Not how I planned to end my wheeling trip...

[YotaFun]

rear 3rds are cheap, buy a spare 4.10 and weld it!! instant locker, and not all together unpleasant on the street. Although on ice it may be more of a handful.

Chris, while 3rds are cheap for open 4.10s that is money that is more well spent for gears.
I still have to rely on this truck to DD till I get a tow rig and trailer.
That and if someone in the family has to to borrow it, I'd rather it be user friendly then have a truck on its side -_-

[YotaFun]

avy now that you'll be back on the road will we expect to see a warped rear axle this time instead of the links or how about the mounts? (sarcasm.. since you went bonkers on your stock links on the last run you did)

Nah I got that strengthened. Lol
I have broken a front diff and front suspension parts, I just took put the rear diff and suspension parts, trend is following up the drivetrain -_-

Honestly though I see the next break being either a transfer case or I'll end up flopping it on it's side.

[YotaFun]

So a little update is needed after the last pics:
First the day after I posted the other pics I started to go to town on getting her back together, not to many pics but something is better then nothing:



You have no idea how hard it was to do this job with only the factory bottle jack, with changing jobs and the holidays there was really no money to get a proper floor jack -_-

In that picture I was still waiting on shocks to get in the mail as well as get axle seals cause the ones I had sucked and would not go in right, pretty much note for the future its Toyota seals or its Toyota seals, everything else has a coating of some sort on the outer edge that prevent it from going it right as such:


But once that was sorted out:


No seal in that pic I know but they are installed because:


She is up and running finally!
She needed a few things though before I could take her down the road safety:
Brakes bled
All bolts tighten (actually have to go back and back them off then torque them since I just went good and tight and that was my mistake first time around...)
Oil change (I ran half a can of seafoam in the oil since prior to this she hadn't run since september)
Charge the battery (was stone cold dead but I was able to bring it back to life)
Test Drive it.

First initial test drive found the only two problems that needed to be resolved.
The issues came from and ass end that liked to pitch itself one way on acceleration and another on braking, making this a very scary rid especially if you had to panic brake.
This was a result of one of the links being a half a turn out of adjustment and the other, the bolts I used on the ballistics end-link side was too small. Half a turn and new bolts later and she is driving around beautifully.

Hopefully soon enough I'll have 4WD and the build can start to continue as normal -_-

[CJM]

Very good job Avy! Glad you got your issues resolved, sounds like a very scary test drive tho!

Been awhile, but you changed jobs? Where you working now?

[4x4mike]

Great job. I bet it feels great to get it up and running again.

I can't imagine working on it in the snow. I don't get snow at my house but it does get cold. Snow is a whole nother level. Kudos.

[YotaFun]

Marc, I did change jobs, said by to Toyota and Hello to Carmax

Mike, the things you do to get the feeling of a 4WD under your bum, especially after it sitting since September and me being stuck in my under powered base model Camry. But it was def cold -_- I'm surprised my ass didn't literally freeze off...

[CJM]

Glad your moving on up Ill bet its alot easier work overall, dealer work can turn into nothing but production and warranty bs.

[4x4mike]

Marc, I did change jobs, said by to Toyota and Hello to Carmax

The father of a friend works for Carmax and it seems to be a great company. I think he's a service manager type and he recently returned from Vegas for a company wide performance recognition. Nice to work for a place that rewards and recognizes hard work.

[YotaFun]

Mike, Its great so far, and they treat their employees awesome.
I def see myself developing a carrier with them.

[04 Rocko Taco]

I somehow missed the update that Tess was finally up and running again, congrats!