finally started my mods for my expedition truck

[toyrunner95]

ok so i bought my 84 toyota pickup a while ago, and it had a few issues. like the bed, some of the wireing, how things were set up under the hood. just a bunch of stuff.
its taken me 3 years to sort through all that stuff and i think i finally got what i can taken care of. SO ill tell the stroy as i go.

well since im actually making money this year, me being a college student and all, i finally have some spending cash to put into the truck.

this weekend i decided to make an overhead CB mount which was actually really easy. its just a piece of flatbar with bent ends to match the coutour of the roof. i dont have any upholstry so the install is really simple, however i believe that this same idea could be used with the interior still inside. you would just have to be a little more careful. after i bent the bar in a vice i drilled a couple holes in each end to attach it to the roof. as for the CB i welded on a little wing or fin or whatever you want to call it for the bracket to mout to, this placed the flat bar to the right of the dome light and the cb right above the mirror.

the next move was to finish the bed i had made last year. i used a fluxcore welder and i didnt really take the time to pretty up the welds, this year i bought a lincoln 135 gas wirefeed welder and WOW are that thing slick. the welds are almost perfect and alot stronger.

lastly i got to work on new tires. i originally had 35x14.50 super swampers. they are great if you dont mind paying for tires every year. the tread is really soft and has a tendancy to "chunk". so i called up four wheel parts and found some BFG 35x12.50. skinnier yes but they helped my steering greatly. with the 14s i had the turning radius of an aircraft carrier. it was terrible.

speaking of steering i finally got around to finishing my U bolt flip kit. the rear i had done but the front never got finished. so i went about taking all of the u bolts off and painting the plates, something i neglected to do last year due to time constraints. However; when i got the the driver side front i encountered a problem. the u bolt hits my crappy old j arm steering.... situation. so i finished up the passanger side and decided that i am going to put a hysteer kit on it anyway later this year (hopefully) so i will just put on the old u bolt plate for time sake and hassels.

thats it for day one of memorial day weekend, stay tuned for day two!

[toyrunner95]

heres the pics

[toyrunner95]

and the last two

[Willman]

Very nice!

I have always wanted one of those rigs....but in a 4Runner with a 22RE.

Keep up the great work!

:Mechanic:

I would love to see a future mod list for your rig!

:chowtime:

[Dirty Harry]

lastly i got to work on new tires. i originally had 35x14.50 super swampers. they are great if you dont mind paying for tires every year. the tread is really soft and has a tendancy to "chunk". so i called up four wheel parts and found some BFG 35x12.50. skinnier yes but they helped my steering greatly. with the 14s i had the turning radius of an aircraft carrier. it was terrible.

Why was the turning radius affected? Were the old tires getting in to the frame before full lock?



speaking of steering i finally got around to finishing my U bolt flip kit. the rear i had done but the front never got finished. so i went about taking all of the u bolts off and painting the plates, something i neglected to do last year due to time constraints. However; when i got the the driver side front i encountered a problem. the u bolt hits my crappy old j arm steering.... situation. so i finished up the passanger side and decided that i am going to put a hysteer kit on it anyway later this year (hopefully) so i will just put on the old u bolt plate for time sake and hassels.


This is a common problem, so don't feel alone. Another great reason to add high steer though! The truck looks like it is coming along great, keep up the good work. :Mechanic:

[Kevinj110]

neat :shakin:

[toyrunner95]

yeah the 14s were hitting the springs, and now so do the 12.50s however, ive been doing some testing and found that the tie rod is twisted like a pretzel and i cant fix it short of putting in a new one and if im going to do that i might as well swap in the hysteer. im working on getting a hysteer kit and i have the IFS box already. the ultimate goal here is to get a newer truck and use this one as, for lack of a better term "test truck", learn to weld decently, learn how things work, how to fix problems that arise without having to depend on it as a daily driver. also i would get a newer truck, like a 94 or 95 with a 22re as opposed to my 22r, both good motors but i like fuel injection. also the frame is pretty messed up so it would be a better idea so get something a little cleaner to work with. also all the parts and pieces i have now will swap onto the new vehicle.

this brings me to my next point, money, something i lack at the moment. any one want to make donations to the "help joe buy a newer expedition platform!" fund it would be greatly appreciated. :26_16_2:

ps. a mod list would be very long but some of the highlights, snorkle, bed drawers, tire carrier, secondary fuel tank, fix the eletrical systems so they are cleaner (theres alot of jawa sandcrawler jury rigged mods, like 110v house wire for the tail lights) it was definatly a trail rig and the guy didnt care about the truck at all.

