New life for an old pig...

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Can't remember if I mentioned before... the tailgate window decided to crap-out a couple days before McGrew this past July and has been stuck in the up position ever since. With the help of Gary's article in Toyota Trails I dug up from my stash, I was able to swap out the infamous plastic gear that typically breaks in everyone's tailgate. I had performed this task many moons ago on my Trail Pig when it crapped out, so I figured I could handle this too. I assumed it was mechanical and not electrical. Well I sorta guessed and lucked out. I'm not too bright when it comes to electrical. Sure enough, the plastic gear was split in half and about to grenade... :)

Anyhoo, its all buttoned up and works great now!

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And so it begins again...

I disassembled the rear end on the Princess Pig and have PB Blasted everything for tomorrow's onslaught!

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Saggy srings and old shocks are stripped form the rear end...

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4" Extended SS braided brake lines will be installed tomorrow...

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No air tools. It has not been bad at all actually. No real rust at all under this pig. High desert score! Everything has come off, thus far, quite easily. Let's hope that's the case tomorrow. :)
 
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Got about 2 1/2 days into it thus far. Slow and steady progress. We only have both rear ends stripped. I have part of the sway bar that won't budge on the Princess left to deal with. I plan to remove it all together since I haven't used it on the Trail Pig and it has worked swell. I have removed the steering stabilizer on the Princess but not the Trail Pig yet. I have replaced all 4 brake lines with SS braided lines. We had some tough nuts, but the U-bolts have been the biggest pain so far. Here are a couple more pics to please the eyes...


Wasn't too bad, just slow. One of the hurdles we had to deal with, a pair of U-bolts on the rear of my Trail Pig that would not budge. I actually had a spare so we sawzalled the old ones off after trying forever to free them.

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Last pic of the night... springs and shocks basically removed from Trail Pig. We are now ready to install
both rear suspensions. Gettin' there. :)

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sorry if i sound like a sook but! shouldnt you be supporting the back of the pig?? those front axle stands look aweful far up the chassis there (acting like a fulcrum), i know most of the weight IS in the front of it. but id hate to see her turn into a see-saw....
 
OinkOinker said:
sorry if i sound like a sook but! shouldnt you be supporting the back of the pig?? those front axle stands look aweful far up the chassis there (acting like a fulcrum), i know most of the weight IS in the front of it. but id hate to see her turn into a see-saw....
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You are probably right. Looks scary doesn't it! I usually have the tire/rims under the rig while I'm working on it but removed them overnight so they would not get stolen. Once I climb underneath again I'll toss the big 'ol tires underneath for a back up. I would like to have another jackstand under the rear bumper, but I ran out of 'em... I should probably at least toss a high-lift under the rear bumper.

Good point, and I don't want to get crushed. I'll toss something else under the back end. :)
 
My boss is WAY COOL! Basically insisting that I take the time to finish this while I can, before the weather rolls in. So, I stayed home today again and worked on the pigs. I made a little more progress. Re-installed the old saggy springs and shocks on the rear of the Trail Pig. I will eventually get to a SOA on this rig, but that's another thread. I also jacked up the front end of the Trail Pig and almost finished removing all the suspension components.

I can now basically work in the garage and not worry about the weather. :)

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I thought about rollin' this way for a few days and then decided against it.

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Last pic of the day...

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Interesting development. I paid a shop to originally install the 4" lift, OME shocks and stabilizer, and the u-bolt flip kit on my Trail Pig while they performed some other work years ago. When I pulled the two front tires off the Trail Pig today, I noticed someone had installed some 1/4 spacers behind the rims sometime in the past. I assume they were needed for clearance of the aftermarket front disc brakes and rims. Never knew they were there. I assume I will probably need them when I install the bigger tires and lift on the Princess Pig. I'll double check...

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I have a question for the masses. The lift kit originally needed shims under the front springs as shown in the pic below. The original set-up also had a front shackle reversal... but the Princess Pig does not. So, I assume I need to flip these front springs when I bolt them up to the Princess. Do I also flip the shims?! In other words, do I keep the shims with the high side to the rear of the rig, regardless of which way the springs are installed? Shackle reversal or not? Please enlighten me. :)

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Lucy_FJ55 said:
You are probably right. Looks scary doesn't it! I usually have the tire/rims under the rig while I'm working on it but removed them overnight so they would not get stolen. Once I climb underneath again I'll toss the big 'ol tires underneath for a back up. I would like to have another jackstand under the rear bumper, but I ran out of 'em... I should probably at least toss a high-lift under the rear bumper.

