great thread! love the progress. what kind of tools do you use for the pipe work? I am looking into a cheap way to bend pipe. havent found one yet. usually I have a shop bend all the stuff then i weld it together and install. Better if all was in house. thanks

 

Thanks

I have been using a friends JDM2 tubing bender with .120" wall 1.75" welded seam tubing. Some of the tubes are notched on the drill press with a hole saw, others are done with a angle grinder.


Painted the calipers last night, I am going to touch up some spots on them in a few days.

 

Found a E-locker on Craigslist for $75!

Only one problem, its over 400 miles away.... Emailed the guy a couple days ago as soon as I found it, asked if he would be willing to ship. It got back to me tonight, and said he needs to get a weight on it so he can get a shipping quote. I found the shipping weight online to be 70lbs, so got a quote at fedex for 75 and emailed him the info I got. Hopefully I will work out the deal tomorrow and get a E-locker on the way next week

If this all works out, might just have to bite the bullet on another elocker with 4.30 gears and run them in both axles. There is one on ebay right now for 540 shipped. Its not that much more then a lock rite locker. And buying all the stuff to regear both diffs is about $500, plus paying for setup.

 

No pictures to update this thread yet...

But I did get the E-locker, ended up meeting the guy 60 miles from home, as he needed to travel to Wisconsin. I talked to him on the phone, he works at a Toyota dealership and it came out of a 4runner with 55k on it. It was replaced under warranty from gear whine. He said the backlash needed to be adjusted, as far as I can tell he is correct. Right now the current plan is to install a lunchbox rear locker, and wait till I can afford to swap in 4.88's. Then I will regear the elocker and put it up front.

I am hoping to install the front brakes this weekend. I decided I should replace the front axle seals at the same time, so I ordered Marlin HD seals. I got the seals last night, there was a slight delay in shipping.

I also bought a used budbuilt crossmember from a member here, will be here today. Its for a single case, but I have decided for now to install a 4.7 single case until I have the money to spend on swapping to dual cases. The cost of drive shaft work, a dual case crossmember, and the adapter plate its self is just to much to spend right now. I still need to put money into the suspension.

I am also buying a set of Marlin 4.7 gears from a guy on pirate, they are not the new HD gears though. The price was right, and it comes with a TG tcase mount as well. The mount on my spare Tcase the gears will be going in is shot, so this will work out great.

And it looks like I will be selling one of my RC trucks that I haven't used for over a year now, so that will give me the money to order a dual case adapter from Marlin while they are on sale... Or a lunchbox locker. I will probably end up getting the dual case adapter, and save my self $50.

I need to stop running into deals, they really drain the funds quickly.

 

i think when a person finds a deal...and they don't have the money for it.it should get posted up on here LMAO!!! that way us guys that can't search worth a crap have a chance lol

 

Finally got around to installing the brakes this weekend. I also pulled the axle shafts out and replaced the inner axle seals on both sides. The brifs didn't have any grease left in them at all, as all the gear oil had washed it away. So it was in need of some front end maintenance

I also cut the backing plate, leaving the line tab.



Everything bolted back together








And here are a couple pictures of the steering box and highsteer

 

I had a leaking wheel cylinder on the rear axle this summer and pinched the line closed after failing to remove the drum. I was going to swap the IFS axle in shortly after that, but then decided I would just wait till I could upgrade the rear springs and do a ubolt flip at the same time. Well with that pinched off line, I could not bleed that side of the brakes.

So I thought that might be why my pedal had so much travel now. I spent all night swaping axles last night, found out my truck actually has 4.30 gears in it. So of course I also had to swap diffs around. And while tearing down the IFS axle, and removing the brake lines from the drums so that we could pull the axle shafts out the lines broke. Called a few parts stores, Autozone had metric brake line.

Dropping the axle was easy, as was bolting up the IFS axle. But having to swap the diffs on both axles really killed the install time on this one. But at least installing the diff with the axle out of the truck was much easier then having to install one while the axle is under the truck And the axle housings were much lighter once all the parts were taken out.

