next up on my agenda was building a spare tire mount to hold both my 37 inch spare and my hi-lift jack. bed space is at a premium and since i have shock hoops running up into the bed of my truck i have to work around it.

mocking up the placement

getting the tube measured cut and welded up

got it painted up and bolted in... i think it looks pretty cool.

now when i have time i gotta figure out how to mount the hi-lift to the mount securely. got a few ideas, just gotta see which one works.

next up is side protection. i got a set of home made sliders from a freind of mine and decided to make them work till i got ready for the exo and then id decide if i wanna run them or build new ones.

initial mock up they stick out waaayyy too far lol.

got em welded up solid. tucked them as high as possible and close to the body to keep them outta the dirt but still protect the body.

as the truck sits right now i have 1 slider mounted and very little time before the PLO charity ride. so the next couple night is gonna be exciting. i still dont have a rear bumper because im in the process of trying to decide if i wanna bob the bed or not. i need the bed space but i also dont wanna get hung up on the bed all the time. so i feel like after this first ride ill know if i wanna bob the bed or not. ive got tons of things i wanna get done on this truck and im slowly pluckin away at it. eventually its gonna be a pretty nice truck i hope and i am having a blast building it.

 

alrighty well i got some time in to work on my truck tonight. got the right side rock slider welded on, and got my CB hooked back up. also got the truck cleaned out and tool box loaded back up and ready for saturday. ive gotta figure out a better way to mount my hi-lift as well as mount a shovel and an ax in the bed...

i got a couple issues to work on with this truck. first of all i know saturday the power steering is goin to make me verry angry. it just doesnt like turning them 37 inch boggers with a locker up front. so thats soemthing i need to address soon. i have already talked to Dave at Davez offroad about getting the whole hydro assist kit for my truck and thats prolly gonna be the route im gonna take. my factory steering box is leaking outta the input shaft so im searching for a 86-88 power steering box to replace this one.

2nd thing im gonna figure out at this ride is if im gonna bob the bed or not, i really wanna bob the bed but i need all the space i can to get so im kinda torn. if i can get through this ride without bashing the bed up ill prolly just build a bumper and leave it alone.

im gonna figure out a hand control throttle to hook to my gear shift. i swear sometimes doin the clutch brake and throttle isnt fun with size 14 boots. i was gonna steal the cables off of an old mountain bike i had but they wasnt long enough so now i gotta find a place that sells like a 6ft cable so i can hook it up. i think the hand throttle will be good for a few things, like when it gets really technical and i need to keep the throttle above idle (the auto trans computer seems to act up when idling and a load is placed on it)... also when winching... i dont think i can get it done this week with my work schedule but ill get it done soon.

 

alrighty, i have some stuff to update, some gripes, and some questions. i hauled the yota down to the trails to see what it would do. i figured out on the first trail that i need to get hydro assist steering soon and also i need to look into a Tcase doubler kit, even with the v6 and 5.29s its just not slow enough. also pushed a tire off the rim on the first trail. ive got pics and videos coming as soon as some of them show up.

pic coming outta Vnotch

pic coming up "stump hill"

video of me comin up stump hill


overall the truck held together well. i gotta trim the fenders some more to clear the tires at full stuffage but thats about it. i also smoked the clutch tryin to get up on some culverts but thats just cause i dont have low enough low gear to get the beast moving.

i got the truck off the trailer the next day and washed it up. using my trusty trackhoe to stand it on end to look for anything broken our bent and to get the underside spotless..

after standing it up like this and bein out on the trails saturday i doubt im gonna bob the bed.. just gonna build a stout bumper for it and cut the lower portion of the fenders/roll pan off to raise the bumper up higher.

i got time to take the boggers off today and check out the front end... ofcourse my right front wheel bearings was loose again.. i donno wtf im doing wrong there. also im about sick and tired of my IFS swap brakes. they seem to be binding up and dragging, i think this is why i was losing some power out on the trails.

i had to grind the crap outta these calipers just to fit my wheels... im currently doing some research on what else i can do to figure these brakes out. im also looking at doin a rear disc brake swap too. i need more stopping power.

so basically im happy with the truck overall, although i still have some research to do and much much more building to do... stay tuned

