The Cell Block Chronicles (PMC's 40 Project) (1 Viewer)

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the cook slings hash, not spatter:
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and just like that, we got some new muscle

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Now that i was fully imbedded in the worm hole and pot committed to my plan:
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I started thinking i might want upgraded stopping power to go with my upgraded go power.

i passed a “what would rock midget do?” note down to @wngrog.

he quickly replied that for a half-ounce of smack* and some ginger nudes, he might know the approximate location of a front axle out of an 84 4 runner.

after handing over the goods, he said “knuckles out”; pointed to jones county on the map; and off i went:

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*=3 ambien
 
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Back to the cruiser:

I had the the mini truck/4R disc brake knuckles, but wanted a fresh land cruiser axle to port that stuff over for a few reasons:

* The axle under my truck was a basket case from the booty fab spring over job (Missing perches, stuff booger welded all over it, etc...)
* I wanted to do the work at my half-way house instead of under the truck at the cell block.
* Given that I had other projects going on in, under and around the truck, I wanted to leave it sitting on 4 tires, instead of jack stands, while I did this part of the project.

So, I went to see the giving tree of cruisers in the bone yard:

boneyard.jpg


We gave it at tractor shove out of the high grass for the amputation with fire:

boneyard torch.jpg


Figured I might as well harvest both axles for a rebuild while she was in the giving mood:

axles harvested.jpg


Oven cleaner treatment with a pressure wash on the front:

front axle over cleaner.jpg


And fought off a herd of mammoth spiders when removing the drum brake parts:


front axle drums.jpg
 
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“Ginger nudes”

that’s some seriously awesome s*** right there. Or so I’m told.

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I'm out of the hole for the time being, so I'll drop some tech:

When using a mini truck stuff for a disc brake conversion, there a couple of notes I gathered from the microfiche at the prison library:

I first had to separate the land cruiser inner axles from the birfs There may be more delicate ways to do it, but I just used a pvc pipe slightly longer than the inner axle. slammed the birf down on the top of the pipe, the inner retainer clip breaks and the axle falls out. Rinse and repeat on the mini truck set. Prison crocs are optional footwear when performing this procedure:

birfield breakdown.jpg



The retainer clip (now broken) serves to keep the inner axle from traveling out of the birf and too far back into the diff and past the outer seal. So, this has to be addressed when mating the LC axle back up to the mini truck outer.

Doing it the right way (replacing the c clips) requires some factory service tools (or at least 19 sets of hands playing in coordinated symphony), so I just used the mar-tack system. Lots of write ups on this, but essentially its just a tack weld on the inner splines (where it enters the carrier) to prevent it from traveling.


Mar Tack.jpg




There are a couple of different ways to do this. You can shove the axle into the housing with a rubber band and it will slide or roll to the right spot once it hits the diff. I just used a smattering of grease to show me where it stopped, cleaned it up and put the tack there.

Another issue with a mini truck conversion is that beefier mini truck birfields are too large for the knuckles on the LC housing. So, to get it to seat you have to grind away a bit of the lip on the inside of the knuckle (shown here) and then clean it really good so you don't have metal shavings floating around in there.


birf grinding.jpg


Again, this is all informal prison yard work. Other methods (and results) may vary to the good.
 
Next step required some help from the outside (of the galaxy) in the form of A.B.S.

ABS.jpg



A.B.S. is street code (summer avenue) for a knuckle centering tool.

knuckle centering tool.jpg




When transporting a knuckle housing over to an axle it has not lived on before, you can't just re-use the shims. Thus enters the A.B.S. Proper use of A.B.S. requires a Fields Medal in mathematics:

centering tool math.jpg


Unless you know right "people" to help you crack the code:


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I re-used the beefier, mini truck steering arms as well, but had to cut off the banana:

Mini truck banana.jpg


I got scored some FJ60 calipers, cleaned them all up including the pistons:

calipers.jpg


New dust boots:

calipers finished.jpg


acquired some rotors and locking hubs and buttoned it all back up:

front axle back togehter.jpg


I don't have any photos or video, but pressing out the old, broken hub bolts and pressing in new ones was a PITA.
 
