Builds Project Bluey - the dad wagon!

[miatafreak]

One think you'll want to be wary of is if you have the TC installed all the way on the transmission side. I had my transmission in and out a few times last year and in my experience the alignment was only difficult when I didn't have the TC installed all the way. There were 2 removals/installs where I didn't spin it around enough to hear the requisite clunks and ran into a bunch of issues.

The first time it behaved similar to what you may be experiencing now where it was in just enough to get clearance from the flywheel but not enough to engage the keys on the transmission pump. Fired it up after the reinstall and it was in permanent neutral. The second time I didn't even have it close and ended up bending the alignment boss on the torque converter and which I had to send out to get fixed. The FSM has a spec for TC distance from bell housing that you would think would cover this but at least the second time I checked that and it still worked out poorly for me.

The third time I spun the TC around a ton and ended up finding the extra axial clunk that would now be obvious to me if I ever did it again. Fingers crossed you got it all the way in and just have some alignment gremlins but if you weren't super anal about getting it spun around and clunked in it might not give you any drive.

 

[BGMachine]

One think you'll want to be wary of is if you have the TC installed all the way on the transmission side. I had my transmission in and out a few times last year and in my experience the alignment was only difficult when I didn't have the TC installed all the way. There were 2 removals/installs where I didn't spin it around enough to hear the requisite clunks and ran into a bunch of issues.

The first time it behaved similar to what you may be experiencing now where it was in just enough to get clearance from the flywheel but not enough to engage the keys on the transmission pump. Fired it up after the reinstall and it was in permanent neutral. The second time I didn't even have it close and ended up bending the alignment boss on the torque converter and which I had to send out to get fixed. The FSM has a spec for TC distance from bell housing that you would think would cover this but at least the second time I checked that and it still worked out poorly for me.

The third time I spun the TC around a ton and ended up finding the extra axial clunk that would now be obvious to me if I ever did it again. Fingers crossed you got it all the way in and just have some alignment gremlins but if you weren't super anal about getting it spun around and clunked in it might not give you any drive.

I appreciate the concern! We made sure that the TC got the deep 2nd "clunk" as it seated on the input shaft. At least while it was outside of the truck. I also compered to my other transmission to ensure that I had full engagement before lifting up the trans.

pulling the trans out a bit and then back in may have allowed that to still line up, or not. We will find out. But it slid back on easy so I think that it was potentially aligned.

the TS is kind of funny because I believe that it calls for 15mm between the face of the bell housing and the weld nut on the TC. which is incredibly shallow considering the depth of the TC after that second clunk.

 

[BGMachine]

I got the truck back on the road!

After fighting the TC, all the mess, and getting nervous about the kickdown cable adjustment, it's working! I'm so excited! I was very cautiously pessimistic that something wouldn't work. there's a bit of fine tuning left, but I think I can make my trip in a month! the only glaring problem that it has is every so often, startup idle is 2000rpm. which is probably the idle air control... fun.

but now I can move onto the fun things like tires, lift, bumper, radios, etc!

 

[BGMachine]

More progress has been made the past few days. I've been working on getting the lift kit installed and tie rods replaced before taking the truck in to get its tires swapped and an alignment.

I have the OME 2" lift (heavy fronts, medium rears), front coil spring spacers, and Ironman4x4 offset bushings. I was excited for the bushings since they are rubber as opposed to poly. But the cost is the same so that was a bit annoying.

the good news is, the bushings pushed in and out with only minor drama! the "pops" from the old bushings getting through the rust always startles us. haha. but they turned out great!

The rest of the kit went together easy. I've installed a few of them at this point so I'm getting pretty good at it.

the new piece of info I learned is that the OME coil springs are correctly labelled for the US market now. so A= driver's B= passenger. Unlike years past when they were flipped.

I called ARB confirm since there is a 20mm height difference in the springs and it made little sense to me that the tall spring would be on the pass side. The reason being that the powertrain is offset to the LH side of the truck. luckily I had only put the rear springs in backwards and not the front. so I didn't have to do too much rework.

I'm looking forward to this weekend to drive the truck on its new suspension!

