Snowy's 3-Linked 98 Xtra Cab

good ideal with the placement through the floor near the doorsill like that

 

Thanks! I thought about putting it on the dash somewhere but plumbing it sounded like a bitch so on the floor out of the way it went

 

I realized that I never posted after I took apart all my gear in the Tacoma and started weighing things. I’m more fixated than most on losing weight off the truck and I was curious if there was anything to drop

-Action packer with fluids, jack, power tools and miscellaneous steering spares: 96lbs

-Small toolbox with miscellaneous tools/pullers: 38lbs

-Spare: 131lbs

-CO2 tank: 25lbs

-Hi-lift: 28lbs

-Miscellaneous stuff from cab…spare axle shafts, birf, recovery gear, radios, etc: 98lbs

Grand total was a disappointing 416lbs of extra crap I bring with me. I’m considering leaving some more stuff at camp that I haven’t touched in over 2 years. Inner axle shafts, birf, hubs, and whatever else hasn’t moved lately. East coast/non UA style wheeling is never far from camp and shedding another 100lbs would be really nice now that the truck is knocking on the door of 4500lbs

 

Cut the sheet metal off for some real weight savings!!

 

Impressive weight tally. Sounds like you carry what I’d consider the bare minimum and I probably carry even more. Maybe time for me to go through and weigh my spares and tools and do the same as I search for better storage in mine.

 

Looks good!

 

Realized I haven't posted in here since January because I've pretty much done nothing to the truck except wheel it. Got back from a weeklong trip in Hot Springs AR last week and it finally needs a few little things fixed but nothing major to report.

Wheeled the Badlands in Attica, Indiana on a daytrip in February

https://photos.app.goo.gl/uWekHv3J8kt2W5t96








Visited Flat Nasty in May





Then hit Hot Springs for the annual weeklong wheeling trip we do. The wheeling there was insanely good, technical crawling that I really enjoy. Felt like I spent the whole week in compound low on long, fun trails. Only carnage in the whole group was a front u-joint on the red 4Runner. Definitely my favorite park that I've ever been to.

 

I piled up some miles on the Tacoma as a DD to work this summer but I crawled under it last night and realized it’s time to pull it in the shop for maintenance. I’ve literally done nothing except an AC compressor since the 3-link.

The traction bar mount is ripping off the frame…again. Except this time it tore the 3/16” scab plate in half so the whole thing is getting cut out and redone on the driver side so it’s not fighting for space with the driveshaft and exhaust all on the passenger side. Going to just add a crossmember so it’s better supported this time.

While I was looking at the traction bar, I realized that years of paint were piling up on the frame and bubbling in a few spots from the inside out. I bought a needle scaler and started asking questions with it that I knew I didn’t want the answer to.







The needle scaler is badass though and let me strip this framerail in about 20 minutes of low effort work that’s way easier/safer than a wire wheel. Harbor Freight has it dialed with them for $20.



Now project creep has fully set in. I’m not wheeling in September or October this year and the next trip planned is late November so I’ve got a nice window to work. Plan is to pull both axles, strip and paint them with high quality paint instead of a rattle can after they were already under the truck like I did originally. Fix the rot in the frame, then strip and paint again with Eastwood chassis paint in a HVLP gun.

Mechanically, outside of the traction bar mount, the LF has birf soup that needs addressed and fluids all need changed. Also ordered some Metalcloak duroflex joints to replace my 3-link heims while the axle is out. I’m tired of the noise and vibration transmission from them. They look like a super resilient design and are easily rebuildable.

 

Welding over rust is fun, I highly recommend it!!

How the hell do you keep getting birf soup? My bogger welded "I had no idea wtf I was doing" front flipped axle is soup free. Are your trunions properly shimmed? Like actually shimmed right not the "put equal amounts top and bottom and fish scale it" way most people do?

