So I recently bought a bunch of stuff that needs to get put on the truck. I acquired a tilt-able steering column, some 5.29 gears for the front, I am buying a complete rear diff with locker, so that will probably be a while before I get the diff's installed. I ordered the power steering pump re-sealing kit off of amazon, and I ordered the power steering pump idler bearing from 22reperformance, which I must say was quick to get the parts I ordered out to me. I also picked up a complete EFI intake manifold, with the sensors, fuel rail, injectors, air box, ECU, and uncut wiring harness. The EFI stuff was only 100 bucks already pulled, so, I will be doing an EFI swap sometime after the winter, maybe by summer? I just need to get a distributor, EFI tank and pump, and the tubing from the air box to the throttle body. I am for sure buying a new head and cam, getting the injectors rebuilt, and assembling it all, that way my downtime will be kept to a minimum.



new steering column, my old exhaust parts. I think I keep everything I take off, never know when if I will want to put everything back one day.





EFI setup, sorry for blurry photo, crappy light in the garage. I just realized I also will be needing a throttle cable.

 

The first weekend of November I went to the AZBAJA playday, my buddy and I have been working on a baja bug for a few years now, and I took my truck as a "chase" truck, because you never know when you will need to make a run to the parts store, or pull the angry little car out of a place it should not be. Seriously, who was the first person to say, "Jeez, look at this under powered little crap car, lets put some big tires on it, and treat it like a jeep/truck" I was impressed with the ride quality, not so much with the "reliability." Where the baja bugs that were done up with tens of thousands of dollars were going, I would follow, needless to say, my truck did not disappoint, and went everywhere I asked it to, with zero hiccups. The ride quality on the pickup left something to be desired, I am thinking of ditching the dual shocks up front, I mean, I felt every pebble. Ideas and recommendations? I want this to stay my daily driver, but I want to be able to take some dirt roads, and off-road, without feeling every bump.

 

A guy I used to be friends with years ago had an 88 that looked just like yours. It was a great truck. I had the truck I have now and he had the 88 and he was faster than I was with the same motor with bigger tires...If only I would have known he was geared lower than I was...lol. Anyway. Great build thread.

 

Okay, past two weeks, I got some stuff done, first, custom seat covers. If in mesa, check out the mesa market place, they have a booth that makes custom seat covers, you pick your fabric and color, I was really happy, they did the seats and head rests, the seats even had the rear pocket, which was a nice bonus. The way the covers are installed, it almost looks like the seats came that way from the factory.

 

I also replaced the idler bearing for the power steering, that was a fairly easy job, I got the bearing from 22reperformance, very helpful, and quick to ship out. The bearing was completely shot, surprised the belt had not broken. I also replaced the seals in the power steering pump, since it was leaking. I used a kit from amazon, Edelmann part number 8760, it was under 10 bucks when I ordered it. I want to get another power steering pump to completely rebuild, with new bearings, and check tolerances so I can have a completely ready spare on hand. I did a quick search on on 22re power steering pump rebuild, and found a great step by step. For the idler bearing, I did not use a walk through, quick heads up, a press would be nice. I used my bottle jack and some spuds to press things in, so a press is now on my list of things to buy. I do not recommend using the bottle jack and the truck, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

The power steering pump reseal was a bear to do, some of the bolts were rusted in from the back side. The final bolt to split it open was very rusted, at least 3 threads worth. I used mouse milk to penetrate, that worked great on all the bolts but the last one. The torch did not help either. I might recommend loosening the bolts while still in the truck, because my impact gun was doing nothing when the pump was on the workbench. Vise and 2 foot breaker bar did the trick.

 

Jeff requested that I stick a few pics of his G2 Gear install in his front IFS.

I have so many pics to choose from but will be brief. The install itself went well. Jeff is local to me
and dropped the IFS 3rd off. We discussed it and decided because of the way the front end gets
used and does not see the same usage as the rear that the bearings will be re-used if they are
in good shape to start with.





On the bench...








529 G2 Gear....7.5" low pinion





Most of the time, a pair of crowbars will coax the carrier out.






No burrs found....surfaces felt good and smooth.







Ring gear is installed. Red loctite and 70 ft/lb






The ring is on and the carrier bearings are still in good shape so this end is done.
Now onto the other half.





The 24mm pinion nut is wizzed off.






Taking off the big pinion bearing and the shim.





Did you know Jeff that this piece of pinion tooth was stuck to your magnetic drain plug?
Guess that oem 410 ring/pinion is history.











The inner pinion bearing is still in good shape......






...so is the small outer bearing.







Outer race is ok....







Inner race is aok too








Going to try the oem .101" pinion shim for the first try.






The Harbor Freight 12t press is a life saver.






Loading up the pinion now into the diff carrier....





Backlash checks in at a little wide at .014" but it's good enough for a pattern depth check







Resultant drive side pattern.....coast side will not be shown. This is too shallow.

'




Skipping a few steps but re-shimmed the pinion deeper to .107"





Re-shimmed again to .112"
This is pretty close.....maybe exact depth but I like to see a slight deep condition.







I will reshim one last time and also put the pinion end together at the same time.
This time (not shown) the new crush collar is installed.
splash guard is inserted and new seal installed.







Flange goes on






It's a crush so lots of checking to see if the preload is just right. 5 in/lb is the target.







Lots of playing with the washer plates to get the carrier bearing pre-load and backlash just right.
70 ft/lb on the 2 bearing caps






Drive side.....One last change to a pinion shim of .117" and now I have a deep pattern. I'll keep it.





Final backlash check....checked on every third tooth and .006" was showing up alot.







Raw Notes of the install





Jeff had me put 2 axle stub seals in also.