Hodakaguy's Overland Tacoma Builds - On to new adventures!
- Thread starter Hodakaguy
- Start date
Hodakaguy
Adventurer
Hodakaguy
Adventurer
Received the differentials back from the gear shop. Can't wait to go for a drive and try out the new gearing!
The old cast carrier removed from the front diff. I ended up having an ARB air locker installed in the front diff while it was apart, no difference in labor at this point so now's the time if your gonna do it.
Air fitting installed in the front diff for the ARB locker.
This is the drivers side needle bearing in the OEM front carrier that ends up causing vibrations in lifted Tacoma's, If lifting a Tacoma it's wise to change out this bearing with a ECGS Bushing which will fix most vibration issues in the front drive line. The ARB locker carrier doesn't use this needle bearing so no need to change anything if installing this unit. I had already ordered the ECGS bushing and had it on hand then changed my mind on installing the locker.....guess I'll have a ECGS bushing up for sale soon
The same area on the drivers side of the ARB Carrier.
Shiny new REM Polished 4:88 Nitro gears installed in the rear diff.
Gasket surface cleaned on the diff housing, getting ready to install the new gasket.
Rear Diff re-installed and torqued, locker connectors fitted and guard installed.
Axles torqued to specs and brake cables re-attached.
Installed the modified passenger side lower air bag mount/cradle.
Received new lug nuts in the mail. The new aluminum wheels need taper style lug nuts (can't use the factory nuts), I stopped by a local tire store and they gave me a Gorilla spline drive lug nut to try out on the wheel at home. With the new wheel in place I wasn't happy with the amount of threads that was protruding from the wheel and engaging the lug nut, time for some searching. I ended up ordering the same lug nuts in extended reach that add another 1/4" of engagement with the threads....much better.
New Gorilla spline drive ET lug nuts
The standard lug next to the ET version. Much improved thread engagement.
Testing fit in the wheel. Plenty of space left to allow the wheel to fully seat. There is also slight clearance between the lug nut and wheel to allow proper centering.
More to come.......
Hodakaguy
The old cast carrier removed from the front diff. I ended up having an ARB air locker installed in the front diff while it was apart, no difference in labor at this point so now's the time if your gonna do it.
Air fitting installed in the front diff for the ARB locker.
This is the drivers side needle bearing in the OEM front carrier that ends up causing vibrations in lifted Tacoma's, If lifting a Tacoma it's wise to change out this bearing with a ECGS Bushing which will fix most vibration issues in the front drive line. The ARB locker carrier doesn't use this needle bearing so no need to change anything if installing this unit. I had already ordered the ECGS bushing and had it on hand then changed my mind on installing the locker.....guess I'll have a ECGS bushing up for sale soon
The same area on the drivers side of the ARB Carrier.
Shiny new REM Polished 4:88 Nitro gears installed in the rear diff.
Gasket surface cleaned on the diff housing, getting ready to install the new gasket.
Rear Diff re-installed and torqued, locker connectors fitted and guard installed.
Axles torqued to specs and brake cables re-attached.
Installed the modified passenger side lower air bag mount/cradle.
Received new lug nuts in the mail. The new aluminum wheels need taper style lug nuts (can't use the factory nuts), I stopped by a local tire store and they gave me a Gorilla spline drive lug nut to try out on the wheel at home. With the new wheel in place I wasn't happy with the amount of threads that was protruding from the wheel and engaging the lug nut, time for some searching. I ended up ordering the same lug nuts in extended reach that add another 1/4" of engagement with the threads....much better.
New Gorilla spline drive ET lug nuts
The standard lug next to the ET version. Much improved thread engagement.
Testing fit in the wheel. Plenty of space left to allow the wheel to fully seat. There is also slight clearance between the lug nut and wheel to allow proper centering.
More to come.......
Hodakaguy
Hodakaguy
Adventurer
Hodakaguy
Adventurer
Still chipping away....Today's Progress.
