DIRTCO's 1985 4Runner Build-Up Thread

[DIRTCO]

And last, I started working the cage some more. I don't have any pictures of the progess yet (should have some tommorrow) but this will give you an idea of what I have so far. I designed the cage to go through the dash. Middle brace and supports And why the doors still kind of work I put these in to keep a windshield in the tuck (I hope)

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[DIRTCO]

More pictures!

I got the side panels back in, they are made of some plywood I found and some black speaker box carpet.

[DIRTCO]

Then I started working on some of the tube work. I wanted to get the main cage section ready for the new rear cage.

This is a trick I used for complex tube work.

Start with a couple paper towel rolls, take two pieces and cut them down the middle. Then place them on top of each other on the tube and tape them together.







Then slide it off, hold up to where you want the tubing to be and start trimming until fits the way you want. Slide it back on the tube and trace the pattern out. Then start cutting

[DIRTCO]

And after a couple hours this is how it came out.

[DIRTCO]

And a some pictures after I pulled it out of the shop

[Volcom]

You should check into getting one of these
Pipemaster tube fitting tool



You could save yourself some TP and TP rolls

Cage looks sick. Love the dove-tail as well!! Nice work, can't wait to see it this summer on Indy

[DIRTCO]

Originally Posted by Volcom

You should check into getting one of these
Pipemaster tube fitting tool



You could save yourself some TP and TP rolls

Cage looks sick. Love the dove-tail as well!! Nice work, can't wait to see it this summer on Indy

Those are sweet, I've seen them before but forgot all about it. If you were always working with one size of tubing, or did this thing for a living, these would be a huge time saver. I tend to work with a lot of different sizes of tubing, so that would be a pretty big investment. If I was going to build a new rig or F-Toy those would be the first thing on my list

Thanks, I still have a lot of work to complete on the cage and dovetail. I'm looking forward to getting some new dents and scratches.

[Volcom]

My brother has the 1.75" tube version. He loves it and helped him with his cage big time! I need to borrow it when I go to build mine.

Nice front bumper also! Did you end up making your winch removable and just using a cradle?

[DIRTCO]

Originally Posted by Volcom

My brother has the 1.75" tube version. He loves it and helped him with his cage big time! I need to borrow it when I go to build mine.

Nice front bumper also! Did you end up making your winch removable and just using a cradle?

I can see how it would help a lot, even using the paper towel rolls take a lot of time. You get a nice pattern to work off of, but it takes some time cutting the template to get it right.

On another note, I don't know if you have a design for your cage but I love how I ran mine through the dash. A couple of my friends have the All-Pro cage and (while it's a good product) it's a real pain getting in and out of the truck. The heater still works great and if I would have spent some extra time I could have put the heater grills back in. It does take more time, but well worth it, a cage is one of those things that you usually only build once.

Thanks, the front bumper is one of my favorte parts of the truck. It just looks "mean" in person. I made it so that I can used a multi-mount winch, but I just havn't got one yet (it's going on 3 years ) You can also bash it into the rocks as much as you want and not have to woory about it. You can see all the rock rash in the photo, but I still have a headlight and nothing to worry about

[DIRTCO]

I got some more work done this weekend, I don't have pictures yet but should in the next day or two.

While working on the truck I ran into a issue. Ever since I deciced to under take this project, I've had a pretty clear picture of how the truck was going to look. I'm now having a hard time figuring out what to do.

Here is my original plan for the rear tube work, very buggy like, and I felt that the sloped back along with the dovetailed bed would follow each other. There will be more bracing and tubing, this is just to give you an idea (the passenger side looked really weird when I added the supports, so there is only the driver side).





Well, after climbing in and out of the truck two dozen times, I realized that there was a major flaw to my oringal idea. After I chopped the rock sliders down, it was a major PITA to get into the back of the truck. I then thought about how much fun it would as a jungle gym.

So this is the idea I had, super simple and should be just as strong for the main cage section. Again there will be more tubing, this is just the idea. It should make getting into the back of the truck a lot easier.

[DIRTCO]

What do you think? Here are the same pictures without the crappy "Paint" job. If you have any idea's post them up.

[DIRTCO]

Here's the work I got done over the weekend.

Braced up the cage some more and welded everything up.

This is before and the rest are after, I think it made it a lot safer.

[DIRTCO]

Then I started getting the new front axle housing ready to be put in the truck.

Stock with all the brackets



Everything cut off





After a while with the grinder it was time to cut the drain plug out and plate the opening. Sorry the pictures are pictures are so blurry.

