Southern01Taco's build

Yeah, this last one I popped I had the wheels nearly straight, but that side was nearly at full droop (it got caught on video along with my skid getting ripped off...the camera guy was just catching all my crowning moments of fail. Anyway, the vids are on my build page if your interested). I just can't win, lol.

I'm thinking I'm going to get a Detroit for the rear diff and maybe take a bit of the strain off the front.

 

Oh ok. Yea that'll do it to. I'll have to check out the videos next time I get a chance.

Yea it will help a lot. One of my buddy's, with a second gen, locked the front first and then the rear. He told me after locking the rear that he sees how I went so long before locking the front. He rarely uses the front anymore and I don't use mine unless I'm in a spot where it will obviously help.

 

Unfortunately, my front locker is not selectable so it's going to be locked anytime I'm in 4WD. I have a TW friend down here that has a spartan locker in his front diff. Most of the time he only locks one hub in unless he really needs to have both front wheels pulling. I'm not sure I see the point with that other than the driver's side CV seems to break a lot sooner than the passenger side for whatever reason that is. I'm not exactly ready to go that route yet, but I'm hoping with a rear locker, instead of getting no traction in the rear with only the front pulling, I'll be able to balance it out and take some of the stress off the front end.

 

Installed some Total Metal Innovation DIY beadlocks on my Cragars and then put then back on my boggers. I can't wait to scratch them up on the trails.





Edit: Fixed pictures.

 

Another set of rims for my street tires.

 

Looks good buddy

 

Looks a lot better than those factory wheels you were rolling on before.

Wish I could afford to get some goodies for the Taco. Next big thing is definitely going to be a detroit for the rear. Then maybe a set of plate bumpers.

 

Thank you sir.

Thanks and yea I agree. I wanted to make the truck look as good as it does when it's dressed up for the trails and these rims accomplished that.

This will be my last big thing I buy for a while since my house is almost done. I'll be slinging money, left and right, at that thing till I get settled in good.
Awesome. I think you'll be surprised at how much better your truck pulls once you get the rear end locked.

 

I'm just hoping to take some of the stress off the front. I survived the last meet without breaking anything, either by virtue of airing down or because I stuffed the factory CV back in the driver's side last time I broke one, but I'm hoping with the rear locked I'll be able to hammer on it that much harder without breaking anything.

Good luck on the new digs. I know you must be as happy as a puppy with two peters.

 

Oh, you most definitely will. The rear end is where the majority of your traction is, especially going uphill. When you lock the rear, the front is having to struggle less to pull the truck around, thus less stress on all the components. I still would be weary of hammering on it while the front is locked but you will be able to get away with it more with the rear locked.

I broke another cv last weekend using my front locker. I think I've figured out that the biggest issue that I'm having is the shear weight of my boggers and steel rims with beadlocks.

Thanks. Yes I am.

 

Well here is a fairly big update, since it's been a little while from the last one. I boxed the frame, did the chevy 63" swap using the ruff stuff specialties ideal kit with frenched front hangers and put ballistic joints at the rear shackle hangers instead of poly bushings. I also just ordered some 14" travel bilstein 5125's and some 4.5" bumpstops. Oh and I also finally cut the tip off of my exhaust, been needing to do that for a while. Oh and some new tires lol. Anyway, on to the pics.













Out with the old.

 

Before I gush about your upgrade mods, I'd just like to say...Holy craptastic, batman, what the hell happened to your tailgate and passenger side door!?!

Ahem... On to the upgrades...

Are those Gumbos you got on there? Are they replacing the Boggers or the MTRs?

As always, I'm liking your fab work. I know Chevy 63s are all the rage now, but I'm not really sold on them. Seems like a lot of work for minimal gain, though I do think those ballistic joints are kinda sexy.

You gonna do a traction bar? I noticed with my rear locker I'm getting a lot more axle wrap. I'm thinking I might end up getting one myself.

 

The tailgate got caved in a couple months ago. Me and a couple buddies went on a small trip to the closest park to us. It poured rain the day we were headed up there so when we got there is was super sloppy. I was going up this trail, lost traction and hit the brakes. When I did the truck started sliding back down the hill and I slid right back into a tree, top of the tailgate caught first and caved it in.

The passenger door came from me getting t-boned in town. I was running an errand for work and some lady thought I was letting her into traffic and as I got right in front of her, she gassed on it and smoked me. I got the insurance check, went and found a cheap door that someone pulled off an old parts truck and swapped all my stuff over to it. I just got the new door last week so I haven't had a chance to bring it somewhere to get painted or for me to get the stuff to do it myself.

Those are the old school Gateway Buckshots. They were suppose to replace the MTR's but so far I haven't had any luck getting them balanced right so they might be replacing the swampers and I'll be getting another set of street tires.

