Colinb17's kinda sorta build thread - now with 4-link and long travel

If you need any more wiring help, @Dm93 is the man.

 

Aside from connecting the 4/0 winch cables to the battery up front, all of the wiring is complete. Was able to turn 16 wires into 10. It's not quite as clean as I would like, but that's mostly because the Baja designs bar has the turn signal inputs on the right side of the bar, and everything else on the left, the the harness has to split at the end and have one additional plug. Really wish it all came out one side of the light bar, but not the end of the world.

Two runs of 4 and one run of 2. Twisted the three sets together in a single loom.


Ultimately hidden under and behind the aluminum panels, the harness splits I to three.





Two plugs go to the chase bar, and the spaghetti coming out of the black shroud tied into the trailer plug.

 

So clean. You make me feel like a caveman

 

Hey, as long as you're not using wire nuts, rock on!

Edit: i say that, but I'm pretty sure there's a handful of wire nuts keeping the gauges on my boat working....

 

I did use disposal hose as a wire loom so don’t think I wouldn’t do it in a pinch haha

 

Hey @Baja Designs i have a funny one for you. Just finished wiring up the new back half of my truck. Using the RTL as my tail lights. I tossed the positive lead back onto the battery to test out the new back end wiring to the lights and trailer harness. The trailer harness checked out on all pins with the volt meter, but on the light bar, the left and right turn signals were backwards. i double and triple checked the schematic i drew up as well as the connections themselves. everything lined up... then i though maybe i mounted the bar upside down? Ruled that out by looking at the manual that came with the light, clearly showing the logos on the top of the bar, with no other information countering that.




The fix was simple, fortunately. just had to pull the two pins out of the turn signal plug and swap them. problem solved. but i kept scratching my head on why i had to do that if everything else lined up. came back an hour later to look at everything one last time, and after looking at it real close, it appears that the entire PCB was installed upside down in the aluminum housing

you have to look super close to see that all of the board labeling, including the BD logo are upside down. curious what your thought are on this @Baja Designs. is this a one-off fluke, or is there someone in the Mexico plant that doesn't know his arriba from his abajo?
and presumably, now that I've corrected for the wiring, i shouldn't run into any moisture issues since the housing itself is right side up?



The bar is fantastic otherwise. i didn't think about the hyperflash, since i already had aftermarket LED taillights before this that didn't have an issue. I'll toss some resistors on it at some point, but not a priority at the moment.
Only thing i didn't test in the video is the reverse light because neither the brakes of parking brake are connected at the moment.
https://youtube.com/shorts/4vK8RkhZuZ0?si=SBotq7OUg90vcdkv

 

it's been a hectic few weeks, but i got the truck drivable just in time to attend the last day of Overland South Expo, which was fortunately only a few miles from my house. It's more of an overland/camp/outdoors crowd than an off road crowd, but they put together a surprisingly fun "challenge course" the full loop was a few miles long, but the spectator section had a nice articulation section that had most everyone three-wheeling through. The truck is performing fantastic, despite a lot of work left to do, but i'm very happy to have it back on the road in the meantime. all that's left to do shouldn't require any real downtime.

but lets go back see more of the process before we get to the driving video.....

my last post was on the lighting/wiring. got that all finished up, then rain the final fuel lines that tied the cell into the factory hard lines. thank you again to @Dayman Karate for some behind the scenes help with that.

then i finished plumbing up the brake lines, making the tie-in connection from the braided stainless lines coming off the upper link, to the factory hard lines.

at that point, the truck was drivable. i put a couple gallons in the fuel cell, and to my surprise, it started right up and the fuel gauge worked. i was certain that i'd cross a wire somewhere along the line, but all looks good from here. i drove the truck a mile down the road to fill up the fuel cell the rest of the way. that short drive really got me fired up, so put it back on jackstands and jumped into the front end, with one week to go before the overland south event.....

the total chaos kit itself is very straight forward and easy to install, but there was more to do than just bolt it in. welded in tower/control are gussets that put the pivot points of the UCA in double shear, as well as stabilize the coil bucket. also took the opportunity to do some cam tab gussets. its a miracle i hadn't flattened any of them over the years, but i don't need to be pushing my luck.



some size comparison photos of mid travel vs long travel parts.

stock LCA vs +3.5'' LCA


~5'' extended travel coilover vs 8'' coilover


the most frustrating part of the install was building the LT CVs. to remove the axleshaft out of the outer CV race, you have to press it out with enough force to shear the c-clip that is completely inside the race. total chaos states it should take between 15-20 tons to accomplish this. after maxing out a 20 ton press, i had to resort to a buddies century old 120 ton press. ultimately, it took just over 50 tons to pop the axle shafts out. not a big deal to use his press, but trying to coordinate a time to be at his shop with the event deadline quickly approaching was stressful.



Couple of late nights in addition to a busy week at my dayjob, and the front end was in! like the back, still plenty of work to do on it, but it's drivable.





Did a quick and dirty initial alignment on it early sunday morning, and then hauled ass to the last day of Overland South. made it in time to hang out with the local TW guys at their campsite for morning coffee, hit the RTI ramp, and then run the spectator section of the "challenge course".

sitting on jack stands for 6 months seems to have done in the 4wd actuator, so i was limited to 2wd, but the truck did wonderfully, and never needed 4wd.

