allenfab's 95 Tacoma build

Awesome fab work man. It's cool to watch people who aren't afraid to be creative and also scrap a design and start again if it doesn't work out.

 

Yup, that's the one! He really did a good job with it.

That's a tall order of critiques lol

And where's the SAS you built showing how you figured things out?

I see your points though. It seems like there's always a compromise [or compromises] with these projects. Something's gotta always give with dual purpose rigs.

Things get a lot easier with a trail-only rig...

 

I'm too damn broke and not skilled enough to build a rig like that, but I was a trained professional mechanic (aircraft) so I have a certain ingrained view point I look at things from...and that rig make me cringe at the potential frustration involved if something fails and has to be repaired. At the very least, put your battery somewhere where it's not a major undertaking to replace it and you can get to it if you need to be jumped off. Haha, that battery really traumatized me.

Don't get me wrong, it's a badass rig with miles more capability than mine will probably ever have short of me winning the lotto and becoming independently wealthy, haha, and the man is an awesome fabricator. I give him mad props for the quality of his work. It's just that I don't really feel like he thought things through at times in regards to maintenance...which would be a huge consideration for me if I were to design something like that. I would definitely sacrifice capability for ease of maintenance if I had to compromise between the two.

There are plenty of things I think he did right too. The exo cage around the cab, for instance, and his suspension, and the subframe, and the fuel tank.

 

Lol shit got real

 

I can agree with Lee on most of those critiques. I do dig everything about that build and it, in particular, inspired me to do some things on mine that he did on his. Some of the stuff just isn't practical for others, like myself, whether it be from a maintenance standpoint or whatever else. It did kind of throw me off when he did things like tie the front bumper to the shock hoops, so replacing potentially fucked up fenders would be a pain in the ass. I didn't particularly like what he was doing with the fuel tank initially but do understand why he went that route. As for the battery.... I kept mine under the hood because I am a cheap ass and buy the advance auto brand batteries that go out every couple of years, so I replace often .

As for the exo, I think his sets the standard for a good looking exo. If (or when) I do mine, I won't do it nearly as intricate and fancy as his. Mine will have a lot less tubing on the roof and main hoop (I'll be using the main bed hoop already in place anyway). I may bend up some tube in my bender just to see what it looks like without a rolling radius in it. If I don't like it, a roll bender will be in my future. It's an expensive setup, but I am already too deep into this to spare any expense on tooling

 

In an attempt to get a smoother ride from my 63's, I decided to bastardize them some. I cut the third leaf down substantially, practically to the point where these are just 2-leaf 63's. I haven't even driven it yet but I think this will help out a ton. Bumps are on the shelf and ready to be installed so these things don't go into too big of a negative arch. Also, I still have the traction bar so axle wrap will be non-existant still. I think the leafs themselves will hold up just fine.

Figured I needed a gas tank skid as well before the hardrock trip. I had some 1/8" sheet laying around so I decided to just skin it over the stock tank skid. I started to get carried away with the press brake and got this thing form-fit fairly well . It will get welded together and installed in the next couple of days.

 

Sweet. I'm definitely jealous of you guys and low ride heights. Mines a damn skyscraper.

 

I'm just a little dubious as to how necessary a tank skid is on our 1st Gens. I mean they already have a steel skid on them, granted it's not terribly thick, but I'm not convinced that I'd hit anything hard enough on it that it couldn't take the hit. Now, 2nd Gens with their plastic skids are a different story.

At least now, you for sure don't have to worry about it, haha.

 

I had the same feelings, but I decided I was better safe than sorry with one. Not to mention, the metal was just taking up space anyway so I really won't have anything tied up in it besides time. I don't think anything came close to hitting it the last time I was at hardrock but I also didn't do a lot of real technical stuff either.

 

Haha, well, I hit a bunch of stuff the last time I was there. Bashed a big dent in my trans cross member, dicked up my steering, knocked a few new dents in the body, came within an ace of crushing my rear driveshaft, but, oddly enough, didn't even touch the fuel tank skid.

Speaking of...I beginning to consider a new beefier trans crossmember that's maybe a little lower profile as well.

I was also thinking that if I ever wind up with the jack to SAS the OGT, one thing I am thinking I'd do different than the others I've seen is maybe raise the cab mounts 2" higher so I could raise the transmission 2" and when the front of the frame is cut off, the new one could be fabbed 2" higher (so the engine sits 2" higher as well). I think this would allow for a mostly flat belly and a little more uptravel while keeping the engine and transmission clearance to the body mostly stock with no stupid long body bolts and blocks to allow the body to shift when flexing the frame.

What'cha think?

 

It's possible, and been done a lot. A lot of work though but so is just the SAS . I kind of wish I did it to mine but it's far too late to do it now with all the tube work that's been done.

