Markuson
SILVER Star
Builds Rocklander Build
- Thread starter Taco2Cruiser
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- armored budbuilt skid plates
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Taco2Cruiser
Crazy American Off Road
- Thread starter
- #62
While pulling the rear diff out, I deceived to show a public service announcement for why the BP-51 rock guards are not good for real off-roading. This was from California where I only noticed it when I was rotating tire in a parking lot. A rock tapped the lower shock mount and pushed the plastic gauge off the mount and then it got crushed my the sway bar. I'll be pulling a nice price of steel in there as a lower guard and modify the stone guard to still protect the shaft, but not be so low to get hit by a rock.
Markuson
SILVER Star
On my rears? The rock guards absolutely do NOT STAY ON...
They kept coming loose and bouncing around because the clamp ring has no ridge to grip. It's all friction...but the surface is smooth...so it just works its way off.
Then I lost one completely sometime in Ouray. Just gone.
Taco2Cruiser
Crazy American Off Road
- Thread starter
- #65
Before I start this I had every thought to make a very detailed process of removing and installing diffs with air lockers along with the air compressor and switches. But I'm in Savannah and did the front end during hurricane Matthew without power and only using a headlamp, so pictures will be lacking there.
For the rear start by dumping the fluid, I choose to save it as it was Amsoil 75-110 with only 4,000 miles on it and will do just fine for break in as it will be shot in 500 miles.
Jack up the axle, support with jack stands and pull both wheels off.
Now on both end, disconnect the ABS wire and move it safely out of the way.
Then disconnect the flexible brake line from the hard line. I removed the first bolt/brace for the hard line in the axle housing to allow me to reconnect the flexible to hard line back, but NOT through the support bracket. This way I can pull the axle shaft out and not pull on the hard line. Be sure to reconnect, as brake fluid will just keep coming out.
Now remove the 4 bolts on the hub and pull each shaft out about 6" and try to balance the calipers at the 12 o'clock position to not put stress on the brake lines. The picture below you can see the how the flexible/hard brake line bracket on the hub assembly and why you need to get the hard line out of it before you pull shafts. Also the shafts will be pulled much further out than this.
Now I chose to remove the entire rear sway bar and that is pretty easy, just start unbolting, I haven't yet released the KDSS hex screws.
Remove the 4 bolts on the rear prop shaft closest to the diff, you don't have to remove the t-case side. Then unbolt the 10 nuts, support with a floor jack (the Toyota 9.5 is a heavy monster) and pull her on out.
Reassembly is just reversed. Now things to not do if putting in an air locker. The instructions say to tap the air line fitting on the driver side. All other air lockers for Toyotas say to tap it on the pssender side and run the line over the ring rear. Called ARB and they don't know why the instruction say something different. Also if you tap on the driver, it is too close to the KDSS rear sway bar (probably ok for non-KDSS bars in our Australian brothers cruisers). With an air line over the top of a ring gear, when putting the diff back in the housing, angle the diff to instead of going strait in, to come down into the housing, once you clear the line, then the diff can go strait in. If anything sounds weird, call East Coast Gear Supply and talk to Chase. He is the king of explaining and we worked on this new air line routing together, also identified that Tundra 9.5 are not the same as LC200 9.5 and are not interchangeable. He also taught me about how to set up the air line and not put pressure on it during loading (that's why you go with ECGS, they know how to set up gear to truely last)
For the rear start by dumping the fluid, I choose to save it as it was Amsoil 75-110 with only 4,000 miles on it and will do just fine for break in as it will be shot in 500 miles.
Jack up the axle, support with jack stands and pull both wheels off.
Now on both end, disconnect the ABS wire and move it safely out of the way.
Then disconnect the flexible brake line from the hard line. I removed the first bolt/brace for the hard line in the axle housing to allow me to reconnect the flexible to hard line back, but NOT through the support bracket. This way I can pull the axle shaft out and not pull on the hard line. Be sure to reconnect, as brake fluid will just keep coming out.
Now remove the 4 bolts on the hub and pull each shaft out about 6" and try to balance the calipers at the 12 o'clock position to not put stress on the brake lines. The picture below you can see the how the flexible/hard brake line bracket on the hub assembly and why you need to get the hard line out of it before you pull shafts. Also the shafts will be pulled much further out than this.
