Project: Domino Effect ('94)

[Bigtoepfer]

In prepping for a wheeling trip this fall, I got new upper and lower links for the rear. SPC lowers, and Dobinson uppers.
Man those uppers were a bitch, I don't ever care to do that again.

 

[Bigtoepfer]

This pretty much brings us up to last week. Friday of last week I was on my way to work, and suddenly started experiencing "2-3 Flare" which is unusual never really had issues with the trans. Well after work I discovered that the kickdown cable, or as I've learned its called "throttle" cable for the trans had broken, right at the throttle body. I knew it was a bit frayed but didn't know it was that bad.

Luckily I was able to order one. But I'd never really dug into a trans before so this was pretty far outside my comfort zone. 5+ hours on my back wednesday night after work, and it's all done. The annoying ass bolt on top of the trans never did get undone, there is a red arrow pointing to it, its above that fin. I cut the cable housing just before the bolt on the trans side, and then pulled the rest of the cable housing out the front through the engine bay. If there was ever any question. You can indeed change the kickdown cable without dropping the valvebody.

My shifts and now crispier than ever......now if only I can figure out what the howl is when I'm pressing the accelerator. No noise when coasting, gets louder the closer you get to 70. But I found out yesterday when passing someone that it gets quieter if you hit 80-85. So there is that.

 

[Bigtoepfer]

Currently on the list of wants not in a particular order:
1. New seat bottom foams
2. Plaidwagon seat nets
3. DeltaVS locking console
4. Swingout bumper (cruiser company? )
5. Flareless oem mudflaps, at least for the rear.
6. Weld up sunroof, new headliner.

My son was stretching and cracked the pan of the sun roof. I didn't realize he had cracked it until I was washing it and got a nice puddle in the headliner. So it's got flex seal tape on it now. Shame because it didn't leak before.

 

[ikarus]

You got some good luck man. At least with the raffles haha

Where did you get the under seat mount?

I grew up in Mandeville and I remember we got snow on Christmas day once. Just enough to have a snowball fight. Whole town was standing outside wondering what was going on

 

[Bigtoepfer]

Where did you get the under seat mount?

I grew up in Mandeville

I'm originally from the Lafayette area.

The mount comes from ScrubKing 80 Series Onboard Air Compressor Mount (Under Seat) With Outlet/Switch - https://www.scrubking.com.au/products/80-series-onboard-air-compressor-mount-under-seat-with-outlet-switch-kit?variant=49067620106471

 

[GeoRoss]

At that same Jambo, I had volunteered a lot so I got some extra raffle tickets, usually my wife doesn't let me buy many. I also managed to buy $100 worth. I don't ever win in these things, so the fact that she let me buy extra was surprising.

Well I won an ARB Twin from Duggy's Garage. Huge shout out to them for that.

So I picked up an underseat mount, because I wasn't a fan of the idea of putting it under the hood. I don't have air lockers so it wasn't going to be running all that often. This was also a good excuse to pick up a victory molle panel for the rear quarter window to put my air hose and first aide kit, etc, etc, on. We starting to look more official.
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Where did you pick up the compressor mount? I know of one from AU.

 

[Bigtoepfer]

Where did you pick up the compressor mount? I know of one from AU.

Post just above yours I linked it.

 

[Bigtoepfer]

Forgot that when changing the accel cable I noticed the steering seal/boot was completely flogged out. Occasionally I'd feel like my feet were getting drafts of hot air.
Well I ordered and took care of that this spring as well.

Also I like to know what the vehicle weighs, previously with the old wheels/tires and no spare, the BIO bumper, my tool roll, me, and a full tank of gas it was 5500lb.

Now with winch, air compressor, molle panel in the rear, wiring for winch and compressor, plus accessory fuse panel for fridge and such. Plus a full size spare in the back it's up to 5720 with gas and me and the tool roll.

A 220lb weight gain is pretty insignificant in my opinion with a winch and spare tire, plus onboard air.

