Builds Grumble Deluxe

[repentsinner]

Should have taken my own advice and re-finished all parts at the same time. Doing these lifter covers later slowed me down by a day, but it was good practice for prepping the inside of the tailgate for a wagongear hatch (which is really why I was bothering with the clearcoat).

I can recommend the USC Spraymax 2K rust cure primer and clear, seems to work remarkably well for a rattle can finish.

 

[repentsinner]

Decided to put in a new radiator while I'm at it - I repaired the old one about two years ago, but who knows how long that'll last. My current approach is to buy replacement parts while they're available as more and more are being discontinued and at that point the only choice will be to repair instead of replace.

Somewhat remarkably the motor ran after reassembly, although it was rough as hell on account of the new lifters and pushrods. I did a feeler gauge valve adjustment that didn't make much difference, and only realized later that I should have probably inspected the rocker arm faces for wear - my guess is that they're probably getting worn. While doing that valve adjustment I discovered that two of the adjustment screw lock nuts were seized in place, so I found a handful of adjustment screws locally and replaced the worst of them. If I can find some more I'd like to replace the rest while I'm at it as they're all sort of sticky. Barring that I guess I'll chase the threads next time I'm in there.

After doing a dial indicator adjustment the motor now runs super smoothly minus what sounds to be an exhaust valve tick on one of the cylinders. I don't know if that was there before, or I'm just hearing it now because I'm conscious of trying to get the valve tune right. In any case, I'll have to dig in again to find the bad valve.

After more than 6 months of being parked and with intermittent attention paid, the damn thing can move itself under it's own power! Woo hoo!

 

[repentsinner]

This is a parts list for the timing gear case gasket repair, unfortunately it doesn't appear to be possible to embed it directly into the forum.

Timing cover repair - Airtable

 

[repentsinner]

I got the tailgate storage finished up, and started cramming some rarely used supplies back there. Hopefully its usefulness as storage will grow on me - I think the small volume so far doesn't make the expense and effort worthwhile for my needs. At the very least, the closed surface is much better than the blank sheet metal that was there before - the carpet panel is long since gone on this vehicle.

I understand why the latches are where they are, however it would have been nice if they were in the shallow area in the center as that space is already less usable. The latch interferes with storage at what becomes the bottom of the cavity when the tailgate is up, so I can see things getting bound up in them as they settle during driving.

 

[repentsinner]

While off trying to find a transfer case leak I also discovered that the main output shaft seal surface has been generously scored by a previous attempt to replace the seal I really hope this isn't where the leak was coming from, that's going to be a hell of a job to fix if a replacement end housing isn't still available.

The seal that was installed was slightly shorter, and the little flared ring that makes installing these a pain wasn't long enough to contact the inside of the shield on the companion flange. I pressed what I hope to be the correct seal in, and hopefully that stops the leak.

 

[repentsinner]

And last leak for now (I hope!) is the steering gear box, which has been leaking slowly from the input shaft for over a year now, and that ATF is a sticky mess when it seeps over everything.

I pulled the gear box and will pack it to have West Texas Offroad do a rebuild - I'd bought the seal kit (Toyota PN 04445-60030) but now I'm out of shop time again for a while, and it doesn't look like something I'm set up to do here, or even particularly want to learn how to.

I recommend using the tie rod puller and heavy duty pitman arm puller from the Autozone loaner tool program to get everything apart. The big pitman arm puller is too big to get on the tie rod end, so just get both at the same time.

 

[Rugy]

Very nice write up and well documented.

 

[cruisedeisel]

Sweet truck!

 

[repentsinner]

Side project #7284, under seat fire extinguisher / air line mount Mk. II.

Although it would quick release in theory, my old fire extinguisher mount never worked that well with a 3" diameter cylinder (2.5lb) so I opted to just return to the stock bracket that the extinguishers come with. And my external air quick release kept getting dried out and jammed up by desert dust, so I thought moving them inside the cab and putting one on each side would make airing up that much easier to deal with.

I designed a new symmetric bracket that works for both driver and passenger, bent up some .100" 6061, and got it welded together yesterday. The air mounts via bulkhead 1/4" NPT fitting to an eventual push-to-connect line that I'll plumb up through the rear seat heater delete holes underneath the front passenger seat. I just ordered a bunch of air parts from McMaster and it turns out they stock the Dixon push-to-connect-and-pull-to-release style quick connect fitting which are super nice to use.

