Cynicalriders "J0hnny5 is ALIVE!" 01 build thread.

How many fill ups are you getting out of your 10lb tank? Debating if 10 is enough of if I should try to fit a 20 somewhere.

 

So I actually have a piece of 3/16" flat stock witha . nut welded to it behind the rail that the big bolt threads into. That's basically what holds the tire up, and the bottom support is extra. And yup it's Macaroni, and she's the best!

IMG_4052 by Michael Halat, on Flickr
IMG_4159 by Michael Halat, on Flickr

So I think I figured out I can do the four 35" tires 8 times with the CO2 airing down to 10psi. More than enough for me IMO. You would probably get 10 times on 33's.

 

Finally started digging into the power steering I lost in NH. First step was to fabricate a bracket for the new cooler.

Bent and drilled 1/8" flat stock, used one horn mount and nutserted the other bolt into the front core support:

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

I also added a spacer to the AC line bolt to push that out further from the new support and added EPDM rubber gasket to prevent metal on metal rubbing.

Once I got the cooler mocked up, I went and removed the airbox, cruise, PS pump and old lines. I have been dealing with reman after reman, always had a PS whine. I decided to replace all the hard lines, and do a brand new OEM pump which came with a new reservoir too.

To get access to the lines I had to undo but not fully remove the rack bolts. Added a little bit of PITA to the project, but I've removed that rack too many times at this point already so NBD.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

@Plastics Guy should I be concerned with the nick on my bump stop?

Got all the old shit out and swapped the new shit in.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Here is the final setup:

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

You can see I lined the pass through with some left over body molding trim.

The flow goes Rack > Filter > Cooler > Return port on reservoir

I still need to flush the system one more time (I did once before removing the old shit) and bleed the air from the system. Then I can finally start it up and check all my belt tensions and shit.

 

Wow I don't think I remember what good steering feel should be like. Holy crap.

The truck is so quiet now. I think I will be replacing the fluid more regularly now that I have easy access to the hoses outside the truck.

I first flushed one last time with the wheels off the ground and truck off.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Then once it was flushed, I fully closed the system and bled it with the truck off. Then I finally turned it on and it seems all belt tensions were actually good for once.

While I had the IFS skid off I gave it some love with the sledge, and decided to try to reinforce it a bit. Partially to practice stick more, and partially to not need to beat it as often.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

90% of the welds were shit, I kept getting slag holes mid weld which I am thinking is because I had huge gaps. If I filled it with 6011 first I probably would have had better results.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

I was happy with this one run of 7014 though.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

I also hauled some wood to get the fire pile stacked up again for the winter.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

 

I said the same thing after putting on a new OEM pump.

Both of my reman pumps were awful in comparison.

 

Right? Never making the mistake of going reman again. I went through 3 reman's, the original a1 cardone from rock auto and 2 warranty replacements. Eventually they stopped replacing them.

 

That’s cute

 

Lol my back couldn't handle much more than what I stacked. Back injuries FTL.

 

I know those feels

 

A little update. I built up around the bottom of the IFS skid to hopefully prevent a direct hit to the bottom bolt again. It was fun practicing the stick again too.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Replaced that shit window trim.

Before:

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

After:

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Paint:

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

And added new patches to commemorate the last trip.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

 

Good idea for bolt head protection!

 

Your skid looks like it may have kissed a rock or two.

 

Nah man those are for dramatic effect. I only wheel parking lots.

 

Finished up the trip report from NH. I would love to go back one day. But my sights are set on VT and MA next for longer trips.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/exploring-nh-mt-washington-and-class-vi-roads.625638/

 

I finely got caught up 22 pages later ………….WOW ! GREAT READ . AND FREAKING awesome nh. TRIP!

 

Sometimes the camp fires at home is just as nice.

 

Thanks! It definitely was a memorable one. Definitely worth all the work it took to get there.

So started working on a POC based on discussions I had with @ToyRyd04 a while back. We discussed that I will likely never be able to give up my wheel spacers and I hate that it is in the way for a CV swap. It's not a huge deal for removal, the impact zips them right off. But putting everything back together is more time consuming because I loctite and torque the nuts on the spacer so I don't need to go back and do it again when I am home after a trip.

This lead me to this:

Stuff and things by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Stuff and things by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Stuff and things by Michael Halat, on Flickr

I had spare dust covers lying around, so I ordered 2.5" body mount plugs off Amazon (after verifying this should be big enough for a 35mm impact socket with a little space to spare as well) whipped out the drill and hole saw and went to work. The hard part was trying to figure out center for the pilot hole. Honestly I kinda just guessed because I had no easy way to measure. Like I measured but not well. Although at I type this I realize I had a compass sitting in my tool box that might work better for the next one.

Holding onto the cover while I drilled was a bear. I just held onto it with a leather glove. But after a little 80 grit sand paper and a file it was nice and smooth. I just gotta get it on the truck now and see if it will actually work.

The next big project that I started on was modifying the seats I got from @nzbrock. I was able to successfully bolt the drivers seat in but if I am not mistaken the one leg really can't bolt down and was floating in the air. With all the high risk rollover situations I typically put myself in I figure this can't be a permanent solution for me. So after I tested out how they felt bolted in as is, I decided that the best route to go that I know will have them fit 100% is by cutting the legs off my old seats and welding them onto the new seat rails. The seat honestly did not feel much taller than my stock seat torso wise. I felt I did have more space for my long legs which was nice. The seat back itself is taller but I did not feel that my torso sat much taller.

Seats next to each other:

Stuff and things by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Driver seat in:

Stuff and things by Michael Halat, on Flickr

I did realize that I'll need to move this damn speaker for a third time.

Stuff and things by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Going to try to source a cheap wall so it doesn't have all the old holes I drilled into it. Going to put the speaker in the back just above the back seat seat belt. I had it right behind my head because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to hear it while driving with the windows open, but it's so loud that usually I have the CB volume super low all the time even with the windows open.

I cut the feet off the passenger side seat last night, going to grind them and get them ready for welding, and then put it in and see how it goes. I do think that using the stock feet will raise these seats about a half inch, not ideal, but I don't think will be that noticeable either. I can potentially lower the seats but I would likely lose the stabilizing pins that support the seat (in addition to the seat bolt) and that isn't ideal IMO.

 

Now you know what I meant by doing it the “right way”. I think you’re right about one of the feet kind of floating, I remember just torquing the bolt down and probably slightly misaligning the base. I think the rails on those seats are independent though, so you can slide one further forward if needed.

 

Yeah haha, much more work but worth it in the end. The nice part about the truck not being my DD and being able to take my time with this type of stuff. The tough and more interesting part will be doing the welds with stick. I already got offers to borrow my buddies MIG but I really really want to get better at stick, and I feel this is something that can reasonably be done. We'll see!

Also our trucks are slightly different years so there is a potential the seat mounts may have lined up slightly different too. I did love your 4runner seats though especially since they for the most part bolted right in right?

 

The 4Runner seats match 3 of the 4 holes. I made some brackets to line up the 4th.