MonkeyProof's Misadventures

Should got the taco box with asada and extra salsa verde and not the one with Beyond Meat

 

And you only had to wait a year. lol

 

Would have been way way less frustrating.

Give em some credit, it only took them 7 months to ship it after I sent payment.

 

Monster Truck Monday's..

 

Sub'd for more carnage. Nice work!

 

Most recent carnage..

Winch solenoid fires are lit as fuck

 

@MonkeyProof I had given up hope that this would happen. It is great to see your stuff all in one place!

 

Here's a recovery of a stranded TW member that I helped recover a few years ago..bottom line of that recovery is this, don't leave others behind who are stranded on the trail as @Boosted_TRD did!!
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/recovered-bottom-of-miller-jeep-trail-socal.456064/

`

 

Seems about every other trip the washboard experience in DV will cause this to happen to my front driver side blinker bulb and connection. Vibrations cause just enough gap to form between the contacts on the bulb and the contacts on the connector for an arc/spark to happen resulting in a short resulting in non working front blinker.

Remedy has always been to clean/remove any debris, and to install a new bulb with some dialectic grease on the bulb contacts..




On a sidenote...Here's a quick look at some other washboard caused carnage..

 

My rear differential has very recently started to whine pretty much 100% of the time. Whines when cruising, coasting and even decelerating. Whine noise from a differential is usually a sign that one of the pinion bearings is going bad. And usually it would be the outside pinion bearing, the bearing at the flange/driveshaft yoke side.

These E-Locker differentials are pretty sensitive to ring/pinion gear failures, so it's a good idea to address whatever is going on inside before another gear failure happens. And there's only one way to find that out, and that's to remove the 3rd member from the axle housing to inspect it.

You can checkout my how to remove/install a rear 3rd member thread here...https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...d-installation-of-e-locker-3rd-member.193828/

Some of the things to inspect is Pinion Bearing Preload, Gear Lash and also what the gear pattern looks like. And also how the bearings feel when turning by hand.

This 3rd was last built in 2017 by YotaMasters who are local to me
with a new Nitro Gear set reusing the bearings. Back Lash was set at .006, I measured .010 average measuring every 3rd tooth. All still in speck.


Pinion Preload was measured low at 2 - 3 in/lbs


Gear Pattern looked great on both Drive and Coast sides


Based on the overall condition and symptoms that I described coming from the 3rd member, It's recommended after consulting with YotaMasters to install a new outside Pinion Bearing. And to replace the inner Pinion Bearing as an option.
I'll be replacing both Pinion Bearings, Pinion Seal and the Pinion Nut myself.

A quick trip down the street to YotaMasters and a 185 bucks later, I have all that's needed for my rebuild.



Checkout the size of the Inner Pinion Bearing compared to the Outer Pinion Bearing.


Measuring the Pinion Bearing Preload and Pinion Depth shims for thickness before the assembly and not during assembly will save a heck of a lot of time.


I had a hiccup when trying to remove the wheel bearing nut, the stud spun with the nut. A quick remedy was to cut a notch at the end of the stud to for a screwdriver to hold the stud when turning a wrench.

 

I spent my Saturday working on the 3rd member completing the teardown and cleaning. I was hoping to actually have it completely rebuilt by the evening, but that wasn't going to happen after finding a toasted Side Bearings and Race.

First thing was to remove the Side Bearing Preload Adjusters. These are what sets the amount of Gear Lash between the Ring and Pinion Gear. Toyota calls them the Differentail Adjusting Bearing Nut(s). I counted how many turns it took to unscrew, that will get me back in the ball park to where it was when it's time to put it all back together.

Note that I'm using a Spanner Wrench, and not a punch or a screwdriver..


That Spanner Wrench can be had at Amazon for 15 bucks.

$10 EUICAE Adjustable Wrench Clutch, Stainless Steel, 11.8in Length, Suitable for Different Distances and Sizes

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HFFR9RR?ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details

With both sides removed, time to remove the Bearing Caps. The retaining bolts were on there pretty tight, so I used my 1/2" Impact. Torque values for the bolts should be at 65ft./lbs. Felt a lot more than that..


And holy wow, look at the condition of that Bearing Race.. I'll have to order a pair of Side Bearings on Monday..



The Locker Side not looking too good either, a few Roller Bearings have seen better days..


And the Bearing Race too..


With the Ring Carrier out of the way, next step is to remove the Pinion Nut and Flange..


The Flange came off fairly easy by hand, every once in a while a pulley puller would be needed..


Sometimes the Pinion Gear will drop right out of the 3rd as soon as the Pinion Nut is removed. This time it didn't, so off to the Press for some help..


Solid Spacer and a healthy looking stack of Pinion Bearing Preload Shims..


Something to note, the Pinion Seal wasn't seated correctly. Hard to see from the angle..


Time to knockout the Pinion Bearing Races. A slightly modified AllPro UCA Pivot Washer fits inside just right to knock out the Outer Pinion Race..



It's a good thing that I planned on changing the Inner Pinion Bearing and Race because would you look at that pitting?


Old bearing off, and the new one pressed on..



Time for a hot bath..

 

Its a beautiful and gorgeous Mothers Day here in SoCal..


And what's the best way to spend a perfect day such as this? By replacing both inner tierods and a boot that's been M.I.A. for the last few months..


I've had good luck with these aftermarket Moog Inner Tierods over years..