 

ok so i got a short update and im VERY confused and annoyed with this truck. so i pulled the boggers off, re packed the right front wheel bearings and fooled with the brakes up front brakes. i checked out all the front end and stuff while i was there, and then bolted the military treads. then went to the back and re adjusted the brakes and threw the military treads on there...

i took the truck for a test drive and about .5 miles down the road the truck went into uncontrolable death wobble... i almost didnt make it back to the shop, i had to keep it under about 15mph or it would start shaking the truck apart.

i went back to the shop and jacked the truck up to see if something was loose, only thing i could think of was the 4 nuts on the knuckles so i tourqed them down to 80FT-lbs and then checked the U-bolts and they was kinda loose so i tourqed them to 110FT-lbs and went for a test drive, same exact thing. so i got back in the shop and spun the tires, didnt see any knots or where the tread may have been seperated so i donno wtf happened.

i know i drove the truck saturday after the trail ride about 3 miles down a paved road with the 37 inch boggers with no death wobble at all at speeds up to 55-60mph so i donno what the difference is. tomorrow im gonna swap the boggers back up front and drive it down the road to see if its the tires or the truck, i hope its the tires cause i donno wtf it could be otherwise

 

U bolts should only be 80 lbs you will crush the tube. Check for worn shackle bushings in the frame.

 

Aight.... I'll back the torque off some... The shackle bushings should be good lol they are basically brand new....

 

ok so i donno wtf is going on with these military tires, but its really making me mad. ok so here it goes, yesterday i swapped my buddies 35x12.5 KM2s on 15x10 wheels with 3.75 backspacing. i only swapped his front 2 onto the front of my truck, and drove it down the road and found no death wobble or anything. so i came back and swapped the front 2 military tires back on the truck, and had the horrible death wobble at the same spot on the road.

next i swapped the 2 front boggers i had onto the truck and tested it, everything was fine. so i took off the rear cut military tires and swapped on the front military tires on the rear, and left the front boggers on there, no death wobble and no bouncing in the rear. so i was really confused, and decided to put the rear cut boggers up front, maybe that would cure the wobble.

WWWWRRROOONNNGG... seems that no matter which way i put them military tires on my truck i get horrible death wobble.... im stumped, so im gonna take the tires to my buddy at a tire shop and run them on his tire machine and see if some how they are all bad or what is going on, and right now im looking for some streetable tires so i can continue driving this truck on the road...

yes i did actually drive my truck with boggers up front and military tires out back lol

a pic of me and my buddy josh wrenching on our SAS mini trucks, sure is fun workin on these things.

i hope i can figure out this issue with my tires soon cause i dont need a set back, next on upgrades for my truck is a low geared tcase so i can get better out on the trail. yall have fun

 

i have been doing some thinking, i need to get some low gears in this truck cause a 52to1 crawl ratio just aint gonna cut it.. im planning on just swapping in a 4cyl tcase with 4.7 gears in it. but i was thinking... i have a 85 toyota with a 5speed and a gear driven tcase and i was wondering if i could swap in that trans into my truck. ive been lookin in the yota bible but its kinda confusing... i know i got a 3.4 in the truck so that makes everything more difficult. i figured if i could swap that trans and tcase in without much difficulty i could get the low gears cheaper... im gonna keep on researching and checking on that... maybe its a good idea or maybe im just hoping for a cheap way out lol...

oh and im still huntin around for the cause of my death wobble... i think ive got it nailed down to too little pre load on the trunion bearings... but we will see when i get it back together...

 

Sounds like a lot of your problem it those military tires. You know they are bias ply right? I would leave the R150 trans you should have now and buy the adapters to install 4cyl gear drive cases. I don't know of any way to bolt the 4cyl trans to the 3.4 and it would be a weaker trans anyway. Marlin sells the adapters to go duals behind a R150 and many people are running them and are very happy.

 

Yeah I'm well aware that them military tires are bias ply... So are my boggers and many more tires I've run on other rigs in my past... Don't make sense that them military tires ran everyday on the road for over a month without issue an now wont go a mile down the road without sending the truck into horrible death wobble... I'm pretty sure that the trunnion bearings not bailing up to spec are causing me troubles...

And about the trans, yeah I know places sell the v6 to 4cyl adapter to run the 4cyl cases. I've priced all that out and know it's kinda expensive so I was simply exploring other options.

