Builds Reconstruction after rollover - building The Champ 2.

[NateMob]

My MT control arms are upside down? I figure they made them off center of the bushings for that extra little bit of clearance.

In the beginning, I wondered if the zerk fittings would survive the rocks but so far they have.

Yes sir they are! Check out their description from their website, I have also seen them advertise that the offset allows for greater articulation before the arm makes contact with the axle housing. Not sure on that claim though.

Amazing that those zerks are still there!

Metal Tech FJ80 Series LC Offset Rear Lower Links

 

[jcardona1]

View attachment 1598473 5,000 miles after after doing a knuckle service my front wheel bearings were loose again and the driver side knuckle was leaking grease.

Upon disassembly, I discovered two separate problems. A close inspection of the bearings and spindles revealed considerable wear especially on the inner end of the spindle where the bearing clamps up and apparently the bearings had spun on the spindle. I called up Cruiser Outfitters and they had new Joint Fuji spindles and Koyo wheel bearings to me in three days.

Even though the driver side axle seal was recently replaced, it was allowing gear oil and knuckle grease to swap locations. What I found was that the tiny spring that’s on the inner side of the seal was missing. I found a piece of it on the differential drain plug magnet. I have no clue why this happened.

After running around in the Tahoe area for 4 days over Christmas, all seems to be normal.

View attachment 1598469View attachment 1598470

Interesting. I wonder if that's why my driver's side knuckle continues to leak oil with brand new seals after just a few miles.

 

[baldilocks]

Interesting. I wonder if that's why my driver's side knuckle continues to leak oil with brand new seals after just a few miles.

There is a very good chance. Mine never dripped oil but was contantly ejecting grease while the passenger side remained much cleaner.

@mjeckell suggested packing the inner side of the seal with grease to help retain that little spring on the seal during axle shaft insertion.

 

[baldilocks]

Yes sir they are! Check out their description from their website, I have also seen them advertise that the offset allows for greater articulation before the arm makes contact with the axle housing. Not sure on that claim though.

Amazing that those zerks are still there!

Metal Tech FJ80 Series LC Offset Rear Lower Links

Hmm.... I will look for evidence of contact between the control arm and the axle housing.

 

[baldilocks]

Yes sir they are! Check out their description from their website, I have also seen them advertise that the offset allows for greater articulation before the arm makes contact with the axle housing. Not sure on that claim though.

Amazing that those zerks are still there!

Metal Tech FJ80 Series LC Offset Rear Lower Links

So, I went under the 80 today and took a gander at the LCA connection to the axle and there is no evidence that the axle housing has contacted the control arm while fully drooped in the past, however, I did have one broken zerk fitting. The check ball spring is all that’s sticking out. LOL

I think I will leave them in this position for the added ground clearance and because the arm is a little closer to perpendicular to the axle (less static angle). It’s time for flush grease fittings.

 

[NateMob]

So, I went under the 80 today and took a gander at the LCA connection to the axle and there is no evidence that the axle housing has contacted the control arm while fully dropped in the past, however, I did have one broken zerk fitting. The check ball spring is all that’s sticking out. LOL

I think I will leave them in this position for the added ground clearance and because the arm is a little closer to perpendicular to the axle (less static angle). It’s time for flush grease fittings.

Awesome to know and thanks for getting back to us on the topic! Hopefully that snapped zerk is easy to spin out.

 

[baldilocks]

Snow wheeling on Morman Emigrant trail March 3. Perhaps my last run up this unplowed road after 28 years of going there a couple times every winter because we are bidding good riddance to CA and moving to WA in 10 days.

 

[GW Nugget]

Nice... its good to see people get out & enjoy their rigs rather then just post working on them? I wish I could of done more wheelin with you before you got out of Cali. Rubicon is on my bucket list fore sure.

 

[baldilocks]

I finally got tired of refilling my 10lb CO2 bottle every third time we aired up the 37’s so I pulled the trigger on an onboard air set up. I went with Outback ExtremeAire Magnum for a few reasons: the company is located about three minutes drive from where I lived in Vacaville CA, up until recently, the Magnum high output compressor has a 1.5hp motor and 100%duty cycle, and the compressor and solenoid can be mounted outside the vehicle since they are sealed and resist Mother Nature very well saving space inside the vehicle. I was told that river crossing type submerssions are no problem but the compressor is not rated “water proof”. Instead of running a snorkel from the compressor inlet filter to a higher place I chose to simply plug the half inch diamemter inlet hole with a rubber cork to ensure nothing finds its way into the compressor filter canister. And lastly, about a year ago I drove over to the Outback Extreme facility and met the owner. He had me pull my 80 into his shop where he demo’d one of their portable units for me. It inflated my 37 from 10psi to 30psi in just about exactly 2minutes. The 100% duty cycle allows me to move from tire to tire with no compressor rest period making airing up a relatively quick event.

