Project HDFZJ-80.5

[themorb]

I found some higher hi-range gears for my transfer case... Terrain Tamer brand. Ratio is about 0.91, so will drop the revs a tad. These plus 33" tires should get my revs right where I want them for highway cruising.

Benefit over doing diffs.... no temptation to spend extra $$$ on lockers I don't really need right now, no speedo correction required, no fiddly set-up, and doesn't raise low-range (as much... it does a little bit). Also, these gears were available, and the diff gears weren't.

Unfortunately a c-clip snapped so I have to order one from Toyota which will delay getting the truck back together for a few days

 

[slowandsteady BJ]

So how goes the battle man? Got the gears sorted out? Running 33's yet?

 

[themorb]

So how goes the battle man? Got the gears sorted out? Running 33's yet?

33's I'm waiting for the Cooper Discoverer STmaxx in 255/85 which won't be out until April or so... so I'll burn off the rest of my stock tread in the mean time (on our trip, see below)

Gears... 4wheelauto (the dealer) and Terrain Tamer both admit that there is a flaw with the gears. Now I'm just waiting to hear if they will refund my money or send me a new set of gears. But how crappy would it be to swap them and have the new set noisy still!!! Both companies seem okay to deal with, just sloooooow to reply.

I should really upload a photo of my airbag (Airlift) controls. It is rad... all stock switches. And I got sliders too...

But I've been back at work, and frantically getting the Cruiser and Trillium ready in the evenings/weekends for our upcoming holiday........ drum roll please....... 6 weeks driving down the Baja and back! Added to the Trillium a second water tank, second propane tank, solar panels, on-demand water heater, grey water tank, electric water pump, axle flip, larger tires. We are leaving Feb 1 (the day after tomorrow) so packing, packing, packing! I will try to post some photos of the rig before we exit the USA.

Actually, if anybody feels like watching our progress here is our satellite tracker link: http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0ldS8YrpSLboperJ6q1puhGzqn8k0iZlq

Ken Robinson and his fiancee (!) are coming too, in his Subaru, with a lot of luggage on his roof racks...

 

[Diesel Cruiserman]

33's I'm waiting for the Cooper Discoverer STmaxx in 255/85 which won't be out until April or so... so I'll burn off the rest of my stock tread in the mean time (on our trip, see below)

Gears... 4wheelauto (the dealer) and Terrain Tamer both admit that there is a flaw with the gears. Now I'm just waiting to hear if they will refund my money or send me a new set of gears. But how crappy would it be to swap them and have the new set noisy still!!! Both companies seem okay to deal with, just sloooooow to reply.

I should really upload a photo of my airbag (Airlift) controls. It is rad... all stock switches. And I got sliders too...

But I've been back at work, and frantically getting the Cruiser and Trillium ready in the evenings/weekends for our upcoming holiday........ drum roll please....... 6 weeks driving down the Baja and back! Added to the Trillium a second water tank, second propane tank, solar panels, on-demand water heater, grey water tank, electric water pump, axle flip, larger tires. We are leaving Feb 1 (the day after tomorrow) so packing, packing, packing! I will try to post some photos of the rig before we exit the USA.

Actually, if anybody feels like watching our progress here is our satellite tracker link: http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0ldS8YrpSLboperJ6q1puhGzqn8k0iZlq

Ken Robinson and his fiancee (!) are coming too, in his Subaru, with a lot of luggage on his roof racks...

Oh crap, you are living life large....

So jelious..

Rob

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

Oh ****, you are living life large....

So jelious..

Rob

Could not have said it better myself.

Sounds like you have a real dream setup there morb. You'll have to throw us some pics of your trip so we know what we are missing. Hope you have a good one.

 

[slowandsteady BJ]

Ken Robinson and his fiancee (!)

Have a good trip!

 

[seapotato]

Ken Robinson and his fiancee (!) are coming too, in his Subaru, with a lot of luggage on his roof racks...

Have a good trip!

See the s*** that happens when you sell your cruiser???




So Morb, I take it you've left the noisy gears in for the trip?

 

[themorb]

So Morb, I take it you've left the noisy gears in for the trip?

No, I naively thought I should have them out and boxed up ready to send back as soon as I got the word from either 4wheel or Terrain Tamer. So they sit boxed up in my garage......... waiting. Kinda wishing I left them in now. Although the trip will be quieter without them.

Probably the best outcome would be if they are willing to refund my money, and then I will do genuine Toyota diff gears instead. They better not whine, and they are more isolated from the cab even if they do. I just thought these t-case gears would be faster to install than diff gears.... not so much when they come in and out 3 times!

