2004 Tacoma SAS

[8sixFabrication]

This evening I managed to make some good progress.

First thing I did, was top off the trans and forward case with fluid. Then I dropped the cases down some to mess with the shifters a little. I also started eyeballing a mounting location for the low range indicator switch.

The short throw shift kit I purchased from LC Engineering showed up, so timing was perfect.

Here's a before and after for clearance while the trans is in 3rd gear, and the rear case is in low range. The clearance was extremely close and didn't offer any room for shift boots.

With the short throw installed, I messed with the triple sticks some to make sure there wasn't a configuration I liked better. The intended setup from NWF, is what I decided I will stick with. With that decision finalized, I decided to try seeing how the triple stick shift boot I ordered, would fit. It totally doesn't fit haha.

After staring at it for a bit, I believe I have a solution for a shift boot to keep most of the weather out. With how intricate the shifters are, getting a proper boot setup in there will be extremely difficult.

More to come tomorrow.

 

[8sixFabrication]

This evening I was able to make some pretty good progress. It was pretty chaotic and messy, but it was good to get so much done.

First thing I did was dis-assemble the momentary switch that I picked up for the low range indicator in the wiring. It had a spring that was far too stiff. I cannibalized a pen for a spring that is lighter, and it feels much better. I re-assembled it with some die-electric grease then wrapped it in some electrical tape to help keep some of the elements out.

Then I made a super basic mounting bracket out of stainless. It's crude, but works good. The wiring from the OEM switch was cut off and soldered to some spade connectors, so it all ties into the factory plug.

From there I worked on getting it setup and working properly. The switch is very sensitive, but the lever has a little play. In order to get this to all work well together, I used some sound deadening material that has mass layered vinyl on it that allows to make up for the slop, without putting unnecessary stress on the switch. The switch being plastic, wanted to skip threads on the retainer when you put too much pressure on it, causing it to loosen. So this was the easy solution, and seemed to bench test well. I added a little super glue to the retainer to keep it in place.

I feel like I had that switch and bracket out a million times to get everything to work well together haha. The switch mounting certainly took the most time this evening.

With that sorted, I moved onto the wiring for the 4hi/dash light switch. I kept that real simple as well. I was able to use a small spade connector that slid into the factory RF1A, 4hi switches plug. Then I wrapped it in some electrical tape to keep most of the elements out. On the other end, I was able to get a pin from a weather proof plug kit, that slid into the original connector for the ADD. This allowed me to not have to cut a single wire in the system, keeping the entire harness in tact. I will wrap the ADD plug in electrical tape to help with the elements some, once I have the wheel off next on that side, and can access it easier.

The last part of the 4hi/dash light wiring was to tie 2 wires together. In the spirit of keeping everything in tact, I used some small stainless TIG welding rod to make a hearty jumper for the plug that originally plugged into the 4WD ECU.

Next, I extended the wires for the speedo 5", and installed everything.

And finally, the "Gray Wire Mod"

Once that was done, I tested everything(except speed) and fortunately it all seems to work as intended

With all that done, my garage is pretty well blown apart. So it needs a cleaning. I plan to solder up the harness for a new head unit, and then I can put my dash and most of the interior back together tomorrow evening. I am hoping to have that all put together and shift boots all done with the exception of a new leather one that I will have to get an uhpolstery shop to do.

More to come

 

[8sixFabrication]

As promised, here's what I figured out for the 4wd wiring. Its really simple. The way I accomplished this is shown in the previous post.

It took me a little while last weekend to wrap my head around how I was going to make the ABS function as it needs to, now that the wiring for the 4wd system is different. Without the front ADD, and the 4wd actuator motor, nothing else in the system that runs off the 4wd ECU is needed.

I studied the schematics for the ABS and 4wd system. Fortunately, I work with 2 former Toyota technicians, so they were able to proof read my solution, and help me understand a couple small details. Additionally, I put up a post on a Facebook group to pose some questions(before I figured it out) and a gentleman did something similar that lead me to where I landed.

