Originally Posted by jd350az

Just getting back into serious 4x4ing. I have lived in Tucson all my life. Used to ride quads and ATCs in Redington about 12 years ago. Stayed into quads for awhile but went more to the dunes than the rocks. Always had a 4x4 truck and went hunting and easy stuff with only a few tough areas. About a month ago my main 4x4 was a 1989 Suburban 3.4 ton with a 4" lift and 35" BFG ATs. My wife also has a H3 for winters, we moved to Mt. Lemmon 3 years ago for work and found the H3 is the perfect ice/snow vehicle! She wont let me get any more AZ pinstripes on it though

I met up with some old friends from High School in the SOAZ4x4 club and started going out with them. The wife and kids had a blast even on the tougher stuff and my wife gave me the green light to look for a smaller 4x4 for more serious trails :handgestures-thumbup:

1984 Toyota 4runner with a Chevy 4.3L V6 conversion is what I found! Traded a quad for it and started working on it. It's turning out to be a project that's for sure but its FUN!

Originally Posted by jd350az

So far I tore apart the front end and rebuilt the knuckles, etc to replace the inner axle seal and gaskets, felts, etc, wheel bearings, etc. In doing so I found both locking hub assemblies were misassembled, the passenger side was engaged all the time and the drivers side wouldn't engage! While I was in there I went ahead and "Martacked" the inner axles and ditched the hidden clip inside the birfield.

There is a 2" body lift I really want to get rid of but I keep seeing it brought up online that it is nice to have with the motor swap, etc for extra clearance. The radiator is also huge and even with a 2" body lift it sticks down under the front crossmember/bumper mount by 2".

Installed a new battery and had the alternator tested, checked out ok but it is only putting out 12.26V. It keeps it charged but low, so I will be looking into that more soon. Replaced quite a few bad wires in the engine compartment, mostly ground wires that were barely hanging on and the battery cables.

Capped off a bunch of vacuum lines that were open and replaced a bunch of missing bolts/nuts. Also removed the AC stuff and Smog stuff that wasn't hooked up right anyway.

Hit the U-Pull and found some stuff but nothing big that I needed. Rigged up the passenger seat to tilt forward for access to the back seat since the original cable was broke. Desert Toyota wanted $60 for the cable

Power steering pump was shot, took me 2 weeks to track down where the pump came from, turns out it is a 1990 corvette pump. I tracked the motor down to a 92+ 4.3L v6 but they converted it to carb and V-belts and I am finding more and more oddities. Changed the pump and no power steering, tracked it down and there seems to be a blockage in the gearbox causing all the pressure to go back through the pump I wanted high steer and the IFS box but wasn't planning on it right now! Ordered up the parts and picked up an IFS box and master cylinder/booster on craigslist with a warranty so hopefully it works out! Found a deal on CL for an extra transfer case too so I picked it up for a dual crawler box at a later date and another pair of doors to cut into half doors

My wife is helping so while I was doing some heavy lifting she went ahead and replaced a deteriorated fuel line and changed the plug wires and some other stuff! She also repainted our hubs while I was working on the axle!

I was told there was a locker in the rear, but there isnt. So I ordered one. My wife got a bonus check and first thing she said was NEW TIRES!! So she went down and picked up some black steel rims and 35x12.5x15 Wrangler MT/R kevlars


Which left very little room so I looked into lifts and found a set of Chevy 63" rear springs and front lift springs on CL. I ended up tearing down the front axle again and cleaned it out, grinded off some brackets I didn't need, and welded on a TG truss and Diff guard and painted it hammered black.



Right now I'm thinking of adding a longer shackle and a drop hanger for the front suspension to get a little more lift and beef up the front end and protect the radiator more. I will then put it back together with the painted axle, lift springs and high steer kit with IFS box. Gonna be a busy weekend! Then I will tear into the rear, install the locker, replace brake shoes and set up the Chevy springs with new hangers and shackles. Then I need to flex it around and check clearance with the tires and trim the fenders/maybe tub the fender wells. I also ordered wheel spacers to get to IFS width.

The engine swap left me with no guages and I had the sr5 cluster so I traded that to a friend for a bigger electric fan with thermostat control. Picked up all new guages and an aluminum panel to make my own cluster! Still got a pile of parts to install in the garage but I wanna WHEEL IT!!! Hopefully soon I can at least drive it around and make sure there isn't any other surprises waiting for me. At this point I have had my hands on almost every part so I am confident its in good shape

Other build thread http://soaz4x4.com/SoAZ4x4/forum/index.php?topic=41.0

Photobucket pictures http://s1204.photobucket.com/albums/...ta/WorkBegins/

Originally Posted by jd350az

Got mad and cut the Toyota up for scrap!



Just kidding! Cut out a support to make room for the fan



Beth repainted the hub dials!



Cut off the old spring hangers



Welded up a new hanger, its real beefy, I found some steel in the scrap yard that worked hehe





I still need to radius or slant the front and maybe add a plate to act more like a skid plate so it doesn't get hung up on rocks or anything. It pulls double duty, or triple or more? Gives a little more lift, beefier mounts for the leaf springs, more room for bumper mounts and it protects the radiator!

Originally Posted by jd350az

The Toyota pissed me off last week, weeks of working on the frontend and get it all back together and still no steering Turns out even though the casting marks and everything matched up on this corvette pump these years of Corvette had reverse rotation pumps Its just pumping pressure into the reservoir. Turns out it was a Cherokee pump I needed, working great now

But I switched gears and worked on fun stuff, got the bender stand put together and BENDING!!!



Getting it tacked in level, there is a drain grate in the middle of my garage I thought would work great(haha pun...)

Welded it up and painted it, Mom showed up with dinner



Coming together now! I drilled the bolts in a reverse order so its at a funky angle compared to the stand but it actually worked pretty good in my garage that way heh



Looks like a Bender!



The aforementioned grate.. I thought it would work but it just doesn't cut it. Too much twisting force it wants to twist itself up, I saw some I-beams in the scrap yard I may cut to fit inside the hole under the grate(its about 8" deep under there) to fill the hole and really anchor it or maybe even weld some angle onto the grate and anchor it to the sides to hold it sturdy.



Or I will just have my mom sit on it for me everytime I need to bend



90 degree template bend, ended up making a 45 on the other side of it



180 degree



And 30 minutes later with some graph paper and pictures of Justin's sliders I bent my sliders! First try! My wife and mom were shocked lol.




Ruben bent the second sliders with my instructions I wrote down the first night heh, worked pretty good, they came out identical!



Got supports welded in(tacked here)



Fully welded the sliders, still need to make the standoffs to mount to the frame and get them mounted but I had to see how they would look hehe

I ended up anchoring new mounts in the concrete and fixed my holes to mount it the right way.



Finished off the sliders and mounts(stop signs to spread out the weld on the frame). Beth primed them, need to hammer them and debate on welding them on or waiting til I paint the truck



The bumper begins. I spent a few hours setting up the winch plate and gussets, I also have some 2.5" .250 square tube to weld on for a reciever shackle, etc(its basically a hitch tube)



Trying to get it leveled up and lined up and laid out.



Bumper got a frowny face because Ruben was talking ˟˟˟˟˟.



Tacked in place



Almost a bumper type thing