I'm a fan of OEM but not local prices from mr. T. I used a gates belt, and will order oem belts to replace the fan/alternator belts. I need a few other odds and ends from toyota anyway.
What Did You Do with Your 80 This Weekend?
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I'm a fan of OEM but not local prices from mr. T. I used a gates belt, and will order oem belts to replace the fan/alternator belts. I need a few other odds and ends from toyota anyway.
25" lift??? What size tires are you running?
Took my brother wheeling yesterday at Tahuya State Forest in his completely stock 2004 Rubicon.
[URL="http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/ff490/mikedebear/Kevin%20and%20Mike%20Tahuya%20Trip%203-23-13/brothersrigs_zpsc93d0db1.jpg"]
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He picked up the truck last week and has been itching to get it out wheeling. We busted it’s cherry as well as a few other parts lol.
[URL="http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/ff490/mikedebear/Kevin%20and%20Mike%20Tahuya%20Trip%203-23-13/IMG_20130323_170447_zps8810010b.jpg"]
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There was a 6 inch tall stump that found his cross member to be especially tasty and stopped him cold from 10 mph.
The result was a fashionable 30 degree bend in his cross member and the tranny pushed up a couple of inches. He didn’t discover this until he had made it home, thinking the vibration was an engine misfire from the water crossings that day (up to his headlights several times). A new cross member and skid plate are being ordered as I write this
[URL="http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/ff490/mikedebear/Kevin%20and%20Mike%20Tahuya%20Trip%203-23-13/8f236fce-66be-4a0f-a7ef-a440ea068d91_zps99c885d8.jpg"]
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We played around on the rock pile for a while and got some poser shots to compare articulation until the drunks disgusted us into leaving.
[URL="http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/ff490/mikedebear/Kevin%20and%20Mike%20Tahuya%20Trip%203-23-13/rockpilecrawl1_zps4f5bac0a.jpg"]
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They were doing their best to destroy a perfectly good Grand Cherokee on the rock pile, while their friends in an early 90’s Ford crew cab long bed were attempting to rock crawl while a chick rode in the back on an unsecured lazy boy recliner.
We left after they ripped off the Cherokee’s bumper and were discussing taking a dump on the rock pile. Sobriety was not a real priority for these people. We found them later in the day with a hydro-locked Cherokee. We declined to clear it for them, as I wasn't comfortable putting a kid who was staggering drunk back on the road. The last we saw of them, the ford was ramming the back of the Cherokee through 3 feet of water in an attempt to make it back to the trail head. 
Some sore necks in that crew the next day I'm guessing.
The Rubicon did quite well for being stock and went anywhere that he pointed it (albeit a bit more expensively by the end of the day) and we were both pretty impressed by it. We compared articulation between the two, as my truck only has a mild lift.
[URL="http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/ff490/mikedebear/Kevin%20and%20Mike%20Tahuya%20Trip%203-23-13/KevinsRubiconFlexing1_zps28c7ceef.jpg"]
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[URL="http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/ff490/mikedebear/Kevin%20and%20Mike%20Tahuya%20Trip%203-23-13/80flexing_zpse9cf035c.jpg"]
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We also did a video comparison of the two trucks:
http://youtu.be/eDCE0NJBvbc
Fun day, I’m glad he finally went out and got himself a wheeler so we can go have fun. He’s a total Land Cruiser guy who talked me into buying an 80, but his daughter had to have a convertible to ride around in so he bought a Jeep. He already went the FJ40 route previously and got burned out on perpetually working on a basket case, so he got something fairly reliable and turn-key with the Rubicon.
At the end of the day he told me that he should have bought an 80.
[URL="http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/ff490/mikedebear/Kevin%20and%20Mike%20Tahuya%20Trip%203-23-13/brothersrigs_zpsc93d0db1.jpg"]
[/URL]He picked up the truck last week and has been itching to get it out wheeling. We busted it’s cherry as well as a few other parts lol.