 

[BGMachine]

Weekend update: the driving didn't go as planned, mostly because a tie rod end was royaly seized onto the tie rod. I tried everything at my disposal, heat, PB, ATF, more heat, bench vise & sledge hammers... it wouldn't budge. So my truck was undrivable until I could get a new tie rod. I was able to at least get the tires mounted and balanced and the guys at Discount Tire were super quick! I got there when they opened and I was done in 20min!

In regards to the tie rod, I was able to order a whole new one so I don't have to mess with the ends any more. That showed up last night and I was able to install it!

The 80 looks great with 2" of lift and 33's!

The plan now if to get it aligned on the way into work in the morning and I can start racking up miles on it!

This week I'll be working on getting my new-to-me bumper ready for install! and maybe the radio if I have just a little time.

 

[BGMachine]

OK, two happy updates:

1) it made it into work!!! And this was even the far office for me at an almost hour drive. I'll be driving the truck more to gain some confidence with it. the only hiccup is that there is driveline vibration. But I think this is due to my bumper not being installed yet. front current ride height is ~3.5". when I add 260lbs to the nose, it drops to 2.5". So adding the bumper this weekend ought to fix it.

2) I'm getting my radio hooked up! I used Pioneer 2way 4" for the rears and 6.25" for the front. the fronts are slightly too deep so they tough the window guide. But I can still move the window up and down without hesitations so I think that it's ok.
For a head unit, I used a BOSS audio "cheap" apple car play compatible unit. After swapping the old radio brackets onto it, it fits perfectly! I'm excited to have maps without having to have something on my windshield! And the radio actually functions now so that's a plus! It's not audiophile's dream, but it will suit my needs!

Next is to install the winch bumper! that will be this weekend's project. Aside from giving me a winch, I hope that it alleviates the driveline vibration. If it doesn't, I'll take the 15mm spacers out of the front to see if that works.

 

[BGMachine]

Alright, the winch bumper is on and it was simple to bolt up! Luckily I did this exact bumper on my green truck so it was a familiar process.

Unfortunately, the driveline vibration is still there. Even thought he weight of the bumper dropped the nose to ~2.75" of lift. I still suspect that it's the front prop. I need to drop it to confirm but I may not get the chance before my trip. It's not the worst driveline vib I've felt, but it's enough to be annoying.

Other than that, I also got my load bars for the roof and tent! it should work out pretty well and I think that I may be able to get in and out of the garage with the tent on! if not, it's not the end of the world.

Our trip starts in less than two weeks and I'm super excited!

 

[BGMachine]

Final update before the trip:

Firstly, I got the front driveline vibration figured out. I dropped the front prop and drove the truck RWD with no vibrations. Therefore it was clearly the front end. I examined the front prop and noticed that there were yellow paint pen marks on it before from someone disassembling it.

The marks were all still lined up so I figured that it was ok. I separated the yoke and used some scotch-brite to clean up the corrosion built up on the yoke. My thinking was that perhaps the yoke was binding and not slipping like it should. I then removed the yoke grease fitting and compressed the yoke all the way into the prop, squeezing out the excess. It was at this point that I paid more attention to the alignment marks from someone before me. Something looked off and then it occurred to me: the yokes are 90deg out of phase! There's my vibration!

Whoever serviced the prop a while ago apparently reassembled it incorrectly. Then someone attempted to troubleshoot and marked the prop before disassembly assuming that it was correct. At least that's my assumption. It also explains why the old u-joints were so sloppy. I wonder how long they drove like that?

I took the truck on a test drive and sure enough, no more vibration!

The next exciting bit was getting the tent mounted. I was able to do it mostly by myself but it was a bit of a process.

Step 1) lower rack and tent from ceiling onto M715

Step 2) unbolt tent from 715 rack and lift off of truck
Step 3) swap trucks and position the 80 under the tent. I checked the 80's load bar positions at this point as well.

Step 4) lower tent onto truck and check for squareness. Then bolt tent to load bars

Step 5) pray that the truck fits out of the garage! Fortunately, with most of my camping gear in the back, the truck cleared by about 1/4"! I was prepared to let the air out of the rear tires if needed. But with my spotter, I was good! I knew that it would be close since when I measured heihgts, I was within my margin for error.

