BigMike’s Big Journey: New 2016 Tacoma

May 2-9, 2019: Finally upgrading my rear suspension! (continued)

First time back on the ground!



A very small storage price to pay to have a rear suspension that can hopefully keep up with RCLT! RST makes neat covers to go over the towers and prevent mud/water from spraying up into the bed which I plan to install







I went with a 3-link kit in order to keep my factory fuel tank and avoid any smog law and ECU emission issues.

 

May 2-9, 2019: Finally upgrading my rear suspension! (continued)

My suspension setup has finally grown up!



Took this pic to compare with a Dana 60 SAS 4Runner they had at the shop. The amount of ground clearance advantage RCLT has over a SAS setup is absolutely mind boggling.



Took it for a quick spin!!

I drove up and over this landscaping embankment which dropped me off a taller-than-normal curb and WOWWW this truck is SILKY SMOOTH! Feels like I've got like 10 psi air pressure; FINALLY no more rock hard rear leaf springs!!

As you can see the rear end sits too high and this was my fault. RST recommended I run a dual spring rate setup of 14" x 300 lb lower and 12" x 250 lb upper, but because I don't hardly carry any weight I went with a 12" x 200 lb upper and asked them to raise the lower shock mounts higher than normal. It turned out this was a bad idea because their usual shock mount location would have been just right but now this is as low as the rear goes...

I told them not to worry about it, that I still have a ton of tuning to do on the front end, and that I'll take care of it back at home I think it needs to come down about 2 inches, so I'll either switch to a shorter 10" x 200 lb upper or I'll have to modify and drop the lower mounts. I know an unloaded rake angle is good, but I also want to lower the front about a 1/2" too. More to come on this later-

 

May 2-9, 2019: Finally upgrading my rear suspension! (continued)

Subjective Ride Comparison 2 of 3:
It has now gone from the RCLT HD front of being 8 times smoother riding than the rear, to now the rear being 2 times smoother than the front!!

It will take some tuning to get everything dialed in just right. A LOT has changed with @SlowestTacoma and I'm gonna need to relearn how to wheel it. For the rear to ride this soft without any gear, it is too soft. Either that or the front spring rate is too high..? The quick solution is shorter 10" but higher 250 lb rate rear upper coils ... but I still don't know how far RCLT HD will compress when flexed out so this can't be determined yet. I've got a lot of work remaining until she's trail worthy again; Installing new 80" Marlin Crawler Rock Sliders being the least of my concerns at this point.

Again, my fault on the ride height, and obviously the rear panhard isn't meant to have such a poor angle. Hopefully lowering it 2-inches will help a lot. If not no big deal, I'll just raise the axle mount and level it out.



Driving the truck around without a muffler was quite interesting. Here I am working from yet another cafe while I waited for my muffler appointment



Finally at the muffler shop!



While waiting they had some rad cars show up including a super clean 3rd gen Supra with a huge single turbo and a couple 1950s and 60s low riders



Finally on the lift!

 

EDITED: Missed posts..

 

3 link.

 

It ALMOST looks like it has portals!!

 

Nice!

 

RST has it figured out! I was wondering if this was the direction you'd go after the KOH project

 

May 2-9, 2019: Finally upgrading my rear suspension! (continued)

Let me start exhaust talk by saying that you SoCal guys in the north Orange County area have it made when it comes to an awesome exhaust shop. Wow!! I am blown away by this place!

I had my exhaust work done by The Muffler Man, which is conveniently located only 2 miles from RST's shop (lucky bums!). For the longest time I've really liked our local muffler guy (that Marlin has used for over 30 years), but this shop in Placentia blows our guy completely out of the water!!

http://ocmufflerman.com


Not only did they get the job done 1 hr sooner than estimated, but they did far more work than what my muffler guy did last Spring and still managed to finish in less time. On top of that, they even spray painted all welds to prevent rust.