[p1michaud]

Well it looks like you are off to a good start. Building rigs takes time so be patient and you should be happy with the result.
Great updates.
Cheers,
P

[toyrunner95]

well i got my tail lights done, suprisingly. made 3 runs to schucks, 2 to ace hardware, and one to the gas station. whew. BUT i prevailed against all the odds of nature. i do tihnk that i may have to replace all of them with LEDs however because i used marker lights instead of actual tail lights, this means that the break light isnt brighter its just another light. so on the techinical legal side of things im ok, but for saftey i would like them to be brighter. any suggestions? i will post pics later tonight. i still have to take them.

[Kevinj110]

i wouldnt worry about it alot of cars have tail lights that arent brighter just another light heck i know a few cars with a 6 volt single tail light never a problem. Just run it man.

[toyrunner95]

yeah i figure i will, the running lights and brake lights are different lights all together, so there is enough change in the light pattern for people to recognize that im stopping

[ZooJunkie]

Nice work Joe. I miss my 22re in my 85 PU.

[toyrunner95]

i wish i had a 22re, its a 22r, with an ill fated cauburator. still figurating on how im going to get a snorkle to fit an aftermarket carburator. i think i may create a box with a hole and use a vacume hose to connect the two. i dunno yet, i have to get the snorkle first.

[big sky trapper]

Are you running a weber??? I seen in a qudra tech jeep cat the other day, from weber a closed airbox adapter to fit a snorkel to weber....might give a look then the rest is pretty easy, the safari kit is pretty plain for these trucks. and you have to fab your own connections anyway. im still running the toy carb and just keep it adj so still have the original airbox which makes thing a little easier and cheaper in the end. heres how mine ended up for now...http://expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4917&page=4

and the weber linky...http://www.webercarburetors.com/ppw/html/aplication_guide/dgv_snorkle.htm

Have you decided on the bed configuration yet???

[toyrunner95]

well the configuration depends on the snorkel, i think on an 84 22r the snorkel is on the passanger side not the driver. BUT i am not sure, not even ARB usa can get me a schematic for the thing, and i talked to them in person. but the guy i talked to was pretty distracted. i would think that its passanger, but if its driver it may take a little more thought.

if any one has a 22R and a snorkel please give me a pic or tell me what side the snorkel is on.

[big sky trapper]

hmmm mines an 84/22R and its on the drivers side, with the original air box inlet just under the driverside head light, see above i linked my install post with a few pics. for a schematic www.4x4connection.com has one posted as well for the 84-88's. if you need I can scan my install instruction sheets from arb and post them tommorrow night. But they are identical to whats on 4x4 con site....

[toyrunner95]

CRAP!!!! i have to figure out how to make a box, and a transfer pipe to fit to the snorkel should i go around the front of the motor or around the back with some square pvc pipe.

O i forgot to tell you, i dont have a stock airbox, i have an edelbrock air intake, which means that i have a couple holes in the top of my carburator with some valves or something on the top. when i move the little round flaps the motor gets louder so im still trying to figure out what that thing is for. i think it has something to do with the air and gas, took my eyebrows off once!













BTW that was sarchasm.

[big sky trapper]

can you post a pic under your hood so we can see exactly what ya got under there...and where...makes mocking up a lot easier...

[toyrunner95]

yeah give me a couple days, i have to go fetch it from the back forty.

[toyrunner95]

ok well i have been fiddeling around with my truck and have made a few small steps; and a couple major setbacks. FIRST the forward progress.

i remounted my axe and shovel mounts to the hood so they are off the sides and out of the way,

the second thing i did was remount my front licence plate with maglight clips to the fairlead. it works pretty well and i used some extra wire as a teather just in case.

the set back i encountered, that i dont have pictures of, is that my t case has a crack in the housing, i know i was thrilled to find this out too.

