TWT -- The Wrenching Thread

[Comet]

Gravely 16G front tire gave me seven stitches and a cool scar on my left middle finger. I would show you but I fear the black hand of MUD. Is that bad boy attending this weekend? There’s a road down to the better swimming hole that is just perfect for it. 1/4 mile with starting lights at the beginning! Ha!

 

[40LandCruising]

Anyone know what this is? Pulled my e locker front axle for the 80 apart and found it loose in there. Diff itself seems to be in good shape.

 

[NCtoyota]

Anyone know what this is? Pulled my e locker front axle for the 80 apart and found it loose in there. Diff itself seems to be in good shape.

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It appears to be the axle shaft guide so you don't tear the seal up when installing.

 

[Malleus]

Looking for a 2006 RX330 service manual and EWD (see separate post)

 

[40LandCruising]

It appears to be the axle shaft guide so you don't tear the seal up when installing.

So is it supposed to be at the end of the tube against the knuckle?

 

[NCtoyota]

So is it supposed to be at the end of the tube against the knuckle?

I don't think it sits all the way against the knuckle, but close. Sort of pressed/wedged in.

 

[roadstr6]

I don't think it sits all the way against the knuckle, but close. Sort of pressed/wedged in.

Helpful to have, but not necessary. Just throw it away and move on. Happens alot with knuckle rebuilds. Just be extra careful not to mess up the seal when re-inserting the axle.

 

[40LandCruising]

Should be proper beef, 1/4 wall 2x4 box tubing cut to a truss. Have minitruck knuckle gussets that appear to fit well with a little grinding. And some generic 8" diff armor that'll work perfect.

Gonna be a beefy little axle when I'm done.

Might try and draw some radius arm bracket plates in CAD and get them cut on the plasma at work.

 

[Fort Knox]

Before I get to talking about this little project, keep in mind that, as most of you know, I am an Accountant by trade. My ability/desire to "make things pretty" aren't my strongest attributes. A discerning look at my truck should make that apparent.

Pretty much every time I go wheelin' on harder trails, I come home with fewer tail lights than I start the day with. Clearly, I don't mind dragging the side of the 4Runner along trees, rocks, or dirt banks. The tail lights seem to always get either ripped out or crushed. So I looked for something a little more low profile than the stock tail lights. I looked around for a while and found these LED's that would fit in the space where the stock tail lights go, but I needed some way to mount them. I used a piece of sheet metal from Lowes and cut out pieces that would cover the original tail light holes and could just be attached with sheet metal screws. I cut the pig tail wiring off of a couple of busted tail lights and wired the LED's to them so I could plug and unplug them from the stock wiring harness from the truck. I'm mostly happy with the end result. The turn signals do "hyper flash" a little, due to the LED's having a much lower resistance than the stock bulbs. I could wire in a resistor to slow them down, but that's low priority at this point. Oddly enough, when I hit the hazard lights, they flash at a normal pace.

The only thing I'm not happy with is that the bracket that holds the LED's is wider than I'd like and flatter than the patch panels I made, so they do create a big gap that will probably make them easy to rip off if I do happen to catch them on something, but they are at least smaller (and cheaper! $25/pair vs. $45 per side) than the stock tail lights. I'll probably just ditch the black mounting bracket altogether and flush mount the LED's into the patch panel itself, so this likely isn't the final version, but it'll do for now.

 

[Pick]

That’s awesome!! Have a link for the lights?

 

[Fort Knox]

That’s awesome!! Have a link for the lights?

Thanks! These are the lights I used: Linky Dink

 

[angerhater]

nice fitment, but why not mount them away from the corners so they last longer? the tailgate doesn't look too dented.

 

[Fort Knox]

nice fitment, but why not mount them away from the corners so they last longer? the tailgate doesn't look too dented.

I have a 37" spare mounted on a swing-out that blocks a good bit of the tailgate. It almost blocks the tail light as it is now. The tailgate is actually one of the only body panels, other than the hood, that are original and undented.

 

[lumbee1]

Before I get to talking about this little project, keep in mind that, as most of you know, I am an Accountant by trade. My ability/desire to "make things pretty" aren't my strongest attributes. A discerning look at my truck should make that apparent.

