Builds Orange's Neverending Scrap 80 Build (the s is silent) (2 Viewers)

[AgentOrange]

Awesome man, thanks for the write up.
I’ve never been seriously wheeling at all but like you started out more with an overlanding mindset with my Tundra.

As I build my rig and read things like this I can feel myself catching a bug…

Things change as you get out more and get to experience more. Some people do something and say that’s enough of that and I don’t need it again after I’ve at least experienced it once. Others get hooked and become focused on doing it again, but better. I would have saved a ton of money if I knew what I was going to be doing with this Cruiser ahead of time

 

[AgentOrange]

So after getting into Truckee and getting more snacks, drinks and fuel, we got onto Fordyce by midday. Nothing too eventful the first day as we were just going to camp after the first water crossing save for the hike from camp to Winch Hill 1. Just some good wheeling and beautiful views. But on foot from the bottom, WH1 puts things in perspective. Yes there’s a bypass, but I came here to wheel. Intimidating as it may look, I need to drive it. Warming up on the Rubicon was definitely a good idea for myself though as Fordyce is no joke. The majority of it isn’t necessarily harder than Rubicon, just different. But the named obstacles have definitely earned their names.
So up early the next morning our 4 rigs strong start off towards the winch hills. @Firemedic831 in his FJ40 leading the way, the 3rd gen 4 Runner with the Dana 44 and 37s was next, then myself, and behind me a rig that used to be an FJ Cruiser. More on him later. Upon arriving at Winch Hill 1, Jeff takes his 40 straight up like it wasn’t even there. A pretty committing line in a short wheelbase like his, but it wouldn’t be done any smoother by anyone in our group. The 4 Runner was next. After sitting in anticipation of my turn for what seemed like an eternity, my wife up on the rocks ahead gives me the hand signal for “it’s broken.” Unfortunately a Dana 44 on 37s and a not so great line choice don’t mix. It took quite a while for me to get him winched back down Winch Hill 1 and with help of the vehicles coming up the trail for Sierra Trek, to get him into a position where it would be out of the way and ok to work on when we came back with part. Sadly, later events would lead to me not being able to come back down that far to help

 

[AgentOrange]