My pics don’t show many details so I will say that all wires, and the air line, which is air brake line with push lock fittings, are routed on the inside of the driver frame rail. The circuit breaker is mounted to the aft side of the battery box.

The only new holes I drilled to do this were the two holes in the battery box for the circuit breaker and the hole in the frame where you see the lower forward mount bolt.

 

[baldilocks]

The kit came with everything I needed plus very comprehensive instructions.

 

[baldilocks]

We participated in Rubithon again, this year being our second and the second d time we signed up for the renegade run and game in and left on our own. I did have the pleasure of meeting many people and giving some assistance to the wagon run group as they descended big sluice on there approach to Rubicon springs. In that group I met people from as far away as Connecticut and New York. I took no pics of the wagon group because I was busy helping out.

My wife and copilot did take a couple pics of me goofing off.

 

[baldilocks]

Crater Lake

Also in Crater Lake Nat’l Park called the pinnacles.

The black rock everywhere is volcanic lava flow.

After we left Rubicon springs we began a slow wandering sort of return home to WA that took 9 days. We spent most of that time site seeing in Oregon and running many likes of forest roads to get where we wanted to go. We tramped through Willamette, Deschutes, and Mount Hood National Forest. Our most noteworthy stop and camp over was at Crater Lake Nat’l Park. The lake is very outstanding. Along with those pics are some pics of other stuff we either drove or hiked to see.

All of these pics we taken on iPhone 5 with no doctoring.

 

[baldilocks]

Timothy Lake

Blue Pool on the McKenzie River

Proxy Falls

More Oregon:

 

[RFB]

View attachment 1734894 View attachment 1734896 View attachment 1734900 The kit came with everything I needed plus very comprehensive instructions.

What did you use for air lines, I have fitting from Joey but one the Ts keep leaking I wanted to just plumb it with SS lines and real fittings what did you use? looks great battery wiring is sweet.

 

[baldilocks]

What did you use for air lines, I have fitting from Joey but one the Ts keep leaking I wanted to just plumb it with SS lines and real fittings what did you use? looks great battery wiring is sweet.

Thanks- the kit came with DOT air brake hose and push-lock fittings. The beauty of this type of set up is that it can be disassembled and reassembled an infinite number of times. They are very similar to ARB air line fittings. At the compressor I did have to buy a couple extra brass NPT pieces to plumb the pressure switch in and configure the air line how it needed to be.

On the forward end of the compressor head and not so visible in the photo is the electronic blow off valve that unloads the compressor upon shutdown for an easier restart.

 

[GW Nugget]

View attachment 1734894 View attachment 1734896 View attachment 1734900 The kit came with everything I needed plus very comprehensive instructions.

I want one now...

Epic pics bro.... glad you're able to get out & enjoy God's Country.

 

[baldilocks]

Thanks Gary. The compressor has been a good thing so far and our recent trip was nothing short of outstanding. I need to give a big thank you to @ZackR for turning us on to most of what we saw in Oregon. The routes he suggested took us through awesome back country and to some of the most beautiful places I’ve seen.

I want one now...

Epic pics bro.... glad you're able to get out & enjoy God's Country.

 

[jcardona1]

Crater Lake looks awesome!

 

[baldilocks]

Something I considered doing three years ago was modifying the rear track bar (you may call it a panhard) bracket at the axle with the intentions of raising it after I lifted my 80. Fast forward three years and now Delta Vehicle Systems has come out with their bolt in version of a track bar riser bracket. After reading the positive comments posted by those who have installed a Delta VS bracket I decided to go through with the “fun” of making my own and save the money.

I built it entirely of pieces of steel I already had in my garage. As can be seen I welded it and bolted it to the axle. The bolt is a fail safe measure. And just to make myself feel even more comfortable with it, I went ahead and braced it to UCA bracket. Inside the bracket is a clamp up sleeve that is on the inside which the lower bolt runs through. This eliminated bracket flex when I torqued the bolt.

Unloaded, the Slee heavy 4” coils lift my rear end well over 5” so I went with a 4” rise in the bracket Incase I ever want to lower my rig an inch and also, when the left tire is stuffed, the track bar would have made heavy contact with the exhaust tail pipe. The track bar is at a 4 degree angle when the is cruiser sitting level in the garage.

I sourced another bolt and nut like the one at the frame mount from a mud member to use where the track bar attaches to the riser bracket. I did this rather than using a 5/8” bolt from downtown because toyota used a large bolt that fell between 11/16” and 3/4” and the grip length is perfect.

My first impressions are that raising the rear track bar 4” made a noticeable difference in on road handing. In fact, it makes me want to do high steer just so I can raise the front track bar with out inducing bump steer.

 

[baldilocks]