$24 MOOG EV800529 Steering Tie Rod End for Toyota Tacoma

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009B42EKA?ref=ppx_pt2_dt_b_prod_image

 

A FB memory from 5 years ago.. one of my flops in the MonkeyCrawler at CougarButtes in Lucerne Valley..

 

Today was a good day for swapping out the rear most U-joint that was all loosyy goosy..

Spicer U-joint part number 5-1330-X, always with the grease fitting..


This U-joint tool from Spicer makes swapping them out real quick and easy..



a plentifull soaking of WD-40 helps quite a bit too..


3 - 4 good whacks with a 3lb sledge moves the caps far enough to grab with a pair of pliers, and repeat until all are removed..


Gave the yoke a good soaking of WD-40 and a wire brush to help remove the old built gunk that was caked on..


I religiously grease my fittings every month, I have a routine for maintenance and prep that is never ending. Even with proper and routine maintenance, parts will still wear out..



And ready to back on my junk. All together, this was a 4 beer job

 

Back in the day I blew through a few OEM Carrier Bearings. Got tired of the drive line vibes from the OEM CB, and got tired of replacing them. So, I upgraded to the polyurethane CB that is offered by Inland Empire Drive Line Specialists and haven't had an issue since. That was back in 2016!


and here's how that went..



Side by side comparison...


1/4" flat bar should give me the overall desired drop/angle to best match my AllPro Offroad Expo Springs, which are pretty flat now..


Waiting for paint to dry..


Decided to cram in some Lucas HD green grease into the slip joint before reinstalling the driveshaft...


M10-1.25 x60mm bolts (x2)
1"x1/16 square tube


Final mounting solution for my DCSB.

 

Yesterday on my day off I finally installed what I hope will be my final pair of Gusseted Spindles by JDFab and @81Trekker. I have been through a few pairs of spindles over the years because they have bent , and/or they have cracked at the welds. My first spindle gussets were from AllPro Off Road that were installed back in early 2009. My experiences with the All Pro version of a Spindle Gusset is this.... Do not install them! I have also had both the Non Sway Bar and Sway Bar versions of the Total Chaos Fab Spindle Gussets.

Here's a passenger side Spindle that I tagged back in 2018 during a multi-day trip through The Inyo's and Death Valley. Luckily I've become smart enough to carry a full set of spare Spindles for occasions such as this. Would have been a total catastrophic failure of the Spindle if I did not have a gusset installed!!

How the steering wheel was oriented when driving straight after tagging the rock, small child or whatever it was..



check out the deformities in the Gusset



on the trail repair.. a two beer job, tent open for shade..



A few moths ago I came across a pretty cool thread here at TW and saw some new Gussets on the market made by JDFab that was in this thread. They also have a Heim Joint Double Sheer Tab Kit that looked very will designed. So I ordered both. And let me tell you from my previous experiences with Gussets that are offered from other companies. These Gussets fit perfectly right out of the box without any grinding or massaging, can't say that about the other companies..

The JDFab Gusset Kit and Heim Double Sheer Tab Kit, wish that they were available years ago!!




prepping material for the welds and double checking proper fitment




these were so easy to work with..


and complete



Many years ago I had the AllPro HD Steering kit that comprised of both inner and outer heim joints, and a tie rod with their version of a clevis adapter for the inner heim joint. It was junk. The clevis only accepted a heim joint size that didn't have a PTF liner. And without a liner the heim would wear out pretty quickly. Here's what made the Allpro HD steering kit junk. It used a weird single sheer misalignment combo for the outer heim. That misalignment would never stay tight and it would move some making my toe alignment out of whack. The crappiest part about that weird misalignment thingy is it was weak and obviously poorly designed for strength, I broke two of them. Luckily though, both failures happened in town and not on the trail. I took off the HD Steering kit right after the second failure.

this is the AllPro outer Heim Joint Single Sheer Misalignment combo thingy and how it breaks.




So needless to say that I'm super excited about the JDFab Double Sheer Kit. But not too excited about the prospects of going back to using AllPro's inner clevis kit simply because of not having a inner heim joint not having a PTF liner. Then I see that JDFab has a very cool Heim Joint to OEM Inner Tie Rod adapter that they call Steering Extenders. A quick discussion and phone later with @81Trekker I had a pair in the mail!

These JDFab Steering Extenders are totally bitching!


prepping and painting



and the final install

pressing in the dust seal, pretty important to have for keeping out contaminants that may eventually get inside and ruin the wheel bearing..



old spindle removed, good time to cycle the upper arm to feel the condition of the bushings. And might as well grease em too because access to the fitting is now easy to get to.


and damn, Driver Side Gusset has a nice bow to it, I knew that the Passenger Side was bent..


Steering Extenders ready to go on, perfect fit with the AllPro 2" steering extenders. I was worried, officially a Frankenstiened front end


pretty much done at this point..



those that know what good hardware is know..


I'm luckily enough that I'm able to do my own alignments..


Edit:
here's a thread that I started a few ago for a pair of cracked spindle gussets that I found

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/check-your-spindle-gussets-for-cracks-with-b-s-talk.474632/

 

I think my next post will be when I rebuilt my Lower Control Arm Mounts 3 years ago because of cracks and separation from the frame. I just need to find the pictures..

 

Harry now offers longer extension pieces so you can ditch the all pro steering extender if you want. One less link in the chain.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...el-and-934-cv’s.626274/page-226#post-25360599

 

Do you have the measurement for the width for the heims and spacers? I bought just the tab kit and I'm going to piece together everything else but can't find the measurements for the misalignments?

 

Ill get em in a few minutes..

@tetten