[URL="http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/ff490/mikedebear/Kevin%20and%20Mike%20Tahuya%20Trip%203-23-13/IMG_20130323_170447_zps8810010b.jpg"]
[/URL]There was a 6 inch tall stump that found his cross member to be especially tasty and stopped him cold from 10 mph.
The result was a fashionable 30 degree bend in his cross member and the tranny pushed up a couple of inches. He didn’t discover this until he had made it home, thinking the vibration was an engine misfire from the water crossings that day (up to his headlights several times). A new cross member and skid plate are being ordered as I write this[URL="http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/ff490/mikedebear/Kevin%20and%20Mike%20Tahuya%20Trip%203-23-13/8f236fce-66be-4a0f-a7ef-a440ea068d91_zps99c885d8.jpg"]
[/URL]We played around on the rock pile for a while and got some poser shots to compare articulation until the drunks disgusted us into leaving.
[URL="http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/ff490/mikedebear/Kevin%20and%20Mike%20Tahuya%20Trip%203-23-13/rockpilecrawl1_zps4f5bac0a.jpg"]
[/URL]They were doing their best to destroy a perfectly good Grand Cherokee on the rock pile, while their friends in an early 90’s Ford crew cab long bed were attempting to rock crawl while a chick rode in the back on an unsecured lazy boy recliner.
We left after they ripped off the Cherokee’s bumper and were discussing taking a dump on the rock pile. Sobriety was not a real priority for these people. We found them later in the day with a hydro-locked Cherokee. We declined to clear it for them, as I wasn't comfortable putting a kid who was staggering drunk back on the road. The last we saw of them, the ford was ramming the back of the Cherokee through 3 feet of water in an attempt to make it back to the trail head. Some sore necks in that crew the next day I'm guessing.The Rubicon did quite well for being stock and went anywhere that he pointed it (albeit a bit more expensively by the end of the day) and we were both pretty impressed by it. We compared articulation between the two, as my truck only has a mild lift.
[URL="http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/ff490/mikedebear/Kevin%20and%20Mike%20Tahuya%20Trip%203-23-13/KevinsRubiconFlexing1_zps28c7ceef.jpg"]
[/URL][URL="http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/ff490/mikedebear/Kevin%20and%20Mike%20Tahuya%20Trip%203-23-13/80flexing_zpse9cf035c.jpg"]
[/URL]We also did a video comparison of the two trucks:
http://youtu.be/eDCE0NJBvbc
Fun day, I’m glad he finally went out and got himself a wheeler so we can go have fun. He’s a total Land Cruiser guy who talked me into buying an 80, but his daughter had to have a convertible to ride around in so he bought a Jeep. He already went the FJ40 route previously and got burned out on perpetually working on a basket case, so he got something fairly reliable and turn-key with the Rubicon.
At the end of the day he told me that he should have bought an 80.
So this was last weekend but we took the wife's new to us FZJ80 out for the first time. When she was driving and got stuck it only took a little yank to get out. When I got it stuck we had to dig and winch out. It took about an hour and 45 min to get out.
HA! Fat fingers. 25" could get a little tipsy....
I think 25" lift is a little excessive but each to their own
You'll love the mt sliders.
I had the MT sliders on my 94 for a few years. Your right, great quality stuff and they just work.
Found the pictures of the drunks we watched on the rock pile at Tahuya.
These don't scream DUI at all...
These don't scream DUI at all...
Went camping with my son's scout troop.
nice, our 80 doubles as a Scout hauler as well in fact the other Dads feel better when I take it in case they slip off and find themselves in a bind 
Bad U-Joint
So for a week or so I thought I was running on 5 cylinders since that is what it felt like under load (nothing at idle or 1-2 gear) and thought that maybe I had some bad wires or plugs or something. That was a wild guess I know but at first it felt intermittent so thats what I was leaning toward. Instead of trying unplugging 1 wire at a time and seeing what it acted like around the block I just went for it and changed the plugs and wires. The wires I got were duralast (yes, feel free to yell at me) and the plastic snaps at the distributor were impossible to install due to how poorly they fit...plus the angles were all the same. I ended up removing the plastic snaps from the old spark plug wires (the slipped off with some prying) to help but the duralast wires still were fitting tightly and made it a bitch to install. So after 3 hours of changing the plugs and wires (almost 2 hours of messing with the wires) I drove it around the block and...still driving the same...damn!
