HELP!!!

[texastoy88]

Why don't you ask the club that is putting it on?

Maybe use the thread they put up about the event?

https://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.php?t=129625

Done did last night. Posted up over there just after I posted here. Figured I might get a clearer response if I posted out to a few different places. Might get a little different response at one place or another. Thanks anyway Chris.

 

[texastoy88]

OK, I know by now you guys ar geting tired of seeing my crap on here.. but oh well... the moderator hasn't deleted me yet, so I guess I am doing something right.

Anyway, on to the show....

Finally got the frame clean and the motor mount plates installed. (only going to put on one photo since they look the same.

Got the Spring hanger tacked in..

Front side springs attached....

Got the spring hanger final welded, with the gussets. I had to add an extra one die to the additional 2 1/2" sq tube hanging down below the frame. (this tube is the mount for the front bumper)

Springs installed...

Unfortunatly, more axle work to be done before I can install the axle.

I was really hoping to have the axle on today, but had a kids b-day party to go to. cut out about 5 hours worth of work time, but oh well.. Maybe I will get it finished this upcoming weekend after another lovely trip to Portland, OR. Will post up more next weekend.

 

[Fireman]

Looking good. Don't really appreciate the tease as far as scrolling down expecting a damn axle to actually be installed!!

 

[texastoy88]

Looking good. Don't really appreciate the tease as far as scrolling down expecting a damn axle to actually be installed!!

Sorry David.. Not to make excuses, but the b-day party wrecked my whole schedule since I had to shut everything down, take shower, go to the party, then shopping after (gotta make the wife happy somethimes ) then come back and get it all moving again.. only a 5 hour out of the shop time,. but probably translated into about 6-7 hours actual down time.

But I figured, it would be a good cliffhanger for the week, I will not be back from Portland till Friday (late) so probably no more pics till Sat night. Sorry.

 

[texastoy88]

OK guys. after the long week, I got the axle under it and the brake lines on.

Here it sets about where it will once the tires are on.

I sure hope the chevy springs in the rear raise the back up as high as the front now sets.

One thing that worries me is the lack of u-bolt above the nut on the driver's side. That (in the picture) top left nut only has the threads about half way into the nut. I think the threads on the u-bolt need to be all the way thru the nut. But I torqued the nuts down to 100 ft lbs and this is what it looked like.

Should I use a longer u-bolt or what?? or do you think this is acceptable.

This is what the other side looks like. I felt the other side should look similar so I have to cut off the top of the u-bolts...

There ya go guys..

That's what it is so far. Still have the steering box to drill/tap and attach the hydro ram, then the shock hoops and shocks. Maybe I can get the steering drilled and tapped tonight and mounted back on.

 

[Dirty White Boy]

Looks good, but you're right, you need longer u-bolts. Lookin forward to seein this thang on the trail.

 

[texastoy88]

Ok in addition to installing the axle, I did some other stuff.. Figured I would take a moment to flex test it a bit.

Then I figured I would take on the task of tapping the steering box for the hydro assist lines, but no one in any of the posts about the installation of hydro assist on a Toyota say anything about these stupid little ball bearings in the steering worm gear. But the good part is I figured out how to put them back in and moved on to tapping the box..

The box is drilled and tapped, if you look thru the top piston hole you can see the other tapped hole.

Then figured I would instal the ram..

So that is all for now.. Have to fly to Sacramento tomorrow after noon, but will be back Friday night to continue.

All that's left on the SAS now is the installation of the steering box and hydro assist lines, install shock hoops and shocks.

Thanks for following along.. I would start up a build up thread, but not sure how to rename this one...

But damn it feels good to have this thing almost ready to go play.

 

[KOWBOY]

Most excellent sir.

Now she just needs some OD Green paint.

 

[texastoy88]

Most excellent sir.

Now she just needs some OD Green paint.

Maybe I can find a spot on the undercarriage to put some OD green and a WTOE logo sticker. I think the OD green would be a little odd on a Texas themed truck.. Maybe if I get another project down the line somewhere, I will paint er OD green..

Hey, Here is a Huge problem in which I noticed... The front drive shaft lacks about 4" of drop on the front of the shaft to make contact with the front diff as it sets on the ground... And that is without any drop at all on the front axle. I have thought about building sq drivelines. But I know the limiting factor in the driveline right now is the CV joint in the line. I am betting on taking the cv out and using just a standard u-joint.

EDIT: I found this link to a fix for it.. link but any comments will still be helpful.

What do you guys think??? I really ain't got much more $$ to work on it right now, but want to get it drivable.. soon!!! I will search around and se what other people have done.. Thanks for any advice...

 

[texastoy88]

OK.. I didnt get anything done with the actual SAS and the steering, so I got started on the Chevy Springs. Here area few progress photos.. I am taking the liberty of reworking the rear axle and beefing it up a bit while I have the 3rd pulled and the axle out from under the truck also. And instead of giving TG any more of my hard earned $$ I built my own 1/4" thk diff gaurd.

The start..

the exisitng setup with 2 sets of AALs and a 3" block...

Getting the axle prepped..

and the new armor... all for the cost of some torch gas, and a little welding wire.

new Chevy springs on...

Front Hanger.. I added a boxing plate to the Sky Chevy kit.

and the rear hanger. I think I will need a longer shackle.

 

[Fireman]

Looks good. Tell those boys over at Texoma Off Road to hush cause they is just jealous of us White Trash. They are just wannabes.

 

[texastoy88]

Project Texas Toy

Don't worry about me David, I ain't skeered of Bryan. He's just jealous he ain't got one of these here forin jobs!!

