Archive Garage Hammer Hanger Install Tips

Hey everyone. I just recently installed the archive garage hammer hangers on my 2018 tacoma trd off road and want to give a few tips that would have saved me a little bit of time and made it easier.

First Tip: Have another person there with you to help. Doing the truck under the truck there is really only room for one person at a time. With that being said have someone else there to help by switching out with you. Your arms WILL get tired from holding tools up and moving around under there. I did it solo but would have been awesome with another person there to just help when my arms got dead tired.

Second Tip: Multiple drill bits and multiple sizes. I would suggest having ATLEAST two of the 1/4" and 1/2" drill bits. Once I got to drilling out the second OEM shackle the drilling became way more difficult with the bit becoming dull. This may seem like common sense to some people and to me it kind of was but I did not feel like taking the time to go to the store to get extras because I was ready to start working on the install.
The second part of this would be to have multiple size drill bits. On some of the rivets when I tried to start the initial drilling the bit kept slipping and would not stay centered. I did not have a center punch but I took a big heavy duty screw and tried to hammer a center spot with that. Ultimately I used the smaller drill bits to get the drilling started more than anything.

Third Tip: Rivet removal and drilling. On the first one or two rivets I realized once I cut them off I was looking and wonder where in the Great Ceasar's Ghost is the center of this thing... Well the lesson was learned fast and here is what I did on all the other ones that helped a ton. I took a sharpie and marked lines all around the rivet before i started cutting it off. I will post an image below to what I mean. And I can hear some of you say, "but when you cut/grind the rivet off then it will take off the sharpie marks." Well yes you are correct BUT it wont take all of them off. There should be plenty of marks left to be able to see where the center should be.



Fourth Tip: Grinder/Cutting Size. The smaller the better (to an extent). If you can get one that you can easily handle in one hand then I would use that (I am not saying do the cutting and grinding with one hand I am just using it for size reference. Be safe and use two hands if possible to hold it steady). Also, the size of the cutting/grinding wheel needs to be compact. Some of the angles are a little tight so the more room you give yourself the better.

Fifth Tip: Exhaust pipe. As I have also read in other posts, the exhaust pipe is a pain in the butt. The way I worked around it was disconnecting the rubber support that holds it up and that gave me enough wiggle room to pull down to get it out the way. This is also where another person can come in a huge help. If the other person can hold the pipe down to give you room and focus then it should not be bad at all.



So here is how I tackled the rivets and drilling. This way may help you or you may have a better way but this way felt balanced. I first would mark my rivets as I talked about above. Then take the grinder with a cutting wheel and cut the head of the rivet off. Was every cut perfectly flat? No. But the goal was to cut the bulk of the head off and give you a flat surface to drill into. Once the head was cut off my goal mostly through if not all the way through with the 1/4" drill bit. If the 1/4" drill bit kept slipping and wouldn't stay centered I then went to small drill bits to just try to get a hole for the 1/4" drill bit to grab into. Once I cut and drilled the 1/4" hole, I then I took the 1/2" drill bit and drilling through each hole. Once you drill the 1/2" hole the OEM shackle should come off with relative ease. A good sized flat head screw driver, a chisel, or a crow bar should make ease of helping pop the ORM shackle off.


There are a few videos going through the install and I have read a few posts on their experiences but these tips are some of the things that weren't exactly spelled out and I just want to share my experience to help anyone in the future. The overall job is not bad. The cutting/grinding and drilling is the longest part. After that it is basically just bolt up.


I hope this post helps and if anyone has any questions or comments please let me know. I am not a mechanic and I don't have a bunch of experience doing work on vehicles outside of minor maintenance (oil change, changing brake pads, etc.) so I am not claiming to know everything about this install. I just hope to help anyone who may be looking at doing this or is ready to do it but nervous about getting started on it. Have confidence and go into it saying "I will get this done!" Mindset is something that some of us that are newer to doing installs must have. Have a plan and set your mind to it and knock it out the park!

I will answer any questions the best I can and refer you to any videos or links if you want.

Good luck and have a good day!

 

Maybe copy-paste this into the HH thread for more visibility: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...rage-2005-2023-tacoma-shackle-hangers.519625/

 

Will do. Thank you!