The owner wheels a Jeep and is involved with a couple clubs, and even invited me to a couple SoCal wheeling trips. And when they put the truck up on the lift, before I could mention a ground clearance issue that our muffler guy caused, they offered to rotate a pipe that wasn't part of the RST/3-link install project to get it up & out of the rocks. MAN, what an AWESOME place!! I STRONGLY recommend this exhaust shop for anyone in the greater LA area. They are only about 5 miles north-east of Disneyland so you have no excuse lol (Disneyland is a 510 mile round trip journey for me)

Now that the pleasantries are out of the way, let me say that purely out of personal preference this was the worst part of the 3-link install. :slap: RST designs their 3-link kits to be compatible with factory fuel tanks, however, the location of the factory muffler was not brought up when we made plans for this more than a year ago. As such, when I designed and had my dual-entry

$196 MagnaFlow Performance Exhaust Muffler 12580: 2.5"/2.25" Inlet/Outlet, 5x11x22" Oval, Stainless Steel, Satin Finish

MagnaFlow 12580 system installed back at Reply 582, I didn't give any consideration to 3-link compatibility. My aim with my system was to be nearly as quiet as factory but far better flowing which was perfectly executed and I was incredibly pleased with the system. In fact, around the 2,000 RPM mark on de-acceleration it would give an awesome faint popping sound which sounded amazing bouncing off of trees and rocks while out wheeling. This has been my most favorite exhaust system I've ever had on a vehicle...

...and now I've discovered that only a smaller muffler could be used or we'd need a complete muffler relocation. I didn't want to go smaller because I have my Supercharged MR2 with an exhaust that is angry all the time and having a new vehicle with air conditioning/bluetooth/cameras/heated seats/etc, I want to keep the exhaust mild.

I am convinced that the secret to my previous setup was changing to a true dual exhaust entry into the 12580 muffler, which combines both cylinder banks into a chamber rather than Y-pipe, creating the neat low RPM sounds that I've come to really love. But now, because I am set on keeping such a large muffler, we decided to move the muffler behind the rear end which meant keeping the dual exhaust system would have nearly double the amount of piping/cost/weight/complications.... so screw all of that let's just ditch it and go to a boring & traditional Y-pipe with single entry muffler.

Of course the work these guys did was impressive, it's just that I've lost a nice feature I loved about the truck. I told RST, "Do I want to have a neat exhaust system, or do I want this truck to be able to keep up with SAS rigs on the trail?" haha the answer is painfully obvious

Here is what used to be the true dual exhaust entry into my old muffler, now combined into a Y-pipe. These are the same 2.25" pipes entering the Y, and running the same 2.5" diameter pipe out the Y (the Y of my old setup was inside of the 12580 muffler, which was dual 2.25" entry & single 2.5" exit)



Here is the AMAZING work these guys did to fix a ground clearance issue my old muffler guy caused, and it only took ~ 3 mins to fix. Suddenly I hear, "Hey Mike, wanna take a look at this and see if you like it?", and I was like, "Wat? You already moved it up higher?! @_@" These guys work hecka fast!

The red arrow shows the height above the t/case, whereas before the piping was lower than the t/case!



Tag team'n the Tacoma

 

May 2-9, 2019: Finally upgrading my rear suspension! (continued)

And here are the results!!

Shot of the raised cross-over section before the new Y-pipe. You can see all the rock rash on that pipe and now it's up higher than my T/Case... finally!! Very nice



Detail up and over the track bar. They installed a clamp here so the exhaust can be removed if needed without having to take apart the suspension. Also, very nice!



Below is the new muffler location! Again, RST's 3-link does not require this; You can still mount your spare tire. I carry a high quality plug kit rather than a spare (where would I put a 40" spare?!) so placing the muffler here was an easy decision for me. The muffler is the same sized stainless steel MagnaFlow, only just a single entry & exist variant. Comparison details:

Old muffler:
MagnaFlow 12580 (https://www.magnaflow.com/products/12580-performance-muffler-5-x-11-oval-straight-through)
5" tall X 11" wide oval X 22" long
Dual 2.25" inlet
Single 2.5" outlet

New muffler:
MagnaFlow 12586 (https://www.magnaflow.com/products/12586-performance-muffler-5-x-11-oval-straight-through)
5" tall X 11" wide oval X 22" long (same as before)
Single 2.5" inlet
Single 2.5" outlet (same as before)



I had them place the muffler up high for my rear tube bumper plans, so the location/shape/style of the tip is not important but this is what they came up with which I thought came out REALLY nice!! They told me, "We like our exhaust systems to be heard & not seen" and yeah, they do some awesome work. I cannot recommend this shop enough for muffler work



Overall I am extremely pleased with the work they did and how this all came out. Once I got out on the road, yes, the neat low RPM tones are gone, which is a bummer, and also the system is more quiet than before which I wasn't expecting. Nevertheless, very happy with the work and can't wait to get this truck dialed in and back on a trail!!!