So now the truck is ready for our big trip this Friday! It is a bit silly how tall it is with the tent on it. I'll also have to pay attention to handling with the extra 125lbs up on the roof. I'm excited to go cruising and camping this week! It's been a fun thrash to get it done!

 

[BGMachine]

A short update since it’s been a while. I’ve been driving the truck off and on and it’s doing great!

I have a new exhaust on order to solve all the leaks but in the meantime, my stripes that I ordered 6 weeks ago arrived! I installed them and they look great!

I have a trip coming up to the UP so I’m hoping to get a few things sorted before then. But we’ll see what time allows.

 

[BGMachine]

Not a huge update but I was finally able to get the cracked windshield replaced! Luckily in MI they cover it as part of your comprehensive ins. MI roads are bad enough that people regularly chip windshields.

We determined that the windshield was the original and at some point had been resealed. Luckily the sheet metal was solid underneath and not rust that needed to be addressed. The new glass & seal went in easy and it's doing that much better now!

We will be taking the truck on another UP trip this weekend and after that, I'll swap out my exhaust and work on some other fiddly bits. I'm debating what other events to go to this fall with the truck. I may get the chance to go to OXE with work, but we'll see.

 

[BGMachine]

Mid-week update! I was finally able to get my old exhaust swapped out. The one that was on the truck was a kludged together group of random parts. It had some no-name muffler welded onto it as well as some aftermarket cats. And because of that, it was leaking in multiple places (at least 3 by my count).

Removing the old system wasn't too bad since I wasn't keeping anything. I just cut it all out, incorrect hangars and all.
Until I got to the downpipe flanges... I knew that these would be difficult so I soaked the studs in PB blaster for a couple days beforehand. Three of the four nuts came off without much drama, but the final nut... well... exhaust things happened.

I can't say that I didn't see this coming... and then it got just that much worse.

I tried the weld on a nut / bolt trick 8-10 times! I got the darn thing so hot that it was dripping molten metal onto the ground! and, it just continued to break more and more of the stud off. Then it finally broke flush... I tried my last resort of drilling it out but I then broke my 1/8" bit in the stud... deep. And I wasn't able to remove it. As a last desperate measure, I attempted to weld a new stud onto the remained. Unfortunately it didn't really hold up when I reinstalled the new downpipe... so, 3/4 bolts will have to do. I know that there is now a very slight leak at the flange, but I'm not in the position to attempt to pull the manifold. The bolts holding it to the head are in a similar condition and I can guarantee that one or more of those studs will break in the head... and then I get to pull the head.

So, much to my chagrin, I'm going to leave it for now. I may go back to it later but I need to divert time and money to the house (long story).

 

[BGMachine]

Fortunately, installing the new exhaust system 110% of the time goes easier than the removal of the exhaust. I got the Magnaflow cats hooked up and the used Borla muffler & tailpipe installed with OE hangars. After firing it up in the garage, it sounds great and all the gases are actually making to the tailpipe!

Next on the list is to finish my heated seat install before the weather gets much cooler!

And to continue trouble shooting my driveline vibration. I ordered a replacement driveshaft as I suspect that it may be bent / damaged. If that doesn't work, I'll swap out my control arms with the caster bushings for my set with OE bushings. That way I can pair the OE bushings with the caster plates. And I'll go from there.

 

[BGMachine]

Not much eye candy on this update but it's a big one for me! I was able to troubleshoot and successfully fix my driveline vibration last night!

I started where I had in the past with removing the front prop to confirm that this is where the vibration comes from. With it removed and CDL engaged, I drove the truck and it was smooth and quiet. so definitely something with the front.

In previous rounds of trouble shooting I've already tried:
- new u-joints (not much effect)
- corrected the u-joint phase alignment (good effect, but still there)
- caster correction bushings (not much effect)
- control arm drop brackets (not much effect)

So this time, I cut out the tom-foolery of trying to get the old drive shaft happy and swapped in a fresh one. Mercifully, this fixed the problem! It made a night and day difference! the truck is 10x smoother and much less boomy! It's actually comfortable to cruiser at 45-60mph again!

Now there's really only one thing left to do: finish installing the heated seats. I may get to that tonight but I have to wire up a baby camera in the new car first.


said new car:

gotta offset that 80 fuel efficiency somehow! haha