Got Shorty, now what... (Dropping the Deuce)

[jynx]

Pulled the old derpy bumper off today to confirm the frame ends were good. All good. I drug my Cruisin' bumper out just cause I wanted to see how it looked, well as is my luck with bumpers, one side is a little snug so I will do a little grinding and hammer work to clean it up and then see if I can slap it on and see how it looks, who knows it may stay on there.

No pictures of the failed attempt, but it is back on all 4s and movable.

I need to pick up a battery for it and change the oil and then it should run.

Also, it appears that it may be taking yet another turn which is going to bring it up the priority list. Similar to how squirt got the endorsement of Erin, the Duece has just been designated as the proposed daily for momma, so a name change is likely coming and I will be spending my free time working on making the Duece right as rain.

 

[jynx]

We spent a good part of the day out at the farm today. Erin spent time doing some cleaning in the house and I spent most of the day mowing, weed eating and burning garbage. Towards the end of our day I piddled with the truck for a few. I did a little grinding on the top of the frame rail and with a little persuasion I got the bumper home.

It definitely mashed the front springs, so those new springs and spacers will definitely be needed. Here it is with no flare.

And here it is with.

I ordered this particular bumper slightly narrower to fit a de-flared truck. I'm trying to decided if it will work with them.

Thoughts.

I think it works, but the deflared look is growing in me...

This one is set up for an 8274 and as such sticks out a lot in front, like a fat freaking lip lot. Erin likes it better than the ARB and said we should sell the ARB and order another one of these, but standard depth. Have I mentioned how much I love her lately. Anyway, for now I will likely just put the ARB and go with it, but who knows.

I also ordered a "Brown eyed girl" monstaliner sample chip. Since finding a replacement flare in the right Brown for the drivers side is proving to be a task, I'm thinking I can get whatever color I can and just line them all as well as the rockers below the doors.

Getting the old bumper off and a new bumper on also highlighted what kind of work the front fender is going to need to get things to line up right. There is a shop just up the road that I'm gonna talk to once I get it tagged and driving about cleaning up the hood and fenders anyway, so maybe he can straighten it out for me and save me from having to buy and repaint a whole fender.

I got my axle rebuild kit from @beno and right now I'm thinking about matching the OME coils and spacers with a set of FOX IFP shock all around. Since I have the 16" wheels on, I'm looking at going ahead and upgrading the front calipers, rotors and pads to the bigger FZJ stuff.

Need to pick up a new battery this week and get my "tune-up" parts list together for my favorite parts guy. Onward and upward we go.

 

[jynx]

This weekend I think I may try to separate the donor trans from the engine and look things over good. Given the tendency for these transmissions to take a dump right after they get a flush and filter means that my plan right now is to be very careful and try to take it apart and swap it in and minimize the fluid loss as much as possible. Aside from that I am thinking if the rain holds, then I am going to pull the ARB and go ahead and get it bolted up front so I can see what kind of squish I'm going to see on the front. I know I will put the OME coils and the spacers all around, but I am thinking that with the extra weight up front, I may need a set of MT spacers up there to get it leveled out, but I will see how it sits after it is loaded. Right now it is rolling on 265s, but I think eventually I am thinking a set of 285 STT Pro's will be going under the fenders.

Biggest thing right now other than the trans is to get a CAT installed so that I can pass the visual inspection for emissions. No hood pop, but they do look under the truck. I need to see what kind of room I have to work with and see what I can get to fit.

Getting ready to pull the trigger on a set of shocks for the Chimichanga... No, tryin out new names since I don't think momma wants to roll around in a Deuce...

Anyway, been working on my parts list for Onur. Rear main seal, plugs, wires, general tune-up stuff, misc. studs, washers and nuts, belts, blah, blah, the list gets longer and more expensive looking every time I work on it.

If the weather holds out, I may try to get the new coils under her hips too, but we will mostly just have to wait and see how the weekend plays out cause I need to get some more seed and fertilizer out at the farm, so we will see. I think if I can get the bumper swapped and the trans separated, I will consider it a successful weekend.

 

[jynx]

Shocks are ordered, rears are on backorder, but the fronts and the matching stabilizer will be here next week. @Land Speeder posted some pics of @Intern22 s old rig earlier today and man it is a beautiful rig. Other than the lack of sunroof, they could be twins and it got me Jonesin' to get this thing cleaned up and back on the road.

 

[jynx]

Well the rain yesterday coupled with several errands for the house means no work on the 80. And I had some plumbing to do on the house after church today and then had to make a trip up north of town to pick up these beauties.

I got the full set of 4 and the steel spare for a price that was truly too good to pass up. So no progress was made today either.

