My '96, aka The Pachyderm (1 Viewer)

[Marvelicious]

Distractions abound in my world, but I did finally get around to actually putting the beadlocks and KO2s on the 80. Immediate improvement in basically everything that matters to me. It no longer sounds and feels like I'm driving on a gravel road while on smooth pavement, which is a plus. It even tracks straighter. As far as the Vision wheels go, these take an acorn style lug nut, but the flanges are extremely thick so they needed an extended thread lugnut to fit on the 80. I had acorns already, but they would only grab a couple threads and I didn't trust them.

Aesthetically, they're a bit bright and shiny for my tastes, but the 0 offset version wasn't available in black. The overall style reminds me a little of the 1st gen 4runner alloys, and I kinda like it. They're 0 offset, just like the factory alloys, but the width is calculated inner bead to outer bead as if it were a standard wheel, and now the tire is actually mounted OUTSIDE the outer bead so it effectively gives them a bit of negative offset (aka, less backspacing). They're a 17x8.5 0 offset, but in practice it's more like 17x9.25 -10 offset (or 4.25 backspacing if you prefer) - roughly.

So far the beadlock torque seems pretty stable. Between work and other crap, they sat for about a month between when I first mounted the tires to wheels and when I actually mounted the wheels on the truck. In that time, they lost a little bit of torque, but I suspect that was just the rubber conforming to the clamping forces. I re-torqued at that time and I've checked it quite a few times since and it hasn't changed again. I'm tempted to use some threadlocker, but I haven't made up my mind whether that's a good idea or not. I've long held the opinion that critical threads shouldn't go together dry - anti-seize or threadlocker, one or the other. It's important to use the correct formula for the metallurgy though. Aluminum is less noble than steel, so something zinc based gives the galvanic action something to consume rather than the aluminum. Chemistry, anyway...

I haven't done any serious wheeling with them yet... just a spin on the beach, but I definitely need to work out a compressor solution so I can make the beadlocks earn their money.

Audi seats are sort of temporarily installed... I'm still playing around with the brackets and the heater wiring, so I'll do a post about that once I'm happy with everything.

 

[cruzinfj1]

Those are a good looking wheel. Dont use any loctite, use anti seize.

 

[Marvelicious]

Yeah, that's really the direction I was leaning. I put them together dry according to the instructions, but I really don't like leaving stuff that way. No one really gives you a useful warranty on beadlocks anyway, so they lost their right to tell me what to do. I had pretty much convinced myself that the aircraft rated stuff is probably the right way to go since it's specifically formulated to discourage galvanic corrosion in aluminum. Maybe I'm being overly paranoid about that, but the truck has already dipped its toes in the ocean since they were installed. I suppose if one replaces the cadmium coated fasteners every year as recommended, the coating probably takes care of it, but I'm going to assume that I'm pretty likely to skip that here and there.

 

[Marvelicious]

Took it up some local logging roads. It handled the snow pretty well, though getting used to the feel of such a heavy trail rig was an adjustment. It seems to work best with all the diffs unlocked until I stop, at which point locking up gets it out of the ruts. Came across some 1 ton Dodge guys who were busy tearing up ruts on a bit of a hill. We sat back and watched until they gave up and turned around, then my buddy walked his Hilux right through and I followed just as easily.

I don't know how to tell her this, but Hula Girl was not properly dressed for the weather. For my part, the only trouble I had was that the heated Audi seats were a bit too warm to keep the coat on.

A bit farther up the mountain, we caught up with these kids who had the nose of their 4runner about 3 feet down that bank. My other Hilux buddy ran his truck up and yarded them out. I was trying to make up my mind where to hang a snatch block to pull them with the winch, but he just ran up, tied off short and did it... I think that's still the front axle I set up for him on a different rig back in the day. The kids had another stuck rig about a hundred yards beyond this one, but it was a one ton and it was ALL THE WAY off the road... decided he was on his own. Meanwhile, the 4runner kids went back to hammering on it trying to get up that hill and slipping back and forth ditch to ditch. We decided it wasn't worth trying to make the old fire tower at that point and turned around. Didn't want to spend the rest of the day pulling people out. His pup looks pretty miserable in that pic, but every time we stopped he was in heaven just romping through snow drifts, so I think he was just bored.

Overall, a pretty good first snow-wheeling trip. I'm pretty happy with how it handled itself. I'm sure it would have performed better if I would have dropped some air, but I was kinda curious how the KO2s would do at full street pressure. My only real regret is that I didn't grab more pics.

 

[Marvelicious]

Been doing a few "quality of life" upgrades that I need to post about, but no major developments. Mostly been driving it and reading the ins and outs on the forum. I'm working a trade deal for some new 4.88 gears, so that should be huge.

