What's new

#turd burglar

Nice progress. If you look in my thread you'll see how I used some online available parts to add a standard filler and gas cap onto my fuel cell for e-test/smog purposes. The only thing I want to change on it when I remount my fuel cell with the new backhalf is to use a clear hose from the filler neck down to the cell.
 
Last edited:
Starting to burn everything in. Cut the hoops and crossover out to bench weld, as well as the passenger frame side mount so I could access to the upper link mount. Starting under the chassis and working my way forward and will finish with the axle. Using Steel-It for painting everything. Things I have learned so far:
1. I'm not a robot welder like everyone on IG seems to be
2. Maintaining proper torch angle around a tube or circle is challenging
3. While MIG welding is "fast", I need to find some patience and not rush this stage of the build

TcausGIl.jpg

zLJDM9Tl.jpg

w9H357rl.jpg

kzlhoa7l.jpg

LY12dNUl.jpg
 
Not done but a good chunk of the frame plates burned in. Hoping to get this wrapped up in the next evening or two. Once the frame plates are fully welded, I will get the shock hoops back in and get the frame painted. After that the motor and trans should be going back in for the last time. No shortage of little details to figure out still.
TczJZv2l.jpg

WosvfmHl.jpg

HDAe64nl.jpg

2gr9mrFl.jpg
 
Looks great man, definitely better than my metal gluing skills.
 
Well everything is burned in. Some areas are more aesthetically pleasing than others but everything feels very stout. Depending on the bumper situation i may add some kickers from the front side of the hoops to the bumper to reduce the potential shock hoop flex left to right. Driver side bump can appears to have warped a bit despite having a tube in place during welding. Hoping i can track down a barrel sander down to shave some material out. I can certainly persuade it in there with a floor jack but I'm afraid it will never come out. going to wire brush mask off and acetone everything for a coat of Steel-it. Welding the axle and links will take place in between coats. Hoping to get the motor set back in before the weekend so i can start reconnecting electrical connections and figuring out a plan for routing lines for the hydraulic steering.
WIAvqzJh.jpg

bi0II6uh.jpg

BwfjHQAh.jpg
 
All Painted up and got the motor set back in. Steel It is a pretty awesome product, been very happy with the coverage. Goal is to get the transmission mated up tonight and then get the links welded up to free some space on the bench to set the axle on for disassembly and welding. Been putting a plan together for brake lines. Currently looking at running hard line from the master cylinder to frame near the orbital, soft line bundled with the hydraulic lines down to the axle, hard line to each inner C with soft line to each caliper. Considered running it on the upper link but it seems like a lot of extra length to run brake line for no added benefit.
LYLpWSOh.jpg

vQMDAamh.jpg

zE98yGAh.jpg

EZzkRQgh.jpg
 
Nice. What side of Vegas are you?
 
Finished welding the axle over the weekend, got the brake lines bent up, studs for the loop clamps in place and got everything painted. Hoping to have the axle assembled and back on its own weight under the truck by this weekend. Then the plumbing and wiring party begins.
PTwTbNUh.jpg

3LgnDimh.jpg

MwwNJ7oh.jpg

yJYGObBh.jpg
 
after a year of living on jack stands, she is officially back on her own weight. made a new tie rod to mount in the stock location and relocated the ram. I'd say its in a significantly improved. engine wiring is all back together but still need to build a mount for my fuel tank in the bed before she can be running again. tons of miscellaneous shit to take care of but im excited to have it on the ground again.
TaJ799mh.jpg

EVbbpw1h.jpg

b8SgkbRh.jpg

Rugurbkh.jpg

GwT9V2Lh.jpg
 
Getting more of the details buttoned up.
-Steering system is plumbed and ready for fluid, just waiting on a new belt for the pump which should be arriving today.
-Brake lines and ARB line are routed up the link to the frame, still need to decided where the ARB compressor is going to live long term. Got the incorrect sized banjo fitting on my brake lines from the axle to the caliper, that will be remade today at Royal Brass.
-Clutch lines have been re worked and clutch is bled. Need to get the coolant lines reconnected with the port for the sending unit.
-Driveline is getting dropped off at South Bay Driveline today.
- Still trying to figure out what I want to do with my fuel tank. I got about halfway through making a mount for it in the bed but didn't like how it was coming out so im back at the drawing board for that one. Non zero chance it ends up back in the stock location for the time being until I figure out some sort of fuel cell route that I can still pass smog with.
Hoping that I'll be firing her up by the end of this week.

