My First 4x4

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Fab_man
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My First 4x4

Postby Fab_man » Tue Mar 29, 2016 8:30 pm

Just moved up here and figured I would get a thread started.

I picked this truck up in December of 2013 in Kansas City while I was working at Wolf Creek. Drove it home 90 miles without much of a hickup.

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So this is as I bought it. Stock 22r, 5 speed, working AC, a simple add-a-leaf, 5.29 gears with lunchbox lockers, and some tube bumpers on it.

I will get into what happened to this later. I will just say it is for from that at this point.....

A teaser....

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scumby
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Re: My First 4x4

Postby scumby » Wed Mar 30, 2016 4:13 am

and.....
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Fab_man
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Re: My First 4x4

Postby Fab_man » Wed Mar 30, 2016 10:57 am

I will update this as I have time. I am finishing up my studying for the PE exam in two weeks. I will post up more of the build from the last two years as I can find time.

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Re: My First 4x4

Postby Lurch » Wed Mar 30, 2016 11:16 am

:thu2:
You can follow me.... but it's gonna hurt ;)

Fab_man
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Re: My First 4x4

Postby Fab_man » Sat Apr 02, 2016 6:11 pm

scumby wrote:and.....


Have a little free time between book rounds this evening so I figured I would put up some build thread info...

Started out with a 63" chevy spring swap in the rear (truck came with the springs in the bed)
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(yes the shackles are stupid long here but they came with the springs....swapped them out later on)


Then came a rears up front (RUf) swap with a high steer conversion (truck still had push-pull steering on it when I bought it)
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This is a funny picture
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This was after my high lift leaned over that was holding the front end up. The truck pinned my tire (removed from truck) against the wall. I ended up with jack repositioned from the wall/floor joint up and an angle to jack the truck up and away from the wall to get my tire back out.

So I had it wrapped up and rolled it out of the shop.
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Then came a roll cage kit:
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And figured I would do duals since I needed a new front driveline (2.28 in the front case and a 4.7 23 spline rear case):
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So tossed some of the finest 4wd accessories from china on it...a HF winch and a Ebay Light bar
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And then I thought the bed was too long...
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Picked up some 37's and finally took it out of the driveway for the first time in 4 months
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Truck still had alot of sorting to do at this point but was at least back together for the most part.

I took it to Kansas Rocks and it did ok (needed more travel/shackle up front, wheel spacers and no hydroassist sucked horribly) So to get more travel out of the front it went back up on the jackstands.
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Still need to wire these up (I already relocated the winch controller to under the hood)
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Fab_man
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Re: My First 4x4

Postby Fab_man » Sat Apr 02, 2016 6:41 pm

Thought I could use a lighter rear bumper (old one was some 3" and 4" sched 40 pipe)
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Back when I started the 63" swap 6 months before this I picked up a IFS housing from a turbo truck (it had already been converted to carbed 350/350 with chevy axles) and a E-Locker. This is what I came up with and swapped in over the holidays in 2014/2015 before taking it to Chocoloco Mountain in Alabama (note that the axle is upside down in the pics):

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The bracket I had laying around with the bushings and figured I would do a torque arm down the road...just was easier to get it welded on the housing on the bench.

In Alabama we found out I had a serious front driveline issue now with the increased travel. This was a common scene as we had to keep putting the driveline back together when it wold slip apart.
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At this point I was heading back to Kansas for another refueling outage and left the truck at my house in TN. The brakes were barely working after the rear axle swap (turns out they needed the adjusters turned out a little bit more....it was 20F when I swapped the axle and had to load it up to go wheeling the next day)

So it sat most of last spring in my garage doing nothing from January until May when I moved back to TN after finishing my project in Kansas. First item was the driveline issue (well after I fixed the brakes) HEAVY duty square front driveline 2" and 2.5" square tube with .25" wall thickness. This thing must weigh in at 50 pounds at least.

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Since the tired 22R wasn't gonna spin this on the road (it already couldn't do more than 50mph on flat ground) and I had located some parts over the last year for an EFI swap.

