Originally Posted by Mr Stubs

Then I started on the 5th stud mod. Bobby Long style.

This is the sweet spot to drill, dead center of the two casting lines.




I had a lot of drive line bolts laying around and they turned out to be the perfect length with a piece of 1/4". Smoothed out the top of the knuckle for a good flat fit.

Originally Posted by Mr Stubs

Welded the 5th stud nut to the inside to the knuckle and tack welded the top steering knuckle studs (along with red lock tight)

I have had studs work loose before even with red lock tight. I think that studs break because they work loose first.

Originally Posted by Mr Stubs

Fifth stud mod done.....

Originally Posted by Kiwipushrod

So, I put some 4.7 gears in My single, forward shift, T-case yesterday. I've worked on lots of New Process cases but never a toyota case, so I actually read the directions..........that was My downfall.

When you read the directions, You dont really watch what's going on because You're depending on the step by step directions to guide You, plus looking at the cool pictures.



So I clearanced the case for the new oversized gear. I fit the gear in place and all looked good






I also clearanced the shift fork/dog for Low gear, just like the pictures tell You to do.

I put the whole thing back together, and thats when I found out that as soon as I put the case in low gear on the bench, that it locked up.

So, of course I just added some more force to fix the problem. Well, when I did that it would make a ty noise and then would jump out of low gear. WTF.

I pull the whole thing apart to trace the problem down. And now for the stupid part.

The directions say to clearance the low gear shift fork down, but they dont tell You to grind the roll pin for that fork down, or dont drive it all the way home. Because if You dont shorten that roll pin or do drive it down all the way........Guess what?

It then hits the in new oversized gear and locks Your Up!

This is the pin in question after shortening it.


In low gear, after the fix.



I hope this helps some other Noob, do it right the First time.

Kiwi

Originally Posted by BigMike

Kiwipushrod,

I noticed you are installing TG gears but the same applies with our instructions in that the former employee who made the guide left that part out!

So I have updated step 49 of our installer to include this required info
http://www.marlincrawler.com/tech/gu...1-gear-install

Thanks for the tip!
Mike

Originally Posted by nevada

*this is for a dual toyota t-case set-up.*
i know the shop is a mess.... so dont say anything

OK, since i had 2 extra forward cases, i decided i HAD to make them work for my marlin crawler. i know this isnt NEW. and using a forward shift case for the RANGE box has been done. but i needed it to work for the rear 4WD case.(id heard it couldnt be done:shaking: )

im not going to go through the teardown. hopefully if you are attempting this conversion, you already know how to tear it down.
*im going to refer to the 4L-4H rail as LEFT*
*the 2WD-4H as RIGHT*
1)get the SPARE shift fork from the DONOR case. and cut the lug off, using a die grinder. be sure not to cut it too close.

2) install the rails into the RANGE portion of the rear case. after the rails are in, put the shift detents back in place. this will help insure correct placement. and carefully measure for the roll pin. its VERY important to get it right. measure 5X cut once. leave the LEFT rail in 4wd(toward the front) and shift the RIGHT rail into 4wd also.(to the front.) mark where the new hole has to be, for the LUG on the right rail. i tried to match the lug(NOT THE HOLE) to the other fork as best i could.
do NOT attempt to drill the rail. it is hardened steel, and you will never get it. even if you could, i doubt it would be straight. i took mine to a local machine shop(Machine Service inc.)

3) grab the ends u cut off, and remove the gates. set them aside, for now.

**note** this pic is out of sequence. when removing the gates, be sure to remove the entire portion off the 2WD gate. this prevents the shifter from falling into "space" when in 4L. i had to go back, and add this piece.

4) attach lug to the right rail, and the fork to the left rail, and the you need to clearance the INSIDE edge of each lug. you need a "flat" section to attach the gates to. since the lugs are angled, it wont be square. i ground them down close, and just clamped to the THICKER side. and filled in the small gap.

5) once you're certain you know where theyre going. carefully weld the gate onto the lugs. use the SHORT gate on the LEFT(with FORK) rail. and the LONG gate on the RIGHT rail. *see my note above.*

theres alot of test fitting. i dont remember when i did it. but at some point, after u instal the gates, you need to reinstall the main shaft, and most of the gears, and 2WD shift fork, and slide the outer portion of the t-case in place. be sure everything shifts good. then measure where to cut the STICK OUT, from the rails. they can only stick out about 1/4" when shifted into 4H. otherwise they will hit the 4L rail in the range box.
this pic also thems them after they were shortened.

