krazytoy
Adventurer
2005 GMC Yukon
“The Mother Lode”
Some of you may know me, most probably do not. I have been a Cruiser guy all of my life, my first vehicle was a 69 FJ40 and I have had just about every variation of a Land Cruiser since the FJ40 until 100 series. In my ever changing quest for the “one” vehicle I have sadly had to leave the Cruiser seen and move on. My last Land Cruiser was a 85 FJ60 with a 5.3L Chevy V8, well that didn't fit my family of 5 very well so down the road it went. (http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/141596-1986-Toyota-Land-Cruiser-FJ60-5-3L-Auto-ARB-s-amp-More) I have built a kick ***** FJ80 that almost fit the bill, however, the lack of power, small axles, poor gas milage and all around outdated vehicle sent it down the road as well. (http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/83671-The-Baja-Bus-1994-FZJ80-Build) In between the 60 and the 80 I tried a 100 series (http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/118587-Vivir-Cien-Krazytoy-s-100-Series-Build) and while it was a nice vehicle, almost too nice, the IFS front end and associated parts, lack of aftermarket support and just kinda being all around blah sent it down the road as well. So, where does that leave me… Well searching for the “one” rig that is going to everything I needed, I looked high and low, I considered an older G Wagon but the price was still out of my league I looked at Isuzu's, Mitsubishi's, just about everything under the sun, well little did I know the answer was right under my nose. When my wife delivered our wonderful 3rd child we reluctantly had to ditch our 2004 V8 4Runner, we replaced it with a 2005 GMC Yukon Denali, while the Denali was cool I never really considered it an “off-road” vehicle with its all-time 4-wheel drive and single speed transfer case and did I mention it had IFS… But hey, it was comfortable hauling all the kids and junk comfortably, tons of creature comforts, heated seats, sun roof, DVD player for the kids and all the bells and whistles I never even considered it for my rig. Well one day wife returns home and tells me that the oil change guy said the diff fluid needed to be changed so I got it up in the air where I could get under it with the creeper and began to change the diff fluids, well while I was under there began to take note that frame had a recess in the back to clear the huge air ride shocks and it was already a parallel 4 link with coils, so I slid under the front thinking there is no way a solid axle will fit well under here, but wait… tons of people do a solid axle swap on these so it must work! Well out came the tape measure and note book and as they say the rest is history. When I started looking for one to replace my 60 I couldn't believe the abundance of them how CHEAP they were, so after a week or two of looking I found one right here in Boise and I bought it. Now, I know it had 200,000 miles on it but it had everything I was looking for and if the motor or transmission went out I could replace the engine with a 500hp/500tq 6.0L for about $5,000 and the matching transmission for about $2,000, since I was going to be cutting everything off the bottom who cares about the rest.
Over the years my wife had become somewhat frustrated with me not being able to hold on to a vehicle for more than year and she told me to build something that I would keep, that meant that it had to have stout running gear (to hold the 500hp) and have a killer suspension. I like to drive fast in the dirt, I have desert raced, owned a 4x4 shop, and this really isn't my first rodeo building a suspension system, so knowing I didn't want to relocate the factory fuel tank I chose to do 3 links front and back with King 2.5” remote reservoir shocks and King 2.5”x2.5” air bumps. I started searching for a 78-79 Ford High Pinion Dana 60 and found one already with an ARB, 4.10 gears, cromoly shafts, stronger Chevy outer hubs, spindles and knuckles. For the back axle, how you can wrong with the tried and true GM Corporate 14 Bolt, they are abundant, cheap, tons of aftermarket support and well it just fit well. For the T-Case I chose the NP241C, it bolts right in and is a plenty strong T-Case. I called Artec and ordered their front and rear trusses and 3 link kits for both ends. The steering I went to RuffStuff and bought the steering arm and joints, I have bought thousands of dollars' worth of stuff from them in the past and have never been let down. I also bought the front shock towers from RuffStuff and the rear shock towers from Artec. Where the rubber hits the road I chose BFG KO2's in the 37”x12.50”x17” flavor and mounted them on H2 wheels, the wheels I sourced off Craigslist for a song. I also added disc brakes to the 14 bolt via RuffStuff and while I was placing that order I just couldn't resist the 3/8” thick RuffStuff Diff covers, it's not a good idea to order parts after a few beers… I'm sure there is some stuff I'm missing, but I think you get the idea; I bought the very best parts I could. With everything in my garage I pulled it in the Friday before Labor Day, kissed the wife and kids good bye and got to cutting.