[DIRTCO]

Then I worked on the axle truss, diff. gaurd, and knuckle ball braces. I made sure to take my time, to prevent the axle from warping. After every weld I let the housing cool down, this is how it turned out.

[DIRTCO]

And while the paint was drying on the axle housing, I wrapped up the last project of the weekend.

This is one of several ammo boxes I have, this one is the survival box. It has a first aid kit, blanket, matches, coat and everything else you would need to last a couple days in the middle of nowhere.

Two more will go behind it where the back seat used to be.

[rama]

hey how's your 4runner coming along, would love to have a look to give me some ideas for my 84 pickup in summit county also Thanks Rama

[DIRTCO]

Originally Posted by rama

hey how's your 4runner coming along, would love to have a look to give me some ideas for my 84 pickup in summit county also Thanks Rama

I'm working on getting the new front axle in this weekend, we will see how it turns out

Send me a PM if you want to see the truck and we can try to figure something out.

[Volcom]

Did you test fit your steering knuckles on before welding the gussets completely on? I had to modify my gussets quite a bit to make them clear the knuckles.

[DIRTCO]

Originally Posted by Volcom

Did you test fit your steering knuckles on before welding the gussets completely on? I had to modify my gussets quite a bit to make them clear the knuckles.

No, I didn't, and guess what happened ...

I spent the weekend replacing the front suspension, front axle and everything that goes with it. After installing the first knuckle, high steer arm, fifth stud kit, felt and the felt rings; I turned the knuckle and it hit the gusset. While I was welding them on I made a mental note to check the clearance, but in the middle of putting everything together I forgot. I was able to trim it with a long sawzaw blade and took the grinder to the other side. Everything clears fine now.

The only concern is that I have not set the steering stops yet and I plan on installing hydro assist, so there still might be some clearance issue's. I can still take care of it, it's just a bit more complicated.

I will have some pictures of the whole install tommorrow or the day after.

[Volcom]

Originally Posted by DIRTCO

No, I didn't, and guess what happened ...

I spent the weekend replacing the front suspension, front axle and everything that goes with it. After installing the first knuckle, high steer arm, fifth stud kit, felt and the felt rings; I turned the knuckle and it hit the gusset. While I was welding them on I made a mental note to check the clearance, but in the middle of putting everything together I forgot. I was able to trim it with a long sawzaw blade and took the grinder to the other side. Everything clears fine now.

The only concern is that I have not set the steering stops yet and I plan on installing hydro assist, so there still might be some clearance issue's. I can still take care of it, it's just a bit more complicated.

I will have some pictures of the whole install tommorrow or the day after.

I took mine to the bench grinder first, took away quite a bit of material, welded them on and still had to take a angle grinder to them. They are worth it at the end but getting to that point sucks

I'm running HA and have no clearance issues in terms of knuckle contact. Everything fits close but will work out!

[DIRTCO]

Originally Posted by Volcom

I took mine to the bench grinder first, took away quite a bit of material, welded them on and still had to take a angle grinder to them. They are worth it at the end but getting to that point sucks

I'm running HA and have no clearance issues in terms of knuckle contact. Everything fits close but will work out!

Whoever had the axle (before I picked it up) had painted the housing at some point and there was some over spray on the knuckle balls. I used that over spray as a template as to how much to take off. I only had to take off around 1/4", I also have the thicker felt rock rings and I think that creates a little less clearance.

Once I get the steering stops set to where I want them and the HA set up the way I want, I'll see how the clearance looks. Without the brake backing plates it's really pretty easy to get in there. With the knuckle turned to one direction I was able to use the sawzaw and a 1/4" right angle die grinder, with a 3" rolock, to trim it down.

[DIRTCO]

As you can tell from the above post, I worked on the 4Runner all weekend and got quite a bit done . There are still some details to take care of but the new front axle and front suspension are in place.

I started by taking the old axle apart first. I never found what was causing the big problem to front end, but I did find a couple little things.

One broken knuckle stud on the drivers side (Front left). The other three were intact but may have been bent, I didn't look that close. This allowed the steering arm to seperate from the knuckle a little and may have messed the alignment up

The other issue that I ran into was trying to remove the driver's side axle shaft and birfield. The spare (not broken) axle and birfield would not want to come out and I ended up having to beat on it with a large pair of vise-grips and a hammer. This leads me to belive that the housing itself may have bent.

Out with the old and in with the new

[DIRTCO]

And here is what happens when the axle seal gets chewed up and everything gets mixed together

As a side note I don't have the slightest idea why the size of the pictures changed?

[85toy]

hmm thats prolly what mine is gonna look like when i tear mine apart. great build, thats a mean looking runner.

[DIRTCO]

And the new stuff going in