It took some fumbling and head scratching when I went to test the theory on last Thursday after work. I assumed that when the truck is in low range, the ABS light comes on, and the ABS turns off. Which was the primary reason I was confused and took a bunch of extra time. But after some digging, I was assuming wrong, and it only shuts off when the E-Locker is on.

The solution is pretty simple. Everything highlighted below is activated by ground. I used the ground switch on the RF1A, which is common ground to trigger the dash light, and tell the ABS its in 4hi. Those wires need to be died together, and are highlighted in green on the schematic.

The ABS needs to know when its in 4lo, and the wire highlighted in pink will do that. It would also allow the E-Locker to function if it remains stock, but I did the "Gray Wire Mod" so I can do some Tokyo drifting when it rains haha. For that, I mounted a momentary switch on the linkage for the rear hi/lo shifter.

Hopefully this is helpful for folks in the future. I couldn't find much info on my own for this particular situation.

 

[8sixFabrication]

This evening I had only limited time to work on the truck, but still managed to get some stuff done, and pretty much hit my to do list goal to have tomorrow free.

First thing I did was address the radius arm mount that was crashing into the panhard bar. I arbitrarily cut some off and capped it, then dusted it with some paint. Simple and effective.

Next I wanted to put the interior back together the best that I could. I picked up a basic head unit a while back, just to keep things simple. I am a huge audiophile, so this will serve my needs when I put amplifiers, component speakers and all the other goodies in. With the dash mounting the deck so low, I didn't want to put another Android auto back in like I originally had. For now anyway.

I spaced getting a picture of the harness being all soldered up and wrapped up and pretty, but that's alright. It's in and working right.

Tomorrow I'm taking a breather from this, but will be back onto it promptly Saturday for a few days. More to come

 

[grizzlypath]

That's an interesting little plate surrounding your interior HVAC vent. Looks like it has a little mount on it for something also? It caught my attention because in my 1st gen Tacoma I'm brainstorming where to mount my phone and GMRS radio mic and whatnot.

 

[8sixFabrication]

That's an interesting little plate surrounding your interior HVAC vent. Looks like it has a little mount on it for something also? It caught my attention because in my 1st gen Tacoma I'm brainstorming where to mount my phone and GMRS radio mic and whatnot.

That would be correct. I didn't want any of the bulky or flimsy crap out there to hold my phone. I came up with a really slick setup that I kept under wraps because I was thinking there was an opportunity for a unique product I could offer. I never got off my butt and did anything with it. I'll try and share some pictures of it in the near future.

 

[8sixFabrication]

Today I got a little bit done. Unfortunately I spent a fair amount of time running all over the place trying to find some rubber matting to use to cover the shifter hole for the t-cases, in addition to getting other supplies.

Coming up with nothing, I decided to use some crap I had laying around to make a "shift boot".

First thing was to remove the stock boot, and cut the rubber portion in half to retain the boot for the trans shifter. then I put the plate over the hole to get good measurements

I cut out a real simple fill piece out of some fatigue mat I kneel on. I believe its closed cell foam, so it should work well at keeping out sound, moisture, and such. It's not ideal but should do the trick.

It seemed to fit pretty well.

After this, I got the trim around the shifters put back in, and all the hardware for the shifters buttoned up.

While running around today, I picked up a new AGM battery, and some terminals. I finished the afternoon up by installing the new battery, and getting the battery wiring cleaned up a bit. I have a fair amount of wiring to clean up, but wanted the basics solid and ready for a test drive when its done.

From there I just cleaned up the aftermath of this weeks work in the garage, to prepare myself to dive in head first tomorrow, into the rear axle and suspension.

 

[8sixFabrication]

Today I put in some hours! It was a struggle the whole time, but I refused to let it get me down!

The first order of business was to swap in the new 4.88 3rd member. I've done many, many 3rd member swaps/services and this is the first time I had so many problems. All but 2 of the studs came out because the nuts were seized on them. It took a long time to get all the studs cleaned up and the nuts up. Additionally the nuts for the backing plate studs were a pain to get off.

