Well for those who were interested in it's progress here it is...

had a set of 2002 dak 2wd brakes & rotors in the garage from my wifed dak... good thing I held on to them, they fit perfectly and are used on 4x4's as well as 2x4's. So I had Jr swap them out. Next up I was keeping an eye out for tires to slap on the wheels I detailed the other day and came across a guy who had a fender & door that were in excellent shape. met with him today to check them out and ended up buying them for $60 bux for the fender, $100 bux for the door. As we were chatting about his Dak that he was parting out, I mentioned that I was heading over to check out a set of tires next. He pointed to a stack of tires and said to have a look... cool, right size, dakota rim (not my 1st choice) with adequate tread left on them. Picked them up for $100 bux. cant beat it! So they are wild country 31-10.5-15's on a stock dak rim. slapped them on earlier today and took it for another spin... all seem to be balanced good enough, no vibrations up to 60.

So now with good tires on it, the steering feels much better. the chassis is still squeeking some when I go over bumps so I'll have to bust out the wd-40 and start squirting away. should help it out alot I'd think. I'm not planning on swapping out anything that isnt shot so whatever it is, I'll have to live with it. I will go yank off the front diff cover to see if there is any diff fluid in it and check things out... remember the engine compartment had gear oil all over the place as it blew out the vent tube. I'm hoping the PO overfilled it and he parked it after the smoke from the oil hit the exhaust manifold.

I made some phone calls today and have determined that the transfer case is shot. needs a rebuild. One of the wrecking yards I've delt with has one on the shelf for $400 bux. so I'm thinking I'll go pick it up and swap it in tomorrow. Once that is done then I'll be able to go smog it and get it registered. I'll drive it as is for about a week to see how everything else is and go from there. Once it's mechanically sound, then I'll get the door & fender painted to match the current color. Supposedly this is going to run me $450 for materials & labor assuming they are both stripped & preped ready for paint.

anyways.. that is about it.

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Nice.

 

I remember every project my dad and I did when I was a teenager.Sounds like this is a good experience for both of you.

 

not bad. i miss my dakota [>:]

 

nice project for the youngin. . .this is as far as I have gotten with my yoda. . .gotta have a puller to get the front bearings off so I can get ot the gears[:@]

then hopefully yank the syncros out.

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That tranny looks tiny-how much does it weigh?

 

about 75lbs. . .it's a W59 Toyota tranny that goes behind the 2RZFE I-4. it is light enough I can easily bench press it in and out of my yoda.

all the times I ground the gears on this thing trying to hot rod it I'm amazed eveyrthing looks as good as it does.

 

Thats awesome. I tried to lower the t-176/dana300 out of my cj5 by myself. I tired to do your way and it didnt turn out the way I had hoped.

 

I used to do it the same way on my '83 4x4... yank off the t-case and pull the tranny down onto my chest then roll it off.

 

Yeah drew I do the same with RTLO16913's at work