Got the bed off, welding the diff this week hopefully and C Notch this weekend. The frame isn't that rusted I was pretty surprised

I orderedd two 10" radiator fans a few days ago and a battery cutoff switch. I'm custom fabbing a plate for my switches where the radio went, as I took out all the radio wiring/components.

 

Got the 3rd member out. Pretty easy job actually.



I have some questions about welding it;
What's going to be the best/strongest way to weld it without getting splatter everywhere?
What's the best way to clean it without taking the diff apart?

 

Hose it down with a good degreaser like purple power or super clean to get the grease off them spray the ring gear and pinion with spatter spray from a welding supply place. It will keep the spatter from sticking to the gears. I weld the side gears to the case and the spiders to the side gears.

 

Okay sounds good I think I have splatters spray somewhere now that you mentioned it. The degreaser won't mess up the bearings?

 

will brake cleaner work too? skeptical of rust building up with hosing it down

 

I've used brake cleaner before sure. I've since strayed away from its usage if I'm going to be welding on the material.
Safety Alert! Brake Cleaner = Phosgene Gas - BREW Bikes LLC

 

WOW that article was no joke. Thanks for the post WT!

 

I welded the diff at my school Tuesday. Turned out to be a super nice job! Slapped The member back in, 15 mins later Im done and bled the brakes ready for a test drive. It's super fun! It doesn't really hop that bad but I also don't have a full turning radius because of my tires. Slides out SUPER easy. I'm gutting my bed now so I got it all prepped and ready to plasma cut it. I'm worried about the bed mounts,I'll proba have to reinforce them after I hack everything out

 

alaskas PFDs are coming out on the 1st with 2,070$. I decided mine as well drop a hot grand into the truck. I'm getting sway bars,shocks, and hydro ebrake. Anyone know about 1tons Vs. Anti sways? Which is more stiff? I'm suspecting 1 tons will be more stiff.

 

All the "performance" sway bars and torsion bars are just copies of the 1 ton parts.

I'd source 1 ton parts, drop lower control arms and drop leaves and put it all together with new urethane bushings. Best performance bang for the buck.

 

Oh okay so like the bell techs and what not are 1ton? I look on craigs everyday for a 1 tom parts truck for months and no luck so wanting to order.

 

Looks in the classifieds here. DJM lower control arms were on there awhile back and daroach still has torsions and front bar listed, I bought my setup from him last year.

 

Not much has been done on the truck. My hydraulic E brake came in and my leafs/sway bar comes in tomorrow so said. I plan on doing 7 low for right now. I'm currently working on a step notch design so I gotta come up with some measurements and cut/weld her up. Ill get some pics tomorrow with everything

 

Finally got the leaves on. Had to make custom shackles, and drill out my front eye mount. I Shaved down may bolts with my lathe In my garage, and CNC'd 4 shackle plates also in the garage. I went over to my dads shop the next day and punched the bolt holes with a press machine and welded them up. I also had to get new poly bushings and bored it out with the lathe along with my blocks.

 

As far as the leafs, I don't think they made a jurrastic drop. My hypothesis is that the OEM leafs were really broken in and lose from the years and the new ones haven't been broken in yet. These are the Street Edge leafs. I'm working on my sway bars currently. I got everything unbolted but keep hitting the shocks to get out and the top mounts are rusted to hell so I'll have to cut them off with my bandsaw and just get new ones as I was wanting to order dropshocks

 

Finally had time to do the sway bars, pretty big difference from OEM To 1"

Took the shocks off while I was at it so I need some drop shocks. Anyone know if nitros are good performance wise?

 

Well, nothing has been done and snows now on the ground. Been doing tons of research on possible engines to swap in for drifting. Right now I've eliminated most engines down to an 7MGTE from a supra, or an SR20 from a good ol 240sx. I've always wanted to swap a sr20 into the truck and very familiar with the engine, but I think I'll get more power/ an easier swap in general since its Toyota also.

 

Finally got snow so that means northern light season is starting. Got a cool pic the other day from my canon

 

I think that is a factory seat out of a 79-83 pickup

 

Is that the factory 1 ton front sway or an aftermarket?