Yes the engine parts in the passenger seat were obviously installed by an expert to balance the vehicle for tight cornering.
It's just a Tonka truck. I debated on getting a UTV wheeler or a street legal 4X4. As you can see, it's not a camo clad bug-out vehicle. It's got a new engine, new Weber carb and TrailGear 6.5 tcase mod. Other than that, it's pretty much stock without a smidgeon of rust or dents on the body and chassis. It's been sitting for many, many months so a couple oil seals (trans) have begun leaking so that's the first priority. It's not built for speed or comfort. But man! It's fun to play with. I plan on getting a winch put on it soon. I needed something to wrench on because I'm tired of all work and no play. I could have bought a UTV for 7-12 grand, but went with this for 4.
There's a lot of tinker value in that little truck. I had a hard time finding one in this shape let alone one that wasn't mickey-rigged. The 1.3 is a fresh rebuild, it is completely de-smogged with a 32/36 Weber downdraft kit. This county doesn't require I&M certs for registration. There isn't a single spot of rust on that body or frame and the interior is basically a blank slate ready for my personal mods. At 4 grand, I sometimes think I gave too much for it. Then....I take it up into the mud and rocks and come back not feeling that way at all.
Santa Claus has been leaving goodies at my front door! My fender flares showed up a couple days after ordering them. Yesterday there was a 91 pound package with my winch in it. The C3 bumper won't be here until the first part of January though. I may wait until then to install the Bushwhacker pocket style fender flares. That way I can cut the fronts to better match the contours of the bumper. I put a manual choke kit in because I want everything to be hands on and manual. Yesterday I removed the seats and made templates of the floors and cut mats out of 1/2" thick rubber stall mats, then removed, sanded and repainted the grill. Fuckit! I got bored and installed the bushwhackers a few minutes ago. yay....not as much mud to clean off the top of the soft top!
Never was a fan of those bushwacker flares. I liked it better with the factory ones. To each his own.
The tires exceed the width of the stocks by 3 inches. I was warned about getting ticketed by a cop. Mud flaps would have looked dorky. The bumper gets here in a couple weeks. I hope the weight of the bumper and winch doesn't fuck with the 1.3 stocker too much. It's not built for speed at all.
Newest additions: next up: I got a Mighty Kong II T-case mount to install then it's on to rebuild the knuckles. I'm not sure if the fronts are stock 22 spline or have been modified. I'll find out when I pull the axles for the knuckle rebuild. If they are stock, I'll be going with a set of 26 spline Double Tough gen V front axles and perhaps some YJ springs.
Cool bumper/winch. Still not digging the flares though. You have a great tire width/diameter (and even wheel size) and they look great on the Sammy but those flares just make them look awkward and small (which they are not). Personally, I'd go back to the stock flares and paint them/bed-liner them black. Mo Bettah! No... bettah...
Function over form. It does make the tire look smaller. I don't think I'd go with any tire size larger than what's on it (33x10.5X15). I've got bump steer enough with the 33's. Those problems are on the list for a fix. I was leaning towards a bolt-on pan hard bar that Low Range Offroad sells. The SPOA lift has a highsteer kit, but it doesn't solve all the lateral movement. A rag joint eliminator is also on the list. One of the major reasons for the over wide flares is for brush deflection. BLM has let all the old roads overgrow and there are lots of them that go to really awesome places. this is also why I had Trail Tough build me a bumper with the fender guards. They cranked that bumper out and had it back from powder-coat in less than a week. Whereas, Calmini took over 6 weeks to even get one on the pallet to powder-coat. I canceled with Calmini and went with my 2nd choice of this TT bumper. I didn't have to fork over 110 bucks for shipping either, Trail Tough is only 30 miles away in Medford. I'm actually glad I went this route when I consider the weight difference. The winch and Calmini bumper would have added 200 pounds to the front, where the TT bumper and winch only adds 150. With the stock 1.3, every pound counts. I'm in the market for some good synthetic rope. That'll shave a good 40 pounds off the winch. That winch is a real POS, but it'll work for the time being. I can't justify throwing a 1300 dollar Warn on there right now with all the other priority fixes/enhancements that I want to do.