Before I pulled it in I obtained as many parts as I could to complete the job, this is my daily driver so I had to keep down time to minimum. This also allowed me to do glue the Artec trusses on the axles, do the disc brake swap to the 14 bolt, build all the links and steering joints, hell, I even glued on the control arm mounts and the rear panhard bar to the 14 bolt before I got started.
Here she is the day I brought her home… So little…
I had actually bought the wheels and tires before I bought the rig.
Big pile-o-parts in the garage before I started.
Installing the new steering arm on the front diff.
The 241C I bought off a guy on craigslist. This 241 had a 32 spline input shaft whereas the 4L60E has a 27 spline. I knew the NP246 input shaft is interchangeable with the 241C, this just meant I got to disassemble 2 T-Cases to get to the input shaft and swap into the 241, plus this gave me a chance to throw a minor rebuild at it.
The bare 14 bolt housing to start with.
First thing I did was take the porta-band to it and knock the lip off the bottom and sanded it down smooth.
Artec Truss fitted and ready for welding.
With the pinion guard.
Truss welded, lower control arm mounts glue on, rear panhard bar mounted and upper control arm tacked on.
Disc Brake conversion all fitted up.
Somewhere along the way we took a weekend trip to St. Anthony Sand Dunes in the Yukon, it did great and we beat up on it for 2 days.
Sadly, the trip didn't end so well for my good friend, he rolled his 80 Series Land Cruiser, it was a complete loss…
The shocks and bumps arrived, sexy…
Made all the links, 5 of the 6 are the same length. I just tacked them together for mock-up.
RuffStuff 3/8” thick Diff Covers and the pinion guard painted.
“The Mother Lode”
Some of you may know me, most probably do not. I have been a Cruiser guy all of my life, my first vehicle was a 69 FJ40 and I have had just about every variation of a Land Cruiser since the FJ40 until 100 series. In my ever changing quest for the “one” vehicle I have sadly had to leave the Cruiser seen and move on. My last Land Cruiser was a 85 FJ60 with a 5.3L Chevy V8, well that didn't fit my family of 5 very well so down the road it went. (http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/141596-1986-Toyota-Land-Cruiser-FJ60-5-3L-Auto-ARB-s-amp-More) I have built a kick ***** FJ80 that almost fit the bill, however, the lack of power, small axles, poor gas milage and all around outdated vehicle sent it down the road as well. (http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/83671-The-Baja-Bus-1994-FZJ80-Build) In between the 60 and the 80 I tried a 100 series (http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/118587-Vivir-Cien-Krazytoy-s-100-Series-Build) and while it was a nice vehicle, almost too nice, the IFS front end and associated parts, lack of aftermarket support and just kinda being all around blah sent it down the road as well. So, where does that leave me… Well searching for the “one” rig that is going to everything I needed, I looked high and low, I considered an older G Wagon but the price was still out of my league I looked at Isuzu's, Mitsubishi's, just about everything under the sun, well little did I know the answer was right under my nose. When my wife delivered our wonderful 3rd child we reluctantly had to ditch our 2004 V8 4Runner, we replaced it with a 2005 GMC Yukon Denali, while the Denali was cool I never really considered it an “off-road” vehicle with its all-time 4-wheel drive and single speed transfer case and did I mention it had IFS… But hey, it was comfortable hauling all the kids and junk comfortably, tons of creature comforts, heated seats, sun roof, DVD player for the kids and all the bells and whistles I never even considered it for my rig. Well one day wife returns home and tells me that the oil change guy said the diff fluid needed to be changed so I got it up in the air where I could get under it with the creeper and began to change the diff fluids, well while I was under there began to take note that frame had a recess in the back to clear the huge air ride shocks and it was already a parallel 4 link with coils, so I slid under the front thinking there is no way a solid axle will fit well under here, but wait… tons of people do a solid axle swap on these so it must work! Well out came the tape measure and note book and as they say the rest is history. When I started looking for one to replace my 60 I couldn't believe the abundance of them how CHEAP they were, so after a week or two of looking I found one right here in Boise and I bought it. Now, I know it had 200,000 miles on it but it had everything I was looking for and if the motor or transmission went out I could replace the engine with a 500hp/500tq 6.0L for about $5,000 and the matching transmission for about $2,000, since I was going to be cutting everything off the bottom who cares about the rest.
