 6
LSC- 6
Rebound- 6
Rear:
HSC- 6
LSC- 8
Rebound- 8
Heading out dark and early for a camping trip in the VA Blue Ridge. 8 hour drive to the site. I think she'll do well.
- Thread starter
- #694
Little bit of catch-up, here.
A few weeks back I installed the Eimkieth PCK. Only got one side on to start, I need to go refill my bottle to weld the other one on. It's funny, I couldn't have told you what was wrong with it before, but I can feel the improvement after.
After this, I prepped the truck for GSMTR. Threw on the 35s, the skids, and the sliders.
Truck did pretty well at GSMTR but my rear locker went out again. Pretty frustrating. It worked great on Friday but by Saturday was on vacay. I think I may have flexed beyond the slack I left in the wiring. Meh.
This past weekend I had a little cookout. Thanks to the locals who made it out @patchagan @hotdiggitydamn @Wermz @abuck99 . I was pleased with the number of cruisers in front of the house.
A few weeks back I installed the Eimkieth PCK. Only got one side on to start, I need to go refill my bottle to weld the other one on. It's funny, I couldn't have told you what was wrong with it before, but I can feel the improvement after.
After this, I prepped the truck for GSMTR. Threw on the 35s, the skids, and the sliders.
Truck did pretty well at GSMTR but my rear locker went out again. Pretty frustrating. It worked great on Friday but by Saturday was on vacay. I think I may have flexed beyond the slack I left in the wiring. Meh.
This past weekend I had a little cookout. Thanks to the locals who made it out @patchagan @hotdiggitydamn @Wermz @abuck99 . I was pleased with the number of cruisers in front of the house.
cruiserpatch
Supporting Vendor
This was the ledge on 51, no? How close were you to the taillight graveyard over there? Not sure I've seen someone take a line right up the middle like that without losing a taillight. Impressive
Right, seems like it’s washed out a little more every time we go
cruiserpatch
Supporting Vendor
I made it over twice without incident which leads me to believe it must be a lot easier now
Well, it was pretty gnarly for awhile! Haha. Would love to give it another go.
- Thread starter
- #699
Correct. I'd never run it before so I have no basis of comparison. But, I imagine it would be a lot more difficult if there was any kind of water on the ground. Other than feeling sketchy, it wasn't difficult. I think we did lose a tail light in the group, and I got to watch a sweet 40 come a gnat's ass away from laying over on the same obstacle.
@hotdiggitydamn is a pretty decent spot.
YezusLX
SILVER Star
I have some questions: First can one define the size/distance of a "gnat's ass" or is it like a "C.U.Next.Tuesday Hair" level of precise measuring? Since a "CH" is measured at .003" to .005" wide using the Imperial Standard, or .0762mm to .127mm Metric Standard and the "RCH" is about half of these measurements would the aforementioned Gnat's arse be larger or smaller or the same as these measurements for reference?
Thank you and carry on. Looks like everyone had a blasty-blast and made it back safe! Very cool to see everyone's toys at your place.
