Cruzer's Re-Build for the Rubicon

Oh! Clever!

In the stock location will these limit your up travel by bottoming out the shock due to the length of the shock body?

 

Yes, it could. The top of the shock body, on a stem top, sits about 3/4" below the mount. Whereas the center of the eyelet, for this adapter, sits about 1-5/8". So you lose just under an inch.

 

It's funny what lengths we have to go through to mess with the rear suspension without breaking the bank. I bought OME rear shocks and I believe they're rated for around 2-4 inches of lift...but 4 inches being the max where you're concerned about it maxing out. I wanted a little more in the back for lift. Went up another inch with adjustable shackles and could not find a proper rear shock extender for OME shocks to save my life. I tried to find custom thread extensions, but nothing was the same thread pattern as OME. So I looked in to the bottom shock mount extensions. I found a lot for other car makes, but none for toyota. So after lots of measurements and Google searches, I decided to try these out:

$60 ReadyLift 67-3809 Rear Shock Extension Bracket for GM/Chevy Black Powdercoat

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004PL87JQ
They ended up working great with a little modification. I had to trim them up to fit between the shock mounts and I had to trim back the weld on the interior of the shock mount by about 1/8 of an inch. Aside from the custom trimming...it's a perfect fit and I've had no issues whatsoever. So if you're looking for a shock extension and don't want to pay a ton on new shocks, look no further!

 

I already have something similar on my truck:


These provided a 2" extension that I needed BUT because it creates a double joint (double pivot point) it makes the most annoying clinking sound, as it taps on the lower shock mount, that drives me crazy $170 for a shock isn't too bad plus my rear shocks were toasted anyways and wouldn't have been worth it to rebuild.

 

Did you have to rig that up to fit or do they have a Toyota Tundra version?

 

It’s for a Jeep but it fit right in with no mods.

 

Found out late this week that I’m going to do the Rubicon again………this coming Wednesday

Frantically fixing things on the truck.



Still haven’t figured out how to fix the 4Lo issue but gonna try tweaking a bunch more stuff with my HP Tuner and hope something works.
One of the modifications I’m trying is to increase the Tow/Haul button to allow 3x more air through the throttle body. It works really good in 4Hi but I can’t tell in 4Lo - need an obstacle to test it on.

 

More than happy to look through your tune file and see if I can find anything wrong with 4LO. There are other limits you can hit with component protection, but that might be tough to figure out.

 

DM me your email. I’ll send it later when I’m done working on the truck. Thanks!!

 

Short notice but those are usually the best trips ! Be safe and have fun. Another write up in the future? The one earlier this year was epic.

 

If anything it’ll be me conquering the obstacles this time around

 

You got them this time

 

If your 4wd acts up on Soup Bowl again just give it a good ol' 6k neutral drop and it'll climb right up! Just make sure to get it on film

 

I hope that smoke from the Oak Fire doesn't impact your trip. It's actually hanging on the east side of the valley clear up where I live.

 

Well this sucks! According to the schedule Jeeper’s Jamboree is supposed to start tomorrow but they closed the Rubicon Trail starting today. Fortunately, a buddy of mine found out online so at least I didn’t waste any gas. I guess the rematch will just have to wait

 

BUMMER

 

Well, damn. But yeah, woulda been worse to find out when you got there.

Did you get yer truck all dialed in?

 

Fixed my front diff. Not sure about getting it dialed in though cuz the only way to find out is when I hit the trail.... which I will be doing New plan is to head down to Shaver Lake area and hit Coyote, Strawberry, and Mirror Lakes. If there's time maybe squeeze in Brewer Lake. Will save Swamp Lake for another time.

 

That sucks...so... what us your backup plan

 

Got my replacement ARB locker seals.



Now to spend my weekend messing around with the rear axle Would much rather be doing other things - I have places to drink and drinks to see
Just hoping I don't mess up any of the axle seals in the process

 

So I started the process to replace the O-rings in my rear locker today. I've never taken out the 3rd member before so I've been watching youtube videos. I see a lot of unnecessary steps people take so here are some of the shortcuts that I've done so far.

1. You're supposed to disconnect and take apart the brake line near the rotor so that you can pull the axle out. You first have to slide out this tab, then loosen the hardline.


