Baka's 1998 Build

Thanks Nick.

 

The OGT all clean at the Tamlando Meet...



Plus one of the new rear pod lights...

 

And here's a cool action pic from the Annual Citrus meet courtesy of @Alfuh ...



She was 2 wheelin' it up a clay washout after the rain that Saturday.

 

So this is what I did today...



I took it all back apart after the pictures, cleaned up the cutouts in the bumper and painted everything. Tomorrow I get to start fabbing the mount for the fuse block and relays. Then the real fun begins...

 

Turned out good!

 

Thanks! Couldn't have done it without ya, Brah.

 

I'm sure you would've found a way. Haha

 

I'm curious how did the 83 work for you? Also what prompted the change to your current taco

 

I loved the '83. I ended up selling it because the rings in the 22R were shot out. I had to put oil in it more often than I had to put gas in it...not to mention it looked like a mosquito fogger going down the road. Plus I had an '87 project truck I was putting a Chevy 350 in. In retrospect, I should have just taken the 22RE and the cab off the '87 and put them on the '83 frame. Would have been a better truck ('87 with a straight axle, plus all the creature comforts my '83 didn't have) and a lot less work.

As far as the Taco, the truck I had before the OGT was an F250 Supercab SWB 4WD with a 460cid. It cost me $20 in gas just to start it up, haha. I wanted something smaller that got better fuel economy. Turns out the OGT is a lot more fun too.

 

So...I woke up late today. Fully back on night shift schedule again. Almost didn't make it to the parts store for more wire. I got the big bundle made up and routed though. Had to route it twice because I wasn't happy with where it was the first time. It was running across a sharp metal edge and I concluded that was just asking for trouble. Much happier with it now and I think it looks pretty good (even if that was sort of the easier part).

 

After several days of screwing around, I'm pleased to say that the under-hood portion of my aux fuse panel/accessory switches & relays project is complete...for now. It didn't come out as clean (especially in that back corner) as some folks can achieve around here, but considering I hate wiring, I can live with it.

(sorry for the crappy pics, I can never get the stupid phone to get clear ones for some reason)

 

I tested my light bar out this morning at about 0300. Conditions were damn near optimal. The roads were wet from rain we just had so they absorbed light more than reflected it. At first, on the access road behind my house, I didn't think I was going to be terribly impressed. Yes, the light bar lit things up better than my headlights, but it didn't really wow me.

But then...then I drove over to this retention pond complex over by the Rec Center and pulled up to the entrance used by maintenance crews when they bush hog the area. It was amazing. With just my headlights, I could see almost nothing, especially since I was parked at the top of a short incline (5-8 ft drop I'm guessing). I could see a small yellow line of light from my headlights on the trees that lined the berm between the ponds that I was pointed along. Then I turned the light bar on...Wow! Now I could see the entire berm, the trees, from top to bottom, and everything. My headlights were a joke in comparison.

A Rigid light bar would probably be a thousand times better. It probably would have set the trees on fire with the intensity of the light beam it put out, but this cheapo light bar is definitely not useless and I'm happy with it...for now (which is good considering the effort It was to get all that wiring installed). Now it's just a question of whether it will stand up to off-road abuse--mud, water, bouncing over washboard trails...

The pictures actually tell the story better than I thought they would, but they don't really do justice to how much was lit up...

With just my headlights:

With the light bar:

 

Hope this helps someone.

So some time during the Annual Citrus meet, my anemic windshield washer pump gave up the ghost...I think. Anyway, since I was doing some trouble shooting on it anyway, I figured I'd pull the reservoir out and do a much overdo repair on the filler neck which has the typical dry rot and cracking going on. The PO tried to fix it with electrical tape which worked about as well as expected.

I removed the tape, flushed out the tank with a water hose and blew it dry with an air compressor. I then cleaned the cracked area with denatured alcohol (I would have used acetone if I had any, but the alcohol worked about as well). I then cut a few pieces of fiberglass cloth to cover the large hole and the cracked areas. Once that was done I smeared a layer of silicone RTV over the repair area. I then placed the glass cloth on the repair area and carefully smeared that with a layer of silicone one piece at a time until I was satisfied the cracks were covered.

The glass cloth serves two functions: it sealed the large hole that had cracked out, and it reinforced the remaining plastic to prevent future cracking.

Admittedly, I didn't make it look terribly pretty, but it's in an area that nobody will see unless they are looking for it, so I didn't get all anal about how good it looked. Anyway, here's the finished result along with the roll of glass cloth I used...




BTW, a new reservoir costs about $115 bucks; this repair cost me nothing since I had the glass cloth and a tube of RTV that was about to go bad in my toolbox.

 

Getting ready to head over to @allenfab 's to get some goodies welded on (CBI frame reinforcements, new longer spring perches, new shock mounts, and a new front crossmember).

Thanks a bunch to @SpruceTaco @Hugopreston and @Scoobarooo for the assist! You guys rock!

Took us all of about 30 seconds to get the bed off the truck and on the ground.

 

You're welcome bud!
Hey on the way home I saw a Caddy that matches the OGT. Lol

 

Haha...the OGC?

 

Getting ready for some upgrades...

 

Photo dump of day 1 of the OGT's upgrades done by @allenfab.




From @allenfab:

 

Photo dump of Day 2 of @allenfab's upgrades to the OGT:




The total list of things accomplished is as follows:

-CBI frame reinforcements
-Ruff Stuff Anti-wrap spring perches/u-bolts/top plates/shock mounts
-New rear crossmember for upper shock mounts (fabbed by Todd)
-Shock relocation
-Adjustable bumpstop pads (fabbed by Todd and myself)
-Extreme duty front crossmember/skid plate front mount (fabbed by Todd)
-Axle located ~1" aft of previous setup thanks to the adjustable center pin holes on the perches and top plates

It was a load of work and I'm still not done yet. I have to paint all the new steel, drill and tap the front crossmember for the skid plate bolts, and determine what length shock I need. Gonna pull the axle back out now that I have it home so I can clean it up and get a fresh coat of paint on it so that'll be a good time to take the spring pack apart so I can get a measurement between the shock mounts with it sitting on the bumps (which I figure will end up being about 1' less up-travel than the factory setup--.375" steel plate welded to the factory stop with a .375" aluminum pad bolted to that with the lower bumper sitting about .25" higher than it was due to the new top plate on the top of the spring).

It's gonna be awesome. Like I said in the Tampa thread, I can't thank Todd enough for all the work he did for me. It's freakin' gorgeous.

 

No problem at all. Like I said before, you made my job easy

I meant to give you an Allenfab decal before you left, I'll have to get that to you the next time we see each other.