cbechtold's Long Travel IFS Crawler Tacoma Build and BS Thread

Taco on tons and 40s or GTFO

U4 car is also an exception

 

Can I DD those?

 

One of them you can, but the other I wish

 

Sell it?!? wanting a bigger bed? I know you sleep in the back with the dogs.

 

Blasphemer!

I gotta do my valve cover gaskets as well. I have all the parts...just putting it off for as long as I can.

 

Mostly wanting a newer truck with a little more interior room. The safety upgrades are a plus, too.

I know. I felt a little guilty just thinking about it, especially considering what I wanted to get. I was going to look at (and possibly buy) it this week, but I think I'm going to hold to the '04 for a bit.

 

TURD GEN!!!!

 

But it's a Pro, bro!


I know, but I'm trying to look past all the negative stuff and stereotypes and look at it as just a newer truck with more space (and more comfortable seats for my aging back).

 

My Girlfriends 2011 second gen is definitely more spacious and comfortable, but I still like mine better lol. Im in the market for new seats right now for sure tho! the seats are wrecking my 29 yr old back.

 

Oh man...you had me scared for a minute... I was dreading opening the link...what could be on the other side? I was relieved to see a Taco. The 3rd gens are super nice. I've driven @theed'S and it's like a Cadillac compared to mine.

Edit: to be fair anything is like a Cadillac compared to my truck.

 

I should've linked the new Ford Ranger, or maybe a Ridgeline.

 

That was my fear.
I kinda like the ridgeline. It has good towing and payload capacity, it gets decent mpgs and it’s Honda so it’s probably reliable. It’s a mini van in disguise but still not bad.
I’d never buy one though.

 

IMG_4339 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

So I've dabbled with the idea of dual cases for quite awhile and eventually decided that I was just going to save my money and buy an 4 speed Atlas later on down the road. Though, everything is subject to change and a different route ended up falling into my hands for not a stupid high price tag, so I figured I'd go down this route for now and see how where it lands me.


IMG_20190101_142902 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

So for the past two and half years, my dad's Inchworm lefty and crawl box has been in pieces ever since the 5:1 gear let go on the Rubicon. With the lefty in disrepair, there was possibility for the crawl box to work, so a little while passed and we were able to find an adapter for my transfer case.


IMG_20190103_135341 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

Got pretty lucky that we're able to find an adapter for my transfer case and even came with bearings, hardware and the coupler. With this in the mail, I also was able to source a J-shift transfer case out of a '97 Tacoma. We'll talk about that t-case later.


IMG_20181229_092552 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr


IMG_20190106_125442 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

With parts here, it's now time to fully disassemble the old unit for cleaning and reassembly.


IMG_20190106_150212 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

Several hours of scraping off Ultra Black and cleaning later.


IMG_20190106_200927 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

Another few hours later, I was able to get the crawler assembled with the old triple sticks that were in my dad's FJC.


IMG_20190103_144938 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

With the triple sticks on the crawl box, I wanted to see if I could use the triple sticks with the Tacoma t-case. Turns out the bolt pattern is different between the old mini trucks and the Tacoma.


IMG_20190111_143700 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

RADesigns Products to the rescue! A little bit of reading later and a phone call to RADesigns to chat about their products and the dream of triple sticks is back in business.


IMG_20190107_151108 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

But in the meanwhile, I tore into the t-case to make it work with triple sticks. As for why I sourced a j-shift case, I like the appeal of a cleaner look in the center console, so I actually wanted to see if I 'could' make triple sticks work in my Tacoma. Translation: "I didn't want to cut a hole in a cup holder. "


IMG_20190107_184704 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr


IMG_20190107_184828_01 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

That 10mm pin is what prevents the 4WD and high/low range from shifting independently. The small piece of metal in my hand is from the left shift fork (the one that shifts your high/low range) needs to be cut off so it doesn't overlap the other shift fork.


IMG_20190113_164303 by Cory Bechtold, on Flickr

As of earlier today, I was able to finally dry fit everything together and I'm pretty stoked. My current crawl ratio is 29.4:1, but now with the addition of a 4.7 crawl box, it'll now be 138.8:1. Pair this with a regear and a front locker hopefully later this year and it's going to make for some awesome rock crawling later on down the road.

As for what's left to do before final install; I'm still waiting for parts. 4.7 gears, triple stick boot and a switch for the front ADD. I need to get new linkage for the triple sticks since the current heim joints rub on the t-case shift plate. I need to get around to doing the grey wire mod so I can use my rear locker with just the crawl box in low range. When the switch for the front ADD gets here, I'l wire that up. I'm slowly working on getting a shifter boot cover sown up to work with the triple sticks. I'm fairly certain that I'll be cutting off the shifter for the crawl box and just replacing it with solid round bar that I can bend into place before welding it back on to the crawl box shifter plate, so I need a thread die so I can put the shifter knob back on. The housing for the crawl box, from what I understand, needs to be shaven a little bit because of the size of the 4.7 gear compared to the stock 2.28 gears, but I'm waiting for the 4.7 gears to arrive before I take the grinder or the milling machine to it. Past that, dry fit the whole thing in the truck, make adjustments and using Ultra Black/Loctite on everything for the final install.

Just a "short" list of things to do, but I was pretty stoked to see the crawl box and t-case mash together today. Can't wait to get this installed in my truck, hopefully, in a few weeks.

 

Sweet. That'll be a game changer. So much more control.

 

Oh yeah! Especially with an auto. Borderline cheating at this point.

 

Nice work Cory!

 

Just swap in a manual already That's where all the fun is anyways then you can have 4 sticks haha

 

Thanks Mark!

Nope. I very much prefer the auto off-road. Manual definitely has its place, but it's not in my truck.

 

What front locker are you thinking about going with?

 

ARB