2jr1lDMh.jpg

eAGfJglh.jpg

pjrkSUEh.jpg

vUOt5Ozh.jpg
 
Having some issues getting this thing to fire up. Getting clicking of the circuit opening relay and can hear fuel pump going and the starter relay clicks but I’m not getting any cranking at the starter. I can jump the starter and it cranks but I can not get the truck to run while doing this. Found a number of threads on various forums of this being fairly common, especially in 86-88 22re pick ups.

everything is connected as it was prior to pulling the motor, dash lights, etc all come on as expected it just won’t start. There are some folks who swear by running a hot shot kit to bypass the factory starter relay and use it only to provide the signal for a relay that brings 13v to the starter solenoid direct from the battery.

My concern is that when jumping the starter I feel as if it should run. It not running leads me to believe that whatever is causing there not to be power at the starter solenoid is also preventing it from running.

Going to try verifying all the grounds are good and clean, and all connections are tight once again in addition the this bypassed relay.
 
I went through and re grounded all my connections, replaced the lead from the starter to the positive post on the battery, disconnected and reconnected everything. Still no dice. The frustrating part is I dont know why I know longer have 12V here if it worked prior to the motor removal. I did not touch the ignition or connectors for the starter relay itself as part of the removal but clearly something is affecting its functionality.

I found a pretty good thread in yota-tech that goes into pretty good detail about the flaw and remedy. I do not have 12V at pin 4 of this connector as described here and confirmed with the service manual I have. (again, I dont know why this would have changed but I dont have power) Given that I dont have power at pin 4, I do not have power at the black and white wire at pin 2, which also supplies power to the EFI computer, aka no spark. I'm going to give this a remedy a try tonight and see what happens. In other news, im picking up my new front driveline today from Southbay driveline so assuming I can get it running I may be able to get her moving on her own in the not so distant future.
JWMTHFRl.jpg

NemK0irl.jpg

9uwH7vfl.png
 
I went through and re grounded all my connections, replaced the lead from the starter to the positive post on the battery, disconnected and reconnected everything. Still no dice. The frustrating part is I dont know why I know longer have 12V here if it worked prior to the motor removal. I did not touch the ignition or connectors for the starter relay itself as part of the removal but clearly something is affecting its functionality.

On my 22RE I pulled the motor and trans and resealed everything. I painted the rear cover that sandwiches between the engine and the transmission. It took a minute of diagnosis to figure out that the starter was no longer able to ground through the cover. So pulled the starter and used an abrasive disk to clean the ground points on the starter, the starter bolts and took some paint off the cover and that cured my no start.
 
On my 22RE I pulled the motor and trans and resealed everything. I painted the rear cover that sandwiches between the engine and the transmission. It took a minute of diagnosis to figure out that the starter was no longer able to ground through the cover. So pulled the starter and used an abrasive disk to clean the ground points on the starter, the starter bolts and took some paint off the cover and that cured my no start.

Interesting. I did not paint that plate but that doesnt mean that the starter itself could have a poor ground. prior to cleaning things up were you able to manually jump the starter or did you have no crank in all scenarios?
 
Interesting. I did not paint that plate but that doesnt mean that the starter itself could have a poor ground. prior to cleaning things up were you able to manually jump the starter or did you have no crank in all scenarios?

Mine was an intermittent no crank with a solenoid click. If I jumped the solenoid on the starter it would crank.... most of the time :laughing:
 
Turns out I’ve proven yet again, I’m pretty much a moron. Would recommend connecting all 5 connectors at the passenger kick panel. Significantly improved outcome.

it’s on to the fun stuff between now and the end of the month before I hit the road for sand hollow.
 