 

May 2-9, 2019: Finally upgrading my rear suspension! (continued)

Random pics during my 250 mile drive back home!

No trip to LA or the Bay Area is complete without stopping at a Japanese grocery store!!! Oh how I wished we had a Mitsuwa/Nijiya/Marukai/Saiwa in Fresno

フレズノで日本のスーパーはないよ！



One less pair of leaf springs in a parking garage



Updated side view with the front axle now moved forward two inches, patent pending I'll need to re-work my inner fender wall clearancing as well as shorten the sides of my front bumper to fit these crazy tires...

While I don't have 37s, I am 95% sure RCLT HD can handle up to 37s without having to cut A-pillar cab mount frame brackets. (This remains to be verified.) Even with my 40s, my body mounts themselves are unmodified and in their original/factory location.

 

May 2-9, 2019: Finally upgrading my rear suspension! (continued)

Took a final stop before leaving the SoCal area to double-check bolts, brackets, wires, etc



Ohhhh!! I completely forgot to talk about the new RCV AXLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

https://www.rcvperformance.com



I am VERY happy to announce that I am now running the brand-new Gen.2 Ultimate Axle Sets!! I discussed the below details for the KOH 4Runner in the Official RCLT Thread (reply #26 on Marlin's forum), and I'd like to share them here as well:

RCV Ultimate IFS Axles Generation 1 details (now discontinued):

• Inner CV Joint: Dana 44-size, 30-spline, Porsche 930
• Misalignment: 28-degrees! (stock: 25-degrees)
  
  
• Outer CV Joint: Dana 60-size, 35-spline
• Misalignment: 45-degrees
  
  
• Center shaft material: 4340 Chromoly
• CV Boots: Patented "Spherical" boot mount design, Grease Maintenance Required

RCV Ultimate IFS Axles Generation 2 details (now standard for all new orders):

• Inner CV Joint: Dana 60-size, 35-spline, New Double Offset design <--- Improved former weakspot!
• Misalignment: 30-degrees!! (stock: 25-degrees)
  • Because RCLT HD uses horizontal ball joints that have no downtravel limit, every degree only makes RCLT HD that much better. Thank you RCV!
  
  
• Outer CV Joint: Dana 60-size, 35-spline
• Misalignment: 45-degrees
  
  
• Center shaft material: 300M proprietary Chromoly <--- Improved former weakspot!
• CV Boots: Traditional boot mount design, Maintenance-free

What's really awesome about the new shafts is that they've reduced the outer diameter without reducing overall strength (since it was the internals that were failing, not the shell), which means I am able to add even more strength into the RCLT LCA (even more coming in prototype version 3.0) as well as keep the lower pivot as close as possible to the axle center line for improved geometry and reduced ground clearance loss. Thank you RCV so much for these new shafts...

...and so far now with 250 miles on the pair I'm MOST PLEASED to announce that apart from the initial break-in (grease that is spit out at the clamp), I have ZERO GREASE LEAKS thus far, which has already beat my previous RCV boot record of only 150 miles! LOL geeeeez what a pile of crap RCV boots have been, but now we're looking so much better with their updated Gen.2 design :beer:

#RCLT HD Passenger Side



#RCLT HD Driver Side

 

May 2-9, 2019: Finally upgrading my rear suspension! (concluded!!)

Last fill-up before the final stretch home!



Made it back home safe and sound!



I drove through a nasty thunderstorm with serious headwind. Big rigs were swerving and there was a lot of debris flying across the road.

Despite all that, the mighty 2GR-FKS that everyone loves to hate averaged 16.7 MPG through strong headwind with a lifted truck on 40" tires. Get out of here all you 3.5-liter haters, I don't want to see your faces anymore haha Love this truck

 

Sweet set up ,How about a picture of the new RCV axle ? I"m curious about the inner CV ( what it looks like ) How about bringing your truck to
PMC swap meet ? Confucius say You Lucky Man !!

 

Love it!! I’ve had long travel Volkswagens for years, torn boots and grease leaks suck! Can’t wait to see the final kits for sale Mike, awesome job.

 

Have you done the accumulater delete on your truck and is it tuned?

 

I NEEEEEEED IN on that first batch of LCA gusset kit for my 2008. LET ME PRE PAY. I NEED IT. IT LOOKS INCREDIBLE

 

Go to the website and opt to be alerted when available. Not a bad introductory price either.

 

Already did that and yes I agree. Prolly worth its weight in gold.

 

I couldn't find the page. Linky please?