Build My mini-truck buildup thread...'86, 38's, FJ80 front axle, etc...

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BTW, Curran, whatever happened with yours? I never heard anything from you about the welding you needed done.

Apparently my uncle's MIG is up and running, so if you need anything welded in the next couple weeks gimme a shout. It's kinda hard to take places since it's pretty big/heavy, but if you need something welded that you can put in the back of a car/truck, we should be able to take care of that.

Ary
 
Arya Ebrahimi said:
BTW, Curran, whatever happened with yours?
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My build up is on hold for a while. Home repairs are taking priority and the mini is proving too important as a daily driver/commuter for the time being. The solid axle, Marlin dual ultimate, detroits and other goodies mock me each time I step into the shed.
I hope to find a way to dig into it again soon. Thanks for the offer of help.

:beer:
 
On Foxfabs comp buggy (85 front axle w/spacers) we put the narrow rear end from a straight axle rig in it to get a better turning radius...the diffrence was night and day... I may go back to standard FJ40 rear end and keep the fj60 front to get a better turning radius...

Stew

Arya Ebrahimi said:
extremetoy1,

It is the stock IFS rear axle with 4.88s in a welded 4cyl diff. I added 1.5" wheel spacers to make up for the width difference. It looks like it should work well, although I may drop the spacers down to .75" at a later date to get a little better turning clearance.

Ary
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My old truck ran a 63" front and a 60" rear and it was fantastic. This truck is slightly longer, but not by much and has almost the same axle width dimensions. We'll see how it goes. If it's hanging up a lot, I'll drop the spacers down a bit.

Ary
 
That is an incredible job and it's going to be awesome when you're done. There are a whole bunch of talented people posting on this forum. Keep the updates coming!!
 
did i miss something or are you really doing all this with a stick welder?
if so you have more ambition than i do after getting home from work
 
bundy18 said:
did i miss something or are you really doing all this with a stick welder?
if so you have more ambition than i do after getting home from work
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I am indeed doing this with a stick welder. I unfortunately don't have any time to work on the truck when I'm working/have money to spend on it, and I don't have any money to work on it when I'm in school and have some time. :doh:

That's why progress is so slow. Hopefully it will be running within the next few months.

Ary
 
Well, we made some progress this weekend.

The first thing on the list was patching the floor board, so we cleaned up the area in question.

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And then proceeded to make a mess of it again.

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I am utterly disgusted with how this turned out, and will be redoing it, but didn't want to waste anymore time since I don't have the right materials to fix it right now, so I moved on.

After screwing up the floor board patch, I was pretty frustrated. So, what do you do when you're frustrated, you have tube and a tubing bender? You make an obnoxious stinger! :D

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I had these two pieces of tubing already bent and just set them up there to see what they looked like, and I really like it. I'm gonna wait to see how the rest of the bumper turns out before I put them in, but they may end up staying.

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The next morning I set to work mocking up the cage to make sure everything fit properly. I quickly got very frustrated with the lighting situation, and decided it was time to install the new dome light I had picked up. I have no problems seeing anything in the cab now. :flipoff2:

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After about 2 hours of tweaking and adjusting the notches on the tubing, it was ready to go in. At first I was going to try and tack certain parts together so they could be lowered and fully welded in a better position, but after having the whole thing fall apart like Jenga puzzle on my head 3 times, I gave up on that notion. I tacked it all together, positioned the floor plates, drilled and bolted them in, and then started welding. These are pics of the end result. BTW, many of the joints are not finish welded yet, hoping to borrow a mig for this too.

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My goal for the next trip, is to get the steering system fully installed w/ the exception of hoses. Once I have all the components in place I can get hoses made. The goal after that is to get a gas tank of some sort installed and get the truck running again. I've decided that I need to stop putzing around with odds and ends and set goals so that this truck moves under its own power this year.
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Yepper. Nice work Arya. Really like the stinger. That cage is nice too. Want to do some exo work for an 80?? :D

You need to bring that thing up to Cullowhee when you're done. :cheers:
 
I wish I could claim I bent the cage, but at $500 shipped for everything, including a few pieces that aren't shown, I couldn't pass that up. It would have taken me 3 days to bend those pieces right.

I will try to make it down to Cullowhee again sometime.

Thanks!
 
Arya Ebrahimi said:
How 'bout now? :D
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Lookin' good....I am trying to get mine done before you do...haha, mine has been down for 3yrs and in the past 3 months it has transformed from a cab and a frame to this...
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I'm doing the FZJ axles also...but I'm running coilovers and airshocks on 42's

BTW, you rig is an automatic?

that isn't me in the pic...that is my buddy grant lookin' for a photo opportunity:)
 
Yeah, my rig is an automatic. I was kinda bummed at first, but it's turning out to be a good thing I think. I'm hoping to have my rig driving before the end of this year. If I make that goal, I will be very happy.
 
Been almost 2 months since my last update. :rolleyes:

Haven't been up to work on it in over a month, but I do have some pics that I haven't posted yet of the steering.

First I mocked everything up w/ the heims/tres w/ tube inserts and took some measurements.
See Pic 1

Then I cut and prepped the "tie rods" 1.5" .250 DOM
See Pic 2

Then I welded them all together and installed them.
See Pic 3
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