The Getaway...Crom's build and adventures

Yikes is that from racing or just plain abuse (ie jumping)? One or both my guess? Nick, sorry to hear the bushings were such a PITA. I'll chalk it up as another case of "if it ain't broke ***" Maybe if I have my truck in another 8-10 years I'll come back to that. That electrolysis bit was cool. Great posts

 

lol I thought of your build, and those pics yesterday when I had to work on my core support.

I should have shined a flashlight down there to inspect.

Make a big sandwich and spend a few hours going through Chris's build. Great stuff in there! He has some videos of the Tacoma airborne which are pretty impressive. The build itself is pretty amazing.

Thanks.

The cab mounts --I think so. If the cab mounts aren't bad, leave them alone. Another detail I found out was that Toyota retails the cab mounts for $73, Internet pricing is $53. If I was restoring a Tacoma, I'd think I'd recommend the ES ones, since the kit can be had for $75 and change.

I was going to zinc plate the bolt using electrolysis, which would have been really cool. It would have pushed out the project by 2-3 days, so maybe next time. My core support bolts have the same black oxide finish as the rear cab bolts and I used grease on them a year ago and it proved to be very effective for corrosion resistance. Once I saw how good those were, I wire wheeled the drivers cab bolt and greased it good with waterproof grease.

 

Another Thorough write up! With the new bushings installed did it change the body to frame heights from the stock Bushings? Thanks.

 

Never raced the truck. It was from just hard off road abuse. If you off road at all the frame and cab move separately from each other. Even guys that just go camping and never do half the stuff I do have had the core support up behind the headlights tear. And if you have a double cab the top rear corner of the cab under the weather stripping has a tendency to crack as well.

 

Subbed. Love you truck man!

 

My opinion is that the factory core support bushings that Toyota supplies on our trucks are inadequate and should be replaced by anyone who offroads period, even pavement pouders should do it.

Energy Suspension makes a great universal bushing kit that works great for our trucks and is super affordable.

$34 9.4101G UNIVERSAL MOUNT

9.4101G. When I replaced mine I was blown away by how much more solid the front end felt when pulling into driveways and what not. Very impressed and highly recommended.

I just went outside and checked the truck and it appears I have about 1 CM more clearance. Extremely close to stock height. It could also be that my truck's cab is not perfectly aligned with where it once was too. It could be off a tad.

On my truck, the pinch weld very close to the front cab mount makes a downward dip and becomes very close to the sliders I have welded on my frame. When the truck was in very off camber situations, the pinch weld would score the slider. It never bothered me or the truck, just an observation. I'm quite curious if the ES bushings (once torqued proper) will allow the same kind of cab flex.

Also noteworthy, is you can flip the bushings upside down for a body lift if someone needed that. I think 1/2" can be gained that way, but might have unpredictable side effects.

I'm really glad you brought this up.

The "C" plilar cracks. I don't know what it is about it. I first heard about those from @HBMurphy.

When I was pulling out the cab mounts I noted that the rear mounts and front mounts are not the same, when I saw this, I looked up the factory part diagram and sure nough, different part numbers.

When comparing the images below, notice that the rear mount on the left, has a smaller neck with less rubber. The steel bolt sleeve is also a few mm longer than the front, had to use a caliper to discover that.

The rear mount has had a lot of stresses applied to the rubber on the underside and both showed cracking with a 180* radius from the direction it was flexing.

The front mounts were perfect condition on the underside. Zero cracking there, and only had minor cracking all the way around the neck. IMO, they were in very good shape for nearly 70K of travel on / off road.

I wonder why Toyota used different mounts for front and back of the cab?

And could the cracks in the C pillar be prevented if different mounts were used in the beginning?

Thanks!

 

Thanks for checking the measurements. I've had the EG universal core mount bushings on the bench waiting to install them but I've decided to go with the ones from the complete set. Thanks again.

 

C pillar cracks could be prevented if we had fully boxed frames like a 4runner or Hilux.

 

Cool. Will check it out.

 

I am hoping to do some sound proofing before I put my studded winter tires back on. I don't have the time/money to sound proof the entire truck. Do you have any advice on which area/panel I should start with to reduce road noise from the tires? I am guessing it is the floor, but I wasn't sure if the carpet and floor mats provided a reasonable amount of sound proofing already....

 

Welcome.

Thanks! Hmmm I've thought about doing frame plates, but that's only the back half of the truck... Someting to tink about.

Yes. Definitely do the the doors. There is nothing in them. Zero. Floor has some insulation, so if anything, do that last after everything else is done.

 

The next parts of my truck build puzzle showed up.

ECGS Diff bushing and removal tool.


This should stop the growling sound / vibration I hear from my diff.

 

IEDLS Center support bearing.



This will replace my worn out factory bearing with 69K miles on it.

Need to get some flat bar to make a brace for the poly, and pickup something to space the bearing down from the cross member. Homes depot here I come!

 

A genuine reconditioned Toyota 4runner limited wheel reconditioned by a company called "Tanswheel". I paid $132 to my door from a 3rd party auto parts part-out place. I hated to pay that price, but after an exhaustive local search for half a year and haggling with ebay sellers, I went this route and now I can move on with the build.

I am thoroughly impressed with the reconditioning process. The wheel is in all-around excellent condition. No blemishes that I can find. Pretty impressive!





This 5th wheel will replace my spare which is currently a TRD Tacoma Off-road wheel. Just have to have tire shop transfer the rubber over without spilling the balancing beads. I'll be sure to marshal the entire process so nothing goes wrong again.

 

You may want to check your u-joint angles - our trucks are notorious for vibes. Many theories out there but this is the general feel:

• 0 degree angle is bad since it will not lubricate the u-joint
• You want the next u-joint in the line to have the same approximate angle as to complement their non linear movement
• Drive your truck in such a manner that you are transitioning through the harmonics not staying in them

 

@Crom the frame is fully boxed from the rear cab wall forward. So only the rear needs done.

 

non-ferrous front bumper plus four non-ferrous skids including gas tank....and for kicks the rear steel view

 

Thanks.

My u-joints are solid as far as I can tell, and have been well cared for over the years. Angles might be less than ideal though. Spicer says 3* or less. I think my first one at the trans might be 6* lol

It's the rubber in the center support bearing that's worn out.

I made a little video. @nfs257 say's my CSB is no bueno.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1vcpu63zrQ

I figured I would swap the factory one out for the poly one which has had good reports thus far. I will measure the angles of the joints pre and post swap. I had started measuring a while back, but got distracted with other things.

So far in my trucks life, I've been spared from unwanted drive line vibes. I have a little take off shudder and that's it.

Yeah.

A swingout would add an estimated 60 lbs not including the 84 lb spare tire! That's a lot of weight far from the rear axle! Probably force me to modify the rear suspension to compensate. And I fear it will change the driving characteristics of the truck. As it stands right now I can still go fast on trails if I want, and that can be a lot of fun!

Yup! I've painted in there before. I was thinking under the cab, but brake lines and too much stuff in the way.

Looks good! Same direction I'm heading in, when funds permit!

 

Same thing happened to my driveline bushing, although I had a bit more than 100k miles logged. I was quite surprised, but the new bearing helped a lot for the driveline feel.

 

@Plannerman99 you use the poly one too? If so how u like it?