Well as some of you may know I have an 81 Longbed, I have just began fixing and tinkering on it when it gets some down time between mud baths and daily street use. About two weeks after buying my Toy, my brother rode with me for his first trail ride and mud bath. I had to be really careful with him, he gets really scared when he's not the driver and he cannot stand not being able to see anything over the hood. So I ripped up the trail and took him up and down some decently steep hills nearby. Haha

Well, to my surprise he had a freaking blast! I mean this is not his general area of interest, he's into the goth and rock and roll and all that stuff. Me, I'm a laid back southern boy and I'm DAMN proud of it. Anyways.. a few days later he pulls up in a 83' Toyota SR5 Pickup that he bought for 500 bucks, Sitting on a fresh set of Goodyear 33" MTR's. Talk about blow me out of the water. The bed is pretty rusty but otherwise the truck is really friggin sweet.

Well, after putting some new brakes on it all the way around and tuning the carb for him, we just had to take the twins out for a good day of trail riding. He did great, I mean, he hit the mud holes wide open and had a big grin on his face the whole time. I watched and FOLLOWED in complete awe at him, my mouth sitting on the floorboard the whole time.

And then it happened... SNAP! POP POP POP. ...

"Prolly your Birfield" I said, to which he replied "The what?". He's not exactly the most mechanically inclined person. Well after placing a few calls I got frustrated and called good ol' Marlin Crawlers. I love these guys, I really do. So, after about a week the parts arrive. New Chromoly birfields, inner and outer shafts, knuckle rebuild kits , bearings, seals, etc.. I did a master overhaul on the axle excluding the ring and pinion. It took me about two afternoons and several band aids but It now looks brand spanking new. I also threw in a new set of Rancho 5000 shocks and a new Steering stabilizer. Then I put a set of chrome truck nuts on there just for kicks, and low and behold the loved them. Then we went to the junkyard and I grabbed a full black glass window and took out the old sliding glass piece and put the newly used one in, new seal and sealer. Replaced the air filter, changed the oild, pcv valve and valve cover gasket, new radiator hoses and thermostat, replaced some old and worn vaccum lines..This little truck is really getting a nice makeover. His little truck is getting along better than mine.

Everything is back in it, we pull it out of the garage and guess what?

POP POP POP POP POP

"You have got to be tin' me" I said. Then it hit me.. Universal Joint..
I swapped my front axle out with his and it fixed it...

Moral of the story: Pay attention to the details.

But it was sure funny as hell getting him to boot the bill for a 1100 dollar axle rebuild when the problem turned out to be a 50 dollar universal joint. Wait til he see's my bill for the labor.

 

Do you work in a dealership?

 

No, Im just an all purpose grease monkey. I didnt rebuild the axle just to be doing it, I really thought it was the passenger side Birfield.

 

Did you not notice that the birf was fine when you took it out? You can charge him parts, but I wouldn't charge him for the labour cause you should have paid more attention if you were being remunerated. I apologize if I misunderstood the situation.

 

Oh yes, a couple of guys told me at marlin crawlers that the birfield was most likely broke on the races on the inside of the birfield and that HAd to be the only thing that would cause the noise. I found one lil hair line crack but it was very very minute. I personally didnt think that it was the culprit but we replaced it all anyways, if it wasnt the problem it would have been further down the road.

And no I wasnt serious about the labor charge, it was meant as a joke. He's my brother after all. But, he did do a really good job of holding the shop light when I needed him, I guess that counts as helping =)

 

Why didn't you just throw a factory birf in to see if it fixed it? damn.. Its only on 33's too no need for longs. U-joint is just too obvious, definetly should have checked them first.

 

What the hell kinda ujoints making poping noises? ive only had one shot ujoint on my toyota, but my freind had a lifted ranger that went through ujoints like nothing and i never heard them go pop pop pop.

 

at least you have some spare parts now . . .

 

This is my first time ever having a U-Join make noise as well. We were taking turns driving and turning the truck back and fourth in a U shape patter and listening to the pop and both thought it was coming from the birfield. The truck was not int he best of shape to begin with, as I stated prior. That's the reason I decided to rebuild the entire axle while it was tore down that far.

After calling up the local parts store (Oreilys, Autozone, Advance, and Napa) I decided that they were all idiots, because 3 of the 4 stores above did not even know what a birfield was, and the one store that knew priced us at nearly 100 bucks for a factory one. And they said it would take nearly a week to get them. I then decided we will just go bigger and better and we orderd the choromoly ones from Marlin Crawler, with a lifetime warranty and they came by C.O.D in 3 days from California to Alabama.

And yes, now we have spare parts =)
We each have a spare birfield in our toolbox and spare inners as well.

In the long run it was a great learning experience for BOTH of us, and we know now that the front axle is in superior shape, and now it's pretty much bullet proof.

The sad part is that all of my spare time was spent on his truck and I havnt hardly had time to work on mine. I did manage to get some sanding and primering done today, just not as much as I wanted.

 

cool thread, amkes me wish my brother would get into trucks too, all he does is play world of warcrap.

BTW the dealers dont call them birfields they call them something else so it would be pretty hard to look up something that doesnt exist in there books.

 

My brother and I have never seen eye to eye. Im the older and he's the baby, he always got what he wanted and was momma's little boy. Im pretty country and he's into the hardcore rock and goth. I dont think we have much of anything in common now that I think about it, but i have to admit as much time as we have been spending togather lately with these trucks and all, I wouldnt give anything in the world for it.

 

Post up some pics of the twins together

 

Will do, I hand to run out and buy a new digital camera just so I could start taking some pics. Unfortunately his truck is at a local shop having the carb completey rebuilt and he's adding a 3" lift to it. He should get his truck back on Monday.

 

Well, my brother got his truck back from the shop today, he had a 3.5" rough country lift put on, springs up front, block in the rear. I told I would go blocks but all he wants is a mud truck..

And as requested here are some pics of the two. Sorry there's no action shots, my truck slung a rod on the way back from picking his up.. It's been a great day...

The "twins"
Grey Truck: 83 SR5 SWB 4x4, 5 spd, 22r, Marlin Chromoly birfields,
3.5" Rough Country Lift, 32" Goodyear ATR's.

White Truck: 80 LWB 4x4 Hilux, 4spd, 22r, 32.5" Hankook MTR's
Rest is stock. For now (muahahahaha)

 

Well, my brother got his truck back from the shop today, he had a 3.5" rough country lift put on, springs up front, block in the rear. I told I would go blocks but all he wants is a mud truck..

And as requested here are some pics of the two. Sorry there's no action shots, my truck slung a rod on the way back from picking his up.. It's been a great day...

The "twins"
Grey Truck: 83 SR5 SWB 4x4, 5 spd, 22r, Marlin Chromoly birfields,
3.5" Rough Country Lift, 32" Goodyear ATR's.

White Truck: 80 LWB 4x4 Hilux, 4spd, 22r, 32.5" Hankook MTR's
Rest is stock. For now (muahahahaha)

 

Badass looking trucks, definetly my favorite bodystyle truck. Sucks about the slung rod tho

 

lol sounds like me and my brother.......


me, dad, my brother

the brothers

sorry for the hijack...