Bala de Plata

I dont post much here but thought that I would share, here ya go:

The total cost was about 2500 and it could have easily been more as I did quite a bit myself and with the help of friends. Most of my appreciation is due to Lance, as I may not have been able to do any of this without his guidance and the hard work he has done on his own with trial and error that we all have benefited from. Cheers to you my friend!!

So here is the breakdown. I have a rebuilt drive shaft that is made from DOM and basically looks like it came off a light armor vehicle! Chopped the exhaust off right behind the back cats and corrected the y pipe abit and raised the whole run to give a bit more of clearance with a new magnaflow with a shorty dump (that I am gonna change to dump behind the axle later, doh!). Running Yukon 4.11 gears with a ARB air locker. Had to use a FJ rear pinoin flange to adapt the splines from the new gears, worked fine.

Still on the list is to get some AP upper links, as one of my stocks got bent and we just straightened it in a vice as I didnt have the $ to get the new ones. Finish the installation of the air hoses and wiring. I purchased a Viair 10007 on board kit with a 250c 100% duty compressor with a 2.5 gallon air tank. Get an alignment on Saturday and then I am back on track for the rest of the plan. Armor is the biggest thing on my list now, dont wanna break anything and slip back down this slippery slope again.


Oh, have to thank T&J Performance for doing the gear work. Max and Tom are top notch, nothing but professional and courteous assistance at a very reasonable price. Thanks for the tip Lance! Also, OC Muffler for there assistance. Ask for Mike if your interested, he is the owner. I would send my grandma to either one of these shops and know that they would take care of her!!
Pics:

At my jobsite a few mile from the shop after pickin it up


3rd showing airline and new flange


Exhaust






On board air setup

Bala de Plata

The only challenge was that the spline count for the new pinion gear would not fit as it was 27 and the stock is 30. Also a difference in actual diameter size. But found out that the FJ crusier pinion flange was an exact match to the Yukon pionion gear. Go onto Randy's Ring&Pinion and just search under a toyota v6 diff and it will show you the gears that are available. I choose not to go with 4.56 which they do have available as I dont intend on doing a body lift and cant fit any tire over a set of 295/70 which has a nomial size of 33.5. But the 4.11 is a good fit, right now with my set of 285/75's that are very worn I average about 2100 RPM's at highway speed of 65mph. It is almost like driving with the overdrive on, but around town it has quite a bit of pick up. When I do get new tires I think it will be just about perfect. I have not had a chance to test out the locker except at the shop that installed it. Kind of a good thing, as without the locker Im more likely to actually make it through the break in process with out putting excessive wear or heat on the new gears, that would be bad. But I cant lie, after the first 100 miles of taking it very easy and taking many short trips with long cool downs after, I let her out a bit. Frickin thing is FAST!! in the low gears and new exhaust setup. Im in love with my rig all over again.

Randy's R&P were the best prices I found for the Yukon's and ARB Locker. Not sure if they make a set for the front as I did not need them and didnt research it. The gears were $209 (YG TV6411), install kit $184 (YK TV6), and ARBRD23 $697 shipped next day for free but I did have to pay tax . I also needed to get a new pinion flange as I mentioned, I got mine from All Pro for 90 bucks or something (7600-AP-FJ). I actually played hooky from work and drove out there to get it so the shop wouldnt be down on the install to long. You can get this from toyota, but not sure how much. One thing though. I have noticed the rear pinion flange for a 4x is different then a 2x. So there is a possibility you will not need new bolts as I did, but I used the closest american made grade 8 match and have ordered stock FJ's from my dealer and am waiting for them.

The Y-pipe correction was one of the aspects that I wanted, but the best thing that I got out of this, which I'm not sure if you can tell by the pics is more clearance. Stock exhaust pipe from the driver side manifold not only was flattened, but hung below the frame cross member that supports the end of my 2x trans. Now the new pipe is tucked up and behind this cross member by about and inch and a half. No part of the exhaust is below my frame, all nicely tucked which is the best gain in my book taking my little accident into consideration.

Knuckles

thats freakin sweet, how many days did it take for them to install the air locker?

Bala de Plata

It would have only taken a day if I had the pinion flange to begin with. But all in all it was there 2.5 days. The shop I went is a racing fab shop for jeeps, I dont hold it against them . It was an easy undertaking for them. And I didnt have them setup the air system. I will do that myself to save some $, so that made it quicker for them.