Oh, and note to future self: the compact mechanism on the H3R Halotron is a better fit for this application than the longer handle on the Amerex, although the seat can still be pulled all the way forward over top of both. Hopefully I never have to use either.

I should have made the back part of the new bracket from .125", and probably shifted the air fitting down and out a little to clear the mounting bolt better during assembly. That can be design Mk. III if anyone wants one

 

[repentsinner]

While waiting for the steering gearbox to come back I thought I'd clean up some of the wiring and accessories that have sprouted around the engine bay in the last while. I've wanted to add a battery cut off to make it easier to work on the electrical system without disconnecting the terminals all the time - even with 'military' style terminals it's still a hassle. I also needed to clean up a nasty bracket I'd made to hold the various on board air switches and solenoids, and finally I thought it'd be nice to relocate the winch controller inside for a cleaner front end look.

Now that Onshape and Fusion 360 have sheet metal support, I thought it'd be a good opportunity to use some free-ish CAD tools and learn how sheet metal works. Lesson #1: just because you can bend it in software doesn't mean you can bend it in reality

Fusion 360's automatic McMaster part import is super handy for mocking stuff up against McMaster hardware, and (at least here in LA) McMaster's same-day delivery is almost as dangerous as Amazon's - it's a winning combination for getting stuff test fit in a hurry.

I stubbed out models of the devices or hardware to interface with, as well as various hole patterns in the engine bay and on the frame. From there, I modeled brackets and then sent the flat patterns off to the waterjet or cut them by hand depending on difficulty. Prick punching through 1:1 paper printouts makes quick work of arbitrary hole pattern drilling.

The most challenging bracket was the battery switch, which touches down on the stainlesstrays.com support as well as some existing captive nuts on the wheel well. This took a few tries to get the fit between the two correct, but it's solid and works out great now that it's in.

If I were to make more of these I'd probably pemsert some captive hardware into the bracketry, but for now nylock nuts on the backside seem fine for the few times I'm going to assemble/disassemble.

Lesson number two: always cut slots to mate against existing hole patterns, without a fancy CMM my measurements are never going to be good enough to pick up centers on standard clearance without a few tries.

 

[repentsinner]

I attached an insulated terminal to the passenger battery hold down so I can pick up all of the low current circuits there and leave the main terminal for the heavier gauge stuff. I'll probably add two breaker mounts to the design so I can get the 50A breaker for the compressor and an eventual 30A breaker for aux cabin stuff tidied up.

While I was at it, I started to re-pull and terminate any heavy cables that I'd jerry rigged in the past. I used a temco hydraulic hex crimper this time around which seemed to produce a decent crimp, but was a pain in the ass to use in practice. I'm not sure if the long handled leverage style ones are any better, but I found it difficult to seat the crimper lightly on the terminal to get things started without having three hands to hold everything in place. It also came with 9 AWG dies mislabeled as 6 AWG, and the handle kept unswiveling on me. I think I might send this one back and see if I can find something a little more reliable or easy to use.

Part of the motivation to move the winch controller is to make it easier to eventually make a canvas or cordura cover to keep the synthetic winchline out of the punishing socal sun. I'm still not sure why this stuff isn't integrated into the winch body itself yet..

Finally, I got the steering gear box back and almost re-mounted, but managed to strip two of the frame mount bolts trying to get them to the FSM recommended 90 pound feet of torque Not sure where I'm going to find replacement 90105-12019 as they appear to be discontinued from Toyota.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

I love these brackets you're making. Do you have a CNC plasma and sheet metal brake to flesh them out or are you giving the designs you make to a shop?

I'm also looking forward to what you come up with for a winch cover. That's on my list as well.

Awesome work man. Watching intently.

 

[repentsinner]

@GLTHFJ60 - thanks for the kind words.

I've got some marginal access to a waterjet cutter - requires frequent bribing of the operator - as well as a basic pan brake and tumbler. With access to CNC cutting it makes way more sense to me to draw things up in CAD - I can think about the design better, and then if I ever need replacement parts just hit go on the fab again. I've been thinking of hosting the models on grabcad or something for anyone to download and reproduce. It should be pretty easy to take them to a machine shop or laser/bend shop to have them duplicated.

 

[cruisermatt]

Engineer confirmed

 

[repentsinner]

Next project: finishing up the onboard air.

I'd put an ExtremeAire Magnum 24V eBay find in the wagon back when Georg added the lockers, and after the frame swap relocated it from a cluttered engine compartment down to a frame rail as I don't intend to be fording lakes in this thing. It turned out that there's _exactly_ enough room to fit the compressor between slider supports, so I managed to get a plate cut and mounted on some slotted angle to tuck it away.