Finally got it all back together and bleed the breaks. The pedal was still just as bad as before. It drops to the floor, pump it again and you have pressure. It doesn't drop either, so the MC is good. Also it was fine before doing the front brakes this past weekend. One problem I had while bleeding the brakes, was the LSPV bleeder was stuck. I ended up snapping the bleeder bolt clean off last night, never even cracked it open.

So I am now thinking the problem is due to the long line leading from the front brake line to the LSPV, and air trapped in the line. So the next step is to remove the LSPV completely, bypassing the system. I am going to get some plugs and fittings tonight, then when I have time again I will remove the LSPV and bleed everything again.

Once their is pressure, it does stop better though And now that I know I have 4.30 gears, I can install the E-locker without regearing. That will probably be a spring time project once the snow melts away and the temps are decent outside again.

 

My brake/hub rebuild/spacer install is turning out to be a big learning lesson. I keep referring back to your pics and others to see if everything looks right. I am getting ready, hopefully, finish one side tonight and then on to the other side.

I bought a torque wrench finally, and I splurged and got one from Sears, but when you are tightening up the spacers to 90 lbs, how do you keep you hub assembly from turning? Have someone else hold it down?

My time is running out if I want to have my rig expedition ready by 12/27...

 

I have a 3/8" and 1/2" torque wrench from Harbor freight, couldn't see any reason to spend $100 for something I don't use to often. Though I do now find my self looking up torque numbers every time I work on the 4runner

For the spacers, the first time I did one wheel spacer at a time. I locked the front hubs and put it in 4wd low range, first gear. I jacked up one corner at a time, with the other side on the ground the axle wouldn't turn while torquing the wheel spacer and wheel.

Now when I did my brake upgrade and light front end rebuild I had the front axle on jackstands. So I ended up putting one of the wheels on, no spacers and loose lug nuts. Then I jacked that side up, removed the jack stand and lowered it down. Went to the other side, and torqued the spacer down. Installed the wheel and torqued the lug nuts. Jacked that side up, pulled the stand out. Then jacked up the other side, and did the same thing. Had to jump around a bit, but I wasn't going to cut corners and use the impact on my spacers.

I also ended up buying a set of 1/2" impact extensions from harbor freight, so that I could torque the wheels onto the spacers to 90ft/lbs. I now keep the 1/2" harbor freight torque wrench, sockets, and extensions in my truck at all times just in case I need to change out a tire or retorque one.... Though I still need to buy a spare, and build a spare tire carrier

 

Red loc-tite on the wheel spacers torque to 100 ft lbs and forget about them.

A cheap torque wrench won't last long enough for you to get your money out of it.

 

well said

 

Ahhhhhhhhh, the tricks of yotatech. Makes sense, jacking it up with one wheel on, but I was hoping for a short cut. I didn't cut the dust shield, so my calipers are rubbing. Not wanting to undo everything now, I cut the shield with some snips and bent it back for the night. It's too late to start cutting when my neighbor's window is next to my work space.

I did use loctite, but I can't get the torque on them with it free spinning. The torque wrench I bought was only $29 from Sears and its a Craftsman. It's the old type with a scale type gauge on the handle.

 

I don't wrench often enough to drop the coin on a snap-on torque wrench. And in my opinion, Harbor freight and Sears torque wrenches are probably made in the very same factory, so why pay more for a name? The only tools I buy from sears are my metric tools. And I am starting to dislike their newer ratchets now, Harbor freight ratchets would probably last longer.

Just did a little 5 minute google research on Harbor freight vs sears Torque wrenches. First site I clicked on was reviews for a sears torque wrench, with solid 1 and 2 reviews. Then I clicked on a forum post about cheap torque wrenches. Mixed reviews, some said the HF was junk, while others said they worked great. One guy had his tested for calibration, it was 4% off. The one thing everyone did agree on, was that you must always back off the spring tension to maintain the calibration. This is something I make sure I do everytime.

I am careful with what I do buy from Harbor Freight. I will not buy anything electric from them. Most of their air tools are pretty decent for the price. I have a set of standard sockets from them, and I am impressed with the quality. I also have a few pliers, and have no complaints with those either. A lot of the tools I buy from them, I need for one specific job. I might not need to use it again, so why invest more then I need to? If it fails on me, I know they will replace it.

