02 Tacoma doublecab 3-Link on FJ80 axles

I put hydro assist (psc 3.4l kit) on with my 35s. Made a huge difference. It was completely doable before I had it but just being able to power through certain spots made it worth it to me. But I do recommend just going with trail gears kit. Psc didn't give nearly enough hose and I had to go buy extra 90 degree fittings since they only gave enough for one side. And the pump didn't fit lol. Had to drill out the hole.

 

Discounthydraulichose.com is awesome for hoses as well. I used them to make some hoses for me, and they are quick and cheap. Cheesy name and i was skeptical, however awesome service!! Their website has a ton of good hydraulic hose and fitting tech as well.

 

Moms BF makes things look really easy on 35's. I drive to all the trails so mileage and ride quality is a big concern especially on the longer treks like the western sierras and utah. Having a little less ground clearance forces one to be a better driver. Biggest factor is I just bought 295/75/16's a few months ago and they are brand new. Hankook has them at 33.8 I think the last time I could find an overall diameter. I had 15's up till now so I'm used to those prices. I have an extra pair of hands tomorrow so hopefully I'll be able to knock out some of the heavier projects .

 

If you have tires already, yea it makes to want to keep them. Not that you couldn't try to sell them...but it would be just more crap to deal with selling, buying new ones which will cost more money, etc.

 

So this happened today. Got the chain drive case out. Came out with no problems, all it took was raising and lowering the jack a few times and it "wiggled" off the tail-housing. There was no transmission fluid in the void and when I drained the fluid from the T-case it came out basically brand new no particles which was good. Need to sell this one if anyone wants a push button 4hi case to build a lefty while they drive their taco or 4runner (I'll post it in the classifieds obviously).



Making the triple sticks fit in the stock location is going to be a big pain in the ass, but it will totally worth it to keep my cup holders, center console etc, and that stock look which I'm going for. Shopping for a 1" body lift, best looking off the shelf one I've seen so far is the Toytec one, but I only need to do the cab because i'm ditching the bed and going to build a UTE style tray when I finish all the suspension and drive train stuff. All the stuff from norweld is awesome but getting one from australia or @Mainlineoverland would cost me more than my truck is worth. My dream Setup on their website is 23k .
(image is property of Mainlineoverland, use is for educational purposes only)


So I'm thinking I'll call roger brown on monday and see how long it will take for them to build me a set of spacers for just the cab.

 

I'm a big fan of those trays!

 

Those trays are nice...but mucho $$$

Back in the days Roger Brown used to sell whatever components you needed for the body lift. Hopefully he still does that. It's a really good product.

Hopefully you'll be able to figure out the triple sticks without much drama

 

Cleaned up my rear axle backing plates today. I swapped out all the parking brake hardware along time ago. I need to get new shoes for the drums. Rear axle will be assembled by the end of the week. Going to leave the third and the shafts in so I can still move it around if i have to. I'm thinking it makes more sense to put the rear axle in after the front because I want the lift in the rear to be even with the front (i hate the prerunner look). Before I weld the perches on and set the pinion angle in the back ill need to know what the ride height is going to be. I could always run the stock numbers but I would rather it would be setup perfectly. I dont want to run wedges or pinion shims.

 

Smart move on doing the rear last. Getting the pinion angle right is key with the offset driveshaft to get rid of the vibes. Cut the bottom of the backing plate off to allow rocks and mud to drain out. Mine is also beat to hell from rocks and was rubbing on the rotor for a while.

 

My rims have a decent amount of backspacing to where the backing plate is pretty much inside the rim, you still think it would cause me problems.

 

Once i swapped my truck, was locked f/r and on 37s i found myself getting into the bigger stufd, you will no matter how much you say you wont, i started getting random stuff under the truck damaged by rocks that never did before. I would at least cut the bottoms off to allow crap to fall out of the backing plate, i drove for 30mins with a high pitched squeel with a rock jammed between the plate and rotor until it finally stopped.

 

Just noticed this excellent build... don't know how I missed it.

The 4WU kit is killer, you will like it. Brian's welds are superior for sure.

If you need any numbers/ measurements, let me know.

 

Definitely, thanks for the interest.

roger brown 1" body lift got ordered yesterday, hopefully it comes in a timely fashion, just waiting on that to put my dual cases in.

 

So the body lift comes today. I think I'll throw that in this weekend, the Moms BF is going to let me borrow his sawzall so I can cut my sliders off. I'm going to re-work them a little bit, they are an old set of demellos and they are all .120 wall square tubing. Believe they were called the HD version back in the day, I'm going to reuse a good portion of them but I'm going to go round tubing on the outermost part for better clearance and lighter weight, hard to describe without pictures but I'll post some up when I get working on them. Once the body lift is in then I can get working on the shifters, I'm going to use the angle of the stock one as a template. I may have to go to the shop that I took the welding class at to use their bender for the sliders and some of their other tools (press brake, band saw) to modify my shifters. Thats all I have for now. Me and @Ritchie have had some good conversations back and forth about the 4WU kit and some problems he ran into, I have a feeling hes going to be instrumental in the build, so thanks to you man.

 

Glad to help.
It did take me longer than I'd imagined but I did learn a lot hangin' out with Brian and after I picked up my truck from 4WU. I now know how to dial in the little things which make big differences. I can honestly say his kit works well and you will really enjoy the capabilities of the link setup.

 

Got an order from marlin crawler, they were having a sale on maintenance parts and I needed all the seals and gaskets for the front axle, and new aisin hub parts to rebuild some locking hubs up front. Got the body lift as well. Things are moving ahead pretty steadily. Its raining here so cant get much done, plus im hungover from cinco de mayo and I have to go drink more beer for a buddies birthday so no progress today. Thinking about starting a youtube channel and doing some how to videos. There is plenty of stuff for mini trucks (lowrange's channel has excellent axle vids) so I would focus more on the fj80, and swap related stuff. There are a couple of australian channels for rebuilding drivetrain parts.

 

If it doesn't get in the way and it's not a pain in the ass, I'd love to watch your vids. The more information the better, and videos would really help since I'm a visual learner.

Finally had the chance to read through the entire thread, you're doing good man. I can't wait till you piece it all together.

 

It shouldnt take that much time. I have an editing background so thay helps but post production is the longest aspect of it

 

Well the sliders beat me today, demello makes some pretty stout stuff. Wouldn't have been a problem except for the 1/4 gussets at the top and the awkward angles. I only had 6" blades for the sawzall, I really needed longer ones so I picked those up today. I'll finish that up tomorrow. Body lift will go in on wednesday. I accidentally knicked the wiring harness that goes to the rear of the truck underneath the driver side rocker so I'll have to figure out how bad that is and fix it.

 

Remind me...why are you wanting to relocate the sliders? It is just a 1" body lift. I would probably just leave them where they are.

Man, cutting and re-welding rock sliders is a PITA as you described. I helped a friend once and it was just such a tedious thing to do.

Well, we did it with a sawsall and a grinder with cut off wheels. Perhaps it would be easier with a bad ass plasma cutter.