Now I chose to remove the entire rear sway bar and that is pretty easy, just start unbolting, I haven't yet released the KDSS hex screws.
Remove the 4 bolts on the rear prop shaft closest to the diff, you don't have to remove the t-case side. Then unbolt the 10 nuts, support with a floor jack (the Toyota 9.5 is a heavy monster) and pull her on out.
Reassembly is just reversed. Now things to not do if putting in an air locker. The instructions say to tap the air line fitting on the driver side. All other air lockers for Toyotas say to tap it on the pssender side and run the line over the ring rear. Called ARB and they don't know why the instruction say something different. Also if you tap on the driver, it is too close to the KDSS rear sway bar (probably ok for non-KDSS bars in our Australian brothers cruisers). With an air line over the top of a ring gear, when putting the diff back in the housing, angle the diff to instead of going strait in, to come down into the housing, once you clear the line, then the diff can go strait in. If anything sounds weird, call East Coast Gear Supply and talk to Chase. He is the king of explaining and we worked on this new air line routing together, also identified that Tundra 9.5 are not the same as LC200 9.5 and are not interchangeable. He also taught me about how to set up the air line and not put pressure on it during loading (that's why you go with ECGS, they know how to set up gear to truely last)
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Taco2Cruiser
Crazy American Off Road
- Thread starter
- #66
Locker switches
The front was done during Hurricane Matthew so sorry again for not a full write up. The Front is easy, after lifting the front off the ground and removing tires, brake calipers, and ABS wires. Instead of removing the hub nut (which is torqued to around 250 ft. lbs) I simply unbolted the spindle at the upper and lower control arms, and just removed the disk, hub, and CV axle as one unit. I broke the half shaft off the diff while it was still held by the truck frame for easy factor, the lowered the diff and slightly separated half shaft. Use some RTV to attach the half shaft to the new diff, and bolt everything back together and torque to spec.
The front was done during Hurricane Matthew so sorry again for not a full write up. The Front is easy, after lifting the front off the ground and removing tires, brake calipers, and ABS wires. Instead of removing the hub nut (which is torqued to around 250 ft. lbs) I simply unbolted the spindle at the upper and lower control arms, and just removed the disk, hub, and CV axle as one unit. I broke the half shaft off the diff while it was still held by the truck frame for easy factor, the lowered the diff and slightly separated half shaft. Use some RTV to attach the half shaft to the new diff, and bolt everything back together and torque to spec.
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Love the buttons! Looking forward to updates.
Where did you get them (buttons)?
Where did you get them (buttons)?
Taco2Cruiser
Crazy American Off Road
- Thread starter
- #68
From ch4x4.com (cruiserheads).
Yea sorry for not updating the build sooner. When pulling the front diff out, I found my timing chain cover was leaking and my passenger cam tower is starting to leak.
So I've got the whole top end and cooling system out, still got to pull everything off the front of the motor. Then meticulously clean everything to prep for new RTV and seal this 5.7 up right.
After I finish up the motor and break in the gears properly, I'll be building skids and some other goodies. Got a plan for skids, and going to see the feasibility of being able to offer them as bolt on to anyone who like me, sees significant flaws in ARB skids.
Taco2Cruiser
Crazy American Off Road
- Thread starter
- #69
ARB Twin air install
So when it came time for an air compressor, I wanted to go with the ARB twin air, I've been running the smaller ARB compressor for years, get and all, but does take quite awhile in inflate the tires from the 15-20psi back up to 35, so with a free Slee mount, here we go.
If you haven't noticed, I really can't stand "close enough", I like precision and not just throwing things together, plus I've put in quite a few of these so I have my own way I like.
The Slee Mount is good, it's not perfect, but I'll admit its pretty darn good. the bracket that holds your air injection harness needed a harsher bend to it as it was running a wire into a brake line, not good for the inevitable rattling this truck takes. Too easy of a fix, I just mashed it with my hands to get the angle I liked.
Here you can see how i got it to sit closer to the fuse block, originally it was pushing a wire under there into those brake lines.
I also wish it sat the whole compressor a 1/4 lower. There would still be space to remove the fuse box cover, but it would help clear the hood heat shield better. Again, the overall design, I don't think I could of though of anything better.