Sears is the same way, I avoid buying any craftsman tool with moving parts, other then a few ratchets I have. And those ratchets are not what they used to be.


Anyways back on the truck. I forgot that the dust shield needed to be trimmed as well on the first side. I ended up trimming the upper lip with tin snips as well I made sure to grind a little off on the other side before installing it. Do the calipers hit on the bottom as well? I wanted the clean look so I trimmed mine before installing them.

 

Tools:
I am fortunate that I have a Harbor freight down the street from me. I can get there in about 3 -4 minutes, so I am there all the time between house projects and car projects. You are correct, it's hit or miss with HF stuff. If its something I don't use often, I am getting it from HF. However, there was a recent test done on winches between all of the big names and they included a Chicago Electric in there. Of the 8 or 9 winches tested, only 3 made it all the way through testing, and one of them was the Chicago Electric. I have a bag of tools I bought just for one job, and its mostly HF stuff. I don't have air tools, but my electric impact, my sawzall, grinder, and sander are all HF stuff. I have cut down trees with my sawzall and have taken off pitman arms with the impact so I am satisfied with them, especially for the money saved!

The damn cone washers are putting up a fight on the Driver's side. The last place that put them in must have had two different people work on them. The passenger side cones were out with a few taps, but these are in there!

Gotta get back out there and try and get the hub off so I can take it to work and clean it and put it back together. ( I work at a fire station, so I have time between calls to get small projects done)

 

When I put mine back together, I made sure all the slots of the cone washers were facing out. Hopefully by doing so, next time I need to take them off it will be a easier task. If you can get a small screw driver in the slot, some times you can wiggle them loose after a few tabs around the hub body.

I used to have a cheap $20 angle grinder, it started getting really loud and shaking on me. I ended up buying a pair of DeWalts to replace it. With how often I use grinders, I figured it was time to buy something a little nicer. And having two is really nice too.

So those electric impacts work? I should pick one up. My air compressor at home is pathetic. Though I have also considered buying a nice cordless impact, to bring with on the trail. They are not cheap though.

 

It has worked for me for the past 2 years. I keep it in my "problem Solver bag", which also has many HF tools. When my brakes crapped out on me on the way to work, I had my girlfriend pick up all of the parts and tools I would need and that bag always comes in handy.
I got all of the cone washers out with a combination of 4crawler's tricks, but I agree about leaving all of the cone slits facing out for "next time". Hopefully, that's not on my next trip.

 

I myself have a 4" Chicago Electric angle grinder that has held up exceptionally well after many in use hours. It was my "dremel-type tool" for a long time hahaha. It displays no symptoms of wearing out and works very well. With 10,000 RPM and a cutting disc, I can do almost any thing....

But seriously, I also agree that Harbor Freight is hit or miss. Sometimes you can find well constructed and very durable items for a great price, other times its plain old garbage. Buyer beware haha

 

I am moving along on the driver's side, and its moving along much better than the passenger side, but I have an issue with the spindle(axle end?). After you install the thrust washer, the first 54mm nut, the lock washer, and then the 2nd 54mm nut, should there be any play in the spindle? The passenger side had a significant amount, but the driver's side has a bit too. I searched on here and a few other sites, but couldn't find anyone else with the question. Is that play in the bearings?
E type, sorry to hi jack your thread, but I figured since its on the topic, it might help someone else doing the same modifications.

 

Bypassed the LSPV Friday night, and bleed the brakes again. Ended up having to replace the rear brake line as well. Brakes are much better now

 

Got my Marlin 4.7 tcase gears yesterday, I had assumed I was getting the older design based on the price I was paying. Ended up getting a brand new set of XD gears complete with all the gaskets and a Trail Gear HD Tcase mount And all for only $320 shipped.

I would rather the Tcase mount be 4xinnovations as it is his design, but I couldn't pass up a deal like that.

I'll be tearing into my spare Tcase next week and cleaning everything before I install the 4.7 gears. I have all of next week off, our shop decided to give everyone a paid week holiday I'll take pictures and post up the install. It might be a month or so until I swap the case into my 4runner though. I also want to install a Dave Z twin stick shifter, but they are not in stock right now. I feel he has the best design out there. And I have heard of to many people having the roll pins fall out of the TG units.