Installed and torqued the rear drive line in place.
Installed the drop spacers on the center carrier bracket.
Here's the OEM brake lines at full extension, pretty tight but could probably live with it. I'm installing extended braided steel lines in their place.
The new extended braided line next to the factory line
New brake lines installed, not near as tight at full extension.
Getting ready to install the fill lines for the air bags. I'll be routing the air fittings out the two upper rear license plate bolts, this will allow for easy filling of the bags and having them separate will allow both side to side adjustment for load leveling as well as up/down adjustment. The metal edge just above the holes for the plate (Red Arrows) needs to be slightly bent upwards to allow clearance for the brass fill fittings.
Hole enlarged and Air fitting installed
Both air fittings installed, they also secure the plate to the truck.
Air lines installed. I secured the tubing out of the way on the factory wiring harness.
On the passenger side the tubing is fairly close to the exhaust as it comes out of the air bag. There should be plenty of air space to keep the tubing cool but I added a piece of heat reflective tape to that section of tubing as an extra measure.
Rear wheels installed and torqued. Still sitting on the jack stands, I'm liking the look of these wheels.
Getting the front diff ready to re-install. Here the supports have been re-attached and torqued.
Running the air tubing for the front locker, here just loosely getting it into position.
Getting ready to re-install the diff. Applied painters tape to the open ends to keep out dirt and nasties during the install process.
Shot of my ugly mug re-attaching the vent lines and bracket, it's one of those areas that you can easily see but is very difficult to get to.
Front diff installed.
Front drive line re-installed and torqued.
Air locker tubing installed and securely routed up into the engine bay. Excess tubing placed in the rear corner of the engine bay for now.
More to come.....
Hodakaguy
Installed and torqued the rear drive line in place.
Installed the drop spacers on the center carrier bracket.
Here's the OEM brake lines at full extension, pretty tight but could probably live with it. I'm installing extended braided steel lines in their place.
The new extended braided line next to the factory line
New brake lines installed, not near as tight at full extension.
Getting ready to install the fill lines for the air bags. I'll be routing the air fittings out the two upper rear license plate bolts, this will allow for easy filling of the bags and having them separate will allow both side to side adjustment for load leveling as well as up/down adjustment. The metal edge just above the holes for the plate (Red Arrows) needs to be slightly bent upwards to allow clearance for the brass fill fittings.
Hole enlarged and Air fitting installed
Both air fittings installed, they also secure the plate to the truck.
Air lines installed. I secured the tubing out of the way on the factory wiring harness.
On the passenger side the tubing is fairly close to the exhaust as it comes out of the air bag. There should be plenty of air space to keep the tubing cool but I added a piece of heat reflective tape to that section of tubing as an extra measure.
Rear wheels installed and torqued. Still sitting on the jack stands, I'm liking the look of these wheels.
Getting the front diff ready to re-install. Here the supports have been re-attached and torqued.
Running the air tubing for the front locker, here just loosely getting it into position.
Getting ready to re-install the diff. Applied painters tape to the open ends to keep out dirt and nasties during the install process.
Shot of my ugly mug re-attaching the vent lines and bracket, it's one of those areas that you can easily see but is very difficult to get to.
Front diff installed.
Front drive line re-installed and torqued.
Air locker tubing installed and securely routed up into the engine bay. Excess tubing placed in the rear corner of the engine bay for now.
More to come.....
Hodakaguy
Hodakaguy
Adventurer
Up early to start back on the truck.
Snagged a cheap HF weed sprayer to use as a pressure bleeder (nice and clean inside unlike my old one) and added a pressure gauge to the tank. This will turn out to be a waste of time....more on that later
Next up started assembly of the drivers side front end. Axle cleaned, greased and installed back in the Diff.
Drivers side back together and new braided brake hose installed.
Passenger side diff seal cleaned and ready for grease.
Using a large brass drift to seat the axles back into the front diff.
Passenger side back together again.
