I was able to get a little bit more done on the truck this weekend. Progress is still going slower than I had hoped, but at least I'm making progress. Bonus, my 12yo daughter even came out and helped!

Cleaned up the trans to t-case adaptor and got it installed on the cases.


Then I set myself to modifying the cross member. Originally there wasn't a spot to access the crawl box's drain plug. Mainly because it was right above the 1" square tubing that was the backbone. With some careful measuring, I figured I could save one side of the tubing and out came the hole saw.



Then I cut a piece of tubing that would fit and give all of the structure back.



I welded it all up...




And gave the whole thing a fresh coat of industrial gray paint.




It's been pretty warm, so everything should be dry now. I will bolt up the cases to the crossmember and get it all back in the truck this week.

Are those welds 'spozed to be smooth like that?!

j/k. Nice work.

I actually wasn't very happy with the look of the welds. I should have taken a bit more time and planned my travel. But they are strong. :shrug:

turns out 3 months wait on cases from T-G isn't half bad, Marlin's site says they aren't even building assembled units any more, not a lot of options out there.
Once i get my POS figured out I think I am done 'building stuff' or bolting other peoples stuff on.. stuff is getting too spendy

I know it... EVERYTHING is backordered. And businesses are having a hard time keeping employees. It's a crazy time, but hopefully that will make the cases I'm selling more valuable.

yup! I sold a 4.7 case a few years ago for $750, was happy with that but probably could get a few dollars more in the current market

Wow, I've been so busy! Looks like I should update this thread...

I got the cases in and everything buttoned up with those. I even got the tunnel finished.


However, there was a huge issue getting my wheels done. I was hoping to use the truck at an event I was volunteering for the first week of June, but she was on jack stands... So I moved on to other projects to knock off my list. I installed my ham radio:






And finished up my aux switches and wiring the lights. My air compressor is on backorder, so that didn't get installed. Air lockers will be happening in the future, but I got the switches all set up for them. But my bumper lights, rock lights, and back-up lights are functional.








And I finally got my wheels and tires back last Thursday. I must say, these ended up being a poop show... That being said, the shop that was doing them (Bones Custom Creations in Oregon City) really bent over backwards to get them to me as quickly as they could. They are stand up guys and I really appreciate all of the hard work they put in... And they look amazing!

And yesterday I got to drive the truck for the first time since February! And now I am stuck with a dilemma... Last year I planned a bucket list trip to take my Dad to Rubicon Trail. The idea would be no trailers, Ultimate Adventure style. We would drive our wheelers from Portland, OR to Loon Lake, spend a few days going through the Rubicon, and drive home. And we are supposed to leave in four days.

After the epic thrash fest to get my truck back on the road, here is where I'm at:

1) When I went to weld up the exhaust I cut off, I found coolant running out of the passenger side. Not much, but it is obvious I have a leaking head gasket or a cracked head. There is no coolant in the oil and I'm not blowing bubbles into my coolant overflow. Also, the truck runs amazing. My solution to this is buy some head gasket in a can to throw in the toolbox just in case and run it for now.

2) The nasty noise that I thought was a throw-out bearing is still there. However, it is also load dependent (like a u-joint). I replaced the u-joints already, so I'm at a loss to what the noise is. Maybe a pinion bearing? It sounds like it is coming from the trans area, but it could be. I can't think of anything in the trans that would be making noises like this. The t-cases are new, so that wasn't the issue. My thought for now is pull the rear driveshaft and drive it around in front wheel drive and see if the noise is still there. I'm really not sure what the implications are of this if I just ignore it.

3) My fancy ham radio won't turn on. I'm really hoping it's the cheap Chinees cable I used for the remote face.

4) My speedo stopped working. No idea why. Didn't bounce or anything, just quit.

5) Three of my rock lights aren't working. I originally thought it was a bad ground, but it may be a connector. Not a huge deal.

6) The exhaust leaks where I tried to weld it back together. It's a POS, so I will probably just wrap exhaust fix tape around it for now since it will be replaced eventually.


With that knowledge, I need some advise. I'm pretty stressed out on what to do and completely out of time. Here are my choices:

1) Pack for the trip and send it. It's a Toyota and should be fine, right? And I have towing coverage on my insurance policy.

2) Bag the trip. It's just too much of a risk with the issues the truck is having. I just flat ran out of time and hopefully we can reschedule without getting a divorce. LOL

3) Modify the trip. Borrow a trailer and tow the rig to Rubicon. It will totally kill the spirit of what I was trying to do, but at least I will get to show my Dad the trail he has always dreamed of.

looking at the wiring for your ham radio under the seat it looks like the red wire might be tweeked at the connector-
borrow a trailer, you may break something in the middle of BFE

speedo - i like a cheap GPS unit, problem solved
bearing noise could be the output shaft bearing - i know they are brand new cases..i had this issue.
but again it could be the throw out bearing. I took my 97 Tacoma (bought new) into toyota with 14K on it, they thought the same thing. 6 weeks later toyota had rebuilt the transmission 2x's, i still had the noise. it never went away. if you trailer the truck i would consider this a sort of non issue

Bummer on the coolant.
No advice from me. (Ackshully, do the opposite of what I think).