I had picked up an Advance Adapters R150F to SBC bell housing kit used along with a R150F transmission and Marlin Adapter plate for the transfer case.
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I figured this was my best option for more HP and options. I had a 350 in my S10 and a spare long block sitting in my garage....but had found this for $200 instead
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2002 Blazer 4.3 with harness and ECU.

I had looked into a "built" 22RE option but felt that by time I put in a cam, header, rebuild, newer transmission (I had a crappy weak 5 speed that was wore out) and the efi conversion I would just be better off with a stock 4.3 that puts out 200hp.

I just held on to the pile of parts for a bit until the middle of last summer when I figured it was time to build my front axle with the stash of parts I had for it.

So back on to the jackstands...
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I bought some sleeves (+3" on each side) for the front axle. Grind out weld and remove housing ends, press them into the sleeves then press back into housing and weld it all back up. Added in a couple degrees of pinion angle while I was at it too.....and another E-Locker.

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And some of these..
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I used Tacomoa slip on rotors and ground down the mounting pad on the calipers to get the offset correct (had to remove about 1/8")

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While I was waiting on the axle shafts, housing welding (I had a shop set the angles and weld it out in a jig) I figured it would be a good time for the 4.3 swap (mind you I was living on the Bernie Sanders plan all summer collecting my weekly check)

Started by cutting up a 350 oil pan (I wanted a stamped pan and not a cast one) Image

And then pulling the 22R out...

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Testing fitting the motor in.....
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Needed some more of those fancy electrical wires thingys..
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Fab_man
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Re: My First 4x4

Postby Fab_man » Sat Apr 02, 2016 7:16 pm

So at this point I was up to about late August.....I ended up getting a job offer out here at the VIT plant and had 2-3 weeks to try and wrap up the swap....

1. I had some missing parts for the flywheel/pilot bushing/bellhousing I had to order up...
2. Because of #1 the drivetrain was still sitting in my garage.
3. Because of #2 I had no crossmember to hold the back end of this all up.
4. RCV machined some splines wrong on one of the custom inners and had to make me a new one....it is about a 3 week lead time.
5. I hadn't even started a fuel system, cooling hoses, thorttle cable, exhaust (stock manifolds didn't fit) amonst a million other things.

So I took a tally of what I could finish at an apartment parking spot and what I needed to finish at my house in TN (I knew the plasma, press, air compressor, and alot of my hand tools would be coming out much later)

So I went into crazy fab mode....

Bought a nice 3/8" tubing bender after killing a parts store bender one night (didn't even make one bend in the 3/8" steel)
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I already had a nice flaring kit from doing some brake work and put the two to use one evening.....
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Then ordered up some SS bends for radiator hoses (did this on my 350 S10 earlier in the year)

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And started a crossmember/skidplate:
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I needed a larger res for the PS system so grabbed a scrap of 4" SS exhaust tubing I had from my Fairlane and split the stock res. Tossed on a couple pre-fab tabs and bolted it to the motor.

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Made up a torque arm (for some reason I only have pics of the frame mount...)
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Tossed on my tube doors for the hell of it (really made working in the garage easier since I could reach in....and dump all kinds of crap on the seats....
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So the movers showed up and I gave them my service cart and some of the tools....Spent the next two days wrapping things up around the house and tieing up loose ends before hitting the road. It is always sad when you have to winch your project on to the trailer. Pushed it out of the garage for the first good look at the new combo...

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Loaded up on the trailer and started the 2500 mile trip out here from East TN.


Fuel stop outside Columbia, MO
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Fuel the next day for lunch in the middle of Nebraska:
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A couple hours after lunch I shredded a tire on the trailer....with the high-lift handy and a cordless impact I was back on the road in less than 10 minutes....

So that gets me pretty caught up on my build to this point. I got the fuel system buttoned up, wired up the 4.3 enough to get it running (needs 02's, alternator, AC, OBDII port), had a rear driveline made up for it, bleed the brakes, and clutch, drove it 30 feet.

