1980 toyota truggy build

[tmill]

well i thought i would post this up here. got it on another small forum but thought you guys might like to check it out. cant wait to get it out on the trails. its a copy and paste job so the time related stuff might seam a bit out of wack.

now for the build that i just started. This is my plan that i have come up with after a ton of research on Pirate and other sites. I spent almost three months reading pirate's Toyota bible to get educated, a suggestion that was stressed by Nuff and Redeye.
my plans...
-RUF with a trail gear cross member modified to use the right bolt size for the Toyota springs
-high steer and POWER STEERING cant wait to have that, manual wheeling is getting old also going to shove the box as far forward as i feel comfortable.
-install a dual diaphragm brake booster and an 1 1/8 inch master cylinder from a 94 four runner with abs. with the full v-6 brakes i got now the pedal is too soft
-bilstien shocks up front with 12 in shock hoops
-gusset and flat bottom both axles
-5.29 gears time to learn how to do gears
-four link rear with fox air shock
- back half the frame and do a full exo up front. got a great deal on 1 3/4 dom and hrew tube
- fuel cell
-center force clutch. i smoked the old one.
-pacesetter long tube header and get the exhaust routed in front of the rear tire, not blowing right onto the rear shock.
we will see what else there is in store for the truck but this is a lot to get done before the Core 4x4 challenge this spring. If i can there are a few other things i would like to do but we will have to see what money and time will permit.
-onboard air with either a york or stock toyota ac pump. have both right now just dont know what route i want to go

so here is what we have got going on so far

here i am welding the front cross member in place after we mocked it all up to make sure our steering geometry would work and the shackle angle would be decent.

got the steering box all mounted and am working on strengthening up the body mount and the radiator core support that i had to hack into to get the steering box far enough forward. i still have some more work to do but it is coming along nicely. still have to get it all plumbed up but wanted to wait until i get all of the welding don in that area so i dont burn through a hose.

Also my buddy has been going to town on my front housing. I cant thank him enough for all of the time that he has spent on it. hear are some pictures of the progress and check out the dent that i was talking about earlier near the ring gear.

cut almost a full inch off the bottom of this bitch

the bottom plate is made of T1 grade steel. that is the same stuff that they use to make the cutting edges of excavation equipment.(wow i cant spell) Its some hard **** and should take a real beating

its really coming together here. this is were it is at now with the trail gear diff armor getting formed back into the bottom. I plan to take off the studs on the bottom of the third and use bolts so i can drain the oil when i want.

so this is pretty much were i am at now. Just need to get the gears setup so i can put the front end back together and test it before i start the rear. here are few other pics
my buddies new welder, the little one is his old one. The new one will burn a bead the size of my pinky.

and here is a pic from when i almost cut off my peepee with a grinder. The cutoff wheel exploded and the grinder fell into my pants. Thank god the grinder i use has to have the switch held on and it wont stay on unless you do

i will try to keep this thing update. please give me any advice and point out any issues you thing i should addres

s
wow must have been way too tired. corrected the spelling problems

 

[tmill]

So i finally got around to updating this. made some good progress the last few weekends. Last weekend we got the front axle fab work finished. All the credit for that has to go to ISO he has almost 25 hours into the front housing alone. Check out all of his great work

once we had this all bolted up and the knuckles back on we were able to check the steering geometry. Wanted to make sure the tie rod ends would not hit each other all full stuff. Funny story when we bolted it all up and had the axle hanging without jack stands we thought we were screwed. forgot that the axle will relocate back when the spring compress. Once the jack stands were under the axle and weight was back on them we were money!!! :thumbs:

Also last weekend i was able to get the body mount and the radiator core support all finished up. i think it is way stronger than it was before. might do some work on the other side to make it make it as strong

 

[tmill]

now for this weekend.
ISO spent a bunch of time this weekend making a few tools that we will need for doing gears, also made a nice little jig to hold the third while we work on them. Wish i had some picture of it.
I spent way too much time working on making some cool looking bump stops. Had a blast doing it though. When i built them i was not very concerned about letting the spring go negative, in fact i welcome it. Running the RUF's i figure i will just build an extra set and bring them with me. what i did not want though was the spring to come into contact with the steering arm. I had about 3 1/4 inches before the spring would hit. I figured that i would build my stop to keep it around 1 inch away at a soft contact with the poly bump that i have. That way i would not have to worry about slamming that thing up there (i drive like an ass, not nice at all to my truck!!) I think i ended up around 7/8 of extra room after initial contact with the poly stop. I drilled and tapped the u-bolt plate for the poly. I think i looks cool, its light and i should work great.

