joyota 73 cj5 i guess now it's a "gladiator" build

[Smileyshaun]

This is completely out of order but found some old pics so figured I would put them in here as part of the build .

Knowing eventually the axles would get a beating from rocks and general asshattery I thought it would be a good idea to truss both axles , truss the ball knuckles and shave/armor the diffs

Different shave kit , much beefier then the stock housing metal


Cannot say enough good things about the quality of Sky manufacturing , hands down some of the best stuff on the market. 100% American steel and labor , something very lost in the market today


This whole process is very time consuming because you don't want to run long beads and warp the metal









All dressed up with no where to go

 

[Smileyshaun]

Figured while the axles looked all dolled up I might as well give the body some rattle can love

 

[HappyOurOverlanding]

Looking good. I like how the color is under and over...so to speak.

 

[Smileyshaun]

Unfortunately with the frame and axle swap it's not all pretty underneath anymore

 

[HappyOurOverlanding]

Unfortunately with the frame and axle swap it's not all pretty underneath anymore

I'm sure you'll clean it up nicely.

 

[Smileyshaun]

I'm sure you'll clean it up nicely.

No at this point I just want to get it together and drive it , my hope is to use it at the gambler 500 this year . Ithe may not be all together but I'm driving it one way or another

 

[Smileyshaun]

Getting the old wheelwell covered up took a little metal , lot of measuring and even more grinding to get it to fit perfectly





With the help of quite a few clamps and some heat the bends around the corners of the tub turned out great.

 

[Smileyshaun]

I've always loved flat fender jeeps so I decided to try and mimic it and open up the wheel wheels a little

 

[caswanson]

You've convinced me to stop drinking....lol

 

[HappyOurOverlanding]

I've always loved flat fender jeeps so I decided to try and mimic it and open up the wheel wheels a little

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Sweeeeet!!!! Nice work. You are definitely putting in a lot of sweat-equity .

 

[Smileyshaun]

Now we are starting to get to the fun stuff and tuning the suspension. I needed to pull it out of the shop to do a little pressure washing to knock off some more dirt before I finished cutting off the rest of the ifs mounts and cleaning up the frame . While I had it outside I figured I may as well use my buddies new free forklift and see how everything works out .
I need to pull a leaf from the rear pack to soften it up a little and add some leafs to the front pack to stiffen it up but all in all everything cycles well and is stable with 1 tire off the ground .

 

[HappyOurOverlanding]

Now we are starting to get to the fun stuff and tuning the suspension. I needed to pull it out of the shop to do a little pressure washing to knock off some more dirt before I finished cutting off the rest of the ifs mounts and cleaning up the frame . While I had it outside I figured I may as well use my buddies new free forklift and see how everything works out .
I need to pull a leaf from the rear pack to soften it up a little and add some leafs to the front pack to stiffen it up but all in all everything cycles well and is stable with 1 tire off the ground .

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That's some torture testing....LOL

 

[H3Coyote]

This is AWESOME..!
What a killer build..! I TOTALLY dig your Joyota..!

Sent from my SM-J320R4 using OB Talk mobile app

 

[Smileyshaun]

This is AWESOME..!
What a killer build..! I TOTALLY dig your Joyota..!

Sent from my SM-J320R4 using OB Talk mobile app

Thank you , it's definitely different and kinda hard to wrap your brain around but I really hope in the next couple months to have it close enough to done to get it out on the trail for some testing

 

[Smileyshaun]

Sweeeeet!!!! Nice work. You are definitely putting in a lot of sweat-equity .

Thanks you , it's slowly coming together , if I can get done with all my other life responsibilities I can get back to hammering away at it and make some real progress .

 

[H3Coyote]

Thank you , it's definitely different and kinda hard to wrap your brain around but I really hope in the next couple months to have it close enough to done to get it out on the trail for some testing

I'm right there with you SmileyShaun..!
I'm in the middle of changing my whole build as well, I totally understand where your coming from there..! Check it out if you get a chance... Have a cool day..!

 

[H3Coyote]

When I say duel cases I am speaking about duel transfer cases. It allows me to essentially put it in 4 low twice to keep the tires moving at a extremely slow speed making crawling over large obstacles easier .

Hey Shaun, which cases did you end up using..?
I'm curious because I have a Dana 20 (gear drive) and the np241, would I be able to do that with an adapter from someone like Advanced Adapters or Novak..?

 

[Smileyshaun]

It's duel Toyota cases , for duels could you do like the black box ( I think that's the name ) or is it black widow box

 

[H3Coyote]

It's duel Toyota cases , for duels could you do like the black box ( I think that's the name ) or is it black widow box

Thank you, I'll throw them into the search mix I'm doing now, I sure appreciate it..!

 

[Scout]

Getting the old wheelwell covered up took a little metal , lot of measuring and even more grinding to get it to fit perfectly

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What is the gap of your fabbed metal for? At the top of the tub and below the hard top.