The GF's family has a reunion/family vacation in Moab the first week of June....my goal after I finish the PE exam in two weeks it to wrench like crazy and have this truck trail ready by Memorial day weekend so I can beat it over the holiday weekend and hopefully fix any issues before I head out. The current work list:

1. R&R the power steering pump....I must have flipped the rotor plate on the rebuild....no PS output at all right now.
2. Build a Y-Pipe and mount some O2 sensors.
3. Wire up said O2 sensors and tidy up some under hood wiring (I have a nice swithc panel for the dash....e-lockers, OBA, Winch, "Zombie lights")
4. Front leaf swap. I have a junkyard leaf pack and I have never been happy with it. Will be ordering up some All-Pros next week.
5. Maybe get my hydro assist back on (Hoping I don't need it since I dumped the 2" wheel spacers with the axle widening)
6. Maybe drop the crawl box and t-case and try sealing them up better....it is leaking about 2 table spoons of gear lube a week sitting in my garage.
7. Figure out why I stopped running after I pulled it out to move it to West Richland from East Pasco (fuel related is all I know)
8. Maybe a quick alignment
9. Figure out why my brake lights stop working (or get them working at least)

I am sure there are other must haves I am forgetting....

Now the list of wants/plans

I have a AX15 that needs a Reverse gear fixed. I am putting in a Toyota input shaft and backing it all with a NWF eco-box and a NP205 (205 and a 31 spline input are sitting here already) Will maybe get twin sticked for front digs at the same time. will get me away from the marlin adaptor plate and give me better ratios. I felt the 2.28 crawl box was too high for wheeling but too low for trail riding....and the 4.7 was too low for anything other than crawling rocks.....low-low was just insane....only good for climbing walls.

Shackles up front:
I like the truck sitting lower (current ride height doesn't support much uptravel between tie-rods and leaves goign negative) will french in the rear hanger and replace my front body mount with a shackle mount that uses a chevy style shackle so I can have the frame pivot above the frame and keep the spring eye need the stock location. I will also need the next mod..

Double ended steering ram:
Will go to a flat steering arm, double ended ram in double shear. Will allow me to get the tie rod and drag link down below my oilpan. I have a manual steering box on hand and might go to it and a power steering control valve.

So that is my build so far.

Fab_man
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Re: My First 4x4

Postby Fab_man » Sat Apr 02, 2016 7:23 pm

So to sum it all up....

4.3 motor R150F (AX15 to you jeep guys) trans, Toyota Crawl box and Rear case with 4.7 gears.

5.29 E-Lockers in both axles (front and rear)

Tacoma front brakes with slip on rotors (allows for much easier trailer servicing of front axle)

Roll Cage, Bed Bob, lots of sheet metal trimming, bumpers, Zombie lights.

Chinese winch

Triple stick shifting (plus the trans shifter)

37x12.50 tires
Insane crawl gearing (something like 225:1 in first gear and low low with the axle ratio accounted for....like 5mph top speed on the rev limiter in 1st)

Plans for beefy transfer case and front digs next summer along with sorting out suspension better....and maybe working AC.

Wrench
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Re: My First 4x4

Postby Wrench » Sun Apr 03, 2016 7:03 am

Nice! :thu2:

Thats a lot of work!
Paul
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Fab_man
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Re: My First 4x4

Postby Fab_man » Sat Apr 09, 2016 8:37 pm

Well I needed a little mental break from studying this evening....less than a week until the exam.

I did manage to order up some All Pro 4" front leafs so I can get a decent pack in the front for a change. I will prob do their rears too but they require new mounts so they will be another project for another time.

Dug out my NP205 and pulled the trans adapter off of it.

knocked on my fuel tank and I think I might be out of gas....I knocked the wires loose for the sender on the tank install and need to reach back up in there and hook them up but it sounded pretty empty to me (while working on the fuel system plumbing it would siphon out of the tank....might have lost a bit of fuel out of it...)

I think I found a donor for the new crawl box internals.

Things move slow some times in life...

Fab_man
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Re: My First 4x4

Postby Fab_man » Tue Apr 12, 2016 7:18 pm

well my junk runs again....ended up being a loose injector plug for the spider (locking tabs are bent back a bit and I didn't install the locking pin in them either) a little push and it fired right up!

PE exam is Friday and once I get back from IL I am starting in on making this a driver (exhaust, PS Brakes) Hoping to be "streetable" in two weeks!

Fab_man
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Re: My First 4x4

Postby Fab_man » Sun May 01, 2016 1:21 pm



I managed to get the y-pipe finished up over the week/weekend and get a power steering pump that works on the truck. After a little mishap with a couple plug wires being out of order this was the final result.

