Long overdue maintenence about to commence!

[Triathlete]

Well with 145,000 on the ODO I figure it is time to kill some long overdue maintenence. The VX has walked through all the abuse I have thrown at it and I want it to continue that way!
All parts will be ordered/bought this week and work will commence after my last race for the season (10/21).
So here is the to do list...
Brake booster
timing belt/water pump
blower resister
E-brake pads
front shocks (bilsteins)
outer rear axle seals
and indy adjustable hd links

then new front shocks, upper and lower ball joints on the wifes truck!

Fun, fun, fun!:yeso::bgwo:

[VX crazy]

Good luck Billy! It will be like a new truck!

I need to get the adjustable link too, Greg put one on his and the noise is GONE....now I need it lol. This winter should be interesting.... once it cools down we are pulling the engine and tranny out of my original VX and going to put that engine into my current VX.......slowly but surely......:)

[Triathlete]

My links have been bent and straightened a time or two or three :)

[VXorado]

My links have been bent and straightened a time or two or three :)


Me too, I also need an adjustable set of links to change the u-joint angle. I'm constantly greasing the lower u-joint to stop vibration and I ripped off the grease zerk on my last wheeling trip. Oops, probably need to replace the u-joints now.

Good luck with the maintenance, it will be worth all the time & effort.

[Ldub]

My links have been bent and straightened a time or two or three :)

Therefore, making them, by their very nature(made of tempered licorice stix), adjustable...:smack:...:laughing:

:luck: with the :_wrench:-fest...:thumbup:

[Triathlete]

Tore into my drivers side door today and fixed my non functioning door handle...rod had come off. Reattached and all works fine.
Then I removed my rear "two piece" sway bar...that should eliminate a bit of noise.
was going to swap in my new-used front drive shaft, but didn't feel like dropping the cross member to access the rear bolts so I'll save that for another day. Though I did give the new shaft a nice pretty fresh coat of black paint! :)

[Ldub]

Greg put one on his, and the noise is GONE....

Did he put it on the L, or the R ?...:rotate:

[VX crazy]

Did he put it on the L, or the R ?...:rotate:

Top center rear link Larry, if you climbed under your truck ever you would know this.................

[Ldub]

Top center rear link Larry, if you climbed under your truck ever you would know this.................

LOL...:laughing:

Oh well EXCUSE ME then...:laughing:

[blacksambo]

Tore into my drivers side door today and fixed my non functioning door handle...rod had come off. Reattached and all works fine.
Then I removed my rear "two piece" sway bar...that should eliminate a bit of noise.
was going to swap in my new-used front drive shaft, but didn't feel like dropping the cross member to access the rear bolts so I'll save that for another day. Though I did give the new shaft a nice pretty fresh coat of black paint! :)

Did you per cahnce buy that one off of ebay with 101K miles on it?
Thx

[Triathlete]

The shaft I bought some time ago from a salvage yard.

[pbkid]

Good stuff billy, i just got done doing new rear axle seals on my Yota last week. Was really easy until i broke one of the bolts that holds the wheel hub to the axle housing, which of course you can only get from Toyota.
And they told me that i would need a machine shop to press it out?? Nope, not in my garage, nothin a sledge and a good couple blocks couldnt take care of... :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack:

i would suggest new rear brakes while you have everything apart, just FYI.

[JoFotoz]

Oh Billy....how are we gonna know where to go....


...if we cant follow your CV ~~ CLICK/GRIND/CLICK!

:p

Jo

[pbkid]

Oh Billy....how are we gonna know where to go....


...if we cant follow your CV ~~ CLICK/GRIND/CLICK!

:p

Jo

Oh dont worry Jo, i didnt see CV axles on that list, i think the visually challenged may still be able to follow billy. Or you can always follow the vx on race slicks, thatll take you straight to billy too.

[Triathlete]

Race slicks? My MTRs have always had plenty of thread.
The CV Jo is refering to is the CV on the front if the front driveshaft, hence, there will be no more noise. I replaced my CV axles long ago.

[Triathlete]

Wifes truck (shocks and ball joints)finished last weekend!
Today I recieved my brake booster, e-brake shoes and heater fan relay. Will work on those this weekend.
Ordered Rancho 9000xl's and Indy HD adjustable lower links today.
Monday will be ordering timing belt and water pump items from Merlin!
Let the fun begin! :)

[Triathlete]

Heater blower resister done!
Brake booster done (write-up in how to section) done!
Starting e-brake shoes...

[Triathlete]

It's nice having brakes that don't feel like a 1950's truck!

E-brake shoes are a bi...at...ch!!!! Think all I needed was to adjust them...still had plenty of meat on them.

