Snowy's 3-Linked 98 Xtra Cab

I figured that I would post up as much as a build as I have for my 98 xtra cab that I acquired about 5 years ago. I was couch laden after nearly cutting off my finger at work and I happened to come across a guy on TTORA looking to trade his swapped 98 Tacoma for a well built IFS rig. I had a locked and armored 02 4Runner so a straight across deal was made after I tracked down the previous two owners from the TTORA days and they testified what a strong running 3RZ it was.

Here's how it looks now



But it's been a long path..

My 02 that I built from stock



The real fun was turning up the truck's prior life before I acquired it. I was able to turn up its first picture circa 2006 after a farmer hit a cow with it and the chopping began..



The initial finished swap



Then Chris bought the truck and it lost its bed and became school bus yellow



After that, Jimmy bought the truck and it got a bed back and turned snow camo



And then this is how it looked when I drove it to Indianapolis from Rockford in -20 weather following a blizzard



It was a bit rough around the edges... It had that terrible front bumper, the center carrier bearing was held tight with zip ties, the dash cluster didn't work and it had a goofy extension on the rear bumper to meet MN bumper laws. All of the good stuff was still on it though. Sky's left hand drop Tacoma with front axle, 30 spline longs, full PSC hydro assist, trunion bearing eliminators, Detroit front and Powertrax rear lockers, and best of all, zero rust. I fixed the center bearing first thing, put a new cluster in it, then bobbed the bed about 9 inches, and built a set of tube doors with automotive style latches.







I DD'ed the truck through my senior year in college until this happened...



The Powertrax decided the blow up on I90 just outside of O'Hare going 75 in the left lane. Locked up the rear axle on the spot, scared the shit out of me, and ruined the trans input. $300 later I had a junkyard W59 trans and Chase as ECGS really helped out to get me setup with a new 5.29 gearset with an ARB. I went without a compressor since I have a CO2 setup and opted to put a handheld air tank under the bed to supply the locker only. It is big enough and leak resistant enough to wheel for at least three days without dropping below 85 psi.

I put an interior cage in plus some seats I got a good deal on because the stock ones were shot.



Then decided that a Tacoma interior is too cramped with an internal cage so I took the cage and seats out. Scored a set a nice shape xB seats for $50 and swapped them in. They sit a bit too tall but I just fit and they are comfortable. Wouldn't recommend for anybody taller than 6'



In the meantime I built a crawbox because my clutch hated life any time things got technical in the rocks. Inchworm wouldn't give me a timeline on adapters so I went for TG adapters, 4.7's, and their crossmember. Just about the best upgrade I have done to the truck. I spent a sizable about of time in 12:1 at Harlan a couple weekends ago.







The truck had the same set of Rough Country shocks on it since Chris owned the truck in and they sucked. When I pulled them off the last 6 inches of travel had no damping at all. So I opted for 14" 5125's to replace them. I fabbed up some upper mounts to poke through the bed and give me about 5-6 inches up travel that puts the springs right at flat when at full bump. Huge improvement over the RC's





At the same time I redid the front spring hanger to lower the front of the truck about 1.5 inches and pulled the overload plus one more leaf in back to level things out. Sits at 24.5" frame height on 37" PBR's from about 25.5" when I bought it on 35's.



Before the Harlan trip I built a traction bar to cut down on the axle wrap. I started with a generic kit from Barnes 4x4 and modified it to fit the Toy axle and used .250 wall DOM for the lower link so that I could set it up to protect the DS.



Since the rear gear replacement the truck has been dead reliable. I just wheel it and put it away till I am ready to go again. It drives to every trailhead at 75 mph with no issues whatsoever as well...I love my 310k mile 3RZ







Everything I have done has been done either in the parking lot of my apartment complex or in my little one car garage that I have as well. Definitely teaches you to be efficient. Future plan is to have it painted again this summer, build a front bumper, exo, and tube bed for it. I have access to the bender, just need to take the time to get it all done.

 

Awesome looking truck man, it's come a long way since you got it.

 

You did it the right way for sure, trade, hack off previous booty fab and wheel!!

