Been tossing around the idea of body working the truck so i Went out to the back yard yesterday and dug out the spare parts i have. Realized im going to need a passenger side fender as the spare one i have is a 75+ not a 72-78. I'll get pics of the differences later. pulled out the hammer and dolly and knocked out a few dents on the bed. Have a long way to go
Not much progress going on. Im going to buy some steel and tubs this week to start framing out the bed floor. I'll attack the front end at a later date. Just want the bed done first. had to change out the brake master cylinder a couple weeks ago. Only driven the truck once since then.
Well i havent done much other than drive the truck the last few weeks. Im going to swap the W58 back in soon. Tired of the gearing of the W55. I'll just figure out whats going on with the rattling/vibrations. Because im still getting them with the 55 just at a different rpm than the 58. still havent started on the bed floor either. Oh well
Progress looks different at different stages. Gotta drive it to love it. What's your view on 58>55 other then a towing gear in the 55?
W58 feels a lot easier to drive. RPM drop between gears seemed to be a lot less and not to mention the highway rpm was a lot better. Acceleration felt quicker and smoother since i didnt feel like I either need more RPM or upshift to speed up. It does feel more car like and really does fit the truck better for my use
Engine tag says it should be 4.11 or 4.10. drove it yesterday, at 60 it was at 3k RPM, tires are 24" tall. Just to give an idea. Shits TERRIBLE,
Yeah that’s terrible. That’s why I thought you changed gear ratios. One reason I don’t take mine on the highway much either. But I have 4.3 gears according to the door sticker and the RPMs are definitely up there.
Changing the trans is something i have tools and knowledge to do. Last time i messed with a diff i fucked it up lol
Got the trans out and just swapped over the shift selector. Waiting on the FIPG to set before putting it in. Also ordered another reverse light switch since i fucked up my old one. Going to take the driveshaft to the shop soon too to get it rebalanced, swapped the u-joints years ago and its been noisy as fck since. Hopefully that solves my issue. Im going to try to fabricate some bed extensions for the odd short sections behind the cab. And going to shave the License plate opening on the roll pan since i relocated the plate. Shooting to get all this done before the Minitruck Revival Neptunes Cruise later this month
Hit a major roadblock. Got a call from the driveshaft shop and its all shot. The holes for the u joint caps are worn out, apparently that was part of my issue. New driveshaft is going to be more than i want to spend on a temporary situation. Going to post some stuff for sale soon. Need to pull some $$ for the next phase.
I picked up that driveshaft from the shop. Decided to buy some u joints at autozone just to be able to drive the truck under its own power if need be. When i installed them they pressed in fairly well and I've decided to just get the driveshaft balanced which I'm going to do this week. Truck ain't dead yet and the next phase will still be in the works just going on in the background as it's going to be long and drawn out and expensive
Jacked the truck up to pull the driveshaft easier. Saw the big ugly space the license plate used to take up and decided to finally work on filling it in. cut some 18ga i have laying around, bent up the bottom edge to roughly match and tacked it in. I'll finish welding it in later on. For now the space is filled.
Picked up the driveshaft from the shop yesterday. The owner let me know that the driveshaft ears on the back end definitely were a little looser than they should be and he had to work them to close up. Got it balanced. Got home threw it in the truck and took it around the block and man did it make a huge difference. Between the W58 being a much better fit for the truck and the driveline not causing any other vibrations it felt so much better and comfortable driving it. i di have a new rattle now that i didnt have before that i need to track down but for now everything is good
Drove the truck out yesterday to the Minitruck Revival Neptunes Net cruise. Didnt do the whole cruise with everyone just met up at the last spot they hit. Truck did good with the W58 and driveshaft repair, even my wife said it felt better on the highway portion we had to drive. Didnt take many pictures, and my introverted way of being took over and i didnt socialize much. oh well
Shifting focus after all. I have a 5.3 i was going to shove in this thing BUT after a lot of thinking and math-ing im going to sell it and just run it as is for a while. going to focus more on V8 swapping my OBS so i can eventually tow the Hilux to events. When that time comes i'll more than likely rebuild and swap the 4.3 into the Hilux. Smaller package to fit and realistically 200-300hp will be plenty plus that engine will carry the sentimental value