My 1983 SR5 Long Bed Build.

[dngspot]

This is the old girl I am posting about.

I drove her off of the car lot when I was eighteen. It took a bunch of paper routes, mowing yards and flipping hamburgers to call her mine, and it was all worth it. My wife hates the truck but I cannot let her go, the truck. So the next best thing is spend a bunch of money on her and bring her back to life, again the truck.

She (the truck) came from California and has lived the past 15 years in Kansas. If you look at the pic above any red you see is rust, some of it is coming out of the seam between the bed and skirt below. The bed sides are pitted with rust spots also. The cab has about 12 inch rust spots behind the wheel wells. I will be removing the bed and installing a Joe Chacon design that I will build. As for the cab I will cut out the rust and replace with new steel. The bed will be supplied with its own 8000 lbs winch and I will be building a bumper for the front and installing another 8000 lbs winch there. Both winches are already purchased and under the truck in there boxes.

I have been working on the rear axle housing. The rear diff is finished with 4.88 gears and an ARB locker. I installed a new bearing kit in it also. If you look closely at the differential housing you will see that is not the stock ARB fitting, I drilled the fitting that compresses the o-ring and is used to attach a hose to, to accept a piece of 1/4 inch tube. I soldered it into the fitting. Now I can use standard 1/4 inch fittings instead of that 5 mm stuff supplied in the kit. I have not decided on the rest of the plumbing just yet. I have thought of using steel brake line or will use plastic air line from work. I am an industrial mechanic, and repair Caterpillar Tractors. I got about 50 feet of ¼ inch plastic line from the Ag guys, they said it was extra stuff from an air system upgrade on a farm machine and is very tough. The axles will get new bearings and seals while they are out. Sorry no pics of the rear axle, it is still at work, most of the stuff I remove and rebuild will go there for cleaning. I also build the diffs there because most of my measuring tools are there.
The front axle is still in the truck. It is destined to get new Longfields, another ARB air locker and new outer bearings and seals. I have given thought to turning the knuckles but will not do this until I have an idea what the front pinion angle will be. All of those parts are purchased.
The air system will consist of a 4 gallon tank driven by a modified Q Industries MV-50 compressor. I ported the intake and exhaust. I also installed a ¼ npt fitting in the outlet and installed a different air filter. I may remove the filter and plumb it to the engine air filter depending on where I mount the compressor.

I have a 120-90 pressure switch that will turn the compressor on when the tank drops to 90 psi. There will be a switch that will turn the air system off and on when needed. The brass thing on the outlet of the compressor is the check valve. The lockers will be supplied air from two air switches made by Clippard. I had one in my tool box that was a 4 way, but could have done the same thing with 3 way valves. I bought another 4 way to match the unit I had in my box and will be plugging of one of the ports so they will work as a 3 way valve.

Brakes are going to be changed to disks all around. I bought calipers from a ’01 4 runner, also the master and booster from the same truck and rotors from an ’86 Land Cruiser. The stock front calipers will be moved to the back and new rotors will be installed. I have 2 psi residual valve that will be installed in the rear circuit. I will build a bracket to tie up the rod on the stock proportioning valve, it will be adjustable. The parking brake will be taken care of by a disk brake from a All Pro Tripple X crossmember.

I have been working on the drive shafts at work. I bought a salvaged front drive shaft and removed the cardan for use on my rear shaft. The cardan was never lubed and was in need of rebuild. I cut the cardan from the drive shaft and removed the u-joints and centering ball. That ball was a pain in the ass to remove. I then sandblasted the cardan parts. The cardan parts for front and rear where purchased from Rockford Drive Line. The tubes were from Steel tubing supplier of short pieces and special cuts. They had DOM 2.875 O.D. X 2.437 I.D. X .219 wall X 40 long, for 25 bucks, I ordered two of them yesterday. The front drive shaft will receive a long splines and new tube also. Most of this work will be done at work on the lathe.
Today I removed the L 52 trans today and will be taking it to work. I will drain the oil there and clean the transfer case. I have been sitting on a W 56 since January debating on using it or the L 52. I like the idea of not cutting the cab if not needed but, the drive line issue keeps coming into play. I know the W 56 is stronger than the L 52 but I can rebuild the L 52 if needed and would not have to cut the floor board. With the lift I will be putting on the truck it is recommended to use a high pinion diff, which I really do not want to buy, because I have gears for the stock diff that would be of no use to the high pinion. So the further I can move that transfer to the back the better. Both of the transmissions have top shift transfer cases. I will be using the L 52 transfer for the front and keep the W 56 transfer to the rear. I have Marlin MC7 doubler and hope to install it next weekend. I think I will pick up 3 inches from the W 56 trans and 6 inches from the double transfer cases to make the front drive shaft about 9 inches longer. If the drive shaft is happy there I will not turn the knuckles on the front axle. Here are the pics of the transmissions.
W56

Dirty L52

The lifts kits are from Trail-Gear. They are both 4 inch. They came with a crap load of stuff that needs to be installed. I will be starting on the rear first then the front. I will not start on this until I finish with the trans and diffs.
Tires are 33 12.5 15 Goodyear Dura Track on steel Pro Comp Rock Crawler series 15X10 wheels. I have mounted two of them on my modified Harbor Freight machine, but later decided to put bead locks on the rims. I have the bead locks but have not welded them on yet. These are the tires.

