Betterbuckleup's 2000 taco build & BS

I had the 4xinnovations poly mount for almost 10years and recently went back to rubber and it's night and day difference. So much smoother and honestly it doesn't move around as much as I thought it would. I do have a lefty behind my crawl box so I can move the mount to the rear most case so that may have something to do with it. I have new OEM motor mounts that I'm going to chain, curious to see what that does with the drivetrain movement.

 

So you went back to a rubber crawlbox mount in addition to your factory tranny mount? Or are you running only the crawlbox mount?

Yea I thought about getting new OEM motor mounts, but I figured I would try doing the marmount on the driver side one and seeing how I like it.
Just dragging ass on doing it since I have to pull the front diff & axles.

 

Yup, back to rubber!

I only have the motor mounts and one mount for the tcase/crawler. It's an OEM rubber rf1a mount attached to my lefty.

I looked at the mar mount, but it looks like welding chain on there will be easier for me since I don't have a drill press.

 

Did you have a rubber mount from the get-go on your crawlbox? What made you switch to the 4x mount originally?

Chain is def easier, but I feel like the sound of the chain link rattling would drive me crazy.

 

I had stock rubber when I first swapped the crawl box in, then ran the 4x innovations for a LONG time, then was getting some wicked drivetrain vibes (like death wobble in the drivetrain) after my SAS. I rebuilt the 4innovations mount, still had the vibrations so I modified the crossmember and went back to stock rubber.

 

Gotcha. Well so far I haven't noticed any excessive twisting in the drivetrain with just the modded rubber mount. Hopefully it stays that way

 

I thought about doing something like that. What I learned over the years is you need both mounts to be the same material or stiffness, or you can damage stuff. I never had motor mount problems, but It was always in my mind. My vibes turned out to be partly the trans mount, partly my driveshaft out of phase and partly due to my 80 rear axle.

 

Yea I agree. Even though I haven't broken anything, I can't see anything good happening from having the rear most case pretty solidly mounted with a poly mount and then having some worn out motor mounts in the front. Sounds like a good way to crack some housings imo. want the whole drivetrain twisting as a unit and not the whole drivetrain trying to twist itself too.

I'll be curious on how wasted my motor mount is when I get around to pulling it out. Should be about 300k or so on it.

 

So I decided to give my steering rack a revamp since it has been making weird creaking noises and had a bit of wander to it.
Got some OTR's & rack bushings for it.

Although upon taking it out, turns out the bushings were fine and that the big D-ring clamp was just loose


I guess i'll use those bushings at some point. Kind of glad I didn't have to change them out though because it's a real pita to move that bitch around.

I did replace my OTR's with new OEM ones though. Now I have some trail spares which is always good.

 

Put in the AAL I had ordered a while back.
Used the next size up in length of U-bolts. I ordered a new centering pin because I cut mine down and thought I would need it, but I actually didn't need it. With the AAL, the bolt head sits flush with the end of the threads conveniently enough. So now I have some extra centering pins I guess.

So far the ride seems much more controlled in the rear, versus before it would blow through the travel pretty quickly on any bump in the road.





One thing I realized is that the dakar leaf packs have a good amount more down travel in them. The OME nitrochargers are basically acting as the limit straps and gimping the down travel a good bit.

So once I feel like spending a bunch of money, I'm gonna get some 2.5 smoothies to go in the rear and do the relocation. I guess the spare tire will have to go in the bed at that point

 

Keep an eye on

https://www.dezertrangers.com/forums/parts-accessories.20/

and

https://classifieds.race-dezert.com/Off-Road-Parts on page 2-3 where the free unpaid ads show up

 

I was thinking of going with these since they did my fronts and could valve accordingly.

But I'll keep an eye out for any good deals forsure

https://accutuneoffroad.com/product...actory-series-remote-reservoir-dsc-10-travel/

 

Deaver F67s, 12" shackle, and 2.5 triple bypasses. Full send!

 

In my fucking dreams lol.
I'm not ready to spend buku bucks on this bitch quite yet.

Gonna get my mid travel all dialed in to hold me over for a while. Works pretty damn well as is. Just gotta get the rear on par to keep up with the front.

 

Ha! I definitely feel that. I very much want to fancy bling bling, but my wallet already says no.

Solid mid travel is what I want to do, but I can't even bring myself to think about redoing suspension right now. Just want to finish all the projects I have now and then just wheel it through the rest of the year.

 

Yea that's where I'm at. The rear suspension revamp will likely happen after this summer. Once I get serious about an SAS or something big like that, i'll start saving and putting together a fund for it. But until then I just wanna get my current setup performing as well as it can.

And you're already redoing your front suspension though? Or least beefing it up that is. Not to mention the 35's you have coming. You still have a lot of work ahead of you lol

 

That free tuning sounds like a great idea. I've been thinking with fatty's weight custom tuned rear shocks would be a huge benefit.

I've been thinking kings but haven't done much actual looking into it. Same with new leaf springs...Alcan vs Deaver...no idea at this point.

 

New bump stops, limit straps, and new UCAs are about it for suspension upgrades. 315s are 3 weeks out if the computer at work is accurate. Still waiting on my UCAs which I need before anything at this point.

 

Ah that's right. Well close enough to a revamp minus coilovers. You could play around with some valving in your icon's though

Yea definitely. You of all people I think could stand to really benefit from some good valving on a nice set of coilovers & shocks out back with all the weight from the camper.
Would make the rough road on the road trips you go on a lot more tolerable I'd imagine lol.

I would say to start out with some new leaf springs first though. Don't know if deaver does custom stuff, but if you all the weights of everything loaded vs unloaded I'd say go with Alcan since they work with you to get exactly what you need.

 

Eh, for $900 you could find used 10” 2.5 triple bypasses with way more adjustment. I’d definitely look for used shocks and buy shims to valve your own once you run the truck and see where it’s lacking. Some shock placement ideas here:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...ear-travel-without-cutting-up-the-bed.663001/