O and here are the pics of my motor, so you can see the carb that im working with.

[Kevinj110]

weld a box up and cut the funny webber shape outta the bottom and weld a pipe onto the drivers side of it make it flat if ya have to and wrap it in header wrap so it doesnt get too hot and get some bends in to make it work for the one arb has.

[big sky trapper]

Yup thats the weber I linked above to. You can weld a box...but its a lot of tin work to get it to seal right. I had a jeep wrangler many years ago, and in the end I just purchased the adapter box. It will still maintain your filter and sits high enough that you will be able to run 2" muffler pipe almost a straight shot to the fender across to the drivers side. with out any flatning of the tube. You will still have to relocate the voltage regulator and the coil off one bolt hole then drill anew for the now missing ones.

From memory...the adadpter box will only go on one way, so making a pass side inlet wont work with out lots of butchery to the adapter.

An alternative for about half the price and will look just about as clean install is locate your fender opening and run down to the local muffler shop and have them bend you the pipe to fit the contours of the fender and windsheild. (should run about 30 bucks for 10' stick and a few bucks for the bending. ) then just order the snorkel head from ARB. I did this for a freind with a Ranger that turned out pretty good Even copied the inlet head as well out of sheet metal. I'll see if I can get some pics on the way to work this eve if your interested. to mount to the body I welded some tabs along the lower section and one on the upper and self tapping screwed it to the body, done.

There are also several examples over on yotatech as well some are very nicely done too and some extreamly poorly ones as well, but....

[toyrunner95]

could you link me to a few, i looked but couldent find anything, i plan on making the bedsides this weekend and maybe the tire carrier, ill put up pics

[toyrunner95]

well i got some more accomplished this weekend, i sure hope GOD doesnt take offence to me all workin on sunday and whatnot. anyway, i went down to my local steele reamer and got the sheet metal for my bed, so far so good, but wow do i have quite a bit of work to do. two of the seven pieces that i got were cut correctly, the wings where too big by an inch, the sides were too tall by an inch and a half, and the deck is short by an inch. UGGG!!! there are gaps all over the place because i couldent get the metal to fit right over the original welds without grinding them compleatly off.... just a long series of WHAT THE?!s and god *&#@%, and a few other choice words. long story short after $200 and a lot of cursing, not to mention a few burns, i finlly got it stuck together.

however i did get some good news, today, i called up bedrug and tried to find out if i could get a custom bed reg made, turns out that i can get the stuff for $9.00 a linear foot, so i think i can do my bed for about $50
now for better news, at work we are doing an invintory which means that all the things that we arent "supposed" to have, like discontinued things that we have one left and supposed to have zero. so i was digging around checking numbers and whatnot and i came accross a hard top roof carrier, asked the boss, i got a free one! so now i have a place to put all my clothes and things and keep them dry and out of harms way. i will show you the ideas later, hopefully sooner.

tell me what u think

joe

[toyrunner95]

heres the pics

[toyrunner95]

MORE MODS!!!

ok i got to work today on my tirecarrier, scott tell the guys at domello that they have a good design, i copied it as best as i could and wow its alot stronger than i thought. im going to start on my tailgate tomorrow, i have all the stuff for the most part i just need to put it all together, hopefully some paint too.

tell me what you think!

[toyrunner95]

well i got to paint yesterday and now i have something that appears to be an expedition truck. so far i think i have done a decent job of creating a expedition truck from literally next to nothing. i wish i could have painted the actual truck though, its just an ugly looking beast. but for the most part it gets the job done. im still leery of the mechanics of the truck, i havent had a problem that i couldent quickly diagnose and fix within a day. but im still cautious about driving it long distances. that will come with time, it needs to earn my trust.

anyway here are some of the last modification pictures i hope you enjoyed it so far!

[toyrunner95]

well i got some bad news today from my parents, the tree that my car was parked under needed to come down so my dad had to move the truck, no biggi right? wrong! i dont know what happened but my dad said he heard a noise, then a clunk, then a bang, and now it wont go. it runns and you can feel the clutch engage the tranny but i think my t-case gave up the ghost. it was acting funny the last time i drove it and i found a crack in the housing before i left. SOOOOO with the 22r on the way out, the frame all tweaked, and other numerous things that need work, i have decided that i am going to buy a newer truck. probably a 95ish toyota pickup. i already have the parts for an SAS and the tires that fit and all that jazz so im thinking im going to use it as a parts truck then scrap it.