Seeing that 4 Runner break like that at the top of Winch Hill 1 really made me think about how it could go, but I really wanted to put my tires on it. Sean in the Titan FJ Cruiser asked if I was going to give it a shot and I said yes. He would drive up first in case I needed that winch for myself and I would follow. After trying to climb the wall just a bit too much, I got readjusted to the right and slowly climbed on up and out. The one that was the most intimidating to me was under my belt and I felt great. But by this point, Sierra Trek had caught up to us and a couple rigs had even gone by.
They got the gear he needed out of the 4 Runner and dropped in my Cruiser along with a few other things so we could get everyone back and got rolling.
Winch Hill 2 was not really anything to speak of and I kept wheeling. Then came the steps near Committee Crossing. The left line looked like where I should go, but the right line on the big steps didn’t look too bad. After getting my wheels onto the top and couple slow rolls into it trying to get the back up, I tried to give a real bump. The rear instead hopped hard once and I heard a not so nice noise. Figuring it was just my rear drive shaft, I have my wife get out and take a peak as I carry a spare. Drive shaft looks just fine. Sean from the FJ Cruiser comes back to look and we only see one wheel in the rear spinning. Maybe broken rear axle shaft? After I’m up the steps with my winch, I realize it’s much worse. Neither rear wheel is spinning. So Sean pulls my overweight 80 up the remaining winch hills and back into camp at Meadow Lake with me assisting when I had traction with front wheel drive only. I was very glad for my hydro assist that day. I could still steer away from the bigger rocks and trees that might hang us up and slow our progress. We were doing so well we even caught the group of Jeeps ahead of us multiple times.
Back at camp I pulled the rear shafts expecting to possibly see both axles twisted and broken. They looked fine. Next was to drop the diff out. And pieces of the LockRite locker joined me. The cross shaft had sheared on both ends leaving me no drive and lots of chunks in the rear end. Some pinion teeth weren’t happy and same for some ring gear teeth. Some cleaning and encouragement from Chay at Bun Trail Welders and Jeff in camp, along with a guy named Aaron with a welder built in to the rear of his 1st gen pickup, my side gears were welded to the carrier and it drove all the way back home to Oregon with no issues. I can’t say enough how much help and encouragement I got out there from everybody around and how much I appreciate it. I won’t ever forget.
But now that I’m drivable, I need to make sure nothing sounds or feels too bad. So a drive down to Winch Hill 5 and a hike down to 3 to watch some rigs play in the box seemed in order. Drove back and everything seems good enough to get home with.
Now for the biggest drama, that 4 Runner still sitting at the bottom of Winch Hill 1. By this point I don’t think anybody at Sierra Trek DIDN’T know about it as the owner was asking everyone and every agency for help even though the plan was to go down Saturday morning early and fix it and drive it out. He was overly anxious about it. Parts show up and upon reviewing other photos we had of it in the group, it definitely looks fixable. But with my rear diff not 100%, I’m out. Next, the FJ40 alternator decides it’s nap time. So a later start than they wanted and with a buggy on loan from a generous donor, they were off to retrieve the 4 Runner. 22 hours later, some bad driver errors and terrible spotting advice from on lookers not in our group, and the 4 Runner was dragged out to camp. Definitely not driving out. The list of things broken is too long for me to accurately remember and the guys that went down to get it hadn’t slept in almost 30 hours by that point. But every rig was at camp the morning we were all leaving and that was the end of that adventure as I drove down into Reno and made my journey home with the growing list of things to do by 2025 in my head

 

[Ditcherman]

Man love reading this.
Is there a way to learn to be a spotter besides killing things and maiming people?

The stakes seem very high…

 

[Firemedic831]

I think i may have teared up a little reading this . Or the PTSD just kicked in thinking about the 4 runner . I believe there may have even been attempts to call the White House to see if they would send help to get the 4 runner out. Mind you all of this AFTER we had a plan and where waiting for the parts to arrive . We had someone coming in and could pick them up on the way and save me a day of driving and 100s of miles . This translated to pure panic and distress on someones behalf . ( if you rewind a little you may remember the part about Changing wheel bearings on the Rubicon that took 5 hours Ya same 4 runner. I am not knocking the owner at all in fact he is a good friend he just , Well up until this trip i am not sure if he has ever touched a wrench in his life . And to his credit he did take the 4 runner in to a caugh caugh reputable Yoyota shop and had the front end gone through (BS) The bearing was none existent after at most 200 miles since he picked it up . and the Knuckle broke at the ball joint on the side they put new ball joints in . The recovery was going Great we got the parts got it back together and were thinking we would be back by lunch time . At that point he had 3 wheel drive . so we would just take it easy and pull him or winch at any hard sections. simple Well at winch hill 2 i told him to Stop as i needed to go look at the best way to get him up just wait . This is when a guy in a Jeep that was having issues told him aww your fine just hammer it you will be fine . Next thing you know he does just that Full throttle dont let up cant see a thing from the dust just pinned WFO till he heard a clunk . I believe it was at this point i lost my smile . and i had to weight the value of this friendship vs just driving off and leaving him with this clown in a jeep . We now had a situation and had to drag a dead rig from winch hill 2 all the way up the trail . Oh but its gets better as we go. oh does it ever

 

[Ditcherman]