Over the years my wife had become somewhat frustrated with me not being able to hold on to a vehicle for more than year and she told me to build something that I would keep, that meant that it had to have stout running gear (to hold the 500hp) and have a killer suspension. I like to drive fast in the dirt, I have desert raced, owned a 4x4 shop, and this really isn't my first rodeo building a suspension system, so knowing I didn't want to relocate the factory fuel tank I chose to do 3 links front and back with King 2.5” remote reservoir shocks and King 2.5”x2.5” air bumps. I started searching for a 78-79 Ford High Pinion Dana 60 and found one already with an ARB, 4.10 gears, cromoly shafts, stronger Chevy outer hubs, spindles and knuckles. For the back axle, how you can wrong with the tried and true GM Corporate 14 Bolt, they are abundant, cheap, tons of aftermarket support and well it just fit well. For the T-Case I chose the NP241C, it bolts right in and is a plenty strong T-Case. I called Artec and ordered their front and rear trusses and 3 link kits for both ends. The steering I went to RuffStuff and bought the steering arm and joints, I have bought thousands of dollars' worth of stuff from them in the past and have never been let down. I also bought the front shock towers from RuffStuff and the rear shock towers from Artec. Where the rubber hits the road I chose BFG KO2's in the 37”x12.50”x17” flavor and mounted them on H2 wheels, the wheels I sourced off Craigslist for a song. I also added disc brakes to the 14 bolt via RuffStuff and while I was placing that order I just couldn't resist the 3/8” thick RuffStuff Diff covers, it's not a good idea to order parts after a few beers… I'm sure there is some stuff I'm missing, but I think you get the idea; I bought the very best parts I could. With everything in my garage I pulled it in the Friday before Labor Day, kissed the wife and kids good bye and got to cutting.
Before I pulled it in I obtained as many parts as I could to complete the job, this is my daily driver so I had to keep down time to minimum. This also allowed me to do glue the Artec trusses on the axles, do the disc brake swap to the 14 bolt, build all the links and steering joints, hell, I even glued on the control arm mounts and the rear panhard bar to the 14 bolt before I got started.
Here she is the day I brought her home… So little…
I had actually bought the wheels and tires before I bought the rig.
Big pile-o-parts in the garage before I started.
Installing the new steering arm on the front diff.
The 241C I bought off a guy on craigslist. This 241 had a 32 spline input shaft whereas the 4L60E has a 27 spline. I knew the NP246 input shaft is interchangeable with the 241C, this just meant I got to disassemble 2 T-Cases to get to the input shaft and swap into the 241, plus this gave me a chance to throw a minor rebuild at it.
The bare 14 bolt housing to start with.
First thing I did was take the porta-band to it and knock the lip off the bottom and sanded it down smooth.
Artec Truss fitted and ready for welding.
With the pinion guard.
Truss welded, lower control arm mounts glue on, rear panhard bar mounted and upper control arm tacked on.
Disc Brake conversion all fitted up.
Somewhere along the way we took a weekend trip to St. Anthony Sand Dunes in the Yukon, it did great and we beat up on it for 2 days.
Sadly, the trip didn't end so well for my good friend, he rolled his 80 Series Land Cruiser, it was a complete loss…
The shocks and bumps arrived, sexy…
Made all the links, 5 of the 6 are the same length. I just tacked them together for mock-up.
RuffStuff 3/8” thick Diff Covers and the pinion guard painted.
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