Fairly useless update but getting down to the final details.
electric fan is wired. Ugly driveshaft is in. JDM intake is in. made a little switch panel, temporarily permanent. Long term plan is to pull the dash and clear out most of the under dash components and build a nice aftermarket harness and fuse panel. ARB compressor and front locker are operational. now that all the make it run "well" items are handled, im shifting to the nice to have list. building my winch mount tonight, rest of the tube work for the bumper will come after the trip. Hoping to get some rock lights and forward facing lights installed
H2ZC1HKl.jpg

QBwtswDl.jpg

l58b3mnl.jpg

MMtc6tVl.jpg
 
Drove it Saturday for the first time since KOH 2019. Didn't burn down to the ground so I'll take that as a win. Suspension, steering and brakes all felt great on the road up to a bout 20-25 MPH. Makes me wish the rear wasn't spooled so it would be a little more road friendly. Plenty of little odds and ends to button up but if I had to load it on the trailer today I could.
wgfUr0dl.jpg

WVvVJ0fl.jpg

6voyJAdl.jpg
 
Truck made it back from Sand Hollow in one piece. It was the shakedown run of shakedown runs. Things started off pretty eventful as power steering fluid from the overflow was dripping onto the header and oil was getting sucked through the PCV and creating some pretty cool visual effects. Fought cooling issues for the bulk of Thursday and Friday, replaced the radiator cap Saturday morning and that seems to have resolved any of the cooling problems. We bypassed the PCV and the smoke show stopped but I fought fuel related issues for the remainder of the trip. Turns out going "fast" burns way more fuel than crawler through the sierras. The vent line from the tank was sucking fuel in through the charcoal canister due to the new location of the tank and the pickup was struggling to get fuel to the motor on steep climbs. I have maintained all the smog equipment so I can keep this plated but im starting to lean towards just going with a green sticker.

I was constantly having to check the diff cover bolts this weekend. having the ram mounted off the cover seems to be problematic. I am planning to build a bolt on mount that keeps the ram off the diff cover itself but still allows me to remove the cover when needed. If I could get this new mount to make use of the high steer arms as well that would be great. my .250 wall tie rod is already a little bent.

Overall, I was really happy with how the truck performed. Having not driven it in almost 2 years, it was great to get it back into the rocks. There is definitely a learning curve with all the new parts of this build. felt like I was searching for the right gear to be in most of the weekend. going to 39's and 5.38 made a huge difference in what my go to gears are. Andrew got the shocks dialed into a pretty happy place so I was having a blast getting chased down by TP through some of the sandy bermed sections between trails. Handful of issues to work through but this thing is a blast.
N5kq1BTl.jpg

EPliL6zl.jpg

qApzJ0wl.jpg

DziVTkNl.jpg

4Mlgm2Dl.jpg
 
Awesome to see it on the trail!

I've heard of using cone washers on the front diff cover if you have a cylinder mounted to it, but if you have a better mounting point than go for that.

Do you notice any tie-rod flop with the full hydraulic steering, and only a single-end cylinder on the tie-rod?
 
on my dana 60 i did a triple sheer mount for ram and left the tie rod alone this way the ram does not rotate or anything just food for thought
 
Awesome to see it on the trail!

I've heard of using cone washers on the front diff cover if you have a cylinder mounted to it, but if you have a better mounting point than go for that.

Do you notice any tie-rod flop with the full hydraulic steering, and only a single-end cylinder on the tie-rod?
A buddy recommended to stud the majority of bolts on the housing and use nordlock washers and flanged nuts to help increase the clamping force on the diff cover. I'll leave the bottom three with bolts since they are going to continue to get bashed but this should help. Long term I would still like to figure out a method for getting the ram mount off the diff. the driver side of the truss is looking like a promising location. Couple that with mounting directly off the high steer arm and it would be a much improved situation.

I would like to get the ability to wheel rolling through the summer so that will be a future me problem to solve.
 
Top Back Refresh