I think i may have teared up a little reading this . Or the PTSD just kicked in thinking about the 4 runner . I believe there may have even been attempts to call the White House to see if they would send help to get the 4 runner out. Mind you all of this AFTER we had a plan and where waiting for the parts to arrive . We had someone coming in and could pick them up on the way and save me a day of driving and 100s of miles . This translated to pure panic and distress on someones behalf . ( if you rewind a little you may remember the part about Changing wheel bearings on the Rubicon that took 5 hours Ya same 4 runner. I am not knocking the owner at all in fact he is a good friend he just i well up until this trip i am not sure if he has ever touched a wrench in his life . And to his credit he did take the 4 runner in to a caugh caugh reputable Yoyota shop and had the front end gone through (BS) The bearing was none existent after at most 200 miles since he picked it up . and the Knuckle broke at the ball joint on the side they put new ball joints in . The recovery was going Great we got the parts got it back together and were thinking we would be back by lunch time . At that point he had 3 wheel drive . so we would just take it easy and pull him or winch at any hard sections. simple Well at winch hill 2 i told him to Stop as i needed to go look at the best way to get him up just wait . This is when a guy in a Jeep that was having issues told him aww your fine just hammer it you will be fine . Next thing you know he does just that Full throttle dont let up cant see a thing from the dust just pinned WFO till he heard a clunk . I believe it was at this point i lost my smile . and i had to weight the value of this friendship vs just driving off and leaving him with this clown in a jeep . We now had a situation and had to drag a dead rig from winch hill 2 all the way up the trail . Oh but its gets better as we go. oh does it ever

Laughing with you, not at you.


Duck people.

 

[AgentOrange]

It was definitely an eventful adventure. The 4 Runner came back with no drive whatsoever, front axle was definitely done, possibly rear and transfer case, steering was no longer good, winch line snapped, fairlead cracked, the spare wheel and tire I lent him to get out a complete loss, etc. Amazingly, the owner was still in decent spirits. I know internally he was crushed, and I get the anxious feeling he had with his rig left down the trail and his having to be completely reliant on others generosity and time to both get parts in to him and to put wrenches to it to fix it only for it to go all wrong. But like myself, I know he’s got a list of things to change and come back stronger. He’s a great guy and real friend. I can’t wait to see what he comes back with and to wheel with him some more

 

[AgentOrange]

Man love reading this.
Is there a way to learn to be a spotter besides killing things and maiming people?

The stakes seem very high…

Just go out and wheel with people. This is one of those things that can’t really be taught without doing it along the way. Get your tires dirty and get out to help others behind you or just ahead of you

 

[AgentOrange]

All of this brings me to today. The roof rack is now off and not going back on. Sometime in this past year I also removed the sunroof assembly and it just has plexiglass riveted in place. If I leave a solar panel on the roof, it’s going to be a very thin flexible one, but I may not even do that. Also, I’ve removed everything from the rear drawers and pulled the drawers out this weekend. Next weekend, I have a big surgery planned for the rear body to improve things for wheeling. It’s a little thing that will result in a big change in appearance.
The rest of this off season’s changes is going to be slow to progress. A lot of part collecting and then a big push to get it all done at the end for the front. And some other things that will pop up along the way that remain to even be imagined as always

 

[Firemedic831]

It was definitely an eventful adventure. The 4 Runner came back with no drive whatsoever, front axle was definitely done, possibly rear and transfer case, steering was no longer good, winch line snapped, fairlead cracked, the spare wheel and tire I lent him to get out a complete loss, etc. Amazingly, the owner was still in decent spirits. I know internally he was crushed, and I get the anxious feeling he had with his rig left down the trail and his having to be completely reliant on others generosity and time to both get parts in to him and to put wrenches to it to fix it only for it to go all wrong. But like myself, I know he’s got a list of things to change and come back stronger. He’s a great guy and real friend. I can’t wait to see what he comes back with and to wheel with him some more