6)put everything together for another test fit. you now need your gates to line up. if they dont, but are close, you can use a file to get them exact. mine were dead on, and no adjustments were needed. again, note the lug i added after the fact.

one thing i want to mention, as it messed with me a few times. when these rails are out, they can be put in 180* out of phase. it will work properly, but your shift detents will not work correctly. be sure on the final install, that the SINGLE detent notch is to the INSIDE.
make sure everything shifts correctly and smoothly. i used a bit of 90w to ease the install.
and finally, a forward shift tcase, converted to a top shift, ready to be installed.

hopefully this will help others who dont have a top shift case, but want a dual case set-up.

Originally Posted by NE-89-4Runner

from my build:



fork shift getting ready for modification



pre weld:


fully welded up:

Originally Posted by NE-89-4Runner

Added some gussets





To help and avoid situations like this

Originally Posted by Erick561

Got the bushings out of my chevies,.

Tried pressing them first, ..that didn't work, drilled 1/4" through the bushing as much as possible, then went pyro

Originally Posted by Mr Stubs

Thanks for the compliment...... you dog....

Originally Posted by MedicDB

Figured I would add a little tech. Not that it is much. But for those of you looking to put a E-locker in the front of a older solid axle truck. You will need to do some clearancing to get it to fit around the spring and U-bolts. This is where you need to clearance. Of coarse you will also need to do some work to the housing but most of you already know about that. Write ups of that work. http://home.off-road.com/~kemanuel/elocker/elocker.html


and this is why

Originally Posted by ricsrx

Originally Posted by MT-Toy

A little bit of redneck tech for Ya'll!
I found that a rattle can cap fit perfectly inside the throttle body bore to keep moisture and contaminants out of the engine. Good seal too. I'd imagine the 22Re is similar and would work too, either slip in or slip over. I saw T1Tndra used a rag in his t-body and thought I'd come up with something a little different. Cheers!

Originally Posted by crash

So the next thing to tackle--was to find a spot and mount this jewel.



Some years ago I found sweet spoit to mount ECM's on a first gen. Pull the glove box insert and right about that is where a single dash speaker used to go. Its nice and high and there is enough room to even get a gm ecm to fit. This is where my ecm has been mounted for 6 years with zero problems. But the one thing that makes it nice, there are 2 threaded holes in the metal skeleton of the dash. The picture is kinda dark but you can see the holes (red spots)



Next thing to do was make a bractet that bolts to those holes and to the ecm to hold it firmly into place.





And here it is mounted to the ecm. I utilized the threaded holes on the side of the ecm's case.



And there you have it--up in its new home.

Originally Posted by gary96360

hey guys i just did a body lift on my 93 pickup and now the truck overheats i was like hmm maybe rattling the rad around clogged it because the rad is rusty inside and the rad was hot at the top and cold right in the middle. so i change the rad and still it goes right to red after a few mins and i shut it off fast. also the truck idles like at 1500 to 2000 rpm fast like it has a loose vacuum line at idle. my buddy was thinking maybe the ecm is shot because it overheats and idles super rough. the truck ran like a champ before the body lift.i dont see how a body lift would make it overheat. my friend will ask his mech teacher tomorrow for me. im so stumped right now and dont want to tow to a mech.

Originally Posted by 4Crawler

How tall a lift?

Did you relocate the radiator with the body lift?
- http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/ForSale/...shtml#Radiator

Originally Posted by gary96360

i stuck in the drop brackets. tommorow im going to change the thermostat and check for a loose vacuum house but i checked most of them. it seems like i have a huge leak.

Originally Posted by drk1

Make sure you burt all of the air out of the cooling system... your heater core is 3" higher then the rad now. I had a tuff time getting all the air out of mine (2" BL)... ended up puting in a valve in one of the heater lines and backfilling it while the engine was cold.

Originally Posted by DeathCougar

Try this: Drain the coolant. Take the upper heater hose off, and fill the system until water pours out of the outlet for the heater core, and the hose you detached. Reattach the hose, and fill the rest of the system. Park on an incline, or jack up the front of the truck as well. You just have an air in the system, and its not circulating out. Thats what the high idle is from too, since the coolant temp sensor is searching for coolant thats not there.

Originally Posted by wheatus

It seems that you can purchase lower door hinge replacements but not upper hinges. I modified my hinges to use replacable pins and bushings. To do this modification you will need: 12mm socket, ratchet, at least 3 inch extension, files or grinding tool, hammer, punch, vise, hacksaw, and a helper. (I will try and get the part numbers of the pins and bushings i used. I took my hinges to the parts store after i removed the old pins and bushings and found something close.)