Now run the switch control wires through the firewall. The 200 has the best design here, plugs that you can cut to access, but if not keep the dust out, genius. So you will already see fridge wires, and there was enough room to push the four (4) compressor wires with it, one at a time of course.
This will be a tight fit, but once you start, you're committed, the wire ends have a tab to locks it into a harness once in the cab, that tab though will catch the rubber grommet if you try and pull it back out.
Once they are in the cab, put the provided plastic harness block on.
The compressor harness power loom is great, but I removed a lot of extra conduit from the side you will attach it to the battery, and added the terminal rings (which were not included). I decided to coil the whole harness under the compressor itself and the stock fuse block so that everything could be hidden.
For the in-cab switch harness to plugs into the wires you just pushed through the firewall. There are 5 wires for the standard switch that come with the compressor, but you will see two (2) black ground wires, they are the actually the same wire, tapped from one ground just for the stock five (5) pin switch. I put quick disconnect fittings on everything so I can return it to stock later is I ever wanted to. I also modified the harness to take out the mandatory Australian safety feature that does not let the front lock engage until the rear lock is engaged. Then I decided to add a tap for the driver side interior fuse block. I always hear, "i'll tap it off the cigarette lighter." Well the fuse for it is there also, so why needlessly add crimps if you don't have to. It's all about keeping reliability high, if you have to expose a wire, I get it, but if you don't have to, then don't. For the tab though, it does matter which way you plug it in, the right way is once it's plugging in the wire will run toward the center of the truck
Now you need to tab into an illumination source. Behind the left switch panel, the stock wire harness that plugs into those switches is actually a separate harness that could be unplugged further into the truck and replaced for not much money, IF you ever did anything wrong. The stock switchs are illuminated off one wire, and are dimmed from a restricted wire to bring the wattage down. The switches I used are a much simpler design and only have one wire for illumination. So instead of tapping off the illumination wire, I tapped of the dimmer wire. This does will make the interior switches do a fun thing, where if the stock interior lights are all the way up, my added switches are off, and vice vera. But I was okay with this because I like my lights turn down a bit, which gives a nice dim look to my switches, instead of a full brightness switch.
I used a simply $8 dollar power tester to find the illumination dim wire, I tapped off the side view mirror switch wires.
So when it came time for an air compressor, I wanted to go with the ARB twin air, I've been running the smaller ARB compressor for years, get and all, but does take quite awhile in inflate the tires from the 15-20psi back up to 35, so with a free Slee mount, here we go.
If you haven't noticed, I really can't stand "close enough", I like precision and not just throwing things together, plus I've put in quite a few of these so I have my own way I like.
The Slee Mount is good, it's not perfect, but I'll admit its pretty darn good. the bracket that holds your air injection harness needed a harsher bend to it as it was running a wire into a brake line, not good for the inevitable rattling this truck takes. Too easy of a fix, I just mashed it with my hands to get the angle I liked.
Here you can see how i got it to sit closer to the fuse block, originally it was pushing a wire under there into those brake lines.
I also wish it sat the whole compressor a 1/4 lower. There would still be space to remove the fuse box cover, but it would help clear the hood heat shield better. Again, the overall design, I don't think I could of though of anything better.
Now run the switch control wires through the firewall. The 200 has the best design here, plugs that you can cut to access, but if not keep the dust out, genius. So you will already see fridge wires, and there was enough room to push the four (4) compressor wires with it, one at a time of course.
This will be a tight fit, but once you start, you're committed, the wire ends have a tab to locks it into a harness once in the cab, that tab though will catch the rubber grommet if you try and pull it back out.
Once they are in the cab, put the provided plastic harness block on.
The compressor harness power loom is great, but I removed a lot of extra conduit from the side you will attach it to the battery, and added the terminal rings (which were not included). I decided to coil the whole harness under the compressor itself and the stock fuse block so that everything could be hidden.
