My Carnage From The Baja 500

[RAYJON]

all I can say is one word ... plazma cutter.....


either that or a carbide burr and sacrifice the wheel..

I will keep my eye out of another wheel.. if you come across a set of 4, I will split it with you..

 

[Slomo]

Anyway, i am in no rush to do it and will be doing a complete tear down of the front end and doing the birf repack and the knuckles and all seals as well.

Anyone got a spare 93-94 alloy?

You must have the luxury of a second vehicle. Glad you are not stranded.

If only... I had my full set of alloys in excellent condition no rock rash on any of them but got rid of them just a few months ago because I didn't have anywhere to keep them.

Good Luck.

 

[Boston Mangler]

all I can say is one word ... plazma cutter.....

Yes sir, i have one in the garage and it will be my last resort

either that or a carbide burr and sacrifice the wheel..

Wheel is already sacrificed, what is a carbide burr?

I will keep my eye out of another wheel.. if you come across a set of 4, I will split it with you..

Please let me know if you find one

 

[Boston Mangler]

You must have the luxury of a second vehicle. Glad you are not stranded.

Actually a second and a 3rd! got a 40mpg civic and a work van, very lucky, couldnt even fathom driving a 11mpg 80 everyday!

 

[RAYJON]

carbide burr goes in the end of a die grinder.. 10,000 rpm and it will take off alot of material quick... they make coated ones with bigger voids for aluminum, check these out



http://www.widgetsupply.com/page/WS/CTGY/dremel-carbide-cylinder-3


http://www.widgetsupply.com/page/WS/PROD/dremel-hss-bullet/SRB3-E4

 

[Slomo]

Actually a second and a 3rd! got a 40mpg civic and a work van, very lucky, couldnt even fathom driving a 11mpg 80 everyday!

My problem is that I love my 80 and love driving it. I would hate driving a practical car. But the mileage is killing me. I have been getting between 9-10 mpg since I redid the head gasket. I have been trying to figure out why and finally read a thread on advancing the ignition timing on the 1FZ FE. Long story short I have always had OBD I Toyotas so I just hooked up my timing light and set the timing to 3* BTDC. I never put it is service mode. Upon learning the right way to do it on an 80 I immediately put it in service mode to check the timing, 0* BTDC. Whoops! On a positive note it is much faster now! I am still on the first tank and am anxiuos to see what MPG I get now. At half of a tank I am already better at 154 miles than before at 116 miles. Live and learn.

 

[Boston Mangler]

Hey Guys!

FINALLY! The wheel is off! Took a bit of a 4" grinder, dremel, 5lb sledge, etc... but the wheel is off and the repairs will begin!

I havent done much other then remove the wheel (i WAS able to save the hub) and start unbolting the tie rod and such to remove the housing.

Since i am in there ripping it down to the housing to replace all the studs, etc..... Here is my list of what else i will be doing:

-Replacing NON E-locker front housing with E-locker front housing (sitting in garage)
-Installing front E-locker (rear is done, now e-locker conversion will be complete)
-Replacing inner axle seals (not looking forward to this, never done it)
-repacking birfs (contemplating upgrading to alloys, but not sure)
-replacing all brake components (might upgrade rotors, currently researching this)
-upgrading to 100 series pads
-replacing all 24 wheel studs (piece of mind)
-replacing all tie rod and drag link ends and bushings (might upgrade to beefier rods)

Thats about it! Talk about a snowball of a project!

Going to work on removing the entire housing (complete) and start dismantling it next weekend! Progress will be posted!

Glad to see i am making some headway after a month!

 

[Slomo]

Glad you are finally getting to do a little repair work. When I saw you had replied I thought you were announcing that you were done. Glad you were able to save the hub. It will be nice when you get the whole front end done and no more worries. If you decide to stay with the stock birfs you might want to swap sides so they can wear in the opposite direction and extend the life a little. Good luck.

One other thing FWIW. If you are going to be stripped down to the housing you might want to do a little drain plug work. I did a little trick on my straight axle 4runner when doing the swap. I had the housing stripped and out and flipped it upside down and welded around the drain plug protector ring and filled it up to create a "ramp" out of the ring. Basically filled in around it untill I had an approx 45* angle leading from the housing to the top of the ring. This made it much stronger and made it so rocks would slide up and over it as opposed to catching it and bending it in making the drain plug impossible to remove. I would also swap to the inset allen drain plugs that Marlin sells. Rocks can't spin those out. Like you need more work on top of what you have planned already, but the time is right.

 

[Boston Mangler]

Glad you are finally getting to do a little repair work. When I saw you had replied I thought you were announcing that you were done.