Thinking these with a set of 285 ko2s will be going on Shortie... Maybe. That one might have legs. Anyway, then the Coopers will go back on the mini.

 

[jynx]

Front Shocks and stabilizer arrived at the office today, I should be in to pick them up on Friday. The weather is supposed to be nice so I maybe this weekend I can make some headway on the bumper swap and suspension upgrades. I did a little research on my new wheels and they are 5.25" BS so I am weighing things out, but I think I am going to order a set of wheel spacers to push the wheels back out. I have talked to a few folks I know and think they will be fine. I'm thinking of ordering a set of hubcentric ones for the rear since it is a SF and won't have to worry about the hubs, just have to make sure I keep them tight. Then try to get that transmission split and start lining things up for rebuilding the front axle.

And all that may be a pipe dream as momma just dropped the "these are the things I'd like to get moved this weekend" list on me, so looks like as usual, my plans have changed....

 

[jynx]

Picked up the front half of the new setup from the office today. These mothers are beefy.

Got my marching orders this afternoon. Got stuff to load up and haul over tomorrow before it gets too hot, but hopefully I can steal a few minutes to do a little wrenching.

Goal is swap bumper and get front coils, spacers and shocks on. Rear coils and trans separation If time allows would be bonus.

 

[jynx]

Dam it was hot this weekend. Spent Saturday taking another load out to the house. Hannah's bed and some other misc stuff, and when we got that unloaded and I took care of a few more Honey-do's and then it was nearly 4 and we were headed to some friends to grill and hang out.

But today was a different story. We headed out a little after lunch. E didn't feel real hot this morning and the plan for her was the chill. I had to put some additional supports under the kitchen sink and then I was free. Did I mention it was hot. Pretty sure with the humidity that the heat index had to be flirting with triple digits. Anyway, I pulled Shortie up into a little better spot and got to work.

I decided to do one side at a time and started on the passenger. Also, apologize ahead of time as the pics have that humid fog look to them and I don't know if I had dust on it or it was the humidity. Kinda annoyed, but I can grab some more when I tear into the knuckles in the next few weeks.

Anyway jackstands up and I was off.

It's a good thing I'm going to be going thru the front-end soon as it looked a little worse for wear.

Thankfully the shock bolts broke loose with little resistance, I unbolted the sway bar and allow the axle to droop. This is where my plan went a little sideways as with the other side still on the ground, the axle wouldn't quite drop far enough for the coils to "drop out". With a little persuasion I had the coil out.

The old shock was D.O.N.E., done. It didn't push back out at all. See new vs. old.

I find it interesting, similar to the rear of my 4runner, the stock coil has the same free length as the new OME+the ironman spacers.

With an assist from my bikini clad better half (no pics of that one boys to busy fighting a spring) the new coil and spacer were home. Then bolted up the shock and viola.

The FOX shocks have standard hardware, but most handily, they have an Allen head cut into the top of the stem to make tightening them super easy. No need to gouge up the body or shaft, just pop in a 1/4" Allen wrench and tighten it up.

And before I bolted the wheel back up I bolted on one of the Tacoma wheels to get an idea of the look.

Not sure I'm sold on them. The wheel clears fine, but I'm pretty sure I will need a spacer to keep the tires off the frame and radius arms.

With that done I bolted the wheel back up and reset for the other side.

 

[jynx]

So with the Passenger side done I took one of my many breaks to admire my work. (This shot was after I was all finished up, but the one I took at that time had a bad glare in it)

So the Drivers side was much better as the sun was on the PS and I was able to work in the shade of the truck.

Drivers side was much more of the same.

Old DS shock still had a little life in it, And the old spring only had one spacer in it as opposed to the PS's 2. (Spring in pic is PS)

DS went together about the same as the passenger.

It was a hot mess in the grass.

And that's my 5, so to be continued in part 3...

 

[jynx]

Part 3...

With the spring and shock in, I bolted the sway bar back up and put the tire back in the Drivers side.

Don't mind the madness. And With that, the front was done. Between the OME coils and Ironman spacers I picked up right at 2". I'm guessing I will loose some of that when I throw the ARB on. Will just see.

Here are a couple of shots

Before and after

You can see the daylight at the wheels if you look close.

Anyway, the heat slowed things considerably. No major issues, just had to take it easy and stay hydrated. Hope to knock out the bumper next weekend and maybe get the rear springs swapped. Still waiting on the rear shocks, so I may just wait until they come in to tackle the rear. Knuckles and trans are also on deck. The heat isn't going to get any better, but hopefully soon there will be vacancy in the barn and the shade and a big ass fan should make things more tolerable.

More fun to come.

 

[jynx]

Well, the weekend is upon us again and I am hoping to take advantage of the cooler temps and lower humidity to get a little work done.