Over the intervening years the air distribution had been spliced and cut a number of times, and was always in a state of needing just one more thing. While I'm at it on this latest push, I opted to re-plumb the whole mess and put some distribution down near the compressor in addition to the manifold in the engine compartment.

The current setup is compressor through a dryer that I'd had kicking around all this time and never installed, then into a two port manifold feeding the trunk through to a 4 gal. tank above the rear pumpkin, branching one line to the engine compartment, and the last branch into the cab to feed the quick disconnects that I built into the extinguisher mounts a few posts back. The line going to the engine compartment then hits a three port manifold that feeds the front and rear locker solenoids as well as the pressure switch.

It took a few tries on bracket design, but I'm happy with how everything turned out - the plumbing and electrical is much more sensible now, and I'm always happy to get more stuff tucked down on a frame rail and out of the way.

I'm not sure how I feel about the ExtremeAire Magnum, it's definitely beefy and I believe the 100% duty cycle claims, but it still takes forever to air up a tire. I also ended up pulling the head apart today to change the direction of the output port and found that the main gasket was pretty filthy and questionably sealed. It's in a recessed pocket so it's going to be a hell of a job to clean the old one out if I can even order a new one.

Oh and I thought I did the math correctly on sizing some isolation mounts to cut down on vibration back into the vehicle, but I guess they're maybe not rated for use where the 'stationary' part of the equation isn't all that stationary. The bottom half of the mount is definitely well smashed, so I guess I'll have to find some heavier replacements at some point.

I know the 4 gal tank is pretty small but it's hard to find room for tank shaped things on the vehicle. Anyone know if putting a cooler in line after compressor will help to maximize the effective size of the tank (e.g., 4 gal hot air that'll eventually cool down and shrink vs. 4 gal of already cooled air that will hit the tank at 150psi before the switch cuts out)? I need to brush up on my gas equations. Ir seems to make sense in theory, but maybe it's negligible when you run the math.

 

[repentsinner]

While in the middle of a valve job, I decided to finally get around to a new mid-project project, and it's the best <$5 I've spent on the vehicle so far.

The original door handles had long since lost the tiny rubber bumpers that (a) keep the handle from clanking back under spring pressure, eventually destroying the cast metal handle housing, and (b) keep the handle flush with the housing. My front door handles were completely smashed to bits and needed replacing, but the rears still appeared to have some life in them if I could keep the handle from smashing into the housing.

Somehow I doubted that the little rubber bumper had its own part # from uncle T, so I dug around online for a suitable replacement. Good ol' Digi-Key has 'FOOT CYLINDRICAL 0.311" DIA BLK' (Digi-Key PN RPC1370-ND, ~$0.40/ea) which seemed like it might fit the bill based on the measurements, so I added 10 of them to the next order and promptly forgot about them for six months.

It turns out that these are a relatively easy replacement from outside the vehicle without disassembling the door to get at the guts of the handles. If there are the desiccated remains of the OG bumpers, push them through to leave a clean hole. Then partially seat the bumper in the hole and let the handle go on it again. Using a small screwdriver, slowly push the barb into the hole and rotate the bumper until the barb is fully seated. It seems like it's a great fit - takes a little work to get the barb in so it shouldn't fall out, and the height of the bumper is just enough to hold the handle flush with the housing again. Hooray!

Before- recessed handle:

Missing bumper, after pushing the flattened remains into the door:

New bumper installed:

After- door handle now sits flush again:

The goods:

 

[repentsinner]

I'm also looking forward to what you come up with for a winch cover. That's on my list as well.

@GLTHFJ60 what model of winch do you have? I mocked up some non-destructive brackets with captive hardware tonight for a Warn M8000/XD9000 (recycling Eric S.'s model on grabcad, it looks relatively accurate). They should be held in and stay clocked by the winch geometry. I plan to put male 9/16" snaps on them, and then make a canvas cover that snaps on and tucks down in front and behind - should be easy to remove when spooling in to confirm the wraps are landing evenly. Hopefully I can get these pieces cut this week to see how it works.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

I've got an 8274.

 

[Rugy]

Very nice reading your progress on the 60.
Your doing a great job, very professional.
Take care

 

[repentsinner]

Thanks @Rugy! Got any spare 12H-T or 1HZs lying around that might want a SoCal vacation?