Raybestos 9838R for an '83 Landcruiser

 

Life sure has a way of getting in the way of progress! The wife and I are shopping for a place with more land than we have now so that I can build a shop, but the housing market here is going crazy, and we got bid out on a couple places. So we decided we would sell our house and move into a travel trailer so that we don't have to buy on contingency. Which means I need to get this frame so that we can roll it onto a trailer.
I dismantled the rear axle, bought Marlin rebuild kits and repainted.

The bell cranks that came off were absolutely shot, so I bought a dorman kit for a Tacoma, everything in it worked great except for the bell crank arms. So I wire wheeled and painted the originals.



Then I reinstalled all of the drum components, and wrapped up the rear axle.....only to realize I put the bell cranks on the wrong side


So I had to take it all apart again, switch sides, and then reinstall, needless to say, I'm pretty good at doing drum brakes now lol

 

Jake
It's been a long time since we talked. I have not been online in probably a year. I had/have some health issues that have kept me from doing my ground up.
Life is funny....................or not. Seems like you have everything under control or the brakes.
So, what are you going to do when you move to a trailer??? Where are you going to store everything??? Sorry to hear the house hunt isn't going well, out here they are building like crazy. Plenty of land here just waiting for a new house!
I just moved my rolling frame into the front garage to make some room in the rear garage to start doing the body work. Cab, bed, doors, hood have all been gutted and now need to be wire wheeled so I could start prime and rapture coating and paint...............I think, I might just rapture coat the entire truck, we'll see.
I've tried to get some of my young friends to help me but they dont seem to want to, let me tell ya, I can't do 1/3 of what I was able to do when I was younger, I was able to wire brush most of the cab bottom yesterday but what a task, today might be a day of rest, since it's already getting hot outside and my body hurts from yesterday
Ever think about moving to Utah? I don't think it's much different from where you are and there's plenty of space.
Later
Hump

 

Good to hear from you Mike! Sorry to hear about your health issues, we can finally see the end of the tunnel when it comes to my wife's breast cancer treatment. I sure hope I have everything under control, I'd hate to do it a 3rd time . Her parent's have full hook ups at their property with a large shop, so the pickup will move into there for the time being. Luckily her dad is a pretty good welder which will work perfectly because the pickup needs some welding done. At this point we're not looking to leave the state, but I have been to Salt lake city once, and it sure it beautiful.

 

Jake
So glad to hear that your wife is doing well, I was afraid to ask................ great news. I hope it all works out well........
Slow go hear, I seem to run out of gas real quick but I do what I can and then take a break and then back at it. It's all good, just going to take a bit longer.
I have changed my mind so many times on what I want to do about the inside of the cab and the paint for the outside. Now I'm back thinking Raptor on the outside. This is going to be a trail truck so no sense putting on a perfect paint job only to worry about scratches and dings. Now with the tint-able Raptor you can still go with any color you want.For now I just want to get the cab ready for epoxy prime and then decide what to do later.
Stay tuned

 

Nice and shiny parts! Nice work. I skipped doing my bell cranks, the arms are seized and I just didn't have the funds.. plus I have an auto, who needs an e brake!

 

Makes sense to me! Keep us posted!

This is the kit I used , wasn't terribly expensive. Looks like everything fits your rig, I used everything but the bell crank arms.

 

Hey Jake
Did I show you what I got????? he he he



I put it in the front garage .....................

 

I HATE YOU

 

LOL
Now that's not nice
Hey, you can move down to Utah and I'll let you use it, how's that....................

 

Hey Jake
This is what I ended up with on my front yard




No more cutting grass......................

 

Low maintenance! Looks great

 

Its been awhile! We sold our house to become more competitive in the market around here and moved in with my inlaws. I was how able to get quite a bit more accomplished on this pickup.

I bought an IFS steering box from NYHumpinUtah (thanks again!) and got it installed.


Then I finished building the motor, and dropped it in the frame for hopefully the last time. I guess I didn't get a good picture but I also installed the transmission/trans case/Bud built crossmember.


Then we got the cab mated back to the frame!

 

That motor looks good in there!

 

Thanks! I sure think so!

 

Spent the holiday break at my BILs, but found a few minutes in the shop last night. Installed a reman Denso starter:

And an Aisin Slave:

I've got an Aisin master sitting on the shelf, decided to let the hardware soak in PB blaster overnight before trying to remove the old one.

 

Idk if its the same here, but on my 3.4, I had terrible clutch problems until I installed both aisin cylinders.

 

I've been trying to purchase OEM to avoid any problems

 

The absolute first mistake I made with this project was telling myself that it wasn't going to be one of those that gets a good start, then stops for months, then starts again, then stops again. Well let me tell you something, life sure has a way of kicking you square in the teabag while you are already down. My wife and I finally found a property out in the country that fit almost all of our needs (still no dedicated shop space.) We moved in and of course started a myriad of house projects. She had gone over two years without any evidence of disease, but shortly after getting rocked by her second covid vaccine (required by her work) her breast cancer showed up in her lungs. There's no way to prove causation but there is definitely a noticeable correlation between getting the vaccine and having a reoccurrence. The cancer has spread to her adrenal glands, surrounding lymph nodes, her liver, and most recently her brain. She is a fighter and the toughest gal I know, and her last scans showed some improvement on the new drug so we remain hopeful.

Onto the reason I am posting today:

The pickup has made it to my garage! I'll have limited time to work on it, but at least its home. I need to go through everything I have already done, and refamiliarize myself with what has been done, and what still needs to be done. Unfortunately, the latter is a much larger list. The brakes are covered in surface rust from being stored in a barn that flooded last winter so I may need to purchase those again.

Thanks for staying tuned, I'll try and be better about posting updates.

 

Prayers for your wife.