Thanks for your help

 

welp i think i figured out my death wobble problem on my truck. i narrowed it down in my head that the trunnion bearings had to not have enough pre load on them... so i knocked the tie rod ends off and sure enough... they was really easy to turn left to right. i dont have the propper tool to measure the pre load on them but i figured it shoulda been tighter than that... so i dug in and removed one small shim from both sides, re assembled and test drove it. and whaddya know, i took it down the road and the first bump i braced for the death wobble........ and it didnt happen. then i relaxed and the 2nd bump shook me slapp off the road. i spun the truck around like dukes of hazzard and brought it back to the shop....

i finally got some time off this evening so i tore both sides apart again and removed another shim from each side and tested them out. they both felt kinda stiff turning left to right, not really tight but like there was some pressure on the trunnions. so i reassembled the front end and took it for a test drive

TAAADDDAAAHHH... seems to have ended my death wobble issues. ive got a list of parts to buy for my front axle and im gonna get the right tools to put this front end together. lessons learned and they dont come cheap.

right now im saving up to put a 4cyl tcase in the truck with 4.7 gears. but also saving up to put new seals and stuff in my front axle, i HATE leaky parts. stay tuned

 

so i decided that i needed to hurry up and get a rear bumper put on this truck before i went on another ride. i have decided that im not gonna bob the bed so i figured id need to figure out a way to reduce the rear overhang all i can and build a stout bumper that i could tuck up as high and close as possible to help improve departure angle as much as possible.

i know i want a reciever mount as well as tow points and also want a tube bumper to wrap around the fenders and back of the truck to protect it, so i dug in and started cutting.

i cut the lower portion of both rear fenders and the roll pan off to make clearence for the new bumper and crossmember.

i really didnt like the way i did the rear shackle mounts, i knew they was gonna be temporary and i knew i was gonna eventually cut the rear portion of the frame apart anyways to strenghten it all. so this gotta go.

i just love cutting things apart to see if i can get it all back together again. getting the frame prepped for the new xmember/bumper

mocking up the rear frame portion.

gotta salvage my shackle hanger. this is gonna be fun

and this is where i left off at right now for the weekend. i gotta get this finished so i can be at the ride nov 19th. i wanna atleast get the xmember finished up and the receiver welded in place so i can have a rear tow point just incase something happens. also i am hoping i can get my beadlocks from WRF soon and get them welded on the rims so i wont have to worry bout pushin tires off the rim anymore. i think i try to make everything last minute lol

 

alrighty yall i got a little bit done, not as much as i wanted to get done but i did get it back rolling. things just didnt click this weekend, thats just the way things go sometimes. im STILL waiting on my beadlocks to get cut out so i might not be riding on beadlocks so i might not be ridin on beadlocks for the next ride which sucks for me cause obviously these boggers dont like to stick to the beads.

aighty so on to the pictures.

building my rear xmember... welding in the reciever hitch mount.

im going to add a tube bumper to protect the rear of the truck in addition to this bumper. i just needed to get this on the truck to have a rear recovery point.

a few flex shots since i have cleared up a few issues with the truck. i think it does pretty good for a truck that wasnt built to be the most "radical flexy" rig. does pretty good for a "dual purpose" truck

i still have the factory chevy "torsion bushings" in the rear springs and i felt like they was putting a slight bind on the rear springs and limiting flex so my temporary solution was to force the bushings to flex till it tore the bushing aloose from the inner sleeve. im gonna buy some good poly bushings one of these days and swap them out.

i still gotta get a better way to mount my hi-lift jack and stuff in the bed of the truck, im waiting on some hi-lift parts from wabfab still and cant wait to get them here. hopefully everything will come together for the next ride.