For the in-cab switch harness to plugs into the wires you just pushed through the firewall. There are 5 wires for the standard switch that come with the compressor, but you will see two (2) black ground wires, they are the actually the same wire, tapped from one ground just for the stock five (5) pin switch. I put quick disconnect fittings on everything so I can return it to stock later is I ever wanted to. I also modified the harness to take out the mandatory Australian safety feature that does not let the front lock engage until the rear lock is engaged. Then I decided to add a tap for the driver side interior fuse block. I always hear, "i'll tap it off the cigarette lighter." Well the fuse for it is there also, so why needlessly add crimps if you don't have to. It's all about keeping reliability high, if you have to expose a wire, I get it, but if you don't have to, then don't. For the tab though, it does matter which way you plug it in, the right way is once it's plugging in the wire will run toward the center of the truck
Now you need to tab into an illumination source. Behind the left switch panel, the stock wire harness that plugs into those switches is actually a separate harness that could be unplugged further into the truck and replaced for not much money, IF you ever did anything wrong. The stock switchs are illuminated off one wire, and are dimmed from a restricted wire to bring the wattage down. The switches I used are a much simpler design and only have one wire for illumination. So instead of tapping off the illumination wire, I tapped of the dimmer wire. This does will make the interior switches do a fun thing, where if the stock interior lights are all the way up, my added switches are off, and vice vera. But I was okay with this because I like my lights turn down a bit, which gives a nice dim look to my switches, instead of a full brightness switch.
I used a simply $8 dollar power tester to find the illumination dim wire, I tapped off the side view mirror switch wires.
Taco2Cruiser
Crazy American Off Road
- Thread starter
- #70
Now just plug it all together. I used the AAC port on the interior fuse block that was already open, you can see it at the top right of the picture below, remember to plug it in with the wire running toward the center of the truck.
I choose to run the power for the compressor off the main battery and not an auxiliary battery. This compressor uses a lot of power, and i'm only refilling tire pressure when I come off trail and hitting road. So the engine was just on, and will be turning right back on to charge. Plus this is also powering lockers, I want absolute reliability to activate lockers, even if the power distribution for a dual battery setup fails. Seen National Luna and IBS both fail. Also, the compressor will turn on depending where you place the "tab" on the interior fuse block, and not if you attach the compressor power harness to the starting battery or auxiliary battery. There are some fuses that are alway on in the fuse block, just use that cheap power tester to find one if you want to turn the compressor on without pressing the vehicle power on (no matter what you don't need to turn the motor on).
I ran the positive wires right off the battery post, and the ground wire down to the chassis as to hide as much as possible. The compressor fuse blocks have a nice hole for mounting in the bottom, and two zip ties connected it to the stock fuse block harness, which keeps inline with trying to make it look like things are suppose to be there. After a lot of playing, the hose that comes with the Slee kit is too long, and I'll source a shorter steel braided line (that this will get hot enough to melt a plastic line), but this was the way to get the lines as low as possible for what comes with it. The brass 90 degree fitting will touch the hood heat shield a tad, this is where I would of liked the whole Slee mount to put the compressor lower, even by 1/8" at minimum. But i'll find a lower profile 90 degree also.
Winch power, air compressor power, and fridge always on power connected. Fridge will move off starting battery once the aux battery is in. I will also source a dust cover for the inflation port. But you don't need a massively expensive and complicated electrical system. You can have a winch and lockers with tire inflation, and a fridge in the back, without adding fuse blocks and spending more money and time that could be used for adventures (cause that's the point right) and still have a clean look.
I choose to run the power for the compressor off the main battery and not an auxiliary battery. This compressor uses a lot of power, and i'm only refilling tire pressure when I come off trail and hitting road. So the engine was just on, and will be turning right back on to charge. Plus this is also powering lockers, I want absolute reliability to activate lockers, even if the power distribution for a dual battery setup fails. Seen National Luna and IBS both fail. Also, the compressor will turn on depending where you place the "tab" on the interior fuse block, and not if you attach the compressor power harness to the starting battery or auxiliary battery. There are some fuses that are alway on in the fuse block, just use that cheap power tester to find one if you want to turn the compressor on without pressing the vehicle power on (no matter what you don't need to turn the motor on).
I ran the positive wires right off the battery post, and the ground wire down to the chassis as to hide as much as possible. The compressor fuse blocks have a nice hole for mounting in the bottom, and two zip ties connected it to the stock fuse block harness, which keeps inline with trying to make it look like things are suppose to be there. After a lot of playing, the hose that comes with the Slee kit is too long, and I'll source a shorter steel braided line (that this will get hot enough to melt a plastic line), but this was the way to get the lines as low as possible for what comes with it. The brass 90 degree fitting will touch the hood heat shield a tad, this is where I would of liked the whole Slee mount to put the compressor lower, even by 1/8" at minimum. But i'll find a lower profile 90 degree also.
