Crawler/overlandish build thread

New rack, pump and lines in.


Picked up a set of TMR toe alignment plates.
Haven’t drove the truck yet to see how close i got it.


Also changed all the dif and t-case oils

First long term rear dif oil change since installing the locker. Nothing questionable came out so id say i did a good enough job



Almost ready for wheelin season now

 

like the toe plates. intrested to see how it turns out. with a solid axle i can see adjusting the tie rod tube will bring both wheels in and out but with our ifs I was thinking one end of the tape measure should be at a fixed point because each front wheel is adjusted seperatly. I just dont understand it yet. let us know how that turns out. thanks

 

Hopefully ill be able to get out for a quick drive in it tonight.
Ill post up the alignment sheet when i get it to see how close it was.

As long as the wheels are parallel thats good enough to get it to the alignment shop.
I just eyeballed the tires being straight to the steering wheel
String method would be better for that.

would be better if only changing 1 tierod.

if they worked good ill be keeping them in the truck for if when I need to change a tierod on the trail.

 

Steering wheel’s out a bit but i expected that.

pretty impressed with how straight it tracked down the road. Would definitely
feel comfortable driving home doing a trail alignment with these plates.

 

Hell yeah dude!

 

I use them to take a measurement before and then try and get it close afterwards. Not perfect but helps.

 

Sealed up my t-case shifter last night.
I wish i gave myself a bit more time so i could have done it a little cleaner but should work fine

cut the top layer off to give myself a nice mounting surface
Made some plates out of some aluminum sheet i had kicking around



I forgot my hole saw at work. Made it work with a jig saw and a round file.



Final product

use a silicone funnel from Amazon.

still have full access to the top of the t-case without having to drop it.

 

turned out great!

 

Oh boy.
Wheeled May 2nd weekend.
Truck did great.
Broke the power steering reservoir.
Got lucky and jb welded it back together.
Ran 5w-20 as PS fluid to get home because i gave my ATF to someone that blew a line earlier in the weekend

Trucks been sitting since. (Minus a handful of drives to work because the daily was down.)


Decided i need this truck for some work in the bush during my upcoming holidays so working on getting some TLC done.
(And prep for upcoming road trip)

Flushing PS fluid, dealing with the fj axle seal that sprung a leak while sitting and looking into options for leaking fj case shift boot.

 

Better repaired in a nice garage than on a rainy trail.

 

Arb locker wasn’t engaging.
Since there was no leak i fugured it was seized or the airline was kinked/clogged.
Pulled the airline off the solenoid and when engaged no air came out.
Couple squirts of wd-40 later and we’re back in action.

 

Uge update.
Did a ton of maintenance for a Utah road trip

Marine battery upgrade for powering my Domectic fridge


I do intend on coming back to clean up the wiring later. It’s as clean as i could get it with what i had at the time.

Ran a wire right off the battery into the cab
Ran one into the bed as well but the fridge doesn't like that one for some reason. I didn’t need it for the trip so I’ll have to revisit in the spring.





Finally got around to finishing up all the shifter boots on the FJ case.


Also got around to almost installing extended breaklines i had on the shelf since 2019
Moments before this picture was taken I just finished telling my girlfriend “I’ll just let the mechanic do this one, i don’t really like the look of the break lines so it can just be his problem.” Then immediately regretting my decision to try anyways.


Took care of my hot air intake and did a cowl snorkel. I’ll have to come back to this and put rubber around the hole as i used plastic protecter that rubbed through half way through the trip.

Just did a handful of other boring general maintenance. Before towing it to the mechanic. for an alignment and break lines.
Decided it was best to send out the break lines since it had been some time since the last time i made a set and being a couple weeks before the trip.

Used every square inch the uhaul trailer had. -38 offset wheels are as wide as the deck can go.


Got it back with 1 weekend left before the trip so took it to the cottage to do some work/testing everything.

 

Utah road trip back in October was unreal
10/10 will go back.





Had an issue with my steering being knocked out every time we left pavement for the first half of the trip.
I thought it was steering rack related for most the trip(because i just installed it) but couldn’t find anything loose or weird going on with it.

Sucks because it really kinda ruined the wheeling part of the wheeling trip for me wondering what was wrong with my steering.

Ended up being 1 of my LCA bolts was loose and kept sliding around in the slop of my bison cams.
Was “fixed” about 2/3 of the way though the trip.

 

Amazing. One day I hope to get there.

 

After the trip the truck just sat in my driveway all winter
Maybe moved 4-5 times but never left my street.

Finally got it pulled in and started looking at these bison tabs.


Found its kind of interesting that both aftermarket cam delete options (that I’m aware of) are both a full 2mm smaller than the OEM

OEM


Bison


Taco tabs


These are for the front LCA mount, the rear is similar.

so the Front LCA is in direct relation to your tie rods so if they move within the 2mm of the slop it will knock your toe out

Cam pulled all the way out within setting #4

Toe measurement


Cam pushed all the way in on setting #4

Toe measurement


TMR toe plate takes the measurement 10” from centre

so 1/16 of measured movement is about .36° of toe movement on one side.

 

I ended up just making myself a cam delete kit for the front mounts since I couldn’t find any kits the work with the marlin gussets.
the bison rears are only about 1mm smaller (still not great) but i figured it would be alright since if that one moved it wont mess with my toe much.

I also bumped the bolt size from a 5/8 (and a copper tube to get to 3/4) to an actual 3/4 bolt.

made 3 offset amounts so just as adjustable as the bison kit but just as strong as the taco tabs or 333 kit.


almost no play at all.
temporary bolt to make sure it all fit.

Sending these out for plating tomorrow

 

Wow that's some nice work.

 

Finished product

Decided to bump up to a 3/4-16 bolt to avoid the copper tube that came with the bison kit.
One less thing that might get seized.

 

nice. I'm getting in the habit of just spray painting everything as i go. even if its different colours. seems like when i put stuff on the next time i look at it its rusty. I hate that.. I'd hit that beautiful tab and bolt with some paint

 

I’ll probably hit em with the spray can when it comes back from alignment, just because I had to cut 1/2” off the bolt.
But the tabs themselves I had sent out for zinc plating so shouldn’t be any rust going on here (hopefully lol)