The "GREEN BASTARD" 4Runner build

This is my first try at building some RUF packs....I am sure this is going to be some trial and error to get it right but thats the fun right??? Leaves cleaned up and painted.

Gutting the IFS and now for the bracket cutting and grinding......grinding......grinding.

Front grinding is finally finished, I got the fan/rad out and steering box removed so I can plate the frame/motor mount section and remount the steering box forward.
Looks like I have a broken motor mount or at least it is twisting the motor towards the back....cant really tell....need to investigate more. Also got the power steering pump out since it leaks like a mofo and will have to replace it.

Contemplating removing the air-conditioning system, it works but is a draw on the system and I would like the space in front of rad for a transmission cooler instead of AC rad, I am also looking into turning it into an on board air pump.....for refilling tires after airing them down.

Found out the 4Runnesr frame has 3 layers of material when cutting the holes for the front leaf shackle tubes . Just about broke my hand with the 1/2 drill when the hole saw caught up inside the frame.....didnt touch the truck for a week after that.

Got some help from my daughter to clean some hubs.
I also had a friend help me out to machine my IFS hubs to fit the Tacoma rotors and he helped to get my birfs to a guy that reinforces them.

I also got some help from my neighbour to cut my frame plates out with the plasma.....what a blast those things are. He saved me soooo much time from zip discing those templates out.....also using the 120 ton press to knock the holes out for rosett welds and for the sleeves to move the steering box forward.

Just getting the final fit and finish ready for tacking in place. I will close off the steering box plate section above the frame.

Found out last night I am going to have access to a cutting torch, so I got to work and got the fuel tank out and isolated the brake lines and wiring. Also pulled the rear axle out.

It is just an expensive toboggan now......

The shop is just a 2 door garage with the wifes truck kicked out for a while. Cant wait to be done all the prep so I can start putting all the new parts on....that the best part!! Looking forward to getting out and putting it through its paces.

Been continuing with the plating and sleeving of the frame for the new steering box position. Got the rear axle housing cleaned up of all the brackets and crap and will be positioning the new perches soon.
Boxed in the frame plates and got a couple of pics of how the plates tie the front frame section together for strength.
New steering box mocked up and just have to lengthen the steering column.....will do this by cutting the column rod and sleeving it for more length.
Got the hanger "tacked" in place and the RUF springs bolted up......looks like when I used a hole saw in the frame for the rear shackle tube it tracked off center a bit so I will have to do some more work to center and "true" up the shackle tube.....other side was perfect but messed this one up.
Cant make it too easy right??

Got the shackle tube trued up and welded in.
Axle housing bolted up and sitting on its own weight and the shackle angle appears to be decent....the RUF pack will probably still settle some.
Steering shaft extended by cutting solid section in half and sleeving with 1/8 inch thickness tube....only needed about 1 1/2 extension
Need to measure up my caster angle and see if it is in spec

Its tough to say how many hours so far....I started at the end of January but only get an hour or 2 every couple days to work on it cause I have kids and stuff. I am also a bit OCD about things which doesnt help the time count.
Disassembling was pretty quick....the cutting off the IFS brackets with a sawzall was a pain in the ass...thats why I went with a torch to cut the crap off the back....if I did it again I would rent a plasma for sure....so much better control and that would lead to less grinding....this is where my OCD kicks in, I have seen a lot of threads where things are cut and minimally grinded. Since I was plating the frame I cleaned things up a lot. Many threads guys dont go through the work to plate and strengthen things but this will lead to cracked frames later from many people I talked with on forums.
Just buying the TG springs instead of building RUF packs or using 63" chevies would speed things up too but many people arent happy with the height of even the 3" springs....The RUFs and the 63s give just the right amount of lift and are super flexy....they just take a little longer to make work cause you have to figure out placements.
This is my first time doing this so I am kind of slow and measuring and rechecking and just doing it right....hopefully :)
The prep has been the most time consuming but it feels good too start adding the new stuff and should go quicker now.

Some threads where guys have bought the 100% complete kits have said they did it on a weekend or two ??