Winch power, air compressor power, and fridge always on power connected. Fridge will move off starting battery once the aux battery is in. I will also source a dust cover for the inflation port. But you don't need a massively expensive and complicated electrical system. You can have a winch and lockers with tire inflation, and a fridge in the back, without adding fuse blocks and spending more money and time that could be used for adventures (cause that's the point right) and still have a clean look.
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Taco2Cruiser
Crazy American Off Road
- Thread starter
- #71
Mud flap flop
Front mud flap was catching when almost at full lock like most of us have issues with. Instead of cutting it out and letting my body mount and everything behind it get loading with mud and clay, I cut an opening at the top and trimmed to align.
Shaved the bottom edge, heat gunned the plastic to fold the inner part back.
Then pinned the top.
Cleaned it up, applied resin for no other reason to make it look more factory. Here you can see how the flap is still all there, but follows the lines of the body mount, continuing to help stop mud, but getting out of the way for large tires. Pretty easy, took about 15 minutes a side.
Front mud flap was catching when almost at full lock like most of us have issues with. Instead of cutting it out and letting my body mount and everything behind it get loading with mud and clay, I cut an opening at the top and trimmed to align.
Shaved the bottom edge, heat gunned the plastic to fold the inner part back.
Then pinned the top.
Cleaned it up, applied resin for no other reason to make it look more factory. Here you can see how the flap is still all there, but follows the lines of the body mount, continuing to help stop mud, but getting out of the way for large tires. Pretty easy, took about 15 minutes a side.
Taco2Cruiser
Crazy American Off Road
- Thread starter
- #72
I know what you're thinking... "Taco I love my 2008-2015 200 series but I want LED lighting like the 2016+, oh and I have an ARB bull bar." I feel your pain, the little fog lights for a bull bar are not the greatest, and converting the ARB indicator and fog brackets is expensive, and then you still have to buy an even more expensive led light.
So I found these made by Stedi in Australia, they were $150 to my door in the US about 4 days. They are the same outer design as the ARB fog lights, but you can wire them to have a DRL function.
So instead of my high beams having their voltage reduced to make a yellow DRL, these are my new DRL, and I will be putting IPF LED bulbs in both high and low beams. All super crips "don't pull out in front of me" white, no flickering, and saving power for other things, like my fridge. The DRL is the top and bottom of the fog lamp, and the center is the fog light itself with a very clean cut off line to get the light more under fog.
Here is headlamps off with DRL on.
DRL automatically turns off when parking lights come on.
And your fog light is retained when turned on by the stock switch in the cab.
So I found these made by Stedi in Australia, they were $150 to my door in the US about 4 days. They are the same outer design as the ARB fog lights, but you can wire them to have a DRL function.
So instead of my high beams having their voltage reduced to make a yellow DRL, these are my new DRL, and I will be putting IPF LED bulbs in both high and low beams. All super crips "don't pull out in front of me" white, no flickering, and saving power for other things, like my fridge. The DRL is the top and bottom of the fog lamp, and the center is the fog light itself with a very clean cut off line to get the light more under fog.
Here is headlamps off with DRL on.
DRL automatically turns off when parking lights come on.
And your fog light is retained when turned on by the stock switch in the cab.
This is a killer build. Well done! Good luck with it.
If this is a bit of a heist of the thread then I apologize. My problem is a bit strange....at least to me.
Your comment on getting the 1911 and being able to use full lockers caught my eye because that is exactly the way I feel. I recently spent time in NC going out with some of my old college buddys on powerline trails. The places we can go today as opposed to 20 years ago is amazing and the difference in LC's with full lockers was also apparent if the guy knew how to drive. I have been searching for 11's nationwide and have found several that are around 60,000 miles and I am sure most would check out nicely.
The problem is my trade in is worth around $70,000. Most people would say great and get a new one.
