Tito916

The bellview winch is a serious beast


http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showt...light=bellview

cwalstad

It's rated between 6,000 and 8,000 lbs... it's not joke. As far as the weight, when i loaded it into the truck, it must be at least 60 lbs.

aviator

Good link on the bellview... that thing is a beast... looks like it belongs on an army truck...

cwalstad

I'm excited for monday to roll around... I'm scheduled to make the trip (2hours) into my hometown to work on "Ivory" with Tito and a few friends... We're going to install the overloads, the fenders, the doors, my radiator, dizzy o ring (hopefully), and the block off plate gasket (leaking).

Ivory wont be so ivory come monday.

I did have a question however... i'm thinking about putting an sr5 roof on my truck because there are a few rust spots and dents in mine... plus i'd love a sunroof.

Does anybody know how involved putting a new roof in is?

aviator

I would say it's a fairly involved bit of body work... several layers of metal at the A and B pillars and you have to get it dead right so the rear cap meets level and leak free, also it has to be solid and strong as it is a structural part of the body and important for crash/roll over survival... a good body shop should be able to do it for you but it's not something I would tackle as a "shade tree" mechanic... but that's just my 2 cents...

cwalstad

Thats probably a good call... I think i'll find one, get the work done and replace my windshield at the same time. As for today i'm about to make the two hour drive home and spend the whole day working on my truck... pictures coming soon. Thanks so much for responding.

cwalstad

So yesterday was a long day of work... I got down to the shop around ten in the morning and left at 7... Things done: New Radiator, New Plug Wires, New and Painted grill, 2 New Fenders, 2 New Doors (+ window mechanisms and panels from old doors), New cross member. Next week i'll make the trip again to do the overload springs, dizzy o ring, block off plate gasket, and hopefully by that time I will have my engine back from Tito, so i can start the rebuild. Here are a few photos of our day.



Part of the days loot.



New shiny radiator



It was super nice to have some help.



Installed



She looks a little storm trooper ish but she's almost as dent free as a 26 year old truck gets.

I think i'll do some general cleaning today, but other than that i'm going to enjoy my last day off before another 60 hr work week.

Tito916

Looks good man!

We will get those springs on ol' Ivory on monday!

Tito916

Just some ideas for tube Bumpers for ya

http://4xinnovations.com/c-1100.html
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showt...090&highlight=
http://www.addictedoffroad.com/index...products_id=91
http://www.trail-gear.com/bumpers

cwalstad

Thanks Tito... that addicted offroad bumper looks right up my ally... I may steel the design and just make my own.

cwalstad

Sitting back at my desk after a work-filled two days off. On monday morning I left my house at 6am and drove over the mountain to the old hometown shop. I planned on installing my chevy overload springs, and re-doing most of my gaskets and seals (Water pump+ Gasket, Tcover Gasket, Dizzy O-Ring, Block off plate gasket, Oil Pan Gasket). When I got to the shop, I started tearing into my engine, so that I could get home that night by 8pm. I had enlisted the help of a few friends to help with the truck, and while i was working under the hood, my buddy's were helping me with my overload springs. I was a little ignorant as too how much work i was actually taking on. It took all day and pretty much all night to put humpty dumpty back together again, but we got it done. After refreshing all of my fluids, I was ready to make the drive home, I went to start her up and nothing. She was turning over but not igniting, after some more tinkering with the coil, dizzy wires, and checking all of my fuses, we decided it was a timing issue and had to wait for morning to get a timing light... By this time it was about 3 in the morning and I ended up having to stay the night at the shop. I woke up yesterday at 6am to get to work and hopefully beat the storm over the mountain. I pulled off the valve cover (again) so that i could see what the valves were doing and make sure I was @ TDC on the compression stoke. When I took the valve cover off, I saw that I had pinched my valve cover gasket, so I decided to go to Napa for a timing light and a new gasket. A few hours later, we got her running, timed, and tuned. She sat about three inches higher in the rear and ran like a dream. What was supposed to be a 10 hour trip turned into almost a 30 trip and on my way home I faced a winter storm over the mountain. Pictures to come...

cwalstad

On my way over the mountain.



On jack stands, getting ready for a butt lift.



Radiator, shroud and fan removed



Distributor out... The o-ring was hard as a rock. You can see all the oil that was leaking because of it.



Block off plate off



Block off plate clean and ready for re-install



Water pump out.



Timing chain cover off and cleaned.



Lifting the engine up so we can put the new oil pan on.



Coming home thru the snow.



Finally got home, side view with the new springs on.

jlehner

nice new butt. like the tractor usage to support engine. next is the front!!

cwalstad

Thanks jake... That tractor trick was a little jenky... we actually lost the engine previous to this photo because of an old strap... could've been super bad... I'm not really sure what i'm going to do for front suspension, to be honest i'm not too knowledgeable on it. any suggestions?

jlehner

Well im glad nothin happened to the engine on the drop. And as far as the fronts go im assuming you have IFS? either way the best resource I have found for suspension is this forum. If you are looking for more 4x4 capabilities then I would consider a solid axel swap (SAS) before you do anything else. but thats up to you. I have IFS and love it. kinda keeps me from doing anything I may regret while offroading. yet with the lift it allows for more freedom. really the best thing is to look up what you like and then see what they have.

coilovers are amazing cause you can adjust em, and are a much smoother ride. more expensive but overall the best. i got em and can't complain. you can get a bunch of suspension parts from other vehicles like the Land Cruiser (LC) and the tacoma. both pretty much have the same specs. you would be supprised what you can find in a pick-and-pull.