1. Roll down the window, it makes the door easier to handle when removed.
2. If not equiped with power windows or locks skip to step 4.If equipped with power options you will need to remove the kickpanel and disconect the wiring.
3. Pull the wiring through the A pillar.
4. Using the ratchet, extension, and 12mm socket remove one bolt from each hinge.
5. Have your helper hold the door as you remove the last two bolts.
6. Remove the 4 bolts holding the hinges to the door shell. There should be a total of 8 bolts.
7. Place the door shell in a place where it will not get damaged.
8. Take pictures or mark the hinges top and bottom to aid reassembly later. Work on one hinge at a time so you do not mix parts.
9. Secure the hinge in a vise.
10. Using a flat file or a grinding tool, a dremel or a die grinder work well, to grind the puddle weld holding the pin. Be careful not to grind too much off of the hinge.
11. Use the punch and hammer to knock the pin out of the hinge.
12. Remove the old bushings.




13. File, drill, or grind the hinges to fit the new pins and bushings. Notice that not all of the holes are the same size, check the fitting often.



14. Line up your marks or refer to your picture for reassembly.
15. Install new bushings.
16. Install new pin.
17. Reassemble the hinge.



18. Using the hacksaw you can cut off the excess pin. (optional)
19. Repeat steps 8-18 for the other hinge.




20. Reinstall the hinges to the door shell.
21. Have helper hold the door as you mount the hinges to the body.

Originally Posted by DRM

I believe the 80-83 trucks already had something like this on the bottom end with no rag joint...

Originally Posted by abrogate

I didn't want to pay $60+ for an aftermarket steering u-joint that didn't have the correct spline for the Toyota steering box. I also wanted to avoid using the rag joint (I think that is what it is called).

While this may have very little use outside of my truck, I haven't seen it on here (nor have i looked) I will be running your run of the mill stock car removable steering wheel with a 3/4" tube for the steering shaft.

Anyway, here are the pics.



I didn't get a pic from before, but you get the idea.



The little caps are crimped in there (at least on the 1986 IFS box I have) So, there isn't really an easy way of removing them without cutting.



This is the part that will replace the rag joint and allow me to weld the splined end of the shaft to the new tubing.



No pic from the removal of the other joint. Pretty much just cut the ujoint out with a cut-off wheel. The little blue marks are the crimps on the yoke from the firewall. For some reason, the firewall side has two crimps and the steering box side has three.



use a dremel and sand off the crimps from the firewall yoke. Then assemble the modified firewall u-joint with the steering box yoke. and....



The finished product. It works perfect too.



And in action (although not yet hooked up to the new steering wheel)



Notes:

DO NOT grab the u-joint caps with pliers. They will dent and become useless.

The 1985 and earlier models have a wider yoke and use an internal snap ring to retain the u-joint cap instead of the crimp method. I have these parts sitting on the bench, but have yet to assemble them. I would bet that these parts work better for this because there is not cutting or griding, but the new joint would be larger in girth.

Originally Posted by AxleIke

After seeing a great many threads on here, I've decided to pitch in a thread that will hopefully help some of you newer guys out when you first start modifying your trucks.

Hopefully it will help you keep from making the same mistakes I did.

First of all, this is a post to try to help guys who want to modify their truck?s off-road performance, not so much for street cool looks. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with looking good, but looking good doesn't equal trail capability.

So, you've bought a 4x4 and you?d like to get some more off-road performance out of it. Awesome. Probably, you are thinking about a lift, right? Please forget about it.

Here is a saying that has been around the net for quite a while: What is cool on the internet or on the street is seldom what is cool on the trail.

The order of importance for different modifications on your truck is as follows.

1. Drivetrain
2. Armor
3. Tires
4. Suspension

Yes, suspension is the least important part of a truck. Why? Because they all accomplish the same thing, which is moving your tires over the terrain. They will get you about as far down the trail as stock. Granted, an otherwise stock truck that has been solid axle swapped with good flex will go farther than a stock IFS truck, but not a ton.

Sooooo, what I?m getting at here is hardware. Hardware makes your truck go. If you are looking to spend some money on a truck, your first consideration should be lockers. Perhaps you can only afford one for the rear, that is fine, get it. Gears are usually recommended when installing lockers, but it isn?t mandatory. If you decide to gear lower in the future, it will cost you an extra 200 for installation that you won?t have to pay if you have them done first off. But that is personal choice. It really depends on what size tire you want to run.