But your tires look great. Was going to say gnarley, but that sounds pretty 80s and I don't want to get banned.

Oh, and just cuz it's new, doesn't mean good. Bought 97 Ram brand-new. Clutch chattered fairly often. Back in the day the Chrysler place was co-located with a MB store, and they had the only 5 star service in S NM. Service manager said they didn't think it was bad, but replaced it as a 'customer service' issue only. Never ever chattered again. 160K miles.

Yeah, I will double check everything on the radio tonight. It's more frustrating than anything, but I do have backup comms if needed. And I do have a speedo app on my phone, so that will work for now.

The odd part about the driveline noise is it was happening before. I assumed it was the throw out bearing, so that was replaced when I did the clutch. Literally every part that would obviously be making that sound I have replaced.

Thanks! And I hear ya that new doesn't mean good. However, it would be pretty rare for a bad part to be replaced with a new bad part and have the exact same issues. It is more likely that I haven't found what is wrong yet.

Did you weld your rear bumper to the frames or anything at all? Can't tell from pics. It looks pretty stout. You probably could have welded on an upright to attach a spare to it if it were a 4rummer?

Yeah, the rear bumper is welded to the frame. Eventually I will build a drop down spare tire mount that slides into the receiver.

I found some stuff out last night:

1) In regards to the head or head gasket issue, I have come to the conclusion that there is nothing I can do about it right now. If I wouldn't have cut the exhaust, I never would have known there is an issue. I will be nice to the engine and save up money to fix it right.

2) The drivetrain noise is still a mystery, but I did find that the t-case was hitting the body. I made a bit more room with a hammer and prybar. That made the noise a lot easier to pinpoint. I believe it is in the driveshaft. I will try to confirm that tonight, but that is a lot less worrisome.

3) The cable I used to remove mount my Ham radio face is faulty... Radio works fine attached to the base. Easy peasy.

4) The speedo extension between the factory cable and the t-case broke. I doubt if I can get one tomorrow, so GPS speedo it is.

As of right now, I'm gonna send it. Rubicon or bust!

There you go!! That is a perfect example of how I get stuff done. Couple of days, bunch of brewski's, problems solved.

howd the trip go?

I will have a full report for you guys later... Trying to get caught up at work. In the meantime, here is a little teaser my buddy made:

Okay, I have a little bit of time to get started on this story. The idea for this Rubicon trip was something that was brewing in my head for years. My Dad always talked about wanting to do the Rubicon Trail. I have been hearing about it since I was in grade school. Four years ago I was able to experience the Rubicon first hand with my wife and the desire to bring my Dad increased seven fold. With my wife's blessing, I set a date to take Dad to the iconic trail. I invited a few friends and the plan evolved into an Ultimate Adventure style trip: No trailers allowed. Then my buddy Mike ([USER=153209]@Notontheforum[/USER]) had the idea to make the trip even more epic... He was going to drag his pop-up tent trailer through as well!

Rubicon Day 1:

We were planning on meeting up with Mike at his house in Hillsboro, OR at noon. That should make a nice and easy drive to Ashland, OR for the first night (about 295 miles). Leading up to this day, you have read the issues I was dealing with. Dad checked all of my bolts and marked them with a paint pen while I programmed the Ham radio. We were as ready as we will ever be and showed up to Mike's about 15 minutes late.

Mike was also dealing with his own issues. His truck got back from the shop three days before we were supposed to leave and as we pulled up, he was still welding on the pop-up! The poor guy had been at it for two weeks straight trying to get that trailer ready. We helped him finish the last few things and we hit the road just after 3 pm. With a quick stop at a fellow club member's house (Brian [USER=63073]@tonsofun[/USER]) for the custom sticker for the trailer, we were ready to go!




We hit the road knowing that Ashland was going to be a haul time wise. We pushed all the way to South Eugene (125 miles into the trip) until we needed to stop for fuel. At that point we realized that Mike's 4Runner was puking gear oil. A quick assessment found that oil was coming out the hole for the speedo cable, which was MIA. It was also bleeding a bit out of the t-case seal, but there wasn't much we could do about that. We found that a water bottle lid, duct tape, and a hose clamp pretty much sealed the hole. We topped off the gear oil and were back on the road.

We pushed hard to Roseburg (185 miles in), now that we were even further behind. In Roseburg we got a late dinner and realized that now my truck was bleeding gear oil as well. After looking at my truck, it was determined that I over-filled the cases and gear oil was coming out of the vent when I was pushing the truck hard. No big deal, just annoying.

We topped off Mike's cases and figured out that we should stay in Medford instead of Ashland. Mike never got the chance to buy food for the trip and Medford had better stores for the morning. Fair enough... On to Medford.

We pulled into Medford around 11:30 pm and found that there was some sort of baseball tournament going on. Therefore, all of the hotel rooms were occupied. After almost an hour, we were able to track down a room (a story in itself) and finally get to bed. We only made it 285 miles... Our own Ultimate Adventure was shaping up to be all we thought it would!

Jeez! That ledge looked impossible. Glad everyones ok. Nice looking rigs. I got kind of sad seeing that Landcruiser without much body armor but I got over it seeing them wheel it. The ex cab looks like a nice build.

fricken love that sticker on the trailer. Where did you find that?