HA! been so busy at work i have barely had time to take a s*** lately! Felt good to make some progress on this thing, i was SOOO bummed i missed the bigbear trip!

Glad you were able to save the hub.

For Sure!

It will be nice when you get the whole front end done and no more worries.

Yes, i have been meaning to do it because the seals where leaking and the brakes were shot, now is my chance to solve it all!

If you decide to stay with the stock birfs you might want to swap sides so they can wear in the opposite direction and extend the life a little. Good luck.

Excellent idea thanks!

One other thing FWIW. If you are going to be stripped down to the housing you might want to do a little drain plug work. I did a little trick on my straight axle 4runner when doing the swap. I had the housing stripped and out and flipped it upside down and welded around the drain plug protector ring and filled it up to create a "ramp" out of the ring. Basically filled in around it untill I had an approx 45* angle leading from the housing to the top of the ring. This made it much stronger and made it so rocks would slide up and over it as opposed to catching it and bending it in making the drain plug impossible to remove.

Excellent idea!

I would also swap to the inset allen drain plugs that Marlin sells. Rocks can't spin those out. Like you need more work on top of what you have planned already, but the time is right.

Another good idea, i will search for another vendor. Personally, i wouldnt buy a stick of gum from Marlin after the mess he got me into on the steering setup for my 60, long crappy story!

Anyway, glad to be making some headway!

Thanks
Kevin

 

[Slomo]

HA! been so busy at work i have barely had time to take a s*** lately! Felt good to make some progress on this thing, i was SOOO bummed i missed the bigbear trip!


Another good idea, i will search for another vendor. Personally, i wouldnt buy a stick of gum from Marlin after the mess he got me into on the steering setup for my 60, long crappy story!

We missed you up there too. I was looking forward to meeting you.

I believe All Pro Off Road sells the allen drain plugs as well. John has always treated me well in the past, through the shop and when wheeling. He helped me when I did a SAS on my 4Runner back in 97. I won't ask on the Marlin thing.

 

[Newps]

You can also call C-Dan on the magnetic Allen head drain plugs. I believe these are stock drain plugs from a Toyota Camery. They are very cheap from C-Dan, like two bucks a piece. I got all four (fill & drain holes), most just do the bottom drain holes, F&R.

 

[PKP80]

Hey Guys

Here are the pics and details of what happened.

We we coming home from a 4 day weekend in Baja for the 500, we spent most of our time in San Vincente but did quite a bit of exploring along the coast as well, near Erindira.

Anyway, on the way home, about 5 miles north of Ensenada i felt the truck pulling a little bit and making a clunking sound, being the paranoid person i am, i pulled over immediately to check out the situation. What i saw scared the shhheaat out of me. 2 lugs holding my wheel on and the other 4 studs were sheared clear off at the base, no good! Anyone that has come home from Ensenada knows how gnarly the drive is up through those hills with no guardrails or protection.

Anyway, we were only down for about 30mins before another race team pulled over to help! We all agreed we were in the death wish area where we were pulled over so we moved about 1/2 mile north to an opening, here we jacked up the rig, removed the wheel and assessed the situation. 4 of the studs were sheared off at the base and the 2 remaining studs were bent and damaged. Luckily the guys that stopped to help had a generator and a large welder. Due to the time (getting dark) and where we were broke, and lack of spares, the only option was to weld some beads onto the hub, tighten the wheel as best we could and limp home. Luckily the 2 studs that were left were opposites.

Anyway, it was quite a puckering 35mph adventure all the way home! Luckily we got home safely and the repair will begin soon, i am thinking there is some damaged internals as well, time will tell!

Huge thanks to the Vildosola racing guys that came to our aid, spent almost an hour getting us back on the road and following us all the way to Puerto Nuevo to make sure we were ok!! Kudos to them!!!

Here are some pics: (anyone have any spare wheels or front end parts??)

Welcome to the world of broken wheel studs, at least you had the 2 that were in across from each other, when I broke 4 on the way back from the CON they were all consecutive and the wheel was bobbling.

I think you and I will be checking those lug nuts and studs a little more carefully and frequently.... Good that you're safe...

SAm

 

[Boston Mangler]

Got the Elocker Housing Hung and Bolted In Today.

Complete stock housing is sitting in my garage taunting me!

 

[Slomo]

You can also call C-Dan on the magnetic Allen head drain plugs. I believe these are stock drain plugs from a Toyota Camery. They are very cheap from C-Dan, like two bucks a piece. I got all four (fill & drain holes), most just do the bottom drain holes, F&R.

Very good to know. I thought Marlin had them made back in the day, easier to let Mr. T pay for the tooling.