Check marlin crawler, i think they have a page that says what dif was in what.

 

I'm about to order a differential off of Ebay. This truck needs to stop sitting. Work is busy but I'm putting too many miles on my 2020 Tacoma. I found a diff with 4.10 gears already; I wouldn't mind changing to a lower gear ratio but since the rear is still stock and I don't want to buy gears right now, I will keep 4.10 up front too.

I also purchased the spindle/CV bushings from LCE Performance.

I have a stick welder at work and some 701* rod so I'll get to work on the frame before I put the diff back in.

Also, Marlin has some differential info on it but I wasn't able to clearly find what I was looking for. However, LC Engineering has a good page HERE.

@swampedout As for the dash, here are some photos.





As you can see, I didn't do anything neat. I placed the dash bezel where it should be with epoxy between the broken pieces. I then put some gorilla tape across the cracks to hold it in place until it dried. Quick and dirty.

 

I am waiting on the bushings from LCE Performance. They sent me an email to review the bushings but I still don't have them and never got tracking info for them. Seems kind of backward.

The front diff has been cleaned, re-sealed, and put back together. It will be installed as soon as I get those bushings installed.

The frame crack is welded. I would show pictures but since I know what good welding is and know how to weld well; I know better than to post pictures of this. It has been too long since I welded stick regularly. I'll keep the images of this repair to myself. The frame was actually only cracked around half of its diameter. There is a bracket on the inside of the frame that didn't crack and didn't allow the frame itself to crack on that side.

I let the truck sit for several minutes in the cold, running and when I came back, the temperature was right at the edge of the red. There's a small drip of coolant from the bottom radiator hose too. So I installed a fan shroud on my radiator and replaced the lower radiator hose. There was some gunk built-up on the lower radiator port so I buffed off what I could. I'll check to see if it is still seeping tomorrow. It would be sad to kill a newly built engine due to $50 in parts.

I have another dilema though. The mud terrains on the truck are terrible. They are hard, out of round, heavy, and useless in winter. I'm looking at new tires but this is the time to consider size. I don't know if I should keep the 33" tires or downsize to 31". My rims are 9" wide (wish I had some narrower rims.) And while I am at it, I am also considering dropping the 3" body lift the truck has. Anyone have pictures of 31" tires on this model with a 3" body lift? The wight difference in tires makes me want smaller tires. If I get General Grabber A/TX 33" tires, they weight 58lbs each! If I go 31", they are only 45lbs.

 

Im pretty sure these are 31s. Previous owner had them on the truck. I pulled them bc the sidewalls were all cracked. Im assuming theyd rub at full lock. Stock suspension.
ive got narrow rims, so Im rocking a 30x9.5x15 tire right now. Looks wise, its eh. But I got a good price on a set of BFGs and after commuting in hills with a tired 22re for half a year, I liked where the gears and rpms sat with this combo.

 

Thanks, @swampedout . So that truck also has a body lift? It doesn't look bad with those tires. Where do you live? Looks like New Mexico. I grew up near Roswell and I wouldn't have to drive far to find somewhere exactly like that.

 

Tha

thats 30x9.5. Kinda narrow for my eyes but like I said, its a narrow rim.

In my area, you can find every toyota rim you can think of if you look long enough. So if you dont like your current rim size, check CL.

 

So I just checked those tires in the 1st photo is 265,75,16s so its around 31.5in.
No body lift to my knowledge. I never checked but the body and frame seem like the right height. Trucks getting a new motor now so I cant make 100% sure.

Were just outside of Santa Fe, so youre pretty spot on with your eye for desert terrain. Thinking of moving to Albuquerque next year so my wife can go back to school.

 

This is the only other photo I have of the truck with the old tires

 

I appreciate the photos, @swampedout . I decided to stick with 33" tires since I have a 3" body lift. I think it would look silly on 31's.

So, quick update with a photo.
Ordered a used front diff with stock gearing (4.10:1). Disassembled, cleaned, replaced oil seals, reassembled and reinstalled.
(I had thrown the old carrier housing out when I swapped some parts to the new one but when I installed the new-to-me diff, it was missing the right side mount! I dug it out of the dumpster and was good to go.)
New gear oil in both diffs, transmission, and transfer case.
New right CV axle.
New right side spindle bushings and inner spindle/CV seal.
Packed right side wheel bearings.
Tightened left side wheel bearings.
New steering idler arm.
New tie rod end on left side (will do the right side someday, already bought it.)
Installed POWER STEERING!!! WOOO!!!! This makes a world of difference for the truck.
Upped right side torsion bar. I was leaning right.
New radiator. (Bottom fitting was cracked)
Fixed left front blinker.
New parking brake cable.
Adjusted rear brakes since the parking brake didn't work for many many years.
Removed parking brake cable (cheap junk broke first day.)
New rubber between steering box U-joint and lower steering shaft.
New windshield.
New General Grabber A/TX 185/75R16 tires on allow rims I got from a co-worker for $50. I thought they were 15" but the 16" doesn't bother me at all.