First order of business tomorrow will be to run a few errands and while I am out, pick up some paint for the new bumper. Thinking a metallic grey similar to the color of the wheels that were on my pickup. I picked up a new battery for shorty so I will get that installed and after letting it warm up a little, I will go ahead and change the oil in it.

So I will clean up the new bumper, and get it in primer and get the first coat of paint on it and then while it is tacking, I will start relocating the ARB from the white truck and onto Shorty. I want to go ahead and start the rear even though the new shocks aren't here yet, but momma said no working under heavy things without supervision, so that may have to wait. But I can go ahead and see if I can get the trans separated from the spare engine and maybe even start fiddling with the suspension on the white truck while I'm at it.

And if I get bored, maybe I will see if I can fire up the Massey and do a little bush-hogging. The driveway is getting a little un-ruley.

Good times...

 

[FJCRAWLER]

Use the bucket on that new John Deere to lift the rear end off the ground.

 

[jynx]

Use the bucket on that new John Deere to lift the rear end off the ground.

The idea has crossed my mind. Not sure the JD has the capacity (800 lbs or so max, I think) to get that fat ass up and keep it up, but I will most definitely be using it for bumper removal and transportation duty.

 

[jynx]

Today momma had her momma in and little bit was with a friend pretty much all day so I had a day all for me. I had to take care of getting a box in around some valves and do a little back filling, some stupid tax was paid by me for a mis-step with the tractor and after I got that fixed I decided I was going to (as Erin says) do something I'd rather be doing and went to work. I pulled my Cruisin' bumper out and started prepping it for primer and paint. I didn't get any good picture of it, but I will tomorrow. While it was drying I went around and got started getting the ARB ready to pull. Everything unbolted and the only casualty was one of the market lights. Anyway, with that off I channeled @FJCRAWLER and made good use of the little green tractor.

Can you guess what's about to happen...

Yep that happened

And the aftermath.

That little rig made short work of removing, moving and the remounting the ARB.

 

[jynx]

Using the tractor I removed, moved and remounted the bumper in under an hour. I chased all the holes and got the bumper on Shorty.

I lost about a half inch on the front with it bolted on.

I then went to my "Bertha Box" from my trip to visit @Land Speeder and swapped out the battery tray so I could drop in a new Group 27.

It's kinda hard to tell, but the old one on the right is missing most of the bottom and would not allow the new battery to locate properly.

With that taken care of I dropped in the new battery, fired her up and took a spin around the block. Trans hasn't fixed itself so I guess I will get on that soon. All in all, a successful day.

I think I am going to loose the bumper signals anyway in favor of something like the LED DRL setup I've seen on here. Also going to loose the bar in favor of some of those big ass LED round lights for the front. Can't justify the real deal, so gonna go with some of the knock-offs. Should clean the front up nicely.

 

[jynx]

Won't be too much going on in the shorty front this weekend as we got our CO today will be moving this weekend.

I did get a delivery date on the rear shocks today. Flippin' September 1.... Um, negative. So gonna cancel those and swap them out for a set of ICON 2.0s for the rear. They are in stock and can ship Monday. I hate to mix and match, but staying with a good 2.0 in the same price point should keep the quality on the same level.

So even though probably very little if any wrenching this weekend, but barn will get cleaned out and I will be just steps from everything when I get home each evening so progress should increase, or the list will get longer, or both. Welcome to my crazy life

 

[jynx]

Rear shocks came in yesterday. Guess I might try to get the rear knocked out this weekend.

Then since the couch is out and some other things are out of the barn, time to clean out a spot and get it inside to start the transmission swap underway. May have to pick me up a couple more 12T stands to get it up in the air and ready to be gutted.

I may pull the white truck in first and see if I can't get the suspension work and t-case swap done on it since that is a day or so worth of work vs. however long the trans job takes.

Good times!

 

[jynx]

Well I'm not sure what this weekend will hold, perhaps rebuilding the front axle and getting the donor trans separated from the engine, time will tell. Last Sunday after changing the hydraulic fluid in the LGT I knocked out the rear with a set of OME stock height coils, Ironman spacers and a set of ICON 2.0s. It sits a little ass high, but it hasn't moved since it came off the jacks. Anyway, few pictures from the festivities.

It has a slight rake due to the bumper and wench, but I think it will work. I need to bounce it around the farm with a few hundred pounds in the back to make sure that everything is fully seated in the rear. If I can get to about a half inch or so of rake then I'm gonna call it good.

 

[jynx]

Starting to actively look for parts to put a h42 and split case in shorty. If anyone has a 3F bell-housing they need to part ways with I am in the market.

 

[htburnett]

No H55?