These wheels and tires were lighter than the old ones, but not by a ton.

I'm still happy with the weight for now. Interested to see what it is loaded with all the camp gear and the family in it. Previously with just me and all camp gear it was 5950.

 

[Bigtoepfer]

In keeping with the spirit of the thread title....changing oil in the transfer case and putting the drain plug back in, didn't even apply any force to it, it went in easy enough by hand, put the socket wrench on it and start to tighten then Slip, me thinking I slipped the socket off i try again and same thing. Well I guess I spun the threads in the T-case housing. Because the plug looks fine.

Now to figure out how I fix this before a camping trip to Oklahoma in exactly a month.

 

[06reg4x4]

While at Jambo in 2024 I stopped at the SkyJacker booth and signed up for the shock giveaway they were doing. Well I ended up winning. According to the guy I got my shocks from at their office I might be the only person running the M95s on the 80. Not gonna look a gifthorse in the mouth though, because I had a blown shock, and was due for replacements. I gave them the measurements and style of shocks from the long travel nitros that I had from Dobinsons, and we got almost exactly the same measurements in monotube skyjacker shocks. I'm pretty sure the vehicle is also sitting slightly taller now. Which is doing the opposite of what I'm trying to achieve. It's barely fitting in the garage as is.

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Also picked up a new intake tube. And something I'd been wanting for awhile now. A "4WD" badge. Because that's cooler than AWD. But it also just means I have to get out when its snowing or muddy and lock the hubs.
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Accelerator cable is looking worse and worse, and so is a small leak from the valve cover. So I replaced the accelerator cable. Added valve cover to the to do list.

At some point before this I was tired of power steering fluid on the floor of the garage, so I replaced the PS reservoir, and the hoses that connect to it. Hoped that would be the end of that, but sadly there is still a tiny drip occasionally from the pump. I haven't gotten brave enough in the last two years to take it off and take it apart.

Around this time I also resealed the windshield. I got a bad leak from it during Jambo, and also pulled the hood insulation and reglued the skeleton of the hood to the shell. No more floppy hood on the interstate.
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I remember your Facebook post about the shocks. How do you like them now?

 

[Bigtoepfer]

How do you like them now?

Length on them is perfect. When I get a moment, I'll go back and edit that post with the exact model numbers just need to remember what they are. I put zipties on them after install, then went back to Barnwell for testing still with no swaybars like I had with the Nitro Dobinson shocks. No issues that I could tell with extension or compression.

I did quickly find out on the curvy backroads on the way there, unloaded with just me, the wife, and son that they are much softer than old and somewhat blown Dobinsons though. So I ended up putting the rear swaybar back on with dobinson extensions and new endlinks. Previous owner had broken an endlink. I think with the rear swaybar its fine for me. My wife has yet to drive the 80 since we bought it. It definitely drives like a yacht. So I think they are a little soft. But they definitely put in work offroad. I'm interested in how they do when we go out on a real wheeling trip this fall hopefully.

I'm still trying to replicate the original high I had when I installed Dobinson MRR on my FJ Cruiser back in 2018. Back with the MRR first came to America, before they were even Adjustable. Pretty sure I had the first set ever on an FJ Cruiser in the states. If not then one of the first. It would eat up anything and was especially good on washboard gravel roads at speed.

Having the 80 setup for that would be mint. But I also don't want to spend 5k on suspension.
I just want to be able to drive over speed bumps without slowing down, or enter parking lots without slowing down, like used to do.

 

[Bigtoepfer]

Fixed the transfer case threads with a 3/4-16 tap and a new magnetic drain plug from Dorman. Drove it to work today. Didn't see any leaks. Hoping after work that is still the case.

 

[06reg4x4]

Length on them is perfect. When I get a moment, I'll go back and edit that post with the exact model numbers just need to remember what they are. I put zipties on them after install, then went back to Barnwell for testing still with no swaybars like I had with the Nitro Dobinson shocks. No issues that I could tell with extension or compression.