After a lot of time getting everything put together, I realized that the truck never had an extended brake hose installed. Luckily I had one laying around that never got used on our last 4runner, so I installed that before the wife helped bleed the brakes.

And of course, more struggles with that. The bleeders on the wheel cylinders were super hard to crack lose or even move. I had to get one of my long 3/8 ratchets to pull the bleeders. The threads were for some reason messed up on both sides. I'm guessing from the hulk tightening them up at some point. Fortunately, I have some spare axles with backing plates I pulled the bleeders from and those threaded in just fine. With those figured out, we were able to get the brakes bled. That was a nice win. It's the first time the truck has had brakes in a couple years haha.

With that behind me, I moved onto the suspension. A while back, I picked up a set of 2nd gen taco rear leafs that had Icon progressive Add-a-leafs installed. I wanted the Icon stuff for this project, and to ditch the lame fat, hugely arched add a leaf that came on the truck.

I got those off, and installed onto the truck along with a u-bolt flip kit. I took a baseline measurement before I took everything off. Once I got these installed, I took another measurement to see how much the ride height changed. It seemed to be pretty similar.

Next I moved onto installing the shackles. I figured I would have to attack the rear ride height from multiple angles. I did have to cut the tail pipe off to make room for the shocks, and get out of the way with the leafs(the were hitting it on droop with the stock shackles).

I took some measurements and landed on the middle hole to start with. The angle is still pretty good with the weight of the truck on the suspension. After I set the truck back on its tires, I see that the rear of the truck still sits lower than the front.

I took tomorrow off for the hell of it, and I plan on putting in another solid day of work. The parts to get my winch going again are supposed to show up tomorrow. If so, I can button that up and get the bumper on. With the full weight up front, I can get a final measurement to see if I need to add more height out back. However, I probably will need some, so I think I am going to cut the stock overload springs down and install them anyway. I think it will help fight axle wrap some, and help with a little more weight in the bed on long trips.

It's so damn close to a test drive, I can taste it! More to come!

 

[8sixFabrication]

More progress today, even if it wasn't as much as I wished for.

First thing I wanted to do was get it out of the garage. I filled the real axle with fluid, then went to install the driveshaft, but realized the rear flange on the T-case was the wrong size for the new driveshaft. Fortunately, my Toyota parts hoard came in handy again. I pulled the front flange off a T-case I had laying around and swapped it out.

With the shaft in, I cleared all the crap off the canopy and roof, and pulled it out. I was so excited, that I took it for a spin around my dead end road, with the tires rubbing on everything hahaha

Next I wanted to address the ride height. I ran out and picked up some new leaf spring center bolts knowing that what I have would be too short. Knowing that FedEx is horrible and my winch parts wouldn't show up today as promised, I decided to throw the bumper on, and strap the winch on top to at least see where things land with all the weight on the front. The rear sat pretty low, so it was time to move onto lifting the rear more.

Moving on to the leafs, I cut down the overload springs and installed them. While I was installing the driveshaft, I noticed the pinion was a little too high for the proper driveshaft angle. The Add a leaf kit had a shim that was a tad more than 1 degree, and I installed it originally, tipping the pinion up. So I flipped that knowing the pinion angle needed to come down. While I had the rear on jack stands, I also put the shackle to the lowest set of holes, to give a little more lift.

Once I got that all done, I set it back on the tires to see if that got me where I wanted. The truck landed somewhat level front to back unfortunately. I want a slight rake, to accommodate for my roof top tent and gear in the bed. The pinion angle however is good now.

I also moved the holder loop thing for the e-brake cable to an open threaded hole a little higher up. While I had the axle drooped to work on the springs, it was maxed out. That gave it the extra needed room.

While this was an improvement, it ended opening up a can of worms.

While taking a break to have a snack, I remembered that I had the coil springs laying around that I pulled out of our cruiser to lift it. I was to understand that the coils I had in the truck, were the longest ones that came in the cruisers. I dug the other ones out of the parts shed, and cleaned them up. When I pulled the ones in the Tacoma, they were in fact about 1.75" longer than the ones I pulled from my wifes cruiser.

