HomerTaco's big old bucket o’ bolts build

It's a bit more than that - the budbuilt set is designed to install without the need to relo the exhaust. It has a "spacer" bar that fits under the cross member to accommodate for it. the IFS & mid skids are not an issue but this t-case one will need a lot more persuasion to work now that everything's altered.
I'm sure we can make it happen but it will be more than just getting Black Pipe Fabrication welding on an additional 8" of steel.

 

I was thinking along those lines but what you are suggesting is way down the road for me. I'm mainly concerned with just getting it all back together with the current parts.

Got to take a look at the driveline angles too - now that I can actually hear myself think while driving it I noticed somewhat of a vibration during acceleration. I may need to play around with a carrier bearing drop...

 

Hmm, guess I never looked at that skid design too close. Just assumed they were like the 4x skids

 

Unfortunately I couldn't be that easy.
With my shit it never is.

 

Well shit by that matter we could just make a new skid from scratch lol

 

I would not presume to commit you to a project like that.
I'd like to see if we can mod the Budbuilt one first.
That's really last on the list though...

 

You still have a carrier bearing? You had the perfect opportunity to get a one piece!

 

Ant went that route. No bueno as it rubbed the carrier bearing mount. Much more cost effective to use a shortened stock shaft. The rear remains the same length and can be swapped out if damaged.

 

Oh... Hmmmmmm

Dammit I was really looking forward to a one piece

 

Aaaaand back to the drawing board...

 

Yup...

 

Subbed to avoid all wheeling trips you ever attend...

 

Next mod: crawl box oil catch container and recirculation system.

 

Should have had the speedometer @ 170km/h

 

Eh put a tourniquet on it...

 

So I've got an idea about the gear oil leaking: The crawl box is now full of 3 quarts of oil and I poured it in through the top shift assembly since it's easy to access. There are still to sticks to adjust so i did not seal the shifter in with RTV. When I looked under the truck this afternoon when I came home from work there was no big puddle on the cardboard. in fact there was hardly any additional oil on it. I believe the mess was the full crawl box leaking oil from the unsealed shifter. I also drove it at varying speeds for about 60 miles...
There are only 4-5 drops coming from the FJ case. It's leaking from somewhere that's out of sight. Not terrible but not great either.
I'll have to explore that a bit further.

 

Did u fill to the top?pull the fill plug it should be filled to the bottom of the fill plug.

 

It wasn't filled to the top - but I only had about a quart & a half in it on my trip to Ant's & back... Running it full without the shifters sealed seems to be the culprit.
I wiped the whole thing down and I don't see any seal leaks on the crawl box.