dropzone

iTrader: (6)

old trucks= a bit of work. check the breathers but more than likely you will just need to replace the seals. I would rebuild the front axle.
this link
http://ncttora.com/fsm/index.html
has the FSM for the '85's but the majority of the info will work for the '81 with regard to axles etc. worth the 50 MB down load or whatever it is...

tditoyota

Thanks dropzone. I already have the front knuckle rebuild kit with wheel bearings, but was wondering if I should rip into the front and rear differentials too? I will at least change the third member seals with permatex ultra grey.

brotherinbluejeans

if the rear axle is leaking oil UP onto the bottom of the bed then it can't just be leaking out of the drain plug... it has to get its inertia from something spinning to get flung up there. unless the cap is completely off the breather then maybe you should check out the seal on the input shaft... the yoke might be spraying it up there and the excess dribbling on down to the drain plug.

tdi yota

I drive a 2000 golf alh thats has 393k on it and most of that was done at 170hp and above. If you need any tips on that engine I know them like the back of my hand. The alh is a strong engine but only 90hp stock. The one I am using does not have an injection pump and injectors are drivin by the cam and the engine is 150hp in stock form. My swap is at least 6 months away as well I have the engine,wiring and ecu but still need a ton of other stuff. Good luck with the truck.

scottd

Where did you get your knuckle rebuild kit? If you don't already have them, I would recommend Marlin Crawler's HD inner axle seals. I rebuilt my front axle a few years ago using OEM type seals and the driver's side started leaking again almost immediately. I took it apart again and put in Marlin's seal and have been leak free for close to 2 years now. Edit: If you think you are going to be getting into the differentials at some point, you might as well do it while you have the axles apart to do the seals. If you need to remove the differentials again later, you will need to take a lot of the same stuff apart again.

The truck looks like a great starting point for your build. I look forward to seeing your progress.

tditoyota

thanks, I think it might be the rear pinion seal too. I put the breathers on last night and don't seem to have any leaking anymore. I'm still going to change the seals, but its not as important to do this minute anymore.

tditoyota

Awesome, sounds like an interesting swap, very similar to mine. What truck are you using? I love those numbers you've got your engine too.

I got the knuckle rebuild kit from lowrange offroad, but am ordering the rear wheelbearings and seals from marlin, and was thinking about just getting those HD inner seals at the same time. Good to hear that it's worth it, thanks.

tditoyota

Pulled up to another blue toy at school the other day. Had to take a pic of the two sweetest vehicles on campus:

tditoyota

Someone ran into my pickup at work the other day and dented up the front bumper pretty good. I'm trying to find a reasonably priced one online, but can only find one for a 2wd. Does anyone know what the difference is?

775Toy

I'll be keeping an eye on your build. I got a complete bug with a 1.9 diesel lined up possibly for free with a beat body and blown tranny, motor ran great though. So hopefully you will give a nice "how to" on the harness part of the swap. Keep it up

salanord

i bet a tdi would make for some awesome wheeling can't wait to see the end results.

tditoyota

Thanks guys. Haven't really done anything in phase one yet (rebuild and repair original truck). The only thing unfortunately planned for the summer is possibly a front-end rebuild, and cleaning up some rust spots with some sandpaper and primer. Sadly other than that, not much. She drives pretty smooth right now, so I at least have a dependable ride. (boring update I know,hehe)

tditoyota

Phase 1 is going pretty slow. I've noticed a hole in the passenger floorboard that I'm going to get fixed. I also bought an 81 SR5 gauge cluster with tach and trip meter and LED replacement bulbs to brighten it up a little. I'll probably install that after I take off my annihilated dash pad and replace it with one I just bought.



I also just bought a Husky Truckbox today at Home Depot for $260. I've been looking on Craigslist for something that would fit my 81 shortbox ever since I bought my truck and haven't found anything that would fit, so I decided to pony up the money and spring for new.

Here is a picture of the model number on the inside



A shot of the gap between the wheel well and truckbox



Then a few shots of what it looks like on my 81 pickup

tditoyota

I've done a few small projects recently, mostly just maint. stuff like changing all of my oils (axles, transfer case, transmission, engine), I also replaced the rear output seal on my transfer case with an ecoseal from Marlin. Here is an awesome walkthrough that I followed (tutorial is about a 1/3 of the way down the page, and my 81 had 12mm bolts and nuts instead of the 14mm mentioned for the driveshaft, everything else is the same).

The funny thing, is that when I took the flange shield (or whatever it's called) off, there was no fipg or any sort of silicone. This is most likely why I had the leak, although the seal is noticeably worn as well.

I also ordered a gallon of black monstaliner for my truckbed, not looking forward to the prep work, but it's going to make a huge difference. I'm also going to sand some of my surface rust down and do some sort of primer. Any recommendations for primer, maybe spray rust-oleum primer of some sort.

tditoyota

So I just got done putting my new dash pad on my truck. I also put my new SR5 gauge cluster with tach in. The nice thing was that I didn't even have to wire up the tach, I just plugged it in and it worked. I also replaced all of the bulbs with LEDs. Here is a shot of the dash before, and some shots after:







I also installed a new exhaust manifold the other week. It went on pretty easily, but some of the studs were a little sketchy. I didn't want them to break as I was tightening them, so I just replaced them with bolts. Here is a shot of the brand of manifold I used, then a shot of the completed work:

tditoyota

I finished installing my new shocks today. I replaced the rear ones a few weeks ago but the front nuts holding the tops of the front shocks to the shock towers would not budge. I hit it PB brothers for weeks, but that did nothing as the threads were rusted pretty bad. I then bought a nutsplitter to split the nuts, but the piece of crap broke on me, but I didn't see the cheap ass thing finishing the job anyways.

So today I bought some metal cutting blades for my jigsaw (I know not the best tool for the job, but the only one I've got). After a few minutes of cutting through the shock where the top bushings are, they finally gave.

The difference is night and day. When I took the old shocks off, they pretty much sank into the shocks, meaning they were completely useless, hehe.

Here are a few shots of my new monroe OESpectrums for the front and SENSA-TRAC shocks for the rear:

tditoyota

Replaced my clutch master cylinder and slave cylinder. Way easier than I thought, and it only took about an hour.

83Toyota88

iTrader: (1)

Where did you get that dash from?

83Toyota88

iTrader: (1)

Truck looks good to btw.

tditoyota

Thanks 83Toyota88, I got the dash from user mightymouse on this forum. It came in a light gray or something like that, so I scuffed it up and spray painted it navy blue, which kind of matches the blue theme, but not exactly. I'm not too picky though.