Gears are the next important step, as lower gearing means slower going on the trail. This gives you better control, better torque, and saves clutches. It also involves less ?slamming? up stuff by having to give the truck a lot of skinny pedal. This involves usually two important parts of the vehicle. Differential gearing involves replacing your ring and pinion gears in the differential itself, and is usually a balance of your on road performance with bigger tires. Larger tires will slow a truck down considerably. Regearing the diffs will allow you to keep a more stock feel while running a larger tire. The second step is regearing and/or doubling the transfer case. This provides a much greater ability to crawl or go slow on the trail. For example, a stock drive train (stock transfer case with a reduction of 2.28:1, manual transmission with a 3.95:1 first gear ration, and stock diff gears of 4.1:1) has a crawl ratio of 37:1. With doubled cases and gearing, trucks can get down to 225:1. It is a big difference. Again, benefits are control and less damage by being able to keep the speed down.

Next is armor. Usually, it is recommended that this be done fairly quickly after lockers and gears are installed, as increasing the difficulty of the trails you can drive up will increase the likelihood of body damage. Sliders, bumpers, and underbelly skid plates are all highly recommended. Get what fits your budget, but remember, with all things, you get what you pay for.

Tires are the next thing to look to. There are many threads about brands, sizes, etc. You can choose what you like best. Really, it?s about traction here. What type of wheeling do you see the most? Mud, sand, rocks? I recommend getting the largest size you can get with none, or minor rubbing. Minor rubbing usually occurs on the pinch welds in the fender, and can be easily pounded flat to gain the necessary clearance to eliminate rubbing, and does not affect the cosmetic look of the truck. Tires are the only real way to get ground clearance under your differentials. Lift will leave the axles in the same place as they were. Tires will get your diffs over rocks. In addition, it is important to get a tire that is going to take some abuse. Again, I refer you to the search function on that, so you can make your own decision on brand and genre of tire, as I?m as biased as the rest when it comes to tire choice.

Lastly, look to the suspension.

Here is the deal. If you have put in gearing, lockers, armor, and good tires on a truck, you will be able to drive most of the trails in your area, especially if you?ve ponied up for two lockers. If you have IFS, a suspension lift will get you bigger tires if you really start working your fenders with a sawzall and hammer, and a body lift will get you tires without the need for fender modification, but you?ll still have the crappy flex, and the other issues associated with IFS. Believe it or not, but IFS, especially the early (86-95) IFS, works best stock. No lift, no nothing. In fact, early IFS usually starts to puke steering parts with any sort of lift that changes the steering angles.

In invite you to look up TC, who is a member here. He has a 2nd gen 4runner, and simply has two ARB lockers, and a bunch of armor. No lift, and he runs a 33x1050 tire on it. Minor pinch weld modification and he runs these tires with little or no rubbing. With this set up, he is able to tackle the most difficult trails Colorado has to offer. Check out some of his videos. Now, TC is an AMAZING driver, but even a novice would be able to tackle most trails with the same set up.

If this has all been a jumble of words to you, here are the take home points.

If all you are looking for is to be able to go out and wheel trails with confidence and get up harder obstacles, DO NOT look to your suspension to help you there. Look to the stuff you can?t see.

If you want to look cool driving around town, and aren?t really concerned about getting any farther up the trail than you did before, you just want to look cool while doing it, then look to a lift and monster tires.

Questions are appreciated, post if you have em. Good luck with your builds.

Originally Posted by tc

Personally, I would do sliders/skids before gears lockers, but AxleIke's thought process is dead on.

Here's what lockers will do for you - no way you make this obstacle with open diffs.

YouTube Video

Originally Posted by slabcrawler

I found these seals at Earl's plumbing and used them to seal the tubes I ran from my exo through the side of the bed, and to the stock inner roll bar. I always wanted to do this but couldn't figure out a good way to seal it. These are the biggest ones they make and work perfect on 1 3/4 tubes. Thought someone else might be looking for something like this.



http://www.holley.com/types/Seals-It...et%20Seals.asp

Originally Posted by Okiyota

I have used these ones before and they worked nice, $15.00 a piece, cant remember the site for where i got them from, i'll see if i can find it again...




This place sells alot of different styles also,they have Split Grommets, like someone mentioned above for adding after a cage is already through the cab, but looks like the biggest of that style is 1". Gives you an idea though on how to make a set if you are that serious...

Split Grommets

Normal Grommets

EDIT: Didnt realize the two links i gave at the bottom are for the same pictured in the first post, carry on.