Pretty much every time I go wheelin' on harder trails, I come home with fewer tail lights than I start the day with. Clearly, I don't mind dragging the side of the 4Runner along trees, rocks, or dirt banks. The tail lights seem to always get either ripped out or crushed. So I looked for something a little more low profile than the stock tail lights. I looked around for a while and found these LED's that would fit in the space where the stock tail lights go, but I needed some way to mount them. I used a piece of sheet metal from Lowes and cut out pieces that would cover the original tail light holes and could just be attached with sheet metal screws. I cut the pig tail wiring off of a couple of busted tail lights and wired the LED's to them so I could plug and unplug them from the stock wiring harness from the truck. I'm mostly happy with the end result. The turn signals do "hyper flash" a little, due to the LED's having a much lower resistance than the stock bulbs. I could wire in a resistor to slow them down, but that's low priority at this point. Oddly enough, when I hit the hazard lights, they flash at a normal pace.

The only thing I'm not happy with is that the bracket that holds the LED's is wider than I'd like and flatter than the patch panels I made, so they do create a big gap that will probably make them easy to rip off if I do happen to catch them on something, but they are at least smaller (and cheaper! $25/pair vs. $45 per side) than the stock tail lights. I'll probably just ditch the black mounting bracket altogether and flush mount the LED's into the patch panel itself, so this likely isn't the final version, but it'll do for now.


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It's like modern art.

 

[Fort Knox]

Continuing to (finally) update the lighting on Ft Knox. The old reverse light that I previously mounted in the spare tire carrier did its job over the years, but I bought a 4-pack of LED pods pretty cheap on Amazon, with the plans to put a couple of them up front, so I had a couple extra to put elsewhere on the truck. I decided to upgrade the reverse light. A super easy install, since I had already wired it for the old 35w utility light using a relay. I don't have a pic of the old light lit up, but trust me......it's a LOT brighter.


Out with the old, in with the new!

 

[NCFJ]

The old wood stove would not keep both the old shop and new addition warm enough without propane heater back up. It would also not last through the night and the shop was bone cold every morning. This new furnace is a firewood burning whole house furnace that is supposed to burn through the night, we'll see. If it handles the whole shop and keeps some heat in the shop till morning I'll be happy.

 

[40LandCruising]

Today's project has been getting my skid plates ready to weld on the 80 - I did some CAD(Cardboard Aided Design) followed by some actual AutoCAD, and had them cut on the plasma table at work. Plan was to use 3/8", but they didn't have enough 3/8" drop, so I got 1/4". If they bend I'll go back to the drawing board.

Trans skid plate mount to 2 weld nuts in the trans cross member, and 2 on the frame.

The tcase skid I couldn't use the pre existing weld nuts because of where my sliders are mounted. So I'm just welding angle to the outside of the frame to bolt the skid to.

 

[Malleus]

Go back with same, or even 1/2 as much thinner material, cut back 1" or 1.5" from the edge and stitch weld it on. Just as good as thicker plate and cheaper.

 

[40LandCruising]

Added another brace out of 1.5x3/16 angle on the front edge.

Welded the insides of the radius arm brackets, knuckle gussets, and diff armor.

Ignore the censored image and extra holes where I forgot how to read a tape measure

Oh and the 1/2" plate spacers because it was hitting the tcase

 

[40LandCruising]

I've owned an FJ80 e locker front axle now since 2019, finally after 6yr, and selling and buying back my 80, it's getting installed. That's what all the armor got welded on to.

The issue being is I don't have an elocker pigtail. And having already built a rear e locker harness for a fraction of the cost of buying one, I refuse to buy a front.

That being said for the rear I had a pigtail with like 6" of wiring to plug into the actuator. For the front I've had to source plugs.

I managed to find the correct 6 pin connector, ordered from none other than Aliexpress, and delivered straight from China. This will work on either end of an 80, HP8"/LP9.5" e lockers.

The 2 pin plug for the position switch however I have to continue searching for, got it wrong when I ordered from aliexpress, oh well, it was 99¢.

The 6-pin connectors are an MT090 style connector, 6187-6561/6180-6771.