now that i can, and it's a relatively nice day, i put on new wipers and re-installed my led lights. still need to make a new wiring harness for all the front lights (headlights and fog lights):

 

bad day in the life of the truck today. exhaust studs/nuts backed out to give me a nice low exhaust rumble. also, i have an oil leak somewhere in the back. i replaced the pcv valve and tightened up the valve cover. frustrating. that's why i'll be looking for a commuter car shortly...




"this too shall pass" -ok go

 

I had a bad leak in the rear after a valve adjustment. I didn't get the rear half moon seal seated correctly and it was a mess. Hopefully it's something easy like that.

 

I was gonna say half moon also. On my 87 4runner I had oil leaks everywhere. One problem was the PO put a new valve cover on and a wire was sandwiched under the cover creating a leak I couldn't see until I removed the valve cover. And found a nice impression in the gasket. Just sayin.
Even when you get a commuter, make sure you still drive her a good bit, for me, it keeps me aware of potential problems before I get out for a trip.

 

nice truck!

 

i'll be checkin that next. thanks
but of course! i don't think i could go a week without driving my two-ton pile of burgundy steel.

that, and the last time she sat, i needed to jump her

 

as you may or may not know, i'm planning on a full-float rear axle. the issue has always been price and/or availability of the toyota supra calipers with e-brake. after searching online for quite a while, it dawned on me:why supra calipers? why not calipers from another toyota?

the answer? 91-95 mr2 turbo rear calipers.

specs:
____________________________________
vehicle............ | mr2.. | supra.
rotor thickness.... | 22mm. | 10mm..
rotor diameter..... | 281mm | 258mm.
caliper piston bore | 43mm. | 38mm..
price (used pair).. | $50.. | $200+.

if you notice, the mr2 caliper is bigger, cheaper, and is more well-suited for a vented rotor, like the sfa vented rotor upgrade. the only thing about the mr2 rotor is the direction of the cable pull. it goes up/forward, as opposed to towards the diff. so what i'll need to do is either weld a small tab on the current brake arm, or somehow use the mr2 cables for a short distance. not hard to do for either one.

here's a stock photo of the caliper i'm using:



as you can see, the e-brake arm rotates correctly, but the lever is off by ~90º

 

What axle are you going to go with then?

 

it's standard full-float, so my current axle housing and custom axle shafts

 

That's an awesome find! Going to do any gussets on your housing or is it during enough?

 

it'll most likely get beefed up, but i have a ways to go before then

 

Full floatie! Nice.... and great research on the brake stuffs. Best wishes with all of it.

 

You are building a full-floater?.... You don't say. Haha

Anyhow, I called two local shops in B-town today and neither can supply the shafts and one suggested longfieldsuperaxle. Haven't tried them for a price yet. Oh, I do have another shop checking on what Yukon can supply.

 

Longfieldsuperaxles
Custom length long $175
http://www.longfieldsuperaxles.com/p...TA-AXLE-SHAFTS

 

just to be clear, those are 30 spline on both ends, yes?

 

Yes, unless you get shafts with an integrated drive flange on the shaft end. I prefer this method if I can find them at a decent price, if not I'ill go drive flange, but that is another 85$ for a pair IIRC.

 

...or you can find a pair of sa hubs in great condition for $25

 

You CAN use SFA hubs.... But, they are not designed for constant use, and because there is a little give in the basic design, a little slop will be introduced into the mix. Also, after 97 Toyota redesigned the drive flange due to the amount of wear the front end sees on the all time 4wd the LandCruiser sees.

 

huh, well drive flanges it is

 

But you could lock whichever wheels you wanted!