I need to take care of a little wiring on the ECU still (passenger side O2 sensor and power to the MAF) and then clean up some of the underhood chassis wiring from all the removed emissions/ignition stuff from the Toyota motor.

Big items left:
1. Caliper bolts - need to trim some down and maybe washers for a couple to get things semi safe enough to drive)
2. Brake lights stopped working during the swap for some reason (I think it traces back to loosing power or ground to the stop light relay in the dash)
3. A general bolt check on everything (lots of stuff has bolts that got jammed in holes to get it on the trailer for the move)
4. Fill the front axle
5. Install the clutch fan - looked like either something leaked on it or the fluid coupling died....either way I will toss it on to stay cool at least.
6. found a couple small pinholes in my welded up hoses I need to fix up.

But once that is squared away I think I will be ready for some street miles to make sure everything it working ok.
Small items left:
1. drop t-case and reseal the adapter that is weeping gear lube
2. swap in my new front leaf springs
3. Add the front bump stops I have sitting here.
4. wire up the e-lockers, light bar, and CB

Fab_man
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Re: My First 4x4

Postby Fab_man » Tue May 03, 2016 8:19 pm

Fab_man wrote:Big items left:
1. Caliper bolts - need to trim some down and maybe washers for a couple to get things semi safe enough to drive) DONE!!
2. Brake lights stopped working during the swap for some reason (I think it traces back to loosing power or ground to the stop light relay in the dash)
3. A general bolt check on everything (lots of stuff has bolts that got jammed in holes to get it on the trailer for the move)
4. Fill the front axle DONE!!
5. Install the clutch fan - looked like either something leaked on it or the fluid coupling died....either way I will toss it on to stay cool at least. update: I think the threads are messed up....can't get it to spin on....my ECU is programmed for a E-Fan....
6. found a couple small pinholes in my welded up hoses I need to fix up.


But once that is squared away I think I will be ready for some street miles to make sure everything it working ok.
Small items left:
1. drop t-case and reseal the adapter that is weeping gear lube
2. swap in my new front leaf springs DONE!!
3. Add the front bump stops I have sitting here.
4. wire up the e-lockers, light bar, and CB


Now to add to the list:

Adjust clutch so I can shift with engine running

Fab_man
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Re: My First 4x4

Postby Fab_man » Sat May 07, 2016 7:04 pm

Fab_man wrote:
Fab_man wrote:Big items left:
1. Caliper bolts - need to trim some down and maybe washers for a couple to get things semi safe enough to drive) DONE!!
2. Brake lights stopped working during the swap for some reason (I think it traces back to loosing power or ground to the stop light relay in the dash) DONE!!!
3. A general bolt check on everything (lots of stuff has bolts that got jammed in holes to get it on the trailer for the move)
4. Fill the front axle DONE!!
5. Install the clutch fan - looked like either something leaked on it or the fluid coupling died....either way I will toss it on to stay cool at least. update: I think the threads are messed up....can't get it to spin on....my ECU is programmed for a E-Fan....
6. found a couple small pinholes in my welded up hoses I need to fix up.


But once that is squared away I think I will be ready for some street miles to make sure everything it working ok.
Small items left:
1. drop t-case and reseal the adapter that is weeping gear lube
2. swap in my new front leaf springs DONE!!
3. Add the front bump stops I have sitting here.
4. wire up the e-lockers, light bar, and CB


Now to add to the list:

Adjust clutch so I can shift with engine running DONE!!!


So I think I need to tidy up and finish a little wiring on it and a bolt check and I should be pretty much ready for the street full time.

Fab_man
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Re: My First 4x4

Postby Fab_man » Sun May 29, 2016 9:05 pm

Well friday I went to pull the intake and change the leaky intake gasket and swap a fuel injector that seemed to be leaking....did not get the injector fully seated causing a small engine fire from the gasoline that leaked out. Luckily the only damage was a couple melted wires for the cam sensor. Spent Saturday cleaning/fixing from the fire (ABC extinguisher use inside the garage) got it running again this morning....make up a hilift mount and put tie downs in the bed to secure the spare.....and wired up and timed both elockers.....only to go pull it out and find the distributor must be off a tooth still.....soon as I give it throttle under load I get a massive gunshot like backfire and it dies....guessing the timing advances and jumps a cylinder. Oh and swapped a reman PS pump in with a plain reservoir....no more leaks or whines.....so close to finishing this build!!