[Triathlete]

E-brakes done and work!
New used front drive shaft installed!
Waiting on parts...Rancho 9000's, indy hd adjustable links, timing belt/water pump... :)

[LittleBeast]

I think I only lengthened the rear lower links like 1/2-3/4" and the noise was completely gone. Make sure and measure the length of the top and bottom of your driveshaft from pinion to pinion and try to get them as close to the same as possible. If you can see the teeth of your driveshaft coming out of the rubber cover you have gone too far. Also make SURE FOR SURE that each side is EXACTLY the same length. I double and triple checked this. Also make sure the nuts are tightened very good the one closest to the door seems to shake itself loose sometimes, might be good to put some thread lock on there.

[Triathlete]

New Rancho shocks up front done. Super easy job. Was really surprised that the oem shock were still in great shape...functional, no leaks...and are now for sale.
Recieved all my parts from Merlin...just have to wait for my neighbor to have some free time to assist me.
Still waiting for links to arrive.

[Gizmo42]

Tore into my drivers side door today and fixed my non functioning door handle...rod had come off. Reattached and all works fine.


Fixed mine on the The Stoop a couple years ago. PITA when that happens. Especially when its raining all day so you cant leave the window down.

Special high tech upgrade fix
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c337/Gizmo420/Moab%20ZuZoo%20XIV%202011/IMG_0391.jpg

[Triathlete]

Links arrived in the mail today!

[Triathlete]

These links are B-f'n-EEFY!!!!
http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo150/Triathlete/Indy%20links/DSC_0813.jpg

http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo150/Triathlete/Indy%20links/DSC_0812.jpg

Link ends...
http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo150/Triathlete/Indy%20links/DSC_0814.jpg

I install tomorrow to replace my "slightly bent" oem links!

[LittleBeast]

If I am remembering correctly I had to reuse the 2 spacer looking things on the stock lower links on each side of the new links and kinda sandwich the new link in-between the old spacer things, and it was a very tight fit, but nothing a 5 lb hammer did not fix :-)

[Triathlete]

New links are on! They come with new grade8 bolts (OEM were grade6). Not to hard of a job. Make sure you have 2 really big wrenchs...the binder nut is 2inchs (I used a 15" adjustable to hold the link and a 18" pipe wrench to tighten the 2" nut). FYI if one of these links lands on your face it hurts!:mady:
They only thing that made the install a bit harder is that my brackets that the links mount to had a few bends in them from rock contact. :bwgy:
OEM vs. Indy...
http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo150/Triathlete/Indy%20links/DSC_0815.jpg

http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo150/Triathlete/Indy%20links/DSC_0816.jpg

My links...slightly bent (I have straightened them a couple times)
http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo150/Triathlete/Indy%20links/DSC_0817.jpg

The finished install
http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo150/Triathlete/Indy%20links/DSC_0818.jpg

http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo150/Triathlete/Indy%20links/DSC_0819.jpg

[Gizmo42]

Nice! I have one of the same issues, my links are fine (reinforced with angle iron on the bottom) buy my frame side mounts are bent. Bent the passenger side pretty good this year when I got hung up on it on the exit of Hells Revenge.

[VXorado]

Those look awesome, can't wait to get a set myself.

Are the helm joints greasable?

[VXorado]

Bent the passenger side pretty good this year when I got hung up on it on the exit of Hells Revenge.

I remember that... when the side-by-side idiots started getting REALLY annoying because they had to wait five minutes. :madb:

[Triathlete]

Yes they are greaseable. Zirks on all 4.

[JoFotoz]

I want....:rolleyes:

jo

[Triathlete]

All thats left now is timing belt/water pump! :)

[Triathlete]

Water pump and timing belt in. Just need to button up a few things tomorrow. My old belt was stretched about 2/3 of an inch! New one is tight and everything lined up perfectly. Had to get new tranny cooler soft lines...the old ones were hard and had no flex left in them. My 150000 mile water pump looked just as good as the new one. Keeping it for a "trail spare". Barts how-to was nice to refer to a couple times...especially in lining up the marks.
This job is way easier than I expected. I was expecting a 9 but it was a solid 5.
Next on the list...rear axle seals :)

[Triathlete]

Got her all buttoned up, turned the key and she started right up and purred! Must have got the belt right! :)
Then had a brain fart...DexCool (orange) does not mix with green. I knew this from long ago but wasn't thinking and poured the orange in the radiator :(
VX instantly overheated and oddly the heater blew cold air. Scratched my head a bit then realized my stupidity. A couple hours of flushing the system then filled her up with some fresh, shiney green stuff and she is good as new! :)