RTI ramp was a nice test. the front end needs to break in for sure though. all of the flex is from the rear, with the front barely moving. should be a great setup though once it's settled, and i have the added weight of a completed bumper and engine cage, front winch back on, etc. i went with the TC sells their kit with the option of 600 or 700 lb springs. knowing i wanted to keep it as close to stock height as possible, i went with the 600s. actually had to back the coilovers off a few turns from how they arrived.



zero front end flex






quick run through the articulation section. very happy with the truck as a whole, but the rear end especially. i expect the front end to do its thing when i have the opportunity to go faster.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdsIoU9pnBg

whole video from the sunday morning spectator section.
some fun vehicles to watch. unimog, cybertruck, honda pilot, and of course a handful of toyotas and jeeps. lots of three wheeling, but everyone handled it well, given that it was primarily an overland crowd.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgxeqD8sMDA&list=PL2O6ibQUJ5eK_1JHzXZ1ylxoBvLD0SWz8

 

Looking awesome! Might be time to figure out a rear sway bar. I’ve got to do the same with the 4Runner when I get the rest hashed out. I’ll be looking at TK1 for a custom one.

 

I have a TK1 on it actually. Since I was stuck in 2wd, I disconnected it for the day, though I probably didn't need to. Road manners are quite good with it. I'm sure part of it is due to the fresh front coilovers, but I was expecting to have a good bit more body roll on the road than what I have.
Looking forward to seeing what it does at higher speeds off road.
Tony at TK1 was great helping Ben get the baseline arm lengths and heat treatment level on the shaft sorted out. Give him a call when the time comes. He was super helpful on the phone in real time vs emailing.

 

couple of maintenance items.
I capped the factory hard lines under the cab while i was working on the truck the last few months, but at some point in the process i must have let some air into the lines that worked its way up to the ABS module. after a few rounds of bleeding i still had quite a soft pedal, and could get it all of the way to the floor without locking anything up. remembered a post from @Torspd a while back about how to get the bubbles out without techstream. went to a gravel road sped up and stomped the pedal. gravel was loose enough to get ABS firing, even with the squishy pedal. did it a few times forward and a few times in reverse to make sure all 4 tires fired ABS. went home and did a nother bleed, and we're good to go now!

i also can't say enough good things about the AGM pressure bleeder. easiest bleeding ive ever experienced.

$99 AGM Products 3L Capacity Profesional Pressure Brake Bleeder Kit w/ 1L Catch Bottle. Works with Air Compressors. Works With ABS and Traction Control. Easy 1 Person Brake Bleed Kit

https://www.amazon.com/Products-Cap...d=16312613001209998938-B08W2R73VJ-&hvexpln=73

Dropped the truck off at the shop this afternoon for an AC recharge. when i was working on the front LT, i heard an air leaking sound all of the sudden, followed by an aweful tasting mist that startied blowing towards me. the odds of this are insane, but it looks like my front bumper has been rubbing against the hard AC line coming out of the front of the condenser for the last 12 years. just so happened that i was working on the other side of the truck when the pin hole let loose and blead off the system. lowered the front bumper about a half inch and put in a new hard line.

worn line


new line with the bumper lowered.

 

Hopefully it makes you feel better this is a “ramp test” I did vs real world flex. Exact same suspension, only difference is 3 months.

no sway bar in either pic, both have the front end headed uphill.

 

Thank you! I had a feeling that two stiff uniballs, 4 bushings, and a fresh coil per side would need some working in, but it's good to have confirmation.

 

Dang I totally missed that. Give that front end a good break in then I’m sure it’ll be fine. May could step down front coils if not. I think I was on 18” 500lb maybe? I forget now.

 

The easiest method by far, for getting those blasted bubbles out.

 

Once you get the rear sway bar in it will really make the front flex for you. I have a TK1 rear and LT front and the front fully stuffs going up the ramp. Its extremely stable offroad.

I followed this thread a long time ago before I even bought my FJ. Cool to see its resurrection!

 

Thanks, it's good to be back in it!

I do have the swaybar on, I just disconnected one side since I was stuck in 2wd. The company that brought the ramp out to the event is not far from me, so next time I'm out their way, I'll try it out again with the swaybar connected.

It will be an interesting process tuning the front and rear once they break in. My opinion is that it's easier to make a fast truck crawl, than it is to make a crawler fast, so that's where we're going to start. One reason I went with TC for the front LT is because they've been fine tuning this kit for 15 years. Unlike some of the newer kits that are still having to make corrections, I know this setup will do well going fast. And Ive seen it do well crawling too, so my task will be to play with the rear (valving, springs, swaybar, bumps), so that it does well going fast, and while sacrificing as little of that as possible, get close to matching the front going slow. In a perfect world, the front and rear will max out flex at nearly the same moment. Getting 22 and 12 inches to max out simultaneously will take some time, and undoubtedly I'll run into a point of diminishing returns where it starts to detract too much from the high speed performance.

 

Hey good lookin'

 

Had an hour to kill today, so I took the opportunity to replace the crank pulley seal that's been leaking for a while.

However I forgot that last time I had to take the crank pulley off, I had the radiator out and just tossed the impact at it. Of course I don't have a crank pulley holding tool and the local parts store was out of stock, so the next best option was to make the tool. Few pieces of tubing and some 1/2" round stock later and we're off to the races. Two bolts threaded into the pulley, and the tool rests against the driver's side frame so you can use both hands on the breaker bar to get the bolt out, and on the passenger side frame to use the torque wrench when putting it back in. Excited to not have oil dripping in my driveway anymore.

 

I mean, safer than the bump method, but far less exciting.

 

I was about to bump it to get it off, but then it occurred to me that I can't bump it back on, so still needed something.