BJ74 TD Build Thread - Stoffregen Motorsports

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

That's it for now. Hopefully I get the diff parts tomorrow. If I do, the truck should be sitting on four wheels by Friday, needing only driveshafts and exhaust to drive.

Which is good news, because my year has become booked all of a sudden. Two Land Cruiser LS swaps, a IFS clip on a D100 Dodge, a ton of mods to "Superrunner" and my own two trucks need finishing.

I need a beer.

 

[Clintnz]

Nice work! I was thinking I'd have to notch my chassis for the rear shocks like that, but then I discovered that with the bumpstops packed down a bit to keep the 36's off the sheetmetal at full flex the shocks just cleared. Looks like your upper shock mounts sit a little further outboard than std on my 71 though, I ended up with the shocks at a bit of an angle but everything seems to work well.

Cheers
Clint

 

[marshal]

Oh my

 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

Oh my

I'm beginning to like these short responses.

Nice work! I was thinking I'd have to notch my chassis for the rear shocks like that, but then I discovered that with the bumpstops packed down a bit to keep the 36's off the sheetmetal at full flex the shocks just cleared. Looks like your upper shock mounts sit a little further outboard than std on my 71 though, I ended up with the shocks at a bit of an angle but everything seems to work well.

Cheers
Clint

The lower control arms are another interference point with the shocks. When twisted up, the shocks would hit the frame and the links.

It should ride nice.

 

[zombieblaster]

Your work is incredible! I went back through a couple of pages, but couldn't find an answer: What kind of paint do you use on those axle components (like the knuckles)? Looks really good, and I'm assuming it's durable, otherwise you wouldn't be using it.

 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

Thank you.

The paint comes out of rattle cans, but is very durable. I start with a black primer from SEM (about $25 per can) and then finish it with Dupli-Color engine enamel in low gloss black. The black primer because if it gets scratched, I don't want to see another color. Engine paint because of the high ceramic content making it more impervious to chemicals. It dries pretty hard for a rattle can paint. One extra step I take is to properly clean and etch the raw metal before the paint goes on.

 

[thethePete]

^ Agricultural paint works well too, like the stuff you get at TSC for painting farm equipment. Very very tough stuff and available in a rattle can.

Awesome stuff as usual Stoffregen. Love watching quality work.

 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

We're nearing the end of the job. The truck runs and drives now, but I still don't know if I am going to be handling the bumpers and sliders, etc. The customer can't wait to get his hands on it and I can't wait for him to hit the rocks with it.

Anyway, here are some pics.

The stock dogbones inside the paring brake apparently aren't long enough, so these cool longer ones were installed.


Here's the skid plate attached. You can also see the sliders I built into the lower control arm brackets. Trying to minimize the rock hanger effect.




The drivelines were sourced from Tacomas, and though the length of the two was the same, one had the early c-clip style joints and the other had the later c-clips. The later CV did not have clearance to bolt to the t-case flange, so I had to drill the hole larger to clear the nut on the t-case shaft.

 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

I have a lot of fun doing all the finishing work. It's very relaxing. Bending brake lines, routing hoses, etc is an art form in itself. The rear axle needed new hard lines since most of the axle brackets were changed and the old lines no longer fit.





This pic shows all the plumbing going to the front axle. There's a breather hose, an air line to the ARB and the brake line. I don't like the blue ARB line, but when we don't have the time to make custom SS braided air lines, I heat shrink the blue plastic line to help protect it...and it looks nicer too.

 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

And again...problems with photosuckit...

 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

The rear springs needed retainers to keep them located when the truck is in the air. I doubt it will be a problem too much on the trail as only one wheel is hanging at a time. If it gets jumped...that's a different story.

If you look hard, you can see the lower spring retainer. I made it from 3/16 plate which I machined round and then welded on a small finger to the bottom to hold the coil in place. On top of that, I machined some 1/2" PVC to do two things. It surrounds the 1/2-13 bolt to keep the bump stop from getting trashed and it also acts as a bump stop spacer, which we needed anyway.

 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

More rear axle pics.

 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

And then a quick pressure wash before test driving.

 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

We still need to make some adjustments to the steering and ride height, but there it is. You'll see more pics of it as we do the remaining work, but it's a short list.

Enjoy!

 

[big a]

Man, super cool as usual!!!
-Andy