What have you done to your Tacoma today? 1st Gen Edition

You're probably right. I'll have to look in to the (current) price of DOM. Doing it from scratch would also cut out $200 in shipping.

The savings on shipping alone would pay for a couple of these.
https://www.roguefab.com/product/prototractor/
I've been considering grabbing four of them. They would make cage building pretty straight forward.

https://youtu.be/rqfWTy_sNHE

 

Thats Pretty Neat, I had not seen those, I typically use a 3D Printed Clamp with flat surfaces to set level for plane/rotation measuring, imo they seam important for replicating work/achieving a design rather than just doing it the first time fabrication style.

 

My opinion on Cages in the first gen is that they end up far to close to your head to operate safely without a helmet/5 point harness... I am thinking to make a fabricated reinforcement for the A-pillar, not for the sake of racing, but to improve the safety of the vehicle without moving the hardpoint closer to the occupants

 

The A pillar is close for sure, and there is no way to make more room. I think that's one of the reasons many people exo cage a Toyota. (that space issue is the same across the board including Toyota Truck). Exo cage is definitely not what I'm doing here. One positive is my wife is 5'4", and this rig will be for her, so there is a little bit more space. I guess there are benefits of being short after all

This rig WILL end up with harnesses in it.

There will definitely be some pool noodle across the top of the A pillars though.

 

I have heard good things about these kits too:

https://www.911motorsports.net/Tube-Bending-Jig_c_18.html

 

I've seen that system before, but forgot where I saw it. Thank you.

The thing I like about the Prtotractor though is it takes in to consideration the actual CLR (bend radius) of the Die you are working with.

Example:
I have a Woodward Fab bender. The 1 3/4 die is a 6 inch CLR. So I would order the Prototractor with 6 inch CLR.
If I had a JD2 Model 32 bender the 1 3/4 die would be a 5.5 CLR. So I would order the Prototractor with a 5.5 CLR.

I don't see how the 911 accounts for bend radius. (but I may be missing it). The bend radius makes a huge difference, especially on main hoops trying to fit inside a box.

I also like the fact that the Prototractor works with plastic pipe. Easy to cut, light weight, easier to get to stay where you want it while you're working.

 

I just called the steel yard I normally deal with. 1.75x.120 wall DOM is 4.65 a foot. That's WAAAAAY cheaper than I remember it. Fabrication is DEFINATELY the way to go. I can get all the material for about 1.75x the cost of just the shipping on the 4x kit.

 

yeah Steel Prices recovered not all that long ago and the latest tariff announcements haven't made them go back up yet.

 

Ya, but I'm jumping on this shit right NOW. With tariffs pending that shit could jump up over night. (I think I paid almost 8 bucks a foot last time I bought 1.75 DOM).

20 ft sticks suck to move though. Gotta call in a favor with someone with a full size and ladder rack

 

Appreciate the heads-up, I'll keep an eye on it. Can't say I'll be too upset if a U-joint gives in at 250k miles and 20 years.

 

I think you can make an exo cage look good, but one thing I hadn't thought about until now is that the wind noise on the higway must be really bad.

 

Exo cages aren't really all that safe.

You can't tie any X bracing or cross bars in to the main tubes without drilling holes in the sides and top of the vehicle.

Then... when it rains... ya, that would suck.

 

Or you could be like this guy, but I think I'd rather just have an internal cage at that point lol

 

That is the first exo I actually like, fucking bravo.

 

This thing is pretty sweet! I'd love to drive this thing around.

Also if there's an apocalypse, just add some steel plates and you're instantly ready for Mad Max action.

 

Ordered a crossmember / control arm mount reinforcement kit for the 4 Runner.

I've never seen this one. I may have to order one of these kits for the Tacoma too. We'll see how it goes on to the T4R.

 

SC3 replacing a SC2, now i have an alarm in case my thermostat fails again.

 

It finally left the garage after 2 months of mostly rear end catch up maintenance.

 

Cross posting from one of my build threads. This is for a 3rd gen 4 runner... which is close enough to 1st gen Tacoma, that it makes it legit lol.

Rear axle... I'm going to build another Ruff Stuff axle for this one. Would you go 8.0 inch or 9.5 inch?

I did a 9.5 inch (Land Cruiser 3rd member) on my truck, with a Harrop e-locker, full float, disc converted.

I did the 9.5 for the strength cause my truck is on the fatty side. This T4R is going to be quite a bit lighter than the Tacoma. I'm thinking I would snap an axle shaft before I would hurt a 8 inch ring or pinion.

The 8 inch gives a bit more clearance, and is quite a bit lighter... those f'n 9.5s are monster.

Either way it would get full float, disc, and Harrop e-locker. (I'd use an 8 inch 4 runner 3rd member if I went 8 inch).

 

I think the 8" would be fine. I have been beating the crap out of my e-locker rear on 35's for a while now and I am sitting at 5k lbs. Is the plan for this one a milder "overland" build?

I guess that is probably the better question. What is the purpose of the build? Will you be doing go fast stuff in it? Or offroad camping with only occasional rock crawling stuff?