Gert's New Legs

[Gerty]

Hello all. New member here and thought I'd post a thread for my upcoming axle upgrade on my truck, Gert. Gert is a 1990 Toyota Pickup currently on leaf springs at all four corners, has a stock rear axle with a Spartan locker and the front axle housing is out of a 1985 4Runner, has an FJ80 HP third, and IFS outers with an ARB. Axles run 5.29 gears, truck has an exo cage, dual cases, running 38" Patagonias on 17" Raceline true beadlocks, driveshafts from Tom Woods, and a front winch. Stock 22RE and 5-speed manual trans.



I am endeavoring on a significant front and rear axle upgrade that will take place in either the spring (if I end up not going to Cruise Moab) or in the fall (if I do end up going to Cruise Moab). Here's what I'm swapping in:



- Housings are from Trail Gear, 3.5" tubes.

- Third members will both be high pinion 10" reverse rotation from Gear Works, built by Evan Weller Racing.

- Gears are going to be REM polished 5.43s.

- Going to run spool rear and Detroit front (it's a rarely streeted crawler).

- Inner Cs, knuckles, unit bearings, Wilwood brakes, etc. are all from Trail Gear.

- I'll run Yukon hubs in the front and TG drive flanges in the rear. All shafts will be 35 spline.

- Front axle shafts will be 4340 chromo, Yukon Super Joints, and yokes will be machined to provide 50-degree steering. Rear shafts will be 300m.

- Upper ball joint eliminators from Busted Knuckle Offroad.

- I'm not totally settled on axle width yet but I'm thinking something like 68 or 70 inches for both front and rear.



For the time being, I'm going to keep it on leafs but I will absolutely be linking it at some point using 4wheel Undergound's system, and probably be going to 40" stickies but this won't be for another year or two.



My posts and updates will be slow and intermittent to begin with since my third members won't get here until February (at best) but I do have housings to cut to length and build out in the meantime. I will certainly reply to any posts and messages on a regular basis, however. And if there's no interest, totally fine 🙂. Just thought I'd post in case it motivates or helps anyone.

 

[J Kimmel]

Sounds great!

 

[Gerty]

Thanks JK! I perused your rock lizard thread after I posted. Cool friggin' project. I see that type of vehicle as my next step many years down the road. Great, fun build you have on your hands. Looking forward to meeting however and whenever!

 

[Gerty]

Made a little bit of progress getting everything out of the boxes and assembled (will completely disassemble and paint, but need to do this for mock up obviously).



I got some upper ball joint eliminators from Busted Knuckle and need to hone out a couple of the bungs before i can put that large shoulder bolt in. I love this system but my goodness is it incredibly tedious to install.



I really can't do much more until my third members get here and Evan Weller now tells me that end of February is best case, and that's assuming they get the ring and pinion sets in that they're expecting (apparently R&Ps and anything related to coilovers Is very hard to get in the industry right now). So if I see my thirds by even the end of March I'll be surprised. Aside from the thirds, the only things I can do is cut the housings to length and install my locking hubs (those should be in any day).

I also noticed that TrailGear did not ship the rear unit bearing pockets that weld to the axle (and which the unit bearings bolt to) when they shipped my large tranche of parts, so I've reached out letting them know.

Mostly waiting games now but I'll continue to post intermittently over the next few months.

 

[J Kimmel]

I’d get ball joints in, housings cut and knuckles on so you can measure and order shafts so they arrive when your thirds get there.

 

[Gerty]

Yeah I've been thinking about that a lot lately, and will definitely do so. I was just mildly hesitant about cutting tubes before my thirds got here (for axle shaft measurement accuracy) but I found this template that Ruff Stuff sells that you bolt onto the housing and helps you measure for shafts. Right now I just need to hone those damn ball joint eliminator sleeves so that I can actually bolt the Cs to the knuckles (just ordered a hone for a drill).

 

[Gerty]

Alright so I haven't provided any updates (because there really aren't any). I'm STILL waiting on my third members. Evan Weller Racing told me on Monday that they're still waiting on the cases from Gearworks and the gears from US Gear. They told my that US Gear "finally started making gears again" (no idea what that means) but if the thirds get here even in another two months, I'd be shocked.

So to that end, I'm gonna get the tubes on the housings cut this weekend and tack on the inner Cs and the rear unit bearing pockets. I'll post some after pics for those interested, this weekend. That will allow me to get my front and rear axle shafts on order. Then, once the thirds get in, I'll just need driveshafts, steering ram, and steering links.

My wish was to get this done before Cruise Moab but no way that's happening at this point unfortunately, so I'll just bring Gert as-is.

