Anyone ever notched the side of their frame for bigger tires?

Whats up guys. As you may know I'm running 37" tires on my Tacoma. They fit great except for the fact that I can't turn more then like 3/4 of my turning radius. I'm looking to help fix that by notching my frame. Has anyone had any experience with this? I've seen C notches for low riders but this will be on the side of my frame for tires.

My current plan is to notch it in about 1.5-2" with some 3/16" plate and then run a reinforcement 3/16" plate on the other side. I mean the frame on these trucks is not that thick so I think the 3/16" should hold fine.

Something like this but on the side:



What do you guys think? Am I making a mistake if I cut it?

 

Have a pic of the spot you're gonna notch?

 

Go long travel.

 

Wouldn't you have to notch 2 spots on each side, for the leading and trailing edges?

Doesn't sound promising to me. But I may not be envisioning it correctly.

 

Yeah right here:

 

I'm SASing, this is to get me through until then.

 

So the frame actually bends in towards the middle in the front of the truck. I have plenty of room up there, it's only on the tail end that I have issues.

 

Probably not the best idea.

 

If you have the skills to do the job correct !!! Go for it!!

I know I could do it put some thinking on how to gusset the frame and avoid vertical lines .

Make sure you make your notch large enough it would suck to redo it a second or third time.

 

I would just move up the sas plans. Done right it seems doable, but there’s a whole lot of expensive ways to have it go wrong. And since it seems like no one else has tried it, it’s new territory too.

 

These frames aren't very robust to begin with, I'd be afraid of making it more likely to bend/tweak esp when winching or getting winched.

 

If you're going SAS, don't notch the frame and run smaller tires until the SAS is done.
The notch may allow for bigger tires now but may hurt your "upgrade" plans for SAS at a later date.

 

This is very true. They are pretty thin too so I'd really need to make sure it was plated well if I did it.

 

My thinking is when I SAS it I'm just gonna cut the whole front of the frame off and run some new square tubing. I guess the question is if the notch will go too far back so I won't easily be able to re do the front.

 

Lots of people notch the rear to fit bigger shocks outside the frame on 1st gens and 3rd gen 4Runners but I haven’t seen it done in the front. Building an engine cross bar at the same time would help keep things rigid.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...k-bucket-top-engine-crossover-bracket.403816/

 

Oh good idea! I could probably run one from shock tower to shock tower like those good ol race Civic's. Since I already cut my fenders and tubed my front it would be super easy.

 

Not being under the truck I am not sure how another cross member would work .

Myself if your going to do this project I would go with 1/4" and extend it at least 6" in front and behind the notch.

I am sure your aware this section needs to stronger then when it was new.

If you are going SAS I would hold off but after all it is your truck do what floats your boat.

Best of Luck!!

 

Yeah plating the frame is standard practice on most go-fast trucks keeping the factory frame rails and hard hits will twist the frame in on the engine so if the c notched area proves to be weaker than it was before, the cross bar will keep the frame from twisting as much at this stress concentration. It’s a necessity on bigger suspension / higher speed trucks so definitely useful on a truck that might have a little more tendency to twist at this point. They aren’t that hard to make and can be easily fit under the 01-04 hood.

 

I guess I should have been more clear !!

Without having the Truck in front of me I would have no idea how to design then build such an extra frame support though a good look I could figure something out having made many over the years.

 

Don't notch the frame if you are going to do this, it will make it a PITA when you do the frame chop. I would adjust the steering stops, run wheel spacers or a smaller tire in the interim. It just seems like double the work that will drive some headaches later on. All my frame fish plates when I did my chop run right over that area you want to cut.