Well this long weekend was so nice it was tough to get stuff done on the truck.....not to mention I forgot to get ubolts before the long weekend so I couldnt hang the rear housing like I wanted to.
All I got done was fabbing up some front brackets and rear shackle hangers for the 63" chevies.

Unfortunately no....I have come across an issue with my springs (more of an issue with my OCD cause the springs aren't perfect in my eyes) so i am just trying to hunt down another set of 63" chevys, I should hopefully have another set by this weekend. Think I might go and get the tires this weekend since Goodyear has a sale on the Kevlar MTRs right now ($40 off each tire equals a couple rims in the future when I get down to Westshore Spring for the ProComps)

Well I found another set of 63" chevy springs that will meet my OCD issues and I fabbed up a new set of front spring hangers that have a longer angle and should help to avoid hangups....hopefully things slide on them better. I also bought the 35" Goodyear MTRS this weekend and ordered my rims as well, I wanted the Procomp Rockcrawler Series 97s but they were at least 8 weeks out so I went with the series 51s and they are 2 weeks away.
I have been studying for a job competition that I have a test for tommorow but I needed some time away from that so I hit the garage.
I got the springs hung and it only took 2 tries to tack mount the rear shackle mounts to get the desired 35-45 deg. shackle angle...I got mine sitting at 40 deg on the full weight of the truck, so I am happy about this.
I rolled a tire up to see how things will look at the current ride height.....things look a little tight for wheel clearance so I have a buddy making me some 1" and 2" blocks so I can play with ride height later.
I still need to adjust the axle angle but I will do this later.

Got some more small things done
Plated the frame at the spring mount for more strength....some might say overkill but I have heard from others that anytime you weld something to frame you need to plate to spread any stresses.
Boxed off the rear of the frame and burned in the rear shackle mount.
Cut down the overloads on the rear springs...cleaned and painted them.
Adjusted rear axle for the right pinion angle and burned in the perches.
Got my TrailGear bumper and have a small light bar that will be welded on.....just like shanergy's....also had my Procomp rims get delivered too.

Tomorrow I will be getting taught how to build my gearsets (5.29s with Aussie lockers)....really looking forward to it.

Thanks.....yes I think I will need at least 2" blocks.

Did I say I was looking forward to the gears???? Things didn't go to smoothly....so gears arent done. We started with the V6 third 1st......we got the locker in....we got the pinion setup in the housing (this took some time to fine tune to set the bearing preload).....we got the ring on the carrier and the side bearings pressed.....we tried to put the carrier in the housing and thats when it became apparent that I had a factory 4.88 carrier, which is the one carrier that toyota makes for the 8" that is different from the rest and will ONLY take another thin ring 4.88. ARRRRGH
We had spent a fair amount of time on this third and had some frustration, then to have this happen....that was the end of gear building for now......have to find another V6 third carrier (the right one).
I cant thank my friend enough for his effort and time to try and help me. I learned a lot from him to get to this point so I am really happy about this.

Well I found another V6 third (4.10 this time, definately not the 4.88) and will take another stab at getting it built this weekend.
Got some 2.5 deg shims for the front axle and I am now sitting at about 6.5 degs of castor.....should be about 5-7 degs for the larger tires.
I had a buddy make me some 2.5" steel blocks for the rear to try and get a level ride height to match the front RUFs.....I might add another leaf and maybe try a slightly smaller block.....will have to see how it handles.....the springs are soft and flexy.
I rolled a tire up front at ride height to get an idea of how the front looks with the axle moved forward....sitting about 1.75" forward.

Well the gears were a bit of a fiasco....the second gearset that I thought were 4.10s (my fault i guess cause I listened to the guy and didnt sit and count them) were actually 4.88s AGAIN....so I ended up in the same spot with a gearset I could not use. After some time I got my hands on a third V6 gear set and finally these were not 4.88s. Because of good weather and other priorities it took a bit of time to align schedules with my friend who was helping me to build the gears but after a marathon gear building session I have a set of 5.29s with lockers. I learned so much about building gears....the process was frustrating at times but glad i got to do it.
Things have not progressed much as the good weather has set my priorities elsewhere lately with the family and a major landscaping project so the only other updates are that the ABS system is out and the braking system is replumbed and the AC system has been removed. (I need the space from the AC condenser rad for a larger tranny cooler and a power steering cooler.....need to hunt some down from the wreckers).
I have also been spending a lot of time researching the options for this A340H transmission that has the integral hydraulic operated T-case.....Inchworm Adapters has a setup where part of this integral T-case can be removed and a normal gear drive Tcase installed or even have a doubler setup. Its a bit pricey but I think it is on the horizon as part of the build.