 

Okay, I'll bite: what am I not considering? Seems like it'd be less work than a set of sliders. Four cab mounts, unbolt the cab, jack it up and shove some 4x4s between the cab and frame for the cab to rest on, cut off the old mounts, grind smooth, fab up some taller mounts and weld in place, bolt the cab to them. Everything else (trans crossmember, engine mounts, forward frame, core support mounts) gets done anyway with the SAS. If they come off clean enough, the original mounts could even be reused by just welding some steel to the inboard side and gusseting it.

Unless you were thinking to pull the cab clean off so you'd have total access to the area for welding. That would be a lot of work, haha.

 

Yea at this point there is no point in sparing expenses on anything lol

Accessibility for maintenance was a big deal for me and my truck was built around that. After the SAS now I actually have better access to most things than before...like the starter - which used to be a PITA to remove. Suspension parts can be removed easily, battery is still in stock location, etc. It worked out well for me.

Doooode...this is why some of us decided to go with link suspensions up front. Waaaaaaaay easier to dial ride height with links and coilovers during the build. Leaf springs are so damn unpredictable and moody.

After the build all you have to do is adjust the coilovers.

My truck did not need any of that Everything is still in the factory/stock position.

Now, if you cut off the front section of the frame as opposed to cutting IFS off and grinding, then yea there is a shit ton more involved.

 

If I ever manage to generate enough capital to SAS, it's my understanding that cutting off the forward section of the frame makes things a lot easier and not just from the cutting and grinding standpoint. I know folks that didn't cut the frame and say they wish they had, so I'm pretty much sold on the frame cutting.

 

That is essentially all that would have to be done. It wouldn't necessarily be hard work, just time consuming.

But, if you were to do that, then you would have to cut off your sliders and move them up 2" as well unless you would be ok with a big gap between them and the rocker. In my case, I would have to redo my sliders, bed and bed cage, rear bumper, and front bumper because they all would no longer line up and have ugly gaps after that. But again, if one were to do the cab lift, SAS, and armor from the start, it wouldn't be a big deal.

Maintenance was big for me as well. With all the mud we have, I wanted to be able to clean everything relatively easily so nothing is really boxed in or hard to get to (battery underneath on a skid that would hold mud, boxed in rear frame that would hold mud, and so on). I left a cut-out in the bed floor under the toolbox so I could pull the fuel tank sending unit from the top instead of having to drop the tank. Little things like that were important to me.

Cutting off the stock frame and building a new frame is the only way to go, leaf spring or linked suspension. I have built a new one on mine and did it the old fashioned way on another truck with cutting and grinding the IFS stuff off, and never again will I do the latter. You can have the stock frame cut off and a new frame built and welded on in less time that it would take to cut and grind all the IFS stuff off and plate the frame to match the strength of completely new. But the real advantage in my opinion, is having a nice, clean, thick, and square frame to build off of. For example, you don't have to build a panhard bracket for the frame side that conforms the all the weird curves and dips (and the frame plating) that come with using a stock frame. And, you are not blowing through the thin ass stock frame when trying to weld it on. With a new frame, the same bracket can be build at 90*, and welded on with a nice, high-amperage weld that is going to be stronger. And no need for frame plates, those things suck to weld on most of the time

Either way can and has been done with perfect success, and neither way is the wrong way. But that is just my take on it.

 

Haha, I think I'd be okay with my sliders in the current location. As it is, I had to bash the pinch welds to clearance them on the slider legs because the cab was rattling on them driving down the street. A little extra clearance wouldn't go amiss.

On the other hand, if they did need to be cut off to, say, provide more access to work the cab mounts, it wouldn't hurt my feelings either. They were welded on with a little 110V flux core wire welder, and while the welds have proven to be solid, they aren't very pretty...plus we dicked up on of the legs and had to do some creative adjusting, so redoing them with prettier welds and nicer legs wouldn't bother me at all, haha.

Because you're doing it right!

 

Interesting. I don't think building new frame with new motor mounts and all the bells and whistles is necessarily faster.

My IFS got cut off and all the grinding done on the same day. Next day frame plates were fully welded. Big ass plasma cutter got everything off really fast; brackets got cut really close to the frame. Then just some grinding to remove left over welds.

But yea, if you are cutting the IFS with a harbor freight grinder and cut off wheel it is probably going to take several days and a shit ton of aggravation LOL. I have seen guys do that; it ain't fun.

But I agree...there are no right or wrong ways. Just different approaches.

 

Fuel tank skid done and installed

 

Looks awesome. Of course, now that you put it on there, you'll probably start slamming it into everything.

 

Haha, that's the idea!