GHOST SHIP: Custom Chingaderas

That takes me back to JrHigh.

 

Rebuilding a CV:

This is less of a tutorial but rather an affirmation about what this job entails. I see a lot of people swapping out axles rather than opting to rebuild them when a boot gets torn. Repairing the boot is an easy job (with the right tools) and fairly inexpensive compared to swapping out your axle for even an aftermarket version which have been known to fail prematurely. It’s just messy as hell and kind of annoying TBH. @turbodb has a great thread here and on his webpage that goes over the process for first gens and the process is pretty much the same. I actually couldn’t get clarification if the part number for the boot kit is the same for first, second and third gens but I did notice that the clamps provided were a little different compared to Turbodb’s pictures. Here’s his thread for how to do the job:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/how-to-rebooting-a-tacoma-cv-axle.604695/

In today’s example, @Georgeth1022 had a tear on the inner boot, passenger side. FYI, it’s not too bad to drive with a small tear but you want to address it sooner rather than later because as grease gets flung out of the boot, your CV is not as well lubricated and could wear prematurely down the road. So if this happens on the trail, you should be OK to drive home but don’t wait months to repair it.



After removing the axle, I placed it on the workbench with some packaging paper as my work mat. It’s going to get messy and the paper makes cleanup a lot easier.



Here’s the OEM boot kit. You get inner and outer boots, 4 clamps, 2 c-clips and grease for either end of the CV. The caramel colored grease is for the inner joint and the darker grey/black stuff is for the outer joint. I don’t know the difference but I’m not going to argue with Toyota.





After taking apart the inner CV.



Here’s the new boot with the inner clamp already installed. It’s important to note that you should clean off all surfaces that will seal the boot to the axle extremely well to prevent possible leaks at the seal. I cleaned off the axle as well as the inner surface of the boot before sliding it on to make sure we had a good seal.



CV reinstalled. Make sure the C-clip is fully seated in the groove. The kit comes with new clips but the old one didn’t look used or damaged at all so it gets saved as a spare.



I cleaned out all the old crease from the CV cup just to give everything a fresh start.



Here’s a close up of the new clamps provided in the kit.



For shits n gigs I cleaned up the rest of the axle so it’ll look brand new when it’s reinstalled. This gave me an opportunity to take a real close look at the outer boot and inspect it for wear or cracks that could pose a problem in the future. Everything checked out so it stays.




Then reinstall everything and take the truck for a test drive. All together the job took about 3 hours or so. I have experience replacing axles but I understand that’s where a lot of people get hung up on these jobs. Someone with less experience might take a bit longer so plan for a full day of work just in case. Like I said, not super difficult just really messy and tedious to try and keep everything clean. It’s something we’ll all have to deal with at some point so you might as well get in there and try it.



...Or don’t and pay me to do it for you.

 

As always, thanks for another great fix on my truck Sergio. Appreciate it.

 

Thanks for the tires Sergio

 

Damn those wheels are sexy.

 

CMC correction today on @Kingsginn ’s well built third gen.

Not all CMCs are the same. It has more to do with everyone’s separate wheel/tire combo and suspension setup, including variances in factory tolerance on each individual truck. That being said, some people aren’t as aggressive when they cut the cab mount and leave a lot of meat on the bone when performing this mod. I don’t like to bad mouth other people’ work but it’s important that customers know what to look for and know what they’re getting when shopping around.

Here’s before:





There was rubbing at the lower edge of the mount and you can see the creative solution to the pinch weld and lower fender corner. I was able to cut back another inch at the lower edge and about a half inch at the top of the mount which brought the face of the mount behind the firewall.

Here’s after:




By angling the lower edge of the mount back further than the top, you gain a lot of clearance for bigger tires. These are 315s BTW.



In the picture above you can also see the cleaned up fender and flare.


While I was in there I also swapped out the factory needle bearing for an ECGS bushing.

 

Thanks again! Will definitely be hitting you up again for some more work.

 

Feel like burninating and pillaging.
This is a project that’s long overdue. Thanks to @DrFunker for the vintage Winchester axe head and some talk a while back about bearded axes, I finally got some steam on the restore/refurbish of this crusty gem.


As soon as it arrived I was already planning my cut. It was rusty and the edge was badly misshapen. Looks like the back end spent some time hammering things it shouldn’t have hammered and had mushroomed out somewhat.



After several overnight soaks in rust dissolver and some time with my bandsaw, grinder, sander and hacksaw, I carved out a handsome profile.



I was even able to keep the Winchester logo.


You can also see the hickory handle was fitted to the axe head’s new profile and epoxied in place. It took some time with a utility blade, belt sander and some chisel work to get the fit to be as tight as possible.

As of now, I need to finalize the handle fit, set the head, coat it and sharpen it. I’ll also be aging the hickory handle to match the aged look of the axe and leather wrapping the handle. I’m debating cutting down the hickory handle to more of a camping axe length but I’d have to slim down the profile accordingly.

stay tuned.

 

awesome work brother!!

 

Hey @GHOST SHIP
I was wondering if you would be down to help me out with a project

due to an unfortunate accident the battery box on my trailer was annihilated and needs to be replaced.

I riveted the sheet to the outside to make it more weather proof this is what it looks like on the inside


HOW IS THIS TACOMA RELATED?!

well because my Tacoma goes inside

 

Beautiful work! Thanks again.

 

Kenda tires?

 

Yep Klever RTs 33x10.5

 

Super messy job, I also always recommend re-booting oem axles over replacements! Great work!

 

Hi buddy, long time no see but ya wanna cut my bumper to fit a hybrid bumper

 

Busy weekend and I didn’t take a single picture of anything.
2 CMCs
Finished an electrical install
Installed ES radiator support bushings
Made a washer tub fire pit
Started building a spaceframe for a custom camper.

 

Oh, I guess I did take one picture. These are the radiator core support bushings from a 2015. The front end had developed an odd squeak when flexing over speed bumps or in and out of driveways. Hard to see but the bushings had both worn through so the inner metal sleeve was making contact with the front end sheet metal. The collapsed bushing also caused the front fenders, grill and headlights to sag ever so slightly since they all mount to the core support. Adding these bushing was actually pretty easy so I guess I’ll have to dig mine out of my box of Tacoma parts where they’ve been sitting for a couple years.

 

I took a few of the CMC
Before


After the cut



Final


Thanks @GHOST SHIP

 

Fantastic work Sergio. So much clearance

 

PMed