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Way back, my step dad was rebuilding the mechanical fuel pump on his mini-ex and had is sitting very carefully on the back of the machine waiting for parts. If it was picked up or moved, parts would fall "in" and he would have to take it apart again. So he put a sign up so people wouldn't move it or pick it up, and the sign said just that. We took a picture and had it made into a sticker.. haha.
This rig is rad I’ve been reading through the build and I really dig what you’ve done, I’m glad I skipped the rebuild the 3.0 part with mine. The 3.4 seems like a night and day difference but then again I never had the 3.0 running at 100%
Thank you!
I agree. I was a 3.0 fan UNTIL I got the 3.4 in, then I wished I did it years ago.
Way back, my step dad was rebuilding the mechanical fuel pump on his mini-ex and had is sitting very carefully on the back of the machine waiting for parts. If it was picked up or moved, parts would fall "in" and he would have to take it apart again. So he put a sign up so people wouldn't move it or pick it up, and the sign said just that. We took a picture and had it made into a sticker.. haha.
Need one? I have a few more still.
And it has a story? Awesome!
When it's not broken the blue thing is my daily driver, being an elementary school lunch lady I'd have to store it until I retired...
How fun would it be if the kids were to sound that one out?
Reds have been great in rocks, less in mud. Played around with sticky treps on the back which seemed to work pretty well.
Cheapy amazon rock lights.
I needed to replace a broken hub stud, and figured it was a good time for an upgrade. I removed the 3/8 stud and cone washer in favor of a 7/16th stud.
a 1.25 length was just about the perfect length as the stock length, the allen heads so you can still get the wheel on.
Drilled all the holes to 3/8, then to 25/64th, which was the size the tap called for.
Tapped to 7/16 -20, Hubs needed to be drilled to 29/64th to clear the 7/16 stud. It takes up just about all of the taper, really fits the larger bolts well
On and torqued to 70lbs. Absolute thrilled to have gotten rid of the cone washer here.
I ran into a little problem here as I could not drill through the TG chromo drive flange. Even bought a "hard metal" bit from the local hardware store and didnt touch it. So I went back to locking hubs with chromo gears for now. I did have to drill the back of the hub out too to match the extra dowel pins from the drive flange.
The 3.4 may have a cracked head or start of a HG going. Lots of wheeling coming up this winter so well see how long it lasts.
Headed down to Mass for the annual Northeast Toyota Crawlers Club meeting this past weekend. Meeting was great, we have a good schedule for this year and a good group of wheelers. They didnt have much snow but I left the chains on anyway but apparently they hooked a hopped a little to hard.
Took out the rear output on the t case, a u joint and bent a rear leaf spring... oof. But I was able to drive out still in front wheel drive.
Got it a part Sunday
I had to cut off that spiral gear and the bearing. The shaft was broken and not connected to the 4wd gear, but WOULD NOT come out and that black spiral gear would not move.
Put it back together as much as I could last night, just used another stock output because I had one on the shelf. I need to crack open a parts case for that spiral gear and bearing, then I can put the rest of it together.
Looking at where it broke, it appears to have broken right on the last oil port.
Fixed the bottom two holes in the v6 adapter plate that have stripped over time from install/removal
The ears on the DS were a little fubared from the u joint going, so chopped it off and welded on a "new" end with a factory toyota joint on it. Did my best eyeballing to get it straightish by rolling is on some casters.
Replaced the bushing on the Bombproof mount. But of course when I welded the mounts on from the bottom a few years ago, I didnt check how the bolts were. Had to cut one set to get them out. They go the other way now...
Rear springs fixed. Found a 2 year old set of 08+ chevys for cheap. They are the thicker leaves, but I ended up only using the main leaf, and putting my old bastard pack on the bottom and were back in business. (chevy main leaf, for ranger AAL, 2 toyota leaves, then a cut down chevy over load
3.4 was sipping coolant to the point of hydro locking when sitting for too long. Yanked it out and put in the $100 "ran when pulled" motor in. Threw a minimal amount of parts at it: plugs, valve cover gaskets, and moved my intake/motormounts/exhaust/ps/alt over to the new motor.
Bringing the "new" motor up from the shed to the garage.
old abused "mud truck motor" coming out.
The most pita part was the newer motor was from a 2000+ 4runner with the forward dipstick. Drilling the hole took forever. Used a cobalt bit with kerosene for lube (google said that the combo to use). I borrowed a jig from a friend, which helped a ton.
I did the 3.4 "swap" October of 22, so this was just a regular motor swap. I was unmotivated and busy with the wife so I took my time, about a month to get it swapped in.
It looks the same as the old one because I reused my painted intake and valve covers. Got it completed Sunday and took it into the woods Monday after work..
And proceeded to flop it as we were headed out of the woods for the evening. Got it right side up it and let it sit for a a few, fired right up and drove out.
By far the fastest way to clean the floors. Haha.
Last edited by rattlewagon; Jul 25, 2024 at 03:42 AM.
Did a leak down on the old motor. Cylinder #5 is the culprit. When we applied air to the cylinder, it leaked out the pilot bearing/rear crank bolts holes..somehow. Ill pull that head off and see what I can find.
I got the "problem" side of the old 3.4 off, I dont really see any reason for failure. HG looked fine, didnt see a crack in the head. Ill evaluate more and pull the other side off, but a little stumped right now on how the coolant was getting in. The white between the valves was me with a brush looking for cracks.
Truck ran great for Crack Fest '24. Popped a tire off the bead and broke a rear brake line, but other than that had a great sunday in the woods.
This one broke different than the others, instead of just cleaning 4 teeth off the ring gear, the pinion was DESTROYED. The whole lower row of teeth in the photo is pinion teeth, and scored up the inside of the housing quite a bit and the bearings were rough. This was a $30 dollar stock diff that lasted 4 years, so biggy here. I have a few sets of used stock 4.10 gears, so ill just rebuild it with one of those sets once the new bearings show up.
Chopped up an old hacked housing to make a diff stand:
Last edited by rattlewagon; Jan 7, 2025 at 03:51 AM.
Well a few weeks ago I buried the truck in some fresh snow. It also started skipping a little, and not wanting to leave it in the back of the property, we hammed on it a little getting it home and the motor is know knocking
Dove in sunday to see if I can limp this motor along for just a couple months. Found I had some loose coils, and the cyl 2 rod bearing was shot. Did my best to clean up the mess, but damage was done. New rod bearing and some rotella t6 15-45 and the knock is gone for now.
You can see how stretched out the bearing got.
Snows just about gone, poped the chains off and drove it around for 10 min, sounded good. Will give it a proper test soon as wednesday night wheeling will be starting up soon.
Jul 27, 2023 | 06:22 AM
Got it right side up it and let it sit for a a few, fired right up and drove out.