Good Luck, let me know what you find and if you have any questions hit me up. I have been looking at lifts for months before i finally had the balls to buy mine and have picked up some info along the way

cwalstad

I am too... That drop was pretty bad, it dropped like 30 seconds after I had pulled out an engine mount bolt. Lucked out for sure.

I think i'm going to stay with the IFS (at least for a while)... I don't have the money, space or time to do a SAS... I live in an apartment with no garage, and the runner is my daily driver so when i do modifications it has to be road worthy within a day or two or else i don't make it to work. I'm not really sure if i'll do a whole lot of work to the front. I think when i get a little more involved, i'll most likely do a front locker.


I was reading up on it and it looks like if i want to stick with the IFS it is probably better to keep stock...
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f120...mation-121264/

I just went out to my truck and I am leaking a bit of coolant and oil from a couple of places... after all the work i did on monday its a bit frustrating, but i'll keep up the investigation and get everything sealed... My goal is to have a mechanically solid and sealed truck before i make any more major mods.

What the plan with your rig???

jlehner

oh yeah im in the same situation. apartment living sucks for vehicle mods. If you saw my "garage" pic its tough.

and there is nothing wrong with IFS, and a locker front end is a great idea. and you can mod the front end with a lift, I did a 3" inch lift on mine, the only thing you need to keep in mind in the CV angles. but thats one of the easiest things to manage, just insert a spacer to drop the Differential. for my 3" lift, it came with a diff drop kit of 1" and still the angles are fine, even with full droop. and like I said the LC coils and some used Bilstein shocks would prolly be perfect for you, you would get about 3-3.5" of lift and a MUCH smoother ride.

That link is a great start however its more towards the heavier off-roading. for a weekend play thing you shouldn't need to get to involved with gears and armor. but thats just my opinion.

But yeah your right about getting your rig leak and "drive-train problem" free before to much more modification.

As far as my rig goes.......

I thought about a front and rear locker, but 3rd gen runners have center diff locks and an E-LOCK system. all that is is a system that activates the brake on the spinning wheel to cause the differential to turn the other wheel. thus theoretically getting out of the stuck situation. so im not gonna touch it for now, see how I do.

right now I have been having some catalytic converter probs, but they do have 246K miles em... so I have two new ones on order, just got to bolt them on when they arrive. ( I need two cause its a car from Cali and needs to meet California Emission standards, super lame but whatever).

Planning on installing polyurethane bushings on my front and rear anti-sway bars (stabilizer bars, sway-bars...whatever you want to call them), when they arrive that is. and hell I might even remove the rear sway-bar completely to allow more travel, maybe the fronts too, gonna have to test it out first.

Currently my front tires rub on the wheel well so I am going to have to turn my coilovers up in the front all the way for the full 3" lift, I am waiting for a 1.5" spacer lift to arrive so I can lift the rear up to maintain a "level" look on the runner. with the lift i should clear my front tires and get a beefier look i think. I may need to install a longer brake hose in the rear to allow for the change in height, but ill only know for sure after the spacers are installed.

I also have a new rear differential breather on order so I can extend it up into the gas fill door with some flexible tubing. that will keep it from getting wet when romping through mud and water. Its actually a mod I would recommend to everyone with an off road vehicle, cause getting water in your diff is one of the last things you want to happen. and thats usually where water gets in.

gonna cut into the electrical system and install a VSC control switch, which will allow me to turn my VSC and TRAC control on and off as I please. that way if i need to turn the wheels in a slippery situation, I can. rather than letting the onboard computer cut the power to the wheels because they are slipping. Helps in stuck situations with nobody to pull you out.

Also gonna make a switch to turn my DRL's (daytime running lights) on and off. Its annoying when your sitting in a parking lot trying to chill and listen to radio, and your lights are on so everyone thinks your a creeper spying on someone.

bumpers are also on my mind, but i just need to find the right ones, not to concerned about 'em.

thats a taste of what I have planned haha

also how did you add "tags" to your signature?

cwalstad

I'm really not sure how those tags got there... I didn't do anything on purpose to get there...

Your truck is sweet man. I'm digging all the mods you are doing. Are you ever planning on coming back to cali? if so, you, austin c, jesse k, and i should hit up the trails. Hopefully by then i'll be halfway thru my rebuild and have the rest of my truck stitched up and trail ready.

jlehner

Yeah I was actually thinkin of coming back somtime here in the near future. won't be driving, though it would be rad to bring my truck back there for a bit (it is a 36 hr drive). I'll Let you know if I plan anything, that sounds like a grand ol time.

cwalstad

right on man... how are you liking it where you are?

how did you make your build thread link just say "build thread"