Build His 80 and Her 80 tandem build thread

[hisandhers80s]

Perfect time to weld in some gussets & plates for the steering box...

Love your progress, you are inspiring me to get mine done! Not nearly the projects that you have, but still need to finish up before Cruise Moab and a 5k mile round trip in 5 weeks!

Delta Vehicle Systems - DeltaVS Frame Supports - Weld It Yourself Kit

Frames crack, we fix

www.deltavs.com

I have the gussets in the garage as we speak. I bought a welder as well but this will be my first time welding so I have have been nervous to try it.

 

[hisandhers80s]

I bought a cheap 110/220 welder that I had never used. Today was the day to break it out and start learning how to weld. I am not looking for feedback on my welds, as I know they are the worst thing you have ever seen, but you have to start somewhere. I learned a few things today:

• I am not a natural welder
• The electrical in my garage is not designed to handle a 110v welder. I blew the breaker 15-20 times trying to finish
• I have a 220 outlet in the garage but it is not the same as the plug on my welder.
• I need to get setup to use mig gas and the 220v outlet
• I need to buy some practice plates so I can practice and learn

 

[Mag71k5]

I bought a cheap 110/220 welder that I had never used. Today was the day to break it out and start learning how to weld. I am not looking for feedback on my welds, as I know they are the worst thing you have ever seen, but you have to start somewhere. I learned a few things today:

• I am not a natural welder
• The electrical in my garage is not designed to handle a 110v welder. I blew the breaker 15-20 times trying to finish
• I have a 220 outlet in the garage but it is not the same as the plug on my welder.
• I need to get setup to use mig gas and the 220v outlet
• I need to buy some practice plates so I can practice and learn

Im about to be in the same boat. Why pay someone to **** it up, when I can just **** it up myself

 

[hisandhers80s]

I officially hate rebuilding the steering box with the upgraded 105 sector shaft. All these crazy little o-rings and teflon seals. I broke one of the seals so I had to reuse and old one, then the threaded shaft that is staked in the end of the shaft did not want to thread properly and it took 3 hours to clean up the threads enough that I could get the thing back together. I have very little confidence this is going to work properly when I finally get this truck back together. Fingers crossed, and I will have to cross that bridge when I get to it.

 

[hisandhers80s]

There is something about new short block assembly arrival day that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside!

 

[hisandhers80s]

Just got the front third member installed with the new 4.88 gears and an ARB air locker!

 

[hisandhers80s]

I figured out how to take and front axle rebuild and make it take at least a week to finish. Perhaps I am too anal with my cleaning, but I touched each bolt bearing and part, repaint the brake shield, and took my time. I struggled for 2-3 hours getting the drivers side axle and birfield seated in the differential. I tried everything I could think of. I thought that maybe when I had Marlin Crawler rebuild the 3rd member with the 4.88 gears and the ARB air locker I may have ordered the wrong RCV 300M axle set. So I pulled the 3rd member back out and with it on the ground it was effortless to seat the axle. Finally my angel of a wife got under the truck with the 3rd member in the axle but not bolted in we twisted, pushed, jiggled, and shook, and finally it seated. I also had a wheel stud break off so had to fix that, and also installed the new DBA brake rotor and the Aisin locking hub! I have almost everything for the passengers side cleaned and ready, so it should be a much quicker install now that I have rebuild my first knuckle.

 

[hisandhers80s]

Finished the second knuckle rebuild and started on the ABS/LSPV delete.

 

[Broski]

Dude your an animal.
Keep up the good work

 

[hisandhers80s]

Took off at lunch today in the name of watching March Madness with the full intention of working on the cruiser! Got the ABS/LSPV delete finished and also finished rebuilding the new rear axles (RCV 300M) and got the rear third member with the new 4.88’s and ARB air locker installed today! Almost forgot the new DBA brakes as well!

 

[hisandhers80s]

I bought a new set of hubs pre-drilled from @cruiseroutfit You can also drill them yourself or have a local machine shop do it.

I originally thought I would go with a 4 large + 2 small dowels to allow the use of the original toyota axles in an emergency but went with all large dowels for maximum strength.

View attachment 4106590

I figured out through the wisdom of the collective, that I was supposed to put in down pins into the hubs when upgrading to the 300M hubs. Going to try to take care of it myself, if not, I will be placing an order!

 

[hisandhers80s]

That's the part I don't like about RCV 300Ms. by going to the larger dowels you can't use you old axles as trail spares with out carrying a none modified OEM hub to go with the OEM axles.
If they would have just stayed with the OEM size dowels Guys that wanted to could just stay with the two OEM dowels and stilled used your old axles for spares
As it is if you just mount up the RCV drive flange like @hisandhers80s did you don't get the benefit of any dowels.
Also it's really hard to get all 6 of those dowels drilled correctly and lined up. If your drill press has any run out the dowels can end up lose and if your trying to do it by hand well good luck with that.
Getting a per-drilled set of hubs is probably the best way to go. Unfortunately when I called Cruiseroutfitters I was told that they did not do the pre-drilled hubs.
I ended up drilling them myself and while they get the job done they did not turn out as good as I would have liked
Click to expand...

After drilling one hub, I can see where you said it was not perfect. I have decided to run two original pins and 4 larger pins, and when/if it fails, I will upgrade to the pre-drilled hubs. But for now, this will do.

 

[hisandhers80s]

After drilling one hub I can see where you said it was not perfect. I have decided to run two original pins and 4 larger pins and when/if it fails I will upgrade to the pre-drilled hubs. But for now this will do.

View attachment 4106709
View attachment 4106710

Finished product…

 

[hisandhers80s]

Got a jump start on installing the Superior Engineering Suspension 3” lift and the Delta VS pan hard rod bracket

 

[hisandhers80s]

I decided to do something fun tonight instead of wrenching and grinding to get ready for the new short block install. YotaTeq gull wing!

 

[hisandhers80s]

It was time to replace all of the body mounts, bushings, bolts and hardware. It was actually easier than I thought it would be, and I was able to do it without anyone else assisting.

 

[hisandhers80s]

Got the “factory” rear bumper off along with the rear tire carrier that was apparently barely hanging on removed. Also, got the rear frame modified and the 4x4 Labs rear bumper installed.

 

[Brindleboxer]

Dang, you are cruising through all these projects. Good to see you are at least enjoying most of the work. Think about what is coming at the end - you enjoying Cruise Moab.

 

[hisandhers80s]

Dang, you are cruising through all these projects. Good to see you are at least enjoying most of the work. Think about what is coming at the end - you enjoying Cruise Moab.

Really just moving it all over to my build thread since I had been posting it to the weekend thread as I was doing it

 

[hisandhers80s]

Things are starting to get exciting. I enjoy putting everything back so much more than taking it apart and cleaning it! I was able to get the steering box reinstalled with the upgraded 105 sector shaft and have the tie rod sitting in place but need to flip the ends on the tie rod. I also started installing the new DBA calipers and pads and the Slee stainless steel braided brake lines that go from the axle to the calipers. Last, finally got all the pins, plugs, and seals in for the new short block so I can start putting it together soon.