FreshSeaBass Build Thread

[FreshSeaBass]

Out of curiosity...whats the plan for that Toyota front axle?

Transfer case choice is undetermined. Planning to build a 'doubler' and I have a gear driven case for the W59 to sandwich into the original case, that would make it a drive side drop..... Alternatively I would drop another gear case unit in place and run 2x VF1A's; making it pass-drop....


The above scenarios will determine whether or not I will flip the housing from drive to pass.

As far as the width is concerned, I will be cutting the knuckle balls out and burning in a pressed-fit sleeve to widen the housing, then burning the knuckle balls in to the corrected caster. Current plans will be to widen the housing to match the rear. Some say the housings are 55.5"... some say 56.5".

Going to run the 'Big Brake' upgrade (my stock 4R brakes) on IFS hubs. IFS manual hub assemblies will add 3" in width and give me the big brakes, the axle tube sleeves will give me another ~3" of width; no wheel spacers, or jank involved to screw up my scrub radius.

At the end of it all, I should have an exact WMS match to the rear housing

Check out this thread for some examples.....

Widening a front axle the right way.

www.pirate4x4.com

The ideal final product

 

[FreshSeaBass]

Out of curiosity...whats the plan for that Toyota front axle?

The aforementioned machined sleeve. This one is courtesy of Mayhem Metalworks (AM4x4) over on Pirate, but will likely need to be modified to suit the width I am after. A second will be made to suit the end goal track width.

 

[G_Raw]

If you're going that route why not widen it an extra inch on each side so it tracks better when steering. At the amount of work you're putting in on a Toyota axle would selling it to a 80's owner who needs a SAS be worth while and take that money and apply to a D44 housing you could build? Not telling you what to do by any means lol. I like the idea of keeping the rig "all" Toyota.

 

[FreshSeaBass]

If you're going that route why not widen it an extra inch on each side so it tracks better when steering. At the amount of work you're putting in on a Toyota axle would selling it to a 80's owner who needs a SAS be worth while and take that money and apply to a D44 housing you could build? Not telling you what to do by any means lol. I like the idea of keeping the rig "all" Toyota.

The 3G rear is supposedly 60.75" (I will be verifying that), but some people have measured them to be 61.75" ; ( I don't trust what is on the web and I am working on getting a precise WMS to WMS for clarification).

You are on the money.. if the WMS of the mini truck axle is 55.5" vs 56.5" or vise versa, the tube sleeve lengths will change to 1" TLG + IFS hub width.

At the moment, I have three 4.30 third member's (one complete e locker, one open diff, and an E-locker bare shell). After picking up the new housing and a full knuckle seal pack, the overall expenditure is looking to be on the low end fortunately with not having to outsource any labor.

 

[FreshSeaBass]

Learning lots of things working on some other stuff and realizing that I love a clean sheet.. I won't be wasting time working around all of the sheet metal;

Mapping it all out at the moment but the plan will be to work on blanking plates at the firewall as a base and tubing the engine bay for the rest.



Tons of dirt, silt and gravel trapped over the years in the fenders.



Entertaining the idea of steel blanking plates with rivnuts, and plating/ tubing the entire engine bay with Alu tube to make a bolt on/off engine bay.



All ideas are welcome.... May start an engine bay thread

 

[FreshSeaBass]

Exciting times... I never knew that I could fit a forklift in the garage. It's been a long day of figuring out how to get this precious cargo rigged up and safely transported.

Success!


After using the lift points designed to take nominal pipe for lifting and lifting it as a sling, it dawned on me that I could weld tube to the two pipes, front to back.... It essentially gave us a deck to lift from and not have to rely on straps.



Friggin' A..... It worked so well. Gained all of the lfit clearance needed and kept the mast below the door.



Time to get to setting it all back up

 

[FreshSeaBass]

Where things are headed...



Rear end might be longer, wheelbase perhaps as well. Thoughts?

Some inspiration.

 

[Stairgod]

Do you sleep?

 

[FreshSeaBass]

Do you sleep?

East Coast man sleeps when the work is done

Yeah I do sleep, most of these updates are past-due.

 

[Stairgod]

Still a shit ton of work on a few projects.
Very impressive work as well as amount of.

 

[FreshSeaBass]

Still a shit ton of work on a few projects.
Very impressive work as well as amount of.

Thank you! It's hard to objectively feel like I'm making progress. I want to get to where I can just take some time and work on the 3rd gen. It has sat in the garage for so long that it won't even turn over.

 

[FreshSeaBass]

I think now I can call the garage a machine shop! Tough to show the scale, but I picked up this heavy son of a gun, and started with a machine deep clean to get some of the old man-glitter off of it.

Beyond stoked. This combined with the lathe will make for a no-excuses build. All of the time spent waiting for these two big ticket items has been worth waiting for; tons of capabilities unlocked.

Goal: Make my own parts for the SAS and save money

 

[FreshSeaBass]

Back again. 'micro tool room' organization in progress..... still. It'll never end.

4R is no longer a road vehicle. More akin to a roller skate or one of those furniture movers

Rack, all steering links, control arms and LBJ, Cam eliminators, locker wiring harness, etc.....


Daytona jack stands welded to the dolly's and the frame ratchet strapped to the dolly base. Kinda sketch, but kinda not.

 

[FreshSeaBass]

-Set to ride height
-Reference dimensions
-Pull motor for rebuild
-Make a new frame up front?

 

[4runner DOA]

View attachment 84978
View attachment 84979

-Set to ride height
-Reference dimensions
-Pull motor for rebuild
-Make a new frame up front?

Might as well tube everything up front while you have it apart.

 

[FreshSeaBass]

Might as well tube everything up front while you have it apart.

Tube the engine cage, tabs, and all of the original body panels over the top to tidy things up a bit. Great minds

Landing plates on the firewall, tube couplings, maybe a removeable front rad support? Me thinks