Dayman's Karate Class- from SAS’ed Taco, bouncer, IFS 4Runner, and now a Jeep!

Lol, oh I understand, I had a few things I did and redid it a few times. People that use kits have no idea what its like cutting everything out and then figuring out a way to make most of what you use to build it back. It's hard when you have two hands and need four sometimes too.

 

Speaking of which, I spent the morning moving the bumps back half an inch because the coils would have hit on full droop. They were fully welded in, too haha

 

My wife upgraded to a 4Runner since fitting two kids in the FJ was getting cumbersome to say the least. I wanted to keep the FJ as a good trail vehicle since the Tacoma will only be trailered. The short wheelbase is pretty rad. It’s pretty cool how capable these are stockish. Rear locker and A-trac make a lot of difference.

Gotta ditch that front chin and make some skids, but that’s a project for after the taco is done haha it’s been fun to have something to ride around on our trails and make quick trips to the national forest. I miss wheeling and am ready to get the taco back on the ground.

 

I did about the same on my upper link mount on the front. I welded it on the inside of the frame to get a little more clearance. When I cycled the front axle the drive shaft hit it, if it was over about 1/2 inch it would have been good. Cut it out and welded it to the bottom of the frame. I learned a lot by doing it all myself though.

 

Same here. I was paranoid about fully burning anything in until everything was tacked on and cycled. The one thing I did of course I had to move haha

 

Finished welding up the front axle truss. Welded up my DOM links. Engine brace tube cut, notched and bent but waiting on some tube flanges to make it removable. Tacking on the steering and figuring that out. Guess I need some air to move the ram to center.

 

Found Sterling rear 5.38 gears, yoke, master install kit on marketplace brand new for about $300 less. Someone changed their mind and went with a 14 bolt. I didn’t realize there are practically no spools for Sterling rears so it looks like I’ll be welding it. Found a new grizzly locker for the front for about $150 less on marketplace, too.

 

Great finds

 

Engine brace tacked on. Really glad the hood still closed haha. Made some alignment hicky boogers out of some scrap angle aluminum I had. Tie rods and steering welded up.

Should be able to put the front on the ground tomorrow and start figuring out how far down to move my rear shock mounts and get everything welded/trussed up back there

 

Front end is on the ground. 5” uptravel, 23” to the belly, 130” wheelbase. Stoked to get a glimpse of what it’ll look like when it’s finished. Some much needed motivation, but still a lot more work to do.

 

Looking awesome

 

Time to start working on the rear so I can get these axles off to be regeared.

I have a replacement fuel cell. The original one leaked every single time, but it turned out a evap part wasn’t allowing it to vent so it would just build pressure in the tank until it leaked no matter what I did. I threw the stock tank back up there, but I’ll be ditching it and the evap crap since I won’t have any nanny systems to be affected.

 

That thing is going to be a beast

 

I just hope it rolls out of the garage without falling apart

 

I hope it fits out of the garage



Awesome work, keep up the motivation!

 

Thanks! Yeah that was a concern I had, too haha I did roll the axle in with the tires on one time, but I see a forty point turn minimum driving out

 

Info for adapting the pump. Posting here so I can find it.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/psc-pump-on-2nd-gen-tacoma-4-0-v6.644641/

 

My babies are back from being regeared. My hobby vacation is over. Time to get this thing rolling!

 

Those are some beefy looking axles, who did you get to regear them?

 

Yeah and they’re as heavy as they look. I’m over here adding up how much door speakers and plastic trim weighs so I can ditch some weight

I used a small local shop. I don’t think they do a lot of one ton axles, but they seemed to know their stuff. Will see how they hold up. Not many options around here.