The engine is finished. It is a fresh rebuild with a Competition Cam, Ported and polished head, Silvolite Pistons, Clevite Bearings, Hasting Rings, Felpro Gasket Set and Double Row Timing Chain. I do not remember who I got the oil pump from but it is new also. I installed an Offenhauser 4 bbl dual plane intake and put a 390 Holley on top of that. Propane is in the future but, I want to get this thing on the road and check out all that I have added before I blow $1000.00 on a propane kit. The exhaust is a Hedman header into 2.25 tube and then to a Hooker Vortex muffler. It seems to run pretty good but have not put it on the road yet as the truck has no sneakers. I have the stock ac compressor installed in the truck. To keep using the stock ac compressor I will have to use the smog pump because it is the adjustment for the belt, or have to fab up a pulley and mount. To do this better I pulled a compressor and bracket from an ’86 truck. This bracket has its own idler pulley mounted below the compressor. The alternator is going to be converted to a 120 amp GM stile unit. Both the bracket and alternator are on my work bench.

If you look at the 4th pic you will see a grey 5 gallon container. It has military green paint in it. The real stuff that is sort of gritty. I scored this from a military dozer rebuild, the military ordered to much and this is what we had left over. I have a cheap Harbor Freight paint gun that I was going to use to stain a fence. I need to get the biggest nozzle for it I can find, because this stuff goes on thick like you are hosing down your truck. This is what I will be painting the truck with.
I think that is most of it, I will post picks as I go on.

 

[2ndGenToyotaFan]

Welcome to Mud!!! Looks like it's gonna be a fun truck... again! And way to bring it back from the dead!!!

 

[Combat Chuck]

'83 SR5's rock! I can't wait for your next update!

 

[dngspot]

This morning I could not sleep so I headed into work. I grabbed the rear axles to strip and clean.

Here is a pic of the axle housing and cardan parts on top of my tool box.

Who would have guessed that 45 lbs would be removed from an axle when disk brakes are to be installed? …Brakes, backing plate and hardware.

The axles, bearing pockets, seal races and c-clips are all that I will need from the stock axle assemblies. This pic is the axles and pockets in the wash cabinet. Someone turned off the heater so they will sit until the cabinet is hot.

 

[dngspot]

Those bearing retainers were very rusty, expected as they were exposed to the brakes. I took them over to the sand blaster and cleaned them up you can see from the pic, in my last post, the difference. Both axles are finished and ready to be assembled with the exception of the inner seal on one side of the axle housing I managed to damage it. Easily done for me, the Cat seals that I deal with are more tough than common automotive stuff. I picked up another seal on my way home from work. If I suffer from the same sleep problem I should have it assembled and ready to come home. Then I will start on the transfer case doubler.

 

[dngspot]

Doing stuff twice, got to love that. I assembled the axles with bearings and seals and forgot to install the brake rotor. My brake rotors will be on the inside of the axle flange. So I still needed to machine the I. D. of the rotor to fit the axle. I also pulled the front calipers from the truck they will need to be used for the rear. The front rotor will be removed when I do the front axle. It will be cut and the area around the lugg holes will be a new spacer to take up the room the old drum used.

 

[dngspot]

Not much to show, like mentioned before I had to remove the bearings from the axle. As for the rotors they are finished. I cut the rotors on the lathe, I love the finish of fresh cut cast. I cut them to 4.5 inches, that is enough to clear the inside radius on the axle flange. After getting the new wheel lug studs, I discovered they were a little too big for the holes in the axle. I hunted all over the shop and tool room and could not find a 35/64 inch bit to make the holes bigger. I ended using a carbide bit and die grinder to make the studs fit. I just cut the knurl left from the old studs and that was enough for a fit. The studs are in tight, four pound sledge tight.
That is all I have for the day. Here is a poor quality pic from my cell phone.

 

[dngspot]

Another early morning... I came in and slaped the bearings on the axles. I then installed the 3rd member anb axles. Not alot of work but, some eye candy. I need to clean, paint and install the calipers. As for the bare spots on the diff housing, the whole housing will be painted again when the spring perches are installed.

