Changes and modifications to my '85.

[Intrepidyota]

Guess instead of playing with my new welder I should have been double checking my hub studs. :loser:

Went out this weekend and my hub gently slid off and fell to the side of the trail on the second obstacle like it was just tired of being on the truck. :chair: Based on the rust on most of the broken studs, I think I probably broke this on my last run in April before hurting my back, but never noticed and it had just enough studs left to hold it on until I hit this obstacle. :headscratch: It was slick and grimy out, so I hammered it a little, bounced to the side, thought I was gonna roll off the side of the obstacle and paused, hub fell off, then kept going once I realized I wasn't gonna roll, completely unaware I had lost something. :laugh: :laugh:

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/intrepidyota/Wombus%20Pass%208-2-09/P8010138Medium.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/intrepidyota/Wombus%20Pass%208-2-09/th_P8010137.jpg (http://s41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/intrepidyota/Wombus%20Pass%208-2-09/?action=view&current=P8010137.flv)

[04 Rocko Taco]

wow, thats kind of funny Heath.... and sort of not funny. lol. funnier since it happened to you though. could've been worse, shouldn't be TOO bad to get fixed. I'd be glad to lend a hand but its sort of a long drive for a wrenchathon. :)

[Intrepidyota]

It sucked cuz I couldn't continue on the run, but if I had to break, its better than the other breaks that day. :laugh: One guy rolled his sami and lost his power steering, one guy broke an axle shaft in his sas'ed 3rd gen 4runner, and another guy in a sami cracked his t-case. Tough day.

I am not that upset about it cuz its my own fault, should have been more diligent about checking it, it just annoying because I have drive flanges sitting there and just haven't made time to put them on yet. :tapedshut: :chair: I am hoping I can dig out a spare hub body/flange (whatever you call the part the studs are sheared off in)and just replace it. Those seem to be tough to find up here. Would be a lot easier than drilling it out.

The video does make it look really retarded though. :shake:

Start driving, by the time you get here I should be off work and ready to repair it. :D

[Intrepidyota]

Got the wheel hub fixed saturday, drilled the new pins, installed the flanges, then carefully went over every bolt on the truck torquing stuff down, steering knuckles, driveshaft bolts, u bolts, everything. Got some good wheeling in Sunday...then in the afternoon tried a pretty hard trail, got into it, got the steering a bit bound up and was rocking it back and forth to get the wheel turned, finally did, though I was beginning to fear for my TRE's and knuckle studs, hit the gas in triple low to crawl out and BOOM, blew up the double cardan on my front d-shaft. :chair:

Don't really know how it happened, the steering was bound up, but there was nothing touching the shaft and the front tires weren't really bound up in a front to back sort of way...in the pics you can see it, the rear is in a good hole, slipped off my intended line and ended up there,the driver side front tire is hard into the rock, but that's it, guess that's enough. Maybe with chromo flanges, longs, and a v6 diff, the shaft is the next weak point? Sadly I gave my spare shaft to a friend not to long ago when he broke his, thus I did not have one and had to get winched out in reverse and limp out in 2wd, which ended with a broken main leaf on my front spring. :tapedshut: Hopefully I have better luck next time. :shake:

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/intrepidyota/8-16-09%20Field%20and%20Forest/P8160205Medium.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/intrepidyota/8-16-09%20Field%20and%20Forest/P8160204Medium.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/intrepidyota/8-16-09%20Field%20and%20Forest/P8160201Medium.jpg

[04 Rocko Taco]

"If it isn't one thing, it's another"

Good grief! I guess you can say you wheel it plenty hard... :)

[Crinale]

well, most of the hardcore wheelers i know say if you dont break something, your not wheeling hard enough... haha... oh well

ur truck is lookin pretty sick intrepid

[Intrepidyota]

Chopped the center lugs out of the tires:

http://img75.imageshack.us/img75/9446/grooved2.jpg

http://img75.imageshack.us/img75/1707/grooved1.jpg

Hoping to sipe them all too but didn't have time.

Finally got around to getting my first flop on the cage since I built it, the thing is light on top and generally doesn't like to go over. :laugh: Lousy angle on the camera, but this was a huge rock face that didn't have enough traction to crawl up so you had to hammer down, counter steered for all I was worth but went over, twas gentle anyway:

Heath1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaGC-3-hP2w#)

This is an entertaining one, I took a bunch of runs at this and managed to get it on the last run when I really put the hammer down :D Here is the first few failed attempts:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OX2qhqtm_GA&feature=player_profilepage#

Then the one I make it:
031 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbXEM6--9Bw#)


In other news, managed to score a great deal on almost everything I need to run hydro assist. :hillbill: :clap:

Got a tc style saginaw pump with custom lines and billet pulley, summit power steering cooler, tg ram with rod ends and lines, tapped steering box, custom mount for the pump, and a belt for it. Only things I need are a couple brackets to weld onto the axle and to modify my stock rese to hold more fluid.

Ordered up some ARP's monday morning too so I don't risk my stock studs anymore. Torquing them EVERY run has kept em in one piece thus far, but im not sure if that luck will hold once I go ram assist.

