Jerneyman's Taco Build w/ Chevy 63 Swap and Welding Thread

Finally have on board air set up. Bought an ARB Twin compressor and built a custom mount for under the hood. Decided a single air chuck to the front bumper would be suitable for my needs.

 

Made a run to the junkyard and picked up my leaf springs from a 1994 GMC Sierra. These will be going in my truck in about a month. Also scored a 2 gallon air tank I’ll be mounting in the bed for my on board air. Removed the tank from a land rover LR3 that was using it for air ride suspension.

 

Finished up this tube bumper for a 3rd gen 4Runner this weekend. The tubing used was entirely from my scrap bin so that presented its own set of challenges. Everything fit in the end though.

 

Nice work on the swingout!Love the simplicity

 

Thanks! It’s proven to be useful so far.

 

Had some time to work on some more parts for the 63 swap. Welded together the bumpstop mounts. My plan is to cut the tubing to the correct length once I install the shocks and get the travel I want. These are going to be welded to the u-bolt plate on top of the leaf pack.



Oh, and look at this stack of sliders.....



And this one too...

 

Got around to the 63 swap this past weekend. Took all of three days with some help on and off from some friends. Mostly to lift the bed on and off and get the axle squared up and centered. Didn’t focus so much on pictures during this process but this is what I’ve got. Maybe it’ll be helpful to some folks.

Frame freshly hacked part with the air hammer and plasma cutter.


Bed supported on saw horses along with the gas tank slid under it (removed both to ease the welding and dismantling process)



Freshly cut shock mount before spending a while on it with the grinder to get it smooth.



Gotta make those welding surfaces as clean as possible. These welds are going to be supporting my truck for a long time.



Old brake lines coming out! Replaced with 29” SS braided lines.



Custom shock hoops built by yours truly and a set of 14” Bilstein 5125s.



Little flex test...



Bigger flex test... gotta find me a loading dock. My jack wouldn’t go high enough.




Bump stops installed. Had to chop those down another 3 inches. Measured wrong... but it’s fixed now.



And here she is all done. Super happy with the new stance. Still needs a good shake down run on a trail somewhere but that’ll come. For now, I can get to work, this is my only daily after all.

 

Limit straps are finally installed. Tabs welded in and straps bolted up.

 

killin' it! looks great man. you running +4" brake lines?

 

They’re 29” lines so I think closer to +8”. Lol.

 

I never knew the stock length, I just got the +4" when I did my suspension based upon what everyone else has done lol.

You have any idea if/when I do that shock relocate if I'll need to go longer? I sure hope not lol

 

That I’m not sure of. If you stretch out the full length of a 12 inch shock, you’ll be close to the limit of your current brake line. At 14” of travel, my brake lines have some slack left but not by much.

 

Yes +8

You shouldn't have to unless you do HH or the bamf shackle hanger which allows for more droop then +6 should be fine.

 

cool thanks Skip, so with just the Bamf relocate and a 12 or 14" shock +4 brakelines are good?

 

Bamf shock relocate is meant for a 12" shock, you may be able to fit a short body 14" shock like the billie with them. But if you want to do 14" shocks I'd get the Archive relocate or something custom like what @Jerneyman did. The stock hanger set up will limit your flex even with longer shocks I would recommend getting either the HH or Bamf shackle set up to optimize the flex. If you go that route +4" lines should suffice but if you want some margin of error just call Crown performance and order whatever length you want and just the rears but you've got to call to do that. I've got +9" on mine.

 

I don't plan on going crazy, but I do want to make my shock not be the limiting factor of my travel like it currently is. I'll probably just do a 12" shock and the bamf kit that Wes already has for me, don't plan on doing anything to the shackles....I'm fine with the shackles and/or leafs being the limitation, not the shocks.

 

That's a pretty solid plan also bamf shock relocate max shock size is a 2.0. You'll be fine with the +4 brake lines then.

 

thanks Skip.

 

Yeah man no worries! It'll be a good set up. Those bamf relocates are pretty sweet. You'll be happy with it.