 

[dngspot]

The brakes have been installed temporary. I am going to rebuild the calipers myself. I just need to wait, this is what happens when you live in the center of the country.
I installed the brackets and found that they needed to be shimmed a bit. I used SAE washers for this. The rest of the hardware is metric, 10 and 12 mm. The caliper install was pretty easy.

 

[dngspot]

This weekend I attempted to clean the L52 trans but was not that successful. I separated the transfer cases from both transmissions (L52 and W56). I am going to install the Marlin MC07 kit in my basement, I use a part of the unfinished basement for a shop, I built the engine down there. I am stuck for now, tomorrow I will bring home my snap ring pliers, 30mm socket and small drifts.

I covered the open ends of the transmissions and transfer cases to keep dirt out. The transfer case from the W56 is on the black bucket.

You can see the dirt that the wash cabinet did not clean. The cabinet was not at it's highest temp and it takes forever for it to warm up. I will disassemble the transfer case and clean it during the week. I have placed oil absorbant material on the work table, this will help cleanup.

...and the goodies from Marlin. I am looking forward to this project.

 

[dngspot]

I had to make a trip across town to get a hose real for my wife. This takes me right past my work. So why not, I stopped and picked up a couple tools. Damn the luck if I did not get the wrong stuff but I was able to get started. At this point I must say Marlins instructions are easy as sin to follow. I got as far as the snap ring behind the front wheel drive gear. That is the crap; I did not bring home my flat retaining ring pliers, but brought home just about the rest of my snap ring pliers. Oh well there is tomorrow.

 

[dngspot]

I have the transfer case completely apart and ready for cleaning. I did take the disassembly a bit further than Marlin's directions. I removed the two remaining gear clusters from the Toyota reduction box. I still need to clean it that is what drove that decision, it was just two retaining rings and they were pretty easy to remove. I will be taking the main bearing to work to press the large bearing off of it.
One area the directions lack. They do mention that the images show forward shifting rails but, do not show any other rail assemblies. This would be helpfull to the other XX% of users of the MC07 who are using top shift stuff. My rail has a cast opening on the fork. This is were I will be welding the key stock. The rest of the stuff looks pretty straight forward.
In the pic below, I have the snap ring pliers that I will be using for the tough snap ring. Again these are not my biggest pair but they worked the snap ring fine. They are made for Snap-on under their Blue Point brand.

 

[dngspot]

I have finished the crawler box. Tomorrow I will install it on the rear transfer case, that is if something does not come up.
I put that reduction box in the wash cabinet for 4 hours and it still would not clean. That thing will take paint off of steel. I took a wire wheel to it and found out quickly it was actually oxidation. I took it to the sandblasting cabinet and hit the outside, until it was a complete matte finish. It worked out well, the Marlin MC7 is also a matte finish. They look like they were made at the same place.

I solvent cleaned all of the gear cluster assemblies. During reassembly I gave all thrust washers and bearings a good soaking in 90wt oil. I also did this with the bearings supplied in the MC7.

I did not weld the shift fork. It was easier to let one of our welders do it for me. He has all of the equipment out so why not?

I understand Marlin’s directions said to use a sealer between the reduction box and the doubler. I am not a fan of oil sumps that are held together with sealant. Yes there is some pretty good stuff out there, but I like the security from a gasket. I called around town including the dealer and no one had a gasket. I got tired quickly hearing we can order one for you, so I peen’ed one out of gasket material.

And here she is, finished, waiting to be installed.

 

[Wayneraintree]

what a great read so far! keep it coming, quite the clean results you are getting for your efforts

 

[dngspot]

I did not get anything done on the truck but empty the bed. I did a complete inventory on my TG and AL Prow stuff. Most of it was in the bed. I did this because I had to call TG a couple times to get stuff that I noticed was missing when the stuff arrived and the AP stuff I did not remember seeing the parking brake disk.

Here is most of the stuff that needs to be installed.

The front kit, it was all there.

The rear kit, it too was all there.

In the pic you will see the Al Pro Triple X with park brake kit. You will also see the 4 gallon air tank and the throttle cable I will be using for my carb. It came off of a Ford truck. The long spline drive shaft end is next to the tank. After I get the bed off I will install the trans and transfer boxes, then measure for the drive shafts. I will then take the long spline drive shaft end to work and install it on the DOM tubing, I have.

 

[dngspot]

No more bed, thanks to a buddy from work. It took two of us to remove it and carry it to the back yard.

 

[dngspot]

I managed to score a MSD 6a from a guy here in town for $40.00. I offered him $75.00, he countered with $40.00. I did not and do not know what is up with that but, I took the 6a and handed him the $40.00. If it works I did great, if it does not, then I send it to MSD and hope for a cheep bill. I have an old blaster 2 coil and universal MSD wires that were intended for an 1966 Mustang and decided not to use. Now I have a use. The bummer is I have a tach adapter for a points system now I guess I need a different one for the Toyota.

