Wombat and The Wanderer builds/BS/my insane ramblings.

Two comments ... love your shift knob, I need to get onboard with that ... and I love that you carry a rake in your load out. So many times in the desert I wished I had a rake, especially before I got the RTT.

 

We spend a fair amount of time on the beach and I hate running around with shoes on. The rake is the first thing that gets used every time we camp. I park out of the camp area and then I'll clear a 30'x30' area of debris. Then pull the truck in and setup camp. My rake is an indispensable tool that I always carry. It really cuts down on first aid situations on top of everything else.

 

Just got back from the Philippines visiting family. My Nissan Patrol was in horrible shape after setting for several years there. I have decided to let it go to another owner now an I am currently working out a deal on that.

Had some time while there to look over the new Hilux and some of the aftermarket parts for them. The dealer there would not allow me to take any pictures of the truck in there presence and would not allow a test drive with out them. That sucked! Those things are stout. They are by no means a drag truck but they feel 2-3 times as strong as a Tacoma. The interior and the ride were about the same quality.

From what I could tell the diesel drive train out of the Hilux should be a bolt in applicant for hard parts. The wiring is a different matter all together.

As far as transmissions go autos are scarce there so I only got to look over the manual with the larger diesel. The manual transmission has the same case length with a different bell housing. The transmission does have very deep 1st and reverse gears. Over drive is much taller in them as well. Think I'll be picking one up to build another hybrid trans like I have in my crawler.

Front suspension from my measurements is the same. Front clam shell has all the same identification marks as a Tacoma or 4Runner.

Rear suspension is different all together. 4+1 leaf springs. They are also in a he compression configuration as opposed to the tension configuration like the Tacoma. Looks as though all the 4wd Hilux trucks have the 8.75" rear diff.



Option ball joint control arms built in the Thailand. Every thing on these looked decent. The urethane bushings looked like they wouldn't last long. About $170 a pair in the Philippines.


Hardrace baljoint control arms another Thailand product. These actually had Moog bushings and ball joints in them. I liked the gussets on these and they seemed to have really good quality. Nice heavy material was used to build them. $190 a pair.
They also had a set of uniball arms with poly bushings from Hardrace but I some how managed not to get a picture of them. They were around $225 a set.


The Dobinson suspension parts looked like Old Man Emu parts with a little less finish work done on them. The Hilux I rode in with the dobinson lift on it rode well.

Some nice OL and MCC bumpers. Copies of ARB and TJM.

Hilux with a little to much on it for my taste. Nice all the same.

Blacked out Rhino lined Hilux. I liked everything but the bumper on this truck.

Very nice HZJ80 I spotted.

 

All right my winch needs a home other than on a shelf in my garage.... took off to the metal yard yesterday and made a stop off at the laser cutter. Started working on the rest of the winch mount today. Taking a short break so I figured I'd let you guy have a look.









Now it is just gusset and frame brace time. Then on to finish work.
More to come! Laterz.

 

Another break time up date for you guys.

Ends of the plastic valance reattached with 3 of the stock clips, one 6mm body fastener and a j-clip.


I retained both of the factory recovery points. I also like cemetery so I mirrored the tow hook bolt pattern to the drivers side and made a captive nut plate for that location. The tow hook will stay until I build my skids then those bolt holes will be used for attaching the front skid.
I am waiting for some 3/4"x2" material to build my shackle points out of. Just in case you are wondering.

The first set of frame supports. I am going to support them along both vertical faces of the frame as well. I'm not building those at this time because of time constraints.

 

Ok end of day update.
Got the first set of frame braces painted and installed.

Got the bolt that runs through the frame that ties the braces to the bumper sleeved with 3/4" DOM. Only pic I took of the bolt in question.

Got the bumper done enough to paint tonight so I can install it tomorrow. That is a pic of the top side of it. It is done for now until I build skids then the bumper will get some more modifications as well.

 

Here it is installed and finished for now.




Now to see how long I am get by with out my front plate.

 

Silly front license plate rules! I was going to use one of those hawse license plate mounts...

 

Looks great! Awesome work!

 

I am going to run it as is for now. When I do put it on it will be mounted on a stainless piano hinge.

Thank you Sir.

 

Folks.... My wife is awesome!
Her total surprise birthday gift to me.


Now... who wants to hold my hand while I cut a giant hole in my fender?

 

That looks sharp! I like that style of inlet port of well. Any chance you could share a pic closer to that inlet?

You got to test that sucker now too

 

It will be tested in Colorado next spring.

I’ll get some pics when it’s day light and post them. @riz_atx

 

@riz_atx

 

Thanks man. That one looks great

 

It is pretty nice. Looks to be rotomolded PP6 material with at least 30% glass fiber reinforcement. Feels nice and tough. No wind noise that I can tell.

 

Haven’t updated this in a while.

Had a deer decide to do some custom mods to the passenger front of my truck.



I initially decided to pull my winch carrier and ordered an ARB Summit Bar for the truck. After a total cluster f@!k from the company I ordered it from (Liftkits4less). The bumper got to me damaged and I never received any of the hardware kit. I sent it back and finally received my refund after mor than a month.



Decided to just finish out my winch carrier into a full replacement bumper. I have not started on this yet. However I did take the refund and call @HeadStrong Off-Road order a full Old Man Emu suspension kit with LR upper control arms. Figured I would get better use out of the suspension than the Summit bar. Suspension was just ordered and is being processed for shipping.



More later on.

 

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Those deer based mods seem to happen alot these days. I know a number of folks who have hit them recently. Hope there were no injuries and such!