Snowy's 3-Linked 98 Xtra Cab

Looks good, now get two of those corkscrew dog ties and two of the smaller ratchet straps to anchor the outer corners so wind can't make it fly.

 

New front diff parts ordered from ECGS on a 10% off Labor Day sale. Went wheeling this weekend and remembered how much a spool sucks for steering on anything with traction. 5.29 v6 diff with a Spartan. Broke a Detroit twice now, never doing one again

 

Love my spartan! Up front I have the god of all lunchbox traction devices (according to the internets), the aussie locker because kangaroos. "Hey this looks just like a lockrite, I mean identical" "STFU it's not at all the same thing the box has a kangaroo and a pic of australia on it, thus better"

 

It comes from the land of ARB so it’s got to be better right!?

I’m over fancy lockers at this point. My ARB was leaky and the Detroit has broken twice. John’s Spartan has survived 2 broken birfs and just needed a pin kit after the second. Still locked fine, just was inconsistent unlocking

 

Happy birthday bro!

 

Making progress....

Gears were a motherfucker to get set up. Took a .090 stack under the pinion to get the depth right. Normally is no shims to .020. Only thing different this time was Yukon gears instead of Nitro. Anyway...still got to a nice pattern eventually.





New wheel bearings and hub gears are ready to go together tomorrow night. One spindle was full of water and had wasted the wheel bearings since June. I had some oddball IFS hub conversion gears that used a thinner outer gear/clutch. One of the outer gears was cracked and of course the OEM spare I had was too thick to disengage the inner gear. So I ordered some new chromoly outer gears from TG and picked up a new chromoly set of inner gears from RCV on the way home from work Friday.

Turns out 4 years of deferred maintenance catches up to you and gets expensive!

 

Agreed.

 

Turns out it was definitely time for a new third. The chipped tooth is new since welding up the swapped carrier in June. Got 15 years out of this one so that’s hard to complain about!

 

What gears do you have, 5.29s?

Do you have the TG wiper seals? Are they really resueable like they claim? I love mine so far, just need to know if that's something I need to rebuy. Tearing the front end apart will most likely be my first piss the neighbors off project in my new place, whenever I get one.

 

Yeah 5.29's. Definitely reusable based on how beefy those things are going in. I was on felts before so I don't have any time on them to be the authority though.

This has been the fix everything I did as cheaply as possible in college type of rebuild. New wipers and rock rings from TG, new wheel bearings, all new gaskets/seals, and repacking the birfs.

 

Ahh I thought you had them the whole time. They are sweet, I have never sucked around with felts but with these I will probably never even bother. I did have an odd thing happen on my rock rings where a few of the boot heads sheered off, and no sign of a rock impact. I have no idea what that's about!

 

Definitley reusable, if with northeast salt/rust.
When swapping over to my diamond I was going to reuse them. Ended up fubaring the steel split ring and buying another TG kit that included new rings. Guy I sold my front axle to is reusing the old kit. Still in good shape.

 

Tacoma is back together and ready for Harlan this weekend!

Making a little trip out to Cleveland to make a new purchase Wednesday if it all checks out in person

 

The tow rig department got a serious upgrade today!

 

I'm good at that game too

Congrats! that's an awesome color combo

 

Bet that'll be a world of difference with the toy hauler!

 

I love the 7.3 but technology doesn’t suck sometimes and it will be nice to nearly double the power, gain a couple gears and get drw stability. The old 250 pulled it fine but had a certain set of do’s and don’ts rowing the shifter and brake controller in the hills and this should let my wife team drive it with me on long trips.

 

1900 miles in the first 4 days of ownership of the new f350. Words do it zero justice in how comfortable it is towing the big trailer in the mountains down to Harlan. I love Harlan in the fall and had a bunch of fun with @Robertocritser, Nick, Grohe, and Mark. They are all much better at taking pictures than me too!

 

It was a blast until you doomed me by saying 5 words haha. Id do it again in a heart beat though

 

Looks like fun, I wish I had my shit box down here to come wheel with you guys!!