I've never really thought about doing the chevy's in the rear until I went to my last event in Ark. Up until then I had every intention on running links front and rear. But at that event there were a surprisingly amount of buggies and trucks running leafs front and rear, which got me thinking and doing a little research. After realizing how many people do the chevy's, the fact that it's tried and trued, and it's relatively cheap to do, I decided to go ahead and do it. Now all I have to do to put a 14 bolt in the rear is change the pinion flange, plumb the brake lines and weld on some new spring perches and shock mounts and it'll be ready to bolt in. Plus I get to enjoy the added benefits of the flexier leafs till I do the swap. I've always been amazed at how well Slodeghetto's truck flexed when he did the chevy's with ballistic joints and that is where my research started. I actually gained a few more inches of droop right off the bat and my springs still need breaking in some and the bushings and joints are still real tight.

It was a lot more work than I anticipated but if I wouldn't have had to go through the trial and error stages of getting the hangers in the correct spot (aka tacking them in, bolting everything together, then measuring), I could probably have done it in a day. I think I ended up cutting, both, the front and rear hangers loose three times before I got them where I needed them. All of the research I did, none of the measurements were used in the end lol.

I'm not planning on it. I left the overload spring in the leaf pack, so I'm hoping that helps with the axle wrap. I won't get to find out until I get the shocks mounted so I can drive it on the road.

 

Heh, I was going to say Buckshots too. They are basically the same tread as Gumbos. What happened to the MTRs? They couldn't have worn out that fast could they? Did they just suck that bad? If you're taking requests, try Nitto Trail Graps and tell me what you think.

Dang, your poor truck ain't catching a break is it? I had a little altercation at the October meet. The OGT attacked a Suzuki Vitara that was blocking the trail. Thought he was effin' with me, so I decided to attempt to go around him on the side of a sand hill. Very poor decision on my part. The OGT got right up beside him and her ass decided to slide down the hill and bump him on the rear quarter panel. Put a good little dent in his sheetmetal and scuffed my taillight. Proof that the plastic on a Taco is tougher than the sheetmetal on a Suzuki.

 

Yea I think they are the same thing. The mtr's were about done. They still had a little tread left but had hit that point to where they were getting sketchy on wet roads. I love the way the trail grapplers look but the price is horrible. I'm either going back with the kuhmo kl71's , had them and loved them, or I'm going with the Firestone destination mt's, my buddy just put them on his jeep and they perform great.

It's taken a beating here lately. That sucks but at least you got away with little damage.

 

I don't at the moment but I'll get some tomorrow evening. I pulled some measurements before I cut it apart. I pulled from the top of the axle to the bottom of the frame on both sides. Then when I was setting up the rear hangers, I had to move them forward a good bit, I set it up to were it is exactly where it was with the other springs. So the truck is back sitting level. The shackle angles are a little steep at ride height, you can see in one of the pictures, but I'm going more for off-road capabilities than onroad and the steeper angle should give me more droop. Plus I went with 6" shackles. I had to cut my rear hangers loose a couple times before I got it where I wanted it. Most of what I read, people were leaving the rear shackle hangers in the stock location but I most definitely had to move mine.

One tip that I was glad that I did was use a plumb bob and mark the center pin on your axle before you take it apart. I hung it from the frame and sprayed some white paint over the string so that I could hang the plumb bob right back where it was. Also make sure the truck is leveled out first. I first put my front hangers at 7-3/4" forward of the original perches, which is what everyone says to do, and I ended up having to move them forward another 2" to get my axle centered back up to where it was.

Also, both, front and rear hangers don't get centered on the frame rails I learned that the hard way lol. They are outboard a little. You have to do some measuring and figuring to get the springs parallel.

Oh and tack everything in first and then when you get it where you want it, go back and weld it solid. I tacked it all together and was actually putting the weight of the truck on it being just tacked it worked great. Just make sure you've got some solid tacks lol.

These are a few things that would have made it go quicker if I would have known ahead of time haha. It turned into a trial and error process for me. It took me about a day to box the frame then another two full days to do the springs but should have only took a day to get the springs in, if I wouldn't have had to cut everything loose so many times.

 

@yotajohn Here are a couple pictures of the truck from the side with the chevy's.

 

Chevy 63s Swap FTW! Can't beat that flex with any other aftermarket leaf springs unless you do some custom Alcans

Awesome build @Southern01Taco !

 

No problem man. Nah, it is pretty close to touching. I actually had to trim the rear of the front hanger because the spring would touch at full stuff but it's got about 3/8" now.

Actually, I haven't even got to drive the truck yet because I don't have shocks yet. They're ordered and are suppose to be here Tuesday, so hopefully I'll get to drive it this week.

Thank you, sir.

 

Heh, wimp. @Rattletrap66 drove his for like 3 weeks and went on two separate wheeling trips with no rear shocks.