Tech session

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Holly Cow !!

I see what happen now . I thought you was just going to change out the gears and put a lift on . Looks good ............. I think .

carter.webp
 
That's called the lift and stretch. LOL.

And you thought it was only for women!
 
wow it took a lot of time and money to put that thing together. sad…. the only way you could ride that thing around is if its sat night 2am and beer has had time to do its job.
 
Holy crap!

So I got to Luis' house around 9 today. We started off where we left off with the front 3rd. Looks like the advice I got to try taking off .010 was spot on... did it and the pattern looked perfect.

So then it was onto pinion preload. A few math errors on my part kept us from making good progress (Bret, sound familiar?). But eventually we settled on .055 worth of shims on the solid sleeve.

I also bought a cute toy of a torque wrench. It does 0-60 inch pounds - pretty much designed for pinion load. Worked perfectly for what we were doing (and by the way, 14 inch-pounds is probably a lot more than you think it is!). I have a feeling the rear 3rd is a little light on preload... but I wasn't in the mood to start messing with shims again.

So we got the carrier all setup again, this time armed with a little more information due to me reading up more on what was 'supposed' to happen on these setups. A short while later we had the 3rd ready to go back in the truck. So in it went, and then in went the rear 3rd.

This is about the time that the wheels fell off, so to speak.

I was working on the front axle, and Luis comes over... he'd been cleaning up some tools, trying to keep things organized. "I think you really fxxxed up!"

Uh oh....

He shows me the ring that the e-locker uses to push against to lock the front 3rd. We forgot to put it back in. Crap.

Out comes the front 3rd again. We play around with the locker a bit, trying to see if we can get the ring back in without having to disassemble the carrier. No would be the correct answer if you're guessing.

So back goes the 3rd on the bench. Tear out the carrier, put the ring back in. We got the carrier set back up again, and we start torquing the bearing caps. Something happens and Luis thinks I'm done so he lets go a little on the 3rd... and there it falls, into the dirt.

s***.

After a few choice words we take a look at the damage. Looks like dirt is freaking everywhere. Back apart comes the carrier. A metric s***ton of break cleaner later and we're finally cleaned up again.

So back together goes the carrier for the um-teenth time. Finally get the backlash right. Put the locker back together, and into the truck it goes.

I don't remember what time that was... I think it was around 8. I'm thinking we're not that far from finished... well, maybe, maybe not.

One of the shipments of parts I needed didn't make it to me yesterday, so half the seals and s*** I need are sitting on a truck somewhere. Luis comes up with a 40 axle kit that we cannabalize to get the front back together. Lots of grease and cleaning later, it's back.

But then the rain, which had been threatening all day, finally started... so we called it. And here it is, 1:30AM, and I've finally made it home and cleaned up... but I'm still not tired, so I figured I'd tell you all the story.

And there you have it.

So what's left, you ask? A front drive shaft has to be installed, the driver PT hub needs to be installed, and gear oil needs to be dumped in. And oh yeah, I have to get the crossmember back on again.

So we're close... but not quite there.
 
Sure did. Everything turned out well.

It's a lot harder to move the carrier and pinion after all the preload is set properly, however...

IMG_4485.jpg


IMG_4486.jpg


Here's the jig Luis set up to hold the 3rd in place while we worked on it. We wanted to actually secure the 3rd to the table, but that just wasn't happening.

IMG_4487.jpg


And oh, the passenger side hub... what a freaking mess... it was like mud in there. Maybe there wasn't much "like"...

IMG_4488.jpg


And the inside bearing was shot as well. Not destroyed like the old one, but certainly shot. I was lucky the spindle wasn't damaged.

IMG_4490.jpg
 
Well, the marathon tech session finally came to a close today. I headed back up to Luis' house around 8 or 9 - this time confident enough that I was dropped off!

Got the front driveshaft installed, soaked myself in gear oil (managed to get a little in the transfer case, too)... got the crossmember back in, and fired it up.

No real events... of course, I had locked the front & rear up before we started all this. So I go to unlock them all... click! Center unlocked. Click! Front unlocked. Back and forth. Back and forth. Uh-oh. Rear isn't unlocking...

So I start trying to recall what Bret was telling me over a week ago. It's not coming back to me... cut the yellow wire? The alligator eats the bigger number? Dial 9 first? Nope, nothing was coming up.

So I take the rear locker apart a bit, looking for clues. I have no idea. Then I stop and think... wait, maybe I'm making this harder than it needs to be.