I am taking some time off work so I am hoping to make some progress in the next while....fingers crossed.

Well I loaded the rear 3rd into the back and have the axles in, I hooked up the e-brake cables and found they are pretty tight since I moved the rear axle back slightly....they wont handle much articulation before ripping out.....will have to figure out a solution to this (its an automatic...who uses a e-brake anyways).

I have started to get the front axle rebuilt, I loaded the rebuilt 3rd into tthe front axle and installed the beefier axle seals available from Trailgear, way better than stock.
I then started to figure out where I wanted to Martack the axle....I did this using tape on axle and slid it into the differential to a point where my axle is engaging the diff splines and the outer axle seal surface is riding on the axle seal. Every axle is different and it also depends on if you are using a locker or a stock carrier so you need to find this right spot for your vehicle. This takes some trial and error to find the perfect spot but once it is found a small tack weld is made on the axle spline and ground flat and cleaned up. The point of this is to make the axle shaft ride perfectly on the seal surface and make it so the axle will not slide further in and not ride on the seal surface, therby allowing diff oil into the knuckle cavity. This can happen because I will not be using the inner axle clip inside the Birfield joint (this makes for easier trail fixes if needed).
This link makes more sense http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTricks/AxleRebuild.shtml#Martack

I then installed the knuckle bearing races and bearings in the knuckle assembly and shimmed the top and bottom equally to get the 15 lbs of preload on the knuckle bearings (measured with a good fish scale...how they say to do it).
After this the one piece knuckle seal went on instead of using the normal factory felt seals.....this was tough to get on but they are supposed to be far superior to the felt design. I am also using the beefier "Rock Rings" instead of the stock plates that would hold the felts on, this caused a problem I didnt expect as the clearance for the thicker "rock rings" and the one piece seal hit the knuckle ball truss I have welded on the axle.......so I am going to have to take it all apart again and grind down the truss slightly to gain the clearance so the knuckle will have full steering motion.

Oh ya.....got the tires mounted up on the rims.......looking forward to see it on its wheels again.

Got the front axle built today.

Had to do the clearancing of the knuckle trusses for the rock rings to clear and then started building it up. Got the birfs martacked in the last post and greased them up and loaded the knuckles....got all the seals in and installed a backing plate eliminator to get rid of the old brake dust shield. You can see the offset of the IFS hub bodies that will add 1.5 inches to either side to match the IFS width rear axle (dont have to use wheel spacers this way).
I drilled the calipers to 31/64" and then tapped them to 9/16" fine thread so that I can mount the caliper on the outside surface of the knuckle mounting ears so that the caliper will match the distance to use the slip-on Tacoma rotors. I used 2 inch grade 8 bolts with a thin washer to line it all up right (the fine thread gives lots of surface for thread engagement).
Got the high steer installed....just not dialed in yet.

She is finally sitting on its own wheels. It sits about an inch low in the rear, this is ok because my plan is to add another leaf to the rear anyways so that it will have some load carrying capablities. (Spare tire, trail fix gear and camping stuff). I will be welding in the shock hoops and mounting the shocks next and will have to set the alignment the best I can for now.

I also have a deal pending on a doubler transfer case setup 2.28 gears in each case with a 23 spline rear case.......whoop whoop!!!!

Shock hoops are in.....forgot to get bolts for the shocks.

Here are some goodies that showed up today....

An Inchworm Gear adapter for the A340H transmission to accept the dual 2.28 transfer case that I should be getting this weekend I hope, and a 23 spline input gear to mesh things up.....bit pricey but I guess ya gotta pay for the R&D these guys went through to make this work, and I really want to keep the auto tranny. Tired of having 3 pedals.....
Should have some more goodies monday.....I like having christmas in summer

Oh ya and a couple fitting stickers for the build!!!

