it out of an 84' 4 runner, its originally out of an ifs truck.

 

front drive shaft was finished yesterday, they extended it and installed an offset u joint for the axle side. i installed it on the truck and experienced a critical vibration at speeds over 30kmh. i actually was expecting this issue due to the bad pinion angle and 8 deg. caster i am forced to run. to correct it i will order a 6 deg correction shim on monday and install it to bring the pinion up some and see how much better the vibration gets. since i will be rotation the axle past its comfort level the drag link will need to be relocated above the steering bracket so i can clear my leaf spring. i will make a spacer to fill in the double shear space and run a longer bolt right through the whole bracket with the heim on top. i figure this is the most practical way of fixing my issue at this point. and hopefully ill be 4x4 ready monday night.

i also got my f250 shock towers last night, ill need to make some shock tabs but these will allow me to run a 30" shock. i can now run the same shock in all 4 corners. this will be nice for ease of replacement.

ill post pics later next week,

 

does it matter what motor?


a part number off the advance auto parts web site would be great so i make sure i get the right one.


thanks a lot zack no one else has been able to come up with anything to my problem

 

Do you have any close ups of the welds on the leaf spring mounts? Everything looks very clean so far.

 

of the perches or the hangars?


heres a pic of the front driveshaft, and shock towers. i also got my shims in tonight so ill hopefully get them in this week and cut down on the vibrations with the shaft. i may be getting a normal u joint installed since im correcting the angle because i also believe the offset joint is not helping the vibration, and may also be causing it..

also, a pic of a spacer in my steering bracket to relocate the heim above the bracket for caster clearance. the d-link is almost straight, and i found this made the steering alot more effortless

 

Nice! That steering set up looks great, kinda different.

 

heres some more pics of some areas i missed to post on

i had to revise the rear shackle hangar support methods due to the shape of the frame in that area. i had just cut back my hangar to use only the 'C' of the bracket and simply supported the overhang with some triangulated scraps, then structurally welded that thing solid

the frame needed to be beat in a little to plate for the steering box, a few good taps on the high spots of the frame made short work of it. i welded some 1/2" grade 8 tall nuts into the back of the 3/8 plate, similar to the ones used for the u bolts. the plate sits very nicely and square on the frame rail. and ive noticed no movement so far.

i mounted the rear hangars using a crossmember that tied the 2 seperates together. i spaced them and aligned them how they should then made a bar to connect them. i then attached them to the leafs and raised it into position. all i had to do was center the member on the frames and weld them up. this makes mounting them in the same spot simple for the right and left side.

overall the first cut of the truck hurt the most, but once i saw it all off i didnt feel so bad about it lol...

 

today i went back to the driveline shop and replaced the 'Tom Woods' offset u joint with a standard spicer 1310 unit. they covered the cost of the fancy $100 joint so i wasnt stuck with that expensive little mistake. those offset joint are not to be used for anything but slow speed movement, they allow an extra 10 deg of droop but they change the center of the u joint and will create an imbalance that is impossible to correct. i instaled the shaft on the truck later in the afternoon and 70% of the vibrations have gone away. all i have left is a small shake in the steering wheel at 20-30kmh then a light but steady vibration that worsens from 75+kmh. city driving shows no signs of an issue. i also was attempting to install the 6 deg. caster correction shims i had but i noticed they were not going to work for me. the tapered side of the shim was also beveled and created poor contact in an SOA configuration. i believe the shims would be ideal for an SUA set up as the contour of the shim follows the curve of the spring perfectly. so i took back the superlift shims and tried ordering another set from rancho, hopefully they are different. the shims should remove the rest of the vibration from the front.

 

my shims came in on friday but yet another surprise they were the wrong degree. they accidently ordered me a 2.5 deg. while i needed a 6 deg and then they told me that they couldnt get a 6 deg shim from any other company they knew of.. later that day i decided to stay after work and create a 6 seg shim because i didnt want to wait any longer tracking down the correct parts. i should have just done this from the beginning, but once i had them made, i installed them and then installed the d shaft. 90 percent of all the vibration has gone away and its finally driveable with the front shaft! at speeds of 80-90 kmh there is just a very slight vibration that only i can feel, none of my passengers can pick up on it. i consider it acceptable and ready to go.. i may make a shim for 8 deg. to install in the spring to correct it by 100 percent, but i dont want to affect the steering too much. shocks are going on order monday and ill post more on the set up when they arrive.

 

Great work man! Good to see it finally coming together.

 

Looks great, You have got some incredible patients to put that thing together so well with no shortcuts.

 

shocks came in last week, and heres the set up and progress from this week,

the front shocks are the same length as the rears and mount using the same style fasteners. this keeps it easy for replacements. i made my own shock tabs for the axle side and directly welded the f250 towers to the frame right over the dip in the front of the frame where there was the clearance for the old ifs shock set up.

im officially done tinkering with with the truck for the off season. ill post more here in the spring when i give in to some new gear.

 

Nice!

 

Damn, that looks awesome! Once you get some bigger tires on there it'll be sitting pretty much perfect. I bet it rides much nicer with shocks finally on, lol!

 

way cool, that truck has to be huge to make those tires look so small

 

thanks, and its a much nicer ride, speed bumps dont last as long lol. and overall it feels a little smoother then the ifs ever did

 

thanks, the wheel base doesnt help the proportions at all, but a standard cab would look much better with the 32" tire with that height. hopefully a 35" or possible a 36" might help the look in the spring

 

yeah 35s would probably look perfect on there

 

The ranger is looking a lot better now than when you started. I am still waiting to see it on some real tires.

 

well if it makes any difference ive decided what will be going on it lol

cragar 342 series wheels and a 35" good year mtr tire, just as seen in the pic. should be a nice all season combo.

 

looks good, it'll look better with a 35 stuffed in there.

i dunno if i missed it but why did you mount the steering support to the firewall and not to the frame?

 

truck looks amazing!

.....you should sell me those rims you currently have on when u get the cragars!!

 

thanks!,

you might get away with it depending how its mounted, but if you mount the support to the frame you may likely experience some binding in the steering if the frames twist differently then the cab. the shaft would need to move freely and all the stationary devices holding the shaft should be kept on the firewall to allow its natural flexability.

 

thanks!,

keep an eye on em, once they come off in the spring ill be cleaning them up and if someone wants em they will go up for sale.

 

Those are going to look great once they're on there... not sure about the coloured stripes on the rim though.