Need to adjust timing over one tooth
Find a proper feed for the alternator field wire
Find a switched accessory wire for the relay that runs the elockers and compressor power.
Attach two grounds
Make up two tabs for the front bumper mount.

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SPR
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Re: My First 4x4

Postby SPR » Mon May 30, 2016 8:17 pm

Wow. Sounds like your moving through the challenges of rig building pretty well.
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Fab_man
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Re: My First 4x4

Postby Fab_man » Tue May 31, 2016 2:12 pm

Not my first automotive build.....not by a long shot.

Did some hiking yesterday and worked today. Hoping to get timing dialed in tonight and get a test drive under my belt (and a trip to the car wash)

Fab_man
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Re: My First 4x4

Postby Fab_man » Tue May 31, 2016 9:18 pm

So for some reason this truck idles fine...but floods out if you try to give it any throttle. MAP reads ok (21" @ 570 rpm) MAF reads correct....was running great before the small fire and injector swap. Plug from new injector looks best out of all of them now.

idles great. but will start cutting out and engine dies at 1200 or so rpm in neutral. MAP is reading 19" vac still.

I am really out of easy ideas short of maybe checking fuel pressure tomorrow (I dont think the reg is bad since it idles without loading up) I leave for Moab (Family Reunion) Thursday at lunchtime and still need to pack my clothes and do some chores so looks like I don't get to take my truck with....super bummed

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Re: My First 4x4

Postby SPR » Wed Jun 01, 2016 5:00 am

SPR wrote:Wow. Sounds like your moving through the challenges of rig building pretty well.


I meant that as a compliment ...I'll take it back.
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Re: My First 4x4

Postby scumby » Wed Jun 01, 2016 4:02 pm

Fab_man wrote:So for some reason this truck idles fine...but floods out if you try to give it any throttle. MAP reads ok (21" @ 570 rpm) MAF reads correct....was running great before the small fire and injector swap. Plug from new injector looks best out of all of them now.

idles great. but will start cutting out and engine dies at 1200 or so rpm in neutral. MAP is reading 19" vac still.

I am really out of easy ideas short of maybe checking fuel pressure tomorrow (I dont think the reg is bad since it idles without loading up) I leave for Moab (Family Reunion) Thursday at lunchtime and still need to pack my clothes and do some chores so looks like I don't get to take my truck with....super bummed


and you've adjusted the timing? although map reads 21" could be a vac leak? have you tried the starting fluid around all gaskets to see if it changes rpms?
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Re: My First 4x4

Postby Fab_man » Wed Jun 01, 2016 5:30 pm

timing is locked on a vortec, triggered off the crank. all you can do is phase the rotor in one tooth increments (roughly 40 degrees at the rotor)

I had a propane torch and tried that around but didn't get much response (unlit)

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Re: My First 4x4

Postby Fab_man » Wed Jun 01, 2016 5:32 pm

SPR wrote:
SPR wrote:Wow. Sounds like your moving through the challenges of rig building pretty well.


I meant that as a compliment ...I'll take it back.


I took it as one...just this one is fighting me alot lately and looks like it is not making it to Moab so I am kinda bummed (packing and giving a last push to see if I can get it running right otherwise I would be at the club meeting tonight)

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Re: My First 4x4

Postby Fab_man » Tue Aug 23, 2016 1:17 pm

Found the coil wire was grounding out to the fuel line. Tied the line back and all seems good now. Planning a run with guys from work to Ravens Roost on Sunday now.

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Re: My First 4x4

Postby SPR » Tue Aug 23, 2016 3:41 pm

Wow.... Cool. Was the coil wire bad. Im surprised it would ground out by touching something metal.
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Re: My First 4x4

Postby Fab_man » Tue Aug 23, 2016 3:53 pm

Nod more issue with hose relocated. Guessing issue lies with cheapest rockauto cap and wire set.


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