BigMike’s Big Journey: New 2016 Tacoma

https://www.marlincrawler.com/armor/axles/front-axle-armor/heavy-duty-lca-frame-brace-kit

 

Here come random pics from last November when I was working on the KOH 4R...

RCV's new "Gen.2" Ultimate IFS Shafts


New, more compact outer joint



Inner slip joint



And here are a couple random pics I took comparing Factory vs Old (larger) Style vs New (compact) Style RCV outer joints

Left to right: New Gen.2, Old Gen.1, Factory



New compact Gen.2 (left) vs Factory, showing about the same outer diameter:



and finally old larger design (left) vs Factory, showing how much larger they used to be.

The important thing to mention is that according to RCV's lead engineer, the weak link has never been the bell of the CV, it has been the inner cage components. So Gen.2 increases the strength of the inner cage components to the point now that they are breaking the spud shafts that either lead to the spindle (outer) or to the differential side gear (inner). So the actual strength limitation now is the physical size restriction of the Toyota design. The only way to make it stronger would be a larger front diff or larger spindle/hub.

So moving to the smaller diameter outer joint did not cause a loss in ultimate / overall strength, and made designing a compact IFS LT system focused on ground clearance much more easy for which I am very pleased for the new compact joints!

Yessir I plan to be there!!

Interesting info on the clutch accumulator. (For others, I found the following threads: one and two.)

I was not aware of this. Haven't had any issues with my clutch or clutch feel yet but am intrigued by the discussions. For tuning, negative. It is still 100% original 2016 factory tune (probably 04B10), however I just picked up a Tactrix OpenPort 2.0 and am planning to flash to 04B13 before my next wheel'n trip.

I am intentionally avoiding the Orange Virus tune because I am working with another manufacture on something different.

Announcement thread for our new HD Frame Brace Kit has been created!!

---> Marlin Crawler's upcoming HD LCA Frame Brace Kit <---

 

I can only imagine that breaking the cv at the diff side being a royal pita.

 

Now it's time to put a tundra front diff in when they release the 5.29 gear ratio for it.

 

May 10, 2019: First flex shots!

May 10 was my first day back home so naturally I had to check out the new flex

Nothing has been dialed-in yet, still have a lot of work to go before @SlowestTacoma is ready for some wheel'n. At this time I had only just returned and still had not taken any measurements of RCLT HD itself; I will be adding info on this once I get some time to resume working on the truck







So the first thing to mention is about the incorrect lower rear shock mounts -- again, this was my fault. Here is where my old leaf spring setup would bottom out at. The 40s were able to nearly touch the fenders:



And here is the new coilover setup with close-up of the lower shock mount with shock bottomed out. The solution is painfully easy; I'll simply lower the rear mounts a few inches and install bump stops to limit flex right before the tires contact the bed

 

May 10, 2019: First flex shots! (continued)

Now for the front, the problem isn't as direct and will take some trial and error to test out what works best.





We have up travel remaining at the body, and when we look at the shock we can see we have a lot of remaining up travel to go:



It is not clear what the issue is as the truck is unloaded and not on a trail (off-camber & loaded trail flex VS a forklift).
...Either the front spring rate is too stiff, or
......The rear spring rate is too soft, or
.........The truck simply needs more weight over the front axle, such as being faced downhill in a corner while trying to climb a rock.

It's difficult to compare to before because the rear expedition 12-leaf pack leafsprings were so incredibly stiff they were making the front suspension do all the work. RST recommended 250 lb upper rear coils, which is what they install to every customer rig, but I've gone with 200 lb rear upper coils which now means the rear is more likely to work more than the front. The tables have been turned!

So I know that the rear rides softer than the front, I am a fan of soft rather than firm suspension, so I am going to switch to a lighter front spring rate. They are currently 600lb Eibach (1800.300.0600S) and I'll try a set of 550lb to see how it does.

Here is a pic of my old setup using a factory knuckle with vertically-mounted ball joints. The limiting up-travel factor here was not the Fox shocks or the cab... BUT THE LOWER BALL JOINT MOUNT binding with itself! While my 40" tires were very close to the cab, I always had plenty of space above the Upper Control Arm that could never have been used...

..BUT WITH RCLT HD, this is NO LONGER a problem because we are using horizontally-mounted ball joints! I still had a good 3 or 4 inches of clearance between the UCA and cab, and this is WITH taller than stock RCLT HD Knuckles!

I know there have been some concerns about the angled LCA potentially sacrificing up-travel for the sake of ground clearance, and I've already know in CAD that this is not a problem; Much more pics and measurements for this coming soon!

Old up-travel limited by the factory lower ball joint design.

RCLT HD can achieve more up-travel than any setup using factory knuckles; It is not limited by the shocks.

 

May 10, 2019: First flex shots! (continued)

We measured 33" of clearance under the tire in this image. This is without any adjustments being made. I am confident I'll get this number to over 40" once I get everything dialed in.



This pic gives another view of the front shock with plenty of up-travel potential remaining



So I've got the front being limited by either (a) not enough vehicle weight, (b) spring rate too high, or (c) rear spring rate too low, and the rear being limited by the passenger side bottoming out a good 2 or 3 inches too soon.

In person is looks pretty good actually, FAR better travel than I've ever had with this truck to date. Many of my employees were saying to leave it as-is and that the flex is impressive enough, but I'm looking forward to finding this truck's true potential while staying with IFS

 

May 10, 2019: First flex shots! (concluded)

And that was it for it's first time being flexed out! Can't wait to get everything dialed-in and freak'n back on the trail!! It's gonna be an awesome new learning curve with this truck and I'm excited to test everything out

 

I was having the same issue with my front being to stiff. I had 700# 16" coils and 150/150 on my rear coilovers. Called Accutune and they worked their magic and I ended up with 18" 550# coils on the front keeping my ride height the same but much much softer. Then I ended up with 250/150 coils for my new rear coilovers and it is the best ride I could have ever wanted. Picture below is with new front coils and old rear coilovers

Not trying to thread jack just throwing info out there if you want

 

Once I get some real front suspension on I'll be giving them a call on a set of coilovers and springs to get me set up. They did an awesome job on my rear kings. They are dialed.

 

Is that 3 Link kit an off the shelf kit that can be purchased?

 

@BigMike interested in knowing as well

 

No it's a RST deal they build them per truck. You'll have to contact them and see if they'd be willing to make you a WIY kit like that.

 

@BigMike ,

Did you ever go public with what you thought the fix was for the up hill, smoke billowing 3rd Gen Taco?

 

For what it's worth I'm running a +3.5tc kit on 18inch 450# springs. I have close to 1300# of preload and according to the math I'm about 1/16 inch away from blocking the spring at full compression. The issue w the low low coil over spring rate is how much you have to crank the spring down to keep the truck in a "lifted" State. When I fork the front tire I still completely mash the rear bumpstop way before I limit out in the front.

 

@Littles

 

Somehow missed all the May updates, shit looks bangin as usual @BigMike!

 

The JK & JL jeeps as well as some other vehicles have this issue. It has to do with the PCV location. The way they get around it is a catch can pretty simple fix.

 

I don’t think I saw you post this...what did use/how did they bond the bed back together after cutting the section out? I’m getting ready to do mine and not sure how to stick that back together.

 

@erok81 was wondering that myself, but never looked back through the build thread.
Looks like a plastic welder.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-new-2016-tacoma.427850/page-15#post-15413423