But I don't want one I cannot put full lockers on although I am sure I would learn to live with the system. But I like full complete override and knowing for sure what the vehicle tires and wheels are doing sometimes.....not letting a computer think for me I also like the idea of having 50,000 or 60,000 miles on my vehicle without having to worry about a few dents and scratches.
Selling a car worth 65K- 70k is not easy. In fact few people try because you set yourself up to be robbed. Look on any site and see how many Porsche Turbo AWD are for sale by owner. You will see there is none. I ask my friend that services all my Porsche's and he said it is because they get stolen. That I have to put it on consignment. So that is F-----d. It could sell in a month or a year.
I may go for a newer model or I may trade for 2 cars and get my sister or girlfriend a car.
It seems like a situation where a dealer can take advantage of you fairly easily.
I have never traded down.....not even sure if you can without losing your a$$.
Sorry about hi-jacking ........This whole thread is fascinating and I would love to be ordering parts, and spending my nights in the garage with wrenches and getting my baby the way I want her.
Keep up the great work Taco....everyone is learning a lot from your build and trips trying out your rig and making the changes.
That is amazing. I am definitely doing that. I'm in Houston now but will be living in San Antonio soon. San Antonio hits 110 all the time. I don't mind paying for something that is so protective and also offers insulating qualities. I would love to see a Silver done in that stuff.
Wow what a lot of prep........
Taco2Cruiser
Crazy American Off Road
- Thread starter
- #76
Thanks for the kind words, and I don't think your comments are a heist at all. I would like this build thread to be more of a discussion. Like you I had a unique vehicle to sell to make the 200 work. Now mine was much less expensive, but it was a very specific truck that needed a very specific buyer. An FJ that is built to very far from stock, with all one off, just me and my torch and welder, on a platform really designed for two is hard to sell. I ended up buying my 200 before my FJ was sold. In fact I sold my FJ to a stranger (who is now a good friend) because he walked up to me in a national forest and asking about my 200. We talked for awhile and exchanged information. Well a couple days later he saw my FJ on autotrader and realized the phone number was the same, very long story short, he bought it and is having the time of his life traveling wherever he wants in it. Funny how life works.
The point that worked for me was, I waited for the right 200 to buy, and I waited for the right guy to buy my baby (FJ). That was how I didn't hurt myself financially in the long run, but kept my finances in check by making sure I was able to take on two costly vehicles at once.
As for lockers, the reason why I went with a '11 over say a '13 was cost. Everything we do I based on cost, despite us saying "I care about the truck not the price," we really care about cost. If cost wasn't a factor, I'd have a new cruiser, with a SAS, a diesel, and 100k of stuff, and I'd probably have two. You could buy new and locker it up, plus get rid of that terrible 3.30 gear ration in the '16+. But it's less to put toward the mods. So with a difference of $10k, I choose the things I'm doing over the additions that a new one comes with. I wouldn't worry about damaging a truck because it's new, the truck is for having and adventure in, if it gets damaged, fix it and make it better than it was before. You'll have a better story in the long run.
I would just recommend thinking about what you know you will do with a 200, and based on what you can afford, buy based on that and able to keep you expensive current vehicle until you can find the right buyer.
As for the line-x you mentioned in silver. Look at the first page, you'll see s picture of the FJ right below a picture of my feet hanging out of a tent. The grill and side view mirrors are silver line-x. The white top is white line-x. The black is black line-x. I love the stuff, I'm white line-x'ing my moms new Tacoma with 4wheel camper built for rock crawling. Once you go line-x, you'll go anywhere, narrow trail be damned!
So... what does everyone else think about switching out vehicle?
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I was not looking for a new vehicle, happy with my 80 SC lifted and locked, when somebody on Mud shared a CL ad for an 08 with 115k and front and rear arb bumpers and roof rack and compressor and OME lift and tires for $27.5k. I jumped on it knowing I could sell for probably $35k in Colorado. So the next day I listed my 80 and decided which ever sold first I'd keep the other. After five days I had a $20k offer on the 80 and took it and haven't looked back. I've had 62, 80 (LX and LC), 100's (2 LX) and now this 200. It is an amazing vehicle, even an 08. I look forward to driving this in any situation and am so excited to pull our pop up and take it up in the mountains.
You dog! Was that the one in Houston?? Lucky duck. =)
Boom
It's in great condition and 10k in add on's made it a no brainer.