I did quickly find out on the curvy backroads on the way there, unloaded with just me, the wife, and son that they are much softer than old and somewhat blown Dobinsons though. So I ended up putting the rear swaybar back on with dobinson extensions and new endlinks. Previous owner had broken an endlink. I think with the rear swaybar its fine for me. My wife has yet to drive the 80 since we bought it. It definitely drives like a yacht. So I think they are a little soft. But they definitely put in work offroad. I'm interested in how they do when we go out on a real wheeling trip this fall hopefully.

I'm still trying to replicate the original high I had when I installed Dobinson MRR on my FJ Cruiser back in 2018. Back with the MRR first came to America, before they were even Adjustable. Pretty sure I had the first set ever on an FJ Cruiser in the states. If not then one of the first. It would eat up anything and was especially good on washboard gravel roads at speed.

Having the 80 setup for that would be mint. But I also don't want to spend 5k on suspension.
I just want to be able to drive over speed bumps without slowing down, or enter parking lots without slowing down, like used to

So good but possibly too soft. Soft off-road seems to be nice however. I’ve been interest in the doestch techs but apprehensive cause people complain they are too soft. But some praise some other brand that are for sure stiff. I have ome and really wanna try something else. And I screen shotted the part numbers when we talked on Facebook.

 

[Bigtoepfer]

So good but possibly too soft. Soft off-road seems to be nice however. I’ve been interest in the doestch techs but apprehensive cause people complain they are too soft. But some praise some other brand that are for sure stiff. I have ome and really wanna try something else.

Based on the fact your profile says AZ, you are a little to far to take a test drive. Otherwise I'd recommend it.

I know that I have 3"flexi springs because I still have most of the stickers, but I think my springs are also somehow over sprung? They don't sit like most pictures I've seen of flexi setups. My 80 is typically pretty light though, especially in the rear. I know that even with the dobinson nitros it rode a lot better when I had 300+lb in the rear. But then it would also squat a bit in the rear.

This is one of the reasons I've considered going down in lift, but all the shorter lifts I've looked at are also rated the same weight as the one I technically have now, and I only want a BETTER ride not a worse one, or the same if I'm going to spend money on it.

 

[06reg4x4]

Makes sense. And the offer is still appreciated!

 

[Bigtoepfer]

Makes sense. And the offer is still appreciated!

I do want to say that I think they were too soft for me personally daily driving with no sway bars at all. With both sway bars they'd probably be mint. I just chose not to run a front sway. If I knew my wife was gonna drive it all the time I'd probably put it on. But then she did drive the FJ Cruiser with no sway bars, and eventually when she was dailying the FJ Cruiser I had just put on the front and she was fine.

I don't really have a ton of bad things to say about them, I did tell them about a couple of quality control issues, like weld splatter in the threads of one of the shocks, but I have some small files and I was able to fix it. I've had them on a year with at least one trip that was 14hours in total and I was fine driving on the mountain roads in Arkansas, plus a couple of wheeling trips. For the price I think it's kind of hard to beat. But there isn't a ton of super fancyness about them.

 

[06reg4x4]

I do want to say that I think they were too soft for me personally daily driving with no sway bars at all. With both sway bars they'd probably be mint. I just chose not to run a front sway. If I knew my wife was gonna drive it all the time I'd probably put it on. But then she did drive the FJ Cruiser with no sway bars, and eventually when she was dailying the FJ Cruiser I had just put on the front and she was fine.

I don't really have a ton of bad things to say about them, I did tell them about a couple of quality control issues, like weld splatter in the threads of one of the shocks, but I have some small files and I was able to fix it. I've had them on a year with at least one trip that was 14hours in total and I was fine driving on the mountain roads in Arkansas, plus a couple of wheeling trips. For the price I think it's kind of hard to beat. But there isn't a ton of super fancyness about them.

Cool and I run both sways with drops. So maybe I’ll look into them.