Baka's 1998 Build

I don't think it would be worth the trouble. Just let the Truetrac do its thing

 

yeah, you're right. I'd still like to come up with some handbrake thing I could yank on to put pressure on the front brakes. I know some people mount a hand throttle on their shifter so they can use their feet for the clutch and the brake. Might be something to think about but I'm concerned my throttle control with a hand throttle would suck. I guess it'd come with practice though.

 

Aw lawd Lee. You just want to break axles dontcha?

 

So it begins...



And of course, the universe won't allow me to perform a job without finding something else screwed up...



But if that's as bad as I find, I'll take it. With my luck though, that boot costs about $100.



Easy part's done.

 

Well, it fought me tooth and nail, but it's out. It'll be a miracle if everything works when I get it back together. If there was a wiring harness that could get snagged on something and stretched tight, it did so. I don't know what it is about this transmission/engine, but I've never had as much trouble seperating one from t'other. Both times I've removed the tranny on this truck it's required a ratchet strap to pull back on it and a lot of wiggling before it finally lets go.





Luckily, for a change, the old throw-out bearing was just shot, not seized, so my pressure plate should still be good.

The fight to put it back in begins tomorrow. Then Monday, I guess I'll have to see if I can get that boot.

 

I had a hell of a time (and still have a wicked scar) from getting the R150F out of my '00 4Runner, jacking up and supporting the front of the motor helps considerably as I found out. Also I HIGHLY recommend a loght coating of the inputshaft with "Honda Ultra High Temp Urea Grease." Some on your clutch fork pivot is a good idea too.

Tomorrow I'll be going by the dealer and I'll let you know about the boot, text me if you think of anything else!

 

Yeah, I learned about the jacking up the front of the motor from when I replaced the clutch. Honestly, it didn't make much of a difference. Could be because I need a new bottle jack though. It might have been leaking down on me.

And yeah, I greased the input shaft lightly, the clutch lever pivot heavily and the throw-out bearing spindle well. (BTW, I also grease the shifters as well.)

Good news is, it's back in and everything is all back together except the interior shifter boots and the driveshafts. Figured the driveshafts could make for an easy day tomorrow, and I can't put the interior back together before I get that boot.

Thanks! I asked @Scooter WCT if he could help out with it as well. I just hope the thing isn't special ordered from Mongolia and costs $300.

 

Well...starter issues. My backup starter is kinda weak. It works, but it doesn't turn the engine over with authority like the old one did (when it actually did more than click) or the one in the T4R. So I have a choice, I can either get a Denso remanned unit for $81 after the core return + shipping, or I can Frankenstein the two by putting my old motor and gear reduction in the other solenoid housing along with the contacts and plunger that I just replaced not too long ago in the old one.

Guess which one my cheap ass is going to do?

Old Solenoid housing...

(Side note...the cheapest version of this part Rockauto sells costs ~$67 + shipping. The Denso Reman whole starter is less than $15 more...go figure on that one. )



Contacts and plunger with some gear reduction parts...



Old motor...



The gear reduction housing and the spur gear stack are currently soaking in parts cleaner.

I'm going to leave the backup starter in there for a while to see if it gets any better now that I lubed the gear reduction, but I know it has at least one bad bearing and the motor may as well. The bearings in the old motor were good, but the same bearing that's bad on the backup feels a little gritty on the old one too, but it turns much freer...hence why it's in the parts cleaner. Figure I get the grit out and some fresh grease in and it should be jolly good.

 

You sure it's the starter? I know the OGT's been down for a bit has the battery run down?

 

Yup, the battery is good and strong. 12.4v. Even after sitting. When the truck first starts, it goes up briefly to 14.1v until it replaces the discharge and then it goes down between 13.6v and 13.8v depending on the loads I have going.

I've had this problem before with an F150 I had. It acted like the battery was low every time I started it, but when I checked it it wasn't. Eventually I had the starter load tested and it was drawing way too much amperage. I never took it apart to see, but we just figured it was a bad bearing. A new starter fixed the issue.

This time though, I'm going to see if I can fix it the cheap way, haha, by taking the good parts from the two sketchy starters and putting them together to make one good one and use the left over parts for a core return if necessary.

Edit: If I'm very very lucky, the Frankensteined starter will last years, but if not, I'll be thrilled if it last long enough for me to get my 2" powertrain/2" BL done, because I might not even have to drop the front skid to change it then.

 

The OGT is officially Nerfed. Here she is wearing Natty's future tires and wheels and she's running open diffs for the moment. That said, I already have a 4.88 with a detroit locked axle waiting to go in and I should be sending my front diff to ECGS to get a set of 4.88s and an Eaton True Trac installed. @allenfab has the mock up engine and will soon be working on my taller motor mounts. Once those are done, I have a pile of parts waiting to go on...2" BL, TG Trans crossmember/skid, Flowmaster 50 series muffler, and a 10K Warn winch. I will probably need to get new coilovers for the front once the winch is on, but all that will be left at that point is the HC rear bumper and the wait on Interco to release the 35x13.50-15 SX2s I want. Once I have those I can put the 4.88 diffs in, possibly get a traction bar and from then on it's just maintenance...until I decide to get a crawl box.

Oh and some where in there I'm going to rebuild an engine and drop it in. Maybe then I can make some of these out of state trips.

 

I am amassing so many dang parts and I'm getting nothing done. I've got my new trans crossmember/skid, 2" BL, 2" lift motor mounts, 10k Warn Xeon winch and this stuff...