Axle nuts torqued and keepers installed.
Bleeding the brakes. Here I'm setting up the pressure bleeder and getting ready to start the bleeding process. Right after this picture was taken I read in the Toyota shop manual that you use the trucks built in pump to bleed the brakes and this air bleeder is completely unnecessary, probably should have read that before building this unit LOL. Bleeding brakes is super simple, Fill the reservoir, power on the ignition and pump the brakes 20 times, allowing the pump motor to shut down on each stroke. Repeat this process 4 times total then with the ignition on bleed the brakes like you would normally do, I had my father press the pedal while I did the bleeding. The power pump moves a lot of fluid and the bleeding process was done in no time.
Next up fill the Diffs. I had this oil left from my Unimog project, it will work perfect for the initial short flush period.
Front and back diffs topped off.
One mile stone down. Lots of work to go still.
And out in the wild again. Crappy pics here as I was in a hurry and the lighting wasn't the best.
Took it on a real quick test drive and everything seems to be functioning just the way it should be, no weird codes etc. Only did a short drive but I think I'm going to like these gears!
Lot's more work to go.....More to come soon.....
Hodakaguy
Snagged a cheap HF weed sprayer to use as a pressure bleeder (nice and clean inside unlike my old one) and added a pressure gauge to the tank. This will turn out to be a waste of time....more on that later
Next up started assembly of the drivers side front end. Axle cleaned, greased and installed back in the Diff.
Drivers side back together and new braided brake hose installed.
Passenger side diff seal cleaned and ready for grease.
Using a large brass drift to seat the axles back into the front diff.
Passenger side back together again.
Axle nuts torqued and keepers installed.
Bleeding the brakes. Here I'm setting up the pressure bleeder and getting ready to start the bleeding process. Right after this picture was taken I read in the Toyota shop manual that you use the trucks built in pump to bleed the brakes and this air bleeder is completely unnecessary, probably should have read that before building this unit LOL. Bleeding brakes is super simple, Fill the reservoir, power on the ignition and pump the brakes 20 times, allowing the pump motor to shut down on each stroke. Repeat this process 4 times total then with the ignition on bleed the brakes like you would normally do, I had my father press the pedal while I did the bleeding. The power pump moves a lot of fluid and the bleeding process was done in no time.
Next up fill the Diffs. I had this oil left from my Unimog project, it will work perfect for the initial short flush period.
Front and back diffs topped off.
One mile stone down. Lots of work to go still.
And out in the wild again. Crappy pics here as I was in a hurry and the lighting wasn't the best.
Took it on a real quick test drive and everything seems to be functioning just the way it should be, no weird codes etc. Only did a short drive but I think I'm going to like these gears!
Lot's more work to go.....More to come soon.....
Hodakaguy
Kya
Adventurer
Looking great! I have a question about your rear airbag setup. Are you going to use the airbags as the rear bump stop or install something else?
I have a rear airbag setup on my 06 Tundra for our FWC, but the they are installed on the leaf spring forward of the axle. I've always wanted to center the airbag over the axle but it would require removing the stock bump stop and putting bags in their place. I don't know enough about the mechanics to determine if the airbags could also serve as the rear bump stop.
I have a rear airbag setup on my 06 Tundra for our FWC, but the they are installed on the leaf spring forward of the axle. I've always wanted to center the airbag over the axle but it would require removing the stock bump stop and putting bags in their place. I don't know enough about the mechanics to determine if the airbags could also serve as the rear bump stop.
NM-Frontier
Explorer
Damn that is nice work...
Hodakaguy
Adventurer
With my truck now mobile it's time for an alignment so I can start getting some miles on the new parts. I've had good luck in the past with the local Les Schwab tire center so I made an appointment and arrived early in the am to get the alignment completed.
Even with the REM Polished gears I will be following a break in period to ensure the gears are properly broken in. I left the house and drove for 25 minutes keeping it at or under 40 mph. When I stopped at the tire shop for alignment I used a IR gun to check the temp of the rear axle and 3rd member, nice and cool From this point I will drive it easy for several hundred more miles.