Update I will be heading down to reassemble the 4 runner . I tried to get him to dump the 44 but his car his money he decided that he wanted to fix what he has . So thats what we will do . Rear axles where fine Rear locker is fine . thats narrows things down to T case or trans . I asked him if he put it in gear and tried moving it ? He then mentioned maybe the T case was in N . long story short i will drive down and see and see if we cant get this thing back on its feet . His winch Ohh ya things that make you go Hmm. when you are winching in and someone is telling you to STOP you dont keep winching cus your thumb has panicked . he winched his shackle through his Fairlead Breaking the fairlead and also his winch and winch line . I may have not been smiling again at that point . I dont remember when he Ripped the Bumper off i think that was around 2 am at winch hill 4 just before he broke your wheel and tire off cus he kept driving into the biggest ledges he could find UGG . I remember 2 years ago when i was towing His 80 out of the Rubicon ( if memory serves me well ) it was after I told him to Stop wait let me get up and out of the way and i will come help you . That resulted in breaking his driveline . Long story short when towing him he kept yanking the crap out of me . and it was really hurting my back . Turns out after i may have let a few words fly. He then realized he was putting his rig in reverse and not drive

 

[bay cruizer]

Awesome build! Hate those trees that jump out in front of you! Those darn rocks got me! You should be full caged soon

 

[AgentOrange]

Update I will be heading down to reassemble the 4 runner . I tried to get him to dump the 44 but his car his money he decided that he wanted to fix what he has . So thats what we will do . Rear axles where fine Rear locker is fine . thats narrows things down to T case or trans . I asked him if he put it in gear and tried moving it ? He then mentioned maybe the T case was in N . long story short i will drive down and see and see if we cant get this thing back on its feet . His winch Ohh ya things that make you go Hmm. when you are winching in and someone is telling you to STOP you dont keep winching cus your thump has panicked . he winched his shackle through his Fairlead Breaking the fairlead and also his winch and winch line . I may have not been smiling again at that point . I dont remember when he Ripped the Bumper off i think that was around 2 am at winch hill 4 just before he broke your wheel and tire off cus he kept driving into the biggest ledges he could find UGG . I remember 2 years ago when i was towing His 80 out of the Rubicon ( if memory serves me well ) it was after I told him to Stop wait let me get up and out of the way and i will come help you . That resulted in breaking his driveline . Long story short when towing him he kept yanking the crap out of me . and it was really hurting my back . Turns out after i may have let a few words fly. He then realized he was putting his rig in reverse and not drive

I don’t know nearly enough about Dana 44s to know if it can be made much stronger than his was. But not my rig, not my money. Very curious to see what’s wrong with having no drive

 

[Firemedic831]

I don’t know nearly enough about Dana 44s to know if it can be made much stronger than his was. But not my rig, not my money. Very curious to see what’s wrong with having no drive

He talked about going to reid knuckles and rcv shafts but i told him that is dumb . Just build a good front axle . I think he fears things that are not bolt on . I duno. I am just going to start collecting parts for it and when the time is right will borrow it for a weekend and fix it with something that will hold up .

 

[peesalot]

That approach to WH1 has gotten cleared out, back in the day it was tough just getting into the chute, that bypass aint no cake walk either.

 

[AgentOrange]

Also, before the August Rubicon and Fordyce trip, RCVs went in the front axle and the rear Pro Comp shocks were replaced with Fox 2.0 IFP shocks. Those did a much better job of dampening the rear bounce and sway I get sometimes. The rest is probably just how heavy it is back there. Hoping to have that changed before winter finds me

 

[Firemedic831]

Are you going to turn this into a Toyota Avalanche ?

 

[AgentOrange]

Are you going to turn this into a Toyota Avalanche ?

No. That’s not on the table. I’ll flat bed it before I go that route. Just going to shorten the rear body by 7 inches behind the wheel wells and then shorten the frame and bumper to match

 

[Firemedic831]

Big booty Judy is getting some skinny jeans

 

[peesalot]

Easier to coilover the back and make new links to push axle back, you want be able to pack as much junk and you'll be sad.

 

[AgentOrange]

Easier to coilover the back and make new links to push axle back, you want be able to pack as much junk and you'll be sad.

My packing so much stuff is part of the problem