Build Mail Order Ride - My HDJ81

[Dork]

Thanks, I'm mostly quite happy with it, hopefully it lasts 20 years now.

Last picture here for now, with it all together and gone out for a drive (and is now already muddy). The bumper is still factory color, so you can see how close the tint is.

 

[retrofive]

Looks great. Nice job on the flares.

 

[Broski]

Thanks, I'm mostly quite happy with it, hopefully it lasts 20 years now.

Last picture here for now, with it all together and gone out for a drive (and is now already muddy). The bumper is still factory color, so you can see how close the tint is.

Looks sweet the color combo is really nice, good work !!

 

[decoco]

Thanks, I'm mostly quite happy with it, hopefully it lasts 20 years now.

Last picture here for now, with it all together and gone out for a drive (and is now already muddy). The bumper is still factory color, so you can see how close the tint is.

looks fantastic, where did you order your rapto liner from?

 

[Dork]

looks fantastic, where did you order your rapto liner from?

I got it this time from CAPS here in Edmonton, I think the 4L kit was around $180 plus you pay extra for the tint they add. Figured supporting local Alberta businesses is good karma. It's also sold at Carlson's on the south side.

 

[decoco]

I got it this time from CAPS here in Edmonton, I think the 4L kit was around $180 plus you pay extra for the tint they add. Figured supporting local Alberta businesses is good karma. It's also sold at Carlson's on the south side.

thanks I have a to do list of something like this, I like the color you chose too.

 

[Dork]

My steering has been getting to be a bit garbage lately, so it figures that I'm checking the truck over before an upcoming trip like normal, but this time when I grab the drag link I get a thunk. Down to 4wheel Auto I go cause they had a set of all 4 tie rod ends sitting on the shelf. These came in a Terrain Tamer box, but stamped made in Japan by 555. They're noticeably beefier than the existing ones were.

Put them all in, and since there's probably no way to get into an alignment in the morning and we wanna be leaving by noon, I did the best I could myself. I used the "put thumb tacks in the dead center of tread of the tires and measure front and back" method, and it feels pretty good. I gotta piss around with the drag link to get steering closer to center, but I didn't notice any wobble or shimmy yet. Figure I can bring the couple wrenches needed and just keep making little adjustments along the way until I'm happy. And heck, I just learned how to save myself the $100-whatever crazy amount that shops are charging these days.

 

[Dork]

Woah, I ain't updated this in a while.

I guess back to the alignment after the TRE job. I ended up not happy with the feel of it, and I was going on a big road trip so I managed to get it done on the morning we left. Felt much better.

Those TREs ended up rusting like crazy in no time flat.

Did an oil change after 8k, didn't bother with the analysis this time. I think i put 0w-40 in.

Took it out in the wet snow, got stuck. Was stupid.

Replaced front and rear U joints, they were ****ered. Doing them happened to completely take care of that awful growling, grinding noise when cruising and not quite putting enough power out to keep the drive shaft loaded. Not sure why it didn't fix it when I did them the first time, but hoo boy did that now make it nicer to drive!

Then, I used a new toy/tool I bought to make some janky ass sway bar extensions. The truck as I received it had the lift in place, with some wacky extended links. Buying stock replacement links wouldn't fit, and no way was I finding the same things from eBay Asia so I did this. The ball joints on the front links were toast, so these took care of a nasty clunk I had going on. The eBay Asia lift kit also has beefier sway bars, so measured up and got some bushings to put on the front and rear bars.

Now, ho-lee s***. Every squeak, clunk, rattle, click, etc is gone. That mixed with the U joint job has this truck feeling like a brand new vehicle.

Up next is a couple of cool things I'm excited to work on. They're not fast projects, but good ones.

 

[Dork]

A buddy gave me a roll of appropriate rubber a while ago, and I finally got around to making it into mud flaps. I like the look of them, and the way they keep things clean, and the fact that I ****ing hate getting rock chips, so i probably shouldn't be giving them to other people. Did both front and rear since I feel bad for my rockers. Fabbed up some brackets that bolt to the bumper/sliders, painted em, used some large flange aluminum rivets to attach the flaps to the brackets and voila.

I just lost the auto glass industry a couple grand.

 

[Dork]

And, a small hint at what's coming down the pipe...

 

[Broski]

And, a small hint at what's coming down the pipe...

Really Happy with my Odyssey Extreme, I run a group 31 single. I can run my ARB Fridge for days and it well still start the truck

 

[Dork]

Really Happy with my Odyssey Extreme, I run a group 31 single. I can run my ARB Fridge for days and it well still start the truck

I've heard good things, these are two Group 34s. They weren't cheap, that's for damn sure. My existing batteries look like this right now, and need to be charged if i don't drive it weekly.

 

[Dork]

Ok, electricity stage 1.

I made up a battery box in Inventor and after waiting too long for a buddy to get the metal cut, I paid some dude with a plasma table in his garage to do it. Then I borrowed a little vice mounted brake to bend and then weld these 14g pieces up. I cut and bent some 3/16 flat bar into brackets that bolt into the factory batt box locations. I made a hole to access one of the mounting bolts from the top, the others are fairly easy to get at.

I had a distribution block sitting in a drawer from the old big booming car stereo days, so I mounted it on the side of the pass side box to have an easier time of tapping off to the various loads. The hid ballasts are mounted to the boxes too.

This time, I made sure to coat the ever loving s*** out of everything with dielectric grease.

At the same time I bent up a mounting plate for the Bussman fuse/relay box and put it on the side near the under hood fuse box. I'm not using all the space on it yet, but the design is big enough for 2 bussmans, or a couple breakers, or a distribution block.

