Cynicalriders "J0hnny5 is ALIVE!" 01 build thread.

No problem! Been loving the detail on your products and love supporting new small businesses. Especially for the niche of first gen tacoma's/3rd gen 4runners. It will be a shame if I need to weld over the laser cut logo when I get my limit straps setup though.

Also to any of you who pop in here, finally entered the calendar contest on time this year, would appreciate a vote. Trying to really get a truck in that gets pushed hard.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-1st-generation-tacomas.637016/#post-21940577

 

Voted for you, homeboy!

 

Those LCA gussets look interesting. I didn't know anybody made gussets for them.

 

Thanks man! You gotta enter your truck one of these years. You are welcome to any of my pics from Moab.

Yeah I think it should add some extra beef. I am going to hopefully be pushing the truck harder soon so I want as much beef as I can get.

 

TC coil bucket gussets are FINALLY fitted exactly the way I wanted them to be and are ready to be burned in. I took @Squeaky Penguin s recommendations and placed a fender washer on each side of the UCA between the UCA and the gusset. This should hopefully make getting the UCA in and out later easier. I will tack them in this way with the UCA's in, then remove the UCA and put the bolt/washers/spacers back for full welding.

Driver:

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Passenger:
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

This photo shows how much I needed to grind to get the UCA bolt to line up.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

And did an oil change on the DD real quick. I need a bigger garage.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

 

How do you like your spare tire mounted like that? Does it cause viability problems on the trail or driving around? Do you get it snagged on trees and rocks? I have mine laying in the bed and it's such a PITA to deal with and I have been eying up doing something like you have.

 

Nope, no issues with visibility, honestly forget it's there most of the time. I think I have only come close to hitting it a handful of times, and I basically just keep an eye on it and choose a line based on it trying to clear. Chances are if I am close to hitting that tire, I am also close to denting the bed side, so I try to keep that side clear if I can anyway.


Had a busy fucking weekend this past weekend. @Chux was kind enough to let me borrow his Millermatic 211 for all my welding. This was going to be my first time flying fully solo with MIG so I was a bit nervous. I have learned so much over the years with @6 gearT444E and @Rockbaron1 teaching me and showing me how to lay beads, but this was going to be the first time I set the machine myself and adjust as needed etc. Would also be my first time doing long vertical beads, so I wanted to practice those a bit and get the machine set first.

I started with some flat setup:

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

It works so much better when you remember to turn the gas on.

Then I started working on some vertical runs, I tried vertical down first since it's supposed to be easier.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

I do like how flat the bead lays in the joint.

Then I did three vertical up runs:

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

I was pretty happy with those, but of course this is perfect setup, nothing in my way, etc.

The next day I started on the easier stuff, the LCA gussets from @eimkeith

This was one of my favorite beads:

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

But overall I feel like I was happy with how it all came out. I don't absolutely hate any of the welds ha.

Photo dump:

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

These things are beefy AF now. Will be nice having a smoother LCA surface to slide on now too.

Eventually I'll setup limit straps to these things too, but I need to get the new shocks because I can figure all that out.

Next I went onto the coil bucket gussets.

These were a bitch to burn in. Especially on the smaller tower going vertical. I am ashamed of the drivers side welds on the back side of that tower, holy shit.

Drivers side:

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

For the easier gusset I tried vertical up since it's supposed to be stronger. It's terrible lol.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Either way they should hold I hope ha.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Passenger side went SOOO much nicer. At this point I kind of had a strategy on where and how to get into some of the welds.

I did vert down, and got a weld that was much nicer IMO.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

I also installed the @eimkeith coil top plate gussets.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Welding the outside edge was pretty easy, welding the half circle was a bit more blind. And welding the back side had to be done from the engine bay which was nerve wracking to say the least. I realized after I already painted that I could have welded the formed ring from the tower that goes into the gusset, hopefully that doesn't cost me some strength.

After paint, it's time to reassemble.

 

That's cute too...

 

wow.

 

Or you could just buy a real truck made to haul shit

 

Alright guys put your wood away.

Had another solid fucking weekend. Started here:

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

And 10 hours later I was left with one completed side after measurements, and one 50% assembled side.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

The total mod list/new items added are as follows:

Delta joint icons UCA's
New lower ball joints
Tundra brakes
Wheelers SS lines
Modified dust covers to eliminate the need to take the wheel spacer off for CV changes
TC UCA/coil bucket gussets
Eimkeith top coil bucket gussets
Eimkeith LCA gussets
Relocated brake line brackets
New passenger side CV axle seal
Finished LCA cam tab gussets that I couldn't reach years ago

I know many others have done tundra brake comparisons, here's mine:

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Cam tab gussets behind the rack:

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

I struggled for a fucking hour trying to use a ball joint press on the upper ball joint to get it out. My issue was that the receiving cup could not sit properly on the spindle because of the spindle gussets. So I cut the entire fucking joint out and made a sketch way to use the shop press. Alas it worked. First one was like an hour and 20, second done in 15 fucking minutes.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Also since I was frustrated and wanted to bang through the second ball joint, I didn't adequately wipe all the joint from the grease which set myself on fire, was a new one for me.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Oh another fun thing for those running TC spindle gussets with stock ball joints, I needed to grind the welds a little more on one spindle to get the cup to seat. This is how the cup seats on the spindle:

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

And where I needed to grind:

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

On Sunday I had a few hours to get the passenger side closer to finished. To test real world usage I put the new dust cover and wheel spacer back on before I torqued the axle nut. I learned that I needed to run shorter cotter pins and put a pre bend in them to get them into this new setup:

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

This lets me put the cotter in and then bend it straight while its inside the dust cover.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

So the tools I need to carry on the trail are dykes (to cut the old cotter off) and a pair of long forcep style pliers as well as a standard needle nose to get it back in easily. All of which I carry already anyway except the longer pliers.

Also based on discussions with @SilverGhost I relocated the brake line mounts to be outside of the tc gussets. This makes undoing the brake lines 1000x easier.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

And I should still be able to put my limit strap clevis far away from the brake line.

Oh and in addition to getting a spot in the official Tacomaworld calendar (thank you for all your support btw) I also made it into the New England calendar that I was able to submit photos for since @Rockbaron1 and @avw4x4 did a trip up to New Hampshire this year so thats neat.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

All that's left now is final torques/bleeding brakes/hooking the battery back up.

 

Realized I should have left the coilovers out to test reservoir placement.

From what I could tell, placing the reservoir has always been an issue with first gens, and especially for those running a tire as big as me. It took a lot of research but I found that @4Running Daily was running 37" tires on his 3rd gen 4runner and was able to avoid reservoir rubbing in this location. I wanted to pursue this since I eventually want to go to 37's as well. It seems like @M C M (tagging you to hopefully prove me wrong and save me money on custom shock hose setup) was able to create brackets for us that takes the reservoir out of the way but I have yet to find someone with my setup that I can directly compare to.

This is his setup:

Untitled by Connor Rhoades, on Flickr
Untitled by Connor Rhoades, on Flickr
Untitled by Connor Rhoades, on Flickr

Issue 1: 35" tires on stock rims, using a 1.25" wheel spacer. My BS is around 3.25" with this setup.
Issue 2: TC coil bucket gussets that will essentially push the MCM bracket into to wheel even more so.

So of course I won't know for sure unless I test myself. I saw that one of my resi's I have in the back are about the same size as a redbull can I have in the fridge. So I place it in the spot Connor had it, and cycle.

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Full droop:

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

Full bump:

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

And out of curiosity I added the "resi" to the MCM location. I was able to set it against the back of the gusset and it actually JUST barely clears. But this is at soft bump, and I honestly think the brackets will push harder into the tire. (I changed the position and it does rub HARD)

Clearances in MCM location:

Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr
Untitled by Michael Halat, on Flickr

So the best solution is to make it setup the way Connor has.

 

Have you considered mounting it on top of the frame rails in front of the coil bucket? I think that's how @turbodb currently has his.

 

Yes and I can barely fit it there if I don’t get clickers but with clickers it never would fit. And I won’t get it this time around but I like to plan for the future.

 

Right. With clickers, the top of the frame rail is no good. Even if it fit (which it just barely might still), you could never access the clicker, so why spend the $$$ on them.

Even for me, when I get the shocks rebuilt, I'm going to get different hose lengths and fittings to move them off of the frame rail - and now perhaps to this new spot you've found - because it's just inconvenient to remove/install them from the frame rail position.

 

Gotcha. Didn't know the clickers added that much depth. I plan to get the fittings and hose lengths changed as well when it's time for mine to be rebuilt. Mine are mounted the regular way just like the original 1st gen mounts you guys had, but ADS now mounts all of their 2nd/3rd gens vertically similar to how you're trying to mount yours to keep it away from the tire in turns.

 

How many miles on yours Brent?

Edit: and how are you planning to change up the valving?

 

Yeah it’s definitely tight there. I like the idea of hopefully future proofing this so it’s setup correctly, once.

 

Only ~2500 miles

Not much off roading has been happening since the kid.

Don’t plan to change up the valving. I just want to have ADS install the same fittings on mine that they do on all of their current front coilover builds for the new mounting location. I bought mine just before they changed them.

This is mine.



This is how they design them now.

 

My father would put the tank on the exhaust pipe of the wrecker for about 20-30 minutes+ then weld away, fills the tank with carbon monoxide, no oxygen, no fire- no boom......