 

[Stumpalama]

Bring a change of gear oil if you havent broken them in yet. You don't want to burn up those new gears!

 

[seapotato]

No, I naively thought I should have them out and boxed up ready to send back as soon as I got the word from either 4wheel or Terrain Tamer. So they sit boxed up in my garage......... waiting. Kinda wishing I left them in now. Although the trip will be quieter without them.

Probably the best outcome would be if they are willing to refund my money, and then I will do genuine Toyota diff gears instead. They better not whine, and they are more isolated from the cab even if they do. I just thought these t-case gears would be faster to install than diff gears.... not so much when they come in and out 3 times!

Ah. I was just worried about noisy gears getting warm on the road.

Probably a good call to take them out.

 

[themorb]

Just at Costco in San Diego stocking up before we cross the border tomorrow!

So the first photo shows the seat heater switches from a 2007 Camry which give 2 toggle functions (with led indicator) on one switch. (I need to re-sharpie the graphics on them.) Then I got an 80 series antenna switch for the momentary up/down function. So you turn on whichever bags you want to adjust with the 4 seat heater switches, then the Auber gauge shows the pressure of the bags you have selected, and then you can adjust them with the momentary buttons. You can adjust all 4, or just one side, or just an individual bag. If the rears are full and the fronts are empty, and you activate all 4 switches, the bags will equalize to their average pressure.

Second photo shows my Cruisin Off-road sliders powercoated to match my rear bumper!

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

Thats pretty snazzy man. Good work. It's like a space shuttle in there.

Sliders look great too. I thought you were going to try to keep this more of a family rig though...? So much for that.

A sweet setup you have there.

 

[slowandsteady BJ]

sickness. Air ride sweetness.

 

[themorb]

I thought you were going to try to keep this more of a family rig though...?

Call them side impact beams to protect the kiddies

No, I won't purposely slide on them much, but I would hate myself if I ever damaged the rocker panels.

 

[jdlsantos]

Awesome engine swap!
I want to ask you about the main wire engine harness, showed in both picture, did you used the gasser ones or the diesel?
Also, there is an specific reason to do not use the entire diesel cluster (with speed meter, RPM, and lights?)
I will do a similar swap, and i am not decided about those two issues.
thanks

I temporarily crimped the necessary wires together to get all the circuits working... drove like this for a couple days, but finally got around to tidying it all up! All circuits are working including cruise control and the glow plug timer!

Next up is A/C... gotta get some lines modified to relocate the receiver/dryer up by the battery, JDM style, and make the compressor work in its new location... I have also been working on making a way to fit a York compressor in addition to the stock A/C compressor...

Attached Images

 

[themorb]

Awesome engine swap!
I want to ask you about the main wire engine harness, showed in both picture, did you used the gasser ones or the diesel?
Also, there is an specific reason to do not use the entire diesel cluster (with speed meter, RPM, and lights?)
I will do a similar swap, and i am not decided about those two issues.
thanks

If you can see the black plastic part on the harness that goes over the valve cover, that is where the splices are from gas to diesel. There were a couple wires that I had to add (turbo lights, and tach I think) and a TON of gasser wires that I just left disconnected.

The reason I didn't use the entire cluster is because of the model year differences (my diesel was a 1991, and white truck is a 1996). The newer trucks have different connections etc. Also an electronic speedometer, vs the cable driven one on the old truck.

 

[themorb]

Had to search pretty far back to find my build thread.... guess I've been distracted with other hobbies. After some pretty tame offroading (compared to most of you rednecks ) during some hunting adventures, my stock front bumper was looking a bit ragged. After much web wheeling I decided to build something very similar to the Binks design. I think I'm going to go winch-less for now, but I put a front receiver hitch so I can always get a cheap Costco hitch winch which should be fine for 99% of the "wheeling" I do. Actually no winch is just fine for 99% of the "wheeling" I do...........

So far I've gone through about 20 cut-off discs...... I'm going to add some recovery points and some reinforcing inside the box, then weld and sand everything nice and smooth and get it powder coated "silver vein" to match my rear bumper and sliders.

 

[Gsb15]

Nice looking bumper. I just read your build for the first time. Awesome truck!

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

Nice tight bumper design! Looks great so far.

Nice looking bumper. I just read your build for the first time. Awesome truck!

I agree, wicked truck. Definitely my favorite 80 out there!

 

[bikersmurf]

Lookin good, I wish I had time to work on mine... & other projects.

BTW, The booster and master out of your JDM 80, work awesome in a 40. Thanks Again. It's like having power brakes on steroids... They almost work too well (as if that could be possible).