PabloCruise
SILVER Star
If your flanges are parallel, no need for double cardon shaft. How were your flange angles before the shims?
Builds SLOW 71 (2 Viewers)
- Thread starter scrapdaddy
- Start date
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If your flanges are parallel, no need for double cardon shaft. How were your flange angles before the shims?
- Thread starter
- #1,862
Home at last!
On the shims story, I didn't have any driveshafts with the wagon when bought, so I ordered some Tom Woods shafts and thought with a 3" or so lift should get cv joints. I didn't know at the time that the pinion should be pointed at the cv, so I shimmed them 4 degrees. Talking with J Mack at Moab, I'm thinking a cut and turn for the front and just go back to a reg. u joint for the rear and lose the shims. This Summer will be spent rebuilding the drive train. My rear springs were not up to the task and with weight had drooped.
I need to do more research and call Kurt at Cruiser outfitters, get the right springs for the job, build a full floater rear and go from there.
I have some damage from the trip, when the rear axle was flopping around from the stretchy nuts, something either in the rear end or transfer case was hurt, growling on deceleration. J Mack gave me some special Lucas oil for the rear end, but the farther we drove the noise got louder. So, from engine to rear end will get rebuilt and improved.
Assessment of the 55 for travel...I haven't owned a 55 for over twenty years and a lot can change with your body in that time, so after building this wagon I wasn't convinced it was something we could drive around the USA. Well, I can say with the seats I have and the reduced noise level from all the Lizard Skin, I Love This Thing! We fit good in it, plenty of room, can see all around and best of all it goes where you want to go. We had people stop and talk about Cruisers at every stop along the way, met a lot a great people. We put @ 2900 miles on it with this trip and only had 300 on it before we left, so learned a lot about it and what needs attention.
Special Thanks:
TLCA for putting on a great event, we had a blast and will be back.
Mr. & Mrs. J Mack for so much support and Jeri had a ball hanging with the Misses.
Steve (cliffhanger) and Wife for making us feel at home and spotting me through the ruff stuff.
Bill (BD) for schooling me on everything Toyota, a wealth of knowledge.
Pablo and Todd for sharing a lot of good laughs
Most important was the man who came to our camp and found the problem with the 55. Please forgive me, but I forgot your name. Owns a repair shop in Loveland Co. (I think). In 5 minutes, he crawled under the 55, in the dirt and spotted the loose springs. Knew what he was talking about.
What a great hobby, I continue to learn, hopefully improve the 55 and most important meet all of you on the trail!
On the shims story, I didn't have any driveshafts with the wagon when bought, so I ordered some Tom Woods shafts and thought with a 3" or so lift should get cv joints. I didn't know at the time that the pinion should be pointed at the cv, so I shimmed them 4 degrees. Talking with J Mack at Moab, I'm thinking a cut and turn for the front and just go back to a reg. u joint for the rear and lose the shims. This Summer will be spent rebuilding the drive train. My rear springs were not up to the task and with weight had drooped.
I need to do more research and call Kurt at Cruiser outfitters, get the right springs for the job, build a full floater rear and go from there.
I have some damage from the trip, when the rear axle was flopping around from the stretchy nuts, something either in the rear end or transfer case was hurt, growling on deceleration. J Mack gave me some special Lucas oil for the rear end, but the farther we drove the noise got louder. So, from engine to rear end will get rebuilt and improved.
Assessment of the 55 for travel...I haven't owned a 55 for over twenty years and a lot can change with your body in that time, so after building this wagon I wasn't convinced it was something we could drive around the USA. Well, I can say with the seats I have and the reduced noise level from all the Lizard Skin, I Love This Thing! We fit good in it, plenty of room, can see all around and best of all it goes where you want to go. We had people stop and talk about Cruisers at every stop along the way, met a lot a great people. We put @ 2900 miles on it with this trip and only had 300 on it before we left, so learned a lot about it and what needs attention.
Special Thanks:
TLCA for putting on a great event, we had a blast and will be back.
Mr. & Mrs. J Mack for so much support and Jeri had a ball hanging with the Misses.
Steve (cliffhanger) and Wife for making us feel at home and spotting me through the ruff stuff.
Bill (BD) for schooling me on everything Toyota, a wealth of knowledge.
Pablo and Todd for sharing a lot of good laughs
Most important was the man who came to our camp and found the problem with the 55. Please forgive me, but I forgot your name. Owns a repair shop in Loveland Co. (I think). In 5 minutes, he crawled under the 55, in the dirt and spotted the loose springs. Knew what he was talking about.
What a great hobby, I continue to learn, hopefully improve the 55 and most important meet all of you on the trail!
Ron,
Did you get a chance to check your transfer case and transmission fluid level?
I had an issue with the transfer case pumping its oil into the transmission on my maiden voyage and had to drain the trans and add to the transfer every 500 miles or so.
We had a blast hanging out with you guys and hope we can do it again soon!!!
- Thread starter
- #1,864
No I haven't checked anything yet. I thought about that, but usually that's a bad seal and I replaced it with the rebuild. I'm seriously thinking of buying a new split case for the rebuild. My transfer case had some missing gears and a hole in the case when I bought it, so maybe I should start over with a new one. There's a fix for your problem, attaching a hose between the two equalizes the fluid.
