Steve's '94 Toyota x-cab mild build

[sixstringsteve]

thanks seth. I wish I worked faster. I'm starting to worry that it may not be ready by Thursday morning.

If I'm not sleeping, I'm at work. If I'm not at work, I'm wrenching on my truck. That's been my life for the past month. Every spare second is spent wrenching on that thing. I'll be so excited to get my life back, as will my wife.

 

[Taco4life]

Looking good Steve! Sorry I didn't make it on Friday, I was helping my uncle finish his basement. We didn't finish until late, I drove past your house to see if you were still working on it. But the truck was in the driveway with the bed off. I love the look of your truck, bed on, or off, shell on, or off this thing brings the sexy.

 

[sixstringsteve]

thanks

 

[Coco]

Man that thing looks sexy without the shell!! SSSEEEEXXXXXYY!!!! Well done steve turned out awesome, if you sell this one, I will have to thump you

The only way it would look better is new wheels and a tire rack in the back, then tuber bumpers of some type

 

[sixstringsteve]

it sounds like you build your rigs based on looks colton

We definitely have different tastes, I can say that. I'll take the stock front bumper over any tube bumper, and I hate tire racks, and I LOVE my wheels.

 

[iamsparticus]

nothing wrong with stock bumpers steve personally i think bumpers are the last thing you should buy, and i have rocked my stock bumpers for three years no problems except i have scrapped and hit the rear several times but its has held up well with only a few dents. The other thing everyone seems to think is a must is blinging wheels i say run the tough no bling wheels and worry about it later

 

[krany]

A tire rack would only make it less sexy. The stock bumper looks slick but I bet a plate bumper like ricks would look really good aswell, matching rear bumper of corse.

 

[sixstringsteve]

I think a rear driveshaft would make it sexy. That and bump stops and sliders. And having the elockers wired would be HOT.

 

[sixstringsteve]

I'm having some trouble with the steering. WHen I need to make a sharp turn, it feels like all power steering gets cut out and it's extremely difficult to turn, and the PS belt starts squealing. This happened before, when I was running in rear wheel drive. I bled the steering and it fixed the problem. So I tried bleeding the steering again, and that didn't fix it.

My front locker is on, which is a bummer because I don't have it wired to turn it off. I assume this is just a case of having a front locker without hydro assist, causing it to be extra hard to turn. I need to drive it about 5 miles to the driveline shop. Any ideas of how I could do that? Can I just unlock one of the hubs and put it in 1wd? Will that make turning any easier, or will it still be a pain? I'd go try it right now, but the squealing of the PS belt will wake up my neighbors.

 

[chans]

I'm having some trouble with the steering. WHen I need to make a sharp turn, it feels like all power steering gets cut out and it's extremely difficult to turn, and the PS belt starts squealing. This happened before, when I was running in rear wheel drive. I bled the steering and it fixed the problem. So I tried bleeding the steering again, and that didn't fix it.

My front locker is on, which is a bummer because I don't have it wired to turn it off. I assume this is just a case of having a front locker without hydro assist, causing it to be extra hard to turn. I need to drive it about 5 miles to the driveline shop. Any ideas of how I could do that? Can I just unlock one of the hubs and put it in 1wd? Will that make turning any easier, or will it still be a pain? I'd go try it right now, but the squealing of the PS belt will wake up my neighbors.

Try unlocking one of the hubs. It should help on the turning. If you measure from the flange to flange the drive line shop should be able to shorten the drive shaft to correct length.

 

[sixstringsteve]

I forgot that I could unbolt the driveshaft into two pieces at the pillow block. Maybe I'll just do that.

I tried unlocking one of the hubs, and it's easier to turn, but I'm still getting the squealing.

 

[Max Power]

I wish it stayed light later. I just wasn't in the mood to wire your lockers in the dark.

 

[sixstringsteve]

I wasn't in the mood to wire them either

THanks for all your help today Bryce.

 

[TJDukit]

Steve you should also be able to unbolt the locker motor and move the teeth with a screw driver. At least if the motor shaft is in the top half of the third. It only took me about five minutes to do it in the dark under a four runner stuck in a wash out up on MEG.

 

[sixstringsteve]

I'm going to try hotwiring it first. The leaf springs are kinda in the way for the front locker, but if push comes to shove, I'll be using the screwdriver method. Thanks for the suggestion Brian.

 

[sixstringsteve]

I have to give a HUGE shoutout to John, the owner of Gaylon's Driveline in Utah. He has always treated me right, and today his customer service really shone through. He is going to stay late to make sure my rear driveline gets done in time. He does great work, and he is very affordable. I HIGHLY recommend John for driveline work.

 

[Coco]

X2, he is a great guy, and goes great work

 

[sixstringsteve]

I got a few huge milestones out of the way tonight. I still have a few more, but that's ok.

I finished the bump stops, and I figured out why I couldn't steer. The front locker is on (I guess toyota ships them from the factory in the "locked" position for some reason. So tomorrow I'll either be pulling the motor cover and using a screwdriver, or hopefully I'll be wiring up my locker.

I also got the driveline in. Once again, John at Gaylon's Driveline is a really great guy and he helped me out a lot. On top of that, he offered to fix anything I may need to get my butt to moab.

 

[sixstringsteve]

At this point, I think my goal is to test it out on the road a bit more tomorrow. I think the front springs are way too soft, so I'd like to add a leaf or two. I"m having a hard time finding leaves to swap in.

As long as I can get it street legal(ish), and I test it on the freeway a bit, then I'm taking it to moab. I may not have sliders on, and the lockers may not be engaged, but I'll drive it down and do some mild trails. We'll see what happens. I think if I could get my rear elocker wired and my sliders on, it'd be more than ready to go.

 

[Addiction]

^^ I have a couple meetings today, should be done by 3 or 4pm. What time are you working on your truck?