'93 Toy Rock Crawler "Camo II"

its time to start building up a new rig to replace my previous truck which was a '98 Tacoma, SAS'd on 35s, lots of custom body work, and a camo paintjob. this summer i found a crack in the frame, stripped what i could, and sold it back to Toyota.



I picked up a '93 which is going to be built into pretty much the exact same truck using another Waggy Dana 44 front axle, Tacoma 8.4" rear axle, the same 35s, chevy springs in the back, and Rears Up Front.

a couple weeks ago i swapped in the taco rear axle and chevy springs and dovetailed my bobbed tacoma bed by 16 inches (which i was able to salvage before sending my truck to the crusher).


Last week i finished regearing and reassembling my dana 44 using the 4.10s i saved out of my last axle


then today came the point of no return




im hoping to have it driveable by the middle of next week, then i can focus on the other things like swapping on the dovetailed taco bed, rear shock mounts, bumpers, etc

 

Sick build dude!

 

The finished product should be pretty sweet by the sound of things. Nice job and keep it up

 

Ohhhhh such a shame - you have a JEEP axle under a toyota!

Just kidding.....they're the most popular axle for SAS toys. I have a waggy D44 under my jeep. I got rid of the sissy ass D30/D35.

That 98 was a nice truck - such a damn shame the frames have rotted out.
My gawd, the older toyotas are lasting soo much longer than the newer stuff.

 

I can't wait to see the finished product!

 

Nice work! Looking forward to the finished product!

 

That's a big project. Nice job so far.

I was looking at those pictures. The next to last one had me wondering how you got the front end to levitate like that. The jack stand is a lot more noticeable in the last picture. I hope it's just the camera angle but that looks scarily like the before picture of something that we'd see in the fail thread

 

just finished cleaning up the drivers side of the frame. probably wont get much more done until friday once xmas is all over with.

the truck is nice and stable on the jackstands where they are. they're about in the same location i had them under my tacoma which is just far enough back to install the leaf springs. plus having the bed still full of snow and a growing number of scrap parts also helps.

 

Very slick bro.....lookin forward to the final result....which I hope has the same paint job as the first one!!

 

awesome build man!!! looking great.............i too cant wait to see the end results!! we are never really "done" when it comes to modding!! lovin the camo too!!

 

It WAS camera angle It looked like just 1 stand kind of far back. The side view looks much better. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished project. Are you going to do the camo paint again?

 

yes, i am planning to repaint it camo using the same pattern. that might need to wait until the spring though when the weather is better for painting

today i finished grinding down and cleaning up the frame


then slid the axle underneath. i'm hoping that the truck will sit about like this once its done

 

sweet, cant wait to see the transformation all the way through.

 

well i got things mocked up and tack welded and its sitting under its own weight. i made a custom leaf pack today using the factory rears out of this truck, and adding a leaf from my old tacoma packs and an add-a-leaf from god knows where that i had laying around. front spring hanger is just something that i whipped together tonight using some spring mounts that i had and some 1.5x3" rect. tube. its just tacked together for now while i line everything up but it will get beefed up a good amount once i start doing finishing work. i wasnt able to setup the through-frame shackles yet because i still need to go to the spring shop tomorrow to replace the rear spring bushings and grab some u-bolts, so for mock up i just slid some sqaure tube between the rear spring eye and the frame.


heres what will be the final height/axle location


and this gives you an idea of how much tire i will have sticking out of the fenders. the tires are 12.5" wide and approx half is sticking out. the front axle is 61" WMS compared to the factory IFS which is 59" WMS, plus these rims have a lot of backspacing to clear the steering arms

 

torched holes for the shackle tubes


everything mocked up where it needs to go


then spent most the night beefing up the front spring hanger with lots of gussets to make it strong





currently, the spring and shackle hangers have been fully welded to the frame. the spring perches on the axle are next once the paint on the frame dries and i set the castor angle, then i can weld on the shock towers/tabs, bolt in the drag link and driveshaft, bleed the brakes, and take it for a spin. expecting 6-8 inches of snow tomorrow afternoon so it could be a very fun test drive

 

Quick progress. Like what I see!

 

Your Toyota is looking better each day. If your ever in the south eastern corner of Washington ie Walla Walla you would fit right in with your project that your building. Everyone seems to have tricked out SAS Toyota's down here. Nice work its been neat to see the progress. Hope the test run goes well and don't forget to take some pics

 

Nice transformation so far. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product.

 

welded the spring perches onto the axle after setting the castor to 9 degrees


im re-using the steering linkages from the sas i did on my tacoma and since the taco frame was wider, i had to shorten the drag link a couple inches. since i dont have a tap for a tie rod end thread and it needed to be shortened more than the drag link was already threaded, i cut the drag link, butt welded the two ends back together, then sleeved the section


welded on shock mounts, installed brakes, and reassembled hubs.


i tied up some of the loose ends and backed it out of the garage, only to notice that my rusty fuel line sprung a leak so i pulled it back in and will deal with that tomorrow, as well as bleed the brakes some more and install the front driveshaft