I like bright colors

[Provience]

and shiny objects.

EDIT: I would like to start off by saying "Thank You" to RuffStuff Specialties, WFO Concepts, Davez Offroad Performance, Trail Gear, Trail-Worthy Fabrication, Marlin Crawler and all you fine folks at Pirate4x4.com for the great service and support that I have recieved

I have been collecting parts for my little red truck for several years, got into the Army this year and will be shipping off to BCT in September so the wife told me to get the damn truck done so I don't waste all summer wrenching

I have been spending a little more money buying parts instead of making everything, but here is the plan so far.

1987 std cab/short bed 4wd
SAS with 83 front end
Knuckle Gussets/trunion eliminators
Ifs hubs w/Taco rotors
RUF with 2 83 front springs added and overload removed for 5 leaf pack total
63 chevy rears/frenched hangers
dual 2.28 cases
5.29 spool rear/lockright front
Longfield birfields and hub gears
CV rear/u-joint front driveshafts
H1 takeoffs and 8 bolt rims

Standard shit, figured I might as well have a thread too

At the end of december '10 I put in a rebuilt, .020" over 22r



I started around the second week in June this year. First things First, remove the bed



Turns out that the rearmost exhaust hanger also makes a great spot to hold the grinder



Got the rear springs done, time to turn the truck around to work on the front



Here you can see how much higher the rear sits vs. the front using chevy's and stock IFS. Notice the angle of the cab vs. my pos 4runner in background, both trucks on 31" all terrain tires.

[Provience]

Pictures of the rear hangers, I sleeved the frame with .120 wall 2x3 sq tube, mounted into the frame instead of below to try and keep the height down, I plan on cutting the bed as needed to clear tire issues. I also moved the rear axle back a few inches, easier to see when the bed is back on.



Front rear hanger



Some people's welds you see and think "damn, that guy should be a professional"

I am obviously not one of those people...yet

Never fear, your tax dollars will improve that, going in as 91E Welder/Machinist


Here is a comparison photo, all welds were done with 6011 rod, the vertical welds along the right were then covered with some ac7018 rod. For the life of me, I could not get it to run right, the temp was either too high or too cold going, also the rod was not properly stored nor dried prior to use. After this experimental period on the rear end, I decided to just run the 6011 rod for the front/everywhere else.

[Provience]

Working on the front, Painted the carrier, I don't have any other pictures of the gear install's though. I had a couple spare diffs that I set-up previously so that I could just drop them in when doing all this work.




Pulled out the transmission to get the doubler set-up. Had to grind the locking ring off of one of the nuts in order to get it to fit, also just purchased and used trail gears crossmember to save some time




I like rocking the bench seat, so I cut a hole about 6" deep into it so that I can still get 4-hi and my wife (5'2") can still drive the truck in 2wd



When you cut the bench, you also cut the front support that runs along it, I welded a 1-1/4" piece of angle iron to the floor and it supports the center now so that the seat doesn't sag too bad.



Yes I had some burn through, everything was welded with my little ac220 tombstone, and I used up all my sheet metal rod on a different project Whatever, there are a few things that "Mostly Kinda Work Good Enough"

[Provience]

Here is the axle painted up and freshly rebuilt. I am using the TG trunion eliminators, PSA if you are working late: it is entirely possible to put the bearing races in upside down and a Pain in the Ass to remove. Please Pay attention



Longfield parts, pricey but I hear good things



I cut down the ears on the IFS hubs with a grinder with everything apart, very easy to do, here is a side by side of circumcised vs. natural



Taco Hub slips so nicely that I am tempted to see if I can make this work on an IFS truck



I didn't take any pictures of the front axle install, but you all already know how that goes.

[Provience]

Everybody knows that the most important part to paint is the brake calipers. Purple removes ~25' in stopping distance.



Here is an overhead shot of the front brakes set-up. the spaceing for the caliper needed to be .120" on my set-up, I was able to find some washers off the IFS parts that measured .123-.125" so I used those and it worked well. Drilled through the ears and caliper for 9/16" and ran a bolt and nut combo. Cheaper than buying 2 drill bits and a tap.



