The Low and Slow Tennessee Build Thread

[dbbowen]

Got some parts in today... Truss/dif armor, 2 diff breather extension kits (at this point, any easy way out is cool with me), oem transfer case mount for the dual case crossmember, speedo extension (only trail gear part of my build), knuckle preload scale, 54mm socket, and this neat little grinder bit. Its for grinding the knuckle balls if you need to. Still waiting on my budbuilt crossmember... Youd think them being in tennessee would make shipping pretty quick.

Spoke with a few of the folks at marlin. They are able to order and drop ship the allpro sas kit and rear kit for me so I only have to pay one place. They are not charging me shipping and throwing in an elocker guard for the free! So, Ill order my hp elocker diff in 5.29 (they already built it... just waiting on me to order), Sliders, allpro front and rear, and 54mm nuts from them here soon. After that, I should have all of the parts I need! Except for the marlin ultimate axle rebuild kit that I asked for christmas.

Ive gotten a RIDICULOUS amount of cleaning done. I didnt really take any pictures because my entire upper body was covered in grease and whatnot. All of the hub and knuckle parts and bolts are now grease/mystery crud free.

This is the only pic I got.

So.... heres a kicker... If anyone has a sandblast machine or knows anyone with a sand blast machine.... Please let me know. Ill give you some oem inner axle shafts for free to use em. Just on the outside of my steering knuckles and hub dial faces. I dont think ill be able to paint them very effectively without the sandblast. Everything has been cleaned so your media wont get contaminated!

 

[Fireman]

Try Castrol Super Clean mixed 50/50 and wear gloves. It'll take your skin off but it cleans wonderfully. Best process is to spray the part down with it and let it soak respray, scrub with wire brush or bristle brush, rinse in HOT water, let dry, respray and let sit in direct sunlight if possible, respray scrub and you will be amazed at how clean it can get stuff.

 

[dbbowen]

I'll give it a shot. I'm currently just using industrial strength degreaser. I got a $17 sandblaster from harbor freight and it kind of worked on the dials and hubs. Lost 100% of the sand I bought haha. Now I see why folks buy those boxes with the gloves built into them. Although I am currently covered head to toe in sand, they are ready to be painted

 

[wngrog]

How bout not worrying about if the paint is perfect and just
Bolt that s*** up.

 

[Fireman]

No way. Let the OCD flow.

 

[dbbowen]

Haha the OCD is flowing trust me. I wanted the axle to be as clean as the rest of my 4Runner. Even if it gets all dirty wheelin. Knuckles and hub dials are the last things getting painted I think. Once marlin announces their Black Friday sale, I'm planning on ordering the rest of my parts

 

[dbbowen]

Alrighty yall, sorry I havent posted in a while.... It has mainly been a lot and a lot of cleaning and painting and no one really cares about that. Ive gotten in some more parts:

Marlin full axle rebuild kit
Allpro Sliders
Third gaskets and new brake hard lines
Bumpstop extensions etc.
Crossmember
Misc shifter boots
My HP Elocker third will be here Monday as well as some hardware and stuff.
Still waiting on my Dual case to be built, no worries I told them it wasnt the biggest rush because I have to get this axle back together first.
SAS and Rear were ordered through Marlin from Allpro and whenever Allpro decides to ship it out I can get the brakes and High steer onto the axle.

Ive got the primer and 2 coats of black enamel on the dual case crossmember/skid, going to go with one more coat on there and call it good.

If you havent been able to tell, I dont have very much space, so Im painting my sliders in my neighbors garage down the street. They have a coat of primer and the first coat of black enamel on them now. The only pic I have of them is bare metal.

My home brew backing plate eliminator kit. I accidentally cut one of the hard brake lines with the grinder so I replaced both of them.

And this morning before work I started getting the hubs back together. Marlins kit didnt come with the O rings for the hub dials so I ordered them from lowrange for the cheap. Once they get here Ill get the hubs fully back together. Idk if you can tell, but those are RCV Chromo hub gears in there..

Once the O rings get here, Ill get these back together first, then work on knocking the new Bearing races into the steering knuckles and Spindle. That way when it comes time to put things back together it goes smooth.

I still need to weld on the Diff Cover, Axle Truss, and cut the housing for the third member before I can really get it back together so Im kind of at a standstill.

Tuesday at the meeting Rob is going to help me gear my rear third and that will be ready.

I am pretty exited to get a CottonLand Sticker for my new snap on tool box. Its kinda sad, The box is basically empty with the few tools I have in it haha.

