^ ya transmission issues are no fun, thats why its worth it to do a rebuild IMO.
Took her out for the 4th, did Rawlings pass and Plane crash. truck ran well, it was a good day. Started to get some noise in my rearend towards the end of the day, so looks like i'm gonna have to pull the 3rd. hopefully nothing too bad.....

 

My first broken R&P







Seriously looked into building a stronger rear axle, but there's just not an easy upgrade for the 3rd. LC 9.5's are hard to find and would require a custom centered housing. Not something i want to take on at the moment. I'm seriously looking at the so called "8.4" non-elocer axle, its got a truss on the bearing cap and a slightly stronger casting. probably isn't a huge upgrade but might be worth building if i can find one cheap. in the mean time, put a new diff in it and got her back on the road. Also put some larger spacers on the rear so it matches the front width now. I like.

 

Is that a 4cyl 3rd? I wonder if the V6 3rd has a more robust ring and pinion. Glad it got you home! That vibration/grinding sensation is all too familiar.

 

its actually the v6 elocker third. Ya i'd never experienced a broken R&P before but its pretty unmistakable.

 

ran spring creek a couple weeks ago. runner did awesome

 

Welcome to the club! I've broken 5 now. I've contemplated building something stronger too.

 

The rocks of Spring Creek+snow+mud+ice…Love it!

 

I wish I could find one of those FROR front bumpers...

 

I've actually been doing a lot, just haven't been documenting it well. After my R150 swap last summer i've been trying to figure out how to configure all the shifters. It moved both shifters quite a ways further back, my center console would not even fit. If your doing an r150 swap i highly reccomend using the older 3.0 transmission, the bellhousing and input shaft is a couple inches shorter. that would have definietely been easier, but i had to use the 3.4 transmission to bolt to my 7mgte bellhousing.
Anyway, I did some digging around at "yoda jims" and found a shorter console, i believe it was from an auto. I also found a 2wd shifter skirt. I made a block-off plate and trimmed the rubber shift-boot to fit. Here it is mocked up:




I also re-discoverd a half-dozen rust holes in the floorboard, so i spend the better part of 2 weeks cutting, welding, and sanding until it was all fixed up. I sprayed Rustoleum Professional Undercoating on the floor prior to re-installing the insulation. I've used that stuff on a lot of things and it hold up really well, much better than paint.
More to come, i've got to grab a few more pictures to continue....

 

Looks like you've been pretty busy, looking good buddy!

 

^Thanks ed!
We had a nice sunny day yesterday so i got motivated to install my birthday present

 

Nice! Just wondering if you've considered tack welding one of the mount bolts. How did the cabin floor project turn out? Can't wait to see this rig!

​​​​​​​Les

 

never heard of welding the mounts, what does that gain you? i've never owned a winch so i'm a little green.
The floor seems to be holding up, no water leaks yet! still trying to wrap up the shifter area, its all together except i cant figure out how to put the trim piece back on.
ya man i'd like to see your rig too, we need to grab a beer one of these days

 

A winch that's mounted out in the open is an easy target for thieves and a quick tack weld on one or two mount bolt heads is an easy deterrent to dishonest activity. It sucks to have to think along these lines but you don't want to give stuff away.

I'm really inspired about copying your floor treatment. The noise and heat are a problem. Thanks for the ideas!

 

Finally a winch! Looks great man.

 

Check out can't wait for boost thread he moved the center console mounting tabs back

 

good call, i'll definitely consider securing the winch, thanks!

thanks! excited to use it

yea i've seen his, unfortunately since i'm running the adapter and twin-stick the factory bezel won't really work at all. i'm going to end up making my own i think

 

The wife was out of town and i was antsy to do some work, so i finally got around to my front speaker project. Little back-story, I wanted some decent front speakers cuz my 6x9's in the rear produce 90% of the sound in the truck and i can't blare them with the kid in the back seat. After trying out several options i determined that 4" speakers are just not cutout for the job so i started considering other options. The easiest place is to mount some 6.5's in the doors but i want to be able to take the doors off and still have good sound, so even though everyone told me it wasn't possible i was determined to get a 5.25" speaker in the factory dash location.
Took a LOT of cutting, but here it is:
BEFORE


AFTER

The factory speaker grill still fits, you'd never know its in there!

 

The winch looks great! I'm glad you were able to make the 5.25" speakers work, I'm going to have to copy your idea, I replaced my blown out factory speakers with some 4" again and can still barely hear them, lol.

 

^ ya its amazing the difference just going up 1 speaker size. I do have 2 pairs of working 4" speakers if you need something on-the-cheap, just pay for shipping. I think 1 pair is alpine type s and the other is mb-quart components. both heavily used but still functional