Build "The Blue Truck"

Put it back together as much as I could last night, just used another stock output because I had one on the shelf. I need to crack open a parts case for that spiral gear and bearing, then I can put the rest of it together.

Sumo gears are still looking new.

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Looking at where it broke, it appears to have broken right on the last oil hole.

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Fixed the bottom two holes in the v6 adapter plate that have stripped over time from install/removal

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The ears on the DS were a little fubared from the u joint going, so chopped it off and welded on a "new" end with a factory toyota joint on it. Did my best eyeballing to get it straightish by rolling is on some casters.

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Replaced the bushing on the Bombproof mount. But of course when I welded the mounts on from the bottom a few years ago, I didnt check how the bolts were. Had to cut one set to get them out. They go the other way now...

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Time to get it back together and get back to figuring out where the coolant is going in the 3.4
 
Rear springs fixed. Found a 2 year old set of 08+ chevys for cheap. They are the thicker leaves, but I ended up only using the main leaf, and putting my old bastard pack on the bottom and were back in business. (chevy main leaf, for ranger AAL, 2 toyota leaves, then a cut down chevy over load)

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Wheeling this weekend! 3.4 is still running great, just sipping a little coolant. Almost time to dive into that.
 
3.4 was sipping coolant to the point of hydro locking when sitting for too long. Yanked it out and put in the $100 "ran when pulled" motor in. Threw a minimal amount of parts at it: plugs, valve cover gaskets, and moved my intake/motormounts/exhaust/ps/alt over to the new motor.

Bringing the "new" motor up from the shed to the garage.

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old abused "mud truck motor" coming out.

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The most pita part was the newer motor was from a 2000+ 4runner with the forward dipstick. Drilling the hole took forever. Used a cobalt bit with kerosene for lube (google said that the combo to use)

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I did the 3.4 "swap" October of 22, so this was just a regular motor swap. I was unmotivated and busy with the wife so I took my time, about a month to get it swapped in.

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It looks the same as the old one because I reused my painted intake and valve covers. Got it completed Sunday and took it into the woods Monday after work..

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And proceeded to flop it as we were headed out of the woods for the evening. :lmao: Got it right side up it and let it sit for a a few, fired right up and drove out.

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Back to wheelin now!
 
Field and forest from a few weeks ago. The Jungle and Bobbyland this weekend for HALLOWHEELIN.

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Teetertottered my self on buzzkill.

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But the reason for this post, I got the "problem" side of the old 3.4 off, I dont really see any reason for failure. HG looked fine, didnt see a crack in the head. Ill evaluate more and pull the other side off, but a little stumped right now on how the coolant was getting in. The white between the valves was me with a brush looking for cracks.

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2024 was quite a year! I broke the t case output, bent a rear spring, broke a driveshaft u joint, replaced the motor, and finished off the year blowing up the rear diff.



This one broke different than the others, instead of just cleaning 4 teeth off the ring gear, the pinion was DESTROYED. The whole lower row of teeth in the photo is pinion teeth. This was a $30 dollar stock diff that lasted 4 years, so no biggy here. I have a few sets of used stock 4.10 gears, so ill just rebuild it with one of those sets.

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Chopped up an old hacked housing to make a diff stand:

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The wife also got me this awesome blanket for Christmas to highlight one of my finer moments.

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**** yeah I love seeing updates to this thread.

Do you New Englanders just get covered in ticks everytime you go out in that ****? :lmao:
 
Thanks!

Hardly ever , but they are around. Im out in the woods in shorts and crocs all summer. They mostly come in on the dog. We are also pretty far north. We do find more when we travel to southern NH or Mass.
 
Yeah I’ve gotten ticks in central Oregon where it’s hot and dry as a mummy’s **** so I’d probably be eaten alive there
 
Chopped down an broken OGLong innner shaft and welded a socket to it to spin the diff.

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Factory used 86+ LPH gears on the out side, the middle is a 85 or before short pinion (that I broke)

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Bearing kit for the LPH gears with the shorter pinion bearing. I do have a solid pinion spacer that Im going to use.

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Factory .080 spacer looks pretty good, a little tricky to tell as these are used gears with a wear pattern in them already. I may try to pull it out a little.

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Jungle Winter Bash 2025 is this weekend, so I have a few more days to mess with it.

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F
 
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Well a few weeks ago I buried the truck in some fresh snow. It also started skipping a little, and not wanting to leave it in the back of the property, we hammed on it a little getting it home and the motor is now knocking.

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Dove in sunday to see if I can limp this motor along for just a couple months. Found I had some loose coils, and the cyl 2 rod bearing was shot. Did my best to clean up the mess, but damage was done. New rod bearing and some rotella t6 15-45 and the knock is gone for now.

You can see how stretched out the bearing got.

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Snows just about gone, popped the chains off and drove it around for 10 min, sounded good. Will give it a proper test soon as wednesday night wheeling starts back up.

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Truck ran great with the new bearing till it hit rev limited a few times. So I changed just the #2 rod bearing again and has been quiet so far. Should last a bit longer if I can just remember to keep the revs down. But ive been wheeling all summer with it. It just needs to make it a little longer till I can get the replacement in. Been busy with summer, working on friends rigs and the house.

Also bent a front leaf spring. These springs have been in since 2017, so they are due for a replacement. Going to put another set of OME CS009rs in.

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Led a local ultimate adventure style trip through a property.

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And for Jungle Summer Bash

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And brought home a spare 3.4 incase I cant fix the one on the stand in the garage.

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Fancy AI stuff:

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Fresh OME CS009Rs. Last set lasted about 7 years till I bent one last spring. I messed with the other pack right away, and wanted to leave this pack a little stocker for a while. I did pull the 2nd overload and had to cut the clamps off the other overload as they were hitting the frame. Well see how they flatten out once they really start getting used, but so far picked the front of the truck back up about 3"

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One run on them and many laps around the house, nice to have fresh springs again.

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Ive been limping this 3.4 along for over a year now.. I think its finally time to get motivated and re build the one on the stand in the garage.

Question for the masses. The motor on the stand WAS the 3rd motor this truck has seen. If it goes back in will it be the 3rd motor again? Or would you count it as the 5th motor in the truck. Haha
 
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I have OME springs on my Sammy and also removed the overloads and immediately bent and ruined them. I wonder if the quality of them has gone down
 
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