[flyingwil]

That sucks... just as it was starting to take shape. Keep us posted on your findings.

[toyrunner95]

its not really BAD news, its more of something i can guilt trip my parents into helping me buy something hehehehe jk. so anyway, yeah i can fix it or buy another one for the same price. we will see what happens, im a senior in college so hopefully i will be out of here soon and can work on my truck for more than 3 months at a time.

[devinsixtyseven]

Bummer...it was looking good, too.

Gonna reuse the bed etc.? It looks like a nice piece. I like how since you made the bed yourself you were able to link the upper hinge for the carrier to the skeleton of the bed...it's much stronger than a single hinge or linking to the sheetmetal on a stock bed.

[toyrunner95]

the bumper is actually independant frome the bed, the "towers" are connected to the bumper mounts on the frame. the bumper itslef is held on by 4 bolts, i dont have the pics on this laptop but if you look back i think you can see how it works.

i dont know if im going to use the old bed, its a good bed, fairly lightweight, but a normal bed might work better for a while, at least till i crumple the crap out of it. the bumper will probably be sold, it wont fit on another truck i dont think without some modification. espically with a stock bed, its rather narrow. HOWEVER i may take it apart and re use the hinges, they were rather expensive. we will see what happens.

[toyrunner95]

well i resurected the old beast. turns out that the something something valve with the clutch went out so i stole one off a motor at my friends house and now shes back in the game.

ive been working on a bunch of little things since i got home. now that i am out of college and jobless i have some time to actually get some projects done that i didnt get a chance to finish over the past few years.

one thing is the rear drawer. i needed something to keep my recovery gear in that is secured. i had a box and some drawer sliders so i used my noggin and put the two together. its not perfect but it will work.

i also made a huge improvement and painted the truck. now its 2 colors instead of 4! yay.

next up is the light bar, centerconsole mounts, shifter boot, and a bunch of other stuff.


it wont post pics apparently. grrr.

[toyrunner95]

After searching for a week I finally found someone that sells Jeep style fenders in my area. Hopefully this weekend I will be able to weld them on and give the truck a more finished look. Also this weekend I plan to get the center console mounted, the battery tray finished, and the inverter installed with a secondary outlet. If things go to plan. They usually don't so I keep having to change my plans. I will keep the few of you reading this posted!

[toyrunner95]

I got alot done today. 4 things that had been bugging me to no end, I finally got done.

1. I got the fenders on and I think I did them right. I flexed out the axel and it didn't hit. So i think im good there. They don't look quite as good as i thought they would. But i think some paint and a little TLC will make it look that much better.

2. I got the center console brackets done and mounted, it looks really good in the cab now. Once i get the laptop mount in I think it will make things much more useable. The only problem is that the front of the console needs to be mounted better, it still moves a little bit. Also the stick hits it a bit, so i may have to bend the shifter a little bit.

3. I got a new shifter boot installed so I dont smell exhaust anymore, and i repainted the interior housing thing around it so it looks much better. The old leather thing was ratty and torn and it looked really bad.

4. I got the secondary battery tray fabricated and in, finally the battery is solidly mounted.

I will take pics tomorrow and save them for when I can post them. There will probably have a couple big poastings of pics.

Next on the list is the rear table for cooking, clean up the bed and bumper a bit. Add some paint. Make the rear cage. Get a RTT. Do alot of axel work. Etc etc. The list keeps growing.

[toyrunner95]

Pics: I will take more this evening of the interior with the new shifter boot and center console. Today i also replaced the brake lights with LEDs i was afraid that there wasn't enough of a difference between the running lights and the brake lights. Hopefully this will work out better.

[toyrunner95]

I got more done on the truck. I finished the swing out table. It works slick. I chose the strap instead of a chain or cable because A) I wanted to cut down the noise, and B) I had it in my garage.