So I installed those and initially it looked like it did the trick and lowered the nose a little. But after farting around with it more, all it seemed to do was level it out more side to side. The truck basically sits level still. additionally, the coils are shorter, and fall out under full droop(which is why I had that catch plate there thinking I use that to retain it).

I decided to call it a night, and put the wheels and tires back on. It certainly looks better, but I either need the nose to come down a little, or the rear to come up some. I ended up taking more measurements, and confirmed that the truck sits dead level like this.

After thinking about it some, I figure its worth getting the shock mounts in, and shocks installed. They are nitrogen charged and it could change the ride height some.

I'll likely put the longer front coils back in, but try them swapped to see if it kills the gangster lean it had before.

That concludes this weekends batch of work. I did call my buddy at my local Discount Tire, and got fresh rubber ordered. I'm thinking it's reasonable that I will have the truck road worthy this next weekend. Fingers crossed!

 

[bkg]

This evening I was able to make some pretty good progress. It was pretty chaotic and messy, but it was good to get so much done.

First thing I did was dis-assemble the momentary switch that I picked up for the low range indicator in the wiring. It had a spring that was far too stiff. I cannibalized a pen for a spring that is lighter, and it feels much better. I re-assembled it with some die-electric grease then wrapped it in some electrical tape to help keep some of the elements out.

Then I made a super basic mounting bracket out of stainless. It's crude, but works good. The wiring from the OEM switch was cut off and soldered to some spade connectors, so it all ties into the factory plug.

From there I worked on getting it setup and working properly. The switch is very sensitive, but the lever has a little play. In order to get this to all work well together, I used some sound deadening material that has mass layered vinyl on it that allows to make up for the slop, without putting unnecessary stress on the switch. The switch being plastic, wanted to skip threads on the retainer when you put too much pressure on it, causing it to loosen. So this was the easy solution, and seemed to bench test well. I added a little super glue to the retainer to keep it in place.

I feel like I had that switch and bracket out a million times to get everything to work well together haha. The switch mounting certainly took the most time this evening.

With that sorted, I moved onto the wiring for the 4hi/dash light switch. I kept that real simple as well. I was able to use a small spade connector that slid into the factory RF1A, 4hi switches plug. Then I wrapped it in some electrical tape to keep most of the elements out. On the other end, I was able to get a pin from a weather proof plug kit, that slid into the original connector for the ADD. This allowed me to not have to cut a single wire in the system, keeping the entire harness in tact. I will wrap the ADD plug in electrical tape to help with the elements some, once I have the wheel off next on that side, and can access it easier.

The last part of the 4hi/dash light wiring was to tie 2 wires together. In the spirit of keeping everything in tact, I used some small stainless TIG welding rod to make a hearty jumper for the plug that originally plugged into the 4WD ECU.

Next, I extended the wires for the speedo 5", and installed everything.

And finally, the "Gray Wire Mod"

Once that was done, I tested everything(except speed) and fortunately it all seems to work as intended

With all that done, my garage is pretty well blown apart. So it needs a cleaning. I plan to solder up the harness for a new head unit, and then I can put my dash and most of the interior back together tomorrow evening. I am hoping to have that all put together and shift boots all done with the exception of a new leather one that I will have to get an uhpolstery shop to do.

More to come

Elaborate a bit more on the 4low indicator. I’m very curious, but admittedly not understanding what you did.


Edit: never mind. Reading the explanation post now

 

[8sixFabrication]

More updates!

This evening after work I dove into the suspension again. Leaving off with a truck that sat level, and the front springs being too short, I started in the front. I decided to put the original springs back in, but swap them left to right, to see if that leveled it out side to side. That seems to have done the trick.

From there I moved onto the rear. This week I decided it was worth trying to throw another leaf in the mix. I took some measurements, and cut the 2 lowest leafs down to size, from the donor 2nd gen packs I had laying there. My thought is this will help keep the springs more arched, and add the thickness of the leaf in height out back.

