Pamela Landy 2.0 Build

[TacoLand]

Finally got to actually drive the 80!

Loaded up the dogs and headed out for a hike. With both dogs and a light tool box in the back she's sagging a lot... but drove well otherwise. A little rubbing at what was stock height 27 years ago with the 35s, so tried to avoid cycling the suspension for now.

Picked up an ARB bumper that will be a placeholder until I order a Dissent set. Hunting for a used winch to rebuild and some sliders. Suspension is on the way.

 

[TacoLand]

Minor progress, slapped together some drawers that fit under the crates and mounted the ARB.

Suspension is here, just need to find a flat spot to install it.

 

[TacoLand]

Can confirm with the dogs, drawer, crates, and tools in there it almost rides on the bump stops. Really should put the suspension on.

Also need to yank the rear flaps, spare, and hitch.

 

[TacoLand]

Got half the suspension on. Sits nice and level going uphill now

 

[TacoLand]

Got the lift finished (except for bump stops and realigning it) and took it for a quick spin. Lifted a lot more than I expected but I don't not like it. Needs 37s though.

 

[FMC80]

Looks good. All of it. All of the above.

 

[TacoLand]

After a hectic June, we've finally been able to get back outside a few times.

No real wheeling yet, but so far the front end doesn't feel like it's flexing as well as it should. Not impressed so far.

 

[TacoLand]

Oh, and we threw a tent on it to make it all tippy but comfy on weekends.

 

[06reg4x4]

Shock length could be affecting your flex.

 

[TacoLand]

Shock length could be affecting your flex.

Yup pretty sure they’re too short. Just haven’t actually tested it out yet to be sure. Definitely annoying.

 

[06reg4x4]

Compiled 80 series suspension component spec thread... shocks, coils & more.

80 series coil & shock specs A few years back 80 series suspension was fairly easy to figure out & purchase since there was only a few of options to chose from. Recently there has been a few suppliers stepping up to play in the USA 80 series market offering more options. Now with a plethora of...

forum.ih8mud.com

The info may be there. I have the typical one 850/860 setup up and wanna put longer shocks in Atleast the front. When you have the truck on the lift it’s crazy to see all the travel that doesn’t get used.

 

[TacoLand]

Compiled 80 series suspension component spec thread... shocks, coils & more.

80 series coil & shock specs A few years back 80 series suspension was fairly easy to figure out & purchase since there was only a few of options to chose from. Recently there has been a few suppliers stepping up to play in the USA 80 series market offering more options. Now with a plethora of...

forum.ih8mud.com

The info may be there. I have the typical one 850/860 setup up and wanna put longer shocks in Atleast the front. When you have the truck on the lift it’s crazy to see all the travel that doesn’t get used.

Yup. It’s there, I went with the 3-5 inch shocks for a ~3 inch lift. It’s doesn’t feel like it’s even using the travel that it has. Not a fan of the Flexi springs in all honesty.

Probably going to swap the front end to the VT coils like the rear, see how that goes before adding longer shocks.

 

[TacoLand]

Super minor updates:

- Winch installed, need to move the solenoid somewhere else rather than on the ARB light mount. It's tighter with the 12k than I thought it would be back there. After spacing the winch back I don't have the space to fit the solenoid between the winch and grill like I thought I would. I always lose wireless remotes soo... time to make a bracket.

- Scangauge in, temps seem okay. Maybe a touch high, ~190-205 in normal running at 60-80mph. Gets toasty on passes for sure. Full flush on the to-do list.

Found some 'lil baby rocks on the way to our campsite this weekend.

 

[TacoLand]

Pamela sat for a few months while I was busy with work and house projects. Last few weeks I've been picking away at maintenance:

• Built a super janky gantry to pull the GFC with one person so I can get it into the garage easily:
• 
• Overdue front axle rebuild. Way too dry in there. Grease looked like cottage cheese, wondering if the grease the PO used wasn't compatible with the diff oil? Bearings were pretty cooked and the spindles were shot, so replaced those with the Joint Fuji units from Cruiser Outfitters. Did new birfs and drive flanges as well.
• T-case drain and fill (again) while trying to diagnose some weird noises and lack of torque in H
• Tie rod/drag link ends
• Pads + rotors all around
• Coolant flush, pleasantly surprised with how clean everything was
• Straightened a lot of radiator fins. Not perfect, but definitely better.
• Front main developed a leak. Did the oil pump seal and the distributor o-ring while I was in there. Also advanced the timing to ~6 degrees.
• Blue hub fan clutch. Old one was pretty cooked. Towards the end of the fall, it was pushing 225 on passes pretty often; this should help. My wife modified it for me while I was doing the front main
• New V-belts because the squealing non-OEM ones were driving me insane.
• We removed the aftermarket alarm system the PO installed. When we moved back to MT this summer, we trailered the 80 behind a Uhaul for about 10 hours. Apparently, the alarm system was overly sensitive and went off whenever we hit a bump on the highway. The box truck was so loud I only noticed once it got dark and could see the lights flashing. Amazed no one said anything. Whoops. Anyway, whoever installed it managed to chop out a lot of the harness. That was so much fun to fix.
• 
• Somewhere in there, the exhaust was smelling a lot like coolant. I got nervous and did a compression test for peace of mind. All six are between 147-150, and the exhaust is normal again. Not losing any coolant either. Whatever- I'm going with screw it, run it for now. Planning on an LS this fall anyway.
• I finally got around to fixing/installing the rear Timbren bumpstops. The OEM bolts sheared off, and I'd been too lazy to drill and retap. I ended up drilling them out and replacing with rivnuts. Will be interesting to see how well these work in the rear, the bracket seems a little large for how much lift I'm currently running. Ignore my very dirty truck, the joys of living on a dirt road in spring...
• 
  