 

well this week and weekend are going to be very very busy. i finally recieved my WRF diy beadlocks so i can keep these boggers attached to their wheels. i hung out at Chris shop yesterday to watch him cut them out and then went and got some paint and stuff to paint them up. i got off work early today so i figured id start working on them.

chris watching the plasma cutter as it cuts out the lock rings.

so first off had to grind all the slag off the rings so i could paint and weld them up.

i couldnt stand it no more and had to see what they would look like on the wheel and tire so i layed one on there and took a picture

we got a storm coming in so i had to hurry up and bust the beads on the tires so i could pull them off in the shop. its fun having a piece of equipment to do the job.

ok so everyone has dumb ideas so i wanted to share with yall my dumb idea of the day. for some strange reason i figured that running a peice of small barstock through one of the bolt holes of each ring and then putting it in the small storage room in my shop so i could paint the rings.... BADDDD IDEEEAAHHH... not only was i not able to get the paint on there good without runs but i also got paint dust EVERYWHERE.... good thing the storage room is full of dust so the paint film will wipe off... ill make a better plan of attack for paint tomorrow.

well i just wanted to give a lil update.. tomorrow is gonna be exciting. stay tuned

 

welp had the day off from work so i took advantage of it and decided to get some work on these beadlocks. DIY beadlocks are pretty time consuming but thats aight cause i dont mind workin on my junk.

fist of all was to pull all the tires off the rims so i can weld em up. bought 2 new tire spoons to make it easier.

just dont let one slip.

LOL snatching 5 tires off the rim really sucks and i got tired and let it slip pullin the last tire off... pretty lucky though and only a small nick in it... rubbed dirt in it and kept goin.

next is to grind the face of the rim whre the beadlock lays and where the weld bead will go, then fill the gap with weld.

i got the outter rings re painted so they will be ready for final assembly.

then taped up and painted the inner lock ring. its tough to paint where you cant see so a few coats is a good idea.

for those that havent fooled with beadlocks this is basically what your doing. you weld the inner ring to the outter face of the wheel and when you mount the tire you slide the inner bead on like regular. Then you lay the outter bead of the tire lays on the face of the inner ring and then you bolt the outter ring to the inner and sandwich the bead of the tire between them.

hopefully the paint will be dry enough tomorrow so i can start to re-assemble my tires and get ready to ride. not gonna take any chances on my weld job and so im gonna smear some silicone on the weld surface for insurance and then slap em together.

 

3rd Gen goodness. Who cut your beadlocks?

 

a local 4x4 fab shop here. White Rhino Fabworks here in cental MS. he only has a autocad plasma cutter so he cant cut out the really fancy designs like a laser cutter can. but they look good to me.

 

Oh damn, That must have hurt!

 

lol dave... ill tell ya it didnt damn tickle... i had to sit there for a minute goin HOW THE F^*&(^ DID I JUST HIT MYSELF IN THE HEAD... ha:laughing:

 

aight more work done on the beadlocks. im gonna start breaking things down more again and giving step by step of what ive done, i noticed i had gotten away from that lately and hopefully this can help others that are trying to learn to do the same kinda things... so prepare for lots of pics LOL.

first of all make sure your beads on the tires are clean.. i use dish soap on a rag to clean em up and also lube the beads to make sliding onto the rim easier.

i tried to run a bead of silicone on the weld bead before i mounted the tire but i didnt like this process. i failed to get a picture of what i did instead, but its simple... mount the back bead of the tire onto the rim. then block the tire up to get clearence between the outter bead of the tire and rim.. THEN spread the silicone over the weld bead of the rim as well as the surface of the wheel where the tire bead is going to sit. try to get enough to get a good seal on the outer bead.

next is to lay the tire down onto the bead surface and try to center the tire up as good as possible on the inner part of the beadlock.. try to make sure that the silicone is going to make a good seal between the rim and tire.

next lay the outter ring of the beadlock onto the tire and center it up. i decided to line my "yota" symbols up with my valve stems to help protect them from anything that might get into the rim.

next is bolting up the beadlocks. i started with 4 bolts evenly spaced. i used 3/8-2 grade 8 bolts. start by getting the 4 bolts started and tightened down just enough to start the rest. depending on the bead thickness you may need longer bolts. i got all 32 bolts started and then stated zig zagging tightening up the bolts till they was all good and snug. then i kept torquing till i felt the bead was held good and tight. i didnt actually torque the bolts to a specific torque but instead did a rough measurement between the inner and outter bead of the beadlock as my judge.

and once you do that you seat the rear bead and then air the tires up and enjoy.

i didnt finish all 5 of my beadlocks today so im gonna finish that up tomorrow and post a few more pictures. i also noticed that the 3 tires i did finish have a slight leak somewhere, ill find the leaks and show how i fixed them. stay tuned

