541SR5

Now that I had the truck running again and all the electrical was working (big relief), I decided to put some POR-15 on the frame from the cab forward. Also, I thought it would be a good time to pull the front axle out, clean it up, and POR-15 it too.



The axle was caked with mud, oil, grease, and God only knows whatelse.





It took me the good majority of a weekend just to get it all clean, but all of the nasty stuff finally came off with some simple green and a lot a scrubing and power washing. With the axle out of the way, I was able to easily get to a lot of areas to paint under the truck and also went ahead and painted the springs, sway bar, center link, drag bar, and torsion bar.





I put on new tie road ends, sway bar links and bushings, torsion bar bushings, steering stabilizer and I installed a new drag link kit. I also bought new axle U-bolts, washers, and nuts and put those on front both the front and rear axles (dang those were expensive).

I forgot to take a few "finished" pics, so I will take a few later today and post tomorrow.

Up next, knuckle rebuild and brake upgrade...

grotto

Nice truck. It's good to see you going about it sensibly. My first Toyota was a 1980 2wd 3/4 ton in the same color. Bought it new off the lot and commenced abusing it for 200K miles in my roofing business. Looking at these 1st gen. build threads has me longing for one as my next project. Keep up the good work.

451 POP

Been a good build so far. By the way I am 451SR5's dad. Still working on it.

BoredOutnJackdUp

there is a 541sr5 and a 451sr5?!

Trevin49

Looking good, frame looks clean and brand new!

541SR5

As promised, here are a couple photos a took over the weekend. Sorry, for it looking a little dirty, I haven't had a chance to polish it up since I did the work.

POR-15'ed front axle and center link and new steering stabilizer



New sway bar links and Bilstein HD shocks (still looking for a new mounting bolt and nut to get rid of the old rusty ones), POR-15'ed leaf springs, and sway bar, and new factory axle U-bolts

541SR5

Thanks, I've been trying to do it that way. Unfortunately, I don't have the garage room to do a complete frame off, so all of it has been done in the driveway and as my paycheck will allow. In no way will this ever be a show a truck, but I think there's no reason it still can't look good and be as safe and dependable as possible.

541SR5

True...it's been lots a fun (most of the time). It'll be done before you know it

Oh and you have the paint code backward in your screen name (541), but who's counting

541SR5

Haha, nope Pop just got the color code backward by a couple numbers, but it's all good

541SR5

Thanks, I can't say enough about that POR-15 and how smooth it lays down. You can't even tell that the stuff was painted on with a cheap little $2 chip brush.

BoredOutnJackdUp

Its looking really good man,

tditoyota

Beautiful job, I think I'm going to use por 15 now on my ride. Thanks

541SR5

Thanks man, it's really coming together nice

541SR5

Thanks, I think it does a really good job, just make sure you prep according to the directions. I just used a wire brush and sandpaper to knock off all the loose scale and get it as smooth as I could. After the marine clean and metal prep, I applied one coat of the sliver to help fill in the pits, two coats of the gloss black base and two coats of the chassis coat black to finish it off.

LinguraDeLemn

"New sway bar links and Bilstein HD shocks"

How do you like the bilsteins? when you put them on did they fit for a stock leaf setup? are you happy with them?

Swimmerboy2112

iTrader: (2)

Sexy, sexy!

Gotta admit, I LOVE the yellow!!

Boy i'd like to get my hands on one of these first gens.

Keep up the GREAT work!!

541SR5

I couldn't tell you about how the Bilsteins perform because I don't have the truck driveable yet (legally). I read a lot of good reviews on them though, that's why I went with them.

Mine is the stock leaf setup so yes they fit perfectly. It took me longer to take the old rusty stocks off than to put the new ones on.

541SR5

Thanks! And yes I love the yellow too, is going to be fun driving this kind of truck around town.

451 POP

Oh Well. Don't really know who to contact to change it. Was a long day the day I registered.

scottd

Nice work. Love the yellow first gens. Always nice to see another 1st gen truck being resurrected.