My 85 Yota Crawler

pics from past summers work on the new rig
new fender trim



body lifted bed



new rearend in without shackle mounts moved



frontend all stripped ready to be grinded



housing ready to be ground down



the backyard broken birf!



keenan welding the marlin knuckle ball gussets on



knuckle ball gussets and the AP style armor welded on.  i decided not to use the top truss because it isnt necessary



finished RUF pack



greg (4.3s10) welding some last minute stuff on the axle one night. 



axle hung, front hanger tacked on new front shackles yada yada



side view



30 splines  :drool:



axle back together not sure what gregs doing in there.  painted the marlin highsteer turtle green  :turtle3:



tires finally on to see how far the axle was moved



rear crossmember welded in, and new shackle mounts welded in, with the marlin 4in springs



new shackle angle



steering box mount



box mocked up as far forward as possible



pitman arm, draglink, tierod clearances 



steering box through rad support



truck sitting outside yesterday after everything.  after putting the IFS rear in we put the wheel spacers into the front.  the front springs are basically flat at ride height so i ordered bumpstops for them cause they go negative easily.  i like the new stance a lot.  wheelin next week so should have some good posers.



some poser pics flexin out the new suspension.

couple random wheelin pics.  nothing hard just fun to get out with some friends.




couple of the other guys who came out.




went wheelin again.  this time with pics.













truck started to look like this

i smashed the door frame in and little more of the fender but good day wheelin.

truck sits real low



sequence





crossed up

videos

the crack.

http://s28.photobucket.com/albums/c2...8-18-07046.flv

first line on the far right ledge coming up and over zuki hill

http://s28.photobucket.com/albums/c2...8-18-07048.flv

second line up the middle then up the steep left line on zuki hill

http://s28.photobucket.com/albums/c2...8-18-07049.flv

and commited

http://s28.photobucket.com/albums/c2...8-18-07050.flv

well those are the most up to date pics that i have.  I can post older pictures of the truck if anyone is interested in the old suspension and look or a couple of pics from the other builds i have done.  let me know what you guys think.

Matt

Awesome stuff man, that is some major work right there. Great videos and pics, are all those vids CT or CO?

Thanks man.  All of those trails are in MA except for one in CT.  I will be towing it to CO Spring Break so ill make sure to post pics of my CO trips.  For now i just ride in my buddies rig out here.

Nice rig. I want an 85 or somewhere around there really bad but they are so rare around here. What size tubing did you use for your front shaft?

2.5 square tube, 1/4" wall, and 2.0" square tube, 1/4" wall.  You want to try to get receiver hitch tubing so it is seamless on the inside or else you can get the regular tubing and then you just have to grind a small ridge down the smaller tubing so that it will fit inside.

you got an ill set up, one day ill finish beefing mine up

One more about the shaft. I think you said you daily drive it, if you do do you have any issues with vibration or semi-high speed issues?

i can drive to about 45mph without it vibrating but i wouldnt recommend it.  i dont drive it in the winter and i have hub locks on the front axle so the front shaft is never spinning while im driving. 

I love your rig, that looks like so much fucking fun.  How much did you invest into the whole build and about how many hours do you figure you worked on it?  I'd love to have a play truck like this some day.

thanks man.  its a blast.  I honestly couldnt tell you off the top of my head how much that i have into the build, but i would say its quite a bit.  I couldve built it much cheaper but i didnt go cheap on many parts.  Many hours ive spent in the garage before going out killing a 30 rack with a couple buddies trying to get it ready for the trail, but honestly thats half the fun.  play trucks are the best i have buddies with cheap trucks welded diffs cheap tires, we all go out and have a blast and plus we have mechanical knowledge now which IMO is great.  I dunno man if you can swing it pick up a cheap one.

turkey day break wheelin pics

All of your pictures make me jealous. I'd love to have a stripped down play truck to beat on. Maybe after I pay off my Tacoma... some day for sure.

Is that jeep stuck?

yup.  theres a big rock against his passenger side front tire and he blew his clutch in that hole.  i had to tow him out of that hole then we left him on the side of the trail for the day and towed him out at the end.

Awesome shots man, looks like a great time. Is your yota friend there hung up on his rear??? Those are some sweet "doors" ya got on that thing too.

Thanks.  It was a blast to get the truck back out.  it sat outside at my house for 3 months to the day without being run at all.  i checked everything hoped in and she fired right up.  gotta love that kind of reliability.  Yea the doors were interesting.  it was 28 degrees out that day.  I had a beanie, bandana, gloves, long underwear, thick pants, carhart jacket with a hoodie it was intense i got some funny looks on the highway.

my buddy with the yota actually lost his power steering so he came down off that ledges his tires turned down into a rut so he couldnt steer and then proceeded to get hung up on the crossmember.

it was a really run but rough day.  that jeep blew his clutch within the first 1/4 mile of the trail.  then that yota packed its radiator full of mud and lost a belt.  Truck started to overheat and wouldnt crank over.  ended up being the belt that connected the fan/ alternator for we got that back on and headed out.  shortly after he lost his whole power steering which sounded horrible and made it near impossible for him to steer.  Then that fullsize bronco did well all day till one ledge which was a long steep uphill to a ledge where his carb but out and he couldnt back up for fear of rolling off another ledge and couldnt pull forward.  So i hooked him up to my truck which weights about half as less and is on loose dirt.  threw it in low low 1st with 12,000 ft lbs of torque.  meanwhile he starts to roll back somehow gets his truck started and floors it and proceeds to wheelie the front tires almost 4 ft into the air and stalled again just as started to pull forward the back of my truck squated down and lurched forward and tugged all the dead weight of his truck up the hill and over the ledge.

well the truck is dead.  i am cutting it up and bringing my parts to colorado to build something new.  ill keep you posted.

What happened to her? I think iI saw some pics of it on pirate4x4

yea i havea build over on pirate as well.  Over christmas break had a little too much fun rallying it off drops in 3ft of snow.  We flopped it on its side twice pretty hard so the cab was tweaked.  found out i cracked the frame in a few places and the front crossmember was about to rip off.  It was a rusty truck i patched the frame every summer.  but its all good im gonna build something similar out here with no rust and brace it up well.

Did ya get any photos or vid of that madness???

i actually have a bunch of snow wheelin pics that i never posted up.  i have some posers from earlier in the day breaking the trail in the morning but it was only a couple other guys and me so we werent too caught up trying to take pics and vids.  My buddy does have a video of my flopping that ill get from him soon though.

Awesome, your wheelin' photos remind me so much of our wheeling groups and expeditions! Too bad you live 46545432432 miles away. If you're even in Alaska and want to go, let me know!