 

well i finally got all 5 of my beadlocks mounted up... that sure was a chore. had a few leaks to deal with and that was mainly because i was in a hurry and didnt do what i said i was gonna do.

easiest way to find leaks in a tire is to get a squirt bottle and fill it with dishsoap and water and then spray it onto the tire with it full of air, then just look for the bubbles. this one freaking rim is the one that is really making me mad. all the others sealed really good.

easiest way i know to make sure you get a good seal on DIY style beadlocks is to make sure you weld the ring to the wheel very well to minimize gaps. if your worried about leaks after that you can put silicone or something on the weld joint to seal up the area. also run a good bead that the bead of the tire will sit on to seal up the outter bead.

ok warning to anyone that messes with tires. ALWAYS REPLACE THE VALVE STEMS EVERY TIME YOU PULL A TIRE OFF THE RIM!!!!!! well not every single time... but you get the idea. i neglected to do that after welding the beadlock rings and 2 of my tires have slight leaks at the valve stems. and when i say leak its like 2PSI over a 4 day span so its not really that annoying... YET...

a look at the chaos in my shop while the beadlocks was getting put together

ended up going to goof off in my truck sunday and realized my winch wasnt working. it always sucks when you pull a bunch of cable out and then "ut oh". i snatched the electrical cover off and tried to see if something was wrong in there but without a test light i was dead in the water. i saw one of the wires running out to the switch had tape on it so i took the tape off to see exposed wires BINGO, i used the exposed part of the wire to figure out whats wrong and then arced the solinoids to real my winch line back in.

when i got home and got time i decided to try to get the winch to work. so i pulled the cover back off and grabbed my test light. i found out that the part of the plug thats on the winch was good so it had to be in my switch cord. i have one of those multi meter deals that i could check the wires to see if one was broken but i rarely do wiring so it takes me forever to remember exaclty what im looking for. so i just grabed one of my jumper wires and test light and checked them that way.

basically the jumper wire was clipped to the POS side of the battery and i plugged the other end into each part of the wire on one end. then used the test light on the other end. found the dead wire and fixed it.

i FINALLY got my wabbits foot and stuff. this stuff looks good and i cant wait to use it. now i just need to buy a new jack, its a shame to put this nice stuff on my old worn out jack lol

this is how my truck looks right now. ive been daily driving it lately so im gonna stop driving it for the rest of this week so i can load all my tools and supplies back in it and get ready for the ride.

im getting ready for the big thanksgiving charity ride and im ready to show out and have a good time. the trails are gonna be really nasty and i cant wait to see how good this truck does now that i can air the tires down more. after this next ride i think im gonna be able to get more stuff done on the truck. just gotta keep saving up money and workin away at it. my winch is still giving me issues so thats something im gonna have to address before it bites me.

 

Rims look good, that sweet T shirt looks cool too.:grinpimp:

 

Lol thanks Dave... I need a hoodie from you though... The one you sent me was way too small lol... Gotta pimp the venders swag when I ride...

 

welp, this past couple weeks and weekend have been very eventful. i seem to always put myself in a bind and have to work my tail off to get my pile of parts ready for an event. i always did it when i had a race truck and i seem to have the same pattern with my yota.

got the beadlocks on and got it ready for the Thanksgiving charity slamboree ride this past saturday.

a pic and video of me riding at PLO.

i had a blast at the ride all day, tore some stuff up and learned a few things about my rig. carnage for the day ended with both bed corners curshed in and no tail lights and a broken bump stop. not to bad for a wild day.

i think im gonna lay off the weekly thrashfest on my truck untill i can aford the next round of major upgrades. i got a few on the list and hopefully i can make enough money up to get the ball rolling on them. i got a list going on in my head and i figured i better write it down to make it easier to figure out.

Exo-cage
tcase doubler setup
hydro assist steering.

i wanted to try to keep the factory bed on the truck as long as possible but after this weekend thats just not gonna be possible. it gets in the way too much and gets smashed up. so im gonna figure out how to make a truggy bed that can hold all the crap i gotta carry around and still be outta the way. hopefully gonna get started on this right after the first of the year.

and the truck sits right now covered in mud and in much need of attention. cant wait to get some time off during the thanksgiving weekend to wash it and change all the fluids and make sure i didnt break anything else haha. stay tuned

 

Where the fawk do you go wheeling in Madison?