I wish the manage attachment thread would worked. It's alot easier. Anyway; I also decided against the overhead rack on the truck bed mainly because I feel that the tent was too high and made the truck top heavy. I could use it as a back up plan if I need more space, but as it sits now i can fit a cooler (replaced by fridge later), my food box for dry goods (probably a zargs), and the chuck box on the back. So its comming along.

http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj2/faithwheelers/build%20up/mauf009.jpg
http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj2/faithwheelers/build%20up/mauf012.jpg
http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj2/faithwheelers/build%20up/mauf013.jpg
http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj2/faithwheelers/build%20up/mauf014.jpg

[toyrunner95]

I am constantly on the look out for new ideas, I have compiled a list of things that i want to use on my truck. Some are just little ideas others are bigger more complicated ideas. Realistically I just look around on the internet for cool trucks.

here are a couple pics of my truck and some others that I like the ideas behind.

[Exrunner]

wait...that red 84-85 is yours?

[toyrunner95]

No my truck is the tan one above, the red 85 4runner is 4wd and sportutility magazines, 300k project from a loooong time ago. i wish it was mine.

[Exrunner]

ya ok, thats what I thought...I was confused. You said here are some pics of my truck and others I like so I thought the red one might be yours. I followed that buildup of the red Yota very closely in the magazine...I LOVED it. There are plenty of good ideas in that truck alone...Keep up the good work. Love your truck.

[toyrunner95]

I actually saved all the articles and made a notebook out of them. they are actually great refrence for a vehicle of that era.

I was going to post a pic of my truck, but the thing wouldent let me post again.

[toyrunner95]

After reading the articles on Expedition Xtarras build (I think thats him, the guy with the badass xterra and all the antennas) he used the center console out of a cop car for all his gadgets and gizmoes. Well I happen to know people and I picked up one for free. So after tinkering with it for a little while and spending 20 bucks on disks for my dremel i think i have a pretty good start to the interior of my truck.

My goals were to have something that is compleatly removable fairly quickly for a couple reasons. 1. So I can work on it and replace things in the garage instead of in the truck. 2. Be able to take the whole unit out and bolt it into another truck. If I'm going to do all this work and make it look nice I might as well keep it around for a while.

So after searching and searching on google and photobucket I came up with nothing useful. Alot of it looked like hack work or something that an amature mashed together. After thinking and thinking my dad happened to pull out a picture of his old work Jeep. It was a 96 cherokee and he made a cutom console for it. I looked at it and then it hit me. Fire Command Vehicles! I remember as a kid going on forest fire calls with my dad because he was an investigator. He had this awsome setup to hold all his gear and all his work stuff! I googled it and it brought up all sorts of nifty things! Rear cargo setups, center consoles with intigrated computers and miltiple radios. Major eletrical work that looked super snazzy! And my favorit thing of all, an antire workstation with satelite hook ups, printer, dual moniters, the works!

Anyway, the reason I am sharing this is because I thought it would give anothe point of view and search location for ideas! I will take some pics soon of the console work i have done and put them up.

Here is a link to a bunch of storage solutions.
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.specialtywarningsystems.com/images/Command%2520Storage%2520Cabinets/Pics/DFD_Car_30_cabinet_2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.specialtywarningsystems.com/Command%2520Storage%2520Cabinets/CommandStorage.htm&usg=__GwIW80QFpFGx6C7J5NGzjJnUGv0=&h=375&w=500&sz=153&hl=en&start=68&sig2=AAGD_p5YQADyWOfJbWF38Q&um=1&tbnid=_weI6WFs9IvjCM:&tbnh=98&tbnw=130&ei=u1OLSdW3Mo6qsAOBpNSJCQ&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dfire%2Bcommand%2Bvehicle%2Bstorage%26 start%3D54%26ndsp%3D18%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3 Doff%26rlz%3D1T4GFRD_enUS311US290%26sa%3DN

[toyrunner95]

Here is the progress on the console. When i got it, it was pretty much blank. It had one plate that was just blank, and a bunch of glue like goober plastered all over it. So after a little cleaning and a few days with a dremel and a cut off wheel here is what I came up with. Its not finished yet. I still need to do the arm rests and the second mount for the 2m radio, as well as some more switch holes, but this is what its going to look like. Im stoked.