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1994 Mitsubishi Mighty Max - Weekend Warrior: STK TRUK Edition Part 4: Five-Lug ConversionFive-Lug Conversion, The Bio Way From the September, 2007 issue of Mini Truckin' By Ernie Macias Photography by Ernie Macias
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When I knew I wanted to convert my Mitsu to five-lugs, I immediately called Max Fish over at Bio Kustumz in Hemet, California. I knew he had this whole five-lug conversion thing down to a science. It only took us about two hours to do this, and we didn't even need a new drive shaft. Once I hunted down the bolts I needed, I had this done in a snap. A Nissan Hardbody is almost as easy, the only difference is a few washers and a seal. The best thing about this conversion is a rear-disc brake kit was only a phone call away at Downey Off Road Manufacturing. That's the luxury of using Toyota Parts: they're easier and more convenient.  1. Here, you can see what...  1. Here, you can see what we had to work with: the stock Mitsubishi junk and '98 Toyota Tacoma hubs and rotors. Also in the picture is our Mitsubishi lowered spindle.  2. We were going to remove...  2. We were going to remove our caliper from our spindle by removing the two bolts.  3. Next, we removed the dust...  3. Next, we removed the dust cap, cotter pin, and removed the spindle castle nut to remove the stock hub and rotor.  4. We then removed the dust...  4. We then removed the dust shield.  5. Before placing the Tacoma...  5. Before placing the Tacoma hub assembly on, we placed a new rear seal on the Tacoma hub.  6. We used a rubber mallet...  6. We used a rubber mallet to put it into place, then made sure it went in straight and even.  7. We slid the Tacoma hub...  7. We slid the Tacoma hub assembly onto the dropped spindle. Yes, that's right. It slides right over with no modification necessary. Then, we utilized the Tacoma bearings and used the Mitsu keyed washer.  8. Next, we placed the Mitsu...  8. Next, we placed the Mitsu castle nut back on and used a new cotter pin.  9. After that, we used a Tacoma...  9. After that, we used a Tacoma dust cap to seal the grease. We made sure to grease everything thoroughly.  10. If you slide your Mitsu...  10. If you slide your Mitsu caliper into place, you'll notice that it will fit nicely once a spacer is put into place. For this part, you can go down to a machine shop. We measured the spacer at .465 inches. Besides a few new bolts, this is pretty much all you'll need for the front end.  11. I went down to Bio Kustumz...  11. I went down to Bio Kustumz and Max set me up on his lathe. I don't have a lot of experience on one of these, but I managed to get them done on my first try. You'll need to make four of these.  12.  13. Before finishing the front,...  13. Before finishing the front, I jumped on the back. I decided to use a '90 Toyota rear end out of the junk yard that I got from Cal Mini Truck Dismantlers in sunny SoCal. I unbolted the third member yoke from both the Mitsu rear end and the Toyota rear end. In this picture, we were taking the dust shield off of the Mitsubishi yoke. This gave us access to the holes to make marks on our Toyota yoke for the drilling.  14. Max has done several of...  14. Max has done several of these conversions before and has already made an adapter to center the two yokes together.  15. With the two yokes together,...  15. With the two yokes together, Max used a punch to mark our Toyota yoke. This was so that it will bolt on to our Mitsubishi drive shaft.  16. Next, we drilled our new...  16. Next, we drilled our new holes into place.  17. The register on the Mitsubishi...  17. The register on the Mitsubishi yoke was actually smaller than the Toyota. So, Max came up with a way to fix that.  18. Using the TIG-welder,...  18. Using the TIG-welder, Max added material to the inside of the yoke in order to put it on the lathe to make it fit the register of the Mitsubishi drive shaft. The register is the step that centers the drive shaft on the yoke.  19. This picture shows you...  19. This picture shows you what it looks like half-way welded.  20. Next, we put it on the...  20. Next, we put it on the lathe and machined it down to 1.785 inches. Again, you'll probably need to go down to a machine shop to do this.  21. Here, you can see the...  21. Here, you can see the finished product. It's now ready to be bolted in. Please remember, this is just one way of doing it. Another way would be to go down to a drive-line shop and have a new drive shaft made.  22. At this point, you can...  22. At this point, you can place the Toyota yoke back onto the third member.  23. Here, you see the bolts...  23. Here, you see the bolts we were going to use. Bolt A is the new bolt we purchased from www.boltdepot.com. It's PN 6352 and 12mm x 1.25x70mm. Bolt B and C are the factory bolts, and you won't be using bolt C anymore.  24. What we see here are our...  24. What we see here are our two bolts, our lock washer, and our spacers.  25. Now, we put the bolt,...  25. Now, we put the bolt, washer, and spacer into place.  26. You can clearly see the...  26. You can clearly see the spacer here and how snug it fits.  27. There it is, the finished...  27. There it is, the finished product. You're now ready to hook up your brake lines and bolt up those cool five-lug wheels.
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Maximized - May 2013
Excuse me while I wipe the dust off of my keyboard *cough, cough*. There is an old saying that goes...
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