Good snow wheeling trip this weekend. Went up with two Hilux guys and a full size 300/6 Bronco. The Bronco broke in the parking lot, so that guy and his girlfriend hopped in the Cruiser, then his Dad's Hilux lost it's exhaust a mile or two up... Now 4 people in the cruiser.

Somewhere in the fog is the mountain and we followed the last Hilux up to the tower and grilled polish sausages in a little tree sheltered spot.

The weather changed a bit after that and the snow became stupidly slick. The heavy cruiser decided it really wanted to plunge into a deep hole that feeds a drainage culvert on the side of the road, but a little gentle persuasion from the winch to the remaining Hilux got us back on track. I was running 20psi and I think I'll drop down to single digits for snow from here on, but I hadn't had a chance to test my compressor, so I didn't want to go too low yet.

After coming down off the tower access, the other hilux guy wanted to take a different route out to a different highway, but I had to get the others back to their abandoned vehicles, so we split up. We were about 3 miles from the main road when we got the call to come rescue the other hilux.

Stanced bro...

Every stud on his wheel was broken.

So... Two more adults and a 150lb dog into the cruiser. That's 6 adults (4 of which are well over 6') and a big ass dog. Since we were now on the wrong side of the hill and somewhat overloaded, we decided to take a different route out and around... Until we found a huge tree across the road. Back across the hill and out two hours later by around 9pm.

Now, in defense of my broken friends, the Bronco guy is a kid and we know he's on a budget, and the other two are big time works in progress... The one with the busted studs just bought the rig recently and put an engine in it - still ironing bugs out obviously. The other one was one wheeling trip past "this is the last trip before I tear it all down to fix everything". Still, I was pretty proud of what I'm starting to think of as "the pachyderm". All that and she was good for a 200 mile trip down the coast the next day.

 

[suzuguru]

Interesting little trips. I'm loving the pictures of all the snow in the pines. My KO2's on my Tacoma do awesome in the snow and ice. It's a bummer when everyone's rig starts breaking, but it's a good feeling when you're the one still going strong. Thanks for sharing, and congrats on your new (to you) 80!

 

[Marvelicious]

Yeah, everyone had a pretty good sense of humor about the trouble. We have a long standing rule - "jug for a tug". If you have to get pulled out, you're buying a fifth. After I had to come rescue the guy with the broken studs, we decided we're even.

The KO2's go really well in the snow, but there were a couple hours where it was just a mess and the only thing that was doing well was the fleet of side-by-sides. Then again, we didn't see anyone else up that far in trucks. Apparently we're hardcore... I'm going to have to strap some of those traction boards all over the outside of the rig so everyone can tell.

 

[Marvelicious]

Finally got decent weather and a day off to line up, so I dug into the driver's window today. I didn't want to order a ton of parts because I wasn't 100% sure what I'd need and I don't like to just "load the parts cannon". I did order a regulator because I was positive the driver's door needed one - you could see the window shift backward or forward before it would move, indicating sloppy parts in the regulator. I ordered an Aisin and while it isn't identical to the original part, it looked to be good quality. I didn't order one with a motor, because I wasn't sure the motor itself was shot. I know I need belt molding all the way around, but I held off on that as well.

It's not that difficult a job and it'll be even easier now that I know where all the fasteners live. After tearing the whole thing down, I did find the expected slop in the regulator mechanism. I took motor free from the regulator and was greeted with an ugly cluster of grit and solidified grease, so I popped the cover off the back of the gear reduction mechanism, cleaned that portion with a liberal application of non-chlorinated brakleen, lubed it up with some white lithium grease and slapped it back together and onto the new regulator.

I took the window glass entirely out of the window as part of removing the regulator, so that gave me an opportunity to really assess the rest of the components. The window run looks quite good on the outside, but once I really dug into it, I could probably use a replacement there as well, but I used a toothbrush and more brakleen to scrub all the grit and old sticky lube down and out of the track, then applied PTFE powder to the parts I couldn't reach with the window in place. Also, I noticed that the butylene putty that stabilized the door skin against the tube stiffener bar inside the door had hardened and shrunk and was no longer doing anything to kill vibration. I applied some fresh putty (I got a big bar of the stuff at Home Despot years ago. I don't remember what they sell it for, but it appears to be the same stuff) and a few small chunks of deadening mat to the skin, not aiming for a huge sound difference, just "while I'm here".

Well, after slapping it all back together, I think it was worth the effort. I'll do belt moldings some time coming up, but considering I sometimes had to help it by hand before, the improvement is huge for very little money and a little work. We'll see how it moves when it gets cold again - if it slows down, I'll spring for the new run and new motor, but for now I'm pretty happy.