 

[dbbowen]

@Fireman the marlin kit came with like 20 shims. Upper and lower. And it's kinda hard to tell the difference between the top shims. This is the part that I like know nothing of. Is it kind of a trial and error thing?

 

[Fireman]

Yep. Just use a micrometer til you get a pack put together the same thickness as before.

 

[dbbowen]

@Fireman I've got the oem ones, and I marked the original direction of them. I didn't know if I could use the original ones with the larger tires. I read that you need a little more lbs resistance on the pull scale for larger tires

 

[dbbowen]

I've got to figure how to get that broken hub bolt out of the hub body. And also a replacement bolt. It's stuck in there pretty good

 

[Bossman]

Lay a flat washer over the broken bolt and tac weld it to the bolt. Then set a nut slightly larger than the broken bolt on the washer and weld it to the busted bolt/washer through the center. Let it cool for a minute or two then see if it will twist out. Sometimes it works, sometimes the nut just twists off. That's okay, just repeat the process.

The other option is to center punch the broken bolt. Drill through the center and use an easy-out. The flat sided ones work better than the spiral ones for me.

 

[dbbowen]

Ah I gotcha. I don't have access to a welder, waiting to get my sliders and axle armor welded on is killing me. I wish there was a place to take it. I'm going to try the drill method you said tomorrow morning and report back. The guy helping me with my build was going to help me with my welding but I have to wait. I am taking a hobbyist class dec 17 to learn the basics and I might rent one and get some practice in. I'll be stacking dimes in no time hah

 

[FJ60Cam]

Ah I gotcha. I don't have access to a welder, waiting to get my sliders and axle armor welded on is killing me. I wish there was a place to take it. I'm going to try the drill method you said tomorrow morning and report back. The guy helping me with my build was going to help me with my welding but I have to wait. I am taking a hobbyist class dec 17 to learn the basics and I might rent one and get some practice in. I'll be stacking dimes in no time hah

Buy a welder, some beer, and some scrap metal. Bring it over. We'll teach you how to lay down a trail of the stickiest of the sticky booger welds.

 

[dbbowen]

I need to. Not knowing how to weld has been the biggest barrier to entry in the whole 4x4 world. I'd love to get the sliders welded on soon. It came with gussets and stuff too. They're just sitting there lol.

 

[dbbowen]

Little update from today, I got the broken bolt out of the hub body using the drill method... thanks @Bossman

Got a second coat of paint on the sliders. One of them kinda looks bad because its so cold outside and im painting. After it completely dries up I think Ill wet sand it and then put the third coat on.

I also assembled the steering knuckles and spindles with all new gaskets and what not. I think the home brew backing plate eliminators are going to work nicely. I read you cant fit the RCV axles through the knuckle completely so Im assembling them this way and then sliding them over the ball as a complete unit once I get the axles in, which is waiting on the thirdmember modification. If anyone knows the torque specs on the bolts shown here that would help out A LOT.

Knocked in my new bearing races using the old ones that I grinded down little bit. Them suckers got HOT.

Gotta keep my eye on the prize!!

 

[jynx]

Coming together nicely. Not that it matters, but another trick I have found is that if you just take a cut-off wheel and make a single cut thru the old race then it works well for driving in the new ones and the cut relieves the stress so it pops back out easily. I mark mine and keep them for future work.

 

[dbbowen]

@jynx that would have saved me a lot of time. I grinder them down in a pretty unsafe manner using an angle grinder lol. They're good forever now though.

I have realized that I am going to need to disassemble these things probably once I get the inner axle in to pack them full of grease :/

A few questions I have:

1.) should I put a light coat of rtv on the paper gaskets I'm using?

2.) rcv says to use moly grease in the barfield joint, should I stuff the knuckle with this too?

 

[jynx]

If the paper gasket is for the diff, I'd be temped to toss it. I don't think I've used one in years. Orange/Red Toyota FIPG on the housing and then drop in the third.

And yes, moly in the birf cup and then pack the knuckle with only as well. Wear gloves and old clothes when messing with that stuff, it will get on everything and doesn't like to come off of anything easily.

 

[dbbowen]

@jynx thanks man, the paper gaskets I was talking about were for the steering knuckle and spindle, but good to know about the diffs. I was planning on using them on the diffs.

The rcv axles came with a tube of moly grease so I might as well use it. The birfield is supposedly pre packed with it so I'll use the rest in the birf cup. Figured I can pack it almost full and leave a little room in there for it to move around