Custom Splice makes great syn rope. http://www.customsplice.com/?gclid=...RKTV14wNaK3zkPsfLnfDQlACT2FNXPsRoYaAi7p8P8HAQ
It's the only way to go man. It's light, easier to deal with and doesn't rust/corrode. Ever get a metal sliver in your hand from a frayed winch or choker cable? It sux! I will definitely check out that link.
Been playing around with the Tonka Toy. With the addition of a winch, I had to upgrade the whole electrical system. The stock wimp of an alternator was only a 34 amp POS unit. I crammed a GM 74 amp unit in and a dual battery system to boot! That Optima bat barely fit! Then I had enough juice for the rest of the electronic stuff. I built a diamond plate radio box because the stock one was missing and I didn't want to spend 50 bucks for a cheap pile of plastic OEM one. I hung the CB out of the way. Next, it's on to replace the front shackles and bushings. The ones on there now are some home made junk and the bushings are disintegrated. Then, weather permitting, I'll pull the transfer case and install the Mighty kong II monster mount/skid plate. It's sitting on the bench just waiting. After pulling the drive shafts, I may go ahead and replace all the U-joints while I have them off.
I went way past simply replacing the bushings and shackles. I ended up completely having the front and back suspensions rebuilt with new bonz-eye springs, shocks, spring perches, shock towers, lower shock mounts, bone shackles and new bushings all the way around. Before: After: I got the MK II T case mount/skid plate in: and...while I was spending bucks, decided to slap in a Doug Thorley header and 2" Magnaflow exhaust system: Overall, the lift is now 2" taller. I'm not real excited about that. But my articulation ability is close to 150% better now. Overall, it's been a good project. But with the increased drive line angles, all the faults in the trans and T case are raring their ugly head. Currently there are plans to go down to a 4.16:1 rather than this 6.4:1 case that's in there now. Rock crawling gears are not what I need, but I want something lower than stock.
Yes, I believe they do for toyotas. https://www.marlincrawler.com/transfer-case/dual-adapters/dual-case-kit-mc07-xd Yota cases are a lot beefier than the zuk case too. Just have to adapt them to the frame and use yota fronts and rears (which is a good mod anyhow). I'll never have a trail slayer like Zukamole, but the same builder is helping me build mine. http://www.trailtough.com/index.php...ail-slayer-project&catid=34:techbul&Itemid=58 Now that is one hot Zuk !!!! Brent says the t case in mine is a 6.5. I trust his judgement. So I'll go up a notch to a 6.4. The high gear reduction on the 6.5 is 20% whereas the 6.4 is 17%. That's only 1% lower than the 4.9. Mike over at trail Tough is going to build it for me next Wednesday. I'm busier than a one legged man in an ass kicking contest and my shop is a mess, so I'll farm out the rebuild. I should have this back for a reinstall next Friday and some trails on Saturday. (MK II still attached) Brent's buggy is pretty awesome, has won tons of awards. I don't hesitate to pick his brain:
Yes. I'd love to slap one of those in. Propane conversions are on the rise too. Took the Tcase over to Trail Tough yesterday. Damn! It's going to take up to a week to get it back. If I weren't so busy, I'd do the rebuild myself. But just taking time to clean my shop would cost me more in time than the cost of having Mike@TT do the job. I'm going from a 6.5 up in gears to a 6.4 at a cost of $869. I may have to invest in a set of 1" or even 2" extended slip yokes to counter the added lift and angle of the drive shafts. another, more expensive fix would be the 45 degree CV shafts. right now, Brent @TT has installed a pair of 1" spacer rings on the shafts which further increases the angle but gives me the splines I need.
Well, I talked to Brent ( @Trail Tough)yesterday. He and Mike tore the T case down and it was in "perfectly new" condition. Both of us were wrong about the gearing. It's a 4.9:1 and not a 6.5:1. The only other thing that can be torn up is the trans. It looks like I'm pulling the 5 speed out this Saturday and taking it in as a core. A rebuilt is $695 and after a new clutch/pressure plate and TO bearing the cost will be about the same as a rebuilt T case, give or take a hundred bucks depending on which clutch I opt for.
