Treehugger

[BlueDodgeRam]

In case anyone was wondering, this thing is still alive. Worked on it for the first time in awhile today trying to track down a leak out of the rear transfer case. May end up dropping them and re-rtving and do seals.

[Username]

Nice! Pretty sweet shop setup you've got going on too. Looks like you've been busy.

[BlueDodgeRam]

Thanks Brian, give me a shout sometime and come check it out.

[BadAssEddie]

Shop is getting pretty sweet. Glad to see Treehugger getting some love haha.

[yotacowboy]

Fawk yeah!

oh - and that t-case e-brake is a BITCH to get the d-line bolts lined up.

[BlueDodgeRam]

Hey Clay

Havent put it back together yet. Does not appear to be the output more the gasket or rtv gasket at the output housing, so ill probably be pulling the case. I guess ill find out how much of a bitch putting the shaft back it, after i replace a missing bolt in the ebrake disc.....and the tcase mount.....

Im also trying to figure out if i have a head gasket issue, but not sure yet.

On another note, Treehugger will have a brother returning home Saturday from MD, a certain clean on one side and not-so much on the other side truck. You home Saturday?

[yotacowboy]

Nice!

"vintage" SC4WDA rigs all under one roof! still kick myself for selling that bitch.

[BlueDodgeRam]

Yep. A tow rig from Corey Bradford, Treehugger from Clay, and TwoFace from Jason. Not sure how that all happened

I now have a large surplus of Toyota crap. Anybody need any parts? Tcases, trannys, shafts, axle housings...

[BlueDodgeRam]

Been working on this thing alot over the past few months. I figure not having wheeled in about 6 years was long enough. Planning on going to Big Dogs Icebreaker in April. Here's what I've done:

Since a '91 qualifies for antique tags, and I want to be able to drive it around on the street somewhat, and be legal at Potts, I got antique tags for it:


The truck was overheating and running like crap in general. Replaced the thermostat which solved I think the overheating, but now it doesn't seem to get all the way warm, but I can't remember if it ever did. Once that was done, after replacing plugs, cap, wires, and rotor, I discovered that the #4 injector wasn't firing. Checked resistance on that injector and ended up replacing all 4 plus the cold start injector. Also replaced all of the factory vacuum hose with silicone tubing.



Next I wanted to get the stereo working again so I replaced the two headunits that Clay had in it and removed about 3 lbs of crap wiring and now have working tunes. Also mounted a CB under the new head unit.


I wanted the rear bed to be more functional so I made skins for the bed floor and sides. 1/8" steel diamond plate for the floor and 1/16" steel for the side panels. Used trick tabs that I welded M6 weld nuts to to attach the skins in various places.

Before:


Tabs welded on:


Carboard templates:



In Process:




Spare tire hold down, there's a weld on eye hook above the hitch on the rear crossmember. The 35 gallon action packer is bolted down to the bed floor:



Hi-Lift mount for a 60" jack welded on:


Finished bed:

[BlueDodgeRam]

The front bumper that was on the truck from Shaeffer's Offroad ended up not fitting a winch like it was supposed to I guess. The bolt pattern was wrong for both the winch bolts and the fairlead. Also the winch didn't fit between the two tubes. It also would have needed more bracing to be strong enough. So I cut it off and sold it to some guy on Craigslist and ordered a new bumper from Badland Bumpers.

Didn't take any in process pics so here's the finished bumper. Completely welded onto the frame.











Superwinch TigerShark 9500 with synthetic rope


I have a remote winch controller from 12VoltGuy that installs in place of the factory ashtray in the dash, but I haven't installed it yet. Hopefully before Big Dogs.

[TerryD]

Looking good Peter! I haven't seen this truck run since Clay mashed the a-pillar on washout many moons ago.

You going to put some sheeting on the rear bed rails? With the Hi-Lift like that, I would think the drivetrain would fill up with mud and muck from the rear tires in a hurry. Might consider a jack-boot if nothing else.

I like that winch control panel. There's a row of switch blanks on the left side of the steering wheel in the Xterra and I've been considering using some of the OTRATTW switches to put in there to run my winch from inside the cabin. What are you using to switch the main power to the winch under the hood?

[BlueDodgeRam]

Hey Terry, no skins on the bed rails for now. Was just gonna get a boot for the hi-lift or maybe make a simple "skidplate" for it to block at least some of the dirt.

Right now the winch is hooked straight to the battery. Once I go through and hook this panel up I'll figure out what I need.

[TerryD]

Cool. Nothing worse than a jammed up jack...

I've been browsing some of the winch threads on the Xterra pages. I've just not written down any of the names of stuff to start looking into. They make some pretty nice solid state stuff now that doesn't have the tendency to cook itself the way the old solenoid types do. I didn't know if you had a line on some good pieces or not. I need to start looking more I guess. My bumper is supposed to be here in June and then it'll be my turn to get it going.

[alk1174]

Terry look into the superwinch contactor aka albright solenoid. I retrofitted a warn with superwich stuff it was a lot cheaper and worked fine. Also try and put everything under the hood. It keeps everything out of the rain and snow salt mess. I did this on the 83 and I have had no issues with the old school solenoid pack. I am guessing its been over 10 years now.

[TerryD]

Terry look into the superwinch contactor aka albright solenoid. I retrofitted a warn with superwich stuff it was a lot cheaper and worked fine. Also try and put everything under the hood. It keeps everything out of the rain and snow salt mess. I did this on the 83 and I have had no issues with the old school solenoid pack. I am guessing its been over 10 years now.

My Warn came with the newer controller like that and I ordered the separation kit to mount the control pack under the hood. I didn't want to have to pull the bumper off to service that or lady down on the ground to hook up the control.

I was actually meaning a disconnect between the battery and winch so the winch controller wasn't sitting there powered 100% of the time.

Some guys use the same solenoid RVs use for the house batteries but some guys think the old Ford starter solenoid that looks similar will work. The Ford one isn't duty cycle rated for a disconnect and they burn them up.