Sorry to hear that Gregg. D oyou think you are going to make it to Tellico?

I may have missed this, but what did you use for a front drive shaft?
and did you have to lengthen the rear one? I am having to take mine and have it lengthened today! : )

 

I can respond to the driveshaft...(it was done at my house). We split the cost on material. It is made from 3/16 inch wall tractor PTO shaft. Oneway engagement. To describe its look, it's a round triangle with one flat edge. Super tough and very little play. I looked into square but it had WAY too much play for my taste so we decided to pony up the $$ and split the cost on this stuff. Cost was around $170 for the inner and the outer tubes 5ft length. I was able to make my Front (17" slip) and a spare to fit both the front and back(19"slip) and a Front shaft for Greg's(w/o crawler)(14" slip).

I can post some pics if interested.

 

I'm very interested, I love seeing technical things like a driveshaft being fabbed from odds and ends, it's always amazed me at home simple things can truley be.

 

Thaks for the reply Mark.
I was actually thinking about using the same thing, but in the end I decided to use a square one. Mainly because the material is easier to get around here than the PTO shaft.

I would love to see the pics of it though. Did you clearance the CV for the angles to work? My front,right now, is far from lining up (angle wise) and it is just sitting there!

 

I used the front CV shaft in the rear and had it lengthen-d and strengthen-d, then used the rear yokes for the front.

 

Cool, I have an 85 front I will use for the rear and the front I will make this weekend.

thanks greg!

 

Here are pics of my Spare Driveshaft using PTO shaft

Click on thumbnails

 

Got the auto trans out last night. That was fun (yeah right), it's a big beast. Well I found out today that the clutch I ordered is not available for the V6 trucks, so instead of waiting a week for trail-gear or marlin to send me a clutch kit I'm just going to get a Advanced Auto clutch kit and be done with it. Has anyone had any problems using the auto stores clutch kits?

Hope to have the manual in and the truck running by Thursday night.

 

I am running one now. its the standard one I think. I don't like it too much.
BUT I have run the Zoom clutches from them and they were great.

 

I ordered a Zoom clutch and then they called and said that Zoom doesn't make a performance clutch for the V6 Toyotas. I just got the stock (it says from the makers or Zoom on the box) one from Advance, I don't have time to wait or I'd get one from Marlin or Trail-Gear.

 

Where's the update slacker?....

 

I cut my fingers at work plus I conldn't find the pressure plate to flywheel bolts last night, so the 5 speed is still sitting on the ground waiting for tomorrow. Everything is mounted and ready to go now.

 

CRUNCH TIME Good luck bro.

 

It’s been a few weeks and a lot has happened since my last update.

I got the 5 speed swap done. It’s like night and day when it comes to power. The 5 speed kicks a$$ on-road and off. I took pictures and notes so I’m going to work on a right-up for pureyota.com. It’s a straightforward swap but there are some things that I didn’t think about when I went into it and had to find out the hard way.

I took it wheeling at Tellico in Murphy NC May 12 for the first time after the SAS, rear leaf swap and 5 speed swap. Let’s just say it was interesting driving a built rig like that for the first time.

Some pictures for you guys.





A video of the beast coming up the top ledge of SlickRock.

 

My better half (Lori) and I are buying a house so I’ll have a garage of my own to work on the truck which means more modifications and more fun since I don’t have to have the truck out of friends garages (thanks Marc).

After some offers and a few counter offers we finally came to an agreed price on the house. It’s a 3 bedroom, 2 bath home with a full basement and a 2 car garage on a nice level 3/4 acre lot. It has plenty of room for a real shop later on.
We’re closing at the end of June so long as the inspector doesn’t find anything major this Saturday.

We may also be adding one maybe two additions to the family – a very used Tundra for use as my daily driver and tow rig and a 2wd high mileage 4cyl Extra-Cab Tacoma. Can anyone guess as to why it’s a 2wd? Here’s a hint: Lori wants to build something and I’ve got a FZJ80 front end lined up.

 

Congrats on the house....you need to throw some of that green myway!

 

Thanks,

Don't worry man!

 

Congratulations on the house. My wife and I are currently in progress of planning for our next home purchase 5 years down the road...she "insists" I have a shop to get that "noise" away from the house.

We are going to get out of the neighborhoods and buy at least a 5 acre piece of property...if I only knew then what I know now.

A shop makes all the difference in the world...

 

Thanks Brian.

We looked at a number of houses and even thought about buying some property and building but we just decided for now we’d be better off purchasing a house that needed a little work so we could fix it up and in the future be able to get more out of it. This house had everything we wanted and more. Plus it’s in a growing area and there are a lot of little things that can be done to raise it’s value.

On the plus side we don’t have any Home Owner Association to deal with and the neighbors seem to be very easy to get along with.

 

Hope the house works out for you. Great pics of the 4Runner.