I went scavenging at the wreckers this morning and picked up a nice aftermarket tranny cooler out of an old dodge and a smaller tranny cooler out of a Jeep Cherokee.....as if the gods were smiling on me the two of them mated up side by side by aligning some holes and drilling a third.....this new setup is now my auxillary tranny cooler on the left and the one on the right will be plumbed into the power steering circut to keep it cool.
Fabbed up some brackets and its good to go.....have to pick up some new hose and plumb it all in.........total cost $30 sweeeet :)

Well the deal on the built doubler fell through so.........time to build one.

Got some more goodies in the mail today......dual adapter, twin stick shifter, top shift conversion kit......and I found some transfer cases to build my doubler setup (2) 21 spline cases and a 23 spline case. Enough parts to build one good setup and have some spare parts .

Got the old dirty tcases on the bench and had a friend give me a hand....he also let me use his varsol pit which was a huge help in cleaning these things.
We tore them down and used the factory 23 spline in the rangebox case and then tore down one of the 21 spline cases and replaced the 21 input with a beefier 23 spline input.....then put it all back together with the dual adapter and a twin stick in the rear case......still need to find a shifter for the front hi/low case.

Got home and started on tearing down the A340H chain drive tcase......as you can see there is a lot of crap in there. This tcase is hydraulic (aka another auto transmission) with all the same planetary gears and its own valve body and pump.......no wonder the 3.0L V6 is somewhat gutless.....it has two auto transmissions sucking away power. I am very interested to see how much power it has back from losing all this hydraulic crap. The dual gear driven transfer cases going in are far more simplistic and wont suck power. Check out all those parts in the last picture....I dont think the doubler weighs as much as whats in that pile!!

Next up is finishing the mods required in the tranny (the park pawl was in tcase and is now going to be in trans. and change a shift rod), and bolting up the Inchworm Gear adapter.

Hey thanks....it is taking some time but I am getting there.....this is my first time doing something like this.....I have been reading, and reading, and reading some more on pirate4x4, yotatech and other forums, been doing my research on lots of little things so I am hopefully doing it right the first time.

I got into the transmission, disconnected the solenoids and other connections and dropped the valve body, I was super careful about watching for springs and the ball bearing that come out with it. Once into it and once I was able to stop all the stray drops other tranny fluid on my face I was able to remove the old shift rod and install the new parking pawl and new shift rod using the spring and pin from the tcase section. It seemed a little overwhelming digging into this from instructions and from some threads I had read......but once into it.....it was very straightforward.....just kept everything organized and clean.....even made a bolt map on a piece of cardboard (highly recommend this).
Once I got the valve body back in and all the connections done and the tranny pan back on, I got back to fitting the adapter on the dual case setup.....this took a minor amount of clearancing on the reduction housing to fit just perfect, it fit fine with a bit of work from a rubber mallet but i liked the fit better with some minor sanding of the case....will make installation in the vehicle 10x easier.
I had to clearance one unused raised boss on the range box for the duals....some cases have them and some dont....mine did so it took 10mins to grind it out just enough to make this one bolt a breeze.
Since the setup retains the original reduction case section that used to house the planetaries and secondary valve body that has now been removed, I made a block off plate for where the rear fluid pan used to be, this will reduce the amount of empty space that would just hold extra fluid.
Time to do some measuring and cut some holes in the floor and mount this pig......

Did some more prepping for the duals to go in.....cut the old torsion bar brackets out and cut and measured for the shifters.....I made the hole a decent size so putting shifters in or getting at bolts will be easier....I am going to make a new center console piece anyways. Nice to have all that extra crap out and will make fabbing a new crossmember easier. Will maybe try and get the duals in this evening.

Pulled some of the chrome off the back wheel wells and the plastic rock guard off as well....I was amazed at the amount of dirt that can get caught in this.....no wonder the rot gets bad in these 4runners.

The scrap pile just keeps growing.