I am really liking the look of this truck now.



I have a Toyota parking brake cable and steering shaft -> firewall dust seal waiting for me in town.
Driveshaft bolt, fan switch, CV end circlip and spacer, rubber for fuel door stops, and washer reservoir pump are all on order.
I have four ball joints, two wheel studs, and one tie-rod end, and the right side spindle bushings on hand and ready to install. I'm commuting in the truck right now and my enthusiasm has waned a little this week as I spend several whole days working on this thing.

I'm pleased with how it is running and driving. The 4.10:1 gearing with 33" tires is a little high but I am not changing it yet. If it works well offroad, I will leave it. If not, I'll change to 4.56:1.

Things still to do/order:
Rear bumper
Change front bumper to something lighter
Front fenders
Fix dents in bed
Interior carpet
Radio
Fix hole in driver's side seat
Spartan locker(s)
Shocks
Need A/C compressor

 

I got motivated yesterday and did some more work.
Installed all four ball joints. The bottom right was absolutely done. Just waiting for the right moment to come apart and leave me in a world of hurt. I'm glad I replaced them.
Installed the steering shaft dust seal as well as secured my shift boot to the floor. The cab is much quieter now with almost no air leaks.
Installed the new parking brake cable.

Before I replaced the ball joints, both front tires appeared to have some negative camber. After replacement, the right wheel had positive camber. I eyeballed my camber and set the right side as close to 0° as I could. It no longer tries to walk across the lane while driving. I'll be taking it in on Tuesday for a proper alignment.

All this happened yesterday, Saturday. Before that, on Wednesday or Thursday, I went of for a short drive.


Man this truck is rough.

But yesterday I went on another trail, Monitor and Merimac, and had a much better ride. I had discovered the tire shop set my tire pressures to 40psi. Yikes! I also dropped both torsion bars by 1/8".

Got in a bad spot in some rocks. Didn't take a photo. Dented my rear rocker panel. Got out, three miles from my house, got stuck in some sand. Called the wife to brink some shovels. Got un-stuck, and called it a day.

 

Been meaning to do an update here but haven't been motivated to sit down and write. But here we go!

After I got the truck back from an alignment it drove straight and nice but... my left tire looked to have excessive positive camber. I didn't like the look of it but kept driving it a few more days. One day after pulling in to work I got out and looked at my tire. There was still some dirt remaining on the inside corner of the tread. The tire was definitely over cambered in. Also, later on while wheeling on Fins and Things here in Moab, I started getting some creaking from the right side suspension. The lower a-arm had started moving. The nut wasn't tightened enough. I don't particularly like other people doing maintenance on my things since I have more attention to detail than a shop. I read through the alignment process on this site and did an alignment one day after work. Now it is properly cambered, not overly castered, and sufficiently toed. I will be doing my own alignments on this truck from now on. Lastly, the shop that installed my tires (same shop that did the alignment) put 40 psi in my tires. That's why it was so stinking rough on the trail!

While on Fins and Things I realized a few upgrades I still needed.
1. Bambi slayer needs removed. It sticks out way too far and kills my approach angle.
2. I need lockers.
3. I need a slower crawl gear (4 low)
4. I would really like some armor

So... I lopped off the Bambi slayer last week. The truck looks better without it and my headlights are a little higher (I carry a screwdriver to re-aim headlights; I hate headlights in my eyes.). But now I really need to build my own front and rear bumpers. I plan to use square or rectangular tubing and keeping them high and tight. I'll also build some rock sliders.

The locker dilema has solved itself. While heading down the road a couple miles to find more dirt and explore some old homesteading cabins I heard about, I felt and heard low frequency hum. I got out once I turned off the highway and moved my rear driveshaft. It has way too much backlash and I can see the pinion move in and out just a little when I rotate it. So on order tomorrow are 4.88:1 front and rear rings and pinions. Since I'm going that deep, I'm also putting a Spartan up front and an ARB in back. There went all my savings!! I wanted to regear already since I live at 6000 feet in mountainous terrain with a 4-cylinder and 33" tires. 4.88:1 will put me only a couple percent lower gearing than stock. 5th gear with 4.88 gearing is within 30 rpm of 4th gear and 4.10 gearing. I've been driving around in 4th gear to check mileage, RPM, and torque. It feels right.

At the wife's request, I purchased a tan Softopper. Looking forward to that showing up.

The armor is not in the works yet... it's on the short list though.

The crawl speed is furthest down the list. I can make due with what I have right now. I am thinking of the 4.7:1 low range gearing to fix that issue. Dual cases is cool but I feel like it is excessive. If I find the 4.7 gearing is too low, I can still get dual cases and I'm not out anything as then I can have 2.3 and 4.7 gearing in two separate cases later.