Brand new set of Genuine Toyota LCAs, and a brand new set of OME coilovers with 883 springs. Also some brand new steering rack boots. The T4R has a seized jamb nut on the outer tie rod and the greasable Moog tie rods I have on the OGT are a bit to close to the brake disc for my comfort. I ordered all new ball joints, with inner and outer tie rod ends. Figure I'm going to put the outer tie rod ends on the OGT and the greasable ones on the T4R which still has the backing plates over the discs so I don't have to worry about getting grease on the disc.

If this doesn't fix my vibration, I may do something rash.

Of course, I have to dredge up the motivation to get out there and install this stuff.

 

Update on the state of the OGT: I replaced the leaf spring bushings this morning and just got back from test driving it on the interstate. There was a small but definite improvement in the vibration, but it's not gone. It's light enough that I can easily chalk it up to the tires not being perfectly balanced, but I honestly don't think that's what it is. When I put bias plies back on it the vibration will probably be lost in the bias ply ride so i'm prepared to live with it. I still have to wonder though...I have no more suspension parts or driveline parts to replace, so I'm wondering if maybe it's the the engine, maybe the harmonic balancer or just the loose rods or something. If it's a motor mount, that will be come apparent soon enough since I'll be swapping them out for the taller ones Todd made me with the T4R style mounts. Hopefully that's not going to be as big an hassle as I think it's going to be to get them in.





Tacoma style mount on top, '01 T4R style on bottom.

 

On a side note: with 265/75R16s (32s, compared to the 31s that were stock on the truck), I'm turning between 2500-2600 RPMs at 70 MPH +/-2 or so according to the GPS (with the stock 3.90s). If Marlin's calculator is correct, I'm only going to be banging a little over 2700 at 70 MPH with 4.88s and 35s, maybe a little less if Interco doesn't meet my deadline (4th of July) for releasing the new 35x13.50s and I end up getting 36x12.50-15 TSL-SXs.

Makes me feel better about how stressed the engine will be at interstate speeds with the new gears. It should be pretty close to stock.

 

Mah Hooptie rollin', muffler dragging,
rear half lifted, the front half saggin'...



Still looking lame AF and nerfed to the point of not being trail worthy, but at least I'm finally moving in the right direction...more instead of less.



Can't wait to start on the front half...not. I'm buying Tars on the 4th of July whether Interco has those SX2s I want released or not. That gives me a little more than a month to get the drivetrain lifted, a new set of rod bearings in it and get the 4.88s in there.

 

At laaaaaast,
my tiny tires days are over,
And life it like a soooong!

Lookie lookie what I picked up today...





Kinda skinny though...






Doesn't look like they are going to fit horribly though. Shit, If I don't have to too much clearancing I might try stepping up to 15x10 wheels.



Special thanks to Etta James for the beautiful song I modified the lyrics from, lol.

 

It begins...



Meant to post the above this morning, but I guess I forgot to hit the post button. However after a long day of slaving away getting my old ass kicked by the heat, this is the result:







To be honest, I was really expecting a bigger difference between these 36s and my LTBs. I'm barely going to have to trim the rear aft fender if at all. As for the 4.88 gears, I wasn't really impressed with those and was thinking that maybe I should have got 5.29s, but on the way home from the flexy picture shoot when I turned the corner on to my street in 2nd gear I pinned it to the floor. It shot off like a bat outa hell and I wound 2nd out so fast I hit third before I remembered there are kids in the neighborhood and I don't need to be hauling ass. That was freaking shocking.

 

This is really just me prioritizing remaining stuff to be done so I'll have something to work from.

Critical Outstanding Items I need to get done before the Fall Wheeling Season:

• Install new rod bearings
• Install New Front Diff and Possibly a new steering rack
  
• Install Tires and Preform any required clearancing for new front tires
  
• Install Armor on new radiator and install new radiator

1. Day 1: Jack up truck and remove tires and wheels. Remove steering rack.
2. Day 2: Drain engine and front diff oil. Remove diff and oil pan.
3. Day 3: Install Taller motor mounts
   
4. Day 4: change rod bearings. Reinstall oil pan. Fill engine with oil.
5. Day 5: Reinstall New front diff
   
6. Day 6: Install Steering rack and flush system with new fluid. Address all outstanding parts and bits, fill diff with oil, top off all fluids.
7. Test drive to see where I'm going to have clearance issues

Items I'd like to have done before the Fall Wheeling Season:

• Install the new taller motor mounts (DONE!)
• Install the new Off-road Trans-crossmember/skid
• Address any other issues that crop up from raising the driveline 2"
• Get new exhaust installed
• Weld in my new traction bar

Non-critical outstanding items:

• Install winch
• Reengineer front bumper to fit around winch and sit 2" higher overall
• Buildrear bumper
• build spare tire fold up/down carrier
• Build a water tank tilt down feature
• Build a vise tilt down feature
• build a tag holder

---

Might need to consider a 60" high lift jack.




I have to say I'm not at all disappointed with the width of the new tires. Somehow they look just as wide as the LTBs in spite of being 12.50. Now I just have to relearn its limits now that the CG is higher so I can keep it rubber side down.

 

New motor mounts are in place. Need to but shorter bolts in the engine-to-mount bracket though. The thinner brackets cause the bolts to bottom out before they tightened the bracket down. It's fine though, I'd be shut down until Tuesday anyway, waiting on an oil pick-up tube gasket.




Special thanks to @allenfab again for great work and hooking a brother up!

 

Almost there! I'm on the home stretch!