The top strap is too weak with the teq logo in it, so it bends and doesn't clamp the battery evenly from top. I'll have to reinforce it or make it out of something thicker some day. For now, it works just fine.

At least that cancerous environmental disaster is gone.

 

[Dork]

Update Time.

This has been many months in the works, but I'm finally making REAL excitement inducing progress.

Back in winter I took a bunch of measurements of the front of the truck and started teaching myself to play in Inventor. I built a jig of the front of the truck in the program and came up with a design for a bumper.

After I thought I was happy, I got some hobbyist with a laser cutter to cut half of it from mdf for me so I could do a test fitting before committing to the price of steel. Fixed some bad measurements, adjusted some other dimensions, changed my mind on things and ended with with a final design.

Contacted the same dude who cut my battery boxes, and then finally started sticking it together last night.

 

[Dork]

...And then got the rest of the main structure put together today.

It all fit together like a dream, or a model kit from the store.

There's so much still to do, but I'm pretty damn pleased with it so far. Went for a drive to see it in the real world, and I'm pumped.

I've got gussets to put in, welds to weld, bull bar to bend (after borrowing a bender), light tabs to fab, any accessory stuff, gotta modify the bottom plate a bit and slap it on, grinding/sanding, spraying, gotta wire up the winch box in a new home, lots to do.

Pictures for now.

 

[Broski]

...And then got the rest of the main structure put together today.

It all fit together like a dream, or a model kit from the store.

There's so much still to do, but I'm pretty damn pleased with it so far. Went for a drive to see it in the real world, and I'm pumped.

I've got gussets to put in, welds to weld, bull bar to bend (after borrowing a bender), light tabs to fab, any accessory stuff, gotta modify the bottom plate a bit and slap it on, grinding/sanding, spraying, gotta wire up the winch box in a new home, lots to do.

Pictures for now.

Nice design, Looking good.
Couple of thing to consider. When Rich of Costa Fabs made his bumpers his design utilized the mounting nuts that are inside the frame on the top and bottom of the frame horns, the mounts create a channel so to speak that the bumper can slide on and support itself during installation.
This has been very helpful as you can slide the bumper partially on ( it well support it self ) then mount the winch and connect the winch wires. Then slide it all the way on and bolt it up. I put two bolt in finger lose to keep the bumper safely in place when I'm mounting the winch.
He also put gussets in the wings.
Again great work !!!

 

[Dork]

Nice design, Looking good.
Couple of thing to consider. When Rich of Costa Fabs made his bumpers his design utilized the mounting nuts that are inside the frame on the top and bottom of the frame horns, the mounts create a channel so to speak that the bumper can slide on and support itself during installation.
This has been very helpful as you can slide the bumper partially on ( it well support it self ) then mount the winch and connect the winch wires. Then slide it all the way on and bolt it up. I put two bolt in finger lose to keep the bumper safely in place when I'm mounting the winch.
He also put gussets in the wings.
Again great the whole thing boxes around the frame, and is mounted using the captive nuts on top, bottom and sides. I'll be able to put winch on with bumper fully mounted since I'm relocating the control box anyway.

Nice design, Looking good.
Couple of thing to consider. When Rich of Costa Fabs made his bumpers his design utilized the mounting nuts that are inside the frame on the top and bottom of the frame horns, the mounts create a channel so to speak that the bumper can slide on and support itself during installation.
This has been very helpful as you can slide the bumper partially on ( it well support it self ) then mount the winch and connect the winch wires. Then slide it all the way on and bolt it up. I put two bolt in finger lose to keep the bumper safely in place when I'm mounting the winch.
He also put gussets in the wings.
Again great work !!!

The main center section of the bumper forms a box around the frame, so it's bolted to the factory captive nuts on top, bottom and sides. I used some cardboard or washers during assembly to make sure there's a small space so it doesn't end up too tight over the frame. This will also allow me to just slide it onto the frame and support itself for install. The winch can be dropped into place without removing bumper right now, easier so since I'm moving the control box anyway.

I've got a handful of gussets already cut to install in each wing and under the skid plate as well, should hopefully end up good and strong. See below for a backside view.

 

[Broski]

The main center section of the bumper forms a box around the frame, so it's bolted to the factory captive nuts on top, bottom and sides. I used some cardboard or washers during assembly to make sure there's a small space so it doesn't end up too tight over the frame. This will also allow me to just slide it onto the frame and support itself for install. The winch can be dropped into place without removing bumper right now, easier so since I'm moving the control box anyway.

I've got a handful of gussets already cut to install in each wing and under the skid plate as well, should hopefully end up good and strong. See below for a backside view.

View attachment 2759526

Now that I can see the back side, I see you have covered all the bases !! Really nice work/design
I like the Toyota logo in the front as well

 

[Dork]

Spent the last couple days welding grinding and mucking around. Turns out I'm still a terrible welder, so I had to cut a bunch of porous welds and redo them. Still not perfectly smooth, but whatever, it'll be covered by bedliner. I also realized my mistake of the skid plate angle being too shallow so I can't quite get the front winch bolts in. I'm gonna have to either slot the front two holes a little bit, or make access holes in the skid plate. Any revision will include more aesthetic openings in the skid, but this time around I think the holes will be getting massaged a little.

The lights are all Cheapo Auxbeam crap from Amazon, so what? The fogs are amber/white, and can be lit separately, the bar is a 20" with a flood/spot/flood pattern.

- Put the gussets in, so it's solid.
- Borrowed the bender and made a bullbar.
- Made some light tabs and test fit lighting.
- Went for a drive to see it in the real world because it's way different than up close in the garage.

 

[DancesWithMutts]

Really nice and clean looking. Well done.