So you push your 1st gen offroad - what cracks next?

Here's my solution to give you another option. The bed rail supports were to rusty to attach to the new crossmembers effectively. Still need to address that in the coming months.

 

I had some damage to my bed as well.
My solution was get rid of the bed and build a camper in its place.

 

Any idea how much that weighs?

 

Weight has been a big concern with this project. One of my friends named it Bondokadonk because it's got a giant ass and it's pretty fat.

The truck loaded with fuel, 8 gallons of water, food and beer for a week, spare parts and tools that I carry because I'm still working on building the camper and I love working on it at campsites plus myself comes in at 5700 pounds.

I wish I'd weighed the truck before I built the camper. I recently found out there's a scale nearby that's free and easy to use. I could have taken my truck there with no bed on the back and weighed it and would know exactly how much it weighs.

In place of actual numbers I put a spreadsheet together with the weight of the truck plus all the individual things I've added to it, tools, food, water, beer etc until it added up to 5700 pounds.

It looks like the camper is about 900 pounds including the batteries and fridge etc. That seems to match up what i thought it would weigh based on the materials I bought for it. Previously my guess was somewhere above 1,000 pounds.

One of my goals was to move as much of the weight between the axles. The spare tire is actually inside the camper, in the middle, just in front of the rear axle. The fridge and camper batteries are just behind the cab in the front of the camper. I moved the starter battery to the camper just inside the passenger side rear wheel well. Water is behind the passenger seat. All the tools and spare parts I carry are between the axles too.

The truck has been regeared to 4.88's and has a supercharger with a stock size pulley and no fueling mods. It's not fast but I like to say it's quick for a 5700 pound 1st gen tacoma.

It also has Tundra brakes on the front, CBI frame plates welded to the rear.

The rear suspension is lacking for the weight. I have the timbren load bearing bumpstops and Old Man Emu Dakars with the add a leaf. Fully loaded it sits about a half inch off the bump stops.
My plan is to have either a set of custom alcans or deavers made for the rear. I'm going to some CAT scales so I can get the weights of the front and rear axles for the custom springs.
The front OME 882's seem to work just fine. However, I'd like to replace those with kings at some point.
Coronavirus has made work intermittent for me so all of this is on hold until I return to work full time someday.

I'd also like to replace the golf cart batteries with lithium when the price comes down on those. The golf cart batteries are 120 pounds! They provide 115 usable amp hours which is way more than I need (like I can run my cpap machine, charge all my things, run the fridge AND a 12 volt electric blanket and the batteries don't care at all). I could replace them with a single 100ah lithium and save like 90 pounds.

 

That looks and sounds like an awesome setup.

One thing I would encourage is to consider ADS over Kings. In my experience, even with their extended travel spec, the kings are too short. I believe this contributed to my passenger side coil bucket failure.

 

The shock is going to be the limiting factor either way.

 

True. Thus limit straps keep that from being so.

 

Not to sound like a fanboi (I guess I have become one), the ADSs are still a good 1/2" longer than the Kings.

 

That's honestly not too bad for weight. I'm sure there are other builds here that are in that range too. I'm trying to keep mine around 5250 or less but I keep having to add reinforcements to everything. Ideally I'd like to build my own bed and an updated Wildernest and keep the weight the same as it is now. I think aluminum might be the only way to obtain that unfortunately.

I'm also looking to finally replace my OME 882. I've been impressed with what they have put up with for what they are. I just can't keep the shock eye bushing in them. I'm looking at Fox for the DSC adjusters.

I don't have any real complaints about my 1000lbs Alcans. They have softened up a bit since new but they still hold everything fine.

Good idea keeping the weight in front of the rear axle. I'm surprised more don't have a bent frame from hitting it at the breakover like I do. 100lb tire hanging 6ft from that point is a lot of weight.

Awesome work BTW, love seeing these one off builds.

 

Thanks. It's been a lot of fun to build. I've got around 500 hours into and I've yet to come to the point where I've lost interest or questioned what I've got myself into.

Speaking of losing the shock eye bushings..mine have around 80,000 miles. I replaced the bushing once and they failed again.
I took way too long to actually replace the 2nd bushings and one of them ovalized the eye so I had to replace the shock.
It turns out the old shocks were pretty worn out beyond the ovalized eye hole. Much much smoother.

You're only the 2nd truck that I've heard about losing the shock eye bushing. Have you heard of this before?

Glad to hear you like the Alcans. I'm leaning more toward those.

 

Will do. I'm still a really long ways off on replacing my shocks.

Rear leaf pack will be first but that's also not for a long time.

 

I don't think I've heard of anyone else. This is about a year and a half old, it's been this way for quite some time also, just haven't cared to replace it.

 

That’s exactly what happened to both of mine twice.

Someone mentioned on TW it might have been from torquing the shock bolt with the wheel off the ground vs on the ground.

 

I’ll make a flat bed out mine one day too

 

What are you expecting here? A rubber bushing to last 100k? Cause...you're dreaming man if that's the case with a pig of a truck like yours and taking it off road.

Should probably be replacing those mono gas shocks every 50k anyways.


The lower uniball joints in performance shocks barely last 20k as it is. Often much much less depending on the usage.

 

Thats why 1.5-2'' of lift is usually best. It puts the shock more in the center of its travel at ride height. 3'' is pointless as you have no downtravel.


But either way...even if you have the shock placed right, you can still top it out plenty.

 

Yes, I would agree that the more lift you have adjusted in, the less wheel down travel you have. This is why limit straps are important. To not allow the shock to be the limiting factor. To transfer the 'yank energy' to the frame instead of the coil bucket.

But I guess I am not sure what you are implying. It isn't only trucks with adjustable CO that are damaging their coil bucket. A recent example is @otis24 who I think is running OME nitrochargers or sports. No threaded collar on those.

And aren't these the same guys (accutune) who would try to redefine what preload is? Like somehow adjusting the collar and threads showing is not preload. I recall it was you who posted their FAQ on the topic.

 

Their illustration relates to ride quality and doesn't really have to do with the coilbucket issue IMO. During normal driving if you don't have enough dowtravel, you'll top out your shocks and have a harsher ride, (I.E. hitting a pothole) but not exactly the same thing.

The topping out that's causing a problem is occurring during faster, harsher driving and usually after you fully compress the shock anyways. It will rapidly extend and have a harsh top out no matter what amount of preload you have.

 

Yep. I think we've pretty well proven you'll crack a coilbucket regardless of your setup.