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'85 4x4


ClumsyBird

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No man can eat fifty eggs

 

You would be surprised what a person can eat if they workout 3/4 hours a day 4 days a week and have an 8 hour job 5 days a week also.

People would start staring at me after I downed my my second heaping full plate at the Mongolian Grill and was heading back for my third or even my forth plate, I loved that place, I would actually get full there, I only weighed around 150lbs back then.

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The way I'm thinking about going about this is, ripping the seats out (save the rails), ripping out any carpet or vinyl left, checking for any rust underneath the seats, if everything is okay then ill work on the cab bushings. I'm thinking of jacking the front of the cab up and off the bushings, and welding a plate or thicker sheet metal on each side of the floorpan, I'm doing two as to displace the weight more evenly. then I'll plasma cut some holes out for the cab bushing nut to sit on top of, and lower the cab onto the bushings. For the rest of the holes in the floor, I think ill just weld some 16 ga sheet metal on the top layer and cover everything with rust reformer and some rubberized undercoating. Once the cab ceases to have holes in the floor then I can go about finding that cab leak. I might even tear out the dash and try and fix the vents while I'm at it, its getting  a tad bit cold to be driving without the defroster... anybody see any problems with this plan?

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To really repair rust severe enough to be buckling you need to cut it completely out. Rust reformer type products only work on surface rust. So to really fix the problem first remove, then replace.

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Currently in the process of pulling my seats out and jacking the cab off of the bushings, i'm ordering a new blower motor, ignition cylinder, engine and transmission mounts, and accelerator cable all from rock auto (the first of many I fear), with the cab mostly disassembled and rock auto charging me over 40 dollars for shipping, it seems like a prime opportunity to get some replacement parts as she is a tried old truck (over 300k), any general advice on parts to get?

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Yeah looks like I'll be buying whole new control arms, 4x4 parts sell new ones that are 2 or 3 inches taller than stock, which would be nice for some bigger tires (31's), I'm going to keep my IFS as replacing it with SAS is way way way too complicated for a first build, after all I'm not the fabricating genius that lockleaf or poor-mans-720 is (see - tiny havok & 720 shenanigans). But I will be replacing the back axle as their is almost zero aftermarket support for the c200 rear diff that I have, and I dont really want to weld it, sounds like wagooner axles and mid 80's Toyota are good choices, And I'll just add a leaf to the back to the back to level it, depending on the axle, I may be able to keep my stock leaf springs right? 4x4 Parts also sells some steering stabilizers for my truck that sound pretty cool too

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Changing a control arm doesn't change the bushing, the bushing is what the control arm is connected to, I have never actually seen a bad/lose one myself.

What do you mean by a control arm is taller than stock?

They make drop spindles, do they make raise spindles for Datsun/Nissan 4wd trucks, you have a link, I never heard of such a thing, but I am not into 4X4s either.

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Those lift control arms aren't a waste. They allow you to maintain proper camber with 3 inches of lift. Without the lift control arms you are rocking like 6 degrees positive camber at that height.

 

I have a set on my truck. Well worth the proper camber.

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Anybody here have any experience on doing a rear axle swap? I'd rather not weld it for ride quality sake, having some sort of locker would be nice, but since there is like none for a c200 (any that exist are far too expensive, it seems its actually less expensive to get another axle and then buy a locker) I don't plan on driving it any time soon and I already have the damn thing torn apart and on jackstands, any recommendations or tips? I've heard a mid to late 80's toyota axle or a wagoneer axle works well. But I cant find any threads using the sites search feature, and using my search engine and including 'ratsun' doesn't yield much either, as most of the discussion is under a thread under a different name. Assume that I don't know anything, probably because I don't haha. Any advice from anybody is welcome, thanks!

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First your going to have to find an axle that has the gear ratio you have in your front, or at least it can be bought, next it would be nice to be six lugs as you already have them now, then you need to find one about the same width.

I thought this was going to be a beater 4X4, do you really need an LSD?

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Captain is correct. Wheel until you prove your equipment is inadequate. Just go with buddies and go prepared. If all you're doing is mountain roads, you can do tons with the factory equipment

You can do so much more than mountain roads with factory equipment, with a little driving skill these trucks are AMAZING. I can run circles around bigger trucks, if you can't go through a lot of times you can float right over the top or simple squeak around and through the trees. Absolutely would recommend locking hubs though. When you search for those make sure and get the right spline count.

