The Plan...

[dieselcruiserhead]

The Marlin bumper needs a little clearancing in a cosmetic part of the sheet metal (that I always thought was a weakness of the Toyota design). This is good because this is strong. I'll probably just rattle can it. I was hoping to get the bumper before I did paint so I could accommodate this but such is life...

Once on, man was I pleased....

 

[dieselcruiserhead]

Here are the sliders, also works of art from Marlin Crawler as well. They are so reasonably priced they are a great way to go... Before I could send these down to powder coat as well they needed to be lined up and welded. This required that I tack them to the frame...

I basically eye balled the lengths, marked, and then uses tape to mark where I would cut. Two of the four needed somewhat complicated angled cuts. They were about 22" apart meaning good strength across the board. The last 2" or so will be non powdercoated so they can be welded and then rattle canned to the frame...

I was pretty proud of my welds with the stronger machine so I posted some of these too...

 

[dieselcruiserhead]

Here is the other side, super pumped...

 

[dieselcruiserhead]

And here is the last of it.. The wheels were already ready from the powder coater. Utah Powder Coating basically overbaked both the ARB bumper and the wheels to allow for easier sand blasting. Even then it took them 2.5 hours so it was about $250 in sand blasting for these...

But they turned out phenomenal. I immediately had them mounted and balanced...

Also all 5 Tread Wright Guard Dog MTs tires balanced easily with less than 4 ounces (to be expected with 33's).

Here are the center caps as well that also turned out awesome...

I am super psyched with how they turned out. The wheels are FJ Cruiser steel wheels. They give the tires literally a perfect profile, not too balloon-ish and I love the 17" look. Again I am also **super** impressed with the Tread Wrights again. They also have a great profile and measure a solid 33.5" with a narrow tread pattern (check them out versus the 31s -- nearly identical) so they are good somewhat narrow 33" tire...

So that's it for now. I am pleased as the truck is really coming together (and needs to be). Again the truck will be at Overland Expo in 3 weeks including the 5 day trip there we are taking...

 

[24HOURSOFNEVADA]

Looking great.

 

[digitalferg]

Dre,

Love how this is turning out man!

Wheels look sweet. I love those FJC wheels and I'm currently trying to find a set of them again for my 4Runner (I read a thread where you found a local ebay source....?) The color is great too--you doin the bullbar, sliders, rear bumper etc the same color? And it sounded like you were saying the bullbar powder coat was done with the wheels?--yet I see no pic of it. I sent you a PM, but I've got a bullbar I'll be adding a top bar to and will need it blasted and coated so I'd love that 20% coupon.

-Ferg-

 

[digitalferg]

And are you building another trailer?

 

[maxama10]

Wow, I cannot believe I missed this thread. Just read through the entire thing and man I'm blown away with your work. Top notch!

Truck looks amazing! :Wow1:

-Max

 

[Poorboyota26]

have you used those retreads before? How well do they hold up compared to the real tire? (not that they aren't real but the "non retread")

 

[tacollie]

That thing looks sweet. Why am I not running those tires.

 

[RHINO]

hey dre !!! i have not been keeping up with this build so i just re-read and caught up,,,,, as usual you have impeccable taste and your fabbing skills have really taken a new turn with this build. congrats on it all brother.:drool:

 

[dieselcruiserhead]

Dre,

Love how this is turning out man!

Wheels look sweet. I love those FJC wheels and I'm currently trying to find a set of them again for my 4Runner (I read a thread where you found a local ebay source....?) The color is great too--you doin the bullbar, sliders, rear bumper etc the same color? And it sounded like you were saying the bullbar powder coat was done with the wheels?--yet I see no pic of it. I sent you a PM, but I've got a bullbar I'll be adding a top bar to and will need it blasted and coated so I'd love that 20% coupon.

-Ferg-

Hey Ferg, thanks for the call today man psyched for you to come up next week... Sorry just getting to this now...

 

[dieselcruiserhead]

have you used those retreads before? How well do they hold up compared to the real tire? (not that they aren't real but the "non retread")

I have two sets and I am running on the other pair on my super duty right now (8500lbs, heavy as hell) and a couple weekends ago in particular I hammered the living beejezus out of them and they are literally holding up perfectly.. I am so impressed with them so far, if it helps.. No time on the mud terrains yet but believe me in two weeks they are going to be tested "well.." (doing all off road to Overland Expo, 900 miles)...

Again, so far, I would buy these again and again.. Also for the record these 285 75 R17s measure about the same as the coveted tall narrow Toyos.. They are a solid 33" -33.5" - plus with the tape measure and a nice narrow 10" or so wide. Also the tread pattern is staggered on this pattern so they will really act/behave way narrower than one would think even though they are a semi "traditional" sized tire and are meaty as hell.. Hope it helps!

 

[dieselcruiserhead]

hey dre !!! i have not been keeping up with this build so i just re-read and caught up,,,,, as usual you have impeccable taste and your fabbing skills have really taken a new turn with this build. congrats on it all brother.:drool:

Hey Clay, thanks man that really means a lot.. When I get some time I owe you a call too for sure and appreciated man...

 

[dieselcruiserhead]

More updates... Last week the retro stripes arrived from James Dean Creations... I was super psyched for these but not really sure what to expect except I know they are supposedly pretty damn awesome in the 'golds and browns..' James was super helpful on the phone and I told him what I was doing and he basically elongated the stripes for this truck custom (which was awesome).. Like a lot of this truck (again, super lucky) I am **so** impressed with these as well.. Super high quality, they are a really high end 3M product... Here is the link:
http://www.jamesdeancreations.com/1984-86.htm

So... I went with '84 to '86.. Which makes me super psyched... I'm a little over 30 and its funny because when I was literally 5, 6 years old I remember these trucks running around and they always made an impression on me for life... I remember my mom was shopping around for a car in 1986 and she ended up with a super boring legendary POS 4 cyl automatic Ford Mustang.. I even called around to Toyota dealers (swear to God, 6-7 years old) pricing out a 1986 4 Runner for her... So this all makes me super psyched...

Anyway... First I test fit it.. This was last week.. Yesterday I started this in the afternoon and finished about noon.. I really looks awesome and even better in person (according to me!)...

I also had a lot of trouble figuring out tailgate placement because of the dimple in the tailgate of this era...

Last pic also shows my door cutting technique as they are normally precut for the actual era of the truck...