Resurrecting this thread with some updates...
First, the truck has been a great ride with the 6BT. LOTS of power. Not complaints, but it's time for the next step.
@cjmoon was nice enough to birddog some 3.55 gears out of Australia for the stock 3rd members. Before the rock crawlers turn over and die. Think about it. I have like 500ftlbs of torque (maybe more with my turned up 6BT, as I haven't put it on my dyno yet--- or will I ever? I doubt it...) at like 1500RPMs and a 4,000RPM redline with an automatic trans. Don't really need 4.56s, 5.11s, or the OE 4.10s like what I might normally need with an OE power plant and/or a clutch... Cruising at sub 2,000 RPMs is going to be NICE!.... -least that's the story I'm running with!
We did have to put the 3.55 rear pinions on my lathe to make way for the crush. Seems these rear pinions were designed without a crush in mind. Aside from that, cjmoon was at the helm and did a jam up job with the paint on the gear, dis and re assembly... After assembly, the gear mesh was was great and the ring and pinion from down under were the bees knees.
Sidebar: IMHO, the gear mesh doesn't really matter too much with 3.55s. You have tooth contact for days, but cjmoon is one anal dude with that and made sure things were the i's were dotted.
Back to my rig. We have ARB air lockers going in the front and rear of mine and looking to chat with Slee to get his rear bumper "custom" built for my needs. We'll get the bumper done and have the whole rig shot with a fresh coat of black and clear. I think it's time to leave the two tone paint scheme in the 90s, kill the gold Lexus livery, and go with mono-tone gloss black on black. I really wanted to make it white, but I'm both a function and form guy, and the white just isn't speaking to me on google images....
I think that's it for now...
Phil