Box Rocket 1995 FZJ80 Build

The Tacoma isn't going anywhere at the moment. I was considering selling it a couple weeks ago to fund a new project but that whole thing kinda dissolved so the Taco is staying put (which is fine by me). The Tacoma is the daily driver/solo wheeler, the Cruiser is the family wheeler.

 

Do you think this bearing is ok to reinstall?

 

No cover plate at the moment. The bumper had been modified heavily by the guy I bought my old 80 series from (bumper came with that truck). I'll fab up some kind of cover soon to protect the winch line.

The license plate is permanent. It's bolted to the front of the bumper using the lower plate holes. I don't think the zipties are necessary, I just threw a couple on there in case it wiggled enough to rattle against that center tube of the bumper.

Edit: The bearing is the outer wheel bearing. I'm in the middle of a full front axle rebuild.

 

Done on my schedule is a bit of a joke right now. Been working 12-14 hr days 6 days a week so finding the time to get this crap done is tough. Obviously needed to be addressed before I head to Moab in a couple weeks.

The bearing was definitely growling a bit but honestly I was shocked to see the bearing was fubar'd that bad. I would have thought it would have been MUCH louder than it was. Cruisers are tough muthas.

 

Where did you get those little red TRD decals you put on your wheels?

 

Also do you have any more pictures of how you have this rear light set up? I always like that you had these utility movable lights on the back of your rigs. If i could get some more info on this that would be great. Thanks.

 

So what's the difference between the early (91-92) axle and yours? I know I don't have ABS and I've heard something about needing a spacer of some sort to run the 93+ axles? I'm going to tear mine down this weekend, I think I have a birf popping.

 

It's nothing fancy. Just a simple "work" lamp that helps out at campsites at night. There is just a tall "post" welded to the top of the tire carrier. Right now there's just a switch on the dash, but I'll be changing it up to use a switch by the light instead. It's easier to turn it on back there since I'm usually outside the truck already when I need to use it.

Honestly, I'm not aware of needing a spacer to run the later axles. As you already know you don't have the ABS system but the ABS rings on the birfs can be removed so I think it's possible to run later birf/shafts it you just pull the ABS ring. I'm not 100% on that so I'd recommend just double checking before you do that. Other than that, the only other difference I'm aware of is the difference at the diff housing that allows the factory diff locks to fit. The housing can be modified though if you want to add an Elocker.

My old '93 had the same non-ABS axles that you have and I'm pretty sure that's about it. One last thing is that the early axles only needed one extended brake line on the driverside of the axle (for lifted trucks). When I swapped all my suspension stuff over from the '93 to the '95 I needed to have another brakeline made for the passenger side since the later axle has fittings for the brakes lines on both sides of the axle rather than just the driver side.

Oh, and one trick you could try if your birfs are clicking is to just swap them from one side to the other so the bearings in the cage are running against the other side of the grooves. A lot of people do that to get a little more life out of the birfs before replacing them.

 

Repainted the hood blackout after peeling the plastidip. Finish is much nicer with the paint.

 

Here's a pick of the backside of the tire carrier (when it was on the old truck) that shows the post for the camp light.

 

Thanks for the advice. It turns out the noise was just a front U-joint. For some reason or another I only noticed the noise when turned sharp.

 

Interesting. Depending on your lift height you might find it necessary to run a double-cardon joint in the front driveshaft. I was getting bad vibes and wearing out ujoints before I switched to a dc shaft.

 

I think it's a 2.5" OME lift. That very well could be the issue, but I have no idea when they were last changed. I have recently put several hundred miles on in 4lo locked (ARB's F&R) in wet, deep snow and really hammered on this thing. I think that contributed to it more than anything.

 

Yeah that could do it too.

 

Thanks for the Picture. i thought it was portable for some reason.

 

It will rotate so I can point it where I need it but it's not portable.

 

cool thanks. I may do that this week. Is it just an inexpensive light? I have some spare KC rounds

 

Yeah you could do some fancy LEDs or something but I just used something I had on hand. Cheap will work just fine for what I need since it's mainly just used to light up the trailer when I pull into camp at night.

 

Truck did great all week in Moab for the Cruise Moab event.

 

very nice... looks like you put it through the ringer a bit out there

you going to be down at OE this year?