Fuck that! I'm lazy and want to do the least amount of work possible to get this job done. I just cut the retainer to open up the hole that it's in and slid out the brake line intact. Now I don't have to bleed the brakes







2. You're also supposed to remove the parking brake. Which requires taking off the calipers and rotor. Fuuuuuuck that. I just removed the bolt from the brake line retaining clip, giving me just enough slack to pull the axle out of the carrier.



Used a bungee cord to keep in place and stop it from rotating.


Got the diff out, now to figure out how to actually replace the o-rings currently reading the ARB install guide. Looks like if I remove the bearing caps and remove the carrier from the housing it should just slide out. Will find out tomorrow... got drinks to see.

 

Yes the carrier will pry/pull out when the caps are removed. Mark the caps so they go back the same way, and there will be shims on each side so be careful to not mix them up. I looked through your tune but did not see anything obvious. Think it might be something with transmission torque limits, mine definitely works. Going to do a copy and paste into one of my tunes, but been waiting on a part for awhile, and of course had kick it back to have a new one made due to manufacturing error. Let me know if you figure it out though so I don’t waste time.

 

You could send him your tune and he could copy the stock fueling stuff over too. Same but opposite

 

Copying all his tune changes into a tune that works with torque tables modified to confirm or eliminate. 2018+ requires different values than previous years, so no reverse copy and paste, and I’m not tuning anyones truck because not a tuner. If it works, he has a starting point.

 

So I removed the bearing caps...actually I removed one, the bearing cap with the copper hose running through it was just loosely hanging.



I then picked up the carrier, thing is heavy AF and super slippery, moved it to the side so that it sat on top of the pinion, which gave me just enough room to remove the collar. Couldn't move it far because of the copper hose - was too lazy to remove the hose.



The collar slides off the carrier exposing the 2 seals.



Picked out the seal from its grooves and put in the new, lubricated, seals. Sliding the collar back onto the carrier was tricky because the seal would not stay in the groove. Make sure to grow out your fingernails so that you can use them to keep the seals seated as you slide the collar back on. Drop the carrier back in and tighten up the bolts.



I did a test fit and spun the pinion to make sure the ring gear was not catching onto the copper hose. This transmission lift really came in handy as it allowed me to line up the 3rd member to the bolt holes, making it easy to quickly slide it back on after I applied RTV.

 

Nice! No fun wrestling that heavy mf’er in and out. My gear guy won’t do it, bring the removed one to him, same with the front. Have the same transmission jack, can’t imagine doing it without.

 

<adds to list>

 

Was surfing the web doing transfer case research when I stumbled upon a 200 series Land Cruiser front diff.



The LC has the same size front diff as the Tundra but if you look closely it does not have an ADD attached to the extension tube.



Pivoted my surfing and found this



This is the intermediate shaft that runs inside the LC diff tube. The difference between the Tundra is that ours is shorter because the ADD connects it to the stub shaft. (Lengthwise: Tundra intermediate shaft + Tundra stub shaft + Shift collar = LC intermediate shaft)

If you’ve been following along on my build you’ll know that the stub shaft can easily break because it’s not made of solid steel but rather some form of powdered metal that is melted together. Below is a picture of the shift collar and stub shaft and where it breaks.



So I ordered one. Only $160. If this fits then my front end will be engaged all the time, which means both front wheels rotate at the same rate (turning or not) and my front drive shaft will always spin but will not be in 4wd because the TC will not be engaged. I plan to remove the shift collar and leave the ADD in place. This way when I put the truck in 4wd, the ADD will do its thing tricking the ECU that it slid the collar.

My front tires may not like this solution but we’ll see. Maybe I can get a second diff tube to install before any wheeling trips. Would it be a hassle? Of course, but being less worried about snapping a stub shaft on the trail is money in the bank.



@pandapro

 

Will this also put added pressure on steering components?

 

I know that a lot of the Taco guys do a similar mod where they use the intermediate shaft from an FJ Cruiser and I haven't heard of them complaining about their steering components being an issue. The Tundra steering rack is much stronger than a Taco's so we will see, only time will tell. I have chromoly inner tie rods and CB outers and have not had any issues wheeling hard with those so I'm not worried about them.

As I was typing I realized that I could just take out the passenger CV axle, take apart a shitty aftermarket CV axle, and stick only the inner housing into the diff tube (like @joonbug). This will allow the front wheels to rotate independently of each other I can then, easily, swap out CV axles when I go wheeling

Thanks for making me think about this