I'll tell you though, while I love Busted Knuckle's ball joint eliminators, my goodness were those a chore. Had to hone the hell out of them.

Also, for what it's worth, I have had a TERRIBLE time with Trail Gear and their customer service. They shipped multiple wrong parts to me when they shipped me the very expensive roller axle kits I ordered. More to explain than I care to get into and while I'm not one to trash companies, it has been a GIANT struggle with them and I will not buy anything from the again, unfortunately.

What do you guys think about axle shafts? I'm going Branik or Spider but first need to decide if I go 300m or 4340. Spider only sells 300m to my knowledge and I just don't see 300m being worth the money for my rig (38s, very little engine power, light rig, low low gearing). Interested your thoughts.

 

[J Kimmel]

Couple of thoughts….

I did branik shafts. Outers were in stock and inners shouldn’t take long. Mine is all 4340, 300m is marginally stronger in 40 spline and way more expensive. I also never broke 4340 with what I had prior. I ordered 4340 inners on Tuesday and they told me about a week. Anecdotally I know friends that have waited 6 months for 300m.
I went with low piñon third members because they should be as strong as the 60 stuff I ran before and I can always upgrade to 10” later. Unless you have something funky going on you don’t NEED high pinion, you just want it. The 35-40 spline 9” stuff is generally on the shelf, I had mine built before my housings arrived.
And yes the ball joint eliminators were very difficult

I welded out probably 70% of my housings on Tuesday, I’ll finish them next week. I should be up and running in a couple of weeks. Not doing 10’s and I can get from ordering parts to driving in 4 months working a couple nights a week 👍

 

[Gerty]

Really appreciate you as a continued resource, J Kimmel. I agree. I'm 90% going to go with 4340 and if the lead time is months long on 300m, then I'm 100% going with 4340.

And yeah, for sure I splurged on my thirds. Definitely didn't need high pinions but I also wanted something that I never have to worry about and will never have to buy again. They are definitely the Cadillac of my whole upgrade but you're spot on, WAY less off the shelf availability which I'm experiencing by way of lead times as we speak. Are you going to Cruise Moab?

 

[J Kimmel]

I’ll likely be there. Didn’t get registered however I took my daughter to ski school instead of registration and I don’t pass tech 😉

 

[ScaldedDog]

How did I miss this thread? Post more pics!

Since your project is going to be delayed, might you link it "now" instead of later? Not trying to spend your money, but 4WUs lead times can be long, too. Terrific stuff, though.

Mark

 

[Gerty]

If I decide to link, I'd only do the front for now and yes, will certainly go with 4WU (best out there). But the rear is gonna be an undertaking since I plan to back half it, re-cage, and get a new fuel tank. I know I could 3 link the rear, but I want to double triangulate. Definitely more pick coming this weekend.

 

[ScaldedDog]

That makes sense, and is what I did to mine. The front is nice and low, so I frenched the rear hangers and removed some leaves to get it down as much as I could. I'll be interested in your tank/4-link solution over time.

Mark

 

[J Kimmel]

That makes sense, and is what I did to mine. The front is nice and low, so I frenched the rear hangers and removed some leaves to get it down as much as I could. I'll be interested in your tank/4-link solution over time.

Mark

Fuel cell

 

[Gerty]

Yep. Even if I stay leafs all around, I am absolutely removing leafs, lowest profile leaf mounts possible, and potentially even frenching.

 

[Gerty]

Well I was only able to get the front done today but that's fine because it was a good day. Got all the mill scale off and, for now, only tacked the Cs. WMS to WMS is 69". I was shooting for 69.25 (which is stock super duty) but close enough. This. Thing. Is . WIDE. Can't wait for the thirds to get here. Drive shaft angle on my truck currently is 12.6 degrees and caster angle is 6 degrees so I flat-faced the diff face at 18 degrees and tacked. Meaning I will have a 6 degree caster and a 12 degree driveshaft angle.

Also, got my 4 piston Wilwood brakes mocked but I will probably be going 6 piston front and 4 piston rear - curious if any of you have opinions of 4 piston front.

 

[J Kimmel]

Looks great

I’m using the ultralight wilwood kit from busted knuckle

Pay attention to the math on their site. I went from 1” masters to 5/8” masters because I have a 6:1 pedal and cannot fit the recommended 9:1

 

[Gerty]

Are you using power assist brakes or manual brakes? I'm getting out of my league here but I've heard ratios are only important with manual brakes, not powerboost brakes.

 

[J Kimmel]

Manual

 

[Gerty]

Got it, that makes sense. I'll be there some day! 😀