If you look closely here, in the middle of the pack is the leaf I put in, with pink dots at the ends of it. I wish it had a space to fit more in a "stair step" fashion, but I figured this would be a good place to start.

And here it is with the full weight on the springs. There is a slight arch. When I put the tires back on, I could tell it landed where I wanted. Additionally, when I cut the donors out, I noticed one of the leaf packs had a little more arch to it, as did the actual leaf I harvested. I figured that was on the side of the fuel tank, so I made sure to put that one in, on the same side as the fuel tank. The truck currently has basically no fuel in it, so I want any help I can get there.

Now the truck has a nice rake to it, which I ballpark at roughly 1" with the stock spare, light weight canopy, and random crap in the bed. With any luck, this should suit me well, until I link the rear and go to coil springs.

With that all done, I pulled the spare, and the brackets that center it. I wanted to pull the hoist, but I cant access the fasteners with the bed on. So for now, I drew the wheel holder up and it should be fine for now.

I pulled a shock out of the box and started to eye-ball where they will land and get some ideas for mounting. Also, it gives me a clear view on tail-pipe routing.

This was a nice change of pace, to have things go relatively well for a change. It's been a little frustrating having so many things on the truck fight me. Hopefully, I've broken that cycle and can push on to the finish line with little fuss.

 

[8sixFabrication]

This weekend yielded some big results, even though it was a struggle the whole time!

Friday I set out to get the truck totally done, so I could start breaking in the gears on Saturday. I got up early to brave the DMV, and got myself a trip permit.

I started by getting shock mounts made. It turned out to be pretty damn time consuming and I had some struggles along the way, but I made it. The lowers are made from 1.5", .120" wall square tube. I boxed the frame in the top and made upper mounts out of flat bar.

The shocks are for a 2nd gen Tacoma, and have 10" of travel. I figured those would be pretty close in valving to be worth the gamble. I wish they were a little more vertical, but I also figured being a little relaxed of an angle might make them a little softer if they turned out to be too stiff.

I also whipped up a quickie tailpipe. My welder was fighting me, so it ate up time and made things look less sexy. Luckily it will probably never be seen.

My beautiful wife pitched in because she likes detailing interiors, and has quite the kit to do it right. The interior wasn't all that bad, but I noticed some mold starting to develop in a couple areas, and wanted a basic cleaning inside so I wasn't test driving it with the inside being nasty. She pulled the seats out, and the center console, and gave it a solid cleaning. She wants to take time to shampoo the seats and dive deeper, but I had to tell her to stop at sanitary haha. I didn't want everything wet for a test drive. My good buddy was over that evening too to hang out, and I (again) was behind, so he chipped in and helped her re-install the interior.

The interior on this is a solid 9.5/10, and I want to keep it nice. The rest of the truck needs a bath real bad, and the underside/under hood need a cleaning. But its at least presentable.

After finishing the shock mounts and exhaust, I really wanted to keep pushing. It was almost 10 at night, and I had a long day. I started to trim a fender, and decided to admit defeat, and clean up. There was a good thunderstorm forecasted for yesterday that is pretty uncommon for our area, so I cleaned the garage back out, and put the truck in the garage to finish.

Saturday morning it was sunny(the storm was coming in the afternoon), so I rolled the old girl out and got back to work. First thing I did was finish trimming the front fenders and core support.

With that done, I moved onto the bumper. My winch parts showed up this week, so I got those installed and checked to make sure it works. With a winch I'm more confident in, I set it in the bumper. The wiring for the turn signals was done real jenky by the previous owner(don't use scotch locks kids), so I cleaned that up. Then I had my wife help me lift the bumper on for the last time.

I tried to clean all the bubbling clear coat off the fairlead, but it was sort of pointless. I plan on going to a different setup. For now, until I order some goodies, this will work.

At this point, the weather was turning fast. The NWS alerts were coming in a lot over the radio for strong wind and damaging hail, so I put the truck back into the garage to finish up.

I moved onto marking and trimming the rear fenders. Talk about a mess!

Next was to bolt down the bed. It got loosened up when I had the frame pulled straight, thinking we needed to pull the bed. That ended up not needing to be done, so it was left loose.