So I put the duals in and as I suspected the drivetrain output was very close to the horse collar cross-member and as well this cross-member prevented me from raising the drivetrain up. So I searched for a solution and found the one I am using.....it is the easiest setup i could find.....but I wasnt able to get my hands on some 6" square tube so I made it with some 3" angle 1/4" thick.....I beveled the butt weld so I could get some good "penetration" for a good strong weld

So I rushed into things a bit quick and measured and bucked out the section of the cross-member.....I should have welded a brace to the frame to hold it in place so when I finished the first cut I heard the TWANG of the tension in this cross-member release and it opened up a 1/4" more than my 6" piece......so I hooked up a come-along to the frame on either side and cranked on it to close up the 1/4" on the clearance piece......Live and learn and wont make that stupid mistake again.....probably makes no difference but oh well

Got the connector welded in and I opened up the floor a bit more to tuck the drivetrain up without doing a total flat belly.......my lowest point on t-case is now 24 1/2"

Since the Bastard is going to be needing driveshafts made soon I got moving on clearancing the double carden joints on the (2) '86 and later "IFS style" driveshafts I have. It would be easier to just find some older DC driveshafts but since I have these kicking around.....I can spend the money elsewhere (like getting driveshafts made). These are the style of DC that came in IFS trucks/4Runners that will only flex to about 20 degs......whereas the older ones will go to 35 degs.

I found a good "how-to" here http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/tech/cvmod/

This was really easy to do following these directions.....I remember taking one of these apart years ago and I remember it being a real bitch......but the trick of adding some small washers into the cap was what made this super simple to take apart. After that it is just some minor grinding and put it back together. Took all of 2 hours including cleaning.

In the last picture you can see the difference in the angle of flex before and after (right is stock at 20 deg and the left is after modifying and is 35degs easy and can go to 40degs when pressed on)

Well since I have the automatic with the inchworm adapter and a set of duals I had to make my own crossmembers so I started off by modifying the original mount from the automatic housing.
Then I started mocking up some crossmember setups
Then got some plate cutup and started tacking it up

Then I had to build a second crossmember behind the first one to support and protect the duals (I dont know if I am crazy on the design but it works for now and I may change this later) The drivetrain is tucked up as much as possible without doing a true flatbelly and clocking the tcases.
Also got the rear shocks mounted by creating a new top shock mount bar and some lower mounts from Karnage to get the shocks as vertical and as far outboard as possible......I may have uptravel limitations but will have to see once I roll it out of garage and test the travel. I also got the brake lines plumbed up after removing the LSPV.

Well got some stuff done on it.....removed the cat and built an exhaust that is tucked up, pretty much a straight system with a thrush welded muffler, its seems a bit loud for me so may add a resonator.

Got it rolled out of garage for the first time in 9 months and got it flexed up to measure for driveshafts and bumpstops......the dust on the hood was pretty thick

Found out that I need to go with a shorter shock in the rear as it was limiting uptravel and wouldnt let me stuff the rear wheels, I was thinking it might be a problem after installing the rear shocks.....the fronts were a perfect length for travel up and down and this RUF and 63s combination flexes awesome.

Haha....thanks man....its getting so close to done that it hurts....have to talk with shop on Friday about getting driveshafts done and then its driveable !!

Changed out the rear 12" shocks for a set of 10" and it eliminated my shocks bottoming out and giving me uptravel issues and was able to now flex it out way more, still without limiting droop on the opposite side (have about 2" extension and compression left)....and can really stuff the rear wheel.

Here are the 2 "before" pics with 12" shocks in the rear......and the after with 10" shocks

I have 26" clear under the front tire

Still waiting for driveshafts .......arrrrrrgh

I got the exhaust built and welded up.....after that I felt that my muffler choice made it a bit to loud for my liking so I installed a lightly used glass pack as a resonator behind the muffler and it toned it down nicely.

Got the tunnel section setup for the duals and shifters finished up and completed

I also wired up my winch with an Albright solenoid in order to lose the bulky 4 solenoid WARN control box.......I also removed the control port for the controller and mounted it into the grill......the winch is also wired on a toggle inside the cab if I need to control it from in there.

Since it is so close to done I felt it was time to put it in the rear window.....

Got the driveshafts back today and installed.......cheaper than expected too, BONUS!!!!