 

Chipping away on this thing. Axle is out and most everything is stripped. Time to start cutting out plates and patching the frame…again. Went out and bought a second gen daily driver in the meantime too. I told myself I can’t do anything but maintenance on the second gen until this thing is finished

 

Why are you pulling the rear axle to weld up the rust holes?

 

Moving the traction bar to the driver side while I have it all apart. Now I won't have the driveshaft, exhaust and traction bar all fighting for the same space on the passenger side. Also taking the time to more nicely clean up the axle and paint it better even though it'll just get destroyed in the rocks again.

 

Making progress on this shitbox. Frame is patched and painted with nice Eastwood paint. Added a full crossmember for the traction bar, axle side bracket moved, then the whole axle got cleaned up and painted. Touched up a bunch of paint on the body while I was at it with a warm day too. Zero glamour in the work but it’s worth it to keep this frame still around and the rust at bay for at least a few more years.

 

The juice was worth the squeeze. Love having a nice payoff after doing a bunch of tedious bullshit

 

Got a new assist ram setup and burned in after I ripped the old mount off wheeling in November at Flat Nasty. Nothing exciting but I dropped to a 1.5” ram from a 1.75 to speed up the steering. Making some new lines and I’ll be all set for spring wheeling

 

On a recent wheeling trip, I noticed fuel dripping from the fuel tank when we stopped to do a recovery. Just a stress crack and a wrinkle in the tank in a random area that hadn’t been hit by anything.



I was completely perplexed as to what happened. Pondered if my support straps weren’t sturdy enough and the tank was buckling in the center. Then when I got home and cracked the fuel cap, it hit me that I’d never vented the tank properly since deleting evap in early 2020. I had a fill vent but no other vent with the evap line capped off.

The solution got a lot more involved than I’d wanted but it was time to lift the tank up for a longer exhaust and make room for a 4 link in the future if I ever desired.

Started pondering here, you can see where the front support strap used to be down in the frame rails.



Came up with supports to hold it level on my shock tower braces and utilize the factory straps





Then I decided I needed to reroute my rear brake line feed since I used to hang it from the fuel tank support. Soft line at the frame side of the traction bar and hard line down the traction bar to the T fitting on the axle.



I added a rollover valve and a proper fuel air trap vent system from Billavista to properly vent the tank and stay safe as well

 

Then I turned attention to the front axle. I hadn’t opened it up in 3 years so it was due for an inspection.

Ignorance is bliss. Those that know, can smell this picture



Serious birf soup. Go figure. Same story on both sides.

Figured I’m already this far, let’s pull the third too….



Ignorance truly is bliss. Fortunately I picked up a couple 5.29 R&P’s during the Nitro clearance sale a couple months ago. Ordered a master install kit and will throw it together next week.

I hadn’t planned on the truck being immobile for a week and had parked it blocking the door to the shop when I had other shit to get in and looked at. Sooo…time for some sketchy shit with the tractor and the winch line to drag it to the side



At this point, said fuck it, might as well check the rear too since I hadn’t opened it since 2016. Axle shafts were perfect with no twist and the R&P was still perfect too. Seems like the 80 rear is a good match to the truck.

 

I hit the junkyard today to pull a v6 third to build a complete spare that isn’t reliant on a camp welded, 4 cylinder carrier in a v6 case. Go figure that both regular v6 thirds were in trucks not high enough to get the tire off the ground, so I had to improvise



Ended up getting a v6 third for myself and a factory 4.88 third with the thin R&P for a friend that runs them in his mini. Pleasantly surprised to find one in the yard 10 minutes from my house



Went ahead and ordered a v6 master install kit, Spartan and an inspection plug to add to my front axle so that I can keep an eye on my front gear sets

 

Also went wheeling at Hawk Pride in Alabama. Cool place with all dry creek bed rock trails that were super fun to run in double low. Not many pictures since I was tailgunning

 

Took a little tumble spotting Dave’s XJ too . Craziest, sand/clay dust mix I’ve ever seen