Well done. I'm OCD as hell when it comes to this s***, but I did not use the elusive knuckle centering tool. I remember reading about it but didn't know anyone that had access to one. I won't disclose names, but several folks said "F that...just reuse the original shim stacks." I also use the unapproved methods of beating wheel studs out with a 5lb hammer and seating them using a nut and an impact wrench.

:beer:
 
Well done. I'm OCD as hell when it comes to this s***, but I did not use the elusive knuckle centering tool. I remember reading about it but didn't know anyone that had access to one. I won't disclose names, but several folks said "F that...just reuse the original shim stacks." I also use the unapproved methods of beating wheel studs out with a 5lb hammer and seating them using a nut and an impact wrench.

:beer:
Yeah. I did one side on one truck one time and decided it was the dumbest thing on the planet for a Cruiser with hubs that keep the front axle from spinning unless they are locked.
 
Well done. I'm OCD as hell when it comes to this s***, but I did not use the elusive knuckle centering tool. I remember reading about it but didn't know anyone that had access to one. I won't disclose names, but several folks said "F that...just reuse the original shim stacks." I also use the unapproved methods of beating wheel studs out with a 5lb hammer and seating them using a nut and an impact wrench.

:beer:
thanks dude. yeah, as little as my truck will drive, it was probably overkill as im unlikely to wear out an axle seal. but i hate knuckle jobs, so i gave it a try. i will say that, even with a good set of digital calipers, i found it hard to get consistent measurements with the tool. so, it ended up being an educated guess at best and probably no better (maybe worse) than just porting the old shims over.
 
Centering the knuckle is not as big of a concern as getting the correct amount of shim in there, since that is how you correctly preload the knuckle bearings. This is more important with making a Frankentruck out of two different era's of knuckle housing & knuckle ball than a truck that was measured at the factory.

The tool definitely is as much art as science. If you tighten it too much, you squeeze the ball and get a bad measurement. You half follow the directions/half wing it, and the only way to know if you got it right is if you have the right resistance with everything assembled for good. PIA.
 
there is a strong likelihood that my entire truck blows into million pieces when it rolls out of the cell. pretty sure my best effort is nothing more than a college try on about 15-20 potential failure points. but, ill try and fix whatever breaks and learn from it.
 
I've got some blacked out aluminum tread plate corners that would look gangsta af on that thing.

I decided to take a different (though perhaps equally gangsta) approach on the rear quarters.

I tackled this part of the project at the cell block at the same time I was rebuilding the axles.

In terms of the body, this part was in the worst shape as the truck came to me (which is saying a lot):

Rear quarters_before.jpg


Taking the rear quarters all the way off is a real PITA. Most people weld a brace across the tailgate span to keep the tub from opening up like a taco when all this metal is gutted.

I didn't want to get into all that; I would have ended up chasing cancer pretty deep and probably gotten in over my skis with a body work project. So..... I went with a cover-up approach of sorts (just didn't use diamond plate).. To explain:

I cut out all the bent metal, rust and bondo; but left the upper quarters in place and attached to the tub; then I over-laid some reproduction quarters on top of what was left (I had to grind off the right angles that come on the edges to it would fit flush as an overlay job):

new rear quarters.jpg


I then ran some tac welds along the upper edge and inside some holes I drilled along the rear fender well.

rear fender tac welds.jpg



Then smoothed out the welds and hit it the bare metal with a dusting of self etching primer. I used a few rivets around the marker lights and the gas cap for extra grab,....



rear fender ground and primed.jpg



I ended up running some seam sealer along the edges which blended out the edges and the tac welds a bit more (but we have a few more steps before we get to primer and paint).
 

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