Get the jack out. Lift the rear end. One tire shifts a bit. Second one come off the ground. Click! Ahhhh. Much better!!

So I put everything back together, pack up and head down the road. So far, so good. Except my ABS is acting up now... but I know that can be due to a dirty sensor so I'm not too worried about it. Made it home just fine!

Thanks again to everyone for your help... it's not over just yet, however!
 
Last edited:
floridan surfer said:
Didn't you install a part-time kit? Selectable hubs up front?

Pat
Click to expand...

Well, I did part of it (ha ha).

I put the hubs on, and yes, I realize sometimes the hubs can cause the ABS to get wonky. But the kit contains the correct bushings to keep the axle in place.

I haven't put the PT kit spooler into the transfer case yet - but once it's in there, if you're in 4x2, ABS is going to have a s*** fit.

More than likely one of the ABS sensors has some crap on it that's keeping it from seeing the ring properly. It seems to be a not common (but repeatable) issue folks have had when the axle is opened up - some metal shavings get on the sensor, and it can't see the ring properly. Seems to only happen at very low speeds (5 MPH or so), and only when coming to a 'normal' or 'harsh' stop. If you baby it to a stop, it doesn't happen.

I pushed hard on the brake when I was near my house - holy crap did it pull to the right! So I'll clean the sensor, and if that doesn't work, I'll pull the ABS fuse until I can test the sensors... it's not good having that kind of unpredictability going on.

I'll tell you one thing, however. I was really happy to have the hubs on when I was putting my front driveshaft back on. I needed to turn the pinion, so I grabbed the jack. I was working away at getting both tires off the ground when I realized I was being silly. All I needed was one - so I flipped the tire that was on the ground to 4x2, and used the other to rotate the pinion. Problem solved ;)
 
ABS is overrated anyways.
 
Bret said:
Hope everything is coming together. Definitely a lot of changes in the past week.
Click to expand...

Just think of what would have been going on if I'd actually accomplished modding the transfer case, gears and suspension all at the same time. That probably wasn't a good idea. I realize now you should take things in stride, one at time... otherwise, when there's an issue, you won't know where to look to figure out what's going on.

Of course, you can't really just do one diff at a time unfortunately :0
 
Good to hear all your efforts paid off, Murphy is always around.

On my way home from Luis’ that first Saturday near Winter Haven, my cruiser started to lose power and buck like a Jeep. Pulled off the toll road and looked it over, nothing obvious. Drove another quarter mile, problem didn’t cure itself. Engine temp climbing, vacuum dropped to nothing. I stopped at a toll booth and called my son, JD, to bring a trailer and come get me. Home by 9:30PM.

Short story short, read the FSM, pulled the fuel injection, replaced the fuel pump, fuel regulator, pulsation damper, checked inputs/outputs, ECU swap, cleaned injectors, checked spark, timing etc…

Waiting for other replacement parts this week and decided to do a compression test. Engine cold:
1-165,
2-165,
3 4 5 6- 30 or less.
Could that be a concern? No noticeable loss of water from radiator, no water in oil, nothing wet was coming from tail pipe, I hope it just the head gasket, and I’ll be ordering a head gasket soon.

I did find that the fuel pressure regulator was bad, should control about 43PSI, but would not open even at 100PSI. So for some time there was full pressure from fuel pump going through injectors.


Anyone up for pulling a head?

Jerry D.
 
bummer! Sorry to hear of your trouble. Pulling the head should be pretty easy, getting everything back together and running is the trick.

Did you squirt a little oil down the cylinders to see if changed the CR?
 
How'd the mini-truck frame swap go Bret?
 
Still in progress, there were a couple surprises that had to be worked around. I will let Greg expand on those, but the new frame is on the old axles now and will likely need a few extra hands to get the cab and clip on the new frame.
 
Bret said:
Still in progress, there were a couple surprises that had to be worked around. I will let Greg expand on those, but the new frame is on the old axles now and will likely need a few extra hands to get the cab and clip on the new frame.
Click to expand...

What's this , the 40 turned into a mini ?

or

building a new rig ?
 
Naw. Greg had wanted a mini for a long time. The commute to work in the Tundra was putting a lot of miles on the truck plus the mileage wasn't great. He found a shortbed in GA that looked good for the price, but when the sun came up there were a few surprises... Fast forward to last weekend and the 40 is running with a ghetto fabulous exhaust, the mini is going back together on it's "new" frame and life is good.

The mini is supposed to be the non-project, very stock commuter truck. Time will tell though.
 
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