Also, I drove part of the 3D Safari route then decided to risk Mashed Potatoes one day after work. Wasn't bad at all and lots of fun. I'm really enjoying this truck.

Gone fishing for HF contacts.


Poor approach angle on Fins and Things.


Homestead finding.

 

beautiful country out there. id love to do a wheeling trip and hit up places all along the way there.

 

Sign me up!

 

I'm starting to schedule jobs around July so I can take a month off to go wheeling. The weekend after July 4th I'll be in Smiley Creek, ID for a fly-in but after that I'm headed to Colorado. If people want to come out around that time, we can start in the San Rafael Swell and keep moving southeast.

In other news, Marlin Crawler emailed me today that everything I ordered (and purportedly already shipped) is out of stock. Sounds like two weeks out. That's frustrating since their website says nothing of the sort.

My Spartan locker I ordered elsewhere will be here this week though!

I have my sixth year wedding anniversary this weekend. My wife and I plan to go out to one of the homesteads we located this past weekend and camp out for a couple nights. Pondering if I should take the new Tacoma or the pickup. Don't want to scratch the nice truck but also don't want to lose the rear diff in the middle of nowhere.

 

Congrats on the anniversary! I know its not easy juggling toyotas and spouses so job well done.

Im just a bunch of hot air when it comes to wheeling trips at the moment. Weve got a trip down to Tucson this month and then probably again in the fall. Between them Im just busting my to buy a house and pay moving expenses.

My goal is to have my 1980 straight axle truck ready to go by next summer. But that means cab off, frame welded, brakes, steering, armor, windshield, final touches on the motor, new bumper, complete suspension overhaul and whatever else Im forgetting. I told my wife I dont care about what kind of house we get, I just want a garage or a real big yard.

 

Got some goodies. Sold the FTM-400 and found a TM-D710G for the same price. I have it set up as a base station for a while to play with it until I toss it in the Pickup. So far I like it much more than the Yaesu.


This also came in yesterday.




It's so small! But it's heavy.

I ordered gears and a rear ARB locker from Marlin Crawler. It showed everything as in stock. That day it said my order processed and I got two tracking numbers. Then the next day I got an email saying everything I ordered was out of stock and they will ship it when it comes in. That's... frustrating. So I called them. They said the gears will be in within two weeks and the locker a little sooner than that. I asked about the pinion spacer I ordered and they said that was in stock. This isn't the first time in recent history this exact problem has happened to me (usually at work) and I'm pretty well over it (softtopper is the same situation). If you don't have a part, don't sell it; maybe offer a pre-order. Surely your website and inventory systems are capable of keeping that in-line.

Oh well, rant over. I told them I'll still keep it on order and just wait. So here I wait. I'll get my APRS radio installed, fix my front fenders that are contacting my doors, and finish tidying up my exhaust that's still flopping around. Oh yeah, and watch some more Youtube videos on setting up a differential.

 

Went to a friend's house to use his welder. I filled 28 holes in the bed. Almost all of them were bolt and screw holes. After that I went to the hangar and installed my new softtopper! Install was mostly straight forward. I like it.



I also added a hangar to my muffler as it was bumping against the frame brace under the bed.

Today I emailed Marlin. They said my parts are in stock and will ship tomorrow (Tuesday.) I may not have time to install things for a week or two now but at least I will have my parts. Next I need to setup my fire extinguisher air tank.

 

Look what arrived!


I went to the hangar yesterday, pulled the rear diff carrier, and went to town on installing the rear 4.88s and ARB locker. I have directions for the ARB locker, Yukon gears, and the Toyota service manual. It has been fun combining all three sets of directions and figuring out how the solid spacer/shims fits in there too.



I started with .092" shims behind the rear pinion bearing. I looked at several of Zuk's builds and one he did with Yukon 4.88 gears ended with .091" worth of shims. I figured that would be a good place for me to start. Then I was going to press the bearings on the ARB locker and... they are the wrong size.



The bearing ID is 45mm. The locker OD is 50mm. Pretty frustrating since this is a "builder kit". I called NAPA, they will have the bearings for me on Wednesday. So I stalled out on assembly.

 

Just got off the phone with Marlin Crawler. They know it doesn't come with the right bearings. They don't mention it. They didn't intend on shipping the right bearings. Pretty crummy since this is directly from their website:

Marlin Crawler Differential Builder Packages

Everything you need to get your diff built and your rig
back on the trail with new & improved traction,
bundled together at a discounted price!


The guy on the phone said, "I will pass on your input. Thanks."

So, wait until Wednesday for the bearings I ordered from NAPA, I will.

 

wait....what? they gave you a builder package that didnt have the correct bearings for......building...your diff? hows that make sense?