I have not posted lately because I have been working on the transfer cases. The first problem was when I installed the MC7; the shift rail became very stiff, so much so that I could not feel any detent. This was the case after I loosened the nuts and tried to get it to align. I called Marlin and they have come across this in the past and it will wear in. I discovered this problem after I called Marlin, the front drive shift rail would not move. This rail has a sort of hook that is used to stop the rail when shifted to the rear. It makes contact outside of the transfer case in the front. It was hitting on the side of the pocket in the MC7 for the shift rails. The fix was to cover up the forward bearings and grind off the material on the shift rail with a die grinder. I am a little disappointed with Marlin. Though the problems are easily fixable, Marlin is the industry standard and would expect them to have some reference of this problem in their instructions. I am sure they have put a 1986 transfer case behind their MC7.

 

[dngspot]

We are a little slow at work so I took most of the day off. After working all week over time to get a job out, I did not get much on the truck done. Today I used the time to install the transmission and the transfer cases. Whenever I had to remove the trans in the past years, I removed it with the transfer case. I will not do that again. Today I installed the trans with the transfer case off. It was light enough to lift by hand and was balanced so it would not want to tip to the side of the front output flange. The double transfer case is almost as heavy as the trans and went together with little effort.
I will not be installing a body lift kit so no flat belly will be in my trucks future. I lifted the trans until the shift covers hit the bottom of the cab and I do not plan on cutting that far back on the floor board.
The trans and transfer cases are much longer than my stock system was. I did not get a measurement of the stock trans and transfer case but I do know it was 19 inches from the bell housing to the center of the front shift sick. The W56 is 21 inches to first stick, 28.25 to second stick and 34.75 to the rear sticks. The trans and transfer cases are 47 inches from the bell housing to the rear flange.
Any wire issues were easy fixes. I used the 1983 stock (L52) 4X4 switch in the W56. I was going to tap for more threads as the L52 switch has more than the W56 switch, but I just simply kept tightening the L52 switch in the W56 and it bottomed out against the sealing washer. The backup wire fit fine. The speedo cable took an extension.
I still need to cut the holes in the cab. I think I am going to use a 3 inch hole saw for this. As per the measurements I took, I will measure back from the first stick 7.25 inches and that will be the center point for the first cut. Then I will measure 13.75 for the third sticks. I will probably do this tomorrow. I have to remove the old carpet from the cab to do this. If I have enough time I may work on the cross member also. I have to put a new liner in my welder first. It is sitting on top of the welder I just need to put it in.
I removed the fuel tank for welding; I don’t like to weld to close to fuel so out it went. I also removed the stock spare tire hardware and cut the rear brake proportioning valve.

Here the trans and cases.

 

[dngspot]

Yesterday I spent doing some errands and then screwing around with my All-Pro Triple X cross member. I spent way too much time over thinking the mount tabs. They have two holes that attach to the cross member. If I put them in the first hole I had to drive the tabs into place and that meant I would never get the bolts out if I had to remove the trans. If I used the outside bolt holes then I would have had to put in 1 inch of material between the frame and the tabs, I did not like that idea either. So I cut along the weld side of the tabs then check fit. I did this three times. Checking fit meant mounting the cross member to the back of the rear transfer case and installing the bolts in the poly bushings. When the fit was good I tacked the tabs and bushing housings. Then disassembled the cross member for welding and paint. This is all that I did yesterday.

Today I installed the bushing spacer between the tabs and welded them to the frame of the truck. I also welded the bushing housings to the cross member. I then painted all of the parts. I also cut the floor board for shifter installation.

These are the tabs that were mentioned

...and all of the parts that are drying after paint.

I used a 3 3/8 inch hole saw for the cuts in the floor.

This is a pic of the boots that I will be using for the finished installation. The front one came out of a Toyota but I do not know what year. The rear is TG.

 

[dngspot]

I could not resist. The paint on the cross member was dry but a little soft. I installed it and it went on like it should. The skid plate did not though.

The mounted cross member

Have you ever bought a few parts for your rig and tried to put them together? What happened was you stand back, scratch your head and say WTF. How hard is it to get bolt holes right? Or fit it to the year make and model that you are advertising it for? I guess it is hard to make something to fit a gen 1 truck, they have only been around for 30 years. Sorry for the for the PO attitude so I am going to move on.
Tomorrow I am going to take the All Pro skid plate to work with me and make the round hole for the transmission drain plug, that is part of the MC7, and make it oval. I cannot set the bolts on the bottom of the transfer cases because the drain plug hits the skit plate.