 

It's been a process for sure. I knew it had some rough edges when I traded for it but there just wasn't a way I could afford the sum of the parts anytime soon so I jumped on it. I was starting to push the limits of the 4Runner so it just made sense, especially so close to graduation knowing I'd be buying a DD. The funny thing is that I think I've had it all apart and reworked with the exception of having the cab off or the motor out.

 

That's called research so you know how to fix it when it breaks lol!!

 

I know the cool thing is to build your truck from scratch but it sure is nice just refining everything...and not taking the hit on new parts.

This is true, I'll race you changing a birf vs CV now that I've got my cone washer removal technique down pat

 

LOL i suck at changing CVS, i only had to do it once! That time i broke it was in the second most inconvenient way!

 

So my previous upper shock mounts were setup to just be temporary after f250 towers went on backorder. But much like many things on many people's rigs it became semi permanent...until my frame finally cracked at the mount and I gave in with the f250 towers.

I chopped them down to the appopiate height and angle to not bind things up. Really not a difficult job and the versatility of the f250's is awesome. I'd gauge it about a 3 hour and 6 beer job.





Don't mind my shitty repair job where the frame was cracked

 

Sweet, nice job on angling them. We didnt on mine and realized it after we burned them it and my shock body hits the mount. That what we get for drunken fabbing! Love those shock towers, people can take their Artec and ballistic fab towers and shove em LOL!

 

Wow!Very cool!

 

Thanks! Its been a blast working everything over to get it how I want it.

I went out and built a front bumper today in prep for my trip to Flat Nasty next week. I got sick and tired of not having one so I borrowed my friend's bender and just had at it with no real plan in mind. Just started bending and saw where I went.





It's not perfect but it'll work for me. I just need to weld in some 5/8 to mount a winch, plus add in some side supports and it'll be ready to rock and roll. The next project will be taking off the bed and tubing everything out in back. Plus shorting up the wheelbase about 5 inches at the same time. I really don't like how long it is compared to my friends 4Runner and another friends first gen mini truck.

 

Looks good!Enjoy that trip!One project at a time!Your trucks a BEAST!

 

Cool rig and bumper. It looks almost like mine did for a while, but without the removable winch plate.

 

Thanks!

Before I take the bed off and do some major surgery to it I took care of some little things that were bugging me from day to day.

First was fixing the wiper transmission. It had always been crazy sloppy since I bought the truck and had gotten to the point that the arm would fall off the motor if you went up a steep hill. $50 on a doorman trans and its as good as new.

On my week long wheeling vacation I figured out that my newly restored AC would make the truck overheat when stopped on a trail with it running. New Aisin fan clutch and all is well again.

The truck had developed a cold start miss over the last month or two and was not idling super smooth. I thought it may be a hg but everything checked out there. Decided to check the valve lash and found 2 exhaust valves with zero lash and the rest under spec. Bingo. Ordered up new shims from Toyota to bring things into spec and solved everything. Only about a 3 hour job aside from waiting for parts. Scared the hell out of myself after I went to start it and forgot the breaker bar on the crank bolt

 

Im jealous of your timing chain!! How much dirt did you get in the engine?

 

I'm jealous of your 40 extra hp!

Not as much as you'd think, plus it's got like 320k on it so I'm sure the tolerances are loose enough now to deal with it

 

I cant even take the oil cap off without crap falling in the engine. Mud sucks.

 

inspiring build dude! i know first hand about working off of apartment parking lots and borrowed driveways. makes it all more fun in the end

 

Thanks! It makes for some interesting looks from the neighbors for sure. I'm held up for the moment by working on my dad's 05 STi, timing belt was a piece of cake but galvonic corrosion is kicking my ass on the brakes while I go through the whole car . $500 Brembo calipers incentivize you to do a lot of drilling and tapping instead of replacing.

Goal is to shorten things up as much as I can plus tube/exo everything in September. I can't wait to not have to make 53 point turns all day now

 

I've started the deconstructing phase and I'm now at a crossroads. Planning to shorten it about 8 inches but that will require an F150 tank in front of the axle in addition to moving everything else. Thinking about chopping the frame and building a new back half from rectangular tube like @Gearhead to avoid all the grinding and place things where I want. Any thoughts positive or negative?