Now I just gotta find time to put it all in! I am thinking about holding off while I shave and rotate a spare front housing I have. I wasn't going to bother, but a buddy pointed out that if I could gain 3/4" under the diff, that would be like going from my 38's up to 39.5" tires...so im thinking about it again. :screwy:

[Intrepidyota]

Wow, its been almost a year since I posted here last! I figured it was time to put an end to this thread. :( I have been slowly building this truck for 6 years now! I have recently had two back surgeries and I have decided that I need to take it easier on myself. So no more crawling in and out of my cage, no more loading and unloading trailers, and certainly no more railing rock faces in 4th gear. :laugh:

When I bought it it had a 1.5" AAL, 1" body lift, 31" AT's, a lockright in the rear, and 12 lug nuts between all 4 tires :D:

http://inlinethumb40.webshots.com/17959/1477301646070952168S600x600Q85.jpg

Initial plan was to run 35's max and wheel it on the cheap. Plans changed shortly after I picked it up and I decided it needed high steer, 36's, a bob, and an exo. Plans changed more as I wheeled it and flopped it a couple times. Now its on beadlocked 38's, dual locked, 173:1 crawl ratio, longs, arp's, hydro assist, tubed out, etc.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/intrepidyota/8-16-09%20Field%20and%20Forest/P8150171Medium.jpg

------------------------------------

So I tried hard for most of a year to convince myself to quit wheeling, but I just can't do it. I decided that what I COULD do was just go back to a streetable rig that I can wheel on easier trails. I would just be going out for the fun of being in the woods rather than going out in search of the hardest challenge. This led me to three issues.

1. I would miss the security of the trailer. It's nice knowing you can ALWAYS get home easily.

2. If I run a more stock rig on 33's or something I would end up beating myself up on "easier" trails that are still hard for a truck on 33's.

3. If I ran a more stock rig I would have to worry about breakage because I am sure its gonna take some time to get used to having a rig thats not beatable. :laugh:

This led me to this conclusion: Since I have all these more "hardcore" parts hanging around from this rig, I should build a rig that's streetable so I can hop in and out easily, no climbing, no trailering, etc, so it meets the "easier" requirements for my back. Also, it should be fully built, if its bulletproof I don't have to worry about breakage or getting home, plus it can crawl over most moderate trails thus being more gentle on my back.

So I started searching around for stock to moderately built rigs for short money. A guy I know had built a truck 4 years ago and never seemed to use it much. I remembered seeing it for sale over a year ago, so I got in touch with him to see what ever happened with his truck. Turns out he beat it up, neglected it, ripped the bed off and scrapped it planning to truggy out the rear, and then left it sitting in his barn while he moved on to other projects. I was able to pick it up for a great price. Even though it needs...well...pretty much every body panel, the running gear was good and I figured replacing fenders and finding a bed was easy. It is an '89 pickup, 22re w/ 136k miles, new centerforce clutch, full all pro sas/rear lift, inchworm 5.29's and full detroits, high pinion front, v6 rear, budbuilt traction bar, TG hydro ram, TG 4.7's, tom woods front shaft, retubed rear shaft done locally, bilstein 7100 reservoir shocks front, 5125 rear, Trailready beadlocks, 36" iroks.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/intrepidyota/The%20Carter/P9010157Medium.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/intrepidyota/The%20Carter/P9010159Medium.jpg

Initial plans are to replace the fenders, hood, and grill, put a bed on, cut out the rusty rockers and replace them with 2x4 steel, then pull a couple leaf springs from each pack because its too tall and too stiff. Further plans to come later. Await the arrival of a build thread later when I actually start working on it. :D

[YotaFun]

So curious, maybe I missed the memo or thread or wording in your post but what did you do with this one? Sell it? Keeping it and using parts off of it for your new truck?

Looks like fun and cant wait to see it, maybe now I can wheel with you when you come down for takeover lol!

[Intrepidyota]

Sorry I guess I didn't mention that in there. :laugh: I am parting it out. Some parts I will be keeping like seats, harnesses, hydro assist, and fuel cell. Other parts I will be selling like the beadlocks, axles, suspension, engine/trans, cases, "chassis". Unless someone comes along before I strip it and wants to buy it whole, you looking for a trail rig? :D

I am hoping to get to takeover next year, I have missed two cuz of this back BS. I will def be taking it easier while there. :)

[04 Rocko Taco]

Shotgun on cases.

[04 Rocko Taco]

and first right of refusal on beadlocks. lol

[YotaFun]

I wish I could buy it hole from you but right now I am in the process of just getting mine to be 4WD again.

I hear you on the wheeling part, I missed wheeling mine the last two as well (first school, second broken truck...)

I am itching to get out on the trails.
Good luck with the new build, too bad your irocks aren't on 16" rims...
I might try to find a way to steal those lol!

[Intrepidyota]

and first right of refusal on beadlocks. lol


Someone else beat you to that. Those were picked up last sunday. I will shoot you a PM about the cases though. :D



I wish I could buy it hole from you but right now I am in the process of just getting mine to be 4WD again.

I hear you on the wheeling part, I missed wheeling mine the last two as well (first school, second broken truck...)

I am itching to get out on the trails.
Good luck with the new build, too bad your irocks aren't on 16" rims...
I might try to find a way to steal those lol!


Just dig through the list of "15's that fit". I could probably even find a good excuse to deliver em and watch rcrocs while there. :D