Long Travel BS Thread

I have two shafts that need to be converted into axles, so I'm interested if anyone has a shop that will do it.

 

I have a pipe that hasn't failed me yet. I'll ship it to ya lol

 

Same concept as popping a cv axle out of a diff, you don't use constant pressure, you give it a sharp snap of a pry bar or tapping the cup with a punch and hammer. Constant pressure only makes the snap ring seat tighter.

 

Update, CVJ will do it:

 

I did all 4 of mine myself. It’s a bitch to get that axle to pop, you have to keep flipping it so you break the C clip.

 

So they knocked off the MC RCLT kit and still having problems? Lol. I remember AP being bought out long ago. Are they still the same company today?

 

What is the material? Is CVJ asking for material certificates for the material? Just asking.

 

They're trail gear now

 

" Trail-Gear Family of Companies"

 

tbh I'm not 100% sure what the axle shafts are made from - they're out of a Baja Kits package: https://www.bajakits.com/i-26932200-prerunner-kit-2-16-23-toyota-tacoma-4wd.html

No, CVJ didn't ask for material certs, but then again retail storefronts don't usually furnish material certs to customers. Since these axle shafts aren't serialized, you lose traceability anyway.

 

Got a question for you guys .

How do you guys have the encouragement to keep on working on a truck? Not saying my truck is as extreme as you're guys. But shit just hits the fan one after another, and after not even sitting in the driver seat for over half a year is getting discouraging.

 

I hate working on my truck. I especially don't want to work on it broken down in the desert. Prep Your Shit. I daily my truck and know it's ins and outs every day. If it needs attention I tend to it. My truck is rarely every down. I do have other cars in my fleet to drive but this one is mine. I have owned it for 15-years now so I know it's maintenance schedule in regards to heims, shock service, etc.

 

It'll be worth it once you get back to driving the truck. There's a lot of extra satisfaction getting to experiencing the result of all your hard work, besides all the new performance capabilities you'll unlock. I can't do nearly the stuff most of you are doing with your trucks yet, but I daily mine as well and even maintenance jobs and repairs are satisfying the more I drive it. I'd never done a CV rebuild before this year or replaced a ball joint, but the bigger the job, the more I've learned and want to do more of my own work. You're just here taking a bigger step this time round.

Edit: As said also, prep and inspection are a huge part of the process. Avoid nasty, bigger breakages.

 

I’m currently not having fun at all. But it will be soon. I keep telling myself that. Current progress……

 

Mine is parked for 7 months out of the year as I refuse to drive it in the salt. It’s honestly all about the drive to improve, and understanding it all takes time. While we all want instant gratification, this isn’t something that can deliver that.

For the first time in 3 years I won’t be doing much of anything to mine. I personally need a break for the year after doing the swingset last winter.

 

my truck went on jackstands in february, and while im far from done, i just got to drive it for the first time this past weekend. the overall thing that helped me keep moving forward was organization and routine. set milestones, large and small. celebrate those milestones when you reach them. celebrating could be as small and simple as standing back and admiring your work for 5 minutes with a beer at the end of the day. keep a physical list of things left to do on the truck and try to put it in a chronological order as much as possible. when other things come up, add them to the list in the appropriate location. that will help you determine what pop-up items need to happen right now, and what can or should wait.

the "while i'm in here" and unexpected things can really put a damper on progress and motivation, as well as the finer details of what you're already working on. everyone's day-to-day schedule is different of course, but I have a routine every morning that involves getting my wife and our little girl out the door. after that's complete, i would always make an espresso and sit on the couch in my office and admire the nature out the window. very therapeutic. once all of the tear down was done and i was actually building the truck, i skipped the couch and took the coffee outside. i'd spend the 5-10 minutes it took me to drink it walking around the truck. look at it from a distance, and then circle it up close. you tend to put your head down and focus on just the part you're working on at that moment. very easy to miss things and get discouraged when you're stuck in the weeds like that. those 5-10 minutes allowed me to disconnect from the very next weld or the fit-up that was giving me trouble, etc... and look at the project as a whole. in those few minutes each morning, i was able to catch little issues here and there before they became bigger headaches, as well as visualize the build on a bigger scale. i would do this every morning, whether i was going to work on the truck right after, or had to jump into my day job. worst case scenario, i see an issue that needs fixing and make note of it. best case, i got to admire what i had accomplished so far while getting caffeinated.

moral of the story, step back and take a deep breath. look at the truck from different angles, literally and metaphorically. remember, you're not just a mechanic. you're playing the part of designer, project manager, test driver, welder, and so-on. try to look at it from those different points of view. odds are at any given time, one of those "people" will have something to be happy about with the current state of the build.

 

But then you do this and your like I’m almost done…….not

 

pretty much the same as others have said, if you don’t love the pain at least a little bit, it’s a rough game.

I’ve seen many people build trucks with two different methods. The first being saving up a ton of cash in building the truck in one big swing with a few months or years downtime.
This is a good option if you know exactly what you want and have the knowledge to get it right the first go around.

I am personally of the second flavor, my truck was pretty much built one nut and bolt at a time, with rarely any downtime longer than a week or two. I learned to drive and work on it one weekend at a time over the last 6 years.
I’ve definitely redone a few things, multiple times, but like said above, I know the exact service history and care that goes into every single part on the truck because I’ve done it at least once.

Because of that, I can trust it daily drive, road trip across the country, hammer, whoops, and don’t stress when it’s weightless in the air. I’ve also been able to fix any problem I’ve encountered out in the dirt.

That said, Having a daily driver that isn’t a long travel truck was the best decision I’ve made in the past year. If something breaks or takes longer than anticipated, it can sit in the driveway. Somehow, ironically, this past year the truck has also been parked or “not drivable” More than the last five put together. But not with big failures or issues with my work. Stupid stuff like expired tags due to not passing emissions, and things I didn’t want to deal with in the heat of summer like an evaporator core.

edit, forgot the motivational line at the end
When you’re behind the wheel and floating over terrain comfier than you ever thought possible, every late night and cut up Knuckle becomes worth it

 

Good example was this past weekend, my dummy brain didn’t air up from 10 psi in the dunes and when I moved on to some hard pack trail with exposed rock.
Promptly smacked the edge when I was going ~70 through some water bar jumps and:


I coulda been bummed, but it’s a $250 wheel and $200 tire. Got it changed with the offroad jack I now have ( I didn’t the last time I blew a tire open) and was rolling again before the last group member caught up to our group of 8.

My biggest annoyance now is that I will have one spare tire that doesn’t match the treadwear on the other four, as I was doing five tire rotations.

 

time to upgrade to two spares!