Class V Taco- dclb on 37's

I replaced both inner and outer tie rods today because inner tie rods were damaged on Rubicon trip. I noticed my steering wheel had to be kept slightly turned in order to go straight. Turns out these crappy Napa tie rods are not the best. I replaced inner tie rod with 555 which is supposed to be as good as OEM. I put Toyota OEM outer tie rods on as well just to be rid of all Napa parts.
Bad NAPA parts were returned for full refund

 

The more I've been Wheeling with these 35s I have still been rubbing in the upper fender well area under full compression when going fast and hitting a whoop or with wheel locked and fully stuffed. So I beat the upper fender well with sledgehammer quite a bit and so far no more rubbing. I have not removed the shock to test True full compression but I I have Trail tested it and took it on the same exact obstacles that it was rubbing before and now no rub so that's good. It was starting to chew into the tread of the tires. On the driver side this resulted in the battery now sitting at an angle but still secure. On passenger side my windshield wiper reservoir no longer fits. I removed battery and windshield wiper reservoir before I did all of the hitting with the sledge. I am considering cutting wiper reservoir it in half to modify or purchase a smaller one from Supreme Fab works in Sacramento.

I have also been considering getting tube doors from 4X Innovations for rock crawling next summer. I took all the doors off and then went Wheeling for the day to see if it was something I would like. Pictured below. For slower driving and rock crawling I think it is really great. I'm able to lean out and see so much more when it when it comes to going over obstacles and placing the truck right where you want it. I also believe this could alleviate potential body damage when it comes to some really tight Corners around rocks and trees.

 

I cut about 3.5 in out of the windshield wiper reservoir so it would fit after beating in fender well to fit tires under full flex. Used Gorilla Glue it seems to be holding up good so far

 

Installed new rear bumper from BAMF. This is the high clearance with rub rails. I had them cut 2 in off to match my cut fenders.
This install was long overdue because I have been wheeling pretty hard with the stock bumper and it was pretty much destroyed last summer on the Rubicon. The rear stock bumper can take some hits but eventually it starts to bend and break.

Install of the new bumper was challenging by myself. The quality of these BAMF bumpers is great. I also had some skids powder coated that were not done when I picked them up originaly so now the mid, transfer case, and diff skid all have fresh powder costing. BAMF also replaced the cross member that goes to the Transfer Case skid because it was almost flat from all the abuse of the Rubicon and Barrett Lake Trail. Jerry said this is only the second time he has heard of someone doing this to the cosssmember. So it was great that he replaced it. He siad that he has an idea of how to replace this cross member with something stronger so hopefully that happens.

Measured from top of bed rail to 1/4 in below tail light which was 17 in then drew line and cut bedside.


Old Stock bumper which I had to cut part of it off because it was so damaged.


New rear bumper


Flex test

 

After a lot of rock crawling and abuse the crossmember on my Transfer Case skid was almost flattened on one side. I now have a new crossmember which is pictured below. Quite the difference.

 

Goddamn. That is some carnage. Are you going to do any additional reinforcement?

 

Yeah I would like to. I'm going to wait and see what @JLee comes up with.

 

I installed new HD shackles and shackle hangers from BAMF. Stock shackles were pretty beat up from banging them on rocks. One of them was bent pretty bad which made it a little harder to get the leaf into the hanger. I think I finally have everything beefed up under the truck for crawling in the rocks.

 

Add a cross-member between the shackles. If OEM is night and the BAMF is day, the cross-member is high noon.

 

Thanks, yeah that's next on the list. I'm trying to decide whether to do a straight bar connecting the two or something that is tucked up a little higher and maybe connecting it to the frame.

 

For hard trails I carry the following tools.



Here's what's in the bed of the truck for hard off-roading.



Here is all of the recovery gear I have except for the winch.

 

The following are old pictures from the past but I wanted to document here.

When I originally regurged my truck it was to 4.88 Nitro gears front and back. Sometime after having them I damaged the rear diff off-roading and had it replaced with Motive gears.

 

Pictures taken from The Rubicon this year June 2025.

 

I got tube doors from 4X Innovations front and rear now. They come bear steel so I cleaned them real good and then painted.. Tube doors make rock crawling much easier to see you where you are going.
The 4 tube doors also offer a weight reduction of 166 lbs. 4 stock doors total weight 235#. 4 tube doors 69#
Installed the flag for wheeling tomorrow on Independence Day!

 

Got new 37-in tires put on last week and took them out to the Rubicon. These things are pretty sweet!

 

Inner fenders hammered or cut? Or both?

 

Hammered!

 

I just noticed you're build says you have wheelers super bumps up front, do you have spacers for them? I have similar wheel specs with 37 inch KO2s, as well as super bumps waiting to go on.

Do you think you're going to have to tub? I'm willing to tub if I have to, but would rather just hammer since my truck is old and beat up anyways.

 

I have a 3/8 in spacer but it's not doing much. My truck is also beat that's why I decided to see if I could achieve the results I wanted with a sledge and I did. Its not pretty.I stated beating the fender wells and fire wall when I had 35's but had to hit it much more. My hands, arms and body were so sore from all of the hits with the sledge.
My battery sits at an angle now and I had to modify the washer fluid tank. I also have a very low profile CMR plus I cranked the tabs all the way on the lca's to clear the cab mount.

When clearing for the tires I took the shocks out and stuffed the tires but I found that in real world experience the tire can stuff even harder and the bump is not being as compressed so I had to do even more hits with the sledge.