Once we were done with that it was time to start on the shock towers. I started off by thinking about how much shaft i wanted exposed at ride height. I was thinking that it should be between the soft contact point of the bump stop and the point were the spring would compress to hit the steering arm. My logic is that it is cheaper to replace a shock than it is to replace a steering box. So what i did is made it bottom out 1/4 inch before the spring would hit the steering box arm. Also that left me 5/8 of compression of the poly before it would bottom out the shock. This logic also gave me as much down travel as i could get out of the shocks that i have, i think it will work fine, i hope. Only problem was that now i have to modify the shock hoops that i got. Had to cut out almost 3 inches out of it and the tube notcher that ISO has would not cut all the way through. So we called it quits until next weekend.

 

[tmill]

All right so here it is as promised, my long over due update on the build.

So a couple of months back I got a great deal on a set of duals for only 400 with a trail gear cross member. Snagged it up and left it in the garage for a while. Once we got the front all done up it was time to do the clutch and the duals. Wish I had taken some pics of the clutch for you guys but you have all seen a Centerforce,
First I had to split the cases and install the twin sticks. Was a much more intimidating task than it turned out to be. Once apart it only took ten minutes to get it all done. Next came cleaning. We took it out back. Soaked it in brake clean and simple green and pressure wash the hell out of it. Still did not get off all of the gunk

Next we decided to make an attachment for the jack. It was way too hard to pull the tranny and transfer case with out it so LSO came up with this setup using some stuff from work. It is a lot more stable than it looks and has since been a great tool for all sorts of stuff.

So we slid it in and got it all bolted up with out any real trouble. It was almost too easy, has me a bit worried but time will tell. Then we found out what the problem was going to be. The cross member that I got with duals was for 2nd and 3rd gen trucks :demon: I was not happy. I decided to just order up a FROR cross member and skid plate kit. Defiantly glad I did, I gained almost 3

 

[tmill]

all right guys here is what i got done this weekend. tube work takes forever. What you see here is the top rail. the bottom will be about a 4 inch boat side. the bottom of it will be my old aluminum sheet and the sides are going to be aluminum diamond plate LSO has laying around. probably no room for a tool box but we will see. if anyone has a small diamond plate box i will trade them my truck box that i have. i am looking for just a square box.

 

[nowires]

Looks great

Did TG throw in a free T shirt with that order :stirpot:

 

[tmill]

i bought it all from foot hill motor sports. great guy and beats trail gears pricing on there own stuff every time. he saved me a ton of money on the order.

 

[ChrisStewart]

Looks good :awesomework: How long are your lower links?

 

[bryanavey]

curious as to how you like that 4 link rear set up. would you change anything about it if you did it again?

 

[tmill]

i have not run it yet. not to fond of the geomentry but when i link the front next year i plan on lowering the truck some so it should fix it. the parts though are great. really strong and it was super easy to do the four link itself. from in the box to on the truck tacked in it took 5 hours.

 

[Money Mark]

That thing is gonna be freaking awesome!

Nice job!

 

[bryanavey]

i have not run it yet. not to fond of the geomentry but when i link the front next year i plan on lowering the truck some so it should fix it. the parts though are great. really strong and it was super easy to do the four link itself. from in the box to on the truck tacked in it took 5 hours.

or even on the upper cross member you could lower the mounts a bit? it just seems like a real easy way for four link, like you said 5 hours

 

[tmill]

for now i am just trying to make core. if i dont like it i might just use you idea and build maybe an adjustable mount for the upper links. guess i need to drive it first

 

[Ed Bister]

Very cool Build Thread!

Thanks for sharing!:beer:

 

[bryanavey]

for now i am just trying to make core. if i dont like it i might just use you idea and build maybe an adjustable mount for the upper links. guess i need to drive it first

noticed you are in kirkland, is the build in kirkland too? im local and wouldnt mind stopping by when you are working on it

 

[tmill]

I GOT THE WEEK OFF.:fawkdancesmiley: kind of, i have a small kitchen worth of cabinet to install then i am good to go. Going to get the cage all done this week should be in good shape to make CORE. pics soon to come:corn:

 

[Mallcrawler83]

Nice work, I'm digging the cage, looks good:awesomework:

 

[tmill]

quick update here is what it looks like now

 

[almost not done]

how much to build me one lol awsome job that cage is sick

 

[tmill]

how much to build me one lol awsome job that cage is sick

thanks for the compliment. this is my first cage i have ever built. actualy first time using a bender at all. I am a finish carpenter by trade so i kind of have an idea about working with angles but this **** is not easy.
Here is were i am at as of now