Mister Blue the sunburned 2004 diesel 105

[John Young]

I was trying different stripping methods on the old bottom piece and it literally was falling apart with only the slightest pressure. I decided to see whether maybe Andrew had been right and the decals could be reused.

And indeed, 'decal' is not really the right word for this. The plastic label is stiff and fairly rigid.

What is interesting here is that the openings are identical, left and right. It is only the label that determines whether it is for a RHD or LHD vehicle. The plastic itself is identical!

But this is taking a long time to do properly. Meanwhile Mister Blue is being driven around like this:

Perfectly functional, just not pretty to look at.

 

[John Young]

Not being happy with the results on the lower part of the console I stripped it again:

And then did two coats of satin black:

It is not perfect but I am happy enough with the outcome that I am stopping here and I'm going to throw it all back together again.

 

[John Young]

I still have to put one more cap on.

Today was interesting; my big Terrain Tamer order came:

New springs, shocks, bearings and bushings and some other stuff for Mister Blue and the Omani Diesel, which has badly sagging springs from 450k km in Oman.

 

[John Young]

Mister Blue got a good polish of his old paint:

 

[Bisho]

Wow, what a difference a polish makes!

 

[John Young]

Mister Blue is going into PowerTec for installation of the new Terrain Tamer springs, bushings and shocks. Just dropped it off today:

I am expecting Mister Blue to come out with a similar stance to the Holy Truck, which just got equivalent Terrain Tamer parts installed:

 

[John Young]

Today I visited Mister Blue at Powertec. He is already wearing a good portion of his new Terrain Tamer suspension, courtesy of my good friend Anees who does a lot of TT importing to Dubai via his company UTD United Terrains Trading.

offset bushings for the mild lift

The new stance is a bit hard to imagine still

It really is an 80 under the skin:

 

[John Young]

Birf joints look ok

A bit of surface rust to take care of

New dust seal required on the rear drive shaft:

And perhaps a new set of exhaust mounts

 

[John Young]

One of the CV's has some obvious heat damage

But the rear diff looks good

Do any of you have views on quality aftermarket vs OEM half shafts for the front diff/birf?

 

[cruiserdan]

One of the CV's has some obvious heat damage
View attachment 3464045
But the rear diff looks good
View attachment 3464046
View attachment 3464047
View attachment 3464048
View attachment 3464049

Do any of you have views on quality aftermarket vs OEM half shafts for the front diff/birf?

That Birfield is normal. The color is from heat treatment

 

[John Young]

That Birfield is normal. The color is from heat treatment

Thank you Dan. GREATLY appreciated.

 

[NE Snowman]

I’d assume it’s like the rest of Toyo parts, OEM steel is very hard to beat.

I still kick myself for the shafts I had thrown on my 4R, was silent with torn boots. Aftermarket I had this weird click we never fully figured out if it was the lower control bush or axle. But the control arm was silent before half shaft install and noise after. Was a fient clicky noise on ultra slow turns with wheels turning.

 

[United Terrains]

Today I visited Mister Blue at Powertec. He is already wearing a good portion of his new Terrain Tamer suspension, courtesy of my good friend Anees who does a lot of TT importing to Dubai via his company UTD United Terrains Trading.
View attachment 3464033
offset bushings for the mild lift
View attachment 3464034
The new stance is a bit hard to imagine still
View attachment 3464035
It really is an 80 under the skin:
View attachment 3464036
View attachment 3464038

Welcome John. Let me know when you are there next. Like to have a look and chat Mr Blue

 

[John Young]

Today I renamed the thread removing 'Azraq'. For good or ill the name of this truck is definitely Mister Blue.

I visited him again today and there was significant progress--or at least deconstruction:

Poor Mister blue has no wheels, axel or transmission!

We also learned that there has been some work on the bottom end of the engine because of the non-OEM gasket material we see:

The rear main seal has a small oil leak, but the seal is going to get replaced in any event.

And the boot for the transmission lever has gone bad and will be replaced.

The transmission is going to be gone through--the synchro for 2nd is a little iffy.

 

[John Young]

Both axels are out as mentioned above, and pretty much everything major is ok.

And I learned that the rear end has a limited slip diff--which was news to me.

But the clutch packs were pretty worn and will be replaced.

 

[John Young]

The senior guy at the shop is suggesting that I remove all four bump springs:

The effect of this would be to get greater upward travel out of the suspension.

Anyone have some thought on that?

 

[ClassyJalopy]

The senior guy at the shop is suggesting that I remove all four bump springs:
View attachment 3468746
The effect of this would be to get greater upward travel out of the suspension.

Anyone have some thought on that?

I only have a 100 but the rear end should be similar to your 105. In my experience those bump springs don't restrict the up travel at all. I have stuffed the rear wheel pretty good inside the rear wheel well with these in place.
Without them, I would be worried about hard shock when you bottom out the rear, chance of over stressing the rear coil spring and the sway bar and possibly having the tire hit the inner fender.

Are you planning to upgrade the suspension to a longer travel setup? Otherwise I don't think there is any up side to removing them!

Here's an example of 34" tire stuffed with those bump springs in place!

 

[Bisho]

Interesting. I don’t have any bump springs or cushions in my 2000. No ill effects. I didn’t know they were a thing.

 

[ClassyJalopy]

Interesting. I don’t have any bump springs or cushions in my 2000. No ill effects. I didn’t know they were a thing.

Where did yours go? Some time they are hard to see since they are tucked high up, in the middle of the rear springs!

 

[Bisho]

Where did yours go? Some time they are hard to see since they are tucked high up, in the middle of the rear springs!

Unknown. They may have been removed by the last owner, or my brain blocked them out as my spring swap was a lot harder than I anticipated. Next time I have a chance I’ll look.