LS6 Swap 2nd Gen Build + New Tundra

Current clearance with my 1.5" spacer, need to get a 2" just for a little more wiggle room.


Prepped for bump stops!


Bumps installed and shortened, they were originally a 4" stroke, but 454 explained to me that he added a bigger spacer in there to effectively make the bump a 2" stroke. Gives me 2 more inches of up travel that is exclusively tunable via the bypass, rather than the bump. Makes sense!

TBH, I don't really understand much of this, hence why i'm not touching the truck during this process. Well, really, now that Im thinking about it, I really have no business doing any of this, the LS swap, the suspension, lol. But I guess you gotta learn somewhere. You don't know how to do something until you do it.

I do know this truck is going to party, hopefully as much as @WormSquirts

 

I'm sure your truck will go even harder. I only have internal bypass in the rear currently. I shortened my front hydro bumps from 2" to 1". Very easy to do. I do rub my shocks pretty bad

 

Rubbing is the last thing I want to do. I don't imagine im going to be rubbing at all in the rear with this setup with a .5" bigger spacer, but the front is worrying. Definitely going to be doing a CMR to replace the CMC I have now, the BTF kit moves everything forward so that will help, but I'm probably going to need to tub the front end, or just run a front clip and a tube front end rather than what Im doing right now, which is stock.

 

What is the BTF kit? If I understand you right it moves the wheel forward? Careful with bump steer if that’s the case…

 

https://btffabrication.com/collecti...long-travel-suspension?variant=40951919116335

+4.5" LT kit for the front, moves the wheel an inch forward for firewall clearance. Pulls 14" of travel. Has bumps, coilovers, and bypasses. Fairly priced too. Keeps 4WD. Boxed upper and lowers, with heims. I think Brandon is pretty active on here. Super solid guy.

 

Whatever CMR you go with, be sure to have them add a backer plate to help reinforce that area on the frame. There have been instances of people shearing/tearing certain relocate kits off the frame. Updated kits like DRT have the reinforcement plate with it. I've been running the DRT CMR for some time now and no issues.

 

From the pictures you are going to have to move your shocks waaaay further inboard to avoid any tire rubbing on the shocks.

Mine are moved about as far inboard as possible without the shocks hitting the frame during articulation, and with the tire stuffed they still rub quite a lot, and I only have 2.5 smoothies. With your bypasses they stick out even further. For no rubbing, you'll realistically need to notch the frame and move the shock even further in.

This is just for articulated travel. Straight up and down isn't a problem. I am running 37s, which makes it worse, but they still rubbed with 35s as well

 

Looks like a nice bit of kit. Check out the JD fab slide rack to address steering if you haven’t yet

 

Subd. Sweet build! Keep it up!

 

I'm local to DRT, I ordered a set of his CMR's and Spindle Gussets to be installed when I do the front.

He did a full range of travel and it cleared completely, I know it looks close. Even with tire flex I think I'll be alright how it is, but Ill definitely be adding a slightly bigger spacer to give myself a bit more clearance.

Haven't even looked at steering yet, Guess it wouldn't be a bad idea.

 

https://jdfabrication.com/products/2005-2015-tacoma-steering-slide-rack

Maybe you can elaborate a bit on exactly what this does for me... Is this a replacement steering rack? The BTF kit comes with the extended tie rod ends, but will I need to buy the tie rods with this kit?

 

No, it uses the stock rack but moves the tie rods to the slide (forward) to absorb a good deal of the abuse. Just hit up @81Trekker because it’s his brainchild, and he can give you much better guidance on it than I could.

but yes, it does need tie rods. Maybe you could use the ones from the BTF kit but that’s kinda weak sauce. most folks that use the slide rack weld a double sheer tab on the knuckle, reem it, and run heim rod ends

 

Im hoping he can comment here and give me a bit of insight. Idk, maybe now is the time to replace my steering rack as well? It's original, with 280k miles on it. It's not leaking or anything and it wasn't weak before I blew the motor.

 

Just do a Google image search for “JDFab slide rack”. It’ll clear things up right quick

 

That’s impressive that it lasted that long! Yeah, I’d say it’s got 1 and a half feet in the grave

 

Their website and install instructions cleared things up pretty well.

I cant tell you how many hard hits the truck has taken since Ive owned it. Hell, I buckled the frame in the rear from bump stop impacts. 454 had to fix it and plate it up. IDK how that thing is alive. I just found them online, they're really not that expensive. Like 300$ for a brand new one. It would be stupid not to, especially with how much I'm already spending on this suspension, it's a drop in the bucket compared to some of the other stuff.

 

I'd love to see a picture of one side drooped out and the other side fully compressed, cuz it doesn't make any sense to me how you have ~4" of shock stroke left, and 1/2" of clearance to the shock and it doesn't rub when compressed any further.

Either way, the fab work looks great and I'm sure these guys know what they're doing, I just haven't been able to get tires to clear at full articulation very easily.

 

I have the slide rack on my truck, and it reinforces everything for sure, but if you drive in an area where there is lots of mud and grit, not just desert, there are no boots, and the rack pulls in grime and blows seals.

I am looking to change to swing set with a steering box, just need to design it when my plasma table shows up in the next month or two

 

I wish I knew how to explain it a bit better. My knowledge with this stuff is pretty limited. Im better with road course cars, lol. My knowledge is as follows:

I hit a whoop with my stock suspension, I hit my head on the roof. I bought Kings. I hit the whoops, didn't hit my head. I hit the whoop with about 20 more mph, I hit my head again. I don't want to hit my head anymore. LOL

 

Yikes. My goal here is to make a reasonably unbreakable truck. Changing out seals like oil in my engine doesn't sound very appetizing.