Moved the steering box forward, cut out the body and mount from the front. Plenty of slip in the steering shaft.





Painted a strip on my driveshafts for easy reassembly in case they decide to have issues and come apart.

[Provience]

Pulled out the old half doors that I made back in high school, added some 6x9" speakers to them.



Tossed back on my old busted ass smitty built front bumper and pulled it outside. Here is how it sits compared to the stock 4runner



Here is a shot of the other side. The front sits much higher than the rear, this picture exaggerates that a bit.

[Provience]

Still don't have shocks or bumpstops on it, so I ran out to praire city real quick to see how everything would work and to measure for stops.

Front end up on a rock, front droop



Front end up on a rock, rear droop



Rear end up on a rock, front droop



Turns out my front springs go flat 4" away from the frame, so that is where I want to set my stop up, negative arching doesn't do anybody any good. I wasn't able to get the rear springs to go completely flat, but 4.5" from the original bump stop pad seemed to be close enough to work.

[Provience]

Now I am waiting on tires and wheels, should be here in about another week. This has taken me right at a month to get done, still have some things to do.

Need:

Lower the front, I don't mind that it isn't flat, but it could stand to come down an inch or two. Going to try pulling out 1 of the thicker '83 leaves and see where it ends up.


Alignment, I set it initially with tires off and off of the rotors, it's a little darty on the road

Shocks mounted
Bumpstops Mounted
Fenders trimmed where needed
Bed bobbed, not sure if I am going to narrow it or not also
Sliders
rear bumper-after bed bob

[Provience]

Interesting side note, with 31" tires and 5.29 gears, the speedometer will read right at 10 mph over, verified by 2 seperate CHP sign boards. Also, in 5th gear the engine is very happy to not go over 55 actual mph

[laskt9]

you paint stuff just like me. lots of colors! looks good so far

[Electric-Mayhem]

Originally Posted by Provience

Interesting side note, with 31" tires and 5.29 gears, the speedometer will read right at 10 mph over, verified by 2 seperate CHP sign boards. Also, in 5th gear the engine is very happy to not go over 55 actual mph

What transmission do you have? I have a w56, and I can cruise at 75mph with 30's on it. I usually run my 37" PBR's, but decided to use a set of cheap Sequoia rims I bought to drive to Moab (with the PBR's on a friends trailer when I got there) and could easily cruise 70-75 as read by a GPS unit with 5.29 gears.

[Provience]

Originally Posted by Electric-Mayhem:13081188

What transmission do you have? I have a w56, and I can cruise at 75mph with 30's on it. I usually run my 37" PBR's, but decided to use a set of cheap Sequoia rims I bought to drive to Moab (with the PBR's on a friends trailer when I got there) and could easily cruise 70-75 as read by a GPS unit with 5.29 gears.

G52 tranny, i am sure that it would go that speed, but dayum you must have been pulling some high rpms.

i checked it out on one of the gearing calculators, the result was 3600 rpm at 65 mph. i am looking forward to getting the bigger tires, i wouldnt mind driving to/running the rubicon on the 31s, but i would like to get down to dusy eshrim and that involves a bunch of highway.

[Provience]

Originally Posted by laskt9:13081125

you paint stuff just like me. lots of colors! looks good so far

there once was a time when i painted everything black. the half doors, the body and paint damage, etc. started to look goofy on the red truck

then i put the hood on that was a different red, and holy, and figured all was lost

[Electric-Mayhem]

Originally Posted by Provience

G52 tranny, i am sure that it would go that speed, but dayum you must have been pulling some high rpms.

i checked it out on one of the gearing calculators, the result was 3600 rpm at 65 mph. i am looking forward to getting the bigger tires, i wouldnt mind driving to/running the rubicon on the 31s, but i would like to get down to dusy eshrim and that involves a bunch of highway.

The gearing must be a bunch different in the w56, cause it was sitting around 3000-3500 rpm at 75mph or so. Thats about right for the power band of the 22re in my experience.