Well, rust got the best of the bed bolts. Everything was tight as hell, even though they were half in. The thread size was not one I had a tap/die for, so I had to make a "chase tap" to chase the threaded holes on the forward 4 bolts. It was time consuming, but I didn't want to break a bolt in the bed and have that headache. I re-assembled everything with anti-seize to prevent it from happening again. The rear oddball bolts were easier to get to. 1 broke, but I just threw in a fresh one and a nut, and tightened the other side.

The part that bummed me most, is the plastic insert for the gas filler neck seems to be missing, so the damn door is duct taped shut hahah. I also see that we broke 3 of the 4 bolts off into the threaded holes on that. So I get to extract those later on. I'll also have to get that plastic part I lost so I can fill it up without holding the gun the whole time haha

Additionally, while working under the truck this weekend, I see the beginnings of some rust I want to nip in the bud before long. It's not that far along, but much more than I am comfortable with. So I will probably pull the bed down the road and treat everything and re-paint it all, as well as finish boxing in the frame.

With that pain in the ass done, I just had to bolt in shocks, pop the canopy off, clean the crap out of the bed, and she was ready for a drive! It was again, late at night.

I took a shower, and the misses and I went out on a drive to start breaking in the gears. Yukon has a pretty lengthy break in process, so we got 2 heat cycles done last night. It was a pretty awesome feeling to drive it again after almost 4 years!

This morning I took it out for a spin to complete 3 of 5 heat cycles, and filled the tank. I measured the ride height, and with a full tank of fuel, and some random dead weight in the bed, it still had a lot more rake than expected, so I dropped the shackles back down to the middle hole to lower the ass a bit. Even doing that, it still has a rake, which is good. I also adjusted the toe a little.

We drove it to my sisters for the afternoon and back to complete the last 2 cycles.

After putting about 115 miles onto it, I established that there are some kinks to iron out. Both T-cases leak out of the shifters. So I will have to sort that out. The ride isn't too terrible, but I was hoping it would have been softer. I do have a set of old man emu rear springs in my shed for this truck that I might try and swap in for the hell of it, but I'm not sure that will sort out the firm ride out back. It's most noticeable on harsh stuff like an unexpected pot hole.

The power steering seems to randomly whine, and after talking to some folks, I think I mounted the cooler a little too high. A buddy gave me a tip to bleed it better, and I will try that this weekend

There is something that seems to contact the frame or cross member under a heavy load, so I need to look into that. Then, there are just some rattles and squeaks that I will work on at some point. All in all, I am pretty happy with it. Even without a sway bar, it corners better than expected. Perhaps that's due to the stiff springs haha.

It was a pretty big checkpoint to hit, and I'm glad that despite struggling most of the way, I was able to still reach this point. There is still lots to do, but at least I can burn some miles on it and establish some confidence in it before driving it across the country this fall.

I'll be driving it to work all week, assuming it doesn't ******** the bed on me lol. More to come!

 

[grizzlypath]

After finishing the shock mounts and exhaust, I really wanted to keep pushing. It was almost 10 at night, and I had a long day. I started to trim a fender, and decided to admit defeat, and clean up. There was a good thunderstorm forecasted for yesterday that is pretty uncommon for our area, so I cleaned the garage back out, and put the truck in the garage to finish.

Saturday morning it was sunny(the storm was coming in the afternoon),

You must be a Western Washingtonian, that storm was cool! I might have to try to cross paths with you someday to check out your SAS 1st gen for inspiration I'm up in Kitsap county.

 

[8sixFabrication]

You must be a Western Washingtonian, that storm was cool! I might have to try to cross paths with you someday to check out your SAS 1st gen for inspiration I'm up in Kitsap county.

Close. I'm Just south of Portland in the Clackamas/Milwaukie OR area

 

[8sixFabrication]

Time for some updates from the last week and a half! It's been a battle, but I'm inching forward.