Will bleed brakes in morning and then road test.......woop woop

Well I have to say that driving this thing will take a little getting used to.....the body roll isnt excessive but sure gets your attention quick at first, sure glad I outboarded the shocks as far as possible.....the steering isnt as responsive as I would like but something I will have to get used to (will double check toe settings and I believe the steering box is OK) could also be the factor of the tall sidewalls of the 35s on 15s..........runs like a dream on the highway though, the 5.29s and the automatic are nice and not rev'd out......quite smooth really

Took it on its first beat down, shake down test run and it did awesome.....only problem I had was flexed it out to much in one spot and separated the front driveshaft......a quick winch to a safer spot and fixed it......awesome day....a lot of gnarly trails......a great test day

Yes it was....we were doing a bunch of the trails at the top of Doumont and Boomerang....there is some some pretty nice tight trails up there.

It sure is.....it took a long time and a lot of reading and research......I am VERY happy with how it turned out and what it is capable of......crawls and flexes awesome, the front driveshaft may be an issue but is one that cant be fixed.

Picked up some used TG sliders on Island4x4.com and had to make some new tubes to mount them to the frame.
Got the frame plates welded in.
Installed on the truck, have them angled up (cant see well in pic) and out a little ways so that they will be good to tie the exo into later......just have to make a few small gussets to weld in at the tube/plate joint for extra strength.....in case I have to use hi-lift jack on them.

Well I went and got myself an early Christmas present......on board air !!

I picked up a Viair 400H compressor.....Trailgear was had some sort of sale on so I jumped on it now. I got it all installed and got all my gear sorted out and tied down as well (spare, tools, etc...)

Also adding a few pics from a Nanaimo Sidewinders club run from a couple weeks ago. Here is a link to the facebook club page https://www.facebook.com/nanaimosidewinders

Sorry for pics upside down.....something goofy when uploading to the site????

Thanks.....Getting that double carden apart can be fun but worth the effort since the IFS driveshafts are a dime a dozen.....a few degrees in range makes a big difference.

Well I have been running the 4Runner and it has been doing awesome, really happy with it.

I got ahold of Ryan at Karnage and had him build a great exocage for it that incorporates an internal X-brace. He did a really good job and an adult can actually sit somewhat comfortably in the back.....an adult could never sit comfortable back there anyways unless it was a midget. It makes me a little more comfortable when taking my daughter out wheeling.
It has been nice to not be worried about the rear windows, and it has proved very useful in a few deep washouts and tight trails.....proven by the rubbed off paint and scratches in the metal of the exo.

I would have liked to try and build the exo myself but with a 1 year old and nap times, any spare time I have I cant be making noise in the garage.....kinda frustrating. I had Karnage build the exo because I couldnt beat the quality for the price. I am really happy with how he built the internal X brace, I trust his work and the strength of how it was done which makes me feel better when my older daughter is riding shotgun out wheeling.
Ryan is a little hard to get a hold of at times but I think that is mainly due to how busy he is, and if you want stuff done show up at the shop and get in line with money waiting.....he gets all sorts of calls and people asking for prices that dont pan out into jobs for him and that just wastes his time......money at the door talks. I talked with him at the shop a month prior about my plans, I got my cash lined up then came in with a deposit and he started a week later.

2K on a bumper, ouch.....must be an ARB....those shipping costs are killer, I am sure it will be pretty nice though.....is this for your 3rd gen??

Thanks Welshy

Time for an update...... the Green Bastard has been holding up well to some abuse and have been having fun with it......shortly before the Fall Camp n Crawl in Shawnigan this year I sold my 35 MTRs and picked up a set of 37 TSL Boggers on beadlocked rims that had been grooved....they performed awesome with the grooving and it was nice to have the beadlocks to be able to run 6-7psi. The Camp n Crawl was awesome and a lot of fun. One thing I did find is that the bigger rims and tires with the low psi and a front locker made for some tough steering at times ===> solution ==> hydro assist !