This past Friday the crappy feeling in the pedal and shudder got worse so I crawled under the truck and found a TON of slop in the U-Joint between the front shaft and center diff. After I figured out what I needed to do to change it I found some tools that would work to change the u-joint...I was a u-joint virgin up until Saturday. After trying a few things I finally made a setup that worked and removed the u-joint. When I did I found a COMPLETELY dry spider and very brinelled trunions...it was barely holding together! :whoops:
Re-installed a new u-joint, made sure to lube everything else I could see (have lubed other stuff on it from time to time but never the u-joints), and did an oil change and now she is running very well. Man this thing takes a lot of oil!
Anyway, here are my ghetto rigged fixtures for doing a u-joint:
So for a week or so I thought I was running on 5 cylinders since that is what it felt like under load (nothing at idle or 1-2 gear) and thought that maybe I had some bad wires or plugs or something. That was a wild guess I know but at first it felt intermittent so thats what I was leaning toward. Instead of trying unplugging 1 wire at a time and seeing what it acted like around the block I just went for it and changed the plugs and wires. The wires I got were duralast (yes, feel free to yell at me) and the plastic snaps at the distributor were impossible to install due to how poorly they fit...plus the angles were all the same. I ended up removing the plastic snaps from the old spark plug wires (the slipped off with some prying) to help but the duralast wires still were fitting tightly and made it a bitch to install. So after 3 hours of changing the plugs and wires (almost 2 hours of messing with the wires) I drove it around the block and...still driving the same...damn!
This past Friday the crappy feeling in the pedal and shudder got worse so I crawled under the truck and found a TON of slop in the U-Joint between the front shaft and center diff. After I figured out what I needed to do to change it I found some tools that would work to change the u-joint...I was a u-joint virgin up until Saturday. After trying a few things I finally made a setup that worked and removed the u-joint. When I did I found a COMPLETELY dry spider and very brinelled trunions...it was barely holding together! :whoops:
Re-installed a new u-joint, made sure to lube everything else I could see (have lubed other stuff on it from time to time but never the u-joints), and did an oil change and now she is running very well. Man this thing takes a lot of oil!
Anyway, here are my ghetto rigged fixtures for doing a u-joint:
Just did my front u-joints... Seemed like I rolled 294k and immediately got a horrible vibration under load at 25 mph.
Pretty sure I'll opt to have the local driveline press change mine next time. At $10 a pop, it's well worth it. Mine sucked.
Pretty sure I'll opt to have the local driveline press change mine next time. At $10 a pop, it's well worth it. Mine sucked.
Went through Box Canyon down by Florence Junction, tested the limits of my truck, damaged a couple of running boards (no rocker damage) and beat myself thoroughly sore in the drivers seat logging 30 miles over every boulder I could find. 
Took my brother wheeling yesterday at Tahuya State Forest in his completely stock 2004 Rubicon.
[URL="http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/ff490/mikedebear/Kevin%20and%20Mike%20Tahuya%20Trip%203-23-13/brothersrigs_zpsc93d0db1.jpg"]
Hey, there you are! I was the dude that thought about following you over the rocks in Tahuya. I heard you scraping sliders and thought twice. I decided to go get myself stuck, instead.
This is what I did this weekend:
- Joined
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lol @ Rednecks in that big Ford truck and the recliner in the back! hahahahaha
It was classic. Best part was when they attempted to push the dead cherokee out. They would slam into to back of the cherokee, and the girl riding in the recliner would slide all the way to the front of the bed.
Somebody pour some bleach in the gene pool...
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Left my sunroof open through a rain storm.
Ripped out my interior and gave the truck a good cleaning. Just like new!
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