• Replaced a wheel stud that broke this fall. Actually did all of them on that wheel.
• Did bearings and seals on the rear axle. Didn't look like anyone had been in there for a long time. Mangled one or two hub studs getting out the cone washers. Got everything replaced, packed and put back together. Went to torque down the cone washers and three nuts stripped out before getting to spec. Figured whatever, I'll order some replacements and do the other side for now. Same thing happened on the other side. Replacements came from Cruiser Outfitters, slapped them on and went to tighten them all down. Another nut stripped out. Wondered if it was my torque wrench, so used another one. Stripped another nut. So the 80 has been on jack stands for a week now just waiting on hub studs and nuts that don't strip out. Can't figure out why the nuts are stripping. I'm finger threading them on, then tightening in a star pattern, then torquing to spec in the same pattern. Never had this issue before on the front or rear. They're giving up at not even 20 ft-lbs... Here's a photo of one of the mangled threads after I got the stripped nut off.
• 

Anyways, once that's fixed, it's on to fun things:

• t-case gears
• front and rear lockers
• sliders
• rear bumper - still deciding on which one to get. Need a swing out so we can haul a 35 (or 37) spare with our dog crate setup. Leaning Dissent.
• new drawer setup
• start gathering parts for the engine swap
• figure out a better suspension option. Not a fan of how poorly the current setup rides and flexes on pretty chill stuff.

 

[TacoLand]

Finally got this thing out of the garage and did some camping! Should be a fun summer.

Dropped in a CarPlay unit and have a bunch of interference, I'm guessing a grounding issue. Problems for another day.

 

[TacoLand]

Been way too long since I did much with this truck. She's been a trooper through camping and hunting use, but I haven't gotten to do much with the build. Hopefully that will change soon!

We got out for a little exploring this weekend, and it was the final straw for these shocks. The yellow Dobinson's are absolutely fried (and they're not good to begin with). Just expensive limit straps at this point. So it's time for a suspension upgrade, meaning I need to get myself into gear and finish up the heavier modifications so I have axle weights for valving when I order shocks. Try to get the valving right, or close to it, on the first go.

For the most part, the 80 has been a tank. I've abused it for two hunting seasons now. No gnarly trails, just blasting up chunky roads constantly. Managed to lose the nuts on my exhaust bolts at one point, which was super weird:

Also decided it's time to order some good chains for this thing after we had a... fun... incident with an icy sidehill and a steep dropoff this weekend. Thinking some of these, if anyone has suggestions I'd love to hear them:

On a related note, I picked up a new-to-me daily a while back, also need to pick up some chains for this thing. There have been a few winter trips where I really wished I had them.

 

[TacoLand]

Annnnd just when I was starting to knock out projects, she started gulping oil, sipping coolant and developed a slight shudder…

Metal shavings in the oil filter and pan, stuck a bore scope in the cylinders to take a look and have some light scoring on what was visible of cylinder one. That’s also the cleanest one. Have what looks like an obvious leak in cylinder 3 too, some seeping oil/coolant on the walls after it had been sitting for over 24 hours.

So, I guess it’s time to either give her some love or a heart transplant. Leaning transplant, I’ve wanted to swap it for a while. Started pulling things apart to pull the motor this evening, didn’t get very far. Drained the block and pulled a few things, will pick away at it evenings this week.

 

[TacoLand]

Made a tiny bit of progress last night towards pulling the motor/trans. Haven't done this before, so should be a fun process. Should have cleaned the engine bay before I started... too late now

Planning on the Torfab kit with an LT. I'd love the L86 with the 10-speed (I had a Gen IV 6.2 and loved that motor), but the L83 seems pretty easy to find for a lot cheaper. Open to any recommendations for places to look for either a full donor or a drivetrain with pedals and computers.

 

[TacoLand]

Motor is out, t-case is separated. Waiting on high/low range gears to put in. Felt pretty silly draining gear oil that looked brand new.

Also, the isolator nuts were quite literally on there finger tight, which was… odd.

Supposed to be warm and sunny later this week, perfect for cleaning up the gross engine bay and undercarriage.

 

[FMC80]

Nice work! So satisfying to see a clean engine bay after what was years of accumulation. This one is a solid before/after contender!