- Thread starter
- #1,865
Gas mileage...Not real accurate, but did a running tab on it going out and back. Mileage went from 16 to 19.5 miles per gal. My computer for the 5.3 has the wrong tune for the higher elevations. It was back firing terrible coming down out of Co. When we were on the return trip, down in Texas and Ok., flat ground, the last tank got the 19.5. Not bad in my book. Maybe with the right tune, I'll see an improvement to those numbers. I have to add, I ran only 60 to 65 MPH. I know (old guy).
Ron, you were the cliffhanger on the slickrock - I'm overhanger. Thanks for the kind words. Looking forward to seeing your truck after a year more of prep. Only 300 miles on the beast before you drove across four states, wheeled the snot out of it, and then drove it home ? Show Me, he said to the 55. And, of course, it did. It's a Toyota.
Worst quality pic of the whole week and it had to be our two trucks. Got to show it anyway:
- Thread starter
- #1,867
Well, the problem with mine is he programed out the MAP, says he can get a better tune without it, but doesn't run right up high. He was right. I'm going to send it back and have him reprogram for a MAF. I admit, don't know squat about the computer, but need to get it worked out.
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- Thread starter
- #1,868
Told you I was bad with names!
I'll get the 55 right and be back next year as long as you're leading.
- Thread starter
- #1,869
I'm going to send the computer back to Brain Dacus, he programed it and if it's not right, then J Mack has a guy who can fix it.
- Thread starter
- #1,870
Wanted to give a shout out to Gary (Shmukster) for giving us some nice t shirts. From his event, the East Coast Pig Run. So nice, I wore it two days straight!
Ditto, thank you Gary @shmukster
Sorry I missed you when you came by our camp, hope to run into you at another event.
Sorry to hear of all things you have to change and improve.
But perhaps it is a blessing in disguise to make your awesome 55 even better.
Anyway . . . looking forward to seeing more of your excellent quality work and fabrication .
I am subscribed.
Keep Cruis'n
But perhaps it is a blessing in disguise to make your awesome 55 even better.
Anyway . . . looking forward to seeing more of your excellent quality work and fabrication .
I am subscribed.
Keep Cruis'n
PabloCruise
SILVER Star
Darn, I am bummed I missed him at CM!
TuffMudder
Still working on my FJ55!
Wow Ron, I am so jealous of your moab trip and getting to meet up with everyone! Hope to make it there...someday...but glad to see you've got yours on the road. People need to see how beautiful a pig can be, and yours is certainly a shining example
Sorry to hear about your problems. Did you ever get into the rear end to see what the problem was? Did I read in here somewhere that you had the rear pinion angled up towards the TC? Hopefully you're well on the way to getting your drivetrain fixed.
Sorry to hear about your problems. Did you ever get into the rear end to see what the problem was? Did I read in here somewhere that you had the rear pinion angled up towards the TC? Hopefully you're well on the way to getting your drivetrain fixed.
- Thread starter
- #1,875
Yeah, I was trying to be smart and put a cv joint in the drive shaft and pointed the pinion at the transfer case, it should work if your u bolts don't keep loosening up. I want to just go to a ff rear with disc brakes and start over. I'm fixing some smaller issues that needed addressing before tearing out the drive train. Over all it was a great time for us, just to able to leave town with it. I was very happy that I fit good in it with no back pain while driving it ten hours, it's going to make a fine traveling vehicle.
TuffMudder
Still working on my FJ55!
You are far more mechanically inclined than I (to say the least), but if you angle the pinion up, don't you run the risk of running that front bearing dry?
- Thread starter
- #1,877
I only had a 4 degree shim in it and just pumped a little extra oil in, same with the front axle.
I have loved every minute of this build... It's taken me a healthy amount of MUD reading to soak it all in. Forgive this 40 owner for interloping, but I have a few lingering questions.
1. What about your experiences with driveline issues in Moab has you thinking you need to cut and turn the front axle?
2. Have you resolved the issue with your Restomod AC unit? I'm dying to know how it performs. I got the old air hurricane and you've got me thinking I may have chosen an inferior unit.
1. What about your experiences with driveline issues in Moab has you thinking you need to cut and turn the front axle?
2. Have you resolved the issue with your Restomod AC unit? I'm dying to know how it performs. I got the old air hurricane and you've got me thinking I may have chosen an inferior unit.
Oh, and thanks... You've given me Pig fever. So now I'm off to read J Mack and Pablo's threads.
- Thread starter
- #1,880
Honger,
Thanks for spending the time reading all of that! I still have some wondering out of the front axle and I put 4 degree shims in, they helped, but I want it done right, so cut and turn. On the a/c, the blower motor has a small circuit board in it and that was fried, they sent a new one the next day, but we were in Moab. I haven't charged the system yet to know how cold it gets, but the blower works great. In Moab, I had the rear u bolts loosen up and it caused the axle to move which caused me to lose some sleep, but with help from some great people, we got home and I'm planning a rebuild of the rear system. A few more leaves in the rear springs, a full float axle and new sway bar.
Thanks for spending the time reading all of that! I still have some wondering out of the front axle and I put 4 degree shims in, they helped, but I want it done right, so cut and turn. On the a/c, the blower motor has a small circuit board in it and that was fried, they sent a new one the next day, but we were in Moab. I haven't charged the system yet to know how cold it gets, but the blower works great.
In Moab, I had the rear u bolts loosen up and it caused the axle to move which caused me to lose some sleep, but with help from some great people, we got home and I'm planning a rebuild of the rear system. A few more leaves in the rear springs, a full float axle and new sway bar.