Building the "BEAST"

This is a friend of mine whom I've helped on his truck His was the first 4 gen 4runner sas but it was really botched when he had it built so we talked him into building it right and another good friend of mine who has the virtual twin of this runner, helped him to rebuild this rig the right way.

But now we're going to have to change the drivers seat after this ride. I was already up and you can it's twin right in front waiting to be a winch point if needed. AWSUM!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPxi_j4TTpI&feature=youtu.be

 

so much awesomeness in these sas build.

 

my ass would be as tense as rock. that looked sketchy!

 

It was close. he was right at the edge but the moment the front tire came back down we knew he had it. We were ready to pull the winch line and hook him up to it's twin just above.

 

Thanks Ryan. We try.

 

So just another small update on the Beast. Since RST will be coming out with their own twin stick it was time we came up with a logo for the knobs and these are the ones I've chosen for the Beast.





They will also come in white but I prefer the black.

 

back in March I had to replace one of the unti bearings on my nine year old axles. I didn't change the other side because I was in a hurry to get to AZ Rocks. Couldn't miss that! So now I had the timeto change it and I needed to change a couple of other things too.

The hiems for the front panhard were in need of a change so I bought some new ones and changed those too and the locking hubs needed to be changed.

I chose the Yukon Hardcore hubs over the Dyna tracs because of the reviews of the two. Dyna tracs seem to have issues and everyone I've talked to with the Yukons seem to love them.

So first I changed the heims since that was the easiest.



Then it was off to the first Yukon hub. I have to say that I am very impressed with these hubs. For the Dana 60 35 spline they are $370.00 but they are beefy. The bolts that hold the cover are are bigger than the ones on the Warn and the cover itself is made of a stronger metal. The spring in the hub is a lot beefier than that of the Warn and the rest of the material in it for the actual locking mechanism is of better metal material. Over all it is just a much better design and it's super easy to go from free to lock and back again. Just a quarter turn and your in.

I'll post up more detailed pictures tomorrow when i replace the unit bearing and the other locking hub.

Here is how they come from Yukon.





they have very easy to understand instructions and are pretty simple to install.



I'll do a detailed install pictorial of it tomorrow for ya'll.

Here is the new unit bearing built custom for my truck.

 

You'll like the Yukons!

 

Thatswhat everyone who has them is saying. When the Dynatracs came out I was looking at those but everyone that I know who has them says they are kind of a pain to engage or have had issues with them. Not to mention they were $500.00 a pair when they first came out so I waited.

Now these Yukons are a bit more expensive than the Warns, but after putting the first one in I can see why. They are very nice and very well built.

 

Is there any play between the puck and spacer? I have F450 unit bearings on mine with the Yukon locks and i have to machine a new spacer. Looking at your pictures you have the same spacer as I do.

 

Which part number did you get? Mine is the 70004 and it was perfect. Mine is for the 99 to 04 superduty's 60's. they do say there are differnces in the spacers. maybe you got the wrong kit for your application.

 

OK. This morning I jumped to the side of the truck that needed the unit bearing changed.

So first I need to get the old Warn Locking hub off. Take out the six allens and the cover comes off. First thing you notice between the Yukons and the warns is just how well the Yukons are made compared to the Warns.



Then pulled the brake stuff off and the old unit bearing. It was still pretty good. But I changed the other one so this one should be changed as well. I'll keep it as a spare.



Got the new one on and ready for the Yukon Hub.



All the rest of the hub install can be seen at this link. Yukon Hard core locking hub install.

Here is the finished product.

 

Yep I got the same one you did. They dont fit the spidertrax F450 unit berings without a new spacer not a big deal. Mine work like a charm now they are pretty awesome you will love them.

 

Did some more work to the truck this weekend. The top link mount at the axle was always too short. It needed to be taller so when we built Rays truck we took that into account and made the top link mount taller by 3.5"

The change was awesome. Less dive when braking, A Lot less! and less squat when taking off. The truck really handles better on road and it handled very well before. Also changed the joints. Love them.

This is the top link tower that I'm using now. I'm not using that side frame mount. I'll have another one that is better built.



These are the joints I'm using for the top link and will probably go to them all in the near future.

 

So after nine years and 50,000 miles of hard wheeling and daily driving it became time to replace the inner axle seals and ball joints on my front axle. Now the inner axle seals were probably my fault when we torched off the old top link mount. The axle got pretty hot and when I got into the axle I could see that the seal had melted some of the rubber on it. I learned something when doing these Rock Jocks. Currie does not use an outer axle seal. They say the reason for that is because these trucks go into some weird places with mud, dirt and water more than regular vehicles do and as such they want the water and dirt to go into the axle tube and then back out. If you had the outer dust seal on, dirt and water would go in but would end up trapped inside the axle tube. Don't want that.

Anyway, here is what I did.

First i needed to take off the manual hubs. then there is a snap ring that kinda keeps the short shaft in place in the hub. Need to remove that.





There are two spacers or washers behind that that must be removed.



Then it was time to pull the axle out. Just stick pry bar between the axle and the inside C and pry it out.



Then it was off to the other side.



Next was pulling this big pig out of the housing. Wasn't really hard to do. I just balled up a shop rag and stuck it between the ring and pinion gears and turned the gears so they would mesh and it just popped out.



Then i put the carrier in a big trash bag and stuck it in the freezer over night so it would be easier to install the next morning.

This was the offending seal. I just got a long piece of pipe and drove them out.



Then when it was time to put the new seals in some people use this special tool that costs $130.00 Not me! I just went out and found a $17.00 1 3/4" socket and put some extensions on it and made the perfect seal driver with it.






Since i had everything apart and it's a nine year old axle with 50,000 hard miles on it I decided I should change the ball joints.

Instead of trying to use the ball joint tool I went to my trusty press to press them out. Made quick work of those joints. I had to rig up some fancy jigs but it worked.




New ball joints.



After I got the ball joints done I put everything back together again and was on my way once again.



For full detail you can go to this link. Building the Beast

 

Ever since I had the twin sticks in my truck I've wanted to change the shifter boots to something that was more me. Something that I designed and created instead of something I bought from a store. I've always hated the Honda go fast crap I had in there with the red stitching on black fabric. It was just ugly. So I had a new crawler box shifter boot made and found a place that would make the twin stick shifter boots for me to my specs, and then I used something that Jason did to his FJ when Dan and I installed a crawler box in it for him and this is what I came up with.

Two shifter boots that now look the same and good and a way to finally secure them to the console. I think it came out rather nice.







Now I'm just about ready for the Rubicon.

 

That looks factory. Well done

 

Friday afternoon around 3:30 you passed me on the 57 through Diamondbar. I was stuck in traffic heading North in the HOV lane.

 

Wyatt, that looks amazing!

Luckily my ricer boot has blue stitching and doesn't bother me too much.

 

the amount of work you do on your truck in your damn driveway makes me need to re-evaluate my wrenching life hahaha