Anyway, on to the build. I got no photos of it, but I got the steering box back in. With them there fittin's that I got from Grainger. (since the Jackasses at TG couldn't just throw them there $1.90 fittins into the kit for $200). They want to charge extra for them.

Anyway, got that all back in, but can't set it back on the ground yet since the rear axle is still on the hangers awaiting the paint to dry. I got the rear diff armor welded on, but am waiting for this coat of black to dry so I can paint on my Texas flag again.

Once that is done, I can get the axle underneith the ass of it, and see how much more the back has to come up to level out with the front.

I will try to get more pics Thursday.

 

[texastoy88]

Thank GOD the IFS is gone

Well, I ahve gotten alot done today, I finished up installing all the hydro system, doubled the height of my resevoir, and installed the steering stablizer. Finished up the rear axle, and installed with the u-bolt flip kit. However, I figured out that the 6" shackles that came with the Sky Mfg kit chevy spring kit doesn't quite get the rear close to level. It sets about 3 inches too low. So I built a set of custom 10" shackles. Anyway, I know compared to some of you guys my tire measurement off the ground will seem like nothing, but I now have 28" of clearance without another tire leaving the ground. A far cry from the 12" with the IFS, if I was lucky. My frame now sets a full 27" aobve the ground also. Compared to my 24" that I had before. Anyway, no more boring talk, here are photos.

Ok, so who is tired of me posting this crap up and wishes I would go away??

 

[Fireman]

Looks good. Those are some monster shackles. I wonder how much your front is going to settle? You need to go break them in!!!!!

 

[texastoy88]

Looks good. Those are some monster shackles. I wonder how much your front is going to settle? You need to go break them in!!!!!

I plan on breaking them in as soon as I can. But I really need to get the front and rear shocks on first. I also need to get my square drive shaft built to go in the front. Once those are done I plan on taking it over to my brothers to see if I can get the springs to to settle in on the way, and get home to install the shocks.

I figure it will settle a little bit more once I get the cage back on the front. Oh well. If not I can always take out a leaf from the front to see if it will come down enough.

The rear shackle is actually onger than I preffer to run, but there have been a few guys running 9" and 10" shackles on Pirate while running the Chevy springs and thye haven't said too much bad about them. So for now I am going to try them. If they do not perform like I want, I will switch back to the 6" shackle and use a 2-3" block under the spring instead. Not real sure. Just a trial and error thing for me at the moment. Luckily most of this trial isn't costing me much $$ as most of the extra stuff for the shackles is just scrap I already had. Any suggestions or bits of wisdom you gents might have, would be nice too...

 

[KOWBOY]

Looks good Brother ... thanks for postin' up the build-up pics.

10" shackles are scary ... be interestin' to see how they work out for ya. Since your runnin' Chevy springs anyway, any chance of goin' with after-market 6" lifted ones so you can run normal shakles without blocks?

 

[texastoy88]

I may look into some lift spring sfor the rear after I get all the other stuff finished. I figure I will wheel it a few times to see how it goes. I really don't like the 10' shackle idea either. But at the momnent this was the cheapest quickest fix I could do. That there girlfreind of mine has me on a really tight budget at the moment. I am really hoping that the front settles with the weight of the cage and I can take the long shackle out. We shall see. If it doesnt settle, I may take a leaf out of the pack up front to help.

Just gotta have this thing ready for Roundup. Taking to damn long!!!

Oh, I know nobody really cares, but here is a photo of the original truck when I got it from my brother in 2004 with 415k miles on it. The reason I post this, is becouse I don't think I have ever posted the original photo up before, anywhere.

 

[texastoy88]

Ok, after a long week of nothing, I got a chance to do a little something.

Took the bed off, cut off a couple brackets my brother had welded on along with the bumpstops. Got the rear shock cross brace welded in place and the shock mounts on the axle. By time I got finished tonight she was setting on her own with the rear shocks in place. Now just need to get the front ones mounted.

Oh, yea.. almost forgot. I took this thing to my brother's place on Sat. and had a blast playing around on the dirt piles in his back yard. Not much else to do while that damn dust storm was blowing thru. Anyway, I am so freakin' impressed with how much better it did with the new setup on it. Everything seemed to work great. Even those 10" long "scary" shackles worked great. The only thing that was a little un-nerving was the steering on the way over. The new hydro needs a little tweeking to get centered, but it works great. The scariest thing about the steering was the bump steer I got when I hit a dip in the road at about 30 mph. I thought I was going to end up in the ditch. I think the shocks will help stop this alot, as the whole truck bobbed really bad when hitting bumps. We shall see.

OK, enough talk, here are the photos of the progress today.

 

[valkyrie610]

Looks good John.

I might suggest that you reinforce the ends of the shock cross tube, and reinforce the tube as well.... I was surprised at the force that was applied.

When I did mine exactly lilke yours, it took two wheeling trips to crack near the weld at the frame (yes it was welded good)

A year later (10-12 trips) the tube cracked.

 

[texastoy88]

Looks good John.

I might suggest that you reinforce the ends of the shock cross tube, and reinforce the tube as well.... I was surprised at the force that was applied.

When I did mine exactly lilke yours, it took two wheeling trips to crack near the weld at the frame (yes it was welded good)

A year later (10-12 trips) the tube cracked.

I have some gusseting that I plan on doing before it is completely finished. I am thinking about using some angle iron on both side of the tube to reinforce it. I have read on a few other boards that the tube is not enough to handle the load also. I just ran out of time yesterday.

Any other comments from anybody.. Come on.. I got to get razzed for those long a$$ bump stops!!

I have some tube gussets to add to those as well.