geekhouse23's "LIFE'S WAITING TO BEGIN" Overland & Home build and all the Adventures in between!

Simple.. I'm dumb ass.. I thought the front would be easier..and I got impatient . Wish now I would have waited and done it all at the same time.

Getting front diff out? Not too bad. Putting it back in by myself was horrible

 

You have the tabs made already? It would take an hour to string the machine, have a cup of coffee, plug in the gas, prep the sites, burn them on, take a shit, break down the welder, and hand write an invoice entirely in old english calligraphy.

But since everyone quotes by the hour I recon you are going to be good for sixty five bucks. But just in case it does go as fast as I remember it, I'd have in mind anything else that I wanted welded so I could get my whole hours worth of welding. Do you plan to add antenna mounts to the hoops as well? I added a pair to the far ends of the center hoop facing back towards the truck so I could add my mobile booster antenna and possibly another radio antenna at a later date.

 

Agreed. Having a pull from the front got me out of a couple spots without having to resort to a winch.

 

Appreciate the honesty haha. I figured I would just do it once do it right

I decided to go the route that @Chux went:





But now I'm wondering if I should keep the original plan to get my time's worth of welding..

I'm at your welding process haha thanks for painting a colorful image. I didn't think about the antenna tabs. I have thought about moving the firestik from the rear to the front, but I'm lazy I guess. If I were to move it I would probably just drill a hole in the top plate and mount it that way.

Overlanding is 93% about looking cool..

 

Happy New Year brother!!!

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Thanks brother!! Same to you!!

 

Much appreciated!!!

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Drinking some Rum we got in Jamaica, it's dank af!

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Happy New Year everyone!!

Being super busy at work, I decided to start taking a look at the *potentially* new front suspension. Luckily, DownSouth Motorsports has a package they offer and they have a chart with all the options (front and rear) of available MT shocks:

https://downsouthmotorsports.com/i-...coma-build-your-own-mid-travel-package-1.html

After checking some pricing and reviews on TW HERE, I think I will be going with these:

https://www.headstrongoffroad.com/s...andard_or_Extended_Travel_-_05-15_Tacoma.html

I can live with that price and I have heard a lot of great things about Icon shocks. I checked out @ChandlerDOOM 's build thread and they seem to have held up pretty well the the brutal Midwest weather. He has also beat them to hell and back and I don't think that I will have any issues.

I will be reinforcing the front upper shock tower mount with this:

https://www.headstrongoffroad.com/store/p34/RevTec_10mm_Strut_Spacer_-_REV_TOE3_-_Pair.html

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...eep-things-light.409330/page-34#post-15287569

I might as well do some preventative maintenance before I find out too late

I opted for the 700lb springs also because I really do plan on torching the motherf*cking sway bar out finally. I say torching because the swaybar end link bolts have not held up to the Midwest winters and are too far gone to be salvageable. That should be super fun!

Since you guys talked me into keeping the rear E-locker after regearing to 4.88's, I will be saving ~$800 or so and will use that money save to MT the front. I cannot afford to completely swap both 3rd members at the same time and that will have to be placed on hold for now until I can save up at least half to 3/4 the cost to order and then swap everything out. It is also too damn cold in the Midwest to be working on the truck and rushing to get everything swapped to ship back to ECGS. With the coilovers, I can order them soon-ish and have them collect dust until I can install them in the spring without worrying or rushing to get it done. Timeline should be looking something like this (barring any emergency expenses etc) :

- Headlight Hoops soon-ish; waiting to hear back from two other places on quotes.
- Finish paying off LoadedTaco for the used Pelfreybilt rear; no clue what the timeline is since they did Black November and I know there were a lot of orders on hold due to the new latch system on the swingouts. Hopefully will know more in a month or so. No rush.
- Early to mid-Spring (pending Pelfreybilt bumper above and tax return) - Order front MT Icon shocks from Headstrong Offroad.
- All while saving up for the new clamshell and 3rd members from ECGS. No clue when these will be ordered. Maybe I should start playing the lotto? Do they have sales and GBs??

Some of this stuff I should have done before getting married and buying a house

Ignore this "boring" post as it is mostly for future use and reference for myself

 

Hmmmmmmmmmm.....

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...ilovers-w-700lb-springs.526773/#post-16803959

 

See two posts above yours...

 

So I asked the miles on them:

Looks like they have 30,980 miles on them.

"I installed them 1/21/16 at 17,100 miles. 700lb springs were installed on 2/12/16 at 17,750 miles. They were rebuilt in July of 2016 @ 25,400 miles and were removed from my truck yesterday at 43,080 miles."

Is that good? Is that bad? Will I have to have them rebuilt again?

I am currently waiting more information on where the were rebuilt and if he has the receipt.

Thoughts?

 

I was also thinking that. I got a shipping quote from him and it would be about $900 shipped for coilovers with 31k on them.

The EXACT same setup from Wheeler's and Headstrong was $1300. Messaging him now. Not worth it.

 

6+ weeks waiting for the brother-in-law to schedule the hoop install with his buddy. Never heard anything. Not sure if anything was said or done to progress the work to be done.

2 days of texting with my plan B guys and I got an appointment for the 13th. BOOM. Never again am I dealing with the brother-in-law's shit again. I've had it.

 

Having kinda of been on the fence about the Icons due to issues others have had with the top hats, the post below from @Coot83 may have swayed me to rethink the Icons and go with Fox shocks instead:

Post - https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/thoughts-on-used-suspension-components.526583/#post-16817368

Fox shocks - https://www.headstrongoffroad.com/s...Standard_or_Extended_Travel_-_05__Tacoma.html

Being only $100 more, the points he brought up make me think to go with Fox over Icon. Unless @ChandlerDOOM or anyone else with Icons care to chime in. Rust and the top hat issue are my major concerns and dropping this much dough, I want them to last a long time and not have to worry or keep checking things like rust or the top hats. That is worth spending the extra $100 and having piece of mind..

 

I have had my Icons for 17k+ miles, and no issues. I am not jumping my truck though..

 

Valid point. ChandlerDOOM doesn't either though. He is from my area and there just isn't anywhere to do something like that around here.

 

when jumping, Im sure other things will start to break, if not reinforced

 

Like besides the bank account?