Good point, and I don't want to get crushed. I'll toss something else under the back end. :)
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a big ol' stack o' tyres should do the trick! work safe :bounce:

(damn, workplace health and safety is infecting my personal life too! :flipoff2:)
 
Lucy_FJ55 said:
I assume I need to flip these front springs when I bolt them up to the Princess. Do I also flip the shims?! In other words, do I keep the shims with the high side to the rear of the rig, regardless of which way the springs are installed? Shackle reversal or not? Please enlighten me. :)
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Yep, those shims are for caster correction with the 4" lift and you want to swap the orientation if you reverse the springs to maintain the proper angle ;)

Tucker
 
tucker74 said:
Yep, those shims are for caster correction with the 4" lift and you want to swap the orientation if you reverse the springs to maintain the proper angle ;)

Tucker
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Thanks a bunch Tucker. I thought so, but definitely wanted someone else to chime in to confirm. Thanks again and cheers, Carlos.
 
Got another day in working on the Princess Pig.

I was able to fit the lift springs up to the rear end, but it was a struggle. I tried to install both sets of u-bolts (u-bolt flip kit) at the same time but found it about impossible to get everything all lined up and tightened. The axle was bound up and wouldn't sit right in the spring pins and stuff. I decided to detach the driveshaft at the rear pumpkin to free up the axle. This allowed me to install both u-bolt set ups to the lift springs properly. Unfortunately when I tried to reinstall the driveshaft it appeared to be too long. WTF!

I recall hearing about this years ago back when I researched buying this kit. At the time some folks said you needed to shorten/lengthen the driveshafts for this lift kit to fit properly. Man-a-fre and others said this was not necessary. The shop that installed this kit originally on my Trail Pig convinced me I had to shorten/lengthen the driveshafts. I resisted at first, but eventually gave in. Now I think they may have been right. I may have to swap driveshafts in the rigs, but at least I most likely have the parts to make both rigs driveable again. I'll measure tomorrow and let you all know. Anybody out there have experience with the Safari lift on their 55?

Pics from today's wrench-fest. Here's the rear end almost buttoned up. Lost a nut for one of the rear shock mounts, so I haven't installed the rear shocks yet.

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I was also able to strip the front end of all the old suspension parts except one stubborn shock.

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... and I just realized I need another set of shackles to make this all work out. Because I am not swapping the front shackle reversal kit from the old Trail Pig to the Princess, I'll need different shackles that match the OEM mount. I could temporarily use the stock ones, but I would rather wait and install the correct ones.

Problem is- I havn't found anybody that carries anti-inversion shackles for 55's yet. I have one pair from the old lift kit from Man-a-Fre. Of course, they no longer carry them anymore. :(

Still looking, let me know if you know of any out there! I have found extended shackles that will work, just hoping for the anti-inversion style. I know I can use 60 series anti-inversion shackles with washers as spacers. I may do this... anybody see any real concerns with this idea?
 
Hi Carlos, takes a little time but you cam make the anti-inversion shackles, and if you do ti step by step it will be nice to do it, well that is just my opinion, your princess pig is getting very nice

keep going

victor
 
PabloCruise said:
I believe SOR has 55 anti-inversion shackles.
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Unfortunately not. Neither does Man-a-Fre, or CoolCruisers, or Kurt at Cruiser Outfitters. They apparently do not exist out there. :(

I was able to find some extended shackles from SOR. The only folks I could find that have extended 55 shackles available at all, by the way.

I was hoping to match the pair I have on the rear from the old lift kit. Now I may have a pair made locally to match or I may have to buy a different set of 4. Not sure which would be better, more cost effective vs. time consuming, etc.
 
animaldevictor said:
Hi Carlos, takes a little time but you cam make the anti-inversion shackles, and if you do ti step by step it will be nice to do it, well that is just my opinion, your princess pig is getting very nice

keep going

victor
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Muchos Gracias Victor! I appreciate it. Your rig has been an inspriation for me of ocurse. I can't wait to be able to drive this pig with the new lift. The shocks were definitely old, but I noticed when i was removing them they were from Japan, Toyota! I hope they had been replaced, but they may not have. Some of the bushings were so shot they were gone! The old suspension was about dead...

I may end up having the shackles built....
 
Made a little bit of progress today. After realizing that I needed a new pair of shackles to install the front springs on the Princess Pig, I installed one side of both front springs to be ready when i do get the new shackles. Here's a pic of the front end waiting for some shackles...

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Here is a pic of the front shackles that were used with the shackle reversal on the Trail Pig that will not work when the springs are installed in the stock configuration.

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I was hoping to find a pair of shackles online that would match my anti-inversion shackles used on the rear springs of this lift, but I can not find anyone that makes them. As in this pic here...

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Here is a pic of the shackles I removed again along with a measurement. The tri-shackles (rear) are about 5 1/4" pin to pin and these (front) shackles are about 4 1/4". I think the front shackle reversal raises the front end about 1"- 1 1/2" so it would make sense that these shackles were slightly shorter, I think. I plan to make or buy some shackles that are the same length as the ones on the rear= 5 1/4" pin to pin.

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