So a few weeks before Christmas I was good to myself and picked up a hydro assist kit from trailgear. I spent a while reading forums and watching a youtube video about a dozen times on how to properly tap my steering box ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjbJ6479BKo&app=desktop ). I ran into one problem with this as an important seal inside the box had broken on its own and had to be replaced (was a bit difficult to get over Christmas but the Toyota dealer came through :))
One problem that Trailgear points out is possible interference with the ram hitting the ubolt plate with the way they locate the ram......I looked at some other examples and decided to run the ram in the opposite direction (drivers -> pass side), this meant fabricating my own bracket to mount the ram and I fabbed the other mount as well since I didnt want to weld the bracket to the tie rod as per the instructions.
I then noticed that I was going to have some clearance issues with the ridiculous oil pan the 3.0L has.......some heat and a hammer fixed most of that but the front big drop needed to be shaved. Ended up with 3/4L additional oil capacity.....cant be a bad thing.
The 6" stroke ram is more throw than is available on the toyota axle so I had to limit the ram to match my axle......after some measurements to figure out the throw I picked up some plastic Delrin rod that I had a friend help me lathe to create a stop that slides over the internal rod. I tried to do this at home a couple times with a drill with no success, not enough drill control to be straight and the drill bit cuts to quickly especially when stepping up to the bigger sizes. Once this was put in and reassembled it will limit the throw out on the ram.....it is limited in the other direction when it bottoms out and cant go further.......so I matched this up with the steering stops on the axle.....dont want to have the ram push past the stops or trunnion bearing damage or broken steering arm studs will happen in time. Speaking of which I also upgraded to ARP studs for this as well.
Finally I needed to modify my steering pump in order to have the ability to fill the ram at a decent speed......this required removing the inlet on the pump and drilling out the restrictor plate inside.....once that was done I also created a deeper groove on the bypass valve to allow for more pressure before the pump goes into bypass mode.

So I have it all together and I am extremely pleased with the speed and ease of steering these large wheels.....so far I have only test driven around the house but will be taking it wheeling this weekend for a true beat down.......fingers crossed.

Sounds good.....would like to head out and see those trails you were talking about a while ago.....or work on opening that trail some more that we did before.

Would love to go but exploded a birf on Sunday.....will pay attention to when you head out again....will be wrenching this weekend coming up

Well theres the problem !!!

Yes they were "smurfed", the bell held out awesome......the inners.....not so much.

I had to continue through some more hard wheeling after it broke, which is why it got so bad...... those are the biggest pieces left

There will be some new shiny stuff showing up soon.

Out with the old......and in with the new

And some new goodies showed up......these should be harder to detonate.

Also found that I had broke my center pin in the diff so had to order a new HD chromoly pin from Spartan and rebuilt the diff on the weekend......hope it holds out better

^^^^ You wanting the old backing plates and stuff?? .......should have traded you for the old diff

No e-brake....I just used the regular Monte Carlo calipers.....I plan on installing an electric line lock for an ebrake

The Green Bastard is going in for some surgery.....

Me too Larry...........................me too

Never run with scissors

Thanks, things have being going good with the chop so far......it looks like reading the endless build threads and staring at saved pictures for hours is paying off so far.
I agree it looks like yours was done well......if you get a chance I would love to see some pics of how things were done and completed inside the back (reinforcing, seatbelts etc...) this is something that is missing in 99% of build threads.

Getting closer to done

Well the liposuction surgery is complete, the Green Bastard doesn't have a fat ass anymore.
Was a big job and turned out quite well. Ended up with a decent amount of space behind the seats for tools and the hollowed out tailgate is great for all the extra fluids, straps and airline.

Soon...very soon

Been a while since posting any updates, just been having a lot of fun with it.

The Green Bastard will getting some new power soon, long overdue. It will be a 4.3 CSFI Vortec with a turbo 350 tranny that has a reverse valve body and Winters reverse pattern shifter, I also have an advance adapter to mate the toy duals to the TH350. Still looking into a Howell stand alone engine management system to run it.

Wont be putting in for a while but just getting it all ready slowly.

Would that be Myles by any chance?? He was just over at my place and we were discussing the megasquirt setup with a marine intake for the 4.3. I have started researching it a bit and it may be a way to go....it's kinda crazy to build your own efi computer board and tune it yourself but from what I have read the instructions are great and the programming is very simple.
Like you say the price is pretty good cause you are doing the work yourself but would know it inside out after that