 

 

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Still can't believe I made it out of there, thick clay mud. It was a 40 foot long mud hole, buddy dragged me the last 10 feet or so.

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Went up on two wheels here, but it rocked back.  :thumbup:

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Definitely will be taking the GoPro next time as it seems like I always miss the good shots.  :yawn:

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Fortunately mine came with manual locking hubs : ), Although to be completely honest, I had no clue what they were and I thought it came standard on 4x4's which is why I didn't mention it. I think maybe I've been too caught up on swaps and lifts and whatnot. You guys probably see this all the time, this is my first car I bought with my own money (I have a rear wheel drive Toyota that I use as a daily driver that mommy and daddy bought me (awww)) and the thought of planning a build is just so exciting, it seems I'm getting ahead of myself. And it doesn't help with all the build porn floating around here haha. Perhaps I need to focus on fixing body damage and hunting down battery gremlins (not my term, I forgot who coined that on here). I really am new to this kind of thing, which is hilarious considering I'm pursuing a degree in heavy equipment repair degree in a hick town. Most of my classmates are farm kids who grew up on this kind of thing, I grew up in a suburb of portland, I spent almost all of my academic career thinking I was going to be an accountant, once I figured out accounting sucks and alot of accountants are horribly, horribly depressed (see - Las Vegas shooting), I thought maybe I needed a career more tangible and manly (I mean whats more manly than a diesel truck? C'mon), so I picked a random program and moved. If you guys saw me you'd laugh, I have the glasses and the social anxiety, the whole nine yards. Not to mention I'm terribly uncoordinated, I have a degree in dropping things, henceforth the username. I stick out like a sore thumb haha, however I'm a fairly nice guy and most people take pity on me and decide to help me out once they see me struggle with a locknut for 15 minutes or put my tires on backwards. Once my newfound friends from school heard that I've never been "four wheelin" (something I would have never thought about doing back in Portland) they decided to give me a formal introduction. And although I did hit my head on both the roof and the dash several times, it was the most fun I've had in years. I had to get one. So after some research, I figured an 80's or 90's japanese truck would be my best bet in terms of reliability and cost of maintenance and aftermarket support. I saw how grossly overvalued most 22re's were as ones with over 200k would be listed for 6000+ dollars. However I had heard of Datsuns and early Nissans being praised for their similar build quality, and seeing that they were significantly less, I bought my truck. Which doesn't seem to be a bad little offroad/working rig for $700. Not to get personal on you guys, I just thought anybody who is reading would like some background on me and might serve as an explanation for me and some of my seemingly odd choices. For anybody who cares haha. 

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Those are some awesome pictures @captain720! And thanks for the advice guys, I really do take what you guys say to heart. Which will come apparent as my build comes together. I'll try and include as many photos as I can, knowing as you guys like photos. Hopefully I can provide you guys some sort of satisfaction seeing the build come together with inclusion of your ideas, or more likely entertain you guys with photos of my torched cab or snapped axle or something of the like. Maybe some good stories too (Mr. Dum Dum anybody? -720inolywa) 

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Nothing wrong with a little build excitement. Every single one of of us has been there. We are trying to help you avoid the project trap that many new enthusiasts fall into. You just got started, you take on a massive project, and get in over your head. Then you end up with a dead project you're not able to finish due to money or skill and it lies dead.

 

One important thing to know. Motivation stays exponentially higher on a driveable project. Keep it that way until you develop the familiarity and skill to make big changes.

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Datsun trucks are light too. Big 4x4s can have about the same tire so imagine if they were almost half their weight, how much less weight to lift up a slippery climb and how much less it bogs onto a muddy hole. The 720s will fit narrower places too. I've had a 4x4 jeep try 5 times to get up beside me in my 521 open diff 2wd. He was all wtf? I loved that truck

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It's heavier than the 620 and it's about 2,750. A 4x4 would be a lot more.

 

My 620 had a KC '82 2wd frame with transfer case and a Toyota solid front axle and big tires. The torsion bar and front suspension I cut away. It weighed 3,400 without me in it.

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