On Monday morning of last week, I started it up to have the power steering pump making a ton of noise, so I took my other truck to work. That evening, at the advice of a good buddy, I unbolted the power steering cooler, and let it hang and re-bled the system. That seems to have done the trick.

Thursday of last week I decided to pull the oddball leaf I added to the rear spring pack. After driving the truck around, it seems like the suspension settled, and the truck had a pretty good rake. So I wanted to soften the ride out back some, and it was the right call. The ride height wasn't changed much, and it rides a bit better now.

Friday of last week, I had an appointment to get my new shoes installed(along with a matching spare). It was nice to ditch the shaky MTR's. On the way down to Salem OR, I noticed a substantial vibration over 70 that took the wind out of my sails some. After that appointment, I had an appointment at a buddies shop for an alignment. They got me all set, and I welded the weld washers to the radius arm mounts to set the wheel base permanently. I need to add a little more caster to it, but it was good to get more stuff checked off the list.

While I was there, I used their forklift to get an idea on where to start setting bump stops at.

After I got home from that, I decided to begin tackling the leaks. I spoke to NW Fabworks, and they thought that I had a little too much fluid in the forward Tcase, so I lowered that level some. I also butchered the splash guard for the rear case because my hunch was that was the breather was getting gear oil slung at it.

The fix for the rear case helped, but the forward case still leaks. I think I have a leak somewhere from the trans breather too possibly, but I need to resolve the forward case leak first to confirm.

The rear output flange also has a groove in it, so that leaks a little too.

Over the weekend, we went to the beach to drive around on the sand and put some miles in on the front gears, as well as put them under a load to make sure they're getting a proper break in. It was a nice change of pace, but certainly showed that the suspension could soften up a little bit haha. We also got to recover a lady who was stuck in a little Kia, so that was fun using double low.

Sunday I wanted to work on figuring out the vibration. A buddy had a different angle shim to try. Before heading to his place, I wanted to install a trim packer on the front drivers coil to help with the gangster lean. Well, that opened a can of worms.

While trying to remove the bottom shock hardware, somehow the threads were messed up. The nut seized, and while trying to remove it, the hole for the allen key split. I was so pissed. It's been a 2 steps forward, 1.5 steps back for so long, and to have a new shock with about 500 miles on it mess up like this was so frustrating. I feel like everything has been such a struggle it was getting comical.

I had to make due for now. So I "filleted" the nut with a cut off wheel. I was able to close up the split open end, and TIG weld in a piece of allen key, then re-threaded the stud. When I put it back together, I added a couple washers to keep the nut off the damaged threads. I'm going to reach out to FOX to see if they will warranty it, but I super doubt it, because I bought the shocks 2.5 years back then they sat while the truck was on hold. For now, they should function.

After getting it back on the road, I went to my buddies and grabbed the shims. I spent the rest of the day trying to diagnose the vibration. I tried several pinion angles with no luck. I eventually pulled the rear shaft, and ran it down the highway at 80 in FWD and no vibrations. I did also pull the front shaft at some point earlier in the week to rule that out.

At that point I reached out to my driveline guy, as well as another guy who I used to use, that has moved out of the area. The conclusion was that a 2 piece rear driveshaft probably should have been used. I worked on getting donor parts to my builder to try.... again to have another rear driveshaft made.

Today I left work a little early to pick this new shaft up. He also happened to offer some triple drilled T-case flanges which was super convenient. I couldn't find any that weren't made except from the one company I won't give business to, so this was a nice treat. It's even made in Japan to boot! So this should hopefully resolve one of the Tcase leaks.

After a long test spin on the highway, I finally had a win! The truck went down the road at 88 mph without any significant vibrations. I do have a small, pulsating vibe, but the pinion angle needs to be slightly adjusted so hopefully that goes away.

With a little time to spare, I cut up the half of the rubber boot I cut out, to work with the shifters for the Tcases, and installed the "leather" shift boot with a couple extra holes installed to finish off the interior. The foam pad I used initially was noisy. It also allowed a fair amount of road noise through. Hopefully this will be quieter.

I'm still working on little rattles and squeaks, but its slowly improving.

More to come this weekend.