I asked for 3 Deg Caster if possible, came out at 2.5 Deg. Not perfect specs but it's driving really well now.
Out in the Wild.....
I'm really liking the looks of these Wheels.
With my truck out of the shop it's time to start in on my fathers truck.
Up on stands and ready for Round Two.....Ding Ding.
Drained both axles, my fathers truck has 5500 miles on it at this point and the oil in both the front and rear had a dark grey color to it. When installing new gears they recommend a 500 mile oil change on the front diff and rear axle to flush any metal particles ect during the break in period. If keeping stock gearing it would be a good idea to change oils in the front and rear within the first 5k miles, most will just drive their new cars without ever doing a oil change on the axles.
Pulling the front end apart, I was smarter this time and left the axles attached to the spindle.....a lot less work and speeds up the process. Second time around is always faster, should have thought about this when I did mine.
Stock suspension components removed.
Front Diff out of the truck.
Supports removed and the diff is ready for re-gearing. All wrapped up and ready to transport.
Removing the drivers side Upper Control Arm bolt was a bit tighter on my fathers truck than on mine, a little trimming on the bolt face allowed the bolt to be removed without cutting the bolt in two. A small air grinder with a skinny wheel made quick work of the trimming process. Once the sheet metal was tweaked back a drift pushed the bolt right out.
Looking Bare. New UCA's installed on both sides.
Getting the tires installed on the wheels...
Lots more to come......
Hodakaguy
Even with the REM Polished gears I will be following a break in period to ensure the gears are properly broken in. I left the house and drove for 25 minutes keeping it at or under 40 mph. When I stopped at the tire shop for alignment I used a IR gun to check the temp of the rear axle and 3rd member, nice and cool
From this point I will drive it easy for several hundred more miles.
I asked for 3 Deg Caster if possible, came out at 2.5 Deg. Not perfect specs but it's driving really well now.
Out in the Wild.....
I'm really liking the looks of these Wheels.
With my truck out of the shop it's time to start in on my fathers truck.
Up on stands and ready for Round Two.....Ding Ding.
Drained both axles, my fathers truck has 5500 miles on it at this point and the oil in both the front and rear had a dark grey color to it. When installing new gears they recommend a 500 mile oil change on the front diff and rear axle to flush any metal particles ect during the break in period. If keeping stock gearing it would be a good idea to change oils in the front and rear within the first 5k miles, most will just drive their new cars without ever doing a oil change on the axles.
Pulling the front end apart, I was smarter this time and left the axles attached to the spindle.....a lot less work and speeds up the process. Second time around is always faster, should have thought about this when I did mine.
Stock suspension components removed.
Front Diff out of the truck.
Supports removed and the diff is ready for re-gearing. All wrapped up and ready to transport.
Removing the drivers side Upper Control Arm bolt was a bit tighter on my fathers truck than on mine, a little trimming on the bolt face allowed the bolt to be removed without cutting the bolt in two. A small air grinder with a skinny wheel made quick work of the trimming process. Once the sheet metal was tweaked back a drift pushed the bolt right out.
Looking Bare. New UCA's installed on both sides.
Getting the tires installed on the wheels...
Lots more to come......
Hodakaguy
bkg
Explorer
I suspect you'll find that getting the axles back in the front axle will be a bit more trying by leaving them in the spindle.
Just went through this on my 04 - figured it'd be easier to leave the axles in. I ended up taking the drivers side out after trying to get it in to the housing for about an hour. Once out, took 15 minutes to install axle and get it back in the spindle.
Hopefully, you have better luck than I did!
Just went through this on my 04 - figured it'd be easier to leave the axles in. I ended up taking the drivers side out after trying to get it in to the housing for about an hour. Once out, took 15 minutes to install axle and get it back in the spindle.
Hopefully, you have better luck than I did!