[c_me_roll]

whats with the hole in the hood ? you might wanna try a longer shackle in the rear since you put it through the frame like that.. flex doesnt look that good for rears/chevys but good start

[Provience]

Originally Posted by c_me_roll:13081356

whats with the hole in the hood ? you might wanna try a longer shackle in the rear since you put it through the frame like that.. flex doesnt look that good for rears/chevys but good start

yeah i have thought about doing longer shackles on the rear, seems like the front is moving more than the rear, but that also could have bee the rock i was on. i took it through the little rock garden they had there and it felt real stable, seemed to do good.

definately going to take some playing with to get it right, tomorrow i think i am going to measure and find out how much higher the front is right now.

i have asl been thinking about cutting off the frame at the rear so that the rear shackle can swing up a bit more before hitting.


the hole in the hood? its a combo of cold air intake and improved radiator cooling and me having a spare hood i need a way to find my toyota in the crowd right

[laskt9]

Originally Posted by c_me_roll

whats with the hole in the hood ? you might wanna try a longer shackle in the rear since you put it through the frame like that.. flex doesnt look that good for rears/chevys but good start

i feel like the flex might increase when he puts bigger tires on. thats what happened with my truck anyway.

[Savage100]

Haha hey man, it's Brian from brake class. I didn't notice it was your truck until i got to the axle picture and was like hey... i've seen that before. Looks good!

[Provience]

Originally Posted by Savage100:13081450

Haha hey man, it's Brian from brake class. I didn't notice it was your truck until i got to the axle picture and was like hey... i've seen that before. Looks good!

howdy, hope your truck is not acting up so much now, imma gonna have to get ahold of you soon to go wheelin!

figured between the hood and axle that she would be easy to spot, looks like it works

[EricT]

Shooooooooooot you ever get to Ft.Campbell,hit me up. I'm on the 160th SOAR side of house so wont be working for me,but I know a few fellow 91E's on post and through out the green weeinie.

[Provience]

Originally Posted by EricT:13082272

Shooooooooooot you ever get to Ft.Campbell,hit me up. I'm on the 160th SOAR side of house so wont be working for me,but I know a few fellow 91E's on post and through out the green weeinie.

right on, yeah i still have your number. i wont be out of ft lee until the end of next april, so i will probably be getting ahold of you before/around then.

[Roc Doc]

Originally Posted by Electric-Mayhem

What transmission do you have? I have a w56, and I can cruise at 75mph with 30's on it. I usually run my 37" PBR's, but decided to use a set of cheap Sequoia rims I bought to drive to Moab (with the PBR's on a friends trailer when I got there) and could easily cruise 70-75 as read by a GPS unit with 5.29 gears.

@ 75mph your going to be pulling 3777RPM.

Originally Posted by Provience

G52 tranny, i am sure that it would go that speed, but dayum you must have been pulling some high rpms.

i checked it out on one of the gearing calculators, the result was 3600 rpm at 65 mph. i am looking forward to getting the bigger tires, i wouldnt mind driving to/running the rubicon on the 31s, but i would like to get down to dusy eshrim and that involves a bunch of highway.

This gearing calculator says 3165 RPM at 65mph. Also, when you state that it's right at 10MPH over, that's only going to be true for a certain speed. 35" Tires are the right choice for 5.29's when you're going to drive it on the street.

[Provience]

welp i musta done something wrong earlier on the calculator.

the speedo, at 40 on the speedo the chp sign showed 30 and at 50 on the speedo the chp sign showed 40. both in 5th gear. yes, it is going to vary, but 10 is close enough to have an idea of where to drive and not get pulled over

regardless, 31 and 5.29 are not the ideal highway combo.

[Roc Doc]

Originally Posted by Provience

welp i musta done something wrong earlier on the calculator.

I don't doubt that for a minute.

[OOP'S]

Little hint on your welding, your metal needs to be shiny clean before you start welding. Use a 80 grit flap wheel on all the surfaces that need to be welded, take it down to bare shiny metal, even new metal has a coating of mill scale on it, you want